Five Hundred Dollars | Page 2

and it was all to-morrow, and to-morrow, with 'em; 'and then I told Delia how they sold off their wood and then their land, piecemeal, all but the spot where the old buildings stand,--and that's worth nothing.
"'And that's the way,' says I, 'it 'll be with David when he gets over being a boy and settles down; it's in the blood; and I don't want to see you, Delia, keel-hauled there--'"
"Like David's mother,--Prudence Frost, that was," said Uncle Silas; "originally she was a good, smart girl, and full of jingle; but finally she give up and come to it,--lef sweepin'-day out o' the almanic, washed dishes in cold water, and made up beds at bedtime; and when she ironed a shirt, jes' 's like's not she 'd iron a hoss-fly right into the bosom."
"And lived a dog's life generally," said Captain Bennett. "So I laid the whole thing out to Delia, the best way I knew how.
"'Well,' says she, 'I know you mean my good, Captain Bennett,--but I shall take my chances.' And so she did. Well--"
"Speakin' o' the barn," said Uncle Silas, "do you remember that high shay that David's father hed? I was up to the Widow Pope's vendue the day he bid it off. He managed to spunk up so fur's to hitch the shaffs under his team and fetch the vehicle home, and then he hed n't no place to put it up out o' the weather,--and so he druv it along under that big Bald'n apple-tree that used to stand by the pantry window, on the north side o' the house, and left it there, with the shaffs clawin' down in the ground. Then the talk was, he was goin' to build him a sort of a little tabernacle for it before winter set in; and he hed down a load of lumber from Uncle Joe's mill and hed it dumped down alongside o' the shay. But the shay was n't never once hitched up, nor the tabernacle built; and the timber and the shay jes' set there, side by side, seein' who 'd speak first, for twenty year, to my cer-ting knowledge; and you go by there when it was blowin' fresh, and the old curtings would be flappin' in and out, black and white, till finally the whole arrangement sunk out o' sight. I guess there 's more or less wrack there now, 'f you sh'd go poke in the grass."
"It was thirty-one year ago, come October, that he bought the shay," said Captain Philo; "it was the fall I was cast away on the Tombstones, and lost every dollar I had. I remember it because the old man came down to the house of his own accord, when I got home, and let me have two hundred dollars. He 'd just been selling the West New Field; and when he 'd sold land and had money on hand, it was anybody's that wanted it. But what was it about David's going off so sudden on the 'Viola'?"
"Oh, yes, I forgot my errand," said Captain Bennett; "and now I 've got adrift in my story, and I shall have to take an observation; let's see, where was I?"
"Delia allowed she 'd take her chances," said Uncle Silas.
"Oh, yes," said Captain Bennett. "Well, you know how it was when they got married: David fixed the old house up a little, and mother put in some furniture and things for her, and all went on first-rate awhile; and then you know how David begun to settle, settle, just the old way; could n't seem to keep up to the wind; appeared to carry a lee helm, somehow; and Delia begun to take in work and go out to work, and quit singing. She never said a word, even to my wife; but I could see 't it cut her a good deal--"
"But all this time," said Uncle Silas, "she 's kep' up smart,--allers hed a high crower's-feather 'n her bunnet, and kep' her little boys a-lookin' like nine-shillin' dolls."
"I should n't have ever called David lazy," said Captain Philo. "He could n't seem to make up his mind what to do next, that 's all; but get him going--you remember how he worked at Jason's fire; and I know of my own knowledge he was in the surf for sixteen hours, when that Norwegian bark was on the Bar."
"I think there's some folks," said Uncle Silas, "that their mind works all the time--runs a day gang and runs a night gang. You know how a hard sum 'll shake itself out in your head overnight; and I think it's the most natural thing that a man with a A No. I active mind always should feel sort of tired and not know what ails him.