Latest / Murrays Adirondack Tales / 24 - Murray's Adirondack Tales by William Henry Harrison Murray

Transcript

24 - Murray's Adirondack Tales by William Henry Harrison Murray · Murrays Adirondack Tales

0:00
Speaker 1: Three. A fool and a half breed, answered the trapper,
0:05
Speaker 1: evidently enjoying the curiosity of his guest. Yes, a downright
0:09
Speaker 1: fool who conceded in his craziness that he was an
0:12
Speaker 1: animal and so wouldn't dress himself like a rational being,
0:16
Speaker 1: But had managed to get himself inside a panther's skin.
0:19
Speaker 1: And he had done a clever too, for even his
0:22
Speaker 1: face was covered with the pelt. And if he hadn't
0:25
Speaker 1: opened his mouth and let out a scream of his
0:27
Speaker 1: gibbering as I draw it on him, he'd have found
0:30
Speaker 1: his senses in eternity quick as powder could burn. For
0:34
Speaker 1: dusky as it was, I'd got the line right, and
0:37
Speaker 1: my finger was getting heavy on the trigger. Yes, his
0:40
Speaker 1: gibbering saved him, for he certainly looked like the animal
0:44
Speaker 1: whose skin he wore in the place of his clothes.
0:46
Speaker 1: And the panthers and me have got a sort of
0:48
Speaker 1: runnin' account. And I wiped the slate, as the storekeepers
0:52
Speaker 1: say in the settlements, as often as I get a chance.
0:56
Speaker 1: What did you do with him? John Norton asked the
0:58
Speaker 1: man do with him? Exclaimed the trapper. I couldn't do
1:03
Speaker 1: anything with him, you see, he was crazy as a loon,
1:06
Speaker 1: and he hadn't no sense. You couldn't get him to
1:09
Speaker 1: talk like a knowing person. But he'd owl and screech
1:12
Speaker 1: and jibber and jump around you and make a spring
1:15
Speaker 1: at you, as if the old fellow himself was in him,
1:17
Speaker 1: And I certainly guess he was by the way he acted.
1:21
Speaker 1: Did you ever see a crazy person? Friend? Yes, we
1:24
Speaker 1: had three lunatics in the poor house, replied the man.
1:28
Speaker 1: I don't understand, you, said the trapper, I said, returned
1:33
Speaker 1: the man, We had three crazy folks in the poor house.
1:37
Speaker 1: Certain certain I understand, returned the trapper. No, it don't
1:42
Speaker 1: make much difference what you call him. One name's as
1:45
Speaker 1: good as another. When a man has lost his senses,
1:48
Speaker 1: for all that's worth, naming has sort of gone out
1:50
Speaker 1: of him. I shouldn't wonder if lunatics was a pretty
1:53
Speaker 1: good name for him. But we call him crazy folks
1:56
Speaker 1: here in the woods. But don't you forget to tell
1:59
Speaker 1: me how you got out of the poorhouse. For between
2:01
Speaker 1: the straw and the starving and a church member and
2:04
Speaker 1: the lunatics, you must have had an infernal time, And
2:07
Speaker 1: I'd like to know how you get out of it.
2:09
Speaker 1: It came about this way, said the man. It was
2:12
Speaker 1: the law of the town that when any pauper child
2:15
Speaker 1: reached the age of fourteen, he should be apprenticed to
2:18
Speaker 1: some trade by the town authorities, or should be bound
2:22
Speaker 1: out to a farmer, unless he was adopted into some
2:25
Speaker 1: family where his support should be guaranteed. Well, I had
2:29
Speaker 1: lived two years in the poorhouse, and the time had
2:31
Speaker 1: come for me to be sent out. And one day
2:34
Speaker 1: in early spring I was sitting on the south side
2:37
Speaker 1: of the house whittling. I used to whittle a great deal.
2:41
Speaker 1: I had a great knack for making things with my knife.
2:44
Speaker 1: You know, some boys have a great knack at whittling. Certainly,
2:48
Speaker 1: said the trapper. There's a man up on the Saint
2:51
Speaker 1: Regis that they say has been whittling for more than
2:53
Speaker 1: fifty years steady. A trapper that I met on Deadwood
2:57
Speaker 1: was telling me this fall that he knowed him, and
3:00
Speaker 1: that he would whittle all the time, that he'd stop
3:02
Speaker 1: in his eating and go to whittling. Then he'd get
3:05
Speaker 1: up in the middle of the night and go to whittling.
3:07
Speaker 1: And he said, but I concede that he may have
3:09
Speaker 1: stretched it a little. That the man started to go
3:12
Speaker 1: down to the store one morning, and that about halfway
3:15
Speaker 1: down there there was an old pepperridge stump. Well, he'd
3:18
Speaker 1: come along to the stump. You see, he'd seated a
3:21
Speaker 1: good many times, and he had kind of a hanker
3:23
Speaker 1: and to get at it. So when he got in
3:25
Speaker 1: front of the stump, he stopped and begun to look
3:27
Speaker 1: at it, and Arder. He'd looked at it for a
3:30
Speaker 1: few minutes, sort of arnest like. He fetched his jackknife
3:33
Speaker 1: out of his pocket, and Arder, rubbing it a few
3:36
Speaker 1: times up and down on a calf of his boot
3:38
Speaker 1: to get the edge right. He began to whittle at
3:40
Speaker 1: the stump. Did you ever whittle a bit of pepperridge? Friend?
3:44
Speaker 1: I don't think I ever did, said the man. Well,
3:48
Speaker 1: responded the trapper, Then you have no idea what pepperridge
3:51
Speaker 1: would is. I made a ramrod once a pepperridge, and
3:55
Speaker 1: took me nigh all winter off and on to dress
3:57
Speaker 1: the pesky thing smooth and arder, I'd got it all right.
4:01
Speaker 1: I polished it off with a bit of sanded buckskin.
4:04
Speaker 1: I sot it up again the edge of the table,
4:07
Speaker 1: and in less than two minutes Rover, when he was
4:10
Speaker 1: a pup then, who was cutting up his antics around
4:13
Speaker 1: the room. Run again that ramrod and broke it square
4:15
Speaker 1: off in the middle. What did you do, then, asked
4:19
Speaker 1: the stranger, laughing as much at the expression on the
4:21
Speaker 1: trapper's face as at the humor of his experience. I
4:25
Speaker 1: didn't do anything, responded the trapper. You see, there wasn't
4:28
Speaker 1: anything I could do that would sort of relieve me.
4:31
Speaker 1: There's some feelings that a man can express, but there's
4:34
Speaker 1: some you can't get out of you in words. Then
4:36
Speaker 1: I had kind of an idea if I said anything,
4:39
Speaker 1: I might get mad, for I was a good deal
4:42
Speaker 1: riled inwardly, And I think talking sort of helps a
4:45
Speaker 1: man to get mad when he's riled. And unless you
4:48
Speaker 1: say under such circumstances, the better I can see, Perhaps
4:52
Speaker 1: it is, said the man. But what did the man
4:55
Speaker 1: do who started the widow of peppers stump? Remember I
4:58
Speaker 1: don't vouch at its gospel truth, I'm telling you, for
5:01
Speaker 1: I had it second hand, like, and I've noted that
5:04
Speaker 1: things that come second hand be very apt to get
5:06
Speaker 1: a good deal mixed. But the trapper that camped with
5:09
Speaker 1: me on deadwood said that the man whittled at that
5:12
Speaker 1: stump all day, and then he built a fire and
5:15
Speaker 1: whittled at it all night. And that when his wife
5:19
Speaker 1: come to look him up, for she was a little
5:21
Speaker 1: worried what had become of him, he sent her back
5:24
Speaker 1: art to some victuals, and just camped down on a
5:26
Speaker 1: stump and whittled at a nigh onto a week, until
5:30
Speaker 1: you had whittled it clean down to the roots. And
5:33
Speaker 1: then he went down to the store and got him
5:35
Speaker 1: the pound of sugar he started for, and went back
5:38
Speaker 1: home as if nothing had happened. Wow, said the man, laughing,
5:43
Speaker 1: and his poor thin face, marked with its lines of
5:46
Speaker 1: strength in the lines of weakness alike, took the finest
5:49
Speaker 1: illumination when he smiled. I don't think I ever whittled
5:52
Speaker 1: like the man the trapper told you about. But I
5:55
Speaker 1: still love to whittle, and I have made many curious
5:59
Speaker 1: things with my jackknife. And one day, as I was saying,
6:03
Speaker 1: I was sitting on the south side of the poorhouse whittling.
6:07
Speaker 1: I was making a top that I could spin in
6:09
Speaker 1: the air. It was hollow inside, and I cut holes
6:12
Speaker 1: in it through which the air could enter in a
6:14
Speaker 1: strong current when in revolution, and other holes through which
6:18
Speaker 1: it could pass out. And I found that these holes
6:22
Speaker 1: might be cut in such a way that the top
6:24
Speaker 1: would make a very pleasant sound when it was spinning.
6:27
Speaker 1: And it used to spin a great while, and it
6:30
Speaker 1: would go up a great ways into the air, and
6:33
Speaker 1: the longer it went, the faster it spun, Lord, said
6:37
Speaker 1: the trapper. That was funny. I should even most think
6:41
Speaker 1: you might have made one that would never have stopped.
6:44
Speaker 1: I thought so too, John Norton, said the man. I
6:48
Speaker 1: thought so too, And I really think it might be done.
6:52
Speaker 1: But I am not certain. I've come so nigh doing
6:55
Speaker 1: a great many things and missed them. After all that,
6:58
Speaker 1: I am not so positive as I used to be.
7:01
Speaker 1: That's it, friend, said the trapper. Years makes a man
7:05
Speaker 1: uncertain about a good many things. It seemed easy when
7:08
Speaker 1: he was younger. It is true, responded the man gravely.
7:13
Speaker 1: We learn the limitations of our own powers only after
7:16
Speaker 1: many trials. But I have noticed, and I often tell Lucky,
7:21
Speaker 1: that what is impossible at one period of a man's
7:24
Speaker 1: existence becomes easy for him to do it another. And
7:28
Speaker 1: it may be that by and by, if a man
7:30
Speaker 1: keeps learning and trying and gaining power, he will be
7:34
Speaker 1: able to do everything he undertakes that looks reasonable for certain,
7:38
Speaker 1: said the trapper. I shouldn't wonder, continued the old man,
7:42
Speaker 1: with the slyest of all twinkles in his eyes. I
7:45
Speaker 1: shouldn't wonder if you made a top an eternity as
7:48
Speaker 1: big as a barrel or a shanty, and set it
7:51
Speaker 1: going so that it would never fetch up. The man
7:53
Speaker 1: was too profoundly engaged interiorly discussing in his mind the
7:57
Speaker 1: possibilities of his invention to notice the humorous incredulity of
8:02
Speaker 1: the trapper's remark, and after a moment's pause, during which
8:05
Speaker 1: he stooped and caressed the head of the dog, he resumed.
8:09
Speaker 1: I was sitting one day, as I was telling you,
8:12
Speaker 1: south of the poorhouse and the sun whittling out a top,
8:16
Speaker 1: when a man came through the gate into the yard, and,
8:19
Speaker 1: stopping in front of me, asked me what I was doing.
8:23
Speaker 1: I told him I was making a top. He looked
8:26
Speaker 1: at it curiously for a moment and said, it is
8:29
Speaker 1: a very queer looking top, my boy. I don't understand
8:32
Speaker 1: the principle on which you are making it. I don't
8:35
Speaker 1: know what you mean by principle, sir, I said, but
8:39
Speaker 1: it will spin very fast, and will spin in the air,
8:42
Speaker 1: and I can almost make it sing a tune. I
8:45
Speaker 1: never saw a top spin in the air, returned the man.
8:49
Speaker 1: I don't think yours will. If it will, I will
8:52
Speaker 1: give you a name for it. It will spin in
8:55
Speaker 1: the air, I said, jumping up and setting the spring.
8:58
Speaker 1: See here. And they sent it up into the air
9:01
Speaker 1: with all the strength I could command, and it went
9:04
Speaker 1: up and up heavens and Earth, said the trapper did
9:09
Speaker 1: actually go out of sight. You are to have invented something,
9:12
Speaker 1: as you called it, to have pulled the thing down
9:14
Speaker 1: arter a while, or it'd be kind of a losing
9:17
Speaker 1: operation to spin em, for certain, Oh, said the man.
9:21
Speaker 1: It came down after a while. But what seemed to
9:24
Speaker 1: astonish a gentleman most was that it played one set
9:28
Speaker 1: of tunes going up and another set of tunes coming down.
9:32
Speaker 1: Your top was a good deal like human beings, said
9:35
Speaker 1: the trapper. Perhaps so, said the man, smiling pleasantly into
9:40
Speaker 1: the face of the old trapper. But be as it may,
9:44
Speaker 1: the gentleman was very much astonished, and he said that
9:47
Speaker 1: I had not only made a top, but discovered a
9:50
Speaker 1: new principle of aerial pressure. A principle of great value,
9:54
Speaker 1: he said, not only for the entertainment of the young,
9:57
Speaker 1: but with possible industrial use in his application, which would
10:01
Speaker 1: be of commercial value. And he said he'd named the
10:05
Speaker 1: top according to the principles and results that suggested, and
10:09
Speaker 1: he called it the aerial melophonal top. Lord, said the trapper,
10:15
Speaker 1: that was a ripper of a name. Did a man
10:17
Speaker 1: act natural like Arter? He got out, I think you
10:21
Speaker 1: ought to have done something for you Arter, given such
10:23
Speaker 1: a name to your top, he did, said the man earnestly.
10:27
Speaker 1: He did more for me than any man that ever lived.
10:31
Speaker 1: What did he do for you? Queried the trapper. He
10:34
Speaker 1: took me from the poor house and took me to
10:36
Speaker 1: his home. And that home he gave to me, and
10:40
Speaker 1: in it I had joy, and in it I had suffering.
10:44
Speaker 1: And the joy was the finest I ever had, and
10:47
Speaker 1: the pain was the sharpest I ever felt. But the
10:51
Speaker 1: joy I had came from his strength, and the pain
10:54
Speaker 1: I had came from my weakness. Yes, he took me
10:57
Speaker 1: from the poor house, and he gave me a home.
11:00
Speaker 1: Do you know what a home is? John Norton, certain
11:04
Speaker 1: replied the trapper. Here be a home. And the old
11:07
Speaker 1: man looked affectionately at the two hounds, and then he
11:10
Speaker 1: looked at the wall from which the two pitcher frames hung,
11:13
Speaker 1: the one filled and the other empty, and he repeated,
11:17
Speaker 1: as if more to himself than to his guest, certain
11:20
Speaker 1: here be a home. The stranger's eyes had followed the
11:24
Speaker 1: direction of the trapper's glance as he looked at the hounds,
11:27
Speaker 1: and also as the old man lifted his eyes to
11:29
Speaker 1: the wall on which the filled and empty pitcher frames
11:32
Speaker 1: were hanging. His eyes lingered on the frames for a moment,
11:37
Speaker 1: and in the quickness of his sympathy, he sensed the
11:39
Speaker 1: circumstances suggested by the face of Herbert and the empty
11:43
Speaker 1: frame hanging by his side, and the loving glance which
11:47
Speaker 1: the old man had given them, And he said, speaking
11:50
Speaker 1: to his host yours, Yes, the boys be mine, said
11:55
Speaker 1: the trapper, one alive and one dead. The boys be
12:00
Speaker 1: both living, said the trapper. Where are they asked the
12:04
Speaker 1: man Henry Camps in the settlements, responded the trapper, the
12:09
Speaker 1: lad Camps higher up. There was a pause for a moment,
12:13
Speaker 1: and then the two men, so unlike in appearance, so
12:17
Speaker 1: onelike in fact, so unlike in opinions, so wildly apart
12:22
Speaker 1: an education, both seasoned with years and whiteheaded, looked involuntarily
12:28
Speaker 1: into each other's eyes a moment, and then the stranger said,
12:32
Speaker 1: I understand, And then there was another pause. Not an
12:37
Speaker 1: unpleasant study for an artist. The two aged men looking
12:40
Speaker 1: into the firelight, and looking beyond the firelight with the
12:44
Speaker 1: far sightedness of untechnical but profoundest faith. The great logs
12:49
Speaker 1: all aglow, the hounds sleeping on the hearth, the stranger's
12:53
Speaker 1: dog sitting erect with his large, bright eyes on the
12:56
Speaker 1: face of his master, the flashes of fire light flaming
13:00
Speaker 1: and fading on the wall, and playing hide and seek
13:04
Speaker 1: with the shadows in the corner, and through the window
13:07
Speaker 1: a glimpse of the white world outside, the moon, and
13:10
Speaker 1: the cold blue sky, and the scintillating stars shining brightly down.
13:15
Speaker 1: For several minutes, the silence lasted, and then the stranger said,
13:20
Speaker 1: you have found a home, John Norton, where most find
13:23
Speaker 1: only a hut, for you have brought love into it.
13:27
Speaker 1: And the angels of heaven would be homeless, and the
13:30
Speaker 1: celestial mansions if love was not with them in the
13:33
Speaker 1: places of their abode, and in the dwelling of the
13:36
Speaker 1: man who took me from the poorhouse. I found love,
13:40
Speaker 1: the love between husband and wife, which I had never seen,
13:45
Speaker 1: the love of parents for a child, and the child's
13:48
Speaker 1: love for parents. Nor had I ever seen that before.
13:52
Speaker 1: And I found more John Norton. I could not believe
13:56
Speaker 1: it at first. It was so strange. Love for the outcast,
14:02
Speaker 1: love for the pauper, Love for the boy whose father
14:06
Speaker 1: and mother were in the depths of the sea, and
14:08
Speaker 1: who had found kicks and curses and cruelty from the
14:12
Speaker 1: time he was old enough to be kicked and cursed
14:14
Speaker 1: and ill treated, but had never found love. And here
14:18
Speaker 1: the man broke down. His lips twitched, and for a
14:21
Speaker 1: moment he struggled against his feelings. And then he placed
14:25
Speaker 1: his long, thin fingers over his face, rested his elbows
14:29
Speaker 1: on his knees, and wept. His mute companion lifted his
14:34
Speaker 1: muzzle to the thin hands spread over the face, and
14:37
Speaker 1: lapped the tears that fell through between the thin fingers
14:40
Speaker 1: and trickled down the back of the thin hands. The
14:43
Speaker 1: trapper never even looked towards his guest, even with the
14:47
Speaker 1: innate modesty of true reverence, half averted his face, as
14:51
Speaker 1: if he would not intrude, even with a glance into
14:54
Speaker 1: the sacred enclosure of the man's griefs. After a while,
14:57
Speaker 1: the man raised his head, wiped tears from his eyes
15:01
Speaker 1: with the sleeve of his coat, placed both hands on
15:04
Speaker 1: either side of his dog's face, and caressed him for
15:07
Speaker 1: a moment, saying, Lucky, you are a good dog. Lucky,
15:13
Speaker 1: you are the best dog in the world. And then
15:16
Speaker 1: to the trapper, John Norton, will you overlook the exhibition
15:21
Speaker 1: of my weakness. I am not as strong as I
15:24
Speaker 1: used to be, and the memories of that far off
15:28
Speaker 1: and happy day which I had in the home of
15:30
Speaker 1: my benefactor overcame me. Friend, said the trapper. I live
15:36
Speaker 1: nigh on to eighty year, and I've consorted with many people,
15:40
Speaker 1: and I've seed the joys and the sorrows of my kind,
15:44
Speaker 1: and I've seed strong and weep like women. And there
15:48
Speaker 1: be grief that is stronger than courage, and the tears
15:51
Speaker 1: that be honest be for a man's honor. And I
15:55
Speaker 1: honor you and your grief, and I respect you and
15:58
Speaker 1: your sorrows. I trust you found the home of the
16:02
Speaker 1: man that took in a pleasant place to live in.
16:06
Speaker 1: I did, I did, I did exclaimed the man. Only
16:11
Speaker 1: he that seeth all things, and knoweth the feelings of
16:14
Speaker 1: all hearts, knoweth the joys that I found in that house.
16:19
Speaker 1: There I found books and opportunities of learning. And I
16:23
Speaker 1: became as a son to my benefactor. And there I
16:26
Speaker 1: lived ten years, And in those ten years I found
16:29
Speaker 1: the possibilities of heaven. I studied and learned and grew wise.
16:35
Speaker 1: The man was a scholar himself, and he taught me
16:37
Speaker 1: all his wisdom, and his wisdom was not only the
16:41
Speaker 1: wisdom of learning, but the wisdom of knowing and of inventing.
16:46
Speaker 1: And at that I was quicker than he. And together
16:50
Speaker 1: we explored the secrets of nature and mingled its forces
16:54
Speaker 1: in skillful combination, and directed their strength in a hundred
16:58
Speaker 1: ways for our muse and for human good. With him,
17:03
Speaker 1: I found what was in the air and in the earth,
17:06
Speaker 1: and in the subtle elements that are not named. And
17:09
Speaker 1: we gave names to these elements that were not known,
17:12
Speaker 1: and we gave forms the powers that were not embodied,
17:15
Speaker 1: for man's amusement and for man's benefit. And we found
17:19
Speaker 1: startling things John Norton, things in the air and the
17:23
Speaker 1: water that no one knew. I don't understand what you
17:26
Speaker 1: could find out in water, said the old trapper. That
17:29
Speaker 1: is anything that ordinary folks don't see. John Norton exclaimed,
17:34
Speaker 1: the man, do you know what is in water? There's
17:38
Speaker 1: a spring over on Silver Mountain, at the foot of
17:40
Speaker 1: the ledge that I run across last year. As I
17:43
Speaker 1: was fetching my trail through from the lawrence, the bottom
17:47
Speaker 1: of which was as yellow as a turnip, it was
17:49
Speaker 1: getting on toward night, and as the spring run a
17:52
Speaker 1: good stream out of it, I conceded I'd better camp
17:55
Speaker 1: down there. It had been a good deal of a tramp,
17:58
Speaker 1: for I've been taken up a lot, and I had
18:00
Speaker 1: twenty or thirty pelts and nigh onto as many traps
18:03
Speaker 1: on my back, to say nothing of the flower and
18:06
Speaker 1: the venison, and the camp fixens and the pack. Well,
18:10
Speaker 1: I threw up a brush shanty and started a fire,
18:13
Speaker 1: and dipped a pail of water in and set it
18:15
Speaker 1: to boiling, for I thought i'd stir in a few
18:18
Speaker 1: leaves of the tea that Henry brought in from last summer.
18:22
Speaker 1: The Arab takes powerful hold on me, and I felt
18:25
Speaker 1: sort of guarded a good deal like a canister. When
18:27
Speaker 1: the powders out of it. So I stirred in the
18:31
Speaker 1: tea and steeped it judiciously, and ardor had boiled and
18:34
Speaker 1: eat the venison. I felt sort of full like inside.
18:38
Speaker 1: I sat down for a good, cheerful drink. I cooled
18:41
Speaker 1: a cup to the right point and took a mouthful.
18:45
Speaker 1: But there didn't a drop of it get further to
18:47
Speaker 1: my back teeth, for I shut down on it sudden
18:49
Speaker 1: as amer falls, when the spring is a strongen and
18:52
Speaker 1: a trigger works quick to the finger. What was there
18:55
Speaker 1: in it? Exclaimed the man. The devil was in it,
19:00
Speaker 1: said the old trapper. Yes, the devil was in it,
19:03
Speaker 1: if a man can judge from the taste, For that
19:05
Speaker 1: water was full enough of sulfur to physic the settlements
19:08
Speaker 1: for a year. You found a sulfur spring, John Norton,
19:13
Speaker 1: said the man, laughing heartily at the description that the
19:16
Speaker 1: trapper had given of his experience. You found a sulfur spring,
19:21
Speaker 1: and sulfur has great remedial qualities in it. I didn't
19:25
Speaker 1: notice any such thing in it, said the trapper, evidently
19:29
Speaker 1: in the dark as to what the term implied. I
19:32
Speaker 1: didn't find any such thing in it, But it may
19:35
Speaker 1: have been there all the same, for I don't know
19:37
Speaker 1: how them things taste. And if you say they was there,
19:40
Speaker 1: I won't dispute you. But it was infernal drinking for certain.
19:45
Speaker 1: I moved on over the ridge afore a breakfast, till
19:49
Speaker 1: I came to the river of the tumble and Falls,
19:51
Speaker 1: where me and the pups found a good, healthy drink,
19:53
Speaker 1: and such as natural for men and beasts to quench
19:56
Speaker 1: their thirst with. But you was speaking about something you
20:00
Speaker 1: found in the water. What did you find in the water?
20:03
Speaker 1: We found, said the man, that every drop of water
20:07
Speaker 1: was a world in itself. It can't be. It can't be,
20:12
Speaker 1: said the trapper, for the man would drink the universe up,
20:15
Speaker 1: swallering at that rate. You don't understand, said the man.
20:20
Speaker 1: It is a figure of speech that I use. And
20:23
Speaker 1: they said that every drop of water was a world,
20:25
Speaker 1: because it is full of living creatures, things that creep
20:29
Speaker 1: and swim and have eyes and structure, true organisms. Now
20:34
Speaker 1: you look here, friend, said the trapper. You be a
20:37
Speaker 1: little careful like in your speech, for what you say
20:40
Speaker 1: is beyond reason, leastwise touching the waters in the woods
20:44
Speaker 1: here it may be, as you say, touching the streams
20:47
Speaker 1: and the settlements. For I've noticed that men spile the
20:50
Speaker 1: crater's work, and it may be then in the towns
20:53
Speaker 1: they do spoil the water that the Lord has made
20:56
Speaker 1: for man's comfort. But there ain't no live things in
20:59
Speaker 1: the spring back of the cabin air, for it's pure
21:02
Speaker 1: and clear and sweet. And you can go in the
21:05
Speaker 1: darkest night and drink of it without fear. For it's
21:08
Speaker 1: a flowing stream, and it comes from the cleft of
21:10
Speaker 1: the rock. And there is never a whiggler found in
21:13
Speaker 1: any such water, as the puffs will tell you, for
21:15
Speaker 1: they and me have drunk it by day and night,
21:18
Speaker 1: and we ought to know, and we won't discuss it,
21:21
Speaker 1: said the man, yielding good naturedly and mildly to the
21:24
Speaker 1: trapper's earnestness. But I have a glass in my pocket
21:28
Speaker 1: with which I will show you what is in the
21:30
Speaker 1: water sometime. And the water of the spring you speak of,
21:34
Speaker 1: too pure as it is. And we found also secrets
21:39
Speaker 1: in the air, forces and powers full of terrible strength.
21:43
Speaker 1: That seems reasonable, said the trapper. For many a time
21:47
Speaker 1: I've seen the power of the Lord in the air.
21:50
Speaker 1: I've seen him set out on fire until the heaven's
21:53
Speaker 1: flamed like the judgment. And I've heard his pieces explode
21:57
Speaker 1: louder than cannons when the battle is hot, and the
21:59
Speaker 1: gunner ram a double charge. And I've seen the fires
22:03
Speaker 1: of the North flare up as if the end of
22:06
Speaker 1: the world was burning, until the pups shivered with fear. Yes,
22:10
Speaker 1: I know there be powers in the air beyond the
22:12
Speaker 1: power of man, but they be powers of the Lord,
22:16
Speaker 1: and such as man cannot discover, and the tongue of
22:19
Speaker 1: man may not name, but they can be named, John Norton,
22:23
Speaker 1: and they can be discovered. And my benefactor and I
22:27
Speaker 1: analyzed the air and found what was in it, and
22:30
Speaker 1: we could separate its elements and bring its mysteries to light.
22:34
Speaker 1: The fires of the North, as you call them, are
22:36
Speaker 1: a wonder, and science, it is true, has not yet
22:39
Speaker 1: discovered their cause. But there is nothing in nature that
22:43
Speaker 1: man cannot discover if he be patient and studious enough
22:46
Speaker 1: in searching for the key that unlocks its mysteries. The
22:50
Speaker 1: old trapper had followed the speech of his guest with
22:52
Speaker 1: the greatest attention. The inquisitiveness of his own mind, which
22:56
Speaker 1: had found a narrower and Ruder's sphere of exercise, was
23:00
Speaker 1: nevertheless so high in order that he could appreciate the
23:03
Speaker 1: same quality in the mind of another, although the field
23:07
Speaker 1: of exercise had been wildly different from his own. You
23:11
Speaker 1: seem to have had a happy time of it in
23:13
Speaker 1: your studying with your friend. How long did just stay
23:16
Speaker 1: in the family? I stayed ten years, said the man.
23:21
Speaker 1: Was there any children in the family, asked the trapper.
23:25
Speaker 1: There was one child, Only one child, repeated the man.
23:30
Speaker 1: But no one who did not hear the words spoken
23:32
Speaker 1: could conceive the tenderness of the tone with which he
23:35
Speaker 1: had spoke. And no one who did not see his countenance,
23:38
Speaker 1: as he said, only one child could imagine that into
23:42
Speaker 1: a face of such peculiar appearance could come an expression
23:46
Speaker 1: at once so supremely gentle and so supremely sad. The
23:50
Speaker 1: old trapper was evidently puzzled how to continue the conversation,
23:54
Speaker 1: for he knew that his question had called up, if
23:57
Speaker 1: not unpleasant, at least sorrowful memories, and the kind of
24:00
Speaker 1: his guest, and his breeding was too fine, and its
24:03
Speaker 1: natural courtesy, and his sympathies already elicited by the singular
24:07
Speaker 1: biography to which he had listened, too profound, for his
24:10
Speaker 1: strange guest sitting in front of him, to permit him
24:13
Speaker 1: to say, unless inadvertently a single word that would be
24:16
Speaker 1: an intrusion upon the secrets of his life. The man
24:20
Speaker 1: had fallen into a musing mood, and silence reigned in
24:24
Speaker 1: the cabin. The fire burned low, the great logs nearly consumed,
24:29
Speaker 1: weakened in the middle, and fell downward into the warm
24:31
Speaker 1: ashes and the glowing coals underneath, with many a spark
24:35
Speaker 1: and jet of flame. At length, the man roused himself
24:38
Speaker 1: from his reverie and said, the motions of the mind
24:42
Speaker 1: are wonderful John Norton, and thought as swifter than light.
24:47
Speaker 1: Sitting here near cabin in the midst of the wilderness,
24:50
Speaker 1: with a stretch of forty years intervening, I mind is
24:53
Speaker 1: journeyed back to the house of my benefactor. Again. I
24:57
Speaker 1: have seen the face of his wife, who was to
25:00
Speaker 1: me as a mother. Again I have heard his voice
25:05
Speaker 1: as it sounded my ears long ago. And again I
25:09
Speaker 1: have seen with all the vividness of her earthly appearance
25:13
Speaker 1: when she was young and beautiful, the bright being that
25:17
Speaker 1: made the house in which we lived full of light
25:20
Speaker 1: and joy, the being that made me ambitious in my studies,
25:26
Speaker 1: whose hand waved me with encouraging gesture from knowledge to knowledge,
25:31
Speaker 1: and whose presence kindled the darkness of my life into
25:35
Speaker 1: the radiance of hope. But the night is far spent,
25:38
Speaker 1: and I have kept you from your slumber. Some other
25:41
Speaker 1: time I will resume my story if you desire to
25:44
Speaker 1: hear the tale of my life further, if you will
25:47
Speaker 1: give me a blanket lucky, and I will sleep here
25:50
Speaker 1: by the fire, I doubt of among all the deeds
25:53
Speaker 1: you have done in your life, John Norton, you have
25:55
Speaker 1: ever done a deed of greater goodness than you have
25:57
Speaker 1: done to night. For you have given a man and
26:00
Speaker 1: his dog that were hungry the food that they needed.
26:04
Speaker 1: They were freezing, and you have warmed them. They were
26:07
Speaker 1: without shelter, and you receive them to your house. They
26:12
Speaker 1: were lonely, and you have cheered them with your companionship.
26:16
Speaker 1: Two of his creatures have you comforted. And the Lord
26:19
Speaker 1: will give you your reward in the great day. All
26:23
Speaker 1: this was said gravely and with that dignity of manner
26:27
Speaker 1: which the simplicity of true heartfelt gratitude gives to its utterance.
26:32
Speaker 1: Before speaking, the man had risen from the chair and
26:35
Speaker 1: As he closed, he bowed to the trapper as one
26:39
Speaker 1: who would thus show his appreciation for the favors he
26:41
Speaker 1: had received, while Lucky the dog moved in front of
26:45
Speaker 1: the trapper's chair, and, fixing his eyes on the old
26:48
Speaker 1: man's face, wagged his tail gladly, as he too would
26:51
Speaker 1: make some acknowledgment to his master's host. Ye be welcome, friend,
26:56
Speaker 1: said the trapper, rising from his seat. Ye be welcome
27:00
Speaker 1: to what you have had, and you be welcome to
27:03
Speaker 1: stay so long as you will. The days be short,
27:06
Speaker 1: and the night's long, and at times it be a
27:09
Speaker 1: little lonely, though the pups be good company, and the
27:12
Speaker 1: boys come and see me off and on. There be
27:15
Speaker 1: skins in a cabin fit for a king to sleep on,
27:18
Speaker 1: and your bed shall be of the softest, so saying,
27:21
Speaker 1: the trapper placed a great roll of bear skins on
27:24
Speaker 1: the floor, and, bringing a blanket from his own bed
27:27
Speaker 1: and a pillow for his guest, he retired to his couch,
27:31
Speaker 1: from which the coming of the man had hours before
27:34
Speaker 1: aroused him. The man spread the skins in front of
27:37
Speaker 1: the fire, and adjusting the pillow, he gathered the blankets
27:40
Speaker 1: around him and prepared himself for slumber. His dog came
27:44
Speaker 1: to his side, sat down for a moment on his haunches,
27:47
Speaker 1: looked into his master's face, kissed it with his tongue,
27:51
Speaker 1: looked at the fire, wagged his tail happily, and stretched
27:55
Speaker 1: himself by his master's side. The man placed one arm
27:59
Speaker 1: around him his body and yielded his senses to repose
28:03
Speaker 1: the trapper, lying on his bed with his eyes on
28:06
Speaker 1: the two picture frames, also prepared for sleep. And so
28:10
Speaker 1: the two men, the one gazing at the objects which
28:13
Speaker 1: suggested the presence of those he loved, one on the
28:16
Speaker 1: earth and one above, but to his simple faith, both
28:20
Speaker 1: equally alive, the other with his arm over the body
28:24
Speaker 1: of his dog, whose love had made him the companion
28:27
Speaker 1: of his wanderings, and the companion too in his wants,
28:32
Speaker 1: fall asleep. Outside the world was white and cold, and
28:36
Speaker 1: still no stain on the earth, no cloud in the sky,
28:41
Speaker 1: no sign in all the white expanse below or the
28:44
Speaker 1: blue expanse overhead that nature was conscious of human wants
28:48
Speaker 1: or human woes. But above the sky sat one who
28:52
Speaker 1: not only saw the two men sleeping in the cabin,
28:55
Speaker 1: the hounds on the hearth, the dog by his master's side,
28:59
Speaker 1: but all on the earth, whether waking or sleeping, whether
29:02
Speaker 1: happy or sad, not only saw but carried in his
29:05
Speaker 1: bosom their cares, their losses, and their sorrows, as if
29:10
Speaker 1: they were his own. End of Chapter three