Hot and dusty, the party halted in front of a hotel. The village was larger and more prosperous than any yet visited.
A number of men were threshing grain a few hundred yards away, the steam threshing machine attracting farmers from all the country about. One a peculiar man, more refined appearing than the others, had once been a college professor; overstudy had partially unbalanced his reason. He was versed in the cla.s.sics. He took an especial interest in Alfred.
Bill Joseph is the luckiest man that ever tapped a slot machine. When traveling he often steps off the train while it halts at a depot and pulls his expenses out of a slot machine. On this day he was unusually lucky. The hotel had a varied a.s.sortment of drop-a-nickle-in-the-slot devices. Joe tapped them in a row. The hotel people looked upon him with suspicion. But when he carried the winnings into the bar, ordering the hotel man to slake the thirsts of the threshers, they were sort of reconciled. The old college professor, unlike the others, demanded something stronger than beer. His neighbors, who evidently had him in charge, endeavored to persuade him to go home.
[Ill.u.s.tration: On the Crowd Cheered]
"Wait! Hold a minute. I want to talk to this man Field. He is a scientific man. His father laid the Atlantic cable. His family is noted the world over. I want to talk to him. The Field family are noted scientists."
One of those who seemed most intimate with the professor was an old soldier, very deaf.
"What did you say his name was?" he inquired.
"Field," replied the professor. "F-i-e-l-d."
"Field," repeated the old soldier. "Field. Well, I want nuthin" to do with _him_. Field was my captain"s name in the army, an" he was the d.a.m.nedest beat I ever knowed."
The old professor stuck to Alfred quoting Latin. He quoted a striking climax from one of Bryan"s speeches, a quotation Bryan has been using in his Chautauqua lectures and political speeches for years. The old professor observed Claudius evolved this idea years ago. Alfred had no idea of who Claudius was, or how long ago he lived. However, when he located him four hundred years back, the old professor said "Huh, four hundred years ago? H-ll! Four thousand years." Alfred did not delve into the cla.s.sics further.
Alfred presented the claims of Geo. Karb for the office of Sheriff and concluded his talk by inviting all to call on Karb when they happened in Columbus. "And when election day comes around, I hope you will all see your way clear to cast your votes for him, even though you are opposed to him politically. We must not adhere too strictly to our political prejudices in selecting officers to look after our personal affairs. And that"s what a sheriff should do, and that"s what Geo. Karb will do.
Therefore, I ask you to cast your votes for Geo. J. Karb for sheriff of Franklin County."
The crowd cheered.
The old professor took it upon himself to reply. First, he thanked all for the honor they did his community by visiting them. "We have too few scientists visit us and I hope Mr. Field will come again when he can enlighten us on many scientific matters of which we are in doubt. As to his candidate for Sheriff of Franklin County, we know he is deserving or Mr. Field and the eminent gentlemen would not commend him. And I know that every voter here would be glad to vote for Mr. Karb if we lived in Franklin County."
The facts are, the committee in their zeal, were electioneering in Milford Center, Union County.
Joe was pryed off the slot machines and a solemn compact entered into that the part of the electioneering tour over the Franklin County line be forever held and guarded as a sealed book.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
And far away--up yonder, in the window o" the blue, The dreamed-of angels listen to an echo glad and new-- Thrilled to the Gates of Glory, and they say: "Heaven"s love to you, Brother of the Light that makes the Morning!"
"If John kin do better in Columbus, hit"s yo"re duty to go." Thus Linn advised the mother.
Columbus was a big city but it was not home. The mother was discontented and longed for the old town back yonder. Alfred had promised to abandon his circus ambitions. He had just concluded a season in the south with the Simmons & Sloc.u.m Minstrels, a famous troupe of those days. E. N.
Sloc.u.m was a Columbus man. Alfred had received an offer to cross the ocean with Haverly"s Minstrels, a very large company. Haverly had invaded London previously and the success of that venture aroused great hopes for the success of the second company. The mother"s strenuous opposition to Alfred"s acceptance of the engagement was backed up by Uncle Henry Hunt, who was on a visit from Burlington, Iowa.
Uncle Henry was born in Elk County, Ky. His mother died when he was very young. His father married soon after the death of the first wife. The younger sister and himself did not appeal strongly to the step-mother.
She was deeply interested in church work, and had little time to devote to the half orphaned children or her home. A plantation and a hundred and fifty slaves engaged all the father"s time. The boy and girl ran wild on the place and it was little wonder they often came in for censure and even more severe punishment. The sister seemed more aggravating to the new mother than the boy. Reprimands became more frequent, followed by bodily punishment. During the father"s absence in Louisville, the step-mother"s abuse of the sister became so aggravating to the brother that he a.s.saulted the step-mother. The boy, fearing the wrath of the father, determined to run away. He had relatives, a brother in Newark, Ohio. Walking and working, he reached Newark, footsore, weary, lonesome and homesick. He felt he had reached a haven of rest.
The wife of the brother was the best man. She ran the husband, she ran the home. Ragged and miserable looking, his reception was anything but cordial. The recital of his wrongs, the abuse of his sister by the step-mother, instead of creating sympathy, brought censure. The brother"s wife was a most devout church member and that a boy of fourteen had descended to the depths of degradation his condition denoted, was most abhorrent to her.
The boy realized that he was an unwelcome guest. It was not long ere the brother, influenced by the wife, informed him that he must go back to his home, to the old plantation in Kentucky, that he must submit to the authority of the step-mother, become a better boy, that his behavior, had disgraced the family, and that he, the brother, could not harbor him longer. The brother"s wife a.s.sured him the prayers of herself and family would go up for him nightly. They gave him no food, they gave him no money. When the door of his brother"s house closed upon him, all there was of love in his being for kith or kin went out of him, save for the memory of the dead mother and the living sister. He worked on a farm barefooted; he slept in an out-house without sufficient covering to keep him warm; he carried a clap-board to the field that he might protect his feet from the frost while he husked corn. He apprenticed himself to a blacksmith, learned the trade and came to Columbus. He established a shop at a crossroads in the country. It became known as Hunt"s Corners.
It is now the corner of Cleveland and Mt. Vernon Avenues.
Uncle Henry, through influence, secured a contract from the penitentiary. He acc.u.mulated money, moved to Burlington, Iowa, became one of the prosperous, progressive business men of that beautiful city.
That Uncle Henry"s heart was hardened towards relatives did not change his generous disposition towards friends.
Alfred liked the rugged old blacksmith whose good nature and wholesome hospitality were the admiration of all who were fortunate enough to be his guests. He entertained as few men can entertain. The host of a home is a difficult social role to fill. There are no rules, no book-lessons that teach it. It is an inborn trait and comes only to a man who loves the companionship, the good-fellowship of human beings. Uncle Henry was noted for the good things to eat he so abundantly provided. However, had he served the plainest food to those whom he welcomed, his hearty hospitality would have made it a feast.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Uncle Henry]
Uncle Henry soothingly addressed the mother: "Sis," (he always addressed her as "Sis,"), "Alfred"s not going to England. He has walked many dusty roads, like myself, and he"s all the better for it, but you can"t walk back from England. I"ve told him so. Alfred"s going to stay right here in this country. He"s all right. He"s going with a circus. He"s a better circus manager than plenty of them that"s making money. When he gets a little older, hard behind the ears, we"re going to get up a company and start him out right. I"ve talked it all over with Grimes and two or three other friends. Now you and John just let that boy alone. He"ll come out all right."
The mother said: "Alfred has promised me he will not go with another circus. It keeps us worried all the time. I"m afraid something will happen him."
"Yes, something will happen him, and you take it from me, it will happen here or there, and it"s more liable to happen here than there. Say, Sis, come on, be a sensible woman. Never drive your boys away. Never coax them to lie."
"Why, I haven"t coaxed Alfred to lie," quickly answered the mother.
"Say, Sis, you"ve been coaxing that boy to lie since he was able to paddle his own canoe. Your coaxing him to do that, he will never do.
That is, stay at home and paint wagons, houses or boats. Give him his way. He"ll have it anyhow, you see if he don"t. If he wants to start a grocery, I"ll loan him the money. But, he"ll never make a groceryman.
Suppose they"d tried to make a preacher out me," (and all laughed), Uncle Henry said, "Yes, you laugh at the very idea of it. Let me tell you something, and I hope Alfred"s high-falutin" preacher uncles and others won"t get red in the face when they hear of it. If you all keep caterwauling Alfred around, he wouldn"t amount to three hurrahs in Halifax."
"He may work for Doctor Hawkes forty years longer and he will be no better off than a living. There"s no hope for a boy in working for a man like Doctor Hawkes. The Doctor"s all right but he never a.s.sisted a human being to better himself. He"s like all other rich men. He just uses men to pile it up for himself, and any man that can"t pile it up for himself, or don"t make a big try to do so, needs shingling. I never had any relatives to pull me back, and I never had any to put me forward."
"Where is your brother and his wife?" someone asked Uncle Henry.
"Wheeling cinders," came quick as a flash.
"Oh, Uncle Henry, I am surprised."
"Well, the reason I say that, is, they told me that people that did certain things would sure go there"--and he pointed downwards--"and they did those very things so what can I say when you ask me where they are?"
Peter Sells and Alfred were close friends. The Sells Bros. Show had opened early--April 16, 17, 18. It rained or snowed every day during their engagement in Columbus. The show was to appear in Chillicothe a few days after leaving Columbus. Peter Sells came into the stage office and arranged to go to Chillicothe. He had returned from Kentucky to confer with his brothers. Alfred accepted his invitation to accompany him to Chillicothe. The after concert, with no performers to present it, had been omitted for three days. Alfred advised Ephraim Sells that could he find wardrobe a concert could be given that afternoon and night. The wardrobe was secured. The announcer made much of the "great minstrel comedian" who would positively appear in the concert for this day only.
Nat Goodwin and his company, who were to appear in the opera house that night, were in the audience.
Ephraim, Allen and Peter Sells, and Alfred were seated on a bench in front of the hotel. Allen Sells was endeavoring to persuade Alfred to remain with the show.
While the d.i.c.ker was pending, a young clerk from a store door, yelled to a pa.s.ser-by on the opposite side of the street: "Were you at the circus?" The other yelled: "Yes." "How was it?" "b.u.m, but the concert"s good. That Al. G. Field that was here last winter in the opera house, is with them. The concert"s the best part of the whole thing. I guess the minstrels are busted, or Field wouldn"t be with such a b.u.m circus."
The Sells Brothers appreciated the joke.
The argument ended abruptly by the engagement of Alfred.
Ephraim Sells was exacting in all his dealings. Severe with the drunkard, he endeavored to a.s.sist all temperate and deserving employes, advising men to secure their own homes. "Own your home. You will never acc.u.mulate anything without a home. Establish a home, raise a family, be somebody." There are many men living in Columbus today who owe all their possessions to Ephraim Sells" advice.
The Sells Brothers Shows were larger than the Thayer & Noyes. In fact, the Sells Shows had the advantage of a menagerie. The circus performance was not so meritorious as the first circus Alfred was connected with.
The Sells brothers, with the exception of Peter, were not good showmen; that is, they were not producers, although good business men. Had the Sells brothers possessed the talent for originating and producing displayed by James A. Bailey, or Alfred T. Ringling, their organization would have been second to none, as they had the opportunities but did not take advantage of them.