FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111  
>>  
port to-day. "Same old story all over ag'in," he says, "the babe crying and puning constant, and plumb off its feed, and favoring a little picked bird. Minervy Saxby doubts it's a-holding out till the trial." I heard later he had taken the news on to Blant, through the bars of the jail window. _Saturday Evening._ Philip is in a seventh heaven. Every day in the week now he basks in Dilsey's presence two or three hours, cheerfully doing the menial tasks of keeping up fires and ironing; and on Saturdays he spends almost the entire day in her society, hanging out clothes, turning wringers, doing tremendous deeds on the wood-pile with his ax, running nimbly down and up the rocky sides of the well when the chain breaks and the bucket falls in, as it is fond of doing, and, between labors, giving hazardous performances on the limb of a peach-tree. The teasings of the boys and girls seem powerless to dampen his ardor,--indeed, I suspect that their "Howdy, Mr. Warrick," "Good evening, Mrs. Floyd," fall as music on his ears. _Sunday Night._ When I went with Nucky to the jail this afternoon, I found that the rumors abroad for two weeks had reached it, indeed, they were being freely discussed by the prisoners, the keeper and Blant himself,--I was thankful to see that he was able to put his mind on the subject. "Yes," he said sadly, "it looks like I'll have to give up the hope I have cherished, and try to get my consent to face life again; which God knows I couldn't if it wasn't brung home to me that I got a family depending on me, and a pore little infant looking to me for life itself. Nothing else could ever give me courage to breast the waves of sorrow that swallows me up. But I reckon, after all, I have got a higher call to live than to die; and that, when they acquit me on my trial, constant hard labor for my family will in time take off some of the edge of my sorrow." "But the probabilities is they _won't_ acquit you, Blant," said the keeper impatiently; "I been trying to ding that into your head nigh a week. I told you plain what the talk was about sending you to Frankfort a couple of year'". "I can't believe anything so unreasonable," replied Blant. "Now, a life for a life is just plain sense and common justice,--if they was to kill me for the lives I have took, especially Rich's, I would perfectly agree they was doing right. But what good or justice it would do anybody to shut me up in Frankfor
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111  
>>  



Top keywords:

family

 

constant

 

sorrow

 
keeper
 
justice
 

acquit

 
courage
 

Nothing

 

infant

 

depending


subject
 

prisoners

 

thankful

 

consent

 

breast

 
cherished
 

couldn

 

unreasonable

 

replied

 
Frankfort

sending

 
couple
 

common

 

Frankfor

 

perfectly

 

reckon

 

swallows

 
higher
 

discussed

 

probabilities


impatiently

 

presence

 

Dilsey

 

menial

 

cheerfully

 

Philip

 

Evening

 

seventh

 

heaven

 

keeping


hanging

 

society

 

clothes

 

turning

 

wringers

 

entire

 
ironing
 

Saturdays

 

spends

 

Saturday