hat unless Simpson's mental attitude
could be changed he was perhaps a fitter subject for medical science
than the state prison.
Abner was a most unusual thief, and conducted his operations with a tact
and neighborly consideration none too common in the profession. He would
never steal a man's scythe in haying-time, nor his fur lap-robe in the
coldest of the winter. The picking of a lock offered no attractions
to him; "he wa'n't no burglar," he would have scornfully asserted. A
strange horse and wagon hitched by the roadside was the most flagrant
of his thefts; but it was the small things--the hatchet or axe on the
chopping-block, the tin pans sunning at the side door, a stray garment
bleaching on the grass, a hoe, rake, shovel, or a bag of early potatoes,
that tempted him most sorely; and these appealed to him not so much for
their intrinsic value as because they were so excellently adapted to
swapping. The swapping was really the enjoyable part of the procedure,
the theft was only a sad but necessary preliminary; for if Abner
himself had been a man of sufficient property to carry on his business
operations independently, it is doubtful if he would have helped himself
so freely to his neighbor's goods.
Riverboro regretted the loss of Mrs. Simpson, who was useful in
scrubbing, cleaning, and washing, and was thought to exercise some
influence over her predatory spouse. There was a story of their early
married life, when they had a farm; a story to the effect that Mrs.
Simpson always rode on every load of hay that her husband took to
Milltown, with the view of keeping him sober through the day. After he
turned out of the country road and approached the metropolis, it was
said that he used to bury the docile lady in the load. He would then
drive on to the scales, have the weight of the hay entered in the
buyer's book, take his horses to the stable for feed and water, and when
a favorable opportunity offered he would assist the hot and panting Mrs.
Simpson out of the side or back of the rack, and gallantly brush the
straw from her person. For this reason it was always asserted that Abner
Simpson sold his wife every time he went to Milltown, but the story was
never fully substantiated, and at all events it was the only suspected
blot on meek Mrs. Simpson's personal reputation.
As for the Simpson children, they were missed chiefly as familiar
figures by the roadside; but Rebecca honestly loved Clara Belle,
notwithstandi
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