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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1922-12-22, Page 71.10 4¢t►. of 0 and of Late Dl.. •tory District, Office hours at.� nday, Wednaeday, relay, from ,one to f 214-12 ff0Arl it•4ga��e ow Buba. o bt carefnl7; Ad .wan flowers a ye :the moht d t Lawrence -Co t ,, "te' Gavage 4eep„ your.*yyf �bael can't tell. Zeitey'll-.. en ye. Morr.boy8 have-,laaM daJ away and tore to .pieces'em, than by all the bears and panthers in that; woods, When I was a boy I got a cut acrost my legs. that made a. scar ye can see:.now,, and it was a hair cloth aofy that,, dope it. Keep' out o' that old parlor;' 'to Might 'at well o jute a 4age o' wolves. ''How be I gain' to make ye remember it?" • "I don't -know," I'. whimpered and began to cry, out.in fearful' anticipa- tion. " Re.^set me in a chair, picked up one of his old carpet -slippers and be- gan to thump the bed with it. He labored the bed with tremendous vigor. Meanwhile he looked at me and exclaimed: "You dreadful child. I. knew that my sins_ were respon- sible for this violence. It frighten- ed me and my cries increased. The door at the bottom of the stairs opened suddenly. Aunt Deel called: "Don't lose your temper, Peabody. I think you've gone fur 'nough,— ayes!" Uncle Peabody stopped and blew as if he were very tired and then I caught a look in his face that reas- sured me. He called back to her: "I wouldn't 'a' cared so Hauch if it hadn't 'a' been the what -not and them Minervy flowers. When a boy tips over a what -not he's goin' it party strong." "Well don't be too severe. You'd better come now and git me a pail o' water—ayes, I think ye had." Uncle Peabody did a lot of sneez- ing and coughing with his big red handkerchief over his face and I was not old enough then to understand it. He kissed me and took my little hand in his big hard one and led me down the stairs. After that in private talks uncle and I always referred to our parlor as the wolf den and that night, after I had gone to bed, he lay down be- ide me and told the story of a boy who, having been left alone in his father's house one day, was suddenly set upon and roughly handled by a what=feot, a shaggy old 'hair -cloth sofy and an album. The sofy had begun it by scratchin' his face and he had scratched back with a shingle nail. The album had watched its chance and, when he stood beneath it, had jumped off a shelf on to, his head. Suddenly he heard a voice calling him: "Little boy, come here," it said, and it was the voice of the what -not. "Just step up on this lower shelf," says the old what -not. "I want to show ye somethin'.' The what -not was all covered with shiny things and looked as innocent as a lamb. .He went over and stepped on the lower shelf 'and then the savage thing jumped right on top of him, very supple, and -threw him on=to the. floor and held him there until his mother came. I dreamed that night that a long- legged what -not, with a wax wreath in its hands, chased me around the house and caught and bit me on the neck. I called for help and uncle came and found me on the floor and put me back in hod again. For a long time I thought that the way a man punished a boy was by thumping his bed. I knew that wo- men had a different and less satis- factory method for I remembered that my mother had spanked me and Aunt Duel had a way of giving my hands and head a kind of watermelon the nip with the middle finger of her right hand and with a curious look in her eyes. Uncle Peabody used to call it a "snaptunue look." Almost always he whacked the bed with his slipper. There were exceptions, how- eveh, and, by and by, I came to know in each ease the destination of the slipper for if I had done anything which really afflicted my conscience that strip of leather seemed to know the truth, and found its way to my person. My Uncle Peabody was a man of a thousand. I often saw him laugh- ing and talking to himself and strange fancies came into my head about it. Who be you talking to?" I ask• ed. "Who be I talkin' to, Bub? Why I'm talking to my friends." "Friends?" I said. "The friends I erto have but ain't got. When I git lonesome I just make up a lot of folks and some of 'em is good comp'nv" He loved to have air with him, as he worked, and told me odd tales and seemed to enjoy my prattle. I often saw him stapd with rough fingers stirring his beard, just beginning to show a sprinkle of white, while he looked down at me as if struck with wonder at something I had said: "Come and give me a kiss, Bub," he would say. As he knelt down, I would run to his arms and I wonder- ed why he always blinked his grey eyes after he had kissed me. He was a bachelor and for a sing- ular reason. I have always laid it to the butternut trousers—the most sacred bit of apparel of which I have any knowledge. "What have you got on them but- ternut trousers for?" I used to hear Aunt Deel say when he came down- stairs in his first best clothes to go to meeting or "attend" a sociable— those days people just went to meet- ing but they always "attended" sociables — "You're a wearin' 'em threadbare, ayes! I suppose you've sot yer eyes on some one o' the girls. I can always tell—ayes I cant When you git your long legs in them but- ternut trousers I know you're warm - in' up—ayes!" I had begun to regard those light brown trousers with a feeling of awe and used to put my hand upon them very softly when Uncle had them on. They seemed to rank with "sofya," albums and what -nota in their capac- ity for making trouble. Uncle Peabody rarely made any DR.. F. J. R., FORSTER Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Graduate in Medicine, University of Toronto. Late assistant New York Ophthal- ' mei and Aural Institute, Moorefield's Eye' and Golden Square Throat Hos- pital's, London, Eng. At Commercial Hotel, Seaforth, third Wednesday in • 'each month from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. 68 Waterloo Street, South, Stratford. Phone 267, Stratford. ..CONSULTING ENGINEERS James, Proctor & Redfern Limited. 86 Toronto St, Toronto. Can. Bridges, Pavements, Waterworks, Sewer- age Systeme, lnclneratoro, Factorial. Arbitrations, Litigation.. Phone Adel. 1044. Cable: JPBoo"Toronto OUR FEES—Usually weld on, of ,the money we saes our cent/. . I MERCHANTS .CASULTY CO. Specialists in Health and Accident Insurance. Policies liberal and unrestricted. Over $1,000,000 paid in losses. Exceptional opportunities for local Agents. 904 ROYAL BANK BLDG., 1778-50 Toronto, Ont. LEGAL R. S. HAYS. Barrister Solicitor, Conveyancer and Notary Public. Solicitor for the Do - Minion Bank. Office i rear of the Do - on Bank, Seaforth. Money to .t_3 1 BEST & BEST Barristers, So ibitors, Convey- ancers and Notaries Public, Etc. Office in the Edge Building, opposite The Expositor Office. • PROUDFOOT, KILLORAN AND HOLMES Barristers, Solicitors, Notaries Pub- lic, etc. Money to lend. In Seaforth en Monday of each week. Office in Ladd Block. W. Proudfoot, K.C., J. L Killoran, B. E. Holmes. VETERINARY F. HARBURN. V. S. Honorgreduate of Ontario Veterin- ary College, and honorary member of the Medical Association of the Ontario Veterinary College. Treats diseases of all domestic animals by the most mod- ern 'principles. Dentistry and Milk Fever a specialty Office opposite Dick's Hotel, Main Street, Seaforth. All orders left at the hotel will re - give prompt attention. Night calls received at the office JOHN GRIEVE, V. S. Honor graduate of Ontario Veterin- ary College. All diseases of domestic animals treated. Calls promptly at- tended to and charges moderate. Vet- erinary Dentistry a specialty. Office and residence on Goderich street, one door east r,f Dr. Scott's office, Sea - forth. --MEDICAL C. J. W tIARN; 425 Richmond Street, London, Ont., Specialist, surgery and Genio-Urin- ery diseases of mea and women. DR. J. W. PECK Graduate of Faculty of Medicine McGill University, Montreal; member of College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario; Licentiate of Medical Coun- ,eB of Canada; Post -Graduate Member of Resident Medical staff of General Hospital, Montreal, 1914-15; Office, 2 doors east of Post Office. Phone 66 Heasail, Ontario. DR. F. J. BURROWS Office and residence; Goderick street east of the Methodist church, Senior* Phone 46. Coroner for the County of Huron. DR. C: MACKAY C.. Mackay honor graduate of Trin- ity University, and gold medallist of Trinity Medical College; member of the College of Physicians and Sur- geons of Ontario. DR. H. HUGH ROSS Graduate of University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, member of Col- lege 'of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.; pass graduate courses in Chicago Clinical School of - Chicago; Royal Ophthalmic Hospitals, London, England; University Hospital, Lon- don, England. Office—Back of Do- minion Sank, Seaforth. Phone No. 5, Night calls answered from residence, Victoria street, Seaforth. AUCTIONEERS THOMAS BROWN Idcensed auctioneer for the counties of Huron and Perth. Correspondence arrangements for sale dates can be wade by Halling up phone 97, Seaforth en The Expositor Office. Charges mod- erate and satisfaction guaranteed. R. T. LUITIR Licenaed auctioneer for the County of Huron. Sales attended to he all porta otAbe county. Seven -years' ex- pert In Manitoba and flaskatelm. reasonable. Phone No. `Sateedom left at The Huron IN TIM Clearing' EF IRWING BACHELLER- CHAPTERI The Melon Harvest. Once upon a time I owned a water- melon. -..I 'say once because I never did it again. When I got through owning 'that melon I never wanted, another. 'The time was 1881' I<,•w,p a boy of. seven and the melon was the first of all my, harvests. Every night and morning I.wat,ed• and felt. and surveyed my 'watermelon. My pride grew with the fnelon,_ and, by and by, my uncle': tried to express the •extept and nature 'of my riches by calling me a meIlionaire. I didn't know much about myself those days except the fact that 'ray name was art Baynes and, further, that I was an orphan, who owned a watermelon arid a little spotted hen and lived on Kettle -road in a neigh- borhood called Lickitysplit. , I lived with my aunt,, Deal and my uncle Peabody Baynes on a farm. They were brother and sister—rhe about thirty-eight and, she a little beyond the far -distant goal of forty. My father and mother died in a scourage of diphtheria that swept the neighborhood when I was a boy of five. For a time my aunt Deel seem- ed to blame me for my loss. "No wonder they're dead," she used to say, when out of patience with me and—well I suppose that I must have had an unusual talent for all the noisy arts of childhood when I broke the silence of that little home. . The word "dead" set the first mile- stone in the long stretch of my mem- ory. That was because I tried so hard to comprehend it and further because it kept repeating its chal- lenge to my imagination. I often wondered just what had be- come of my father and mother and I remember that the day after I went to my aunt's home a great idea came tq,me. It came out of the old dinner horn hanging in the shed. I knew the .power of its summons and I sly- ly captured the horn and marched 'around the house blowing it and hop- ing that it would bring my \father up from the fields. I blew and blew and listened for that familiar halloo of his. When I paused for a :drinic of water at the well my aunt came and seized the horn and laid it was no wonder they were dead. She knew nothing of the sublime bit of necrom- ancy she had interrupted—poor soul! I knew that she had spoken of my parents for I supposed that they were the only people in the world who were dead, but I did not know what it meant to be dead. I often called to them, as I had been wont 'to do, especially in the night, and shed many tears because they came no more to answer me. Aunt Deel did not often refer directly to my talents, but I saw, many times that no -wonder - they -died look in her face Children are great rememberers. They are the recording angels—the keepers of the bdok of life. Man forgets—how easily! --and easiest of all, the solemn truth that children dvo, not forget. A few days after I arrived in the home of my aunt and uncle I slyly entered the parlor and climbed the' what -not to examine some white flow- ers on its top shelf and tipped the whole thing ovrr,.scattering its bur- den of albums, wax Hovers and sea shells on the floor. My aunt came running on her tiptoes and exclaimed Marcy! Come right nut of here this minae—you pest! I took some rather long steps gee- ing out which were due to the fact that Aunt Deel had hold of my hand. While I sat weeping she' went back into the parlor and began to pick up things. "My wreath! my wreath!" I heard her moaning. Trow well I remember that little assemblage of flower ghosts in wax! They had no more right to associate with human beings than the ghosts of fable. Uncle Peabody used to call them the "Minervy flowers" be- cause they were a present from his Aunt Minerva. When Aunt Deel re- turned to the kitchen where I Bat— a sorrowing little refugee hunched up in a corner—she said: "I'll have to tell your Uncle Peabody—ayes!" "Oh please don't tell my Uncle Peabody," I wailed. "Ayes! I'll have to tell him," she answered firmly. For the first time I looked for him with dread at the window and when he came I hid in a closet and heard that solemn and penetrating note in her voice as she said: "I guess you'll have to take that boy away—ayes!" "What now?" he asked. "My stars; he sneaked into the parlor and tipped over the what -not and smashed that beautiful wax wreath!" 'Her voice trembled. "Not them Minervy flowers?" he asked in a tone of doleful incredulity. ¶Ayes he did!" - And tipped over the hull what- not?" i "Ayes!" "Jerusalem .four -corners!" he ex- claimed. "I'll' have to—" He stopped as he was wont to do on the threshold of strong opinions and momentous 'resolutions. The rest of the conversation was Bend tor free hoar giving full partic- ulars of Trench's workl-famOus prep - fixation for Epllopo. and Pits — strop% home treatment.. over 90 ran, somas& Totlfuoulalsfrornal1p0xfa 2601 Otaaatest Chambers, 79 Adelaidea. Tomato. Ontario answer, akd for a 1 time thereafter Aunt Deel Acted as if she were about - dene with thenf. She.would go around with a stern face Ss if unaware oi? his ppresence, and I had tokeep out of 'her way. In fact I dreaded the but- ternut trousers almost as much as she did. Once Uncle Peabody had put on the butternut trousers, against the usual protest,. to go' to meeting. "Ayes! you've got' 'em on ag'in," said Aunt Deel. "Ic suppose your black trousers ain't good enough: That 'cause you know Edna Perry is goin' to be there --ayes! Edna Perry was a widow of about his age, who was visiting her sister in the neighborhood:. Aunt Deel wouldn't go to church with us, so we went off together and walked home with Mrs. Perry. As we passed our house I saw Aunt Deel looking out of the window and waved my hand to her. When we got home at last we found any aunt sitting in her armchair by the stove. "You did It—didn't ye?—ayes' she demanded rather angrty as we%eame in. "Done what?" - asked Uncle Pea- body. "Shinin' up to that Perry woman— ain't ye?—ayes! Isee you're bound to git married—ayes!" I had no idea what it meant to get married but I made up my mind that it was something pretty low and bad. For the moment I blamed Uncle Pea- body. Aunt Deel's voice- and manner seemed to indicate that she had borne with him to the limif of her patience. "Delia," said my uncle, "I wouldn't be so -e" ' Again he. checked himself for fear of going too far, I suppose. "My heart! My heart! Aunt Deel exclaitned and struggled to her feet sobbing, and Uncle Peabody helped her to the lounge. She was So ill the rest of the day that my uncle had to go for the 'doctor while I bathed her forehead with cold water. Poor Uncle Peabody! Every step toward matrimony required such an outlay of emotion and such a sacrifice of comfort that I presume it seemed te, he hardly worth while. Yet I, must be careful not to give tic reader a false impression of my Aunt Deed. She was a thin, pale wo- man, rather tall, with brown hair ,dad bine eyes mai -fr,rohgtie'--well, her tongue has spoken for itself. I suppose 'hat she •,viiseem inhuman- ly selfish with this jealousy of her orothrr. "I promised ma that I would look after you and I rn goin' to do it— ayes!" I used to hear her say to any uncle There were not many married men who were so thoroughly looked after. This was due in part to her high opinion of the Baynes family, and to a general distrust of women. In her view they were a designing lot. It was probably true that Mrs. Perry was fond of show and would have been glad to join the Baynes family, but those items should not have been set down against her. There was Aunt Dccl's mistake. She couldn't allow any humanity in other wo- men. She toiled incessantly. She wash- ed and scrubbed and polished and dusted and sewed and knit from morning until night. She lived in mortal fear that company would cone sncl find her unprepared—Alma Jones or Jabez Lincoln, and his wife, or Ben and Mary Humphries, or "Mr. and Mrs. Horace Dunkelberg." These were- the people of whom she talked when the neighbors came in and when she was not talking of the Bayneses. I observed that she al - 1 ways said "Mr. and Mrs. Horace Dunkelberg." They were the con- versational ornaments of our home. "As Mrs. Horace Dunkelberg says," or, "as I said to Mr. Horace Dunkel- berg," were' phrases calculated to establish our social standing. I sup- posed that the world was peopled by Joneses, Lincolns, Humphries and Dunkelbergs, but mostly by Dunkel- bergs. These latter were very rich people who lived in Canton village. I know, now, how dearly Aunt Deel loved her brother and me. I must have been a great trial to that woman of forty unused to the pranks of children and the tender offices of a mother. Naturally I turned from her to my Uncle Peabody as a refuge and a help in time of trouble with increasing fondness. He had no knitting or sewing to do and when Uncle Peabody sat in the house he gave all his time to me and we weathered many a storm together as we sat silently in his favorite corner, of an evening, where I al- ways went to sleep in his arms. He and I slept in the little room up -stairs, "tinder the shingles" ---as uncle used to say. I in a small bed and he in the big one which had been the receiver of so much viol- ence. So I gave her only a qualified affection until I could 'see beneath the words and the face and the cor- recting hand of my Aunt Deal. Uncle made, up the beds in our room. Often his own •bed would go unmade. My aunt would upbraid him for laziness whereupon he would say that when he got up he liked the feel of that bed so much that he wanted to begin :next night right where he had left off. I was seven years old when Uncle Peabody gave me the watermelon seeds. I put one of them in my mouth and bit it - U219 ]rd'BC n U4e1 P bDdle90 the other.every da$ dtt ' t `�altlal'; fully anfl,. the vine 'throne "What,ftialses it,grdw2" 1r-,aslied.' "The ale.. salnb `thing: that maykes heat. grow".'• said Uncle , Peabod�f ''YOga can de lots of -things bat•Weeres Only one thing' that, a watermelon can ,do It can ipst .grow.-, See how It reaches out toward the sunlightl Ii we were to' pull'them dines around and try to make °'em grow toward the north they wouldn't mind us. They'd creep back and go renal!? toward the sun- light ag'In just 'as if they had a com- pass to show 'em the way's It was fiard work, I' thought; to go down into the garden, night and morn- ing, withmy little pail full 'of water, but uncle said that I should getnig pay when the melon was ripe. I had also to keep the wood -box full and feed -the chickens. They were odious tasks. When I asked aunt Deel what I should get for doing them she an swered quickly. "Noapanks and bread and butter— eyes l"• When I asked wh}ie�t were nospanks she told me that they were part of the wages of a good child. I was better paid for my care of the water- melon vine, for its growth was meas- ured with a string every day and kept me, interested. One morning I found five blossoms on it. I •picked one and carried it to Aunt Deel. Another I destroyed in the tragedy of catch- ing a bumblebee which had crawled into its cup. In due time three small mellons appeared. When, they were as big as a baseball I picked two of them. One I tasted and threw away as I roan to the pump for relief. The other I hurled at a dog on my way to school. So that last melon on the vine had my undivided attention. It grew in size and reputation, and soon I learn- ed that a reputation is about the worst thing that a watermelon can acquire while it is on the vine. I in- vited everybody that came to the house to go and see my watermelon. They looked it over and said pleasant things about it. When I was a boy people used to treat 'children and watermel- ons with a like solicitude. Both were a subject for jests and both produced similar reactions in the human coun- tenance. Aunt Deel often applied the water- melon test to my forehead and dis- covered in me a capacity for noise which no melon could rival. That act *became very familiar to me, for when my melon was nearing the summit of its fame and influence, all beholders thumped its rounded side with the middle finger of the right hand, and said that they guessed they'd steal Kt. I knew that this was some kind of S joke and a very idle one for they had also threatened to steal me and nothing had come of it. At last Uncle Peabody agreed with me that it was about time to pick the melon. I decided to pick it immedi- ately after meeting on Sunday so that I could give -it to my aunt and uncle at dinner -time. When we -got home I ran for the garden. My feet and those of our friends and neighbors had literally worn a path to the mel- on. In eager haste I got .my little wheelbarrow and ran with it to the end of that path. There I found nothing but broken vines! The melon had vanished. I ran back to the house almost overcome by a feeling of a- larm, for I had thought long of that hour of pride when I should bring the melon and present it to my aunt and uncle. "Uncle Peabody," I shouted. "my melon is gone." "Well I van!" said he, "somebody must 'a' stole it." "Stole it?" I repeated the words without fully comprehending what they meant. "But it was my melon," I said with a trembling voice. "Yes and I vum it's too bad! But, Bart, you ain't learned yit that there are wicked people in the world who come and take what don't belong to 'em." There were tears in my eyes when to fe@ ,teuderJy," Bart, dcii that old melon,!' .. worth it.,. Come with MS* to give you a 'preaent-r area I ; was • still crying Ate me to her trunk, and ' offered grateful assuagement of candy and, a, belt, all embroidered with blue and white beads, "Now you see, Bart, how low.and mean anybody is that takes - what .;don't belong to 'em—ayeal They're snakes! Everybody hates 'em an' stamps on 'em• when they come in sight -ayes!" • The abomination of the Lord was. in her look and manner. How it shook my soull He who had taken the watermelon had also taken from me something I was never to have again, and a very wonderful thing it was—faith id the goodness of men. My eyes had seen evil. The world had commuted its first offense a- gainst me and my spirit was no long- er the white and beautiful thing it had been. Still, therein is the be- ginning of wisdom and, looking down the long vista of the years, I thank God for the great harvest of the ' lost watermelon. Better things had come in its place—understanding and what more, often I. have vainly tried to estimate. For one thing that sud- den revelation of the heart of child- hood had lifted my aunt's out of the cold storage of a puritanic spirit, and warmed it into new life and op- enedits door for me. In the afternoon she sent me over to Wills' to borrow a little tea. I stopped for a few minutes to play with Henry, Wills—a boy not quite a year older than I. While playing there I discovered a piece of the rind of my melon in the dooryard. On that ,piece of rind I saw the cross which I had made one day with my thumb -nail. It was intended to in- dicate that the melon was solely and wholly mine. I felt a flush of anger. "I hate you," I said as I approach ed him. . "I hate you," he answered. "You're a snake!" I said. We now stood, face to face and breast to breast, like a pair of young roosters. He gave me • a shove and I told me to go home. I gave him a shove and told him Il,.woul�ln't. I pushed up close to igrh asjain and we glared into each rue eyes. Suddenly he spat in my face. I gave him a scratch on the forehead' with my finger -nail. Then we . fell' upon each other' and rolled on the ground and hit and scratched with feline ferocity. 1 Mrs. Wills ran out of the house and parted us. Our blood was hot, and leaking through the skin of our; faces a little. ' "He pitched on me," Henry ex- plained. "I couldn't speak. "Go right home—this minute—you brat!" said Mrs. Wills in anger. "Here's you Don't you ever come here ago.,,." I took the tea and started down the road weeping. What a bitter day that was for me! I dreaded to face my aunt and uncle. Coming through the grove down by our gate I met Uncle Peabody. With the keen eye- sight of the father of the prodigal son he had* seen me coming a long way off" and shouted: "Well here ye be—I was kind o' worried, Bub." Then his eye caught the look of dejection in my gait and figure. He hurried toward me He stopped as I came sobbing to his feet. "Why, what's the matter?" he asked gently, as he took the tea cup from my hand, and sat down upon his heels. I could only fall into his arms and express myself in the grief of child- hood. He hugged me close and beg - t '. lb e acre es e and' is said .my. She 'dit cause /Ingle Peab, in his 'own "way; to say nothing. The worst was: i but the. BayneFM1 gun. It led 'to baa school yard and "On We were eo event quarrel went on for -a lopgi„ti gathered intensity 09 it' 00 One'day Uncle ,Pealwodi me an egg and said -that', chicken in it. "All ye have to do is to keel warm an' the chicken will esm life, and when the hen is off nest some day it will see light throu the shell and peck its way out,”, ,i explained. 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