424 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 18, 189b. 



DANVIS FOLKS.-V. 



The Country Post Office. 



Thajjksgivino festivities were OA^er and Uncle Ltslia had 

 been several days- among his old neighbors, yet in defer- 

 ence to them, as in turn tliey were his entertainers and 

 guests, and to himself as a returned traveler, he continued 

 to wear his best clothes with heroic endurance of discom- 

 fort. 



"I ben dressed up so long I begin to feel like a minister," 

 he said, as he ra^Dped the ashes from his pipe on Sam's 

 stove hearth one morning when he had finished his after- 

 breakfast smoke. ' 'Ef I don't shuck myself aouten my 

 t'other clo'es putty soon, I shall be a-preachtn' er duin' 

 suthin' onbecomin'." 



"Sho, Lisher, no you won't nuther," said his wife, cast- 

 ing an admiring glance upon him and then fluttering 

 across to remove a speck of lint from his trousers with a 

 moistened forefinger. "But you have got tu take 'em off, 

 Lisher Peggs. Tliere's a gret grease spot half way t' yer 

 knee. That's some o' Mi's Pur'n'ton's Thanksgivin' tiu'- 

 key's gravy. An' you got a gaub o' punkin pie on your 

 weskit. It's a massy you didn't hev yer cut on, er you'd 

 lia' epilte it." 



"Ketch me a-taoklin' Thanksgivin' wi' my cut on. But 

 I be goin' tu shuck my high duck clo'es Jest as soon 's I 

 go tu Solern's an' Joel Bartlett's an' daown t' the store. 

 I'll du that fust I du du, but fust of all I got tu seddaown 

 an' write George a letter. Hev you got s'm ink an' a sheet 

 o' writin' paper an' a pen, Huldy?" 



Diligent search was rewarded by the discovery of a sheet 

 of foolscap, the great freestone inkstand was taken down 

 from the mantle and its half-dried contents diluted with 

 water, and the quill pen made last winter by the school- 

 master was brought from its long rest and sucked into 

 amenitj^ of possible use. When the breakfast table was 

 cleared to give Uncle Lisha an ample place for operations, 

 he drew his chair to it, hooked his toes inside the front 

 legs, set his elbows wide apart on the table, and fencing 

 in the pajser with his arms, glared down upon it as if he 

 would compel the words or his message to appear on the 

 blank surface. 



Except the little baby and the hound, each member of 

 the little audience had at infrequent intervals suffered 

 the pain of letter -writing, aiid they awaited in sympa- 

 thetic silence the first throes of tlie old man's self-im- 

 posed torture, wherein hand and brain bore equal part. 

 Aunt Jerusha's needle clicked almost inaudibly, scarcely 

 a clatter of the dishes in tlie pan denoted Huldah's occupa- 

 tion, while Timothy Lovel performed the usually noisy 

 operation of feeding the fire without a sound and Sam as 

 silently drew the slide to get a coal for his pipe. 



When Uncle Lisha had reckoned the day of the month 

 on his fingers, he probed the depths of the inkstand with 

 his pen and entered with cautious determination upon his 

 labor. Except for the slower movement, the sound of his 

 pen-strokes was much Uke that of his flote when he 

 scraj)ed the pegs from the inside of a boot, and as he pain- 

 fully fashioned each letter, his tongue went about his 

 rounded mouth, and he emphasized the down strokes with 

 a corresponding movement of his head. Holding the first 

 line for inspection half way in its stragghng formation, 

 he roared out in vexation. 



"Good airth an' seas. Ef I haint gone an' writ Danvis 

 the 24th." 



"You haint," cried Aunt Jerusha, darting from her 

 seat like a frightened hen and fluttering over to his side, 

 ■where she adjusted her spectacles and scrutinized his 

 work. "Why, that haint nothin', Lisher, you jest write, 

 'of November' arter 24 or jest Nove. for short. An' that's 

 a tiirrible harnsome D, most hke print." 



Mollified by this compliment, Lisha set about rectifying 

 his mistake, while Aunt Jerusha went back to hei- rock- 

 ing chair. When the old man was fairly settled down to 

 his work, Sam and his father went to their husking in 

 the barn, and Huldah having finished her dishes, sat 

 down to sewing and a whispered conversation with Aunt 

 Jerusha, their guarded voices and the buzzing of the last 

 blue bottle fly of the season in the sunny Avindow. quite 

 overborne by the slow scratching of the pen and the 

 vexed ejaculations of the writer when there was an un- 

 commonly vicious splutter of his complaining implement. 



"There," he cried at last, with a great sigh of relief, 

 "I've got tu the eend o' the dumb'd turkey tracks. They 

 look 's ef someb'dy 'd ben shootin' at 'em wi' a shotgun 

 all the way along," he commented as he scowled upon the 

 sheet from various points of view. "Here, Jerushy, i-ead 

 it over, but don't ye read it aout loud, an' then see ef you 

 c'n du it up. Women 's handier at duin' up 'n what men 

 be. They're uster duin' up sheets an' clo's ev'ry week's 

 i'nin'." 



"It's just like printin', 'Lisher Peggs, an' I c'n read it 

 right through," as she slowly followed thelinestotheend, 

 "an' I do' know no way tu better it 'thout you spelt 

 Thanksgivin' wi' a big T, an' 1 do' know but a big G on 

 'count of us bein' so thankf'l tu git back." 



Envelopes were not known in Danvis, and it needed the 

 united endeavors of the old couple and Huldah to properly 

 fold the letter and to tuck it into itself. Then Uncle 

 Lisha lost the only available wafer in a back corner of his 

 mouth whence it was not rescued until it had become a 

 shapeless pulp, and there was nothing for it but to seal 

 the missive with a lump of spruce gum which was 

 stamped with the handle of 'a pegging awl. The super- 

 scription was written and carefully dried over the stove 

 Then Uncle Lisha laid the letter into the crown of his 

 beaver hat, wadded it in place with his bandanna, put tlie 

 hat on his head, struggled into his high-collared, tight- 

 sleeved blue coat and set forth toward the office with the 

 dignity due to his important mission. 



Though his feet were incased in his tight best boots, the 

 famihar path was pleasant to him as to his eyes were all 

 the wayside objects, the old wall parting with its erav 

 Imes, the sumach tliickets now stripped of all their 

 autumnal glory but the enduring scarlet of the bobs the 

 rail fence zigzagging among rank golden rods whose 

 riches were taking flight on white wings. A red squirrel 

 tacked along the top rails m alternate nearer and further 

 attendance upon him, yet keeping continually abreast till 

 he came to a great butternut tree, and scrambHncr un its 

 grooved bark, began jeering at his wayfai-ing comrade as 

 nnpudently as his forebears had, in bygone vears His 

 gibes did not disturb tlie old man's equanimity as thev 

 might have rufiied the boy's He smiled up at him amu^ 

 edly, and turned the squirrel s mockeiy to anger bv nick- 

 ing up a brown nut and crackmg it on the big rock that 

 stood, as such are sure to do, the convenient adjunct of 



the butternut tree, and iiaving cracked it, ate it under the 

 very eyes of the self-assumed owner of all the nuts in 

 Danvis. 



The kernel had not the sweetness of those that Lisha 

 had hopelessly stained his youthful hands to get sixty 

 3'ears before, yet it had something of the sweetness of the 

 stolen meat and he assured himself : 



' 'A Danvis but'nut was better'n one o' them Westcon- 

 stant shagbacks, that, big as they was, cracked disapp'int- 

 in', like airthenware, an' was more disapp'intin' when you 

 come tu eat 'em." 



There was a well-remembered beech, whose imshed 

 golden brown leaves were beginning to bleach to a pale 

 tint wherein a flock of silently industrious jays displayed 

 brief glimpses of bright color. The spread of its wide 

 branches and the girth of its huge trunk seemed scarcely 

 increased by flft}'^ j^ears of lusty growth since he carved 

 the letters "E. P." and "J C." entwined in a love knot on 

 the smooth bark, yet initials and emblem and date of the 

 dead old year, were moss-grown scars. The old man 

 smiled in kindly pity on the half -forgotten folly of the 

 youthful lover, and then looking about to see that no one 

 saw him got out his knife and scraped the moss from the 

 letters and love knot. 



Then lie stumped briskly forward, brushing the frost- 

 blackened Mayweeds with liasty footsteps till he was 

 startled by a vagrant partridge that burst from a clump 

 of weeds close beside him and sailed on set wings away 

 to the woods. 



"Good airth an' seas," he exclaimed, as he watched 

 the bird's arrowy flight, curving down to cover at the 

 woodside, "ye might 's well kill me as skeer me tu death. 

 Oh, if you'd sot still an' I'd seen you an' hed me a gun, 

 I'd ha' got you. An' I druther hev you 'n tew perairie 

 chickens." 



Crossing a little bridge, he presently came to the home- 

 stead of the Goves, on whom he called and found a warm 

 welcome. After Mrs. Gove had bustled about to seat the 

 visitor in the most comfortable chair and to send the 

 youngest girl to call her father from the barn she sat 

 down opposite her old neighbor and de^'oted a few mo- 

 ments to a careful consideration of his appearance. 



"Wal, Uncle Lisher," she said, with an exhalation of 

 satisfaction, "lookin' at you, an' not lookin' back, it don't 

 seem 's 'ough you'd ben gone six mont's. You haint 

 altered a mite. An' is Aunt Jerushy as chirk as you be? 

 I wanter know, well, the Western kentry has agreed vsd' 

 you, oncomnioii." 



"It 'greed wi' aoiu- health better'n what it did wi' aour 

 feelin's, we toughed it aout 's long 's we could stan' it an' 

 back we come tu bother aour ol' neighbors endurin' the 

 rest o' aour days." His eyes came down from roving 

 along the limp skeins of pumpkin hung to dry upon poles 

 above the stove and settled with an iuquii-ing look upon 

 her face. 



"You haint never bothered nob'dy an' you won't never," 

 she said heartily, and tlien bustling toward the door, "I 

 wonder what's a keepin' Levi; finishing a bundle, prober- 

 bly, but I'll go an' git him." 



"No, don't ye. I can't stop but a minute, an' I'll jest 

 g'waout an' say liaow de du. Fact on't is," he said im- 

 pressively, "I ben writin' a letter 'n I'm a kerryin' of it tu 

 the pos'-olfice. But wliere's Peltier?" he turned at the 

 door to ask. 



A troubled look overcast Mrs. Gove's clleerful face. "I 

 do' know where Peltier is. Mebby he's gone lookin' at 

 his mink traps an' mebby he's over tu — ^tu — the village. 

 Peltier's in a mis'able, mopin' way. Uncle Lisher. He's 

 ben dis'p'inted. Expectin' tu many a gal, even so fur's 

 ta go tu git merried, an' she was gone wi' anuther feller, 

 an' it's nigh about ondone him. He mopes an' he goes 

 tu Hamner's, an' I'm afeai-ed he drinks. I wish't you'd 

 talk tu him. Uncle Lisher, he allers sot so mucli by ye, 

 mebby, your talkin' 'ould mount tu suthin'. Me 'n' his 

 father an' Sam's don't take no holt on-him." 



"Peltier Avas alhis one o' my boys," the old man said, 

 "I made him his fust boots an' showed him haow tu 

 ketch his fust traout, an' he'd hear to me. I will talk tu 

 him, Mi's Gove." 



Levi Gove was too industriously inclined to quit labor 

 for visiting, and after a brief but loud interchange of 

 greeting's, carried on amid the rustle of cornstalks, the 

 old man went on his way to the store. 



There he found the mercliant and postmaster, as lank, 

 alert and clean shaven as ever and as constantly saying 

 "yes" in varied inflections of assent or query, and he was 

 effusive in the cordiality of his welcome. 



The contents of tlie store were so unchanged that it 

 seemed to the returned wanderer as if trade must have 

 been dull during the three years of his absejice. There 

 Avere the bunches of Avhip-lashes, the home-niade hickory 

 stock and the finer ones coA^ered with leather or braided 

 linen, the two strings of globular Boston bells still vainly 

 inviting customers with the immovable smile of their 

 brazen lips, the dusty, fly-specked tinware, the placards 

 advertising Sherman's lozenges which it Avas declared that 

 worm-9,ffected children cried for, and HiA'-e Syrup, Down's 

 Elixir and Spavin Cure, all displayed in the dusty win- 

 dows just as he had left them when he had no expectation 

 of ever seeing them again. 



The whole interior Avas almost as unchanged. The 

 cracks in the rusty sides of the great box stove had length- 

 ened a little, the service of another crippled chair, pro- 

 longed by nailing a strip of shoebox cover athwart its legs, 

 the incrustation of dust a little thicker on the floor, the 

 polish of the counters a trifle heightened by the elbows 

 and posteriors of customers and loungei-s and the marks of 

 their heels worn deeper on the sides, but the shelves bore 

 the same illuminated rolls of cahcos, ginghams, jeans, hard 

 times and cotton, and at the top, aboA^e them, oiit of danger 

 of breakage, were rows of blue-edged plates and figured tea- 

 sets, paper boxes of spool thread and bundles of leather 

 and yarn mittens. A few loaves of sugar in dark purple 

 paper Avrappings hung from a beam overhead, beside dust- 

 pans, brushes, brooms, niopsticks and washboards, each in 

 its familiar place. 



"Glad to see you, Mr. Peggs. Haow's eA'ery thing an' 

 CA^erybody aout West, Mr. Peggs? All a-gettin' rich, I 

 p'sume to say? Yes? A great kentiy, but you didn't feel 

 tu hum. We Avon't go back on ol' V'mont, will Ave, Mi-. 

 Peggs? Leastways, I won't, for all I've ben tu New York 

 city an' clean into the weste'n part of York State, I won't 

 go back on my natyve State." 



LTncle Lisha sympathized so fully in this allegiance that 

 he was treated to a glass of frothy mead, and then with a 

 sudden recollection of his mofct important business, Hb 

 carefully took off his hat and drew forth, the letter. 



"There's a letter," ha,nding it to tlie postmaster, "I 

 wanter hev go tu my son, George Peggs, in Wesconstant. 

 I suj)pose it Avfll go all right, Avon't it, Mr, Glapham? 



The postmaster held it at arm's length above the level 

 of his eyes and scrutinized it from that point for a while, 

 then laid it on the counter and leaning over it on his 

 elbows as mtently scrutinized it from aboA'e. 



"Yes, Mr. Peggs," he said confidently, "that letter'll go 

 tu its deestination, Avithout a doubt. Yes, wonderful tu 

 think on, haint it ?" as he sloAvly Avrote the post mark on 

 the corner of the letter, "haow a message can go from 

 home to the far distant West in ten days or a fortnit. 

 Yes, eighteen and three-quarter cents is tlie postige your 

 son'll hafter pay, which he won't begretch it, for hearin' 

 from his ven'able parents." 



"It's a dumbd sight more'n its wuth to read, but I 

 would n't ha' writ if for that. I' ruther tap tew pair o' 

 boots." 



When the letter was safely deposited in the drawer de- 

 voted to outgoing mail matter, Uncle Lisha rea,djusted his 

 spectacles and inspected the contents of the showcase that 

 stood on the end of the counter, flanked by a wooden bowl 

 of flints that still held their place against the invading 

 percussion caps. The glass-covered treasures were as of 

 old, several pa,irs of yellow wooden pocket combs, shut- 

 ting into each other, jeAvsharps on three-cornered wooden 

 blocks, an array of jack-kniA^es Avith checked bone han- 

 dles, half a dozen razors, a tin shaving cup with a square 

 compartment built out one side, some cakes of perfumed 

 soap, bundles of fish line, a box of A'ery much mixed 

 hooks, and paper boxes of caps, emblazoned Avith the 

 letters "G. D." and an inscription said to be in French, 

 which some doubted, for Antoine could not translate it 

 Avhen itAvas read to him. Beside tliese still lay the spring- 

 top copper powder flask, a little more Avorn by the handling 

 of impecunious admirers, and its companion in unsale- 

 ableness, the Avonderful shot pouch Avith a brass charger, 

 both too expensiA'e for the DanAis market. There was an 

 exhibition of the choicest candy of the establishment, 

 sticks Avith red and white spiral bands, buUseyes of like 

 variegation, and sugar hearts so big and sweet that they 

 might be hoped to soften the heart of any maiden. 



"See anything you'd like to purchase, Mr. Peggs?" and 

 Clapham sidled behind the counter and examined the con- 

 tents of the show case as interestedly as if he had just 

 discoA'ered it, "them razors, noAv, is fust cliop. I've used 

 one of 'em four year an' it's as good as 't Avas tlie fust day. 

 Yes? Wore out youru ti-tra.A'plin'?" and Aviule speaking he 

 took out a razor and combing his scanty locks Avith his 

 fingers and liaviug selected a hair from the harvest thus 

 secured, succeeded in spUtting it after several efl'orts. ' 'It's 

 keen as a brier. Yourii all right? Yes? I p'sume to say 

 the one 't I sold you. Them's about the best combs 't I 

 ever hed in my store. They kinder coax aout snarls 'thout 

 puUin'. Yes, shavin' brushes. That shaAun' soap 'U make 

 lather 'at a cat '11 eat for cream an' neA^er know the dif- 

 funce tiU she's troubled wi' Avind on her stomerk." 



"I guess I don't want none. It's teAv high duckparfume 

 tu go with the smell o' sole luther. What's these ere 

 sugar hearts Avuth?" he asked, tapping the glass above 

 them with his forefinger. 



"Them's a cent apiece, heow many shell I put ye up?" 



"I guess I'll git one on 'em fer Sam will's boy an' I guess 

 I'll git a cent's Avuth o' snuff' fer Jerushy, an' lemme see, 

 a snuff bean, she lost hern a comin' hum," 



While the storekeeper wrapped the articles in frugal 

 bits of newspaper, Uncle Lisha's roving eyes alighted 

 upon a bundle of furs dangling from a nail in the back 

 part of the room, and being of the fraternity of hunters, 

 his interest was at once aroused. 



"Buyin' some furs, be ye?" he asked, going over to the 

 peltry and handling skin after skin of muskrat, mink, rac- 

 coon and fox and parting the fm- of each Avitli his breath. 



"Wal, not to no great extent yet," said Clapham, com- 

 ing to him with the parcels. "Fur haint none tu prime 

 yet, but I take it off" folkses hands jest tu 'conimerdate. 

 But there's one remarkable fine skin, Mr. Peggs, remarka- 

 ble and oncommon," and he droAv out a dark gray skin 

 and displayed it Avitli great pride Avhile Uncle Lisha read- 

 justed his spectacles for a close inspection. 



"That is a mighty harnsome coon skin, I do' know 's 

 eA^er I see a darker one." 



"Coon skin, Mr. Peggs? I'm s'prised thet a man of your 

 experience an' jedgment should call that a coon. It's a 

 gray fox, sir, and I paid the vally of half a dozen coon 

 skins for it." 



"Jlebbe, but I never seen a fox wi' rings on his tail."' 



"It's a peculiarity o' the gray fox," msisted Clapham. 



Uncle Lisha, only snorted his disbelief as he replaced his 

 glasses in their st«el case and shut it with anemjihatic snap. 



A bloomer oft' duty at the forge came lounging in, and 

 to him the merchant appealed for some admiration of his 

 late acquisition, 



"It's a pooty fair kind of a coon skin, "said the bloomer 

 helping himself to a handful of chestnuts from a half 

 bushel that stood on the counter, 



"It's a gray fox:, 1 bouglit it for a gray fox, an' that's 

 what it is," Clapham said severely. 



An amused grin spread across the unw-onted cleanliness 

 of the bloomer's face. "Bought it fer a gray fox," and 

 his brawny form doubled over the counter in a 'fit of 

 laughter out of which he ejaculated, "O, by Jeems Price 

 if that haint a good one." ' 



The sound of his laughter brought in others alert for 

 anything to break the monotony of life, and as they stared 

 from one to another, searching for the cause of mirth 

 their faces assumed a blankness of exiiectancy i-eady to 

 be illumined with a laugh. 



"Look at the gray fox skin that Clapham's ben a-buy- 

 in'," cried the bloomer, pointing at the skin which its 

 OAvner, though no longer proud of, stood by in sullen de- 

 fiance. 



"Du you purtend tu call that a fox, Mr. Clapham?"' in- 

 quu-ed one, and getting no answer appealed to the 

 bloomer, who nodded a.ssent. "Why, good land o' 

 massy, 'tabit notliin' but a darned ol' dog coon." With a 

 universal assent to this verdict the company broke into a 

 boisterous laugh. At the fii-st lull of merriment Clapham 

 snatched down the questionable peltry and said Avith 

 savage solemnity, "It's a gray fox, gentlemen, but it's 

 makin' altogether too much talk an' I aint goin' to keep 

 it on exhibition no longer," and throwing it "spitefully up 

 the stairAvay to the chamber, he slammed the door and 

 shut off fm-ther inspection, 



Amid a reneAved burst of merriment Uncle Lisha Avith- 

 drew quietly and took his way homeAvard. 



i^RBisBURGH, vt EowLAND E. Robinson, 



