There was a clock without a case, the weights being visible,
and the pendulum swinging in air,--and a coffee-mill fixed against the
wall. A religious newspaper lay on the mantel-piece. The old farmer was
reluctant to go after the fowls, declaring that it would be impossible to
find them in the dark; but Orrin insisting, he lighted a lamp, and we all
went together, and quickly found them, roosted about the wood-pile;
whereupon Orrin speedily laid hands on five, and wrung their necks in a
twinkling, they fluttering long after they should have been dead. When
we had taken our departure, Orrin remarked, "How faint-hearted these old
fellows are!" and it was a good observation; for it was the farmer's
timorous age that made him doubt the practicability of catching the
chickens, and it contrasted well with the persevering energy of the
middle-aged Orrin. But Orrin inquired, somewhat dolefully, whether I
should suppose that he himself bewailed the advances of age. It is a
grievous point with him.
In the evening there was a strange fellow in the bar-room,--a sort of
mock Methodist,--a cattle-drover, who had stopped here for the night with
two cows and a Durham bull.
Pages:
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234