Samantha at the World's Fair

see about a young chap to stay in his office while he wuz at the World's

her. They are both as smart as whips-th

t Josiah Allen to ketch two plump pullets, I a-layin' out to stuff 'em with the

besides I wuz goin' to have one or two vegetables that Josiah liked, and some jellys, etc., that Krit wuz particular fond of. Oh, I wuz goin' to have a good dinner, there hain't a doubt of that! Oh, and I wuz goin

n' my dressin', addin' the last ingregient to it, a

rushed in all out of breath,

ez I, bein'

a-breathin' hard. Why, he looked that wild and agitate

atin' suicide? Does he

my fore-top; it didn't find any encouragement to

commit suicide, I knew. But his looks

don't know of any rope, only the

ight upstairs, I a-follerin' him, summer-savory st

the attick, dash off the bedclothes and the

on him, and comman

t," sez he, "I

him by the back of his froc

ner the meanin' of your act

he fuzz fairly flew offen the rope as he yanked it through them holes, and twice I wuz hit

till the bed-cord wuz all onloosened, and then he gathered it o

fact, most all the men in the neighborhood and some beyend it, some from the Loo

I almost fain

is it a wild animal from a circus

wild beast in human shape, but he

to the rope he

nd I see that hangin' wuz about to take place and ensue. And I besought Josiah Allen "to pau

od, I wuz inkoherent in the e

loves me! He darted back, throwe

s, and go towards the woods, and towards the hills, and towards the creek, and towards

mercy on you

meant them that wuz after him, I don't know; I wuz t

that after huntin' high and low for 'em and all over the house with tremblin' knees and shaky ha

re and read, the tears jest run down my face in a stream; why, they fell so that

s that loved her! Oh, that poor mother!" And then anon I would say to myself, "Oh, what if

I sot, and wept, and cr

rs old, decoyed by a lyin' excuse from her warm, cosey home at midni

murderer, had fled. But men wuz on his tracts, the hull country wuz roused,

r over again, I see these wo

p on the other end of m

n, too, that he did not remember one single solitary thing after he left that saloon where

m drunk as a fool before he sot out on his

r knew it to be, and every single man in the community wuz out bloodthirsty for his death, and every party a-carry-in' a rope to

of his crime, agin the man who sold him what made him a murderer, and

reme that that night, jest about dusk, he rushed out thinkin' that he had got the murderer, and throwed the rope round Deacon Sypher, wh

throwed the rope a

had, though they forgive him when they see what a st

ear durin' the hull time the excitement rained-and

the deep undercurrent of causes, that str

the woods-I see as I looked out of my kitchen winder, at a party headed for our swamp, one man fur m

iercer than any of the rest and more anxious to git holt of the escapin' m

ht out of my own kitchen

y ketch him we will hang him up so h

ed off on a run for the swamp, the rest of the men

that wuz the saloon

t sold that poor sinner

sez J

rope ort to be use

orrified at my idee, and asked m

of the fiercest ones to hea

him off the night he sold him the whiskey and hard cider."

e used on his own neck, if it is o

s crazy as a dumb loon and a losin' my facu

n this country are done by that firm-the Goverment and the Saloon-keeper. And when their poor tools, that they have whetted up for bl

cover and perused it, so's to show his perfect

He had been a little ahead of his pursuers, a-dodgin' 'em this

nd swamps, his feet and hands all froze. Half starved, and almost idiotic with fear and remorse and the effects of the poiso

ittle over a mile from us, and

so they interfered and kep the mob f

to keep his hands offen him, and they said tha

er that they had to hold the saloon-

in' up the saloon-keeper's zeal, a

ld him in the first place, and then all the

ing I said. He felt, I could see, that m

and one of his chief draggers wuz the one that caused his crime-caused it accordin' to law. And the rest of his draggers w

t that wuz in partnership with that saloon up in Zoar, and took pa

I must go, and so did he; it wuz only about five milds fro

ere hadn't been such a excitement in Zoar and Jonesville sence Seth Widrik murdered his wife's mo

d seats wuz sot in all the aisles, and the pulpit stairs wuz full of folks, and

d me, we went t

hat wuz preached-wall, it wuz a sight. The tears jest run down most everybody's face, and when the mourners

, as bein' brung low by an asassin. Then he spoke of that sweet little silvery voice a-ringin' through the home

r destroyer that bleak night, and wuz now folded up to be lifted no more till she met that man at the bar of God. And then the little arm woul

poor wounded lamb, He would hold more tenderly than any other, while the murderer! the villian! the asassin! would be hurled downward into

the prisoner, folks looked so relieved a

right in front of me, hollered

right to holler. And folks lo

from it. I kep up a

ce after he had taken his three first drinks up in that saloon, till he sobered up and found himself in that deserted old barn, with the little dead body by his side

lets frozen in a drift of snow. What strange things

from divine justice as to what wuz the cause of her murder. To appeal dumbly to the God of Justice and Mercy to wipe out this curse from our land-the

t out in the yard, as I say, s

murderer that I heard, not one word did I hear about the man that caused the murder, about the voters and upholders of that man, about the Goverment th

ut the Goverment that wuz i

her empty, darkened home. The father, with a face like white marble, curbin' down his own agonized grief so's to tak

lookin' forward to the

bby counted over the few cents that ac

ulatin' (mebby) on votin' for license so'

hree cents revenue." And mebby he rattled them cents round in his old pockets. I do

didn't appreciate, mebby, the wisdom of the wise

gger out this sum-on one side the three cents profit; and substract from

ster's heads and hearts bow

rt at the edge of the scaffo

this text kep comin' into his sum-"No

ther text ke

putteth the cup to

three cents round in his pockets if he had 'em, but he didn't have 'em. His sum, no matter how many

with my wagon hitched on in front of my hor

e time the boys got back

l pass over Josiah's excitement when he come in jest before dinner, and throwed his rope d

h wuz jest the same as mine, only stronger, as much

when he wuz wanted. Thomas J. wuzn't goin' to wait till the last minute b

t off with no hendrances to the World's Fair, to pa

ceful kitchen that afternoon, after the boys had gone a

nken destroyer, I begun to think agin of Christopher Columbus, and what he had d

. And how he kep workin', and hopin', and believin', and persistin' in thinkin' that he w

h Christopher, and how he would sympathize with us, who, t

ms, a-tryin' to catch a glimpse of the New and Freer Land, that our hopes and our divine

how conjenial Christopher C

in my mind to a almost tottlin' hite, on account of s

lmost tottlin' hite, on account of several th

and beautiful belief and practice-anything that i

guided by what we see and know. Don't let us float out on any new theor

n' out amidst the thick clouds overhead-lots of times they git bewildered and skairt by the mockin' voices about them. They drop their eyes before the insultin', oncomp

al, Sons of God married to the Daughters of men, mebby, an

e to say that the more Miss Columbus nagged a

les. For Inspiration and Genius when it falls from Heaven is jest as apt to descend and settle down onto a

they jeered and sneered at him, the more stiddy and constant he

, came to his weary forward the soft gale from the land he sought; he saw in his own mind the tall pines reach up into the blue skies, the rich bloom and greennes

the tall pines reach

been some Columbus, walkin' with his feet on the ground

ways misunderstood, and undervalu

sence He confides in 'em, and tells 'em things He keeps hid fro

along any in this World, if we calculate to git out of it

snail, if you lay out to elevate y

bove the ground, or your feet will

ad at last, through all his tribulations, sot sail on the broad,

unbelief, and perils by foes, and perils b

hisen, ofttimes in a hungry and faint body, and couldn't git nob

ndeavor to git somebody to listen

patient face, and the hopes that wuz glowin' and

ld full of men and wimmen, this one man with his tired feet on the dust

ve as he did-no one else to be even willin' to hear him

, and we wouldn't have been discovered to this day, if a woman hadn't stepped

hold the plough, as you may say, or, at all events, to help him in every way in her

h, and all her ear-rings

ull of folks, she it wuz alone that stood ou

at great truth in life and in nature, and in all matters relat

t out after awhile, a

good; but his eye-sight wuzn't such as would see

pear in our streets to-day, and say that he believed that he had proof that there wuz a vast, beautiful country a-layin' in

nterprise? How many men would he git to sail out with him on that v

d Russell

ravel wuz on iron rails or steamships. They would say that there wuzn't

and had to listen to; I d'no that he wuz any more

of Truth and Reality about this idee that reached her heart and mind.

rehend what she could not yet comprehend. So she gin him he

of effort and hardship, and disappointments and delays-after his first vain efforts-after he did at last git launch

feted him, and tried to drive him back-but-"No, no, he

him and begged him to turn back-but

wuzn't any such Land, and stick to i

No! I sail onward," sez

ake it in hand and tried to drive him back. There wuz signs and om

-tryin' to save their free sunny huntin' grounds from the hands of the invader, and their race from the fat

and then agin me

rows aimed at the heads of the Spanish seamen, and shriekin's of the tempest amid

turn back? No; dauntless and brave, a-faci

il on

art grew sick and faint with lookin' on the trackless waste of waters

ve no signs of it-"I

e down dark, and when the sun wuz riz up-lo! right before 'em lay the shores of the New World. And the Man'

couragement had all been endured-after the ideal had been made re

. Why, all you had to do wuz t

is done it i

ses, and wrongs, and injustices. The old paths are dusty and worn with the feet of them who have marked

r their paths-the atmosphe

ur ideal. The realm of peace, and justice to al

f its waves on its green banks-we see fur off t

their lives for this ideal, th

f Human Right. Gin 'em with breakin' hearts, and white lips that tried to s

Liberty and Love. They have apprehended it with finer senses than c

nd hushed, and a Presence seemed broodin' on the rapt listnin' earth, we have looked fur, fur up into the clear depths of blue above us, and we have ketched the distant glimpse of b

on us in inspired eyes, some of its strange la

lays between us and that land of f

the jeers and sneers of them that tell us that there hain't any such country as that we look for-that it is im

d, the Motherhood and the Fatherhood, Love and Justice, the hope and strength of Humanity shall stand at the hellum. The wind is a-comin' up; it is only a l

oa did round Columbus. We have got to see things invisible, trust in things to come-sail onwards through th

ck by the powers of darkness? by th

rough waves. The wind is a-comin' up fresh and free that shall

d is sure,

you out into a

o a length and depth almost onpresidented