Part 20 (1/2)
All within the space of a couple of years we had two or three other tragedies, and I had the ill-luck to be too near by on each occasion
There was the slavefor sorant as stabbed with a bowie knife by a drunken coush fro Hyde brothers and their harmless old uncle: one of them held the old man doith his knees on his breast while the other one tried repeatedly to kill hio off I happened along just then, of course
Then there was the case of the young California eot drunk and proposed to raid the ”Welshht[11] This house stood half-way up Holliday's Hill (”Cardiff” Hill), and its sole occupants were a poor but quite respectableand her young and blae with his ribald yells and coarse challenges and obscenities I went up there with a coure of the man was dimly risible; the women were on their porch, but not visible in the deep shadow of its roof, but we heard the elder wos, and she warned the man that if he stayed where he hile she counted ten it would cost hih He stopped laughing at ”six”; then through the deep stillness, in a steady voice, followed the rest of the tale: ”seven
eightnine”--a long pause, we holding our breath--”ten!” A red spout of flaht, and the s Then the rain and the thunder burst loose and the waiting toar like an invasion of ants Those people saw the rest; I had had my share and was satisfied I went ho and training enabled norant person could have done I knehat they were for I tried to disguise it from myself, but down in the secret deeps of my heart I knew--and I _knew_ that I knew They were inventions of Providence to beguile me to a better life It sounds curiously innocent and conceited, now, but to e about it; it was quite in accordance with the thoughtful and judicious ways of Providence as I understood them It would not have surprised me, nor even over-flattered me, if Providence had killed off that whole co to save an asset like me Educated as I had been, it would have see, and orth the expense _Why_ Providence should take such an anxious interest in such a property--that idea never entered my head, and there was no one in that si it there For one thing, no one was equipped with it
It is quite true I took all the tragedies toto one--and onme to repentance; His patience will not always endure” And yet privately I believed it would That is, I believed it in the dayti down of the sun athered about hts, nights of despair, nights charged with the bitterness of death After each tragedy I recognized the warning and repented; repented and begged; begged like a coward, begged like a dog; and not in the interest of those poor people who had been extinguished for my sake, but only in my own interest It seems selfish, when I look back on it now
My repentances were very real, very earnest; and after each tragedy they happened every night for a long tiht They faded out and shredded away and disappeared in the glad splendor of the sun They were the creatures of fear and darkness, and they could not live out of their own place The day gave ain In all my boyhood life I am not sure that I ever tried to lead a better life in the daytie I should never think of wishi+ng to do such a thing
But in s me many a deep remorse I realize that from the cradle up I have been like the rest of the race--never quite sane in the night When ”Injun Joe” died[12]But never ing hell of repentance I passed through then I believe that for months I was as pure as the driven snow After dark
It was back in those far-distant days--1848 or '9--that Jim Wolf came to us He was from Shelbyville, a haht all his native sweetnesses and gentlenesses and sirave and slender lad, trustful, honest, a creature to love and cling to And he was incredibly bashful
It is to this kind that untoward things happen My sister gave a ”candy-pull” on a winter's night I was too young to be of the company, and Jim was too diffident I was sent up to bed early, and Jim followed of his own motion His room was in the new part of the house, and hislooked out on the roof of the L annex That roof was six inches deep in snow, and the snow had an ice-crust upon it which was as slick as glass Out of the comb of the roof projected a short chihts--and this was a ht Down at the eaves, below the chi a cozy shelter, and after an hour or two the rollicking crowd of young ladies and gentlerouped the-hot candy disposed about the and joking and laughter--peal upon peal of it
About this tiot up on the chi; also about this ti to Ji about the cats and their intolerable yowling I asked hily, why he didn't climb out and drive them away He was nettled, and said over-boldly that for two cents he _would_
It was a rash remark, and was probably repented of before it was fairly out of his mouth But it was too late--he was committed I knew him; and I kneould rather break his neck than back down, if I egged him on judiciously
”Oh, of course you would! Who's doubting it?”
It galled him, and he burst out, with sharp irritation--
”Maybe _you_ doubt it!”
”I? Oh no, I shouldn't think of such a thing You are always doing wonderful things With your mouth”
He was in a passion, now He snatched on his yarn socks and began to raise the , saying in a voice unsteady with anger--
”_You_ think I dasn't--_you_ do! Think what you blame please--_I_ don't care what you think I'll show you!”
Thee; it wouldn't stay up I said--
”Neverto help I was only a boy, and was already in a radiant heaven of anticipation He cli to the -sill until his feet were safely placed, then began to pick his perilous way on all fours along the glassy comb, a foot and a hand on each side of it I believe I enjoy it now as o The frosty breeze flapped his short shi+rt about his lean legs; the crystal roof shone like polished lory of the moon; the unconscious cats sat erect upon the chi their tails and pouring out their hollow grievances; and slowly and cautiously Ji creatures under the vine-canopy unaware, and outraging these solehter Every time Jim slipped I had a hope; but always on he crept and disappointed it At last he ithin reaching distance He paused, raised himself carefully up, rab at the nearest cat--and missed Of course he lost his balance His heels flew up, he struck on his back, and like a rocket he darted down the roof feet first, crashed through the dead vines and landed in a sitting posture in fourteen saucers of red-hot candy, in the midst of all that party--and dressed as _he_ was: this lad who could not look a girl in the face with his clothes on There was a wild scramble and a stor broken crockery all the way
[Sidenote: (1867)]
The incident was ended But I was not done with it yet, though I supposed I was Eighteen or twenty years later I arrived in New York from California, and by that tis and had stu it This was early in 1867 I was offered a large su for the ”Sunday Mercury,” and I answered with the tale of ”Jim Wolf and the Cats” I also collected the money for it--twenty-five dollars It see about that, for I was not so scrupulous then as I am now