"I will!" Pippin a.s.sured her. "Just the moment Mrs. Bailey gets through with Mr. Blossom, we"ll have us a reg"lar singsong, we will so. Real fond of singin", ain"t you, Miss Flora May? Say, that"s a dandy necklace you have on! Them beads are carved elegant, they sure are."
Flora May lifted the beads and glanced carelessly at them. They were of some hard nut wood, each one adorned with flowers and fruit in delicate carving: a pretty ornament enough.
"Uncle Brand made them for me," she said. "Take them!" She had slipped the necklace off and was pressing it into Pippin"s hand. He took it and examined it admiringly, then put it gently back over the girl"s head.
"I thank you a thousand times!" he said. "I couldn"t wear "em myself, not travelin" like I am, you see, and I like to see "em round your neck, they look so pretty. It"s young ladies ought to wear joolry, you know."
He smiled at her, but her eyes met his anxiously.
"You are not goin" away?" said the girl. "You are goin" to stay? I"ll give you my eagle feathers if you will stay. I"m tired of the folks here."
"Now what a way that is to talk! You"re just jokin" though, I see. It _would_ be a joke if you was tired of Mr. and Mrs. Bailey, wouldn"t it now?"
"I"ll give you the white duck, if you"ll stay!" she went on in her sweet monotonous voice, which yet was strangely eager. "Uncle Bailey gave it to me, it"s mine. I"ll give you everything I"ve got if you"ll stay."
At this moment, to Pippin"s infinite relief, Mr. Bailey emerged from the shed. He laid his hand on the girl"s shoulder; instantly her whole form relaxed and she drooped into her customary att.i.tude of listless indifference.
"Anything wrong, little gal?" asked Jacob Bailey, kindly. Flora May shook her head and turned away with a pettish movement of her shoulders.
"She was wantin" me to sing for her," said Pippin. "I will, too, Mr.
Bailey, sir, soon as ever you and Mis" Bailey are ready. I don"t mean to brag of my singin", don"t you think that, but it"s what has ben give me, and about all I have to give when folks is so dandy to me as what you folks have been here. So if agreeable, sir, say the word and I"ll tune up!"
CHAPTER VI
PIPPIN SINGS FOR HIS SUPPER
So Pippin sang for his supper, a grateful Tommy Tucker; and the imbecile girl sat at his feet and listened, rocking to and fro, her lovely face so full of joy that it was almost--almost--
He sang about the Young Lady who went a-hunting with her dog and her gun, and about poor bonny sweet Bessie, the Flower of Dundee, and "Silver Threads among the Gold," which made Mrs. Bailey cry and Jacob blow his nose loudly. He was about to give them "Nancy Lee," but checked suddenly. Was he forgetting the Lord, after that elegant supper? Now wouldn"t that give you a pain?
"_That"s right!_" Pippin spoke so suddenly that everybody started.
"Excuse _me_!" he said hastily. "I was thinkin"--leastways I wa"n"t thinkin"--well, it don"t signify whichever way of it, but if agreeable, I will praise the Lord a spell!"
A murmur of approval greeted him. Mrs. Bailey"s kind face lighted up.
"That will surely be a treat!" she cried. "And--oh, Mr. Pippin, wait one moment! If you don"t mind standing in the doorway of old Mr. Blossom"s room, so he can hear you? He"s real quiet now, and I"m sure "twill do him good--"
So Pippin stood in the doorway, and threw back his head and sang with all his heart and soul:
"When I can read my t.i.tle clear To mansions in the skies, I"ll bid farewell to every fear, And wipe my weeping eyes."
This hymn is left out of many hymn books nowadays; it is old-fashioned, and some of its lines are patently absurd: but I wish the hymnologists could hear Pippin sing it. His voice goes soaring up, a golden trump of victory and triumph:
"There shall I bathe my weary soul In seas of heavenly rest; And not a wave of trouble roll Across my peaceful breast."
As he finished, he swung round, his eyes blazing, every inch of him a-thrill. "Old man," he cried, and the pa.s.sion in his voice made them all start. "Don"t you feel it? Don"t you feel somethin" crinklin" all through you, like sap in a sugar maple? That"s the grace of G.o.d, Old man; let her run! Oh, Lord, let her run!"
There was a moment"s silence; then Mr. Blossom snickered. It is not a pretty word, but then it was not a pretty sound.
Pippin was at his side in an instant, his eyes ablaze again, but with a very different light.
"You old skunk!" he cried, gripping the bony shoulders hunched below the leering face. "You darned old son of a broken whisky jug, you dare to snicker before the Lord? For half a quarter of a cent I"d wring your rooster"s neck for you, you--"
He stopped, as if somebody had touched him. His head drooped, his arms dropped by his side, and he flushed scarlet from throat to forehead. He stood so for several minutes, no one stirring; then he turned humbly to Jacob Bailey.
"I ask your pardon, sir, and the company"s. I lost holt of myself.
There! I am fairly ashamed." He leaned over the poor old sinner, who was still gasping from the sudden onslaught. "Hurt you, did I, Old Man? I ask your pardon, too, I do so. Lemme h"ist you a mite!"
With anxious care he raised the shrunken figure and settled the pillows under the palsied head.
"There! That comfy, old geezer? Now you go to sleep! I was a mutt to shake you up that way. Goo" night, Old Man!"
Sitting on his neat bed an hour later, Pippin dealt with himself, as judge with criminal. His vivid fancy saw himself as two distinct beings, one arraigning, the other replying. He desired to know whether he, Pippin, thought he was all creation? Because if so, he took leave to tell him he wasn"t, nor anything approachin" it. Rea.s.sured on this point, he further observed that perhaps on the whole it might be best for him to go back to Sh.o.r.eham. Most likely he wasn"t prepared yet to live among Christian folks; say he was to go back for another year till he"d learned to hold his tongue and keep his temper! How would he like that?
"Well, then, you behave! If you"re a Christian, show up, that"s what I say. What was it you promised Elder Hadley? To look for the grace of G.o.d in every one you see, wasn"t it? Well, then! _Did_ you look for it in Old Man Blossom?"
"Why, sure! Didn"t I sing, and pray, and all? I couldn"t find no grace, not a mite, so help me!"
Silence; the outward man sitting with bent head and knotted brows, the inner--both of him--wrestling with a problem. At last the brows cleared, the head lifted.
"Bonehead!" said Pippin. "You didn"t look in the right place. Prayin"
an" singin" wasn"t his kind, no more than they were a dumb critter"s.
Didn"t he want his little gal, want her real bad? Wasn"t that mebbe the way grace took him? I expect the Lord has as many ways as there is folks."
Finally Pippin concluded that he would do well to say his prayers and go to bed and let the Lord run things a spell, as He was full able to do.
And start off next morning, sure thing, or the Boss would think he had cut. Gee! he hated to leave this place!
"I don"t see how you do it!" said Pippin. "Gorry to "Liza, Mr. Brand, I don"t see _how_ you do it!"
Brand was making a broom; Pippin, smoking his after-breakfast and before-departure pipe in the barn doorway, watched him with growing wonder and admiration. His fingers seemed almost to twinkle, they moved so fast, knotting, laying together, binding in the fragrant strands of broom corn.
"I"ve made many a broom!" Pippin went on. "I was counted a crackerjack at bindin"; but you work twice as fast blind as what I would seein"; that"s what gets me!"
The blind man raised his head with a smile, his hands never ceasing their swift motion.
"I sometimes think seeing folks don"t have half a chance at broom-making and like that," he said. "There"s so many things to take their minds off. Now, take this minute of time. There"s a cloud pa.s.sing over the sun, isn"t there?"
"Why, yes!" Pippin looked up involuntarily, shifting his position a little to do so. "Yes, sir, there is. Now how--"
"And you had to look up to see it!" the blind man went on, calmly. "That takes time and attention. Now I _feel_ the cloud, and that"s all there is to it. There are some advantages in being blind; born blind, that is."