"I wish, sir, to teach these people, some of the truths of morality and religion such as are found in the Bible. I have ventured to guess that you and your family are of the Roman Catholic faith".
"We belong to the communion of that church, sir".
"That being the case, and thinking you may have some interest in this matter, I would say, that I wish to make an attempt to teach the knowledge of divine things to this people, hoping thereby to raise them from their present state to something better and holier".
"A worthy object, sir, but altogether a hopeless one. You have no idea of the condition of the settlers here. You cannot get a hearing. They scoff at such things utterly", said Mr. Dubois.
"Is there any objection in your own mind against an endeavor to enlist their interest?" asked Mr. Norton.
"Not the least", said Mr. Dubois.
"Then I will try to collect the people together and tell them my views and wishes. Is there any man here having influence with this cla.s.s, who would be willing to aid me in this movement?"
Mr. Dubois meditated.
"I do not know of one, sir", he said. "They all drink, swear, gamble, and profane holy things, and seem to have no respect for either G.o.d or man".
"It is too true", remarked Mrs. Dubois.
"Now, father", said Adele, a.s.suming an air of wisdom, that sat rather comically on her youthful brow, "_I_ think Micah Mummychog would be just the person to help this gentleman".
"Micah Mummychog!" exclaimed Mr. Norton, throwing himself back in his chair and shaking out of his lungs a huge, involuntary haw, haw, "where does the person you speak of hail from to own such a name as _that_, my dear child?"
"I rather think he came from Yankee land,--from your part of the country, sir", said Adele, mischievously.
"Ah, well", said Mr. Norton, with another peal of laughter, "we _do_ have some curious names in our parts".
"Micah Mummychog!" exclaimed Mr. Dubois, "what are you thinking of, Adele? Why, the fellow drinks and swears as hard as the rest of them".
"Not quite", persisted the child, "and besides, he has some good about him, I know".
"What have you seen good about him, pray?" said her father.
"Why, you remember that when I discovered the little girl floating down the river, Micah took his boat and went out to bring her ash.o.r.e.
He took the body, dripping, in his arms, carried it to his house, and laid it down as tenderly as if it had been his own sister. He asked me to please go and get Mrs. McNab to come and prepare it for burial. The little thing, he said, was entirely dead and gone. I started to go, as he wished, but happened to think I would just step back and look at the sweet face once more. When I opened the door, Micah was bending over it, with his eyes full of tears. When I asked, what is the matter, Micah? he said he was thinking of a little sister of his that was drowned just so in the Kennebec River, many years ago".
"That showed some feeling, certainly", said Mrs. Dubois.
"Then, too, I know", continued Adele, "that the people here like him.
If any one can get them together, Micah can".
"Well!" said Mr. Dubois looking at his child with a fond pride, yet as if doubting whether she were not already half spoiled, "it seems you are the wiseacre of the family. I know Micah has always been a favorite of yours. Perhaps the gentleman will give your views some consideration".
"Father", replied Adele, "I have only said what I think about it".
"I"ll try what I can do with Micah Mummychog", said Mr. Norton decidedly, and the conversation ended.
CHAPTER IV.
MICAH MUMMYCHOG.
About ten years before the period when this narrative begins, Micah Mummychog had come to this country from the Kennebec River, in the State of Maine.
He soon purchased a dozen acres of land, partially cleared them, and built a large-sized, comfortable log house. It was situated not far from the Dubois house, at a short distance from the bank of the river, and on the edge of a grove of forest trees.
Micah inhabited his house usually only a few months during the year, as he was a cordial lover of the unbroken wilderness, and was as migratory in his habits as the native Indian. On the morning after the events related in the last chapter, he happened to be at home. While Adele was guiding the missionary to his cottage, he was sitting in his kitchen, which also served for a general reception room, burnishing up an old Dutch fowling-piece.
The apartment was furnished with cooking utensils, and coa.r.s.e wooden furniture; the walls hung around with fishing tackle, moose-horns, skins of wild animals and a variety of firearms.
Micah was no common, stupid, b.u.mpkin-looking person. Belonging to the genus Yankee, he had yet a few peculiar traits of his own. He had a smallish, bullet-shaped head, set, with dignified poise, on a pair of wide, flat shoulders. His chest was broad and swelling, his limbs straight, muscular, and strong. His eyes were large, round, and blue.
When his mind was in a state of repose and his countenance at rest, they had a solemn, owl-like expression. But when in an excited, observant mood, they were keen and searching; and human orbs surely never expressed more rollicking fun than did his, in his hours of recreation. He had a habit of darting them around a wide circle of objects, without turning his head a hairsbreadth. This, together with another peculiarity of turning his head, occasionally, at a sharp angle, with the quick and sudden motion of a cat, probably was acquired in his hunting life.
Micah had never taken to himself a helpmate, and as far as mere housekeeping was concerned, one would judge, on looking around the decent, tidy apartment in which he sat and of which he had the sole care, that he did not particularly need one. He washed, scoured, baked, brewed, swept and dusted as deftly as any woman, and did it all as a matter of course. These were, however, only his minor accomplishments. He commanded the highest wages in the lumber camp, was the best fisherman to be found in the region, and had the good luck of always bringing down any game he had set his heart upon.
Micah had faults, but let these pa.s.s for the present. There was one achievement of his, worthy of all praise.
It was remarked, that the loggery was situated on the edge of a grove.
This grove, when Micah came, was "a piece of woods", of the densest and most tangled sort. By his strong arm, it had been transformed into a scene of exceeding beauty. He had cut away the under growth and smaller trees, leaving the taller sons of the forest still rising loftily and waving their banners toward heaven. It formed a magnificent natural temple, and as the sun struck in through the long, broad aisles, soft and rich were the lights and shadows that flickered over the green floor. The lofty arches, formed by the meeting and interlaced branches above, were often resonant with music. During the spring and summer months, matin worship was constantly performed by a mult.i.tudinous choir, and praises were chanted by tiny-throated warblers, raising their notes upon the deep, organ base, rolled into the harmony by the grand old pines.
It is true, that hardly a human soul worshipped here, but when the "Te Deum" rose toward heaven, thousands of blue, pink, and white blossoms turned their eyes upward wet with dewy moisture, the h.o.a.ry mosses waved their tresses, the larches shook their ta.s.sels gayly, the birches quivered and thrilled with joy in every leaf, and the rivulets gurgled forth a silvery sound of gladness. On this particular September morning Micah"s grove was radiant with beauty. The wild equinoctial storm, which had so fiercely a.s.sailed it the day before, had brightened it into fresh verdure and now it glittered in the sunbeams as if bejewelled with emerald.
Mr. Norton and Adele reached the cottage door, on which she tapped softly.
"Come in", Micah almost shouted, without moving from his seat or looking up from his occupation.
The maiden opened the door, and said, "Good morning, Micah".
At the sound of her voice he rose instantly and handing a chair into the middle of the floor, said, "O! come in, Miss Ady; I didn"t know ez it was yeou".
"I cannot stop now, Micah, but here is a gentleman who has a little business with you. I came to show him the way. This is Mr. Norton".
And away Adele sped, without farther ceremony.
Micah looked after her for a moment, with a half smile on his weather-beaten face, then turned and motioning Mr. Norton to a chair, reseated himself on a wooden chest, with his gun, upon which he again commenced operations, his countenance setting into its usual owl-like solemnity.
He was not courtly in his reception of strangers. The missionary, however, had dealt with several varieties of the human animal before, and was by no means disturbed at this nonchalance.
"I believe you are from the States, as well as myself, Mr. Mummychog", said he, after a short silence.
"I"m from the Kennebec River", said Micah, laconically.
"I am quite extensively acquainted in that region, but do not remember to have heard your name before. It is rather an uncommon one".
"I guess ye won"t find many folks in them parts, ez is called Mummychog", said Micah, with a twinkle of the eye and something like a grin, on his sombre visage.