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05 - The Blue Platter · Queen Hildegarde

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  Speaker 1: Chapter five of Queen Hildegarde by Laura Elizabeth Hawl Richards.
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  Speaker 1: This Librivaut's recording is in the public domain, read by
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  Speaker 1: Cassie Davidson. The blue Platter, Mary, it is in the
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  Speaker 1: green for wrist moungly is green. Thus sang Hildegard, as
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  Speaker 1: she sat in the west window, busily stringing her currants.
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  Speaker 1: She had been thinking a great deal about bubble Chirk,
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  Speaker 1: making plans for his education, and wondering what his sister
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  Speaker 1: Pink was like. He reminded her she could not tell
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  Speaker 1: why of the little boy who kept fair Alice's swine
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  Speaker 1: in her favorite ballad of Adam Bell Clym of the
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  Speaker 1: Cloth and William of Cloudsley, And the words of the
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  Speaker 1: ballad rose half unconsciously to her lips as she bent
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  Speaker 1: over the great yellow bowl heaped with scarlet and pale
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  Speaker 1: gold clusters. Mary, it is in the green four wrist
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  Speaker 1: among the lee wis green. When asman hunt east and
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  Speaker 1: west with pose and darrow, whis for to raise the
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  Speaker 1: deer out of their dim Such sights have oft been
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  Speaker 1: seen as by three men of the North country. By
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  Speaker 1: them it tis, I mean the one of them hight
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  Speaker 1: Adam Bell, the other Gleam of the claw. The third
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  Speaker 1: was William of Cloudsley, an archer. Good enough, they were
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  Speaker 1: outlawed for venison, these emen, every one, they swore them
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  Speaker 1: brethren on a day to English wood. Four to gone. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I then listen gently, men beta mirth's love to hear.
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  Speaker 1: At this moment, the door opened and farmer Hartly entered,
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  Speaker 1: taking off his battered straw hat as he did so,
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  Speaker 1: and wiping his forehead with a red bandanna handkerchief. Hilda
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  Speaker 1: looked up with a pleasant smile, meaning to thank him
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  Speaker 1: for the raspberries which he had gathered for her breakfast,
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  Speaker 1: but were utter astonishment the moment his eyes fell upon her,
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  Speaker 1: he gave a violent start and turned very pale. Then,
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  Speaker 1: muttering something under his breath, he turned hastily and left
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  Speaker 1: the room. Oh what is the matter, cried Hilda, jumping
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  Speaker 1: up from her chair. What have I done? Nurse Lucy?
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  Speaker 1: I have made the farmer angry somehow? Is this his chair?
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  Speaker 1: I thought? No? No, honey, dear, said Nurse Lucy soothingly.
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  Speaker 1: Sit ye down, Sit ye down. You have done nothing.
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  Speaker 1: I'm right glad of it, she added, with a tone
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  Speaker 1: of sadness in her pleasant voice, sing as tis all
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  Speaker 1: in God's wisdom. Jacob must come to see it so,
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  Speaker 1: And tis no help but a deal of hindrance when
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  Speaker 1: folks set aside chairs and the like and see only
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  Speaker 1: them that's gone sitting in them. Then sing Hilta's look
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  Speaker 1: of bewilderment, she added, laying her hand gently on the
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  Speaker 1: girl's soft hair. You see, dear, we had a daughter
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  Speaker 1: of our own this time last year, our only one.
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  Speaker 1: She was, and just about your age, the light of
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  Speaker 1: our eyes, our faith. She was a good girl, strong
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  Speaker 1: and loving and heartsome, and almost as pretty as yourself, Hill,
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  Speaker 1: the dear. But the father had need of her, so
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  Speaker 1: she was taken from us for a while. It was
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  Speaker 1: cruel hard for Jacob, cruel, cruel hard, And he can't
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  Speaker 1: seem to see even now that it was right, or
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  Speaker 1: it wouldn't have been so. And so I can tell
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  Speaker 1: just what he felt, coming in just now, sudden like
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  Speaker 1: and seeing you sitting in Faith's chair like as not.
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  Speaker 1: He forgot it all for a minute and thought it
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  Speaker 1: was herself. She had a blue dress that he always liked,
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  Speaker 1: and she'd sit here and sing, and the sun coming
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  Speaker 1: in on her through her own window. There, as she
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  Speaker 1: always called it, like a pretty picture. She was our faith, oh,
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  Speaker 1: cried Hilda, taking the brown motherly hand in both of hers.
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  Speaker 1: I am so very very sorry, dear Nurse Lucy, I
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  Speaker 1: did not know. I will never sit here again, I thought,
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  Speaker 1: But she was ashamed to say what she had thought,
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  Speaker 1: that this chair and table had been set for her
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  Speaker 1: to tempt her to sit down in a kitchen. She
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  Speaker 1: could hear herself say it as she had said it
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  Speaker 1: last night, with a world of scornful emphasis. How long
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  Speaker 1: it seemed since last night, how much older she had grown,
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  Speaker 1: and yet and yet somehow she felt a great deal younger.
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  Speaker 1: All this passed through her mind in a moment, but
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  Speaker 1: Nurse Lucy was petting her and saying, nay, dearie, nay, child,
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  Speaker 1: this is just where I want you to sit. T
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  Speaker 1: will be a real help to farmer whence he is
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  Speaker 1: used to it. Harp, I hear him coming now, Sit still,
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  Speaker 1: to please me, my dear sit still where ye are?
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  Speaker 1: Milda obeyed, though her heart beat painfully, and she bent
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  Speaker 1: in real distress over the currents. As Farmer Hartley once
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  Speaker 1: more entered the room. She hardly knew what she feared
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  Speaker 1: or expected. But her relief was great when he bade
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  Speaker 1: her a quiet but cheerful good day, and, crossing the room,
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  Speaker 1: sat down in his great leather arm chair. Dinner'll be
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  Speaker 1: ready in five minutes, Jacob, said the good dame cheerily.
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  Speaker 1: I've only to lay the table and dish the mutton.
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  Speaker 1: Oh let me help, cried Hilda, springing up and setting
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  Speaker 1: her bowl of currants on the window sill. So between
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  Speaker 1: the two the snowy cloth was laid, and the blue
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  Speaker 1: plates and the shining knives and forks laid out. Then
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  Speaker 1: they all sat down, and the little maid servant came too,
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  Speaker 1: and took her place at the end of the table.
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  Speaker 1: And presently in came a great loudish looking fellow, about
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  Speaker 1: one or two and twenty, with a great shock of
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  Speaker 1: sandy hair and little ferret eyes, set two near together,
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  Speaker 1: whom Dame hartly introduced as her nephew. He sat down too,
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  Speaker 1: and ate more than all the rest of them put together.
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  Speaker 1: At sight of this man, who gobbled his food noisily
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  Speaker 1: and uttered loud snorts between the mouthfuls, the old Hilda
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  Speaker 1: awoke in full force. She could not endure this Mamma
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  Speaker 1: never could have intended it. The Hartleys were different. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: she was willing to acknowledge that she had been in
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  Speaker 1: the wrong about them. But this lout, this oaf this
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  Speaker 1: villainous looking churl, to expect a lady to sit at
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  Speaker 1: the same table with him. It was too much. She
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  Speaker 1: would ask if she might not dine in her own
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  Speaker 1: room after this, as apparently it was only at dinner
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  Speaker 1: that this creature made his appearance. Farmer Hartley had been
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  Speaker 1: very silent since he came in, but now he seemed
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  Speaker 1: to feel that he must make an effort to be sociable,
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  Speaker 1: so he said, kindly, though gravely, I see you're lookin
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  Speaker 1: at that old dish. Holdy tis occur as old piece,
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  Speaker 1: and that's a fact. Can you read the mater on it?
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  Speaker 1: Hilda had not been looking at the dish, though her
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  Speaker 1: eyes had been unconsciously fixed upon it, and she now
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  Speaker 1: bent forward to examine it. It was an oblong platter
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  Speaker 1: of old blue and white crockery in the middle, which
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  Speaker 1: was now visible as the creature had just transferred the
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  Speaker 1: last potato to his own plate, stabbing it with his
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  Speaker 1: knife for that purpose. Was a quaint representation of a
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  Speaker 1: mournful looking couple clad in singularly ill fitting aprons of
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  Speaker 1: fig leaves. The man was digging with a spade, while
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  Speaker 1: the woman sat at a spinning wheel placed dangerously near
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  Speaker 1: the edge of the deep ditch, which her husband had
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  Speaker 1: already dug. Round the edge ran an inscription, which, after
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  Speaker 1: some study, Hilda made out to be the old Distich.
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  Speaker 1: When Adam delved and Eve span where was then the gentleman,
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  Speaker 1: Hilda burst out laughing in spite of herself. Oh it
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  Speaker 1: is wonderful, she cried, Who ever heard of Eve with
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  Speaker 1: a spinning wheel? Where did this come from? Farmer Hartley,
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  Speaker 1: I am sure it must have a history, well, said
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  Speaker 1: the farmer, smiling. I dunno, as it has, so to speak,
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  Speaker 1: a history. And yet there's always somethin amusin to me
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  Speaker 1: about that platter. My father was a sea farin man
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  Speaker 1: most of his life, and only came to the arm
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  Speaker 1: late in life. Count of his older brother dyin As
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  Speaker 1: owned it well. He'd picked up a sight o queer
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  Speaker 1: things in his voyages. Father had. He kept some of
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  Speaker 1: 'em stowed away in boxes, an brought him out from
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  Speaker 1: time to time as he happened to think of um well,
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  Speaker 1: we young uns growed up, four of us. There was
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  Speaker 1: all boys, an likely boys too, if I do say it.
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  Speaker 1: And my brother Simon, who was next to me, he
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  Speaker 1: went to college. He was a clever chap. Simon was
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  Speaker 1: an nothin would do for him. But he must be
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  Speaker 1: a gentleman. Jacob can stick to the farm in the
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  Speaker 1: mill if he likes, says he. An Tom can go
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  Speaker 1: to sea, An William can be a minister. It's all
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  Speaker 1: he's good for. I Reckon, but I'm goin to be
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  Speaker 1: a gentleman, says Simon. He said it in father's hearin
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  Speaker 1: one day an father lay back in his chair and laughed.
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  Speaker 1: He was allays laughin, father was, And then he went
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  Speaker 1: off up stairs. An we heard him rummagin about among
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  Speaker 1: his boxes up in the loft chamber. We dasn't none
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  Speaker 1: of us touch them boxes, we boys, but we want
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  Speaker 1: and a feared of nothing else in the world, only father.
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  Speaker 1: Presently he comes down again, still a laughin, an carryin'
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  Speaker 1: that platter in his hand. He sets it down afore
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  Speaker 1: Simon and says he wealthy, says he that was my mother.
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  Speaker 1: Wealthy says he. Let Simon have his victuals off o
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  Speaker 1: this platter every day, d'ye hear, ain't none other that's
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  Speaker 1: good enough for him? And then he laughed again till
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  Speaker 1: he fairly shook, and Simon looked black as thunder, and
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  Speaker 1: took his hat and went out. And so after Simon
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  Speaker 1: went to college, every time he come home for vacation
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  Speaker 1: and set down to table with his nose kind of
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  Speaker 1: turned up, like he was too good to set with
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  Speaker 1: his own kith and kin. Father, it go an get
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  Speaker 1: the old blue platter and set it afore him, and say,
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  Speaker 1: here's your dish. Simon been diggin any lately, my son?
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  Speaker 1: And then lay back in his chair and laugh. And
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  Speaker 1: did Simon become a a gentleman? Asked Tilda, taking her
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  Speaker 1: own little lesson, very meekly in her desire to know.
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  Speaker 1: Farmer Hartley's brow clouded instantly, and the smile vanished from
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  Speaker 1: his lips. Poor Simon, he said, sadly, he might have
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  Speaker 1: been anything he liked if he'd lived and been fortunate.
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  Speaker 1: Simon Hartley is dead, Hilda, dear, interposed Dame Hartley gently.
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  Speaker 1: He died some years ago. Will you have some of
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  Speaker 1: your own currants? My dear Hilda has been helping me
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  Speaker 1: a great deal, father, she added, addressing her husband, I
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  Speaker 1: don't know how I should have got all my currants
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  Speaker 1: picked without her help, has she so exclaimed the farmer,
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  Speaker 1: fixing his keen gray eyes on the girl, whoa well
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  Speaker 1: to think of that? Why we shall have her milk
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  Speaker 1: in that cow soon after all? Hey, holdy, Hildegard looked
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  Speaker 1: up bravely with a little smile. I will try, she said, cheerfully,
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  Speaker 1: if you will risk the milk, Farmer Hartley. The old
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  Speaker 1: farmer returned her smile with one so bright and kind
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  Speaker 1: and genial that somehow the ice bent, then cracked, and
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  Speaker 1: then broke. The old Hilda shrank into so small a
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  Speaker 1: space that there was really very little left of her,
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  Speaker 1: and the new Hilda rose from the table, feeling that
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  Speaker 1: she had gained a new friend. So it came to
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  Speaker 1: pass that about an hour later, our heroine was walking
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  Speaker 1: beside the farmer on the way to the barnyard, talking
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  Speaker 1: merrily and swinging the basket which she was going to
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  Speaker 1: fill with eggs. But how shall I find them? She asked?
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  Speaker 1: If the hens hide them away so carefully? Oh you'll
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  Speaker 1: hear in scratland around, replied the farmer, they're great fools.
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  Speaker 1: Hens are greater than folks as a rule, and that
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  Speaker 1: is Hayene a good deal. They crossed the great sunny
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  Speaker 1: barnyard and paused at the barn door while Hilda looked
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  Speaker 1: in with delight. A broad floor, big enough for a
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  Speaker 1: ball room, with towering walls of fragrant hay on either side,
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  Speaker 1: reaching up to the rafters. Great doors open at the
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  Speaker 1: farther end, showing a snatch of blue, radiant sky, and
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  Speaker 1: a lovely wood road winding away into deep thickets of
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  Speaker 1: birch and linden, dusty golden cobwebby sunbeams slanting down through
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  Speaker 1: the little windows and touching the tossed hay piles into gold,
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  Speaker 1: and in the middle, hanging by iron chains from the
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  Speaker 1: great central beam, a swing almost big enough for a giant.
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  Speaker 1: Such was the barn at Hartley Farm, as pleasant a place,
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  Speaker 1: Hilda thought, as she had ever seen. Well, holdy, I'll
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  Speaker 1: leave you here, said the farmer. You can find your
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  Speaker 1: way home. I reckon. Oh yes indeed, said Hilda. But
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  Speaker 1: stop a moment, please, Farmer Hartley, I want to know,
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  Speaker 1: will you please? May I teach bubble Chirk a little?
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  Speaker 1: The farmer gave a low whistle of surprise, but Hilda
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  Speaker 1: went on eagerly. I found him studying this morning while
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  Speaker 1: he was weeding the garden. Oh, studying so hard, and
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  Speaker 1: yet not neglecting his work for a minute. He seems
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  Speaker 1: a very bright boy, and it is a pity he
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  Speaker 1: should not have a good education. Could you spare him?
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  Speaker 1: Do you think? For an hour every day? She stopped,
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  Speaker 1: while the farmer looked at her with a merry twinkle
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  Speaker 1: in his eye. You teach bubble Chirk, he said. Why
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  Speaker 1: what would your fine friends say to that miss holdy
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  Speaker 1: lobl ain't nothin but a common farm boy if he
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  Speaker 1: is bright, And I ain't denyin that he is. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know what they would say, said Hildegard, blushing hotly.
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  Speaker 1: And I don't care either. I know what mamma would
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  Speaker 1: do in my place, and so do you, Farmer Hartley,
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  Speaker 1: she added, with a little touch of indignation. Well, I reckon,
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  Speaker 1: I do, said Farmer Hartley. And I know who looks
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  Speaker 1: like your mother this minute, though I never thought she would. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: he said, more seriously, you shall teach bubble Chirk, my gal,
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  Speaker 1: And it's my belief twill bring you a blessin as
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  Speaker 1: well as him. Ye are your mother's daughter, after all.
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  Speaker 1: Shall I give you a swing now before I go?
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  Speaker 1: Or are ye too big to swing? I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: said Hildegarde, eyeing the swing wistfully. Am I too big?
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  Speaker 1: I wonder your ma warn't when she was here three
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  Speaker 1: weeks ago, said the farmer. She just sought here and
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  Speaker 1: took a good, solid swing for the sake of old times,
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  Speaker 1: she said. Then I will take one for the sake
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  Speaker 1: of new times, cried Hilda, running to the swing and
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  Speaker 1: seating herself on its broad, roomy seat, for the sake
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  Speaker 1: of this new time, which I know is going to
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  Speaker 1: be a happy one. Give me three good pushes, please,
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  Speaker 1: Farmer Hartley, and then I can take care of myself. One, two, three,
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  Speaker 1: Up goes Queen Hildegarde, Up and up among the dusty
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  Speaker 1: cobwebby sunbeams which settle like a crown upon her fair head.
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  Speaker 1: Down with a rush through the sweet haycented air, Then
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  Speaker 1: up again, startling the swallows from under the eaves and
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  Speaker 1: making the staid and conservative old hands frantic with anxiety.
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  Speaker 1: Up and down in broad, free sweeps, growing slower now
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  Speaker 1: as the farmer left her and went to his work.
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  Speaker 1: How perfect it was? Did the world hold anything else
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  Speaker 1: so delightful as swinging in a barn? She began to
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  Speaker 1: sing for pure joy, a little song that her mother
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  Speaker 1: had made for her when she was a little child
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  Speaker 1: and used to swing in the garden at home. And
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  Speaker 1: Farmer Hartley, with his hand on the brown halfer's back,
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  Speaker 1: paused with a smile and a sigh as he heard
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  Speaker 1: the girl's sweet fresh voice ring out gladly from the
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  Speaker 1: old barn. This was the song she sang. If I
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  Speaker 1: were a fairy king, swinging high, swinging low, I would
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  Speaker 1: give to you a ring, swinging all, with the diamond
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  Speaker 1: set so bright that the shining of its light should
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  Speaker 1: make morning of the night. Swinging high swing, you should
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  Speaker 1: make morning of the night on the ringlet as it fell,
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  Speaker 1: swinging high swing, I would tie a golden bell swing long,
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  Speaker 1: and the golden bells would chime in a little mare
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  Speaker 1: rhyme in the merry morning time, swinging eye, swinging low,
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  Speaker 1: in the happy morning time, swinging off, you should wear
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  Speaker 1: a satin gown, swinging high, swinging low all with weirpins
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  Speaker 1: falling down, swinging all, and your little twinkling feet. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: my pretty and my sweet should be shot with silver,
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  Speaker 1: need swinging eyes swinging low, shot with silver slippers, need
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  Speaker 1: swinging all. But are not a fairy pet swinging high, swinging,
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  Speaker 1: know not even a king as yet swinging all. So
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  Speaker 1: all that I can do is to kiss your little shoe,
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  Speaker 1: and to make a queen of you swinging eye swinging loo,
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  Speaker 1: make a fairy queen of you, swinging all. End of
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  Speaker 1: chapter five