Hooking Watermelons.
by Edward Bellamy.
1898
The train slackened, a brakeman thrust his head in at the door and shouted "Bah,"--a mysterious formality observed on American trains as they enter towns,--and an elderly lady, two drummers, and a young man with a satchel got out, followed by the languid envy of the other pa.s.sengers, who had longer or shorter penances of heat and dust before them. The train got under way again, while the knot of loafers about the station proceeded to eye the arrivals as judicially as if they were a committee of safety to protect the village from invasion by doubtful characters. The old lady, apparently laboring under some such impression, regarded them deferentially, as nervous travelers on arriving in strange places generally do regard everybody who seems to feel at home. The drummers briskly disappeared down the main street, each anxious to antic.i.p.ate the other at the stores. The young man with the satchel, however, did not get away till he had shaken hands and exchanged a few good-natured inquiries with one of the loungers.
"Who"s that, Bill?" asked one of the group, staring after the retreating figure with lazy curiosity.
"Why, did n"t you know him? Thought everybody knew him. That"s Arthur Steele," replied the one who had shaken hands, in a tone of cordiality indicating that his politeness had left a pleasant impression on his mind, as Arthur Steele"s politeness generally did.
"Who is he, anyhow?" pursued the other.
"Why, he "s a Fairfield boy" (the brakeman p.r.o.nounced it "Bah"), "born and brought up here. His folks allers lived right next to mine, and now he"s doin" a rushin" lawyer trade down New York, and I expect he"s just rakin" the stamps. Did yer see that diamond pin he wore?"
"S"pose it"s genooine?" asked a third loafer, with interest.
"Course it was. I tell you he"s on the make, and don"t you forgit it.
Some fellers allers has luck. Many "s the time he "n" I "ve been in swim-min" and hookin" apples together when we wuz little chaps," pursued Bill, in a tone implying a mild reproach at the deceitfulness of an a.n.a.logy that after such fair promise in early life had failed to complete itself in their later fortunes.
"Why, darn it all, you know him, Jim," he continued, dropping the tone of pensive reminiscence into which he had momentarily allowed himself to fall. "That pretty gal that sings in the Baptis" choir is his sister."
After a s.p.a.ce of silent rumination and jerking of peanut sh.e.l.ls upon the track, the group broke up its session, and adjourned by tacit understanding till the next train was due.
Arthur Steele was half an hour in getting to his father"s house, because everybody he met on the street insisted on shaking hands with him.
Everybody in Fairfield had known him since he was a boy, and had seen him grow up, and all were proud of him as a credit to the village and one of its most successful representatives in the big outside world. The young man had sense and sentiment enough to feel that the place he held in the esteem of his native community was a thing to feel more just pride in than any station he could win in the city, and as he walked along hand-shaking with old friends on this side and that, it was about his idea of a triumphal entry.
There was the dear old house, and as he saw it his memory of it started out vividly in his mind as if to attest how faithfully it had kept each detail. It never would come out so clearly at times when he was far away and needed its comfort. He opened the door softly. The sitting-room was empty, and darkened to keep out the heat and flies. The latched door stood open, and, hearing voices, he tiptoed across the floor with a guileful smile and, leaning through the doorway, saw his mother and sister sitting by the cool, lilac-shaded window, picking over currants for tea, and talking tranquilly. Being a provident young man, he paused a minute to let the pretty, peaceful scene impress itself upon his mind, to be remembered afterward for the cheer of bleak boarding-house Sunday afternoons. Then there was a sudden glancing up, a cry of joyful consternation, and the pan of currants rolled from Amy"s lap like a broken necklace of rubies across the uncarpeted floor, while Arthur held mother and sister in a double embrace. And when at length the kissing had all been done, he established himself in his familiar boyish att.i.tude on the window-seat, kicking his heels against the mopboard, with his elbows on his knees, and the three talked away steadily till the shop-bell rang, and Mrs. Steele sprang up in a panic, exclaiming: "Father will be here in five minutes, and the currants are on the floor.
Come, Amy, quick; we must pick some more, and you shall help, Arthur."
But though he went out into the garden with them readily enough, it was quite another thing to make him pick currants, for he insisted on wandering all over the place and demanding what had become of everything he missed, and the history of everything new. And pretty soon Mr.
Steele also appeared in the garden, having found no one in the house on reaching home. He had learned on the street that Arthur had arrived, and came out beaming. It was good to see the hearty affection with which the two shook hands.
The transition of the son from the pupilage of childhood and youth to the independence of manhood is often trying to the filial relation.
Neither party fully realizes that the old relation is at an end, or just what the new basis is, or when the change takes place. The absence of the son for two or three years at this period has often the best results. He goes a boy and returns a man; the old relation is forgotten by both parties, and they readily fall into the new one. So it had fared with Arthur and his father.
"You"ve got a splendid lot of watermelons," said the former, as they arrived at the upper end of the ample garden in their tour of inspection.
"Yes," replied Mr. Steele, with a shrug; "only thus far they"ve been stolen a little faster than they "ve ripened."
"What made you plant them so near the fence?"
"That was my blunder; but you see the soil is just the thing, better than lower down."
"Why don"t you buy a bulldog?"
"I think it"s more Christian to shoot a man outright than to set one of those devils on him. The breed ought to be extirpated."
"Put some ipecac in one or two. That "ll fetch "em. I know how sick it made me once."
"I did; but more were stolen next night. I can"t afford to medicate the whole village. Last night I sat up to watch till twelve o"clock, when mother made me go to bed."
"I"ll watch to-night," said Arthur, "and give "em a lesson with a good load of beans from the old shotgun."
"It would n"t pay," replied his father. "I concluded last night that all the melons in the world were n"t worth a night"s sleep. They "ll have to go, and next year I "ll know more than to plant any."
"You go and help Amy pick currants, and let me talk to the boy a little," said Mrs. Steele, coming up and taking Arthur off for a promenade up the broad path.
"How pretty Amy has grown," said he, glancing with a pleased smile at the girl as she looked up at her father. "I suppose the young men are making sheep"s eyes at her already."
"It does n"t do them any good if they are," said Mrs. Steele, decisively. "She"s only sixteen and a little girl yet, and has sense enough to know it." "What had she been crying for when I arrived? I saw her eyes were as red as the currants."
"Oh, dear!" replied Mrs. Steele, with a sigh of vexation, "it was her troubles at the Seminary. You know we let her go as a day scholar this sum-mer. Some of the girls slight and snub her, and she is very unhappy about it."
"Why, what on earth can anybody have against Amy?" demanded Arthur, in indignant surprise.
"I suppose it"s because some of the little hussies from the city have taken the notion that they won"t a.s.sociate with a mechanic"s daughter, although Amy is very careful not to say it in so many words, for fear of hurting my feelings. But I suspect that"s about where the shoe pinches."
Arthur muttered something between an oath and a grunt, expressing the emphasis of the one and the disgust of the other.
"I tell Amy it is foolish to mind their airs, but I "m really afraid it spoils the poor girl"s happiness."
"Why don"t you send her away to boarding-school, if it is so serious a matter as that?"
"We can"t afford it," said his mother, whereto Arthur promptly replied: --
"I "ll pay her expenses. I "m making a good deal more money than I know what to do with, and I "d really like the chance of doing a little good."
His mother glanced at him with affectionate pride.
"You "re always wanting to pay somebody"s expenses, or make somebody a present. It"s really unsafe, when you "re around, to indicate that one is n"t perfectly contented. But you caught me up too quickly. I was going to say that we could n"t spare her from home, anyhow. She"s the light of the house. Besides that, if it comes to objections, I "ve my notions about boarding-schools, and I "d trust no girl of mine at one that wasn"t within sight of her home. No, she"ll have to keep on here and bear it as she can, though it"s pretty hard, I know. The trouble to-night was, that Lina Maynard, who is one of the older girls, has invited nearly everybody at the Seminary except Amy to a birthday party to-morrow. Little minx, I could shake her. And the worst of it is, Amy thinks there "s n.o.body like Lina Maynard."
After tea it was still light, and Arthur and Amy went out to walk. In spite of the ten years difference in their ages, he always enjoyed her company as well as anybody"s in the world, because she was so refreshingly childlike and natural. Every chord of feeling answered so true and clear to the touch, that to talk with her was like playing on a musical instrument, only far more delightful. Arthur had looked forward to walks and talks with Amy as among the jolliest treats of his vacation. She tried her best now to seem light-hearted, and to entertain him with the local gossip, for which he always depended on her. But she could n"t simulate the vivacious and eager air that had been the chief charm of her talk. As he glanced down, he was grieved to see the sad set of the pretty child face at his side, and how still had grown the fountain of smiles in the hazel eyes that were wont to send their ripples outward in constant succession. It is to be feared that under his breath he applied some very ungentlemanly language to Lina Maynard and her clique, whose nonsenical ill-nature had hurt this little girl"s feelings so sorely, and incidentally spoiled half the fun of his vacation.
"There, there, you need n"t talk any more," he finally said, rather rudely, half vexed with her, as helpful people are wont to be with those they can do nothing to help.
She looked up in grieved surprise, but before he could speak again, they came face to face with a party of girls coming from the direction of the Seminary.
There were six or seven of them, perhaps, but Arthur only got the impression of one and a lot of others. The one was a rather tall girl of lithe figure and unusually fine carriage. Her olive complexion was lighted with great black eyes that rested on you with an air of imperturbable a.s.surance, as penetrating as it was negligent. She was talking, and her companions were listening and laughing. As they came face to face with Arthur and Amy, he saw that they barely noticed her, while glancing at him rather curiously, with the boldness of girls in a crowd of their own s.e.x. They evidently observed that he was a stranger to the village, and of quite a different style from that of the country b.u.mpkins and rural exquisites they were accustomed to meeting. There was in the big black eyes, as they had met his a moment, a suggestion of interest that was strangely flattering, and left a trace of not unpleasant agitation.
"Who was that?" he asked, as they pa.s.sed out of hearing.
He only thought of asking for one, although there were six, nor she apparently of answering differently.
"Lina Maynard. They are "Sem." girls."
It was a dulled voice she spoke in, quite unlike her usual eager way of giving information. She, poor thing, was terribly afraid he would ask her why they did not seem acquainted with her, and it would have been a painful humiliation to have explained. Arthur was conscious that he no longer had exactly the same feeling of merely contemptuous annoyance toward Lina Maynard, on account of her treatment of Amy. He sympathized as much with his sister, of course, but somehow felt that to be recognized by Lina Maynard was not such a childish ambition as he had taken for granted.