menu_book Chapter 5

chapter three part one of laddie this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by bridget gage laddie by jean stratton porter chapter three part one mr pryor's door grief will be joy if on its edge fall soft that holiest ray joy will be grief if no faint pledge be there of heavenly day have sally and peter said anything about getting married yet asked my big sister lucy of mother lucy was home on a visit she was bathing her baby and mother was sewing not a word are they engaged sally hasn't mentioned it well can't you find out how could i asked mother why watch them a little and see how they act when they are together if he kisses her when he leaves of course they are engaged it would be best to wait until sally tells me laughed mother i heard this from the back steps neither mother nor lucy knew i was there i went in to see if they would let me take the baby of course they wouldn't mother took it herself she was rocking and softly singing my dutch song that i loved best

i can't spell it but it sounds like this truss truss trill der power rid der fill fill spring aveck pladschlitter power in der dreck once i asked mother to sing it in english and she couldn't because it didn't rhyme that way and the words wouldn't fit the notes it was just trot trot trot a boy rode a colt the colt sprang aside down went the boy in the dirt aw don't sing my song to that little red pug-nosed bald head i said really it was a very nice baby i only said that because i wanted to hold it and mother wouldn't give it up i tried to coax may to the day i'm snake hunting but she couldn't go so i had to amuse myself i had a doll but i never played with it except when i was dressed up on sunday anyway what's the use of a doll when there's a live baby in the house i didn't care much for my playhouse since i had seen one so much finer that laddie had made for the princess of course i knew moss wouldn't take root in our orchard as it did in the woods neither would willow cuttings or the red flowers

finally i decided to go hunting i went into the garden and gathered every ripe touch-me-not pod i could find and all the portulaca then i stripped the tiger lilies of each little black ball at the base of the leaves and took all the four o'clock seed there was then i got my biggest alder pop gun and started up the road toward sarah hood's i was going along singing a little verse it wasn't dutch either the old baby could have that if it wanted it soon as i got from sight of the house i made a powder horn of a curled leaf loaded my gun with portulaca powder rammed in a tiger lily bullet laid the weapon across my shoulder and stepped high and lightly as laddie does when he's in the big woods hunting for squirrel it must have been my own singing i am rather good at hearing things but i never noticed a sound that time until a voice like a rusty saw said good morning nimrod i sprang from the soft dust and landed among the dog fennel of a fence corner in a flying heap then i looked it was the princess's father tall and gray and grim riding a big black horse that seemed as if it had been curried with a fine comb and brushed with a grease rag

good morning i said when i could speak am i correct in the surmise that you are on the chase with a pop-gun he asked politely yes sir i answered getting my breath the best i could it came easier after i noticed he didn't seem to be angry about anything where is your hunting ground and what game are you after he asked gravely you can see the great african jungle over there i am going to hunt for lions and tigers you always must answer politely any one who speaks to you and you'll get soundly thrashed at least at our house if you don't be politest of all to an older person especially with white hair father is extremely particular about white hair it is a crown of glory when it is found in the way of the lord mallin prior had enough crown of glory for three men but maybe his wasn't exactly glory because he wasn't in the way of the lord he was in a way of his own he must have had much confidence in himself at our house we would rather trust in the lord i only told him about the lions and tigers because he asked me and that was the way i played but you should have heard him laugh you wouldn't have supposed to see him that he could umph he said at last i am a little curious about your ammunition just how do you bring down your prey

i use portulaca powder and tiger lily bullets on the tigers and four o'clock's on the lions i said you could have heard him a mile dried up as he was i used to wear a red coat and ride to the hounds fox hunting he said it's great sport won't you take me with you to the jungle i didn't want him in the least but if any one older asks right out to go with you what can you do i am going to tell several things you won't believe and this is one of them he got off his horse tied it to the fence and climbed over after me he went on asking questions and of course i had to tell him most of what he wanted to know his people should have taught him before he was ten years old but father says they do things differently in england there doesn't seem to be many trees in the jungle well there's one and it's about the most important on our land i told him father wouldn't cut it down for a farm you see that little dark bag nearly as big as your fist swinging out there on that limb

well every spring one of these birds yellow as orange peel with velvet black wings weaves a nest like that and over on that big branch high up one just as bright red as the other is yellow and the same black wings builds a cradle for his babies father says a red bird and a yellow one keeping house in the same tree is the biggest thing that ever happened in our family they come every year and that is their tree i believe father would shoot any one who drove them away your father is a gunner also he asked and i thought he was laughing to himself he's enough of a gunner to bring mother in a wagon from pennsylvania all the way here and he kept wolves bears indians and gypsies from her and shot things for food yes sir my father can shoot if he wants to better than any of our family except laddie and does laddie shoot well laddie does everything well i answered proudly he won't try to do anything at all until he practices so he can do it well score one for laddie he said in a queer voice are you in a hurry about the lions and tigers not at all he answered well here i always stop and let governor ogsleby go swimming i said mr molland pryor sat on the bank of our little creek took off his hat and shook back his hair as if the wind felt good on his forehead

i fished dick oglesby from the ammunition in my apron pocket and held him toward the cross old man and he wasn't cross at all it's funny how you come to get such wrong ideas about people my big married sister who lives in westchester sent him to me last christmas i explained i have another doll great big with a scotch plaid dress made from pieces of mine but i only play with her on sunday when i dare not do much else i like dick the best because he fits my apron pocket father wanted me to change his name and call him oliver p morton after a friend of his but i told him this doll had to be called by the name he came with and if he wanted me to have one named for his friend to get it and i'd play with it what did he do he didn't want one named morton that much mr pryor took dick oglesby in his fingers and looked at his curly black hair and blue eyes his chubby outstretched arms like a baby when it wants you to take it and his plump little feet and the white shirt with red stripes all of peace of him as he was made and said the honorable governor of our sister's state seems a little weighty i am at a loss to understand how he swims it's a new way i said he just stands still and the water swims around him it's very easy for him

then i carried dick to the water waded in and stood him against a stone something funny happened instantly it always did i found it out one day when i got some apple butter on the governor giving him a bite of my bread and put him in the wash-bowl to soak he was two and a half inches tall but the minute you stood him in water he went down to about half that height and spread out to twice his size around you should have heard mr pryor if you will lie on that bank and watch you'll have more to laugh at than that i promised he lay down and never paid the least attention to his clothes pretty soon a little chub fish came swimming around to make friends with governor oglesby and then a shiner and some more chub they nibbled at his hands and toes and then went flashing away and from under the stone came backing a big crayfish and seized the governor by the leg and started dragging him so i had to jump in and stop it i took a shot at the crayfish with a tiger ammunition and then loaded for lions We went on until the marsh became a thicket of cattails, bulrushes, willow bushes, and blue flags.

Then I found a path where the lions left the jungle, hid Mr. Pryor, and told him he must be very still or they wouldn't come. At last I heard one. I touched Mr. Pryor's sleeve to warn him to keep his eyes on the trail. Pretty soon the lion came in sight. Really, it was only a little gray rabbit hopping along. But when it was opposite us, I pinged it in the side.

It jumped up and turned a somersault with surprise, and squealed a funny little squeal. Well, I wondered if Mr. Pryor's people didn't hear him, and think he had gone crazy as Patty Ryan. I never did hear anyone laugh so.

I thought if he enjoyed it like that, I'd let him shoot one. I do May sometimes. So we went to another place I knew where there was a tiger's den, and I loaded with tiger-lily bullets, gave him the gun, and showed him where to aim.

After we had waited a long time, out came a muskrat and started for the river. I looked to see why Mr. Pryor didn't shoot. And there he was gazing at it, as if a snake had charmed him, his hands shaking a little, his cheeks almost red, his eyes very bright. "'Shoot!' I whispered.

"'It won't stay all day.' He forgot how to push the ramrod, like I showed him, so he reached out and tried to hit it with a gun. "'Don't do that,' I said. "'But it's getting away! It's getting away!' he cried.

"'Well, what if it is?' I asked, half-provoked. "'Do you suppose I really would hurt a poor little muskrat? "'Maybe it has six hungry babies in its home.' "'Oh, that way!' he said. "'But he kept looking at it, so he made me think if I hadn't been there

"'he would have thrown a stone, or hit it with a stick. "'It is perfectly wonderful about how some men can't get along without killing things. "'Such little bits of helpless creatures, too. I thought he'd better be got from the jungle, so I invited him to see the place at the foot of the hill before our orchard,

where some men thought they had discovered gold before the war. They had been to California in forty-nine, and although they didn't come home with millions, or anything else except sick and tired, they thought they had learned enough about gold to know it when they saw it.

I told him about it, and he was interested and anxious to see the place. If there had been a shovel, I'm quite sure he would have gone to digging. He kept poking around with his boot-toe, and he said maybe the yokels didn't look good. He said our meadow was a beautiful place,

and when he praised the creek, I told him about the wild ducks, and he laughed again. He didn't seem to be the same man when we went back to the road.

I pulled some sweet marsh grass and gave his horse bites, so Mr. Pryor asked if I liked animals. I said I loved horses, laddies best of all. He asked about it, and I told him.

"'Hasn't your father but one thoroughbred?' "'Father hasn't any,' I said. "'Floss really belongs to Laddie, and we are mighty glad he has her.' "'You should have one soon yourself,' he said. "'Well, if the rest of them will hurry up and marry off,

"'so the expenses won't be so heavy, maybe I can.' "'How many of there are you?' he asked. "'Only twelve,' I said. He looked down the road at her house. "'Do you mean to tell me you have twelve children there?' he inquired.

"'Oh, no,' I answered. Some of the big boys have gone into business in the cities around, and some of the girls are married. Mother says she has only to show her girls in the cities, to have them snapped up like hotcakes.

I fancy that is the truth, he said. I've passed the one who rides the little black pony, and she is a picture, a fine, healthy, sensible-appearing young woman. I don't think she's as pretty as your girl, I said. Perhaps I don't either, he replied, smiling at me.

Then he mounted his horse. I don't remember that I ever have passed that house, he said, without hearing someone singing. Does it go on all the time? Yes, unless mother is sick. And what is it all about?

Oh, just joy, gladness that we are alive, that we have things to do that we like, and praising the Lord. Oomph, said Mr. Pryor. It's just letting out what our hearts are full of, I told him. Don't you know that song? Tis the old-time religion, and you cannot keep it still?

He shook his head. It's an awful nice song, I explained, after it sings about all the other things religion is good for. There is one line that says, It's good for those in trouble.

I looked at him straight and hard, but he only turned white and seemed sick. So, said Mr. Pryor, Well, thank you for the most interesting morning I've had this side of England. I should be delighted if you would come and hunt lions in my woods with me sometime.

Oh, do you open the door to children? Certainly we open the door to children, he said. And as I live, he looked so sad, I couldn't help thinking he was sorry to close it against anyone. A mystery is the dreadfulest thing.

Then if children don't matter, maybe I can come lion-hunting sometime with the Princess. After she has made the visit at our house, she said she would. Indeed, I hadn't been informed that my daughter contemplated visiting your house, he said.

When was it arranged? My mother invited her last Sunday. I didn't like the way he said, Oh! Some way it seemed insulting to my mother. She did it to please me, I said.

There was a fairy princess told me the other day that your girl felt like a stranger, and that to be a stranger was the hardest thing in all the world. She sat a little way from the others, and she looked so lonely. I pulled my mother's sleeve and led her to your girl,

and made them shake hands, and then mother had to ask her to come to dinner with us. She always invites everyone she meets coming down the aisle. She couldn't help asking your girl, too. She said she was expected at home, but she'd come some day and get acquainted.

She needn't, if you object. My mother only asked her because she thought she was lonely, and maybe she wanted to come. He sat there staring straight ahead, and he seemed to grow whiter, and older, and colder every minute.

Possibly she is lonely, he said at last. This isn't much like the life she left. Perhaps she does feel herself a stranger. It was very kind of your mother to invite her. If she wants to come, I shall make no objections.

No, but my father will, I said. He straightened up, as if something had hit him. Why will he object? On account of what you said about God at our house, I told him. And then, too, father's people were from England,

and he says real Englishmen have their doors wide open and welcome people who offer friendliness. Mr. Pryor hit his horse an awful blow. It reared and went racing up the road, until I thought it was running away. I could see I had made him angry enough to burst.

Mother always tells me not to repeat things, but I'm not smart enough to know what to say, so I don't see what is left but to tell what Mother or Father or Laddie says when grown people ask me questions. I went home, but everyone was too busy even to look at me,

so I took Bobby under my arm, hunted Father, and told him all about the morning. i wondered what he would think i never found out he wouldn't say anything so bobby and i went across the lane and climbed the gate into the orchard to see if hezekiah were there and wanted to fight he hadn't time to fight bobby because he was busy chasing every wild jay from her orchard by the time he got that done he was tired so he came hopping along on branches above us as bobby and i went down the west fence beside the lane if i had been compelled to choose the side of our orchard i liked best i don't know which i would have selected the west side that is the one behind the dooryard was running over with interesting things two gates opened into it one from near each corner of the yard between these there was quite a wide level space where mother fed the big chickens and kept the hens in coops with little ones

she had to have them close enough that the big hawks were afraid to come to earth or they would take more chickens than they could pay for by cleaning rabbits snakes and mice from the fields then came a double row of prize peach trees rare fruit that mother canned to take to county fairs one bore big white freestones and around the seed they were pink as a rose one was a white cling and one was yellow there was a yellow freestone as big as a yellow sun and as golden and the queerest of all was a cling purple as a beet sometimes father read about the hairs of the head being numbered because we were so precious in the sight of the almighty mother was just as particular with her purple tree every peach on it was counted and if we found one on the ground we had to carry it to her because it might be sound enough to can or spice for a fair or she had promised the seed to some one half-way across the state at each end of the peech row was an enormous big pear tree not far from one the chicken house stood on the path to the barn and beside the other the smoke house with the dog kennel a yard away father said there was a distinct relationship between a smoke house and a dog kennel and bulldogs were best just at present we were out of bulldogs but jones jenkins and co could make as much noise as any dog you ever heard

on the left grew the plum trees all the way to the south fence and i think there was one of every kind in the fruit catalogues father spent hours pruning grafting and fertilizing them he said they required twice as much work as peaches around the other side of the orchard were two rows of peach trees of every variety but one cling on the north was just a little the best of any and we might eat all we wanted from any tree we liked after father tested them and said peaches are ripe in the middle were the apple selected trees planted trimmed and cultivated like human beings the apples were so big and fine they were picked by hand wrapped in paper packed in barrels and all we could not use at home went to j b white in fort wayne for the biggest fruit house in the state my but father was proud he always packed especially fine ones for mr white's family he said he liked him because he was a real sandy scotchman who knew when an apple was right and wasn't afraid to say so on the south side of the orchard there was the earliest june apple tree the apples were small bright red with yellow stripes crisp juicy and sweet enough to be just right the tree was very large and so heavy it leaned far to the northeast

this sounds like make-believe but it's gospel truth almost two feet from the ground there was a big round growth the size of a hash-bowl the tree must have been hurt when very small and the place enlarged with the trunk now it made a grand step if you understood that no one could keep from running the last few rods of the tree then figured on the help to be had from this step you could see how we went up it like squirrels all the bark on the south side was worn away and the trunk was smooth and shiny the birds loved to nest among the branches and under the peach tree in the fence corner opposite was a big bed of my mother's favorite wild flowers blue-eyed marys they had dainty stems from six to eight inches high and delicate heads of bloom made up of little flowers two petals up blue two turning down white perhaps you don't know about anything prettier than that there were maidenhair ferns among them too and the biggest lichens you ever saw on the fence well in the hollow of a rotten rail a little chippy bird always built a hare nest she got the hares at our barn for most of them were gray from her carriage horses ned and joe all down that side of the orchard the fence corners were filled with long grass and wild flowers a few alder bushes left to furnish berries for the birds and wild roses for us to keep their beauty impressed upon us father said

The east end ran along the brow of a hill so steep we coasted down it on the big meat-board all winter. The board was six inches thick, two and a half feet wide, and six long. Father said slipping over ice and snow gave it the good scouring it needed, and it was thick enough to last all our lives so we might play with it as we pleased. At least seven of us could go skimming down that hill and halfway across the meadow on it.

In the very place we slid across, in summer lay the cowslip bed. The world is full of beautiful spots, but I doubt if any of them were ever prettier than that. Father called it Swale. We didn't sink deep, but all summer there was water standing there.

The grass was long and very sweet. There were ferns and a few calamus flowers. And there must have been an acre of cowslips, cowslips with big-veined, heart-shaped green leaves, and large, pale gold flowers.

I used to sit on the top rail of that orchard fence and look down at them, and tried to figure out what God was thinking when he created them, and I wished that I might have been there where I could watch his face as he worked. End of chapter 3, part 1