CHAPTER VI.
THE WOUNDS OF THE HEART.
When I took leave of the family I returned to the room where I had left Peter and the doctor, but they had both retired. And as my chamber adjoined it, I sat by the fire, lighted a cigar, and fell into one of my rambling meditations.
Here, said I to myself, is another phase of life. Peter is at once a Highlander, a Canadian, a trapper, a backwoodsman, and a coaster. His daughters are half Scotch and half Indian, and have many of the peculiarities of both races. There is even between these sisters a wide difference in intellect, appearance, and innate refinement. The doctor has apparently abandoned his profession for the study of nature, and quit the busy haunts of men for the solitude of the forest. He seems to think and act differently from any one else in the country. Here too we have had Cutler, who is a scholar and a skilful navigator, filling the berth of a master of a fishing craft. He began life with nothing but good principles and good spirits, and is now about entering on a career, which in a few years will lead to a great fortune. He is as much out of place where he is, as a salmon would be in a horse pond. And here am I, Squire, your humble servant, Sam Slick the Clockmaker, not an eccentric man, I hope, for I detest them, they are either mad, or wish to be thought so, because madness they suppose to be an evidence of genius; but a specimen of a cla.s.s not uncommon in the States, though no other country in the world but Yankeedoodledum produces it.
This is a combination these colonies often exhibit, and what a fool a man must be when character is written in such large print, if he can"t read it even as he travels on horseback.
Of all the party a.s.sembled here to-night, the Scotch la.s.ses alone, who came in during the evening, are what you call everyday galls. They are strong, hearty, intelligent, and good-natured, full of fun and industry, can milk, churn, make b.u.t.ter and cheese, card, spin, and weave, and will make capital wives for farmers of their own station in life. As such, they are favourable representatives of their cla.s.s, and to my mind, far, far above those that look down upon them, who ape, but can"t copy, and have the folly, because they sail in the wake of larger craft, to suppose they can be mistaken for anything else than tenders. Putting three masts into a coaster may make her an object of ridicule, but can never give her the appearance of a ship. They know this in England, they have got to learn it yet in the Provinces.
Well, this miscellaneous collection of people affords a wide field for speculation. Jessie is a remarkable woman, I must ask the doctor about her history. I see there is a depth of feeling about her, a simplicity of character, a singular sensitiveness, and a shade of melancholy. Is it const.i.tutional, or does it arise from her peculiar position? I wonder how she reasons, and what she thinks, and how she would talk, if she would say what she thinks. Has she ability to build up a theory of her own, or does she, like half the women in the world, only think of a thing as it occurs? Does she live in instances or in generalities, I"ll draw her out and see. Every order, where there are orders, and every cla.s.s (and no place is without them where women are), have a way of judging in common with their order or cla.s.s. What is her station I wonder in her own opinion? What are her expectations?
What are her notions of wedlock? All girls regard marriage as an enviable lot, or a necessary evil. If they tell us they don"t, it"s because the right man hante come. And therefore I never mind what they say on this subject. I have no doubt they mean it; but they don"t know what they are a talking about.
You, Squire, may go into a ball-room, where there are two hundred women. One hundred and ninety-nine of them you will pa.s.s with as much indifference as one hundred and ninety-nine pullets; but the two hundredth irresistibly draws you to her. There are one hundred handsomer, and ninety-nine cleverer ones present; but she alone has the magnet that attracts you. Now, what is that magnet? Is it her manner that charms? is it her voice that strikes on one of those thousand and one chords of your nervous system, and makes it vibrate, as sound does hollow gla.s.s? Or do her eyes affect your gizzard, so that you have no time to chew the cud of reflection, and no opportunity for your head to judge how you can digest the notions they have put into it? Or is it animal magnetism, or what the plague is it?
You are strangely affected; n.o.body else in the room is, and everybody wonders at you. But so it is. It"s an even chance if you don"t perpetrate matrimony. Well, that"s a thing that sharpens the eyesight, and will remove a cateract quicker than an oculist can, to save his soul alive. It metamorphoses an angel into a woman, and it"s plaguey lucky if the process don"t go on and change her into something else.
After I got so far in my meditations, I lit another cigar, and took out my watch to look at the time. "My eyes," sais I, "if it tante past one o"clock at night. Howsomever, it ain"t often I get a chance to be alone, and I will finish this here weed, at any rate." Arter which I turned in. The following morning I did not rise as early as usual, for it"s a great secret for a man never to be in the way, especially in a house like Peter"s, where his daughters had, in course, a good deal to see to themselves. So I thought I"d turn over and take another snoose; and do you know, Squire, that is always a dreamy one, and if your mind ain"t worried, or your digestion askew, it"s more nor probable you will have pleasant ones.
When I went into the keeping-room, I found Jessie and her sister there, the table set, and everything prepared for me.
"Mr Slick," said the elder one, "your breakfast is ready."
"But where is your father?" said I, "and Doctor Ovey?"
"Oh, they have gone to the next harbour, Sir, to see a man who is very ill there. The doctor left a message for you, he said he wanted to see you again very much, and hoped to find you here on his return, which will be about four o"clock in the afternoon. He desired me to say, if you sailed before he got back, he hoped you would leave word what port he would find you in, as he would follow you."
"Oh," said I, "we shall not go before to-morrow, at the earliest, so he will be in very good time. But who in the world is Doctor Ovey? He is the most singular man I ever met. He is very eccentric; ain"t he?"
"I don"t know who he is," she replied. "Father agrees with you. He says he talks sometimes as if he was daft, but that, I believe, is only because he is so learned. He has a house a way back in the forest, where he lives occasionally; but the greater part of the year he wanders about the woods, and camps out like--"
She hesitated a moment, and then brought out the reluctant word: "an Indian. He knows the name of every plant and flower in the country, and their uses; and the nature of every root, or bark, or leaf that ever was; and then he knows all the ores, and coal mines, and everything of that kind. He is a great hand for stuffing birds and animals, and has some of every kind there is in the province. As for b.u.t.terflies, beetles, and those sort of things, he will chase them like a child all day. His house is a regular--. I don"t recollect the word in English; in Gaelic it is "tigh neonachais.""
"Museum?" said I.
"Ah, that"s it," said she.
"He can"t have much practice," I said, "if he goes racing and chasing over the country that way, like a run-away engine."
"He don"t want it, Sir," she replied, "he is very well off. He says he is one of the richest men in the country, for he don"t spend half his income, and that any man who does that is wealthy. He says he ain"t a doctor. Whether he is or not, I don"t know; but he makes wonderful cures. Nothing in the world makes him so angry as when anybody sends for him that can afford a doctor, for he don"t take pay. Now, this morning he stormed, and raved, and stamped, and foamed at the mouth, as if he was mad; he fairly swore, a thing I never heard him do before; and he seized the hammer that he chips off stones with, and threatened the man so who come for him, that he stood with the door in his hand, while he begged him to go.
""Oh, Sir," said he, "the Squire will die if you don"t go."
""Let him die, then," he replied, "and be hanged. What is it to me? It serves him right. Why didn"t he send for Doctor Smith, and pay him?
Does he think I am a going to rob that man of his living? Be off, Sir, off with you. Tell him I can"t come, and won"t come, and do you go for a magistrate to make his will."
"As soon as the man quitted the house, his fit left him.
""Well," said he, "Peter, I suppose we musn"t let the man perish after all; but I wish he hadn"t sent for me, especially just now, for I want to have a long talk with Mr Slick."
"And he and father set off immediately through the woods."
"Suppose we beat up his quarters," said I, "Jessie. I should like to see his house and collection, amazingly."
"Oh," said she, "so should I, above all things; but I wouldn"t ask him for the world. He"ll do it for you, I know he will; for he says you are a man after his own heart. You study nature so; and I don"t know what all, he said of you."
"Well, well," sais I, "old trapper as he is, see if I don"t catch him.
I know how to bait the trap; so he will walk right into it. And then, if he has anything to eat there, I"ll show him how to cook it woodsman fashion. I"ll teach him how to dress a salmon; roast, boil, or bake.
How to make a bee-hunter"s mess; a new way to do his potatoes camp fashion; and how to dispense with kitchen-ranges, cabouses, or cooking-stoves. If I could only knock over some wild-ducks at the lake here, I"d show him a simple way of preparing them, that would make his mouth water, I know. Truth is, a man that lives in the country ought to know a little of everything a"most, and he can"t be comfortable if he don"t. But dear me, I must be a movin."
So I made her a bow, and she made me one of her best courtseys. And I held out my hand to her, but she didn"t take it, though I see a smile playin" over her face. The fact is, it is just as well she didn"t, for I intended to draw her--. Well, it ain"t no matter what I intended to do; and therefore it ain"t no use to confess what I didn"t realise.
"Truth is," said I, lingering a bit, not to look disappointed, "a farmer ought to know what to raise, how to live, and where to save. If two things are equally good, and one costs money, and the other only a little trouble, the choice ain"t difficult, is it?"
"Mr Slick," sais she, "are you a farmer?"
"I was bred and born on a farm, dear," sais I, "and on one, too, where nothin" was ever wasted, and no time ever lost; where there was a place for everything, and everything was in its place. Where peace and plenty reigned; and where there was a shot in the locker for the minister, and another for the poor, and--"
"You don"t mean to say that you considered them game, did you?" said she, looking archly.
"Thank you," sais I. "But now you are making game of me, Miss; that"s not a bad hit of yours though; and a shot for the bank, at the eend of the year. I know all about farm things, from raisin" Indian corn down to managing a pea-hen; the most difficult thing to regulate next to a wife, I ever see."
"Do you live on a farm now?"
"Yes, when I am to home," sais I, "I have returned again to the old occupation and the old place; for, after all, what"s bred in the bone, you know, is hard to get out of the flesh, and home is home, however homely. The stones, and the trees, and the brooks, and the hills look like old friends--don"t you think so?"
"I should think so," she said; "but I have never returned to my home or my people, and never shall." And the tears rose in her eyes, and she got up and walked to the window, and said, with her back towards me, as if she was looking at the weather: "The doctor has a fine day for his journey; I hope he will return soon. I think you will like him."
And then she came back and took her seat, as composed as if I had never awakened those sad thoughts. Poor thing! I knew what was pa.s.sing in her mind, as well as if those eloquent tears had not touched my heart. Somehow or another, it appears to me, like a stumblin" horse, I am always a-striking my foot agin some stone, or stump, or root, that any fellow might see with half an eye. She forced a smile, and said:
"Are you married, Sir?"
"Married," sais I, "to be sure I am; I married Flora."
"You must think me as innocent as she was, to believe that," she said, and laughed at the idea. "How many children have you?"
"Seven," sais I:
"Richard R., and Ira C., Betsey Anne, and Jessie B., Sary D., Eugeen--E, And Iren--ee."
"I have heard a great deal of you, Mr Slick," she said, "but you are the queerest man I ever see. You talk so serious, and yet you are so full of fun."
"That"s because I don"t pretend to nothin", dear;" sais I, "I am just a nateral man. There is a time for all things, and a way to do "em too. If I have to freeze down solid to a thing, why then, ice is the word. If there is a thaw, then fun and snow-ballin" is the ticket. I listen to a preacher, and try to be the better for his argufying, if he has any sense, and will let me; and I listen to the violin, and dance to it, if it"s in tune, and played right. I like my pastime, and one day in seven is all the Lord asks. Evangelical people say he wants the other six. Let them state day and date and book and page for that, for I won"t take their word for it. So I won"t dance of a Sunday; but show me a pretty gall, and give me good music, and see if I don"t dance any other day. I am not a droll man, dear, but I say what I think, and do what I please, as long as I know I ain"t saying or doing wrong. And if that ain"t poetry, it"s truth, that"s all."