LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2408, 23 December 1881, Page 4

LITERATURE.

THE VILLAGE CONVICT. [From ’• Scribner’s Monthly.” 4 Wonder ’{ Eph’s got back j they say his sentence run out yesterday.’ The speaker, John Doano, was a sunburnt fisherman, one of a circle of well salted in dividual*, who eat, some on ohnirs, some on boxes and barrels, around the stove in a country store. •Yes,’ said Captain Seth, a middle-aged man with ear-rings ; 4 ha come on the stage to-noon ; wouldn’t hardly speak a word, Jim says ; looked kind o’ sot and sober.’ 4 Wall,’ said tho first speaker, ‘I only hope he wont go to burnin’ us ont of house and home, same as ha burnt up Ellphalet’s barn I was rather in hopes he’d ’a’ made off Went; seems to me I should, in hio place, hevin’ been in State’s prison.’ * Now I oilers hed quite a parcel o’ sympathy for Eph.’ said a short, thick set coasting captain, who sat tilted back in a threelegged chair, smoking lazily. 4 Yon see, he wa’n’t but about twenty-one or two then, and he was allua a mighty high-strong boy ; and then Elipbalet did act putty ha’sh, foreclo-in’ on Kph’s mother, and turnin’ her out o’ the farm ia winter, when everybody knew she canid ha’ pulled through by waitin’.; Kph sot great store by the old lady, and I expect ho was pretty mad with Eliphalet that night.’ 4 1 allers,’ said Donne, ‘approved o’ his plan o’ leadin’ out all tho critters, ’fore be touched off the barn ; ’taint everybody't would hov taken pains to do that; bat all the same, 1 tell Saral ’t I feel kind o’ skittish, night*, to hev to tarn in, feelin’ ’t there’s a convict in the place.’ • I baint got no barn to burn,’ said Captain Seth ; 4 but if he allots my hen house to the Dimes I hope he’ll lead ont the hens, and hitoh ’em to the apple trees, same ’a he did Eliphalet’s critters; think he onght to deal ekally by all.’ A mild general chuckle greeted this sally, cheered by which, the speaker added—--4 i bought soma o’ takin’ out a policy o’ insurance on my occkerel ’ 4 I rade’s lookin’ np, William,’ said Captain Seth to the storekeeper, as some one was heard to kick the snow off his boots on the door-step; ‘somebody’s found he’s got to have a shoe-string ’fora morninV The door opened, and closed behind a strongly made follow of twentvsix or seven, of homely features, with black hair, in clotnes which he had outgrown. It was a bitter night, but he had no oat over hia flannel jacket. He walked straight down the store, between the dry golds counters, to tho snug corner at the rear, where the knot of talkers sat; nodded, without a smile, to each of them, and then asked the storekeeper for some simple articles of food, which ho wished to buy. It was Eph. While the purchases were being put np, an awkward silence prevailed, which the oilsnita hanging on the walls, broadly displaying their arms and legs, seemed to mock, in dumb show. Nothing was changed, to Eph’s eyes, as he looked about. Even the handbill of familiar pattern :

* standing Wood for Sale. Apply to J. Carter, Admin’b.’ seemed to have always been there. The village parliament remained spellbound. Mr Adams tied up the purchases and mildly inquired—- ‘ Shall I charge this ?’ Not that he was anxious to open an account, but that he would probably have s' ae to the length of selling Eph a barrel of mfiasees * on tick ’ rather then run any risk of offrnding so formidable a character. ‘ No,’ said Eph; ‘ 1 will pay for tho things.’ And having put the packages into a canvas bag, and selected some fish hooks and lines from the show-case, he paid what was due, sail ‘Good-night, William,’ to tho storekeeper, and walked steadily out into the night. • Wall,’ said the skipper, ‘lam surprised ! I strove to thiuk o’ suthin’ to say, all the time ho was hero, but I awow I couldn't think 6’ nothin’.’ ‘I wai just goln’to say, How’d yo leave everybody?’ said Doane ; ‘but that kind o’ talk seemed to bring up them he’d left. I felt real bad, though, to hev the feller go off ’thont nne on ns speafein’ to him. He’s got a hard lurrer to plow ; an’ yet I don’t a’pose there’s much harm in him, ’f Eliphalet only quiet.’ ‘ Eliphalec 1’ said a young sailor, contemptuously i ‘no fear o’ him ! T hey say ha’s so sca’t of Eph he haint hardly swallowed nothin' for a week.’ 1 Hut where will he live?’ asked a short, curly-haired young man, whom Eph had seemed not to lecognise. It was the new doctor, who, after having made his way through college and ‘ tho great medical schoo 1 iu Boston.’ had, two years before, settled in this village. * 1 bdiove, ’ said Mr Adams, rubbing his ‘ that ho wrote to Joshua C rr last winter, whan his mother died, not to let tho little pi ce she left, on the emit Hay road, and I understand that he is going to make his home there. It is an old house, yon know, and not worth much, but it is weather tight. I should say.’ ‘ Spookin' of his writin’ to Joshua,’ said Doane, ‘I have heard such a sound aa that ho used to shine up to Joshua’s Susan, years bank. -But that’s all ended now. Yon won’t catch Saoan marryin’ no jail-birds,’

1 Hut how will he live?’ said the doctor ; * will anybody give him work ?’ ‘Let him alone for livin’,’ said Doane; •‘ho can k-tch more fish than any other two n.’.en In the .place— alters seemed to kind o’

hev a knack o' whistlin’ 'em right into the boat An’ than Nelson Briggs, that settled up his mothers estate, allows he’s got over a hundred and ten dollars for him, a’ter payin' ddrs and all probate expenses, and that, and the place is all ho needs to start on.’

‘ I will go to see him,, said the doctor to himself, as he went out upon Che requisition of a grawe man in a red tippet, who had just corno for him; ‘he.jdoeon’t look so very dangerous, and I think he can bo tamed. I remember that his mother told me abont him.’ Late that night, returning from his seven miles drive, as he left the causeway, built across a wide stretch of ealt-marsh, crossed the rattling phmk bridge and ascended the hill, he saw a light in the cottage window, where he had often been to attend aunt Lois. 'I will stop now,’ said he. And, tying his horse to the front fence, he went toward the kitchen door. Aa he passed the window he glanced in. A lamp was burning on the table. On a settle, lying open his face, was stretched the oonvlot, his arms beneath his head. The canvas bag lay on the floor be«ld.» him. • I will not disturb him now,’ ■aid the doctor. A few days later Dr. Bnrfc was driving in his sleigh with his wife along the Salt Hay road. It was aolear, crisp, winter forenoon. A* they neared Eph’s honse he said—‘Mary gappose I lay siege to the fort this this morning. 1 see a carl of smoke rising

from the little shop in the bun. He must be making himtelf a jimmy or a dark lantern to break into cur vegetable cellar with.’ * Well,’ said she. ‘I think it would be a good plan; only, you know, you must be very, very careful not to hint, oven in the falatrst way, at hia imprisonment. You inusn’t so much as suspect that he has ever been away from tho place. People hardly dare to speak to him for fear he will see some reference to hie having been in prison and get angry. ’ ' Yon shall see my sly tact,’ said her husband, laughing. 4 1 will be as innocent as a lamb. I will ask him why I have not seen him at the Sabbath school this winter.’ ‘You may make fnn ’ said she, ‘but yon will end by taking my advice, ail the same. Now do be careful what yon say.’ 1 1 will,’ he replied ; ‘ I will compose roy remarks carefully upon the back of an en velope and read them to him, so as to be absolutely sure. I will leave on hia mind an impression that I have been in prison, ond that ho was the judge that tried me. Ho drove in at tho open gate, hitched his horse in a warm corner by the kitchen door, and then stopped for a moment to enjoy tho view. The situation of tho little house, halt a mile from any other, was beaut.ful in summer, but it was b eak enough in winter. 4 lt is social for him here, to say the least,’ said the doctor, as ho turned and walked alone to the shop. He opened the door and went in. It was a 10-’g, low, leanto, snob as farmers often furnish for domestic work, with a carpenter’s bmch, a grindstone. and a few simple tools. It was lighted by three square windows above the bench. An air-tight stove, pr jacting its funnel through a hole in one of the panes, gave out a oheerfnl crackling. Eph, in his shirt-sleeves, his hands in his pockets, was standing, hia baok against tho bench, surveying, with something of a mechanic’s eye, tho frame of a boat which was set up on the floor. Ho looked up and coloured slightly. Tho doctor took out a cigarette, lit it, sat down on the bench, and smoked, clasping one knee in his bends and eying the boat. 4 Centre-board ?’ he asked, at length. ‘Yes,’ said Eph, * Cat-rig?’ * Yes.’ * Going fishing ?’ ‘Yes ’ * Alone l' 4 Yea.’ * I was bronght np to sail a boat,’ said the doctor, ‘ and I often go fishing in summer, when I get a chance; I shall want to try your boat sometime,’ No raply. * The timbers are not seasoned, are they ? They look like pitch-pine, just out of the woods ; won’t they warp ?’ ‘ No ; pitch-pine goes right in, green ; I a’poee the pitch keeps It, if it’s out of the sun.’ * Where did you cut it ?’ Eph coloured a little. ‘ln my baok lot. ’ The doctor smoked on calmly, and studied the boat. 4 I don’t know you,’ said Eph, relaxing a little. 4 Good reason,’ said the doctor, 4 I’ve only been here two years ;’ and after a moment’s panso, ho added— 1 lam the doctor here, now; you’ve beard of my father, Dr. Bait, of Broad Kiver ?’ Eph nodded assent; everybody knew him, all through the country—a fatherly old man, who rode on long journeys at everybody’s call, and never sent in his bills. The visitor had a standing with Eph at once. ‘Doctors never piok at folks,’ he said to himself; 4 at any rate, not old Dr. Bart’s son. I used to come here to see your mother,’ said the doctor, 4 when she was sick. She used to talk a great deal about you, and said she wanted me to got acquainted with you when your lime was ont, ’ Eph started, but said nothing. ‘She was a good woman, aunt Lois,’added the doctor ; 4 one of the best women I ever saw.’ 4 1 don’t want anybody to bother himself on my aooonnt,’ said Eph ; 4 1 ask no favors.’ 4 You will have to take favors, though,’ said the doctor, 4 before the winter is over. You wi 1 be careless and get s'ck ; yon have been living for a long time entirely indoors, with regular hours ond work and food ; now you are going to live out-of-doors, and get your own meals, irregularly. You didn’t have on a thick coat the other night when I saw yon at the store.’ 4 1 haven’t got any that’s large eoongh for me,’ said Fpb, a little less harshly, 4 and I’ve got to keep my money for other things,’ 4 Then look out and wear flannel shirts enough,’ said the doctor, 4 if you want to be independent. But before Igo I want to go into the house. 1 want my wife to see aunt Lois’ room, and the view from the west windowsand he led the way to the sleigh. Sph hesitated a moment, and then followed him.

• Mary, this is Ephraim Morse. We are going in to see the Dutch tiles I have told you of.’

She smiled as she held out her mittened hand to Eph, who took it awkwardly. Tho square front room, which had been originally Intended for a keeping-room, bat had been annt Lois’s bedroom, looked out from two windows upon the road, and from two upon the rolling, tumbling bay, and the shining sea beyond, A tall clock, with a rocking ship above the face, ticked in the corner. The painted floor with bright rag. mats, the little table with a lacquer workbox, the stiff chairs, and the old-fashioned bedstead, the china ornaments upon the mantel-piece, tho piotnre of ‘ The Emeline G. in tho harbour of Canton,’were just as they bad been when the pa'ieut invalid had lain there, looking from her pillow out to sea. In twelve rude piles set around the open fire-plsc-e, the Hebrews were seen in twelve stages of their escape from Egypt It would appear from this representation that they bad not restricted their borrowings to the jewels of their oppressors, but had taken for tho journey certain Dutch clothing of the fashion of the seventeenth century. The scenery, too, was much like that about Leyden, ‘I think,’ said the doctor’s wife, ‘that the painter was just a little absent-minded when he put in that beer barre’. And a wharf, by the Red Hea !’ * * ‘ I wish you would conclude to rig your boat with a new sail,’ said the doctor, as he took up the reins at parting ; ‘ there isn’t a boat here that’s kept clean, and I should like to hire yours once or twice » w.-ek in summer, if you keep her as neat as you do your house. Coma in and sea me some evening, and we’ll ta’k it over.’ Eph built his boat, and, in spite of his evident-dislike of visitors, the inside finish and the arrangements of the little cabin were so ingenins and so novel that everybody had to pay him a visit. True to his plan of being independent, he built iu the side of the hill, near his barn, by a little gravelly pond, an loe-house, and, with the hardest labour filled it, all by himself. With this supply ho would not have to go to the general wharf at Sandy Point to tell his fish with the other men, but could paak and ship them himself. And he could do better in this way, he thought, even after paying for teaming them to the cars.

The knowing onea laughed to see that, from asking no advice, he had miscalculated and laid in three times as mnch as he could nee.

* Guess Kph oalTates ter fish with two lines in each hand and ’nother in his teeth,’ said Mr Wing ; * he’s plannin’ out for a great lay o’ fish.’ ‘ The spring came slowly on, and the first boat that went out that season was Eph’s. That day was one of unmixed delight to him. What a sense of absolute freedom when he was fairly out beyond the lightship, with the fresh swiftness of the wind in his face. His boat lay over, almost ahowlog her keel, now high out of the water, now settling between the waves, while Eph stood easily in the stern in his shirt-sleeves, s'eering wi:h his knee, smoking a pipe, heaving and hanling bis line astern for blue-fl h. • Takes it nat’ral ag’in, don’t he ? Stands as easy as ef he was loafin’ on a wharf,’ said one of the observers; * expect it’s quite a treat to be out. But they do say he’s gettln’ everybody's good opinion. They looked for a regular ruffian when he coma home—onttln’ nets, killin' cats, obasin’ bens, gettin’ drunk. They say Eliphalet Wood didn’t hardly dare to go on'doors for a month, ’thout havin’ his hired man along. But he’s turned out os peaceful as a little gal.’ One Jane day, a« Eph was slitting bine fish at the little pier which he had built on

the bay shore near his fee-house, two men came up. Hallo, Eph S’ ‘Hallo!’ * We’ve got about side, tradin’ down to the wharf ; wo can’t git no fair show. About one time in three they tell us th y don’t want our fish, and wont take ’em unless we’ll have ’em In for next to nothin’, and_ wo know there ain’t no arnso in it. to we just thought we’d slip down and see ef you wouldn’t toko ’em, seein’s you’ve got ice, and send ’em up with yoarn.’ Eph was taken all aback at this mark of confidence. Ho would decline the offer, sure that it sprang from some mere passing vexation. (To be continued.)