CHAPTER XIX.
READY TO TRY.
"YOU see," said Jerry, as Nettie came, protesting as she walked thatshe could stay but a few minutes, because there was Norm's collar,and she had four nice apples out of which she was going to makesome splendid apple dumplings for dinner, "you see we must contrivesomething to keep a young fellow like Norm busy, if we are going tohold him after he is caught. It doesn't do to catch a fish and leavehim on the edge of the bank near enough to flounce back into the water.Norm ought to be set to work to help along the plans, and kept so busyhe wouldn't have time to get tired of them."
"But how could that be done?" Nettie said in wondering tones, whichnevertheless had a note of admiration in them. Jerry went so deeplyinto things, it almost took her breath away to follow him.
"Just so; that's the problem which ought to be thought out. I can thinkof things enough; but the room, and the tools to begin with, are thetrouble."
"What have you thought of? What would you do if you could?"
"O my!" said Jerry, with a little laugh; "don't ask me that question,or your folks will have no apple dumplings to-day. I don't believethere is any end to the things which I would do if I could. But thefirst beginnings of them are like this: suppose we had a few dollarscapital, and a room."
"You might as well suppose we had a palace, and a million dollars,"said Nettie, with a long-drawn sigh.
"No, because I don't expect either of those things; but I do mean tohave a room and a few dollars in capital for this thing some day; only,you see, I don't want to wait for them."
"Well, go on; what then?"
"Why, then we would start an eating-house, you and I, on a littlebit of a scale, you know. We would have bread with some kind ofmeat between, and coffee, in cold weather, and lemonade in hot,and a few apples, and now and then some nuts, and a good deal ofgingerbread--soft, like what auntie Smith makes--and some ginger-snapslike those Mrs. Dix sent us from the country, and, well, you know thenames of things better than I do. Real good things, I mean, but whichdon't cost much. Such as you, and Sarah Ann, and a good many brightgirls learn how to make, without using a great deal of money. Thosethings are all rather cheap, which I have mentioned, because we havethem at our house quite often, and the Smiths are poor, you know. Butthey are made so nice that they are just capital. Well, I would havethem for sale, just as cheap as could possibly be afforded; a greatdeal cheaper than beer, or cigars, and I would have the room bright andcheery; warm in winter, and as cool as I could make it in summer; thenI would have slips of paper scattered about the town, inviting youngfolks to come in and get a lunch; then when they came, I would havepicture papers if I could, for them to look at, and games to play, realnice jolly games, and some kind of music going on now and then. I'drun opposition to that old grocery around the corner from Crossman's,with its fiddle and its whiskey. That's the beginning of what I woulddo. Just what I told you about, that first night we talked it over.The fellows, lots of them, have nowhere to go; it keeps growing in mymind, the need for doing something of the sort. I never pass that meangrocery without thinking of it."
You should have seen Nettie's eyes! The little touch of discouragementwas gone out of them, and they were full of intense thought.
"I can see," she said at last, "just how splendid it might grow to be.But what did you mean about Norm? there isn't any work for him in sucha plan. At least, I mean, not until he was interested to help for thesake of others."
"Yes, there is, plenty of business for him. Don't you see? I would havethis room, open evenings, after the work was done, and I would haveNorm head manager. He should wait on customers, and keep accounts.When the thing got going he would be as busy as a bee; and he is justthe sort of fellow to do that kind of thing well, and like it too," headded.
"O Jerry," said Nettie, and her hands were clasped so closely that theblood flowed back into her wrists, "was there ever a nicer thought thanthat in the world! I know it would succeed; and Norm would like it somuch. Norm likes to do things for others, if he only had the chance."
"I know it; and he likes to do things in a business way, and keepeverything straight. Oh! he would be just the one. If we only had aroom, there is nothing to hinder our beginning in a very small way.Those chickens are growing as fast as they can, and by Thanksgivingthere will be a couple of them ready to broil; then the little oldgrandmothers did so well."
"I know it; who would have supposed that almost four dollars could bemade out of some daisy grandmothers! Miss Sherrill gave me one dollarand ninety-five cents which she said was just half of what they hadearned. I do think it was so nice in her to give us that chance! Shecouldn't have known how much we wanted the money. Jerry, why couldn'twe begin, just with that? It would start us, and then if the thingssold, why, the money from them would keep us started until we found away to earn more. Why can't we?"
"Room," said Jerry, with commendable brevity. "Why, we have a room;there's the front one that we just put in such nice order. Why not? Itis large enough for now, and maybe when our business grew we could getanother one somehow."
Jerry stopped fitting the toe of his boot to a hole which he had madein the ground, and looked at the eager young woman of business beforehim. "Do you mean your mother would let us have the room, and thechance in the kitchen, to go into such business?"
"Mother would do _anything_," said Nettie emphatically, "anything inthe world which might possibly keep Norm in the house evenings; youdon't know how dreadfully she feels about Norm. She thinks father," andthere Nettie stopped. How could a daughter put it into words that hermother was afraid her father would lead his son astray?
"I know," said Jerry. "See here, Nettie, what is the matter with yourfather? I never saw him look so still, and--well, queer, in some way.Mr. Smith says he doesn't think he is drinking a drop; but he looksunlike himself, somehow, and I can't decide how."
"I don't know," said Nettie, in a low voice. "We don't know what tothink of him. He hasn't been so long without drinking, mother says,in four years. But he doesn't act right; or, I mean, natural. He isn'tcross, as drinking beer makes him, but he isn't pleasant, as he wasfor a day or two. He is real sober; hardly speaks at all, nor noticesthe things I make; and I try just as hard to please him! He eatseverything, but he does it as though he didn't know he was eating.Mother thinks he is in some trouble, but she can't tell what. He can'tbe afraid of losing his place--because mother says he was threatenedthat two or three times when he was drinking so hard, and he didn'tseem to mind it at all; and why should he be discharged now, when heworks hard every day? Last Saturday night he brought home more moneythan he has in years. Mother cried when she saw what there was, butshe had debts to pay, so we didn't get much start out of it after all.Then we spend a good deal in coffee; we have it three times a day, hotand strong; I can see father seems to need it; and I have heard thatit helped men who were trying not to drink. When I told mother that,she said he should have it if she had to beg for it on her knees. ButI don't know what is the matter with father now. Sometimes mother isafraid there is a disease coming on him such as men have who drink;she says he doesn't sleep very well nights, and he groans some, whenhe is asleep. Mother tries hard," said Nettie, in a closing burst ofconfidence, "and she _does_ have such a hard time! If we could onlysave Norm for her."
"I'll tell you who your mother looks like, or would look like if shewere dressed up, you know. Did you ever see Mrs. Burt?"
"The woman who lives in the cottage where the vines climb all aroundthe front, and who has birds, and a baby? I saw her yesterday. Youdon't think mother looks like her!"
"She would," said Jerry, positively, "if she had on a pink and whitedress and a white fold about her neck. I passed there last night, whileMrs. Burt was sitting out by that window garden of hers, with her babyin her arms; Mr. Burt sat on one of the steps, and they were talkingand laughing together. I could not help noticing how much like yourmother she looked when she turned her side face. Oh! she is younger, ofcourse; she looks almost as thoug
h she might be your mother's daughter.I was thinking what fun it would be if she were, and we could go andvisit her, and get her to help us about all sorts of things. Mr. Burtknows how to do every kind of work about building a house, or fixing upa room."
"He is a nice man, isn't he?"
"Why, yes, nice enough; he is steady and works hard. Mr. Smith thinkshe is quite a pattern; he has bought that little house where he lives,and fixed it all up with vines and things; but I should like him betterif he didn't puff tobacco smoke into his wife's face when he talkedwith her. He doesn't begin to be so good a workman as your father,nor to know so much in a hundred ways. I think your father is a verynice-looking man when he is dressed up. He looks smart, and he issmart. Mr. Smith says there isn't a man in town who can do the sort ofwork that he can at the shop, and that he could get very high wages andbe promoted and all that, if"--
Jerry stopped suddenly, and Nettie finished the sentence with asigh. She too had passed the Burt cottage and admired its beauty andneatness. To think that Mr. Burt owned it, and was a younger man byfifteen years at least than her father--and was not so good a workman!then see how well he dressed his wife; and little Bobby Burt looked asneat and pretty in Sunday-school as the best of them. It was very hardthat there must be such a difference in homes. If she could only livein a house like the Burt cottage, and have things nice about her asthey did, and have her father and mother sit together and talk, as Mr.and Mrs. Burt did, she should be perfectly happy, Nettie told herself.Then she sprang up from the log and declared that she must not wasteanother minute of time; but that Jerry's plan was the best one she hadever heard, and she believed they could begin it.
With this thought still in mind, after the dinner dishes were carefullycleared away, and her mother, returned from the day's ironing, hadbeen treated to a piece of the apple dumpling warmed over for her, andhad said it was as nice a bit as she ever tasted, Nettie began on thesubject which had been in her thoughts all day:
"What would you think of us young folks going into business?"
"Going into business!"
"Yes'm. Jerry and Norm and me. Jerry has a plan; he has been telling meabout it this morning. It is nice if we can only carry it out; and Ishouldn't wonder if we could. That is, if you think well of it."
"I begin to think there isn't much that you and Jerry can't do, withNorm, or with anybody else, if you try; and you both appear to be readyto try to do all you can for everybody."
Mrs. Decker's tone was so hearty and pleased, that you would not haveknown her for the same woman who looked forward dismally but a fewweeks ago to Nettie's home-coming. Her heart had so warmed to the girlin her efforts for father and brother, that she was almost ready toagree to anything which she could have to propose. So Nettie, wellpleased with this beginning, unfolded with great clearness and detail,Jerry's wonderful plan for not only catching Norm, but setting him upin business.
Mrs. Decker listened, and questioned and cross-questioned, sewingswiftly the while on Norm's jacket which had been torn, and whichwas being skilfully darned in view of the evening to be spent at theparsonage.
"Well," she said at last, "it looks wild to me, I own; I should as soontry to fly as of making anything like that work in this town; but then,you've made things work, you two, that I'd no notion could be done,and between you, you seem to kind of bewitch Norm. He's done thingsfor you that I would no sooner have thought of asking of him than Iwould have asked him to fly up to the moon; and this may be another ofthem. Anyhow, if you've a mind to try it, I won't be the one to stopyou. I've been that scared for Norm, that I'm ready for anything. Oh!the _room_, of course you may use it. If you wanted to have a circusin there, I think I'd agree, wild animals and all; I've had worse thanwild animals in my day. No, your father won't object; he thinks whatyou do is about right, I guess. And for the matter of that, he doesn'tobject to anything nowadays; I don't know what to make of him."
The sentence ended with a long-drawn, troubled sigh.
Just what this strange change in her husband meant, Mrs. Decker couldnot decide; and each theory which she started in her mind about it,looked worse than the last.
Norm's collar was ready for him, so was his jacket. He was somewhatsurly; the truth was, he had received what he called a "bid" tothe merry-making which was to take place in the back room of thegrocery, around the corner from Crossman's, and he was a good dealtried to think he had cut himself off by what he called a "spooney"promise, from enjoying the evening there. At the same time there wasa certain sense of largeness in saying he could not come because hehad received an invitation elsewhere, which gave him a momentarypleasure. To be sure the boys coaxed until they had discovered theplace of his engagement, and joked him the rest of the time, until hewas half-inclined to wish he had never heard of the parsonage; but forall that, a certain something in Norman which marked him as differentfrom some boys, held him to his word when it was passed; and he hadno thought of breaking from his engagement. It was an evening such asNorman had reason to remember. For the first time in his life he satin a pleasantly furnished home, among ladies and gentlemen, and heardhimself spoken to as one who "belonged."
Three ladies were there from the city, and two gentlemen whom Normanhad never seen before; all friends of the Sherrills come out to spenda day with them. They were not only unlike any people whom he had everseen before, but, if he had known it, unlike a great many ladies andgentlemen, in that their chief aim in life was to be found in theirMaster's service; and a boy about whom they knew nothing, save that hewas poor, and surrounded by temptations, and Satan desired to have him,was in their eyes so much stray material which they were bound to bringback to the rightful owner if they could.
To this end they talked to Norman. Not in the form of a lecture, butwith bright, winning words, on topics which he could understand, notonly, but actually on certain topics about which he knew more thanthey. For instance, there was a cave about two miles from the town, ofwhich they had heard, but had never seen and Norm had explored everycrevice in it many a time. He knew on which side of the river it waslocated, whether the entrance was from the east or the south; just howfar one could walk through it, just how far one could creep in it,after walking had become impossible, and a dozen other things which ithad not occurred to him were of interest to anybody else. In fact, Normdiscovered in the course of the hour that there was such a thing asconversation. Not that he made use of that word, in thinking it over;his thoughts, if they could have been seen, would have been somethinglike this: "These are swell folks, but I can understand what they say,and they seem to understand what I say, and don't stare as though Iwas a wild animal escaped from the woods. I wonder what makes thedifference between them and other folks?"
But when the music began! I have no words to describe to you whatit was to Norm to sit close to an organ and hear its softest notes,and feel the thrill of its heavy bass tones, and be appealed tooccasionally as to whether he liked this or that the best, and tohave a piece sung because the player thought it would please him; sheselected it that morning, she told him, with this thought in view.
"Decker, you ought to learn to play," said one of the guests who hadwatched him through the last piece. "You _look_ music, right out ofyour eyes. Miss Sherrill, here is a pupil for you who might do youcredit. Have you ever had any instrument, Decker?"
Then Norm came back to every-day life, and flushed and stammered. "No,he hadn't, and was not likely to;" and wondered what they would thinkif they were to see the corner grocery where he spent most of hisleisure time.
The questioner laughed pleasantly. "Oh, I'm not so sure of that. Ihave a friend who plays the violin in a way to bring tears to people'seyes, and he never touched one until he was thirty years old; hadn'ttime until then. He was an apprentice, and had his trade to master,and himself to get well started in it before he had time for music;but when he came to leisure, he made music a delight to himself and toothers."
"A great deal can be done with leisure time," said another of thegues
ts. "Mr. Sherrill, you remember Myers, your college classmate? Hedid not learn to read, you know, until he was seventeen."
"What?" said Norm, astonished out of his diffidence; "didn't know howto read!"
"No," repeated the gentleman, "not until he was seventeen. He had ahard childhood--was kicked about in the world, with no leisure and nohelp, had to work evenings as well as days, but when he was seventeenhe fell into kinder hands, and had a couple of hours each eveningall to himself, and he mastered reading, not only, but all the commonstudies, and graduated from college with honor when he was twenty-six."
Now Norm had all his evenings to lounge about in, and had not knownwhat to do with them; and he could read quite well.