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Elder Brown's Backslide · Classic Humorous Short Stories from America

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  Speaker 1: Story nine of the Best American Humorous Short Stories by
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  Speaker 1: Alexander Jessop editor. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Story nine Elder Brown's Backslide eighteen eighty five by Harry
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  Speaker 1: stillwell Edwards from Harper's Magazine, August eighteen eighty five, copyright
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  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty five by Harper and Brothers. Republished in the
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  Speaker 1: volume two Runaways and Other Stories eighteen eighty nine by
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  Speaker 1: Harry stillwell Edwards the Sentry Company. Elder Brown told his
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  Speaker 1: wife good bye at the farmhouse door, as mechanically as
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  Speaker 1: though his proposed trip to Macon ten miles away was
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  Speaker 1: an every day affair, while as a matter of fact,
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  Speaker 1: many years had elapsed since, unaccompanied he set foot in
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  Speaker 1: the city. He did not kiss her. Many very good
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  Speaker 1: men never kiss their wives. But small blame attaches to
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  Speaker 1: the elder for his omission on this occasion, since his
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  Speaker 1: wife had long ago discouraged all amoroust demonstrations on the
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  Speaker 1: part of her liege Lord, and at this particular moment
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  Speaker 1: was filling the parting moments with a rattling list of
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  Speaker 1: directions concerning thread buttons, hooks, needles, and all the many
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  Speaker 1: ETCeteras of an industrious housewife's basket. The elder was laboriously
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  Speaker 1: assorting these PostScript commissions in his memory, while knowing that
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  Speaker 1: to return with any one of them neglected would cause
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  Speaker 1: trouble in the family circle. Elder Brown mounted his patient
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  Speaker 1: steed that stood sleepily motionless in the warm sunlight, with
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  Speaker 1: his great pointed ears displayed to the right and left,
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  Speaker 1: as though their owner had grown tired of the life
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  Speaker 1: burden their weight inflicted upon him, and was old soldier
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  Speaker 1: facts ready to forego the once rigid alertness of early
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  Speaker 1: training for the pleasures of frequent rest on arms, and Elder,
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  Speaker 1: don't you forget them calliker scraps, or you'll be wanton
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  Speaker 1: kiver soon, and no kiver will be a common Elder
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  Speaker 1: Brown did not turn his head, but merely let the
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  Speaker 1: whip hand, which had been checked in its backward motion,
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  Speaker 1: fall as he answered mechanically. The beast he bestrode responded
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  Speaker 1: with a rapid whisking of its tail and a great
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  Speaker 1: show of effort as it ambled off down the sandy road,
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  Speaker 1: the rider's long legs seeming now and then to touch
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  Speaker 1: the ground, but as the zigzag panels of the rail
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  Speaker 1: fence crept behind him, and he felt the freedom of
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  Speaker 1: the morning beginning to act upon his well trained blood.
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  Speaker 1: The mechanical manner of the old man's mind gave place
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  Speaker 1: to a mild exuberance. A weight seemed to be lifting
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  Speaker 1: from it ounce by ounce, as the fence panels, the
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  Speaker 1: weedy corners, the persimmons sprouts, and sassafras bushes crept away
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  Speaker 1: behind him, so that by the time a mile lay
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  Speaker 1: between him and the life partner of his joys and sorrows,
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  Speaker 1: he was in a reasonably contented frame of mind and
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  Speaker 1: still improving. It was a queer figure that crept along
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  Speaker 1: the road that cheery May morning. It was tall and gaunt,
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  Speaker 1: and had been for thirty years or more. The long
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  Speaker 1: head bawled on top, covered behind with iron gray hair,
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  Speaker 1: and in front with a short, tangled growth that curled
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  Speaker 1: and kinked in every direction. Was surmounted by an old
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  Speaker 1: fashioned stovepipe hat, worn and stained but eminently impressive. An
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  Speaker 1: old fashioned henry clay cloth coat, stained and threadbare, divided
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  Speaker 1: itself impartially over the donkey's back and dangled on his sides.
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  Speaker 1: This was all that remained of the elder's wedding suit
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  Speaker 1: of forty years ago. Only constant care and use of
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  Speaker 1: late years limited to extra occasions had preserved it so
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  Speaker 1: long the trousers had soon parted company with their friends.
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  Speaker 1: The substitutes were red Jenes, which, while they did not
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  Speaker 1: well match his court costume, were better able to withstand
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  Speaker 1: the old man's abuse. For if, in addition to his
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  Speaker 1: frequent religious excursions astride his beast, there ever was a
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  Speaker 1: man who was fond of sitting down with his feet
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  Speaker 1: higher than his head, it was this self same elder Brown.
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  Speaker 1: The morning expanded and the old man expanded with it.
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  Speaker 1: For while a vigorous leader in his church, the elder
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  Speaker 1: at home was, it must be admitted, an uncomplaining slave
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  Speaker 1: to the intense astonishment of the beast he rode. There
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  Speaker 1: came new vigor into the wax which fell upon his flanks,
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  Speaker 1: and the beast allowed astonishment to surprise him into real
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  Speaker 1: life and decided motion. Somewhere in the elder's expanding soul
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  Speaker 1: a tune had begun to ring. Possibly he took up
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  Speaker 1: the far faint tune that came from the straggling gang
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  Speaker 1: of negroes away off in the field. As they slowly
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  Speaker 1: chopped amid the threadlike rows of cotton plants which lined
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  Speaker 1: the level ground. For the melody, he hummed softly and
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  Speaker 1: then sang strongly, in the quavering, catchy tones of a
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  Speaker 1: good old country churchman, was I'm glad salvation's free. It
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  Speaker 1: was during the singing of this hymn that Elder Brown's
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  Speaker 1: regular motion inspired strokes were for the first time varied.
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  Speaker 1: He began to hold his hickory up at certain pauses
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  Speaker 1: in the melody and beat the changes upon the sides
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  Speaker 1: of his astonished steed. The chorus, under his arrangement was
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad some salvations free. I'm glad salvations free. I'm
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  Speaker 1: glad salvations free for all. I'm glad salvations free. Wherever
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  Speaker 1: there is an italic, the hickory descended. It fell about
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  Speaker 1: as regularly and after the fashion of the stick beating
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  Speaker 1: upon the bass drum during a funeral march. But the beast,
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  Speaker 1: although convinced that something serious was impending, did not consider
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  Speaker 1: a funeral march appropriate for the occasion. He protested at
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  Speaker 1: first with vigorous whiskings of his tail and a rapid
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  Speaker 1: shifting of his ears. Finding these demonstrations unavailing, and convinced
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  Speaker 1: that some urgent cause for hurry had suddenly invaded the
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  Speaker 1: elder's serenity, as it had his own, he began to
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  Speaker 1: cover the ground with frantic leaps that would have surprised
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  Speaker 1: his owner. Could he have realized what was going on.
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  Speaker 1: But Elder Brown's eyes were half closed, and he was
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  Speaker 1: singing at the top of his voice, lost in a
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  Speaker 1: trance of divine exaltation, for he felt the effects of
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  Speaker 1: the invigorating motion bent only on making the air ring
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  Speaker 1: with the lines which he dimly imagined were drawing upon
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  Speaker 1: him the eyes of the whole female congregation. He was
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  Speaker 1: supremely unconscious that his beast was hurrying, and thus the
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  Speaker 1: excursion proceeded, until suddenly a shout. Surprised in his calm
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  Speaker 1: search for roots in a fence corner, darted into the
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  Speaker 1: road and stood for an instant, gazing upon the newcomers
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  Speaker 1: with that idiotic stare which only a pig can imitate.
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  Speaker 1: The sudden appearance of this unlooked for apparition acted strongly
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  Speaker 1: upon the donkey. With one supreme effort, he collected himself
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  Speaker 1: into a motionless mass of matter, bracing his front legs
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  Speaker 1: wide apart, that is to say, he stopped short. There
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  Speaker 1: he stood, returning the pig's idiotic stare with an interest
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  Speaker 1: which must have led to the presumption that never before,
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  Speaker 1: in all his varied life, had he seen such a
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  Speaker 1: singular little creature. End over end went the man of prayer,
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  Speaker 1: finally bringing up full length in the sand, striking just
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  Speaker 1: as he would have shouted free for the fourth time
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  Speaker 1: in his glorious chorus. Fully convinced that his alarm had
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  Speaker 1: been well founded, the shot sped out from under the
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  Speaker 1: gigantic missile hurled at him by the donkey, and scampered
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  Speaker 1: down the road, turning first one ear and in the
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  Speaker 1: other to detect any sounds of pursuit. The donkey, also
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  Speaker 1: convinced that the object before which he had halted was supernatural,
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  Speaker 1: started back violently upon seeing it apparently turned to a man.
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  Speaker 1: But seeing that it had turned to nothing but a man,
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  Speaker 1: he wandered up into the deserted fence corner and began
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  Speaker 1: to nibble refreshment from a scrub oak. For a moment.
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  Speaker 1: The elder gazed up into the sky, half impressed with
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  Speaker 1: the idea that the camp meeting platform had given away,
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  Speaker 1: but the truth forced its way to the front in
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  Speaker 1: his disordered understanding. At last, and with painful dignity, he
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  Speaker 1: staggered into an upright position and regained his beaver. He
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  Speaker 1: was shocked again. Never before, in all the long years
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  Speaker 1: that had served him, had he seen it in such shape.
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  Speaker 1: The truth is, Elder Brown had never before tried to
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  Speaker 1: stand on his head in it. As calmly as possible,
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  Speaker 1: he began to straighten it out, caring but little for
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  Speaker 1: the dust upon his garments. The beaver was his special
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  Speaker 1: crown of dignity. To lose it was to be reduced
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  Speaker 1: to a level with the common wool hat herd. He
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  Speaker 1: did his best, pulling, pressing, and pushing, but the hat
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  Speaker 1: did not look natural when he had finished. It seemed
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  Speaker 1: to have been laid off into counties, sections and town lots,
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  Speaker 1: like a well cut jewel. It had a face for
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  Speaker 1: him view it from whatever point he chose, a quality
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  Speaker 1: which so impressed him that a lump gathered in his
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  Speaker 1: throat and his eyes winked vigorously. Elder Brown was, not, however,
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  Speaker 1: a man for tears. He was a man of action.
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  Speaker 1: The sudden vision which met his wandering gaze the donkey,
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  Speaker 1: calmly chewing scrub buds, with the green juice already oozing
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  Speaker 1: from the corners of his frothy mouth acted upon him
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  Speaker 1: like magic. He was, after all, only human, and when
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  Speaker 1: he got hands upon a piece of brush, he thrashed
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  Speaker 1: the poor beast until it seemed as though even its
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  Speaker 1: already half tanned hide would be eternally ruined, thoroughly exhausted.
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  Speaker 1: At long last, he wearily straddled his saddle, and with
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  Speaker 1: his chin upon his breast, resumed the early morning tenor
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  Speaker 1: of his way. Two good morning, Sir Elder Brown leaned
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  Speaker 1: over the little pine picket which divided the bookkeeper's department
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  Speaker 1: of a Macon warehouse from the room in general, and
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  Speaker 1: surveyed the well dressed back of a gentleman who was
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  Speaker 1: busily figuring at a desk. Within. The apartment was carpetless,
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  Speaker 1: and the dust of a decade lay deep on the
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  Speaker 1: old books, shells, and the familiar advertisements of guano and
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  Speaker 1: fertilizers which decorated the room. An old stove, rusty with
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  Speaker 1: a nicotine, contributed by farmers during the previous season, while
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  Speaker 1: waiting by its glowing sides for their cotton to be
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  Speaker 1: sold stood straight up in a bed of sand, and
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  Speaker 1: festoons of cobwebs clung to the upper sashes of the
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  Speaker 1: murky window. The lower sash of one window had been raised,
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  Speaker 1: and in the yard, without nearly an acre in extent,
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  Speaker 1: lay a few bales of cotton with jagged holes in
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  Speaker 1: their ends, just as the sampler had left them. Elder
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  Speaker 1: Brown had time to notice all these familiar points, for
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  Speaker 1: the figure at the desk kept serenely at its task
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  Speaker 1: and deigned no reply. Good morning, sir, said Elder Brown again,
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  Speaker 1: in his most dignified tones, is mister Thomasin good morning, sir,
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  Speaker 1: said the figure. I'll wait on you in a minute.
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  Speaker 1: The minute passed and four more joined it. Then the
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  Speaker 1: desk man turned, well, sir, what can I do for you?
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  Speaker 1: The elder was not in the best of humor when
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  Speaker 1: he arrived, and his state of mind had not improved.
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  Speaker 1: He waited full a minute as he surveyed the man
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  Speaker 1: of business. I thought a mut be a out to
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  Speaker 1: make some arrangement with you to get some money. But
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  Speaker 1: I reckon I was mistaken. The warehouse man came nearer,
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  Speaker 1: This is mister Brown. I believe I did not recognize
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  Speaker 1: you at once. You were not in often to see us. No,
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  Speaker 1: my wife usually tends to the town business, while I
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  Speaker 1: run the church and farm. Got a fall from my
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  Speaker 1: donkey this mornin', he said, noticing a quizzical, interrogating look
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  Speaker 1: upon the face before him, and fell squire on the hat.
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  Speaker 1: He made a pretense of smoothing it. The man of
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  Speaker 1: business had already lost interest. How much money will you want,
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  Speaker 1: mister Brown, Well, about seven hundred dollars, said the elder,
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  Speaker 1: replacing his hat and turning a furtive look upon the
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  Speaker 1: warehouse man. The other was tapping with his pencil upon
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  Speaker 1: the little shelf lying across the rail. I can get
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  Speaker 1: you five hundred, but I oughter have seven. Can't arrange
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  Speaker 1: for that amount. Wait till later in the season and
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  Speaker 1: come again. Money is very tight. Now. How much cotton
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  Speaker 1: will ye raise? Well? I count on a hundred bales,
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  Speaker 1: and you can't get the seven hundred dollars. Like to
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  Speaker 1: oblige you, but can't write now. We'll fix it for
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  Speaker 1: you later on, well, said the elder. Slowly fix up
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  Speaker 1: the papers for five and I'll make it go as
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  Speaker 1: far as possible. The papers were drawn, a note was
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  Speaker 1: made for five hundred fifty two dollars and fifty cents
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  Speaker 1: for the interest was at one and a half percent
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  Speaker 1: for seven months, and a mortgage on ten mules belonging
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  Speaker 1: to the elder was drawn and signed. The elder then
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  Speaker 1: promised to send his cotton to the warehouse to be
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  Speaker 1: sold in the fall and with a court anything else,
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  Speaker 1: and uh, thank'ee, that's all the two parted. Elder Brown
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  Speaker 1: now made an effort to recall the supplemental commissions shouted
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  Speaker 1: to him upon his departure, intending to execute them first
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  Speaker 1: and then take his written list item by item. His
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  Speaker 1: mental resolves had just reached this point when a new
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  Speaker 1: thought made itself known. Passersby were puzzled to see the
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  Speaker 1: old man suddenly snatch his head piece off and peer
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  Speaker 1: with an intent and awe struck air into its irregular caverns.
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  Speaker 1: Some of them were shocked when he suddenly and vigorously
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  Speaker 1: ejaculated Hannema Ria Gemine called darn and blue blazes. He
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  Speaker 1: had suddenly remembered having placed his memoranda in that hat,
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  Speaker 1: and as he studied its empty depths, his mind pictured
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  Speaker 1: the important scrap fluttering along the sandy scene of his
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  Speaker 1: early morning tumble. It was this that caused him to
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  Speaker 1: graze an oath with less margin than he had allowed
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  Speaker 1: himself in twenty years. What would the old lady say?
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  Speaker 1: Alas elder Brown knew too well, what she would not
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  Speaker 1: say was what puzzled him. But as he stood bareheaded
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  Speaker 1: in the sunlight, a sense of utter desolation came and
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  Speaker 1: dwelt with him. His eyes rested upon sleeping balam anchored
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  Speaker 1: to a post in the street, And so as he
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  Speaker 1: recalled the treachery that lay at the base of all
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  Speaker 1: his affliction, gloom was added to the desolation. To turn
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  Speaker 1: back and search for the lost paper would have been
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  Speaker 1: worse than useless. Only one course was open to him,
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  Speaker 1: and it went the leader of his people. He called
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  Speaker 1: at the grocery. He invaded the recesses of the dry
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  Speaker 1: goods establishments. He ransacked the hardware stores, And wherever he
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  Speaker 1: went he made life a burden for the clerks, overhauling
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  Speaker 1: showcases and pulling down whole shells of stock. Occasionally, an
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  Speaker 1: item of his memoranda would come to light, and, thrusting
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  Speaker 1: his hand into his capacious pocket where lay the proceeds
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  Speaker 1: of his check, he would pay for it. Upon the
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  Speaker 1: spot and insist upon having it rolled up. To the
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  Speaker 1: suggestion of the slave whom he had in charge for
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  Speaker 1: the time being, that the articles be laid aside until
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  Speaker 1: he had finished, he would not listen. Now you look here, sonny,
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  Speaker 1: he said, in the dry goods store, I'm conducting this revival,
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  Speaker 1: and I don't need no help in my line. Just
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  Speaker 1: you tie them stockings up and lemme have em. Then
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  Speaker 1: I know I've got em. As each purchase was promptly
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  Speaker 1: paid for and change had to be secured, the clerk
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  Speaker 1: earned his salary for that day. At least. So it
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  Speaker 1: was when near the heat of the day the good
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  Speaker 1: man arrived at the drug store, the last and only
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  Speaker 1: unvisited division of trade, he made his appear barrants equipped
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  Speaker 1: with half a hundred packages, which nestled in his arms
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  Speaker 1: and bulged out upon the sections of his clothing that
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  Speaker 1: boasted of pockets. As he deposited his deck load upon
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  Speaker 1: the counter, great drops of perspiration rolled down his face
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  Speaker 1: and over his water logged collar to the floor. There
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  Speaker 1: was something exquisitely refreshing in the great glasses of foaming
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  Speaker 1: soda that a spruce young man was drawing from a
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  Speaker 1: marble fountain, above which half a dozen polar bears in
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  Speaker 1: an ambitious print were disporting themselves. There came a break
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  Speaker 1: in the run of customers, and the spruce young man,
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  Speaker 1: having swept the foam from the marble, dexterously lifted a
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  Speaker 1: glass from the revolving rack, which had rinsed it with
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  Speaker 1: a fierce little stream of water, and asked mechanically, as
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  Speaker 1: he caught the intense look of the perspiring elder, what syrup, sir?
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  Speaker 1: Now it had not occurred to the elder to drink soda,
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  Speaker 1: but the suggestion, coming as it did in his exhausted state,
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  Speaker 1: was overpowering. He drew near, awkwardly, put on his glasses,
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  Speaker 1: and examined the list of syrups with great care. The
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  Speaker 1: young man, being for the moment at leisure, surveyed critically
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  Speaker 1: the gaunt figure, the faded bandana, the antique claw hammer coat,
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  Speaker 1: and the battered stovepipe hat. With a gradually relaxing countenance.
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  Speaker 1: He even called the prescription clerk's attention by a cough
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  Speaker 1: and a quick jerk of the thumb. The prescription clerk
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  Speaker 1: smiled freely and continued his assaults upon a piece of
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  Speaker 1: blue mass I reckon, said the elder, resting his hands
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  Speaker 1: upon his knees and bending down to the list. You
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  Speaker 1: may gimme sasparilla and a little strawberry Sassprilla good for
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  Speaker 1: the blood this time of year. In strawberries good any time.
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  Speaker 1: The spruce young man let the syrups stream into the
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  Speaker 1: glass as he smiled affably, thinking perhaps to draw out
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  Speaker 1: the odd character, he ventured upon a jest himself, repeating
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  Speaker 1: a pun invented by the man who made the first
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  Speaker 1: soda fountain. With a sweep of his arm, he cleared
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  Speaker 1: away the swarm of insects, as he remarked, people who
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  Speaker 1: like a fly in theirs are easily accommodated. It was
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  Speaker 1: from sheer good nature only that Elder Brown replied, with
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  Speaker 1: his usual broad social smile, Well a fly now, and
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  Speaker 1: then don't hurt nobody now. If there is anybody in
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  Speaker 1: the world who pries himself on knowing a thing or two,
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  Speaker 1: it is the spruce young man who presides over a
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  Speaker 1: soda fountain. This particular young gentleman did not even deem
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  Speaker 1: a reply necessary. He vanished an instant, and when he returned,
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  Speaker 1: a close observer might have seen that the mixture in
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  Speaker 1: the glass he bore had slightly changed color and increased
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  Speaker 1: in quantity, But the elder saw only the whizzing stream
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  Speaker 1: of water dart into its center, and the rosy foam
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  Speaker 1: rise and tremble on the glass's rim. The next instant
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  Speaker 1: he was holding his breath and sipping the cooling drink.
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  Speaker 1: As Elder Brown paid his small score, he was at
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  Speaker 1: peace with the world. I firmly believe that when he
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  Speaker 1: had finished his trading and the little blue stringed packages
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  Speaker 1: had been stored away, could the poor donkey have made
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  Speaker 1: his appearance at the door and gazed with his meek,
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  Speaker 1: fawn like eyes into his master's he would have obtained
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  Speaker 1: full and free forgiveness. Elder Brown paused at the door
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  Speaker 1: as he was about to leave. A rosy cheeked school
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  Speaker 1: girl was just lifting a creamy mixture to her lips
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  Speaker 1: before the fountain. It was a pretty picture, and he
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  Speaker 1: turned back, resolved to indulge in one more glass of
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  Speaker 1: the delightful beverage before beginning his long ride homeward. Fix
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  Speaker 1: it up again, sonny, he said, renewing his broad, confiding smile.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: As the spruce young man poised a glass inquiringly. The
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: living automaton went through the same motions as before, and
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: again Elder Brown quaffed the fatal mixture. What a singular
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: power is habit. Up to this time, Elder Brown had
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: been entirely innocent of transgression, But with the old alcoholic
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: fire in his veins, twenty years dropped from his shoulders,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: and a feeling came over him, familiar to every man
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: who has been in his cups. As a matter of fact,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: the elder would have been a confirmed drunkard twenty years
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: before had his wife been less strong minded. She took
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: the reins into her own hands when she found that
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: his business and strong drink did not mix well, worked
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: him into the church, sustained his resolutions by making it
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: difficult and danger for him to get to his toddy.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: She became the business head of the family, and he
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: the spiritual. Only at rare intervals did he ever backslide
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: during the twenty years of the new era, and Missus
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Brown herself used to say that the sugar in his'n
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: turned to gall before the backslide ended. People who knew
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: her never doubted it, But Elder Brown's sin during the
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: remainder of the day contained an element of responsibility. As
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: he moved majestically down towards where Balem slept in the sunlight,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: he felt no fatigue. There was a glow upon his
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: cheek bones, and a faint tinge upon his prominent nose.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: He nodded familiarly to people as he met them, and
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: saw not the look of amusement which succeeded astonishment upon
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the various faces. When he reached the neighborhood of Balam,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: it suddenly occurred to him that he might have forgotten
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: some one of his numerous commissions, and he paused to think.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Then a brilliant idea rose in his mind. He would
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: forestall blame and disarm anger with kindness. He would purchase
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Hannah uponnet. What woman's heart ever failed to soften at
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: sight of a new bonnet? As I have stated, the
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: elder was a man of action. He entered a store
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: near at hand. Good morning, said an affable gentleman with
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: a Hebrew countenance approaching Good morning. Good morning, said the elder,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: piling his bundles on the counter. I hope you are well,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Elder Brown extended his hand fervidly. Quite well, I thank
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: you of what and the little wife, said Elder Brown, affectionately,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: retaining the jew's hand. Quite well, sir, and the little
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: ones quite well, I hope too, Yes, sir, all well,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: thank you? Something I can do for you? The affable
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: merchant was trying to recall his customer's name. Not now,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: not now thanke'ee? If you please to let my bundle
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: stay until I come back, Can't I show you something?
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: A hat coat? Not now? Be back? By? And by?
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Was it chance or fate that brought Elder Brown in
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: front of a bar? The glasses shone bright upon the
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: shelves as the swinging door flapped back to let out
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: a coatless clerk, who passed him with a rush, Chewing
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: upon a farewell mouthful of brown bread and bologna. Elder
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Brown beheld for an instant the familiar scene. Within the
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: screws of his resolution had been loosened. At sight of
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: the glistening bar, the whole moral structure of twenty years
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: came tumbling down mechanically. He entered the saloon and laid
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: a silver quarter upon the bar, as he said, a
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: little whiskey and sugar. The arms of the bartender worked
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: like a faker's in a sight show as he set
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: out the glass with its little quota of short sweetening
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: and a cut glass decanter, and sent a half tumbler
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: of water spinning along from the upper end of the
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: bar with a dime in change. Whiskey is higher'n it
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: used to be, said Elder Brown, But the bartender was
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: taking another order and did not hear him. Elder Brown
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: stirred away the sugar and let a steady stream of
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: red liquid flow into the glass. He swallowed the drink
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: as unconcernedly as though his morning tod had never been suspended,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: and pocketed the change. But it ain't any better than
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: it was, he concluded. As he passed out. He did
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: not even seem to realize that he had done anything extraordinary.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: There was a millinery store up the street, and thither
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: with uncertain step, he winded his way, feeling a little
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: more e late and altogether sociable. A pretty black eyed girl,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: ruggling to keep down her mirth, came forward and faced
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: him behind the counter. Elder Brown lifted his faded hat
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: with the politeness, if not the grace, of a Castilian,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: and made a sweeping bow. Again. He was in his element,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: but he did not speak. A shower of odds and ends,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: small packages, thread needles, and buttons released from their prison,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: rattled down about him. The girl laughed she could not
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: help it, and the elder, leaning his hand on the counter,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: laughed too, until several other girls came half way to
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: the front. Then they, hiding behind counters and suspended cloaks,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: laughed and snickered until they reconvulsed the elder's visa Ville,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: who had been making desperate efforts to resume her demure appearance.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Let me help you, sir, she said, coming from behind
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: the counter. Upon seeing Elder Brown beginning to adjust his
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: spectacles for a search, he waved her back majestically. No,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: my dear, No, can't allow it. You won't sile them
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: pretty fingers. No, ma'am, No gentleman, lordly lady, to do
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: such a thing. The elder was gently forcing the girl
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: back to her place. Leave it to me. I picked
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: up bigger things an them, picked myself up this mornin'. Balum,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: you don't know, Balam. He's my donkey. He tumbled me
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: over his head in the sand this mornin', and Elder
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: Brown had to resume an upright position until his paroxysm
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: of laughter had passed. You see this old hat, extending
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: it half full of packages. I fell clear into it,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: jest as clean into it as them things thar fell
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: out in it. He laughed again, and so did the girls.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: But my dear, I wailed half the hot off him
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: for it. Oh, sir, how could you? Indeed, sir, I
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: think you did wrong. The poor brute did not know
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: what he was doing, I dare say, And probably he
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: has been a faithful friend. The girl cast her mischievous
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: eyes towards her companions, who snickered again. The old man
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: was not conscious of the sarcasm. He only saw a reproach.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: His face straightened, and he regarded the girl soberly. Maybe
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: you're right, my dear, Maybe I oughtn't. I am sure
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: of it, said the girl. But now don't you want
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: to buy a bonnet or a cloak to carry home
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: to your wife? Well you're whistlin now, Bertie, that's my intention.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Set em all out again. The elder's face shone with delight.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: And I don't want no one hoss bonnet neither, of course,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: not now here is one pink silk with delicate pale
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: blue feathers just the thing for the season. We have
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: nothing more elegant in stock. Elder Brown held it out
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: upside down at arm's length. Well, now that something like
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: will it suit a sort of red headed woman? A
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: perfectly sober man would have said, the girl's corsets must
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: have undergone a terrible strain, But the elder did not
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: notice her dumb convulsion. She answered heroically, perfectly, sir, it
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: is an exquisite match. I think you're Whitland again. Nancy's
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: head's red red as a woodpeck's sorrow's only half way
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: to the collar. Her top knot, and it do seem
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: like red otd to suit red Nancy's red, and the
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: hat's red like goes with like, and birds of a
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: feather flocked together. The old man laughed until his cheeks
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: were wet. The girl, beginning to feel a little uneasy,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: and seeing a customer entering, rapidly fixed up the bonnet,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: took fifteen dollars out of a twenty dollar bill and
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: calmly asked the elder if he wanted anything else. He
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: thrust his change somewhere into his clothes and beat a retreat.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: It had occurred to him that he was nearly drunk.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Elder Brown's step began to lose its buoyancy. He found
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: himself utterly unable to walk straight. There was an uncertain
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: straddle in his gait that carried him from one side
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: of the walk to the other, and caused people whom
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: he met to cheerfully yield him plenty of room. Balam
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: saw him coming, Poor Balam. He had made an early
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: start that day, and for hours he stood in the
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: sun awaiting relief. When he opened his sleepy eyes and
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: raised his expressive ears to a position of attention, the old,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: familiar coat and battered hat of the elder were before him.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: He lifted up his honest voice and cried aloud for joy.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: The effect was electrical. For one instant, Elder Brown surveyed
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: the beast with horror, but again, in his understanding, there
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: rang out the trumpet words drunk, drunk, drunk d runka
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: der runk unk unk. He stooped instinctively for a missile
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: with which to smite his accuser, but brought up suddenly
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: with a jerk and a handful of sand, straightening himself
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: up with a majestic dignity. He extended his right hand impressively.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: You're a calder liar, balum and blast year old buttons.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: You can walk home by yourself, for I'm danged if
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: you'll ride me er step surely. Coriolanus never turned his
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: back upon Rome with a grander dignity than sat upon
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: the old man's form. As he faced about and left
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: the brute to survey with anxious eyes the new departure
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: of his master. He saw the elder zigzag along the
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: street and beheld him about to turn a friendly corner.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Once more, he lifted up his mighty voice, drunk, drunk, drunk,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: drunk der runkt runk arun kunk kunk. Once more, the
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: elder turned with lifted hand and shouted back, you're a liar,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Balam Goldern, you you're er infamous liar. And then he
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: passed from view. Three. Missus Brown stood upon the steps
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: anxiously awaiting the return of her liege lord. She knew
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: he had with him a large sum of money, or
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: should have, and she knew also that he was a
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: man without business methods. She had long since repented of
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: the decision which sent him to town. When the old
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: battered hat and flower covered coat, loomed up in the
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: gloaming and confronted her. She stared with terror. The next
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: instant she had seized him. For the lord's sake, Elder Brown,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: what ails you as I live if the man ain't drunk?
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: Elder Brown. Elder Brown, for the life of me, I
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: can't make you hear, you crazy old hypocrite, you de
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: save an old sinner, you black hearted wretch. Where have
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: you been? The elder made an effort to wave her off. Woman,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: he said, with grand dignity, you forget yourself. She'll know
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: where I bend swells. I do bend a town wife,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: and see you what I've brought the finest hat old
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: woman I could get. Look at a collar like, does
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: it like? It's red and you're red? And it's a
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: dead match. Well you mean hey, hold on home, old woman.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: You Hannah you, She literally shook him into silence. You
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: miserable wretch, you low down, drunken soft What do you
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: mean by coming home and insulting your wife? Hannah ceased,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: shaking him from pure exhaustion. Where is it? I say,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: where is it? By this time, she was turning his
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: pockets wrong side out from one she got pills from another,
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: change from another packages. The Lord be praised, and this
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: is better luck than I hoped for, Oh elder, elder, elder,
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: what did ye do it for? Why? Man? Where is balam?
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Thought of the beast choked off the threatened hysterics. Baalam Balum,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: said the elder, groggily. He's in town, infernal old fool
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: in Fulton me and I left, n'd a walk home.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: His wife surveyed him. Really, at that moment she did
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: think his mind was gone, But the leer upon the
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: old man's face enraged her beyond endurance. You did, did
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: you well? Now? I reckon you'll laugh for some cause
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: you will back. You go, sir, straight back, And don't
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: you come home without that donkey or you'll brew it shows.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: My name is Hannah Brown. Alac you alac. A black
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: boy darted around the corner from behind which with several
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: others he had beheld the brief but stirring scene. Put
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: a saddle on our mule. The elders gwang back to town,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: and don't you be long about it neither, yes'um Alex's
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: ivories gleamed in the darkness as he disappeared. Elder Brown
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: was soberer at that moment than he had been for hours. Hannah,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: you don't mean it, Yes, sir, I do back. You
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: go to town as sure as my name is Hannah Brown.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: The elder was silent. He had never known his wife
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: to relent on any occasion. After she had affirmed her intention,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: supplemented with as sure as my name is Hannah Brown.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: It was her way of swearing. No affidavit would have
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: had half the claim upon her as that simple enunciation.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: So back to town went Elder Brown, not in the
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: order of the early morn, but silently, moodily, despairingly, surrounded
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: by mental and actual gloom. The old man had turned
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: a last appealing glance upon the angry woman as he
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: mounted with Alec's assistance, and sat in the light that
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: streamed from out the kitchen window. She met the glance
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: without a waver. She means as sure as my name is, Elderbrown,
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: he said thickly, And then he rode on four to
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: say that Elder Brown suffered on his long journey back
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: to Macon would only mildly outline his experience. His early
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: morning's fall had begun to make itself felt. He was
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: sore and uncomfortable. Besides, his stomach was empty and called
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: for two meals it had missed for the first time
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: in years. When sore and weary, the elder entered the city,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: the electric lights shone above it, like jewels in a crown.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: The city slept, that is, the better portion of it
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: did here and there, However, the lower lights flashed out
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: into the night. Moodily, the elder pursued his journey, and
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: as he rode far off in the night, there arose
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: and quivered a plaintive cry. Elder Brown smiled wearily. It
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: was Balam's appeal, and he recognized it. The animal he
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: rode also recognized it and replied. Until the silence of
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: the city was destroyed. The odd clamor and confusion drew
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: from a saloon near by a group of noisy youngsters
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: who had been making a night of it. They surrounded
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: Elder Brown as he began to transfer himself to the
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: hungry beast, to whose motion he was more accustomed, and
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: in the hail fellow well met style of the day,
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: began to bandy jests about his appearance. Now Elder Brown
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: was not in a jesting humor. Positively, he was in
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: the worst humor possible. The result was that before many
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: minutes passed, the old man was swinging several of the
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: crowd by their callers and breaking the peace of the city.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: A policeman approached, and but for the good humored party,
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: upon whom the elder's pluck had made a favorable impression,
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: would have run the old man into the barracks. The crowd, however,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: drew him laughingly into the saloon and to the bar.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: The reaction was too much for his half rallied senses.
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: He yielded again. The reviving liquor passed his lips, gloom vanished.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: He became one of the boys. The company into which
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: Elder Brown had fallen was what is known as first class.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: To such, nothing is so captivating as an adventure out
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: of the common run of accidents. The gaunt countryman, with
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: his battered hat and clawhammer coat, was a prize of
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: an extraordinary nature. They drew him into a rear room
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: whose gilded frames and polished tables betrayed the character and
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: purpose of the play, and plied him with wine until
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: ten thousand lights danced about him. The fun increased. One
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: youngster made a political speech from the top of the table.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Another impersonated Hamlet, and finally Elder Brown was lifted into
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: a chair and sang a camp meeting song. This was
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: rendered by him with startling effect. He stood upright, with
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: his hat jauntily knocked to one side and his coat
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: tails ornamented with a couple of show bills kindly pinned
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: on by his admirers. In his left hand he waved
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: the stub of a cigar, and on his back was
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: an admirable representation of Balem's head, executed by some artist
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: with billiard chalk. As the elder sang his favorite hymn,
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: I'm glad Salvation's Free. His stentorian voice awoke the echoes.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Most of the company rolled upon the floor in convulsions
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: of laughter. The exhibition came to a close by the
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: chair overturning again, Elder Brown fell into his beloved hat.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: He arose and shouted, whoa badim? Again? He seized the
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: nearest weapon and sought satisfaction. The young gentleman with political
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: sentiments was knocked under the table, and Hamlet only escaped
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: injury by beating the infuriated elder into the street. What next, well,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: I hardly know how The elder found balim is a mystery, yet,
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: not that balem was hard to find, but that the
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: old man was in no condition to find anything. Still
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: he did, and, climbing laboriously into the saddle, he held
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: on stupidly while the hungry beast struck out for home.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: Five Hannah Brown did not sleep that night. Sleep would
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: not come. Hour after hour passed, and her wrath refused
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: to be quelled. She tried every conceivable method, but time
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: hung heavily. It was not quite peep of day, however,
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: when she laid her well worn family Bible aside. It
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: had been her mother's, and amid all the anxieties and
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: tribulations incident to the life of a woman who had
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: free negroes and a miserable husband to manage, it had
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: been her mainstay and comfort. She had frequently read it
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: an anger, page after page, without knowing what was contained
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: in the lines. But eventually the words became intelligible and
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: took meaning. She wrested consolation from it by mere force
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: of will, and so on this occasion, when she closed
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: the book, the fierce anger was gone. She was not
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: a hard woman. Naturally, fate had brought her conditions which
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: covered up the woman's heart within her, but though it
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: lay deep, it was there still. As she sat with
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: folded hands, her eyes fell upon what the pink bonnet
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: with the blue plume. It may appear strange to those
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: who do not understand such natures, but to me her
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: next action was perfectly natural. She burst into a convulsive laugh, then,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: seizing the queer object, bent her face upon it, and
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: sobbed hysterically. When the storm was over, very tenderly, she
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: laid the gift aside, and bareheaded, passed out into the night.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: For a half hour. She stood at the end of
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: the lane, and then, hungry, Balam and his master hove
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: in sight. Reaching out her hand, she checked the beast.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: William said she very gently, where is the mule? The
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: elder had been asleep. He woke and gazed upon her blankly.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: What mule, Hannah, the mule you rode to town? For
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: one full minute? The elder studied her face. Then it
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: burst from his lips. Well bless me if I didn't
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: bring Balem and forget the mule. The woman laughed till
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: her eyes ran water. William said, she you're drunk. Hannah
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: said he meekly. I know it. The truth is, Hannah.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: I never mind now, William, she said gently, you are
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: tired and hungry. Come into the house, husband, leading balam,
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: she disappeared down the lane. And when a few minutes
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: later Hannah Brown and her husband entered through the light
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: that streamed out of the open door, her arms were
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: around him and her face upturned to his. And of
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: story nine four