So the summer went on. The corn ta.s.selled, the wheat ears filled well, the potatoes hung out rich cl.u.s.ters of their delicate and graceful blossoms, beans straggled half over the garden, the hens did their duty bravely, and the cow produced a heifer calf.
Father and the boys were fighting now, and mother"s merry words were more rare, though her bright face still wore its smiling courage. They heard rarely from the army. Now and then a post rider stopped at the Nepash tavern and brought a few letters or a little news; but this was at long intervals, and women who watched and waited at home without constant mail service and telegraphic flashes, aware that news of disaster, of wounds, of illness, could only reach them too late to serve or save, and that to reach the ill or the dying involved a larger and more disastrous journey than the survey of half the world demands now--these women endured pangs beyond our comprehension, and endured them with a courage and patience that might have furnished forth an army of heroes, that did go far to make heroes of that improvised, ill-conditioned, eager mult.i.tude who conquered the trained bands of their oppressors and set their sons "free and equal," to use their own dubious phraseology, before the face of humanity at large.
By and by winter came on with all its terrors. By night wolves howled about the lonely house, and sprung back over the palings when Eben went to the door with his musket. Joe hauled wood from the forest on a hand-sled, and Dolly and Diana took it in through the kitchen window when the drifts were so high that the woodshed door could not be opened. Besides, all the hens were gathered in there, as well for greater warmth as for convenience in feeding, and the barn was only to be reached with snowshoes and entered by the window above the manger.
Hard times these were. The loom in the garret could not be used, for even fingers would freeze in that atmosphere; so the thread was wound off, twisted on the great wheel, and knit into stockings, the boys learning to fashion their own, while Hannah knit her anxiety and her hidden heartaches into socks for her soldier boys and their father.
By another spring the aching and anxiousness were a little dulled, for habit blunts even the keen edge of mortal pain. They had news that summer that Ralph had been severely wounded, but had recovered; that John had gone through a sharp attack of camp-fever; that Reuben was taken prisoner, but escaped by his own wit. Hannah was thankful and grateful beyond expression. Perhaps another woman would have wept and wailed, to think all this had come to pa.s.s without her knowledge or her aid; but it was Hannah"s way to look at the bright side of things.
Sylvia would always remember how once, when she was looking at Mount Tahconic, darkened by a brooding tempest, its crags frowning blackly above the dark forest at its foot and the lurid cloud above its head torn by fierce lances of light, she hid her head in her mother"s checked ap.r.o.n, in the helpless terror of an imaginative child; but, instead of being soothed and pitied, mother had only laughed a little gay laugh, and said gently, but merrily:
"Why, Sylvy, the sun"s right on the other side, only you don"t see it."
After that she always thought her mother saw the sun when n.o.body else could. And in a spiritual sense it was true.
Parson Everett rode over once or twice from Litchfield that next summer to fetch Sylvia and to administer comfort to Hannah. He was a quaint, prim little gentleman, neat as any wren, but mild-mannered as wrens never are, and in a moderate way kindly and sympathetic. When the children had haled their lovely sister away to see their rustic possessions, Parson Everett would sit down in a high chair, lay aside his c.o.c.ked hat, spread his silk pocket handkerchief over his knees, and prepare to console Hannah.
"Mistress Perkins, these are trying times, trying times. There is a sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry-trees--h-m! Sea and waves roaring of a truth--h-m! h-m! I trust, Mistress Perkins, you submit to the Divine Will with meekness."
"Well, I don"t know," replied Hannah, with a queer little twinkle in her eye. "I don"t believe I be as meek as Moses, parson. I should like things fixed different, to speak truth."
"Dear me! Dear me--h-m! h-m! My good woman, the Lord reigneth. You must submit; you must submit. You know it is the duty of a vessel of wrath to be broken to pieces if it glorifieth the Maker."
"Well, mebbe "tis. I don"t know much about that kind o" vessel. I"ve got to submit because there ain"t anything else to do, as I see. I can"t say it goes easy--not"n" be honest; but I try to look on the bright side, and to believe the Lord"ll take care of my folks better"n I could, even if they was here."
"H-m! h-m! Well," stammered the embarra.s.sed parson, completely at his wit"s end with this cheerful theology, "well, I hope it is grace that sustains you, Mistress Perkins, and not the vain elation of the natural man. The Lord is in His holy temple; the earth is His footstool--h-m!" The parson struggled helplessly with a tangle of texts here; but the right one seemed to fail him, till Hannah audaciously put it in:
"Well, you know what it says about takin" care of sparrers, in the Bible, and how we was more valerable than they be, a lot. That kind o"
text comes home these times, I tell ye. You fetch a person down to the bedrock, as Grandsir Penlyn used to say, and then they know where they be. And ef the Lord is really the Lord of all, I expect He"ll take care of all; "nd I don"t doubt but what He is and does. So I can fetch up on that."
Parson Everett heaved a deep sigh, put on his c.o.c.ked hat, and blew his nose ceremonially with the silk handkerchief. Not that he needed to: but as a sort of shaking off of the dust of responsibility and ending the conversation, which, if it was not heterodox on Hannah"s part, certainly did not seem orthodox to him.... He did not try to console her any more, but contented himself with the stiller spirits in his own parish, who had grown up in and after his own fashion.
Another dreadful winter settled down on Nepa.s.set township. There was food enough in the house and firewood in the shed; but neither food nor fire seemed to a.s.suage the terrible cold, and with decreased vitality decreased courage came to all. Hygienics were an unforeseen mystery to people of that day. They did not know that nourishing food is as good for the brain as for the muscles. They lived on potatoes, beets, beans, with now and then a bit of salt pork or beef boiled in the pot with the rest; and their hearts failed, as their flesh did, with this sodden and monotonous diet. One ghastly night Hannah almost despaired. She held secret council with Dolly and Eben, while they inspected the potato bin and the pork barrel, as to whether it would not be best for them to break up and find homes elsewhere for the winter. Her father was old and feeble. He would be glad to have her with him and Betty. The rest were old enough to "do ch.o.r.es" for their board, and there were many families where help was needed, both in Nepash and Litchfield, since every available man had gone to the war by this time. But while they talked a great scuffling and squawking in the woodhouse attracted the boys upstairs. Joe seized the tongs and Diana the broomstick. An intruding weasel was pursued and slaughtered; but not till two fowls, fat and fine, had been sacrificed by the invader and the tongs together. The children were all hungry, with the exhaustion of the cold weather, and clamoured to have these victims cooked for supper. Nor was Hannah unmoved by the appeal. Her own appet.i.te seconded. The savoury stew came just in time. It aroused them to new life and spirits. Hannah regained courage, wondering how she could have lost heart so far, and said to Dolly, as they washed up the supper dishes:
"I guess we"ll keep together, Dolly. It"ll be spring after a while, and we"ll stick it out together."
"I guess I would," answered Dolly. "And don"t you believe we should all feel better to kill off them fowls--all but two or three? They"re master hands to eat corn, and it does seem as though that biled hen done us all a sight o" good to-night. Just hear them children."
And it certainly was, as Hannah said, "musical to hear "em." Joe had a cornstalk fiddle, and Eben an old singing book, which Diana read over his shoulder while she kept on knitting her blue sock; and the three youngsters--Sam, Obed, and Betty--with wide mouths and intent eyes, followed Diana"s "lining out" of that quaint hymn "The Old Israelites," dwelling with special gusto and power on two of the verses:
"We are little, "tis true, And our numbers are few, And the sons of old Anak are tall; But while I see a track I will never go back, But go on at the risk of my all.
"The way is all new, As it opens to view, And behind is the foaming Red Sea; So none need to speak Of the onions and leeks Or to talk about garlics to me!"
Hannah"s face grew brighter still. "We"ll stay right here!" she said, adding her voice to the singular old ditty with all her power:
"What though some in the rear Preach up terror and fear, And complain of the trials they meet, Tho" the giants before With great fury do roar, I"m resolved I can never retreat."
And in this spirit, sustained, no doubt, by the occasional chickens, they lived the winter out, till blessed, beneficent spring came again, and brought news, great news, with it. Not from the army, though.
There had been a post rider in Nepash during the January thaw, and he brought short letters only. There was about to be a battle, and there was no time to write more than a.s.surances of health and good hopes for the future. Only once since had news reached them from that quarter. A disabled man from the Nepash company was brought home dying with consumption. Hannah felt almost ashamed to rejoice in the tidings he brought of John"s welfare, when she heard his husky voice, saw his worn and ghastly countenance, and watched the suppressed agony in his wife"s eyes. The words of thankfulness she wanted to speak would have been so many stabs in that woman"s breast. It was only when her eight children rejoiced in the hearing that she dared to be happy. But the other news was from Sylvia. She was promised to the schoolmaster in Litchfield. Only to think of it! Our Sylvy!
Master Loomis had been eager to go to the war; but his mother was a poor bedrid woman, dependent on him for support, and all the dignitaries of the town combined in advising and urging him to stay at home for the sake of their children, as well as his mother. So at home he stayed, and fell into peril of heart, instead of life and limb, under the soft fire of Sylvia"s eyes, instead of the enemy"s artillery. Parson Everett could not refuse his consent, though he and madam were both loth to give up their sweet daughter. But since she and the youth seemed to be both of one mind about the matter, and he being a G.o.dly young man, of decent parentage, and in a good way of earning his living, there was no more to be said. They would wait a year before thinking of marriage, both for better acquaintance and on account of the troubled times.
"Mayhap the times will mend, sir," anxiously suggested the schoolmaster to Parson Everett.
"I think not, I think not, Master Loomis. There is a great blackness of darkness in hand, the Philistines be upon us, and there is moving to and fro. Yea, Behemoth lifteth himself and shaketh his mane--h-m!
ah! h-m! It is not a time for marrying and giving in marriage, for playing on sackbuts and dulcimers--h-m!"
A quiet smile flickered around Master Loomis"s mouth as he turned away, solaced by a shy, sweet look from Sylvia"s limpid eyes, as he peeped into the keeping-room, where she sat with madam, on his way out. He could afford to wait a year for such a spring blossom as that, surely. And wait he did, with commendable patience, comforting his G.o.dly soul with the fact that Sylvia was spared meantime the daily tendance and care of a fretful old woman like his mother; for, though Master Loomis was the best of sons, that did not blind him to the fact that the irritability of age and illness were fully developed in his mother, and he alone seemed to have the power of calming her. She liked Sylvia at first, but became frantically jealous of her as soon as she suspected her son"s attachment. So the summer rolled away.
Hannah and her little flock tilled their small farm and gathered plenteous harvest. Mindful of last year"s experience, they raised brood after brood of chickens, and planted extra acres of corn for their feeding, so that when autumn came, with its vivid, splendid days, its keen winds and turbulent skies, the new chicken yard, which the boys had worked at through the summer, with its wattled fence, its own tiny spring, and lofty covered roofs, swarmed with chickens, ducks, and turkeys. Many a dollar was brought home about Thanksgiving time for the fat fowls sold in Litchfield and Nepash; but dollars soon vanished in buying winter clothes for so many children, or rather, in buying wool to spin and weave for them. Mahala Green, the village tailoress, came to fashion the garments, and the girls sewed them. Uncouth enough was their aspect; but fashion did not yet reign in Nepash, and if they were warm, who cared for elegance? Not Hannah"s rosy, hearty, happy brood. They sang and whistled and laughed with a force and freedom that was kin to the birds and squirrels among whom they lived; and Hannah"s kindly, cheery face lit up as she heard them, while a half sigh told that her husband and her soldier boys were still wanting to her perfect contentment.
At last they were all housed snugly for winter. The woodpile was larger than ever before, and all laid up in the shed, beyond which a rough shelter of c.h.i.n.ked logs had been put up for the chickens, to which their roosts and nest boxes, of coa.r.s.e wicker, boards nailed together, hollow bark from the hemlock logs, even worn-out tin pails, had all been transferred. The cellar had been well banked from the outside, and its darksome cavern held good store of apples, pork, and potatoes. There was dried beef in the stairway, squashes in the cupboard, flour in the pantry, and the great gentle black cow in the barn was a wonderful milker. In three weeks Thanksgiving would come, and even Hannah"s brave heart sank as she thought of her absent husband and boys; and their weary faces rose up before her as she numbered over to herself her own causes for thankfulness, as if to say: "Can you keep Thanksgiving without us?" Poor Hannah! She did her best to set these thankless thoughts aside, but almost dreaded the coming festival. One night, as she sat knitting by the fire, a special messenger from Litchfield rode up to the door and brought stirring news. Master Loomis"s mother was dead, and the master himself, seeing there was a new levy of troops, was now going to the war. But before he went there was to be a wedding, and, in the good old fashion, it should be on Thanksgiving Day, and Madam Everett had bidden as many of Sylvy"s people to the feast as would come.
There was great excitement as Hannah read aloud the madam"s note. The tribe of Perkins shouted for joy, but a sudden chill fell on them when mother spoke:
"Now, children, hush up! I want to speak myself, ef it"s a possible thing to git in a word edgeways. We can"t all go, fust and foremost.
"Tain"t noways possible."
"Oh, Mother! Why? Oh, do! Not go to Sylvy"s wedding?" burst in the "infinite deep chorus" of youngsters.
"No, you can"t. There ain"t no team in the county big enough to hold ye all, if ye squeeze ever so much. I"ve got to go, for Sylvy"d be beat out if mother didn"t come. And Dolly"s the oldest. She"s got a right to go."
Loud protest was made against the right of primogeniture, but mother was firm.
"Says so in the Bible. Leastways, Bible folks always acted so. The first-born, ye know. Dolly"s goin", sure. Eben"s got to drive, and I must take Obed. He"d be the death of somebody, with his everlastin"
mischief, if I left him to home. Mebbe I can squeeze in Betty, to keep him company. Joe and Sam and Dianner won"t be more"n enough to take care o" the cows and chickens and fires, and all. Likewise of each other."
Sam set up a sudden howl at his sentence, and kicked the mongrel yellow puppy, who leaped on him to console him, till that long-suffering beast yelped in concert.
Diana sniffed and snuffled, scrubbed her eyes with her checked ap.r.o.n, and rocked back and forth.
"Now, stop it!" bawled Joe. "For the land"s sake, quit all this noise.
We can"t all on us go; "n" for my part, I don"t want to. We"ll hev a weddin" of our own some day!" and here he gave a sly look at Dolly, who seemed to understand it and blushed like an apple-blossom, while Joe went on: "Then we"ll all stay to "t, I tell ye, and have a right down old country time."
Mother had to laugh.
"So you shall, Joe, and dance "Money Musk" all night, if you want to--same as you did to the corn huskin". Now, let"s see. Betty, she"s got that chintz gown that was your Sunday best, Dolly--the flowered one, you know, that Dianner outgrowed. We must fix them lawn ruffles into "t; and there"s a blue ribbin laid away in my chest o" drawers that"ll tie her hair. It"s dreadful lucky we"ve got new shoes all round; and Obed"s coat and breeches is as good as new, if they be made out of his pa"s weddin" suit. That"s the good o" good cloth. It"ll last most forever. Joe hed "em first, then Sam wore "em quite a spell, and they cut over jest right for Obey. My black paduasoy can be fixed up, I guess. But, my stars! Dolly, what hev" you got?"
"Well, Mother, you know I ain"t got a real good gown. There"s the black lutestring petticoat Sylvy fetched me two years ago; but there ain"t any gown to it. We calculated I could wear that linsey jacket to meeting, under my coat; but "twouldn"t do rightly for a weddin"."
"That"s gospel truth. You can"t wear that, anyhow. You"ve got to hev somethin". "Twon"t do to go to Sylvy"s weddin" in linsey woolsy; but I don"t believe there"s more"n two hard dollars in the house. There"s a few Continentals; but I don"t count on them. Joe, you go over to the mill fust thing in the morning and ask Sylvester to lend me his old mare a spell to-morrer, to ride over to Nepash, to the store."
"Why don"t ye send Doll?" asked Joe, with a wicked glance at the girl that set her blushing again.
"Hold your tongue, Joseph, "n" mind me. It"s bedtime now, but I"ll wake ye up airly," energetically remarked Hannah. And next day, equipped in cloak and hood, she climbed the old mare"s fat sides and jogged off on her errand; and by noon-mark was safe and sound home again, looking a little perplexed, but by no means cast down.
"Well, Dolly," said she, as soon as cloak and hood were laid aside, "there"s the beautifulest piece of chintz over to the store you ever see--jest enough for a gown. It"s kind of buff-coloured ground, flowered all over with roses, deep-red roses, as nateral as life.
Squire Dart wouldn"t take no money for "t. He"s awful sharp about them new bills. Sez they ain"t no more"n corn husks. Well, we ain"t got a great lot of "em, so there"s less to lose, and some folks will take "em; but he"ll let me have the chintz for "leven yards o" soldier"s cloth--blue, ye know, like what we sent pa and the boys. And I spent them two silver dollars on a white gauze neck-kercher and a piece of red satin ribbin for ye, for I"m set on that chintz. Now hurry up "nd fix the loom right off. The web"s ready, then we"ll card the wool.
I"ll lay ye a penny we"ll have them "leven yards wove by Friday.
To-day"s Tuesday, Thanksgiving comes a Thursday week, an" ef we have the chintz by sundown a Sat.u.r.day there"ll be good store of time for Mahaly Green and you to make it afore Wednesday night. We"ll hev a kind of a Thanksgiving, after all. But I wisht your pa----" The sentence ended in Hannah"s ap.r.o.n at her eyes, and Dolly looked sober; but in a minute she dimpled and brightened, for the pretty chintz gown was more to her than half a dozen costly French dresses to a girl of to-day. But a little cloud suddenly put out the dimples.