CHAPTER II.
GETTING TO WORK
"This process of 'setting the day on its legs' is certainly a noisyone," was Abner's first thought next morning as he awoke in the graydawn to find that the place beside him in the big feather bed hadalready been vacated by Henry.
Above the clatter made by dogs, chickens and geese in the yard below,could be heard the stentorian tones of Mason Rogers evoking his blackmyrmidons. "Hi, thar, Rube, Tom, Dink, Eph! Wake up, you lazyvarmints!" From the negro quarters came, in answer to each name, "Yes,suh! Comin', Marstah!" The creaking boards of the back porch, theslamming of doors, the clatter of cooking utensils, and the admonishingvoice of Mrs. Rogers attested that she, too, was taking "holt on theday" in earnest.
Dudley slipped into his clothes and hastened down the steep stairway insearch of such toilet accessories as his attic apartment did notafford. When he reached the porch, the twins provided him with a basinof water, a "noggin" of lye soap, and a towel; and telling him he wouldfind the "coarse comb on the chist of drawers in the settin'-room,"hurried to the poultry-yard, where the chickens were already off theirroosts and clamoring for their morning meal.
His toilet completed, Dudley started for a ramble before breakfast. Atfirst a faint pink light began to tinge the eastern sky, but presently,from over the crest of the hills across the road, the sun arose like ared ball, dispersing the chill gray mist, and the new day, fresh andradiant and vibrant with the songs of birds, the crowing and cacklingof chickens, and the lowing of cattle, was fully inaugurated.
If the stranger found the scene in front of the house quietlybeautiful, no less interesting was the more homely one to the rear. Inthe stable lot Susan and Rache were each stooping beside a long-hornedcow, milking. In another enclosure Eph was struggling to head off adetermined little calf from its mother, a fierce-looking spotted cowwhich a negro woman was trying to milk. At the window of the barn loftcould be seen a negro man tossing down hay to the horses; and in a lotacross the way a number of hogs, in answer to Henry's loud "Soo-e-ey,soo-e-ey!" came clamoring and squealing for the corn "nubbins" he wastossing from the sack across his shoulders.
Soon after breakfast, Abner, accompanied by Henry, set out with thesubscription paper.
"How many signers did you git?" inquired Rogers that night when thefamily were again assembled around the fire.
"Forty-three down, four more doubtful, and two more promisedconditionally."
"Who air the conditionals?"
"The Hinkson children."
"Whut's Bushrod Hinkson mekin' conditions fur, I'd lak to know?"exclaimed Mrs. Rogers. "I'll bet it's jes' his stinginess. He'd skin aflea fur its hide an' taller, any day."
"He will send his children only on condition that I work out a certainproblem which it seems the last two schoolmasters could not solve."
"Pshaw!" ejaculated Rogers. "Is he still pipin' on thet ole sum? It'sin po'try, ain't it?"
"Yes," replied Dudley, taking a slip of paper from his pocket andreading therefrom:
"A landed man two daughters had, And both were very fair; To each he gave a piece of land, One round, the other square.
"Twenty shillings to an acre, Each piece this value had; But the shillings that could compass it For it just ten times paid.
"And if once across a shilling be an inch, As which is very near, Which had the better fortune, The round one or the square?"
"Kin you wuck it?" asked Rogers, anxiously.
"Oh, yes, I think so. It doesn't seem a very complicated affair."
"Bushrod Hinkson sartinly is the crankiest ole somebody I evah hearntell on," was Mrs. Rogers' verdict. "What diffruns would it mattah efyou couldn't wuck thet fool sum? His two shavers hain't no fu'thah'long in ther books then my twins, air they, Susan?"
"Lawdy!" ejaculated Rogers. "I hope you kin wuck it, an' shet him upfur good an' all. He thinks he knows it all when it comes to figgahs,an' kin siphah fastah'n a hoss kin gallop. It's time somebody took himdown 'bout thet ole po'try sum. I'd lak to choke him on it.
"Reckon Gilcrest put you through yer gaits, too, didn' he?" Rogersasked presently, removing his cowhide shoes, stretching his legs out infront of the fire, and proceeding, as he explained, "to toast his feetbefoh goin' to roost."
"Yes, sir," answered Dudley, "and he looked so stern and eyed me sokeenly from underneath his grizzled eyebrows that I felt as though Iwere before the Inquisition."
"Jes' so!" Rogers assented, although he had probably never heard of theInquisition. "Hiram's three hobby hosses air 'good roads, Calvinism andslavery.' Which o' them ponies wuz he ridin' this mawnin'?"
"He took a gallop on all three," laughingly answered Abner; "but herode the doctrinal steed longest and hardest."
"Egzactly!" said Rogers, taking a chew of tobacco. "He's daft on goodroads; kinder rabid on slavery; but when it comes to the 'five p'ints,'he's rank pizinous. I s'pose he rid the good-roads hoss fust. Heginerly does."
"Yes, he took a preliminary canter on it. Then he looked at mesearchingly and asked if I was opposed to slavery. I rather think hesuspected me of being here on some secret mission to stir upinsurrection among the negroes; but when I said that I thought theywere much better off as slaves than they were in their native heathencondition, he relaxed considerably. He then worked around to church anddoctrinal matters, and was argumentative and dictatorial about'predestination,' 'effectual calling,' etc.; but I finally told himthat though not a church-member, I had been reared under strictPresbyterian influences. This delighted him, and he said I wasdoubtless well grounded, and that if I was one of the 'elect,' I wouldbe called in the Lord's own good time."
"I'm glad you got through so well. Hiram's a good man at bottom, but ezfull o' prejudice ez a aigg's full o' meat. He even claims thet Stonehain't sound on orthodoxy, which means he ain't so streenous 'bout GodAlmighty's fav'rin' some folks to etarnal salvation, befoh thefoundations o' the world, and others, jes' ez good, to everlastin'damnation. Brother Stone he's mighty quiet an' mild-like, but kindahhints thet God Almighty's too just to hev fav'rites. I tell you, thar'strouble brewin' on this very p'int; and thar's gwintah be a tur'blesplit 'foh long in Cane Ridge meeting-house."
"Did you see the rest o' the folks at Gilcrest's?" Mrs. Rogers asked.
"No, ma'am, the interview was held at the stile block; but MajorGilcrest asked me to return after seeing the other patrons, and takedinner; and he also said something about my boarding with him."
"Boahdin' at Gilcrest's!" said Rogers. "Not ef me an' Cynthy Ann knowsit! Of course you'll stop with us."
"Yes," added his wife, "me an' Susan's been all maw-nin' a-fixin' upthe north room fer you, so's you kin hev----"
"You are certainly most kind, Mrs. Rogers. I'm sure I'll be pleasedwith everything which you and Mr. Rogers arrange."
"Well," said Rogers, again taking up the subscription paper and makinga calculation, "you've done fine gittin' up a school, an' will mek apurty little sum outen yer wintah's wuck--'bout one hundred an' thirtydollahs, I mek it. Now, how many acres et a dollar an' two bits a acrekin be bought fer thet? 'Bout one hundred an' four, hain't it?"
"Yes, one hundred and four acres, if there were no other expenses,but----"
"Whut othah expenses kin you hev wuth namin'? You've got a saddle-bagfull o' clothes an' books, hain't you?--'nough to last through thewintah; so whut----"
"But my board! You haven't said how much that will be."
"Well, now," said Rogers, with a sly wink at his wife, "how much do youreckon 'twould be right ter pay?"
"About five shillings per week. I'm told that is the usual----"
"Five shillin's! The granny's hind foot! Why, boy, whut you tek me an'Cynthy Ann fur? We shan't tek five shillin's nor yit five cents. A boylike you, not much older'n our William, ef he'd 'a' lived, an' frumLawsonville, too! Didn't I tell you you'd be jes' lak my own frum thistime on? Board, indeed! Heah's plenty o' cawn pone, hom'ny, bacon an'taters, I reckon; 'sides caw
n an' oats an' stable room fur yer nag. Allwe ax is thet you nevah say board to us agin. But, ef you like," headded kindly, "you kin holp Henry an' Cissy some o' nights in therbooks, an' mek a hand to wuck roads, one Sat'dy in each month tell snowcomes."
Early Monday morning, while the frost yet glistened on grass and hedgerow, Abner, accompanied by Susan, Tommy and the twins, set out for theschoolhouse, a mile distant. At the same time, by a dozen differentpaths through woods and fields, other children with dinner pails andspelling-books hastened toward the same goal, regardless of nuts, wildgrapes and other woodland attractions; for each wanted to be first toreach the schoolhouse on this, the opening day.
Cane Ridge schoolhouse was a large hut of unhewn logs, with a roof ofrough boards and bark. The windows were covered with oiled paperinstead of glass, and the scanty light thus admitted was augmented bythat which came in through frequent gaps in the mud-daubed walls. Wind,rain and snow likewise found free admission through these crevices; buton winter days the climate of the schoolroom was tempered by theblazing logs piled in the mammoth fireplace occupying one entire end ofthe building.
A rude platform opposite the fireplace was the master's rostrum,whereon was his high, box-like desk of pine and his split-bottomedchair. Just back of his seat upon the floor of the platform stood a rowof dinner pails, and above on wooden pegs hung the children's hats andbonnets. On each side of the room was a long writing-desk, merely arough board resting with the proper slant upon stout pins driven intothe walls. Here on rude, backless benches sat the larger boys andgirls. At the right-hand side of the room, on a lower bench in front ofthe older pupils, sat the little boys "with curving backs and swingingfeet, and with eyes that beamed all day long with fun or apprehension."Opposite them, on a similar bench, was a row of little girls in linseydresses and tow-linen pinafores.
Every grade of home was represented--the shiftless renter's squalidhovel, the backwoods hunter's rude hut, the substantial log house ofthe prosperous farmer, and the more pretentious dwelling of such men asGilcrest and Dunlap and Winston, who claimed kinship with the flower ofVirginian aristocracy.
In the pioneer schools grammar, history, geography, and the sciences,if taught at all, were usually treated orally; but in the main,spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic were the only branchesstudied. As reading-charts for the little ones, the alphabet was pastedupon broad hickory paddles which were frequently used for outside aswell as inside application of knowledge. Readers were coming intovogue, but in most schools the pupils in reading advanced fromalphabetical paddle to spelling-book; from spelling-book to "Pilgrim'sProgress" or the Bible. Sometimes the Bible was the only reading-bookallowed by the parent, and many a child in those days learned to readby wrestling with the jaw-breaking words in Kings and Chronicles; for,as Bushrod Hinkson declared when he refused to buy a reader for hisson, "The Bible's 'nough tex'-book on readin', an' when a boy hezlearned to knock the pins frum undah all the big words in the 'GoodBook,' he'll be able to travel like a streak o' lightnin' through allkinds o' print."
_Cane Ridge Meeting-house._]