Volume I Part 17 (2/2)
”I wonder your stout-heartedness did not fail, in the course of so long a time,” said Mr. Carleton
”Never, Sir!'” said the old gentleman. ”I never doubted for a moment what the end would be. My father never doubted for a moment. We trusted in G.o.d and in Was.h.i.+ngton!”
”Did you see actual service yourself?”
”No, Sir ? I never did. I wish I had. I should like to have had the honour of striking one blow at the rascals. However, they were hit pretty well. I ought to be contented. My father saw enough of fighting ? he was colonel of a regiment ? he was at the affair of Burgoyne. _That_ gave us a lift in good time.
What rejoicing there was everywhere when that news came! I could have fifed all day upon an empty stomach and felt satisfied. People reckoned everywhere that the matter was settled when that great piece of good fortune was given us.
And so it was! ? wa'n't it, dear?” said the old gentleman, with one of those fond, pleased, sympathetic looks to Fleda with which he often brought up what he was saying.
”General Gates commanded there?” said Mr. Carleton.
”Yes, Sir. Gates was a poor stick ? I never thought much of him. That fellow Arnold distinguished himself in the actions before Burgoyne's surrender. He fought like a brave man. It seems strange that so mean a scamp should have had so much blood in him!”
”Why; are great fighters generally good men, grandpa?” said Fleda.
Not exactly, dear!” replied her grandfather; ? ”but such little-minded rascality is not just the vice one would expect to find in a gallant soldier.”
”Those were times that made men,” said Mr. Carleton, musingly.
”Yes,” answered the old gentleman, gravely, ? ”they were times that called for men, and G.o.d raised them up. But Was.h.i.+ngton was the soul of the country, Sir!”
”Well, the time made him,” said Mr. Carleton.
”I beg your pardon,” said the old gentleman, with a very decided little turn of his head. ? ”I think he made the time.
I don't know what it would have been, Sir, or what it would have come to, but for him. After all, it is rather that the things which try people show what is in them; ? I hope there are men enough in the country yet, though they haven't as good a chance to show what they are.”
”Either way,” said his guest, smiling, ”it is a happiness, Mr.
Ringgan, to have lived at a time when there was something worth living for.”
”Well ? I don't know ?” said the old gentleman; ? ”those times would make the prettiest figure in a story or a romance, I suppose; but I've tried both, and on the whole,” said he, with another of his looks at Fleda, ”I think I like these times the best!”
Fleda smiled her acquiescence. His guest could not help thinking to himself that however pacific might be Mr.
Ringgan's temper, no man in those days that tried men could have brought to the issue more stern inflexibility and gallant fort.i.tude of bearing. His frame bore evidence of great personal strength, and his eye, with all its mildness, had an unflinching dignity that _could_ never have quailed before duty or danger. And now, while he was recalling with great animation and pleasure the scenes of his more active life, and his blue eye was s.h.i.+ning with the fire of other days, his manner had the self-possession and quiet sedateness of triumph that bespeak a man always more ready to do than to say.
Perhaps the contemplation of the n.o.ble Roman-like old figure before him did not tend to lessen the feeling, even the sigh, of regret with which the young man said,
”There was something then for a man to do!”
”There is always that,” said the old gentleman, quietly. ”G.o.d has given every man his work to do; and 'tain't difficult for him to find out what. No man is put here to be idle.”
”But,” said his companion, with a look in which not a little haughty reserve was mingled with a desire to speak out his thoughts, ”half the world are busy about humdrum concerns, and the other half doing nothing, or worse.”
”I don't know about that,” said Mr. Ringgan; ? ”that depends upon the way you take things. 'Tain't always the men that make the most noise that are the most good in the world. Humdrum affairs needn't be humdrum in the doing of 'em. It is my maxim,” said the old gentleman, looking at his companion with a singularly open, pleasant smile, ? ”that a man may be great about a'most anything ? chopping wood, if he happens to be in that line. I used to go upon that plan, Sir. Whatever I have set my hand to do, I have done it as well as I knew how to; and if you follow that rule out you'll not be idle nor humdrum neither. Many's the time that I have mowed what would be a day's work for another man, before breakfast.”
Rossitur's smile was not meant to be seen. But Mr. Carleton's, to the credit of his politeness and his understanding both, was frank as the old gentleman's own, as he answered, with a good-humoured shake of his head,
”I can readily believe it, Sir; and honour both your maxim and your practice. But I am not exactly in that line.”
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