Part 29 (1/2)
”Yes,” said Mr. Gentry, ”but it has been a hard winter here, and they are about to move. The milk sickness has been here again and has carried off the cattle, and the people have become discouraged, and look upon the place as unhealthy. I have bought Thomas Linken's property. The man was here this morning. You will find him getting ready to go away from Indiana for good and all.”
”Where is he going?” asked Jasper.
”Off to Illinois.”
”So I thought,” said Jasper. ”I must go to see him. How is that bright boy of his?”
”Abe?”
”Yes. I like that boy. I am drawn toward him. There is something about him that doesn't belong to many people--a spiritual graft that won't bear any common fruit. I can see it with my spiritual eye, in the open vision, as it were. You don't understand those things--I see you don't.
I must see him. There are not many like him in soul, if he is ungainly in body. I believe that he is born to some higher destiny than other men. I see that you do not understand me. Time will make it plain.”
”I'm a trader, and no prophet, and I don't know much about such matters as these. But Abe Linken, he's grown up now, and _up_ it is, more than six feet tall. He's a giant, a great, ungainly, awkward, clever, honest fellow, full of jokes and stories, though down at times, and he wouldn't do a wrong thing if it were for his right hand, and couldn't do an unkind one. He comes up to the store here often and tells stories, and sometimes stays until almost midnight, just as he used to do at Jones's.
Everybody likes him here, and we shall all miss him when he goes away.”
Jasper and Waubeno left the little Indiana town, and went toward the cabin of the Lincolns. On the way Jasper turned aside to pay a short visit to Aunt Olive.
The busy woman saw the preacher from her door, and came out to welcome him.
”I knew it was you,” was her salutation, ”and I am right glad that you have come. It has been distressin' times in these parts. Folks have died, and cattle have died, and we're all poor enough now, ye may depend. Where are ye goin'?”
”To see the Lincolns.”
”Sho'! goin' to see them again. Well, ye're none too soon. They're gettin' ready to move to Illinois. Thomas Linken's always movin.' Moved four times or more already, and I 'magine he'll just keep movin' till he moves into his grave, and stops for good. He just lives up in the air, that man does. He always is imaginin' that it rains gold in the _next_ State or county, but it never rains anythin' but rain where he is; and if it rained puddin' and sugar-cane, his dish would be bottom upward, sure. Elder, what does make ye take such an interest in that there family?”
”Mrs. Lincoln is a very good woman, an uncommon one; and Abraham--”
”Yes, elder, I knew ye were goin' to say somethin' good of Abraham. Yer heart is just set on that boy. I could see it when ye were here. I remember all that ye prophesied about him. I ain't forgot it. Well, I am a very plain-spoken woman. Ye ain't much of a prophet, in my opinion. He hain't got anywhere yet--now, has he? He's just a great, tall, black, jokin' boy; awful lazy, always readin' and talkin'; tellin' stories and makin' people laugh, with his own mind as blue as my indigo-bag behind it all. That is just what he is, elder, and he'll never amount to anythin' in this world or any other. It's all just as I told ye it would be. There, now, elder, that's as true as preachin', and the plain facts of the case. You wait and see. Time tells the truth.”
”His opportunity is yet to come; and when it does, he will have the heart and mind to fill it,” said Jasper. ”A soul that is true to what is best in life, becomes a power among men at last--it is spiritual gravitation. 'Tis current leads the river. You do not see.”
”No, I do not understand any such things as those; but when you've been over to see the Linkens, you come back here, and I'll make ye some more doughnuts. Come back, won't ye, and bring yer Indian boy? I'm a plain woman, and live all alone, and I do love to hear ye talk. It gives me somethin' to think about after ye're gone; and there ain't many preachers that visit these parts.”
Jasper moved on under the great trees, and came to the simple Lincoln cabin.
”You have come back, elder,” said Thomas Lincoln. ”Travelin' with your Indian boy? I'm glad to see you, though we are very poor now. We're goin' to move away--we and some other families. We're all off to Illinois. You've traveled over that kentry, preacher?”
”Yes, I've been there.”
”Well, what do you think of the kentry?”
”It is a wonderful country, Mr. Lincoln. It can produce grain enough to feed the world. The earth grows gold. It will some day uplift cities--it will be rich and happy. I like the prairie country well.”
”There! let me tell my wife.--Mother, here's the preacher. What do you think he says about the prairie kentry? Says the earth grows gold.”
Poor Mrs. Lincoln looked sad and doubtful. She had heard such things before. But she welcomed Jasper heartily, and the three, with Waubeno, sat down to a meal of plain Indian pudding and milk, and talked of the sorrowful winter that had pa.s.sed and the prospects of a better life amid the flowery prairies of Illinois.
A little dog played around them while they were thus eating and talking.
”It is not our dog,” said Mrs. Lincoln, ”but he has taken a great liking to Abraham. The boy is away now, but he will be back by sundown. The dog belongs to one of the family, and is always restless when Abraham has gone away. Abraham wants to take him along with us, but it seems to me that we've got enough mouths to feed without him. We are all so poor!