* * * * SoⒶapparatus note much for the earlier days, and the New England branch of the ClemensesⒺexplanatory note. The other brother settled in the South, and is remotely responsible for me. He has collected his reward generations ago, whatever it was. He went South withⒶapparatus note his particular friendⒶapparatus note Fairfax,Ⓐapparatus note and settled in Maryland with him, but afterward went further and made his home in Virginia. This is the FairfaxⒶapparatus note whose descendants were to enjoy a curious distinction—that of being American-born English earls. The founder of the house was Lord GeneralⒶapparatus note Fairfax of the Parliamentary army, in Cromwell’s time. The earldom, which is of recent date,Ⓐapparatus note came to the American Fairfaxes through the failure ofⒶapparatus note maleⒶapparatus note heirs in England. Old residents of San Francisco will remember “Charley,” the American earl of the mid-’60s—Ⓐapparatus note tenthⒶapparatus note Lord Fairfax according to Burke’s Peerage, and holder of a modest public office of some sort or other in the new mining town of Virginia City, NevadaⒺexplanatory note. He was never out of America. I knew him, but not intimately. He had a golden character, and that was all his fortune. He laid his title aside, and gave it a holiday until his circumstances should improve to a degree consonant with itsⒶapparatus note dignity; but that time never came, I think. He was a manly man, and had fine generosities in his make-up. A prominent and pestilent creature named FergusonⒶapparatus note, who was always picking quarrels with better men than himself, picked one with him, one day, and Fairfax knocked him down. FergusonⒶapparatus note gathered himself up and went off mumbling threats. Fairfax carried no arms, and refused to carry any now, though his friends warned him that FergusonⒶapparatus note was of a treacherous disposition and would beⒶapparatus note sure to take revenge by base means sooner or later. Nothing happened for several days; then FergusonⒶapparatus note took the earlⒶapparatus note by surprise and snapped a revolver at his breast. Fairfax wrenched the pistol from him and was going to shoot him, but the man fell on his knees and beggedⒶapparatus note, and said “Don’t kill me—I have a wife and children.” Fairfax was in a towering passion, but theⒶapparatus note appeal reached his heart, and he said, “They have done me no harm,” and he let the rascal goⒺexplanatory note.

BackⒶapparatus note of the VirginianⒶapparatus note Clemenses is a dim procession of ancestors stretchingⒶapparatus note back to Noah’s time. According to tradition, some of them were pirates and slaversⒶapparatus note in Elizabeth’s time. But this is no discredit to them, for so were Drake and HawkinsⒺexplanatory note and the others. It was a respectable trade, then, and monarchs were partners in it. In my time I have had desires to be a pirate myself. The reader—if he will look deep down in his secret heart, will find—but never mind what he will find there:Ⓐapparatus note I am not writing his Autobiography, but mine.Ⓐapparatus note Later, according to [begin page 204] tradition, one of the processionⒶapparatus note was Ambassador to Spain in the time of James IⒶapparatus note, or of Charles I, and married there and sent down a strain of Spanish blood to warm us up. Also, according to tradition, this one or another—Geoffrey Clement, by name—helped to sentence Charles to deathⒺexplanatory note. IⒶapparatus note have not examined into these traditions myself, partly because I was indolentⒶapparatus note, and partly because I was so busy polishing up this end of the line and trying to make it showy; but the other Clemenses claim that they have made the examination and that it stood the test. Therefore I have always taken for granted that I did help Charles out of his troubles, by ancestral proxy. My instincts have persuaded me, too. Whenever we have a strong and persistent and ineradicable instinct, we may be sure that it is not original with us, but inherited—inherited from away back, and hardened and perfected by the petrifying influence of time. Now I have been always and unchangingly bitter against Charles, and I am quite certain that this feeling trickled down toⒶapparatus note me through the veins of my forebears from the heart of that judge; for it is not myⒶapparatus note disposition to be bitter against people on my own personal account. I am not bitter against JeffreysⒺexplanatory note. I ought to be, but I am not. It indicates that my ancestors of James II’s timeⒶapparatus note were indifferent to him; I do not know why; I never could make it out; but that is what it indicates. And I have always felt friendly toward Satan. Of course that is ancestral; it must be in the blood,Ⓐapparatus note for I could not have originated it.Ⓐapparatus note

. . . AndⒶapparatus note so, by the testimony of instinct, backed by the assertions of Clemenses who said they had examined the records, I have always been obliged to believe that GeoffreyⒶapparatus note Clement the martyr-maker was an ancestor of mine, and to regard him with favor, and in fact pride. This has not had a good effect upon me, for it has made me vain,Ⓐapparatus note and that is a fault. It has made me set myselfⒶapparatus note above people who were less fortunate in their ancestry than I, and has moved me to take them down a peg, upon occasion, and say things to them which hurt them before company.

A case of the kind happened in Berlin severalⒶapparatus note years ago. William Walter Phelps was our Minister at the Emperor’s CourtⒺexplanatory note, then, and one evening he had me to dinner to meet Count S., a cabinet minister. This nobleman was of long and illustrious descentⒺexplanatory note. OfⒶapparatus note course I wanted to letⒶapparatus note out the fact that I hadⒶapparatus note some ancestors, too; but I did not want to pull them out of their graves by the ears, and I never could seem to get aⒶapparatus note chance to work them in inⒶapparatus note a way that would look sufficientlyⒶapparatus note casual. I suppose Phelps was in the same difficulty. In fact he looked distraught, now and then—just as a person looks who wants to uncover an ancestor purely by accident, and cannot think of a way that will seem accidental enough. But at last, after dinner, he made a try. He took us about his drawing-room, showing us the pictures, and finally stopped before a rude and ancient engraving. It was a picture of the court that tried Charles I. There was a pyramid of judges in Puritan slouch hats, and below them three bare-headedⒶapparatus note secretaries seated at a table. Mr. Phelps put his finger upon one of the three, and said with exultingⒶapparatus note indifference—

“An ancestor of mine.”

I put my finger on a judge, and retorted with scathing languidness—

“Ancestor of mine. But it is a small matter. I have others.”

It was not noble in me to do it. I have always regretted it since. But it landed him. I wonder how he felt?Ⓐapparatus note However, it made no difference in our friendship; which shows that he was fine [begin page 205] and high, notwithstanding the humbleness of hisⒶapparatus note originⒶapparatus note. And it was also creditable in me, too, that I could overlook it. I made no change in my bearing toward him, but always treated him as an equal.

But it was a hard night for me in one way. Mr.Ⓐapparatus note Phelps thought I was the guest of honor, and so did Count S.;Ⓐapparatus note but I didn’t, for there was nothing in my invitation to indicate it. It was just a friendly off-hand note, on a card.Ⓐapparatus note By the time dinner was announced Phelps was himself in a state of doubt. Something had to be done; andⒶapparatus note it was not a handy time for explanations. He tried to get me to go out with him, but I held back; then he tried S.,Ⓐapparatus note and he alsoⒶapparatus note declined. There was another guest, but there was no trouble about him. We finally went out in a pile. ThereⒶapparatus note was a decorous plunge for seats, and I got the one at Mr. Phelps’s left, the Count captured the one facingⒶapparatus note Phelps, andⒶapparatus note the other guest had to take the place of honor, since he could not help himself. We returned to the drawing-roomⒶapparatus note in the original disorder. I had new shoes on, and they were tight. At eleven I was privately cryingⒶapparatus note; I couldn’t help it;Ⓐapparatus note the pain was so cruel. Conversation had been dead for an hour. S.Ⓐapparatus note had been due at the bedside of a dying official ever since half past nine. At last we all rose by one blessed impulse and went down to the street door without explanations—in a pile, and no precedenceⒶapparatus note; and so, parted.Ⓐapparatus note

The evening had its defects; still, I got my ancestor in, and was satisfied.

Among the Virginian Clemenses were Jere. (already mentioned),Ⓐapparatus note and SherrardⒺexplanatory note.Ⓐapparatus note Jere. Clemens had a wide reputation as a good pistol-shot, and once it enabled him to get on the friendly side of some drummers when they would not have paid any attention to mere smoothⒶapparatus note words and arguments. He was out stumping the StateⒶapparatus note at the time. The drummersⒶapparatus note were grouped in front of the stand, and had been hired by the opposition to drum while he made his speech. When he was ready to begin, he got out his revolver and laid it before him, and said in his soft, silky way—

“I do not wish to hurt anybody, and shall try not to; but I have got just a bullet apiece for those six drums, and if you should want to play on them, don’t stand behind them.”Ⓐapparatus note

Sherrard Clemens was a RepublicanⒶapparatus note Congressman from West Virginia in the war days, and then went out to St. LouisⒶapparatus note, where the James Clemens branch lived, and still livesⒶapparatus note, and there he became a warm rebel. This was after the war.Ⓐapparatus note At the time that he was a RepublicanⒶapparatus note I was a rebel; but by the time he had become a rebel I was becomeⒶapparatus note (temporarily) a RepublicanⒶapparatus note. The Clemenses haveⒶapparatus note always done the best they could to keep the political balances level, no matter how much it might inconvenience them. I did not know what had become of Sherrard Clemens; but once I introduced Senator Hawley to a RepublicanⒶapparatus note mass meeting in New England, and then I got a bitter letter from SherrardⒶapparatus note from St. Louis. He said that the RepublicansⒶapparatus note of the North—no, the “mudsills of the North”—had swept away the old aristocracy of the South with fire and sword, and it ill became me, an aristocrat by blood, to train with that kind of swineⒺexplanatory note. Did I forget that I was a Lambton?Ⓐapparatus note

That was a reference to my mother’s side of the house. As I have already said, sheⒶapparatus note was a Lambton—Lambton with a pⒶapparatus note, for some ofⒶapparatus note the American Lamptons could not spell very well in early times, and so the name suffered at their hands. She was a native of Kentucky, and married my father in Lexington inⒶapparatus note 1823, when she was twenty years old and he twenty-fourⒺexplanatory note. Neither of them had an overplus ofⒶapparatus note property. She brought him two or three negroes,Ⓐapparatus note but nothing [begin page 206] else, I think. They removed to the remote and secluded village of Jamestown, in the mountain solitudes of eastⒶapparatus note Tennessee. There their first crop of childrenⒶapparatus note was born, but as I was of a later vintage I do not remember anythingⒶapparatus note about it. I was postponed—postponed to Missouri. Missouri was an unknown new State and needed attractions.

I think that my eldest brother, Orion, my sisters Pamela and Margaret, and my brother Benjamin were born in Jamestown. There may have been othersⒺexplanatory note, but as to that I am not sure. It was a great lift for that little village to have my parents come there. It was hoped that they would stay, so that it would become a city. It was supposed that they would stay. And so there was a boom; but by and by they went away, and prices went down, and it was many years before Jamestown got another start. I have written about Jamestown in the “Gilded Age,” a book of mineⒺexplanatory note, but it was from hearsay, not from personal knowledge. My father left a fine estate behind him in the region round aboutⒶapparatus note Jamestown—75,000 acresⒺexplanatory note.*Ⓐapparatus note When he died in 1847 he had owned it about twenty years. The taxes were almost nothing (five dollars a year for the whole)Ⓐapparatus note, and he had alwaysⒶapparatus note paid them regularly and kept his title perfect. He had always said that the land would not become valuable in his time, but that it would be a commodious provision for his children some day. It contained coal, copper, ironⒶapparatus note and timber, and he said that in the course of time railways would pierce to that region, and then the property would be property in fact as well as in name. It also produced a wild grape of a promising sort. He had sent some samples to Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati, to get his judgment upon them, and Mr. Longworth had said that they would make as good wine as his CatawbasⒺexplanatory note. The land contained all these riches; and also oil, but my father did not know that, and of course in those early daysⒶapparatus note heⒶapparatus note would have cared nothing about it if he had known it. The oilⒶapparatus note was not discovered until about 1895Ⓐapparatus note. I wish I owned a couple of acres of the land now. In which case I would not be writing Autobiographies for a livingⒶapparatus note. My father’s dying chargeⒶapparatus note was, “Cling to the land and wait; let nothing beguile it away from you.”Ⓐapparatus note My mother’s favorite cousin, James LamptonⒶapparatus note, who figures in the “Gilded Age” as “Colonel Sellers,”Ⓔexplanatory note always said of that land—and said it with blazing enthusiasm, too,—Ⓐapparatus note“There’sⒶapparatus note millions in it—millions!” It is true that he always said that about everything—and was always mistaken, too; but this time he was right; which shows that a manⒶapparatus note who goes around with a prophecy-gun ought never to get discouraged:Ⓐapparatus note if he will keep up his heart and fire at everything he sees, he is bound to hit something by and by.

Many persons regarded “Colonel Sellers” as a fiction, an invention, an extravagant impossibility, and did me the honor to call him a “creation;”Ⓐapparatus note but they were mistaken. I merely put him on paper as he was; he was not a person who could be exaggerated. The incidents which looked most extravagant, both in the book and on the stage, were not inventions of mine but were facts of his life; and I was present when they were developed. John T. Raymond’s audiences used to come near to dying with laughter over the turnip-eating sceneⒺexplanatory note; but, extravagant as the scene was, it was faithful to the facts, in all its absurd details. The thing happened in Lampton’sⒶapparatus note own house, and I was present. In factⒶapparatus note I was myself the guest who ate the turnips. In the hands of a great actor that piteous scene would have dimmed any manly spectator’s eyes with tears, and racked his ribs apart with laughter at the same time. But Raymond was

It is a world of surprises. They fall, too, where one is least expecting them. When I introduced Sellers into the book, Charles Dudley Warner, who was writing the story with me, proposed a change of Sellers’s Christian name. Ten years before, in a remote corner of the West,Ⓐapparatus note he had come across a man named Eschol Sellers, and he thought that Eschol was just the right and fitting name for our Sellers, since it was odd, and quaint,Ⓐapparatus note and all that. I liked the idea, but I said that that man might turn up and object. But Warner said it couldn’t happen; that he was doubtless dead by this time, a man with a name like that couldn’t live long; and be heⒶapparatus note dead or alive we must have the name, it was exactly the right one and we couldn’t do without it. So the changeⒶapparatus note was made. Warner’s man was a farmer in a cheap and humble way. When the book had been out a week, a college-bred gentleman of courtly manners and ducal upholstery arrived in Hartford in a sultry state of mind and withⒶapparatus note a libelⒶapparatus note suit in his eye, and his name was Eschol Sellers! He had neverⒶapparatus note heard of the other one, and had never been within a thousand miles of him. This damaged aristocrat’sⒶapparatus note programⒶapparatus note was quite definite and business-likeⒶapparatus note: the American Publishing Company must suppressⒶapparatus note the edition as far as printed, and change the name in the plates, or stand a suit for $10,000. He carried away the Company’s promise and many apologies, and weⒶapparatus note changed the name back toⒶapparatus note Colonel Mulberry Sellers, in the platesⒶapparatus note Ⓔexplanatory note. Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen. Even the existence of two unrelated men wearingⒶapparatus note the impossible name of Eschol Sellers is a possible thing.

James LamptonⒶapparatus note floated, all his days, in a tinted mist of magnificent dreams, and died at last without seeing one of them realized. I saw him last in 1884, when it had been twenty-six years since I ate the basin of raw turnips and washed them down with a bucket of water in his house. He was become old and white-headed, but he entered to me in the same old breezy way of his earlier life, and he was all there, yet—not a detail wanting:Ⓐapparatus note the happy light in his eye, the abounding hope in his heart, the persuasive tongue, the miracle-breeding imagination— they were all there; and before I could turn around he was polishing up his Aladdin’s lamp and flashing the secret riches of the world before me. I said to myself, “I did not overdraw him by a shade,Ⓐapparatus note I set him down as he was; and he is the same man to-day:Ⓐapparatus note Cable will recognize him.”

“I am going to leave your door open, so that you can listen. There is a man in there who is interesting.”

I went back and asked LamptonⒶapparatus note what he was doing, now. He began to tell me of a “small venture” he had begun in New Mexico through his sonⒺexplanatory note; “only a little thing—a mere trifle—partly to amuse myⒶapparatus note leisure, partly to keep my capital from lying idle, but mainly to develop the boy—develop the boy; fortune’s wheel is ever revolving, he may have to work for his living some day—as strange things have happened in this world. But it’s only a little thing—a mere trifle, as I said.”

And so it was—as he began it. But under his deft hands it grew, and blossomed, and spread—oh, beyond imagination. At the end of half an hour he finished; finished with thisⒶapparatus note remark, uttered in an adorably languid manner:

“Yes, it is but a trifle, as things go nowadays—a bagatelle—but amusing. It passes the time. The boy thinks great things of it, but he is young, you know, and imaginative; lacks the experience which comes of handling large affairs, and which tempers the fancy and perfects the judgment. I suppose there’s a couple of millions in it, possibly threeⒶapparatus note, but not more, I think; still, for a boy, you know, just starting in life, it is not bad. I should not want him to make a fortune—let that come later. It could turn his head, at his time of life, and in many ways be a damage to him.”

Then he said something about his having leftⒶapparatus note his pocket-book lying on the table in the main drawing-roomⒶapparatus note at home, and about itsⒶapparatus note being after banking hours, now, and—

I stopped him,Ⓐapparatus note there, and begged him to honor Cable and me by being our guest at the lecture—with as many friends as might be willing to do us the like honor. He accepted. And he thanked me as a prince might who had granted us a grace.Ⓐapparatus note The reason I stopped his speech about the tickets was because I saw that he was going to ask me to furnish them to him and let him pay next day; and I knew that if he made the debt he would pay it if he had to pawn his clothes. After a little further chatⒶapparatus note he shook hands heartily and affectionately, and took his leave. Cable put his head in at the door, and said—

“That was Colonel Sellers.”Ⓐapparatus note

Chapter Ⓔexplanatory note

If any penny of cash ever came out of my father’s wiseⒶapparatus note investment but thaⒶapparatus notet, I have no recollection of it. No, I aⒶapparatus notem overlooking a detail. It furnished me a field for Sellers and a book. Out of my half of the book I got $15,000 or $20,000;Ⓐapparatus note out of the play I got $75,000 or $80,000Ⓐapparatus note—just aboutⒶapparatus note a dollar an acre. It is curious:Ⓐapparatus note I was not alive when my father made the investment, therefore he was not intending any partiality; yet I was the only member of the family that ever profited by it. I shall have occasion to mention this land again, now and then, as I go along, for it influenced our life in one way or another duringⒶapparatus note more than a generation. Whenever things grew dark it rose and put out its hopeful SellersⒶapparatus note hand and cheered us up, and saidⒶapparatus note “Do not be afraid—trust in me—wait.” It kept us hoping and hoping, during forty years, and forsook us at last. It put our energies to sleep and made visionaries of us—dreamers,Ⓐapparatus note and indolent. We were always going to be rich next year—no occasion to work. It is good to begin life poor; it is good to begin life rich—these are wholesome; but to begin itⒶapparatus note prospectivelyⒶapparatus note rich! The man who has not experienced it cannot imagine the curseⒶapparatus note of it.

My parents removed to Missouri in the early thirtiesⒶapparatus note; I do not remember just when, for I was not born then, and cared nothing for such things. It was a long journey in those days, and must have been a rough and tiresome one. The home was made in the wee village of Florida, in Monroe CountyⒶapparatus note, and I was born there in 1835. The village contained a hundred people and I increased the population by 1Ⓐapparatus note per cent. It is more than the bestⒶapparatus note man in history ever did for any otherⒶapparatus note town. It may not be modest in me to refer to this, but it is true. There is no record of a person doing as much—not even ShakspeareⒶapparatus note. But I did it for Florida, and it shows that I could have done it for any place—even London, I suppose.

RecentlyⒶapparatus note some one in Missouri has sent me a picture of the house I was born in. HeretoforeⒶapparatus note I have always stated that it was a palace, but I shall be more guarded, now.

IⒶapparatus note remember only one circumstance connected with my life in it. I remember it very well, though I was but two and a half years old at the time. The family packed up everything and started in wagons for Hannibal, on the Mississippi, thirty miles away. TowardⒶapparatus note night, when they camped and counted up the children, one was missing. I was the one. I had been left behind. Parents ought always to count the children before they start. I was having a good enough time playing by myself until I found that the doors were fastened and that there was a grisly deep silence brooding over the place. I knew, then, that the family were gone, and that they had forgotten me. I was well frightened, and I made all the noise I could, but no one was near and it didⒶapparatus note no good. I spent the afternoon in captivity and was not rescued tillⒶapparatus note the gloaming had fallen and the place was alive with ghostsⒺexplanatory note.

My brother Henry was six months old at that time. I used to remember his walking into a fire outdoorsⒶapparatus note when he was a week old. It was remarkable in me to remember a thing like that, which occurredⒶapparatus note when I was so young. And it was still more remarkable that I should cling to the delusion, for thirty years, that I didⒶapparatus note remember it—for of course it never happened; he would not have been able to walk at that ageⒺexplanatory note. If I had stopped to reflect, I should not have burdened my memory with that impossible rubbish so long. It is believed by many people that an impression depositedⒶapparatus note in a child’s memory within the first two years of its life cannot remain there five years, but that is an error. The incident of Benvenuto Cellini and the salamanderⒺexplanatory note must be accepted as authentic and trustworthy; and then that remarkable and indisputable instance [begin page 210] in the experience of Helen KellerⒶapparatus note Ⓔexplanatory note—however, I will speak of that at another time. For many years I believed that I remembered helping my grandfather drink his whiskyⒶapparatus note toddy when I was six weeksⒶapparatus note old, but I do not tell about that any more, now;Ⓐapparatus note I am grown old, and my memory is not as active as it used to be. When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it had happenedⒶapparatus note or not; but my faculties are decaying, now, and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the latterⒶapparatus note. It is sad to go to pieces like this, but we all have to do it.

My uncle, John A. Quarles, wasⒶapparatus note a farmer, and his place was inⒶapparatus note the country four miles from Florida. He had eight children, and fifteen or twenty negroes, and was also fortunate in other ways. ParticularlyⒶapparatus note in his character. I have not come across a better man thanⒶapparatus note Ⓐapparatus note he was. I was his guest for twoⒶapparatus note or three months every year, from the fourth year after we removed to Hannibal till I was eleven or twelve years old. I have never consciously used him or his wife in a book, but his farm has come very handy to me in literature, once or twice. InⒶapparatus note “Huck Finn” and in “Tom Sawyer Detective” I moved it down to ArkansasⒺexplanatory note. It was all of six hundred miles, but it was no trouble, it was not a very large farm; five hundredⒶapparatus note acres, perhaps, but I could have done it if it had been twice as large. AndⒶapparatus note as for the morality of it, I cared nothing for that; I would move a State if the exigencies of literature required it.

It was a heavenly place for a boy, that farm of myⒶapparatus note uncle John’s. The house was a double log one, with a spacious floor (roofed in) connecting it with the kitchen. In the summer the tableⒶapparatus note was set in the middle of that shady and breezy floor, and the sumptuous meals—well, it makes me cry to think of them. Fried chicken;Ⓐapparatus note roast pig;Ⓐapparatus note wild and tameⒶapparatus note turkeys, ducks,Ⓐapparatus note andⒶapparatus note geese; venison just killed; squirrels, rabbits, pheasants, partridges, prairie chickensⒶapparatus note; home-made bacon and ham; hotⒶapparatus note biscuits, hot batter-cakes, hot buckwheat cakes,Ⓐapparatus note hot “wheatbread,”Ⓐapparatus note hot rolls, hot corn poneⒶapparatus note; fresh cornⒶapparatus note boiled on the ear, succotash, butter-beans, string beansⒶapparatus note, tomatoes,Ⓐapparatus note peasⒶapparatus note, IrishⒶapparatus note potatoes, sweet potatoesⒶapparatus note; buttermilk, sweet milk, “clabber;”Ⓐapparatus note watermelons, musk melonsⒶapparatus note, canteloups—all fresh from the garden—apple pie, peach pie, pumpkin pie, apple dumplings, peach cobbler—I can’t remember the rest. The way that the things were cooked was perhaps the main splendor—particularly a certain few of the dishes. For instance, the corn breadⒶapparatus note, the hot biscuitsⒶapparatus note and wheatbreadⒶapparatus note, and the fried chicken. These things have never been properly cooked in the North—in fact, no one there is able to learn the art,Ⓐapparatus note so far as my experience goes. The North thinks it knows how to make corn breadⒶapparatus note, but this is grossⒶapparatus note superstition. Perhaps noⒶapparatus note bread in the world is quite as good as Southern corn breadⒶapparatus note, and perhaps no bread in the world is quite so badⒶapparatus note as the NorthernⒶapparatus note imitation of it. The North seldomⒶapparatus note tries to fry chickenⒶapparatus note, and this is well; the art cannot be learned north of the line of Mason and Dixon,Ⓐapparatus note nor anywhere in Europe. This is not hearsay; it is experience that is speaking. In Europe it is imagined that the custom of serving various kinds of bread blazing hot is “American,” but that is too broad a spread:Ⓐapparatus note it is custom in the South, but is much less than that in the North. In the North and in EuropeⒶapparatus note hot bread is considered unhealthy. This is probablyⒶapparatus note another fussy superstition, like the European superstition that ice-water is unhealthy. Europe does not need ice-water, and does not drink it; and yet, notwithstanding this, its word for it is better than ours, because it describes it, whereas ours doesn’t. Europe calls it “iced” water. Our word describes water made from melted ice—a drink which has a characterless taste, andⒶapparatus note which we haveⒶapparatus note but little acquaintance with.

It seems a pity that the world should throw away so many good things merely because they are unwholesome. I doubt if God has given us any refreshment which, taken in moderation, is unwholesome, except microbes. Yet there are people who strictly deprive themselves of each andⒶapparatus note every eatable, drinkable and smokable which has in any way acquired a shady reputation. They pay this price for health. And health is all they get for it.Ⓐapparatus note How strange it is; it is like paying out your whole fortune for a cow that has gone dry.

The farm-houseⒶapparatus note stood in the middle of a very large yard, and the yard was fenced on three sides with rails and on the rear side with high palings; against these stood the smoke-house;Ⓐapparatus note beyond the palings was the orchard,Ⓐapparatus note beyond the orchard wereⒶapparatus note the negro quarter and theⒶapparatus note tobacco fieldsⒶapparatus note. TheⒶapparatus note front yard was entered over a stile, made of sawed-off logs of graduated heights; I do not remember any gate. In a corner of the front yard were a dozen lofty hickory treesⒶapparatus note and a dozen black walnutsⒶapparatus note, and in the nutting season riches were to be gathered there.

Down a piece, abreast the house, stood a little log cabin against the rail fence; and there the woody hill fell sharply away, past the barns, the corn-cribⒶapparatus note, the stables andⒶapparatus note the tobacco-curing house, to a limpid brook which sang along over its gravelly bed and curved and frisked in and out and here and there and yonder in the deep shade of overhanging foliage and vines—a divine place for wading, and it had swimming-pools, too, whichⒶapparatus note were forbidden to us and thereforeⒶapparatus note much frequented by us.Ⓐapparatus note For we were little Christian children, and had early been taught the value of forbidden fruit.Ⓐapparatus note

In the little log cabin lived a bedriddenⒶapparatus note white-headed slave woman whomⒶapparatus note we visited daily, and looked upon with awe, for we believed she was upwardsⒶapparatus note of a thousand years old and had talked with Moses. The younger negroes credited these statistics, and had furnished them to us in good faith. We accommodated all the details which came to us about her; and so we believed that she had lost her health in the long desert-tripⒶapparatus note coming out of Egypt, and had never been able to get it back again. She had a roundⒶapparatus note bald place on the crownⒶapparatus note of her head, and we used to creep around and gaze at it in reverentⒶapparatus note silence, and reflect that it was caused by fright through seeing Pharaoh drowned. We called her “Aunt” Hannah,Ⓐapparatus note SouthernⒶapparatus note fashion. She was superstitious like the otherⒶapparatus note negroes; also, like them, she was deeply religious. Like them, she had great faith in prayer, and employed itⒶapparatus note in all ordinary exigencies, but not in cases whereⒶapparatus note a dead certainty of result was urgent. Whenever witches were around she tied up the remnant of her wool in little tufts, with white thread, and this promptly made the witchesⒶapparatus note impotent.

All the negroes were friends of ours, and with those of our own age we were in effect comrades. I sayⒶapparatus note in effect, using the phrase as a modification. We were comrades, and yet not comrades; color and conditionⒶapparatus note interposed a subtle line which both parties were conscious of, and which rendered complete fusion impossible. We had a faithful and affectionate good friend, ally and adviserⒶapparatus note in “Uncle Dan’l,” a middle-aged slave whose head was the best one in the negro-quarterⒶapparatus note, whose sympathies were wide and warm, and whose heart was honest and simple and knew no guile. He has served me well, these many, many years. I have not seen him for more than halfⒶapparatus note a century, and yetⒶapparatus note spiritually I have had his welcome company a good part of that time, and have staged him in booksⒶapparatus note under his own name and as “Jim,” and carted him all around—to Hannibal, down the Mississippi on a raft, and evenⒶapparatus note across the Desert of Sahara in a balloonⒺexplanatory note—and he has endured it all with the patience and friendliness and loyalty which [begin page 212] were his birthright. It was on the farm that I got my strong likingⒶapparatus note for his race and my appreciation of certain of its fine qualities. This feeling and this estimate have stood the test of sixty years and moreⒶapparatus note and have suffered noⒶapparatus note impairment. The black face is as welcome to me now as it was then.

In my schoolboyⒶapparatus note days I had no aversion to slavery. I was not aware that there was anything wrong about it. No one arraignedⒶapparatus note it in my hearing; the local papers said nothing against it; the local pulpit taught us that God approved it, that it was a holy thing, and that the doubter need only lookⒶapparatus note in the Bible ifⒶapparatus note he wished to settle his mind—and then the texts were read aloud to us to make the matter sure; if the slaves themselves had an aversion to slaveryⒶapparatus note they were wise and saidⒶapparatus note nothing. In Hannibal we seldom saw a slave misused; on the farm, never.Ⓐapparatus note

There was, however, one small incident of my boyhood days which touched this matter, and it must have meant a good deal to me or it would not have stayed in my memory, clear and sharp, vivid and shadowless, all these slow-driftingⒶapparatus note years. We had a little slave boy whom we had hired from some one, there in Hannibal. He was from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and had been brought away from his family and his friends, half wayⒶapparatus note across the American continent, and sold. He was a cheery spirit, innocent and gentle, and the noisiest creature that ever was, perhaps. All day long he was singing,Ⓐapparatus note whistling, yelling, whooping, laughing—it was maddening, devastating, unendurable. At last, one day, I lost all my temper, and went ragingⒶapparatus note to my mother, and said Sandy had been singing for an hour without a single break, and I couldn’t stand it, and wouldn’t she please shut him up. The tears came into her eyes, and her lipⒶapparatus note trembled, and she said something like this—Ⓐapparatus note

“Poor thing, when he sings, it shows that he is not remembering, and that comforts me; but when he is still, I am afraid he is thinking, and I cannot bear it. He will never see his mother again; if he can sing, I mustⒶapparatus note not hinder it, but be thankful for it. If you were older,Ⓐapparatus note you would understand me; then that friendless child’s noise would make you gladⒶapparatus note.”

It was a simple speech, and made up of small words, but it went home, and Sandy’s noise was not a trouble to me any more. She never used large words, butⒶapparatus note she had a natural gift for making small ones do effectiveⒶapparatus note work. She lived to reach the neighborhood of ninety years, and was capable with her tongue to the last—especially when a meanness or an injustice roused her spirit. She has come handy to me several times in my books, where she figures as TomⒶapparatus note Sawyer’s “Aunt Polly.”Ⓐapparatus note I fitted her out with a dialect, and tried to think up other improvements for her, but did not find any. I used Sandy once, also; it was in “Tom Sawyer;”Ⓐapparatus note I triedⒶapparatus note to get him to whitewash the fence, but it did not work. I do not remember what name I called him by in the bookⒺexplanatory note.

I can see the farm yet, with perfect clearness. I can see all its belongings, all its details:Ⓐapparatus note the family room of the house, with a “trundle” bed in one corner and a spinning-wheel in another—a wheel whose rising and fallingⒶapparatus note wail, heard from a distance, was the mournfulest of all sounds to me, and made me homesick and low-spirited, and filledⒶapparatus note my atmosphere with the wandering spirits of the dead; the vast fireplaceⒶapparatus note, piled high, on winter nights, with flaming hickory logs from whose ends a sugary sap bubbled out but did not go to waste, for we scraped it off and ate it; the lazy cat spread out on the rough hearthstonesⒶapparatus note, the drowsy dogs braced against the jambs and blinking; myⒶapparatus note aunt in one chimney cornerⒶapparatus note knitting, my uncle in the other smoking [begin page 213] his corn-cob pipe; the slick and carpetless oakⒶapparatus note floor faintly mirroring the dancing flame-tongues and freckled with black indentations where fire-coals had popped out and died a leisurelyⒶapparatus note death; half a dozen children romping in the backgroundⒶapparatus note twilight; “split”-bottomed chairs here and there, some with rockers; a cradle—out of service, but waiting, with confidence; in the early cold mornings a snuggle of children, in shirts and chemises, occupying the hearthstoneⒶapparatus note and procrastinatingⒶapparatus note—they could not bear to leave that comfortable place and go out on the wind-swept floor-spaceⒶapparatus note between house and kitchen where the general tin basin stoodⒶapparatus note, and wash.

Along outside of the front fence ran the country road; dusty in the summertimeⒶapparatus note, and a good place for snakes—they liked to lie in it and sun themselves; when they were rattlesnakes or puff adders, we killed them; when they were black snakes, or racers, or belonged to the fabled “hoop” breed, we fled, without shame; when they were “house-snakes”Ⓐapparatus note or “garters” we carried them home and put them in Aunt Patsy’s work-basket for a surprise; for she was prejudiced against snakes, and always when she took the basket in her lap and they began to climb out of it it disordered her mind. She never could seem to get used to them; her opportunities went for nothing. And she was always coldⒶapparatus note toward bats, too, and could not bear them;Ⓐapparatus note and yet I think a bat is as friendly a bird as there is. My mother was Aunt Patsy’sⒶapparatus note sister, and had the same wildⒶapparatus note superstitions. A bat is beautifully soft and silky; I do not know any creature that is pleasanter to the touch, or is more grateful for caressings, if offered in the right spirit. I know all about these coleopteraⒺexplanatory note, because our great cave, three miles below Hannibal, was multitudinously stocked withⒶapparatus note them, and often I brought them home to amuse my mother with. It was easy to manage if it was a school dayⒶapparatus note, because then I had ostensibly been to school and hadn’t any bats. She was not a suspicious person, but full of trust and confidence; and when I said “There’s something in my coat-pocketⒶapparatus note for you,” she would put her hand in. But she always took it out again, herself; I didn’t have to tell her. It was remarkable, the way she couldn’tⒶapparatus note learn to like private bats. The more experience she had, the more she could not change her views.Ⓐapparatus note

I think she was never in the cave in her life; but everybody else went there. Many excursion-partiesⒶapparatus note came from considerable distances up and down the river to visit the cave. It was miles in extent, and was a tangled wilderness of narrow and lofty clefts and passages. It was an easy place to get lost in; anybody could do it—including the bats. I got lost in it myself, along with a lady, and our last candle burned down to almost nothing before we glimpsedⒶapparatus note the search-party’s lights winding about in the distance.

“Injun Joe” the half-breed got lost in there once, and would have starved to death if the bats had run short. But there was no chance of that; there were myriads of them. He told me all his story.Ⓐapparatus note In theⒶapparatus note book called “Tom Sawyer” I starved him entirely to death in the cave,Ⓐapparatus note but that was in the interest of art; it never happenedⒺexplanatory note. “General” Gaines, who was our first town-drunkardⒶapparatus note before Jimmy Finn got the placeⒺexplanatory note, was lost in there for the space of a week, and finally pushed his handkerchief out of a hole in a hilltop near Saverton, severalⒶapparatus note miles down the river from the cave’s mouth, and somebody saw it and dug him out. There is nothing the matter with his statistics except the handkerchief. I knew him for years, and heⒶapparatus note hadn’t any. But it could have been his nose. That would attract attention.

The cave was an uncannyⒶapparatus note place, for it contained a corpse—the corpse of a young girl of [begin page 214] fourteen. It was in a glass cylinder enclosed in a copper one which was suspended from a rail which bridged a narrow passage. The body was preserved in alcohol, and it was said thatⒶapparatus note loafers and rowdies used to drag it up by the hair and look at the dead face. The girl was the daughter of a St. Louis surgeon of extraordinaryⒶapparatus note ability and wide celebrityⒺexplanatory note. He was an eccentric man,Ⓐapparatus note and did many strange things. He put the poor thing in that forlorn place himself.Ⓐapparatus note

He wasⒶapparatus note a physician as well as a surgeon; and sometimes in cases where medicines failedⒶapparatus note to save, he developed other resources. He fell out, once, with a familyⒶapparatus note whose physician he was, and after that they ceased to employ him. But aⒶapparatus note time came when he was once more called. The lady of the house was very ill, and had been given up by herⒶapparatus note doctors. He came into the room and stopped, and stood still, and looked around upon the scene; he had his great slouch hat on, and a quarter of an acre of gingerbread under his arm, and while he looked meditatively about, he broke hunks from his cake, munched them, and let the crumbs dribble down his breast to the floor. The lady lay pale and still, with her eyes closed; about the bed, in the solemn hush, were grouped the family softly sobbing, some standing, some kneeling. Presently the doctor began to take up the medicine bottles and sniff at them contemptuously and throw them out of the open window. When they were all gone he ranged up to the bed, laid his slab of gingerbreadⒶapparatus note on the dying woman’s breast, and said roughly—

“What are you idiots sniveling about?—there’s nothing the matter with this humbug. Put out your tongue!”

The sobbings stopped and the angry mourners changed their attitudes and began to upbraid the doctor forⒶapparatus note his cruelⒶapparatus note behaviorⒶapparatus note in this chamber of death; but he interrupted them with an explosion of profane abuseⒶapparatus note, and said—

“A pack of snuffling fat-wits, do you think you can teach me myⒶapparatus note business? I tell you there is nothing the matter with theⒶapparatus note woman—nothing the matter but laziness.Ⓐapparatus note What she wants is a beefsteak and a washtub. With her damned society trainingⒶapparatus note, she—”

Then the dying woman rose upⒶapparatus note in bed, and the light of battle was in herⒶapparatus note eye. She poured out upon the doctor her whole insulted mind—just a volcanic irruption, accompanied byⒶapparatus note thunder and lightning, whirlwinds and earthquakes,Ⓐapparatus note pumice stone and ashes. It brought the reaction which he was after, and she got well. This was the lamented Dr. McDowell, whose name was so great and so honored in the Mississippi Valley a decade before the Civil War.Ⓐapparatus note

Chapter

BeyondⒶapparatus note the road where the snakes sunned themselves was a dense young thicket, and through it a dim-lighted path led a quarter of a mileⒶapparatus note; then out of the dimness one emerged abruptly upon a level great prairie which was covered with wild strawberry plantsⒶapparatus note, vividly starred with prairie pinks, and walled in on all sides by forests. The strawberries were fragrant and fine, and in the season we were generally there in the crisp freshness of the early morning, while the dew-beads still sparkled upon the grass and the woods wereⒶapparatus note ringing withⒶapparatus note the first songs of the birds.

Down the forest-slopesⒶapparatus note to the left were the swings. They were made of bark stripped from hickory saplings. When they becameⒶapparatus note dry they were dangerous. They usually broke when a [begin page 215] child was forty feet in the air, and this was why so many bones had to be mended every year. I had no ill luckⒶapparatus note myself, butⒶapparatus note noneⒶapparatus note of my cousins escaped. There were eight of them, and at one time and another they broke fourteen arms among them. But it cost next to nothing, for the doctor worked by the year—$25Ⓐapparatus note for the whole family. I remember two of the Florida doctors, Chowning and MeredithⒺexplanatory note. They not only tended an entire family for $25Ⓐapparatus note a year, but furnished the medicines themselves. Good measure, too. Only the largest persons could hold a whole dose. Castor oilⒶapparatus note was the principal beverage. The dose was half a dipperful, withⒶapparatus note half a dipperful of New Orleans molasses addedⒶapparatus note to help it down and make it taste good, which it never did. The next stand-byⒶapparatus note was calomel; the next, rhubarb; and the next, jalap.Ⓐapparatus note Then they bled the patient, and put mustard plastersⒶapparatus note on him. It was a dreadful system, and yet the death-rate was not heavy. The calomel was nearly sure to salivate the patient and cost him some of his teeth. There were no dentists. When teeth became touched with decay or were otherwise ailing, the doctor knew of but one thing to do: he fetched his tongs and dragged them out. If the jaw remained, it was not his fault.

DoctorsⒶapparatus note were not called, in cases of ordinary illness; the family’sⒶapparatus note grandmother attended to those. Every old woman was a doctor, and gathered her own medicines in the woods, and knew how to compound doses that would stir the vitals of a cast-iron dog. And then there was the “Indian doctor;”Ⓐapparatus note a grave savage, remnant of his tribe, deeply read in the mysteries of nature and the secret properties of herbs; and most backwoodsmen had high faith in his powers and could tell of wonderful cures achieved by him. In Mauritius, away off yonder in the solitudes of the IndianⒶapparatus note oceanⒶapparatus note, there is a person who answers to our Indian doctor of the old times. He is a negro, and has had no teaching as a doctor, yet there is one disease which he is master of and can cure, and the doctorsⒶapparatus note can’t. They send for him when they have a case. It is a child’s disease of a strange and deadly sort, and the negro cures it with a herb-medicineⒶapparatus note which he makes, himself, from a prescription which has come down to him from his father and grandfather. He will not let any one see it. He keeps the secret of its components to himself, and it is feared that he will die without divulging it; then there will be consternation in Mauritius. I was told these things by the people there, in 1896Ⓐapparatus note Ⓔexplanatory note.

We had the “faith-doctor,”Ⓐapparatus note too, in those early days—a woman.Ⓐapparatus note Her specialty was tooth-acheⒶapparatus note. She was a farmer’s old wife, and lived five miles from Hannibal. She would lay her hand on the patient’s jaw and say “Believe!” and the cure was prompt. Mrs. UtterbackⒺexplanatory note. I remember her very well. Twice I rode out there behind my mother, horseback, and saw the cure performed. My mother was the patient.Ⓐapparatus note

Dr.Ⓐapparatus note Meredith removed to Hannibal, by and by, and was our family physician there, and saved my life several times. Still, he was a good man and meant well. Let it go.

I was always told that I was a sickly and precarious and tiresome and uncertainⒶapparatus note child, and lived mainly on allopathic medicines during the first seven years of my life. I asked my mother about this, in her old age—she was in her eighty-eighthⒶapparatus note year—and said:

“I suppose that during all that time you were uneasy about me?”

“Yes, the whole time.”

“Afraid I wouldn’t live?Ⓐapparatus note”

After a reflective pause—ostensibly to think out the facts—

“No—afraid you would.”Ⓐapparatus note

It sounds like a plagiarism, but it probably wasn’t.

TheⒶapparatus note country schoolhouseⒶapparatus note was three miles from my uncle’s farm. It stood in a clearing in the woods, and would hold about twenty-five boys and girls. We attended the school with more or less regularity once or twice a week, in summer, walking to it in the cool of the morning by the forest pathsⒶapparatus note, and back in the gloaming at the end of the day. All the pupils brought their dinners in baskets—corn dodgerⒶapparatus note, buttermilk and other good things—and sat in the shade of the trees at noon and ate them. It is the part of my education which I look back upon with theⒶapparatus note most satisfaction. My first visit to the school was when I was seven. A strapping girl of fifteen, in the customary sunbonnet and calico dress, asked me if I “used tobacco”—meaning did I chew it. I said, no. It roused her scorn. She reported me to all the crowd, and said—

“Here is a boy seven years old who can’t chawⒶapparatus note tobacco.”

By the looks and comments which this produced, I realizedⒶapparatus note that I was a degraded object; I wasⒶapparatus note cruelly ashamed of myself. I determined to reform. But I only made myself sick; I was not able to learn to chew tobacco. I learned to smoke fairly well, but that did not conciliate anybody, and I remained a poor thing, and characterless. I longed to be respected, but I never wasⒶapparatus note able to rise. Children have but little charityⒶapparatus note for each other’s defects.

As I have said, I spent some part of every year at the farm until I was twelve or thirteen years oldⒶapparatus note. The life which I led there with my cousins was full of charm, and so is the memory of it yet. I can call back the solemn twilight and mystery of the deep woods, the earthy smells, the faint odors of the wild flowers, the sheen of rain-washed foliage, the rattling clatter of drops when the wind shook the trees, the far-offⒶapparatus note hammering of wood-peckersⒶapparatus note and theⒶapparatus note muffled drumming of wood-pheasants in the remotenessesⒶapparatus note of the forest, the snap-shot glimpses of disturbed wild creatures skurryingⒶapparatus note through the grass,—I can call it all back and make it as real as it ever was, and as blessed. I can call back the prairie, and its loneliness and peace, and a vast hawk hanging motionless in the sky, with his wings spread wide and the blue of the vault showing through the fringe of their end-feathers. I can see the woods in their autumn dress, the oaks purple, the hickories washed with gold, the maples and the sumachsⒶapparatus note luminous with crimson fires, and I can hear the rustle made by the fallen leaves as we plowed through them. I can see the blue clusters of wild grapesⒶapparatus note hanging amongst the foliage of the saplings, and I remember the taste of them and the smell. I know how the wild blackberries looked, and how they tasted; and the same with the pawpaws, the hazelnuts and the persimmons; and I can feel the thumping rain,Ⓐapparatus note upon my head, of hickory nutsⒶapparatus note and walnuts when we were out in the frosty dawnsⒶapparatus note to scramble for them with the pigs, and the gusts of wind loosed them and sent them down. I know the stain of blackberries, and how pretty it is; and I know the stain of walnut hulls, and how little it minds soap and water; also what grudgedⒶapparatus note experience it had of either of them. I know the taste of maple sap, and when to gather it, and how to arrange the troughs and the delivery-tubesⒶapparatus note, and how to boil down the juice, and how to hook the sugar after it is made; also how much better hooked sugar tastes than any that is honestly come by, let bigots say what they will. I knowⒶapparatus note how a prize watermelon looks when it is sunning its fat rotundity among pumpkin vines and “simblinsⒺexplanatory note;”Ⓐapparatus note I know how to tell when it is ripe without “plugging” it; I know how invitingⒶapparatus note it looks when it is cooling itself in a tub of water under the bed, waiting; I know [begin page 217] how it looks when it lies on the table in the sheltered great floor-space between house and kitchen, and the children gathered for the sacrifice and their mouths watering; I know the crackling sound it makes when the carving knifeⒶapparatus note enters its end, and I can see the split fly along in front of the blade as the knife cleaves its way to the other end; I can see its halves fall apart and display the rich red meatⒶapparatus note and the black seeds, and the heart standing up, a luxury fit for the elect; I know how a boy looks, behind a yard-long slice of that melon, and I know how he feels; for I have been there. I know the taste of the watermelon which has been honestly come by, and I know the taste of the watermelon which has been acquired by art. Both taste good, but the experienced know which tastes best. I know the look of green apples and peaches and pears on the trees, and I know howⒶapparatus note entertaining they are when they are inside of a person. I know how ripe ones look when they are piled in pyramids under the trees, and how pretty they are and how vivid their colors. I know how a frozenⒶapparatus note apple looks, in a barrel down cellar in the winter timeⒶapparatus note, and how hard it is to bite, and how theⒶapparatus note frost makes the teeth ache, and yet how good it is, notwithstanding. I know the disposition of elderly people to select the specked apples for the children, and I once knew ways to beat the game. I know the look of an apple that is roastingⒶapparatus note and sizzling on a hearth on a winter’s evening, and I know the comfort that comes of eating it hot, along with some sugar and a drench of cream. I know the delicate art and mystery of so cracking hickory nutsⒶapparatus note and walnuts on a flatiron with a hammer that the kernels will be delivered whole, and I know how the nuts,Ⓐapparatus note taken in conjunction with winter apples, ciderⒶapparatus note and doughnuts, make old people’s old talesⒶapparatus note and old jokes sound fresh and crisp and enchanting, and juggle an evening away before you know what went with the time. I know the look of UncleⒶapparatus note Dan’l’s kitchen as it was on privileged nights when I was a childⒶapparatus note, and I canⒶapparatus note see the white and black children grouped on the hearth, with the firelightⒶapparatus note playing onⒶapparatus note their faces and the shadows flickering upon the walls, clear back toward the cavernous gloom of the rear, and I can hear Uncle Dan’l telling the immortal tales which Uncle Remus Harris was to gather into his bookⒶapparatus note and charm the world with, by and by; and I canⒶapparatus note feel again the creepy joy which quivered through me when the time for the ghost story of the “Golden Arm”Ⓐapparatus note Ⓐapparatus note Ⓔexplanatory note was reached—and the sense of regret, too, which came over me, for it was always the last story of the evening, and there was nothing between it and the unwelcome bed.

I can remember the bare wooden stairway in my uncle’s house,Ⓐapparatus note and the turn to the left above the landing, and the rafters and the slanting roofⒶapparatus note over myⒶapparatus note bed, and the squares of moonlight on the floor, and the white cold world of snow outside, seen through the curtainless window. I can remember the howlingⒶapparatus note of the wind and the quaking of the house on stormy nightsⒶapparatus note, and how snug and cosyⒶapparatus note one felt, under the blankets, listening;Ⓐapparatus note and how the powdery snow used to sift in, around the sashes, and lie in little ridges on the floor, and make the place look chilly in the morning, and curb the wild desire to get up—in case there was any. I can remember how very dark that room was, in the dark of the moon, and how packed it was with ghostly stillness when one woke up by accident away in the night, and forgotten sins came flocking out of the secret chambers of the memory and wanted a hearing; and how ill chosen the time seemed for this kind of business; and how dismal was the hoo-hooing of the owl and the wailing of the wolf, sent mourning by on the night wind.

I remember the raging of the rain on that roof, summer nights, and how pleasant it was to [begin page 218] lie andⒶapparatus note listen to it, and enjoy the white splendor of the lightning and the majestic booming and crashing of the thunder. It was a very satisfactory room; and there was a lightning rodⒶapparatus note which was reachable from the window, an adorable and skittish thing to climb up and down, summer nights, when there were duties on hand of a sort to make privacy desirable.

I remember the ’coonⒶapparatus note and ’possum-huntsⒶapparatus note, nights, with the negroes, and the long marches through the black gloom of the woods, and the excitement which fired everybody when the distant bay of an experiencedⒶapparatus note dog announced that the game was treed; then the wild scramblings and stumblings through briars and bushes and over roots to get to the spot; then the lighting of a fire and the felling of the tree, the joyful frenzy of the dogs and the negroes, and the weirdⒶapparatus note picture it all made in the red glareⒶapparatus note—I remember it all well, and the delight that every one got out of it, exceptⒶapparatus note the ’coonⒶapparatus note.

I remember the pigeon seasonsⒶapparatus note, when the birds would come in millions, and cover the trees, and by their weight break down the branches. They were clubbed to death with sticks; guns were not necessary, and were notⒶapparatus note used. I remember the squirrel-huntsⒶapparatus note, and prairie-chickenⒶapparatus note hunts, and wild turkeyⒶapparatus note hunts, and all that; and how we turned out, mornings, while it was still dark, to go on these expeditions, and how chilly and dismal it was, and how often I regretted that I was well enough to go.Ⓐapparatus note A toot on a tin horn brought twiceⒶapparatus note as many dogs as were needed, and in their happiness they raced and scampered about, and knocked small people down, and made no end of unnecessary noise. At the word, they vanishedⒶapparatus note away toward the woods, and we drifted silently after them in the melancholy gloom. But presently the gray dawn stole over the world, the birds piped up, then the sun rose and poured light and comfort all around, everything wasⒶapparatus note fresh and dewy and fragrant, and life was a boon again. After three hours of tramping we arrived backⒶapparatus note wholesomely tired, overladen with game, veryⒶapparatus note hungry, and just in time for breakfast.Ⓐapparatus note

Chapter

MyⒶapparatus note uncle and his big boys hunted with the rifle, the youngest boyⒶapparatus note and IⒺexplanatory note with a shot-gun—a smallⒶapparatus note single-barrelled shot-gunⒶapparatus note which was properly suited to our size and strength; it was not much heavier than a broom. We carried it turn-aboutⒶapparatus note, half an hour at a time. I was not able to hit anything with it, but I liked to try. Fred and I hunted feathered small game, the others hunted deer, squirrels,Ⓐapparatus note wild turkeys, and such things. Jim and his father were the best shots.Ⓐapparatus note They killed hawks and wild geese and such-likeⒶapparatus note on the wing; and they didn’t wound or kill squirrels, they stunnedⒶapparatus note them. When the dogs treed a squirrel, the squirrel would scamper aloftⒶapparatus note and run out on a limb and flatten himself along itⒶapparatus note hoping to make himself invisible in that way—and not quite succeeding. You could see his wee little ears sticking up. You couldn’t see his nose, but you knew where it was. Then the hunter, despising a “rest” for his rifle, stood up and took off-handⒶapparatus note aim at the limb and sent a bullet into it immediately under the squirrel’s nose, and down tumbled the animal, unwounded but unconscious; the dogs gave him a shake and he was dead. Sometimes when the distance was great and the wind not accurately allowed for, the bullet would hit the squirrel’s head; the dogs could do as they pleased with that one—the hunter’s pride was hurt, and he wouldn’t allow it to go into the game-bag.

In the first faint gray of the dawn the stately wild turkeys would be stalking around in great [begin page 219] flocks, and ready to be sociable and answer invitations to come and converse with other excursionists of their kind. The hunter concealed himself and imitated the turkey-call by sucking the air through the leg-bone of a turkey which had previously answered a callⒶapparatus note like that and lived only just long enough to regret it. There is nothing that furnishes a perfectⒶapparatus note turkey-call except that bone. Another of Nature’s treacheriesⒶapparatus note, you see; sheⒶapparatus note is full of them;Ⓐapparatus note half the time she doesn’t know which she likes best—to betray her child or protect it. In the case of the turkey she is badly mixed: she gives it a bone to be usedⒶapparatus note in getting it into trouble, and she also furnishes it with a trick for getting itself out of the trouble again. When a mamma-turkey answers an invitation and findsⒶapparatus note she has made a mistake in accepting it, she does as the mamma-partridge does—remembers a previous engagement and goes limping and scrambling away, pretending to be very lame; and at the same time she is saying to her not-visible children, “Lie low, keep still, don’t expose yourselves; I shall be back as soon as I have beguiled this shabby swindler out of the countyⒶapparatus note.”

When a person is ignorant and confiding, this immoralⒶapparatus note device can have tiresome results. I followed an ostensibly lame turkey over a considerable part of the United States one morning, because I believed in her and could not think she would deceive a mere boy, and one who was trusting her and considering her honest. I had the single-barrelledⒶapparatus note shot-gunⒶapparatus note, but my idea was to catch her alive. I often got within rushing distance of her, and then made my rush; but always, just as I made my final plunge and put my hand down whereⒶapparatus note her back had beenⒶapparatus note, it wasn’t there; it was only two or three inches from there and I brushed the tail feathersⒶapparatus note as I landed on my stomach—a very close call, but still not quite close enough; that is, not close enough for success, but just close enough to convince me thatⒶapparatus note I could do it next time. She always waited for me, a little piece away, and let on to be resting and greatly fatigued; which was a lie, but I believed it, for I still thought her honest long after I ought to have begun to doubt her, long after I ought to have been suspectingⒶapparatus note that this was no way for a high-minded bird to be acting. I followed, and followed andⒶapparatus note followed, making my periodical rushes, and getting up and brushing the dust off, and resuming the voyage with patientⒶapparatus note confidence; indeedⒶapparatus note with a confidence which grew, for I could see by the change of climate and vegetation that we were getting up into the high latitudes, and as she always looked a little tireder and a little more discouraged after each rush, I judged that I was safe to win, in the end,Ⓐapparatus note the competition being purely a matter of staying power and the advantage lying with me from the startⒶapparatus note because she was lame.

Along in the afternoon I began to feel fatigued myself. Neither of us had had any restⒶapparatus note since we first started on the excursion, which was upwards of ten hoursⒶapparatus note before, though latterly we had paused a whileⒶapparatus note after rushes, I letting on to be thinking about something, and she letting on to be thinking about somethingⒶapparatus note else; but neither of us sincere, and both of us waiting for the other to call game but in no real hurry about it, for indeed those little evanescent snatches of rest were very grateful to the feelings of us both,Ⓐapparatus note it would naturally be so, skirmishing along like that ever since dawn and not a bite in the meantimeⒶapparatus note; at least for me, though sometimes as she lay on her side fanning herself with a wing and praying for strength to get out of this difficulty a grasshopper happened along whose time had come, and that was well for her, and fortunate, but I had nothing—nothing the whole day.

More than once, after I was very tired, I gave up taking her alive, and was going to shoot [begin page 220] her, but I never did it, although it was my right, for I did not believe I could hit her; and besides, she always stopped and posed, when I raised the gun, and this made me suspicious that she knew about me and my marksmanshipⒶapparatus note, and so I did not care to expose myself to remarks.

I did not get her, at all. When she got tired of the game at last, she rose from almost under my hand and flew aloft with the rush and whir of a shell and lit on the highest limb of a great tree and sat down and crossed her legs and smiled down at me, and seemed gratified to see me so astonished.

I was ashamed,Ⓐapparatus note and also lost; and it was while wandering the woods hunting for myself that I found a deserted log cabin and had one of the best meals there that in my life-days I have eaten. The weed-grown garden was full of ripe tomatoes, and I ate them ravenouslyⒶapparatus note though I had never liked them before. Not more than two or three times since have I tasted anything that was so delicious as those tomatoes. I surfeited myself with them, and did not taste another one until I was in middle life. I can eat them now, but I do not like the look of them. I suppose we have all experienced a surfeit at one time or another. Once, in stress of circumstances, I ate part of a barrel of sardines, there being nothing else at hand, but since then I have always been able to get along without sardinesⒺexplanatory note.Ⓐapparatus note