by Myrtle Reed
XXI
The Perils of the City
"Roger," remarked Miss Mattie, laying aside her paper, "I don't know asI'm in favour of havin' you go to the city. Can't you get the Judgeanother dog?"
"Why not, Mother?" asked Roger, ignoring her question.
"Because it seems to me, from all I've been readin' and hearin' lately,that the city ain't a proper place for a young person. Take thatminister, now, that those folks brought down for Ambrose North'sfuneral. I never heard anything like it in all my life. You was thereand you heard what he said, so there ain't no need of dwellin' on it,but it wasn't what I'm accustomed to in the way of funerals." MissMattie's militant hairpins bristled as she spoke.
"I thought it was all right, Mother. What was wrong with it?"
[Sidenote: Everything Wrong]
"Wrong!" repeated Miss Mattie, in astonishment. "Everything was wrongwith it! Ambrose North wasn't a church-member and he never went more'nonce or twice that I know of, even after the Lord chastened him withblindness for not goin'. There was no power to the sermon and no cryin'except Barbara and that Miss Wynne that sang that outlandish pieceinstead of a hymn.
"Why, Roger, I was to a funeral once over to the Ridge where the corpsewas an unbaptized infant, and you ought to have heard that preacherdescribin' the abode of the lost! The child's mother fainted dead awayand had to be carried out of the church, it was that powerful andmovin'. That was somethin' like!"
It was in Roger's mind to say he was glad that the minister had not madeBarbara faint, but he wisely kept silent.
[Sidenote: Life in the City]
"That's only one thing," Miss Mattie went on. "What with religion bein'in that condition in the city, and the life folks live there, I don'tthink it's any fit place for a person that ain't strong in the faith,and you know you ain't, Roger. You take after your pa.
"I was readin' in _The Metropolitan Weekly_ only last week a story abouta lovely young orphan that was caught one night by a rejected suitor andtied to the railroad track. Just as the train was goin' to run over her,the man she wanted to marry come along on the dead run with a knife andcut her bonds. She got off the track just as the night express comearound the curve, goin' ninety-five miles an hour.
[Sidenote: Miss Mattie's Fears]
"This man says to her, 'Genevieve, will you come to me now, and let meput you out of this dread villain's power forever?' Then he opened hisarms and the beautiful Genevieve fled to them as to some ark of safetyand laid her pale and weary face upon his lovin' and forgivin' heart.That's the exact endin' of it, and I must say it's written beautiful,but when I wake up in the night and think about it, I get scared to haveyou go.
"You ain't so bad lookin', Roger, and you're gettin' to the age whereyou might be expected to take notice, and what if some designing femaleshould tie you to the railroad track? I declare, it makes me nervous tothink of it."
Roger did not like to shake his mother's faith in _The MetropolitanWeekly_, but he longed to set her fears at rest. "Those things aren'ttrue, Mother," he said, kindly. "They not only haven't happened, butthey couldn't happen--it's impossible."
"Roger, what do you mean by sayin' such things. Of course it's true, orit wouldn't be in the paper. Ain't it right there in print, as plain asthe nose on your face? You can see for yourself. I hope studyin' lawain't goin' to make an infidel of you."
"I don't think it will," temporised Roger. "I'll keep a close watch fordesigning females, and will avoid railroad tracks at night."
Miss Mattie shook her head doubtfully. "That ain't a goin' to do nogood, Roger, if they once get set after you. I've noticed that thevillain always triumphs."
"But only for a little while, Mother. Surely you must have seen that?"
[Sidenote: The Villain Foiled]
She settled her steel-bowed spectacles firmly on the wart and gazed athim. "I believe you're right," she said, after a few moments ofreflection. "I can't recall no story now where the villain was notfoiled at last. Let me see--there was _Lovely Lulu, or the Doctor'sDarling_, and _Margaret Merriman, or the Maiden's Mad Marriage_, and_True Gold, or Pretty Crystal's Love_, and _The American Countess, orHearts Aflame_, and this one I was just speakin' of, _GenevieveCarleton, or the Brakeman's Bride_. In every one of 'em, the villain gothis just deserts, though sometimes they was disjointed owin' to thestory bein' broke off at the most interestin' point and continued thefollowin' week."
"Well, if the villain is always foiled, you're surely not afraid, areyou?"
"I don't know's I'm afraid in the long run, but I don't like to have yougo through such things and be exposed to the temptations of a greatcity."
"Why don't you come with me, Mother, and keep house for me? We can finda little flat somewhere, and----"
"What on earth is that?"
[Sidenote: Apartments and Flats]
"I've never been in one myself, but Miss Wynne said that, if you wantedto come, she would find us a flat, or an apartment."
"What's the difference between a flat and an apartment?"
"That's what I asked her. She said it was just the rent. You pay morefor an apartment than you do for a flat."
"I wouldn't want anything I had to pay more for," observed Miss Mattie,stroking her chin thoughtfully. "You ain't told me what a flat is."
"A few rooms all on one floor, like a cottage. It's like severalcottages, all under one roof."
"What do they want to cover the cottages with a roof for? Don't theywant light and air?"
"You don't understand, Mother. Suppose that our house here was anapartment house. The stairs would be shut off from these rooms and thehall would be accessible from the street. Instead of having three roomsupstairs, there might be six--one of them a kitchen and the othersliving-rooms and bedrooms. Don't you see?"
"You mean a kitchen on the same floor with the bedrooms?"
"Yes, all the rooms on one floor."
"Just as if an earthquake was to jolt off the top of the house and shakeall the bedrooms down here?"
"Something like that."
"Well, then," said Miss Mattie, firmly, "all I've got to say is that itain't decent. Think of people sleepin' just off kitchens and washin'their faces and hands in the sink."
"I think some of them must be very nice, Mother. Miss Wynne expects tolive in an apartment after she is married and she has a little one ofher own now. If you'll come with me we'll find some place that you'lllike. I don't want to leave you alone here."
[Sidenote: Under One Roof]
"No," she answered, after due deliberation, "I reckon I'll stay here.You can't transplant an old tree and you can't take a woman who haslived all her life in a house and put her in a place where there areseveral cottages all under one roof with bedrooms off of kitchens andfolks washin' in the sinks. Miss Wynne can do it if she likes, but I wasbrought up different."
"I'm afraid you'll be lonesome."
"I don't know why I should be any more lonesome than I always have been.All I see of you is at meals and while you're readin' nights. You'rejust like your pa. If I propped up a book by the lamp, it would be justas sociable as it is to have you settin' here. Readin' is a good thingin its place and I enjoy it myself, but sometimes it's pleasant to hearthe human voice sayin' somethin' besides 'What?' and 'Yes' and 'Allright' and 'Is supper ready?'
[Sidenote: The Blue Hair Ribbon]
"I've been lookin' over your things to-day and gettin' 'em ready. Themoths has ate your Winter flannels and you'll have to get more. I'vemended your coat linin's and sewed on buttons, and darned and patched,and I've took Barbara North's blue hair ribbon back to her--the one youfound some place and had in your pocket. You mustn't be careless aboutthose things, Roger--she might think you meant to steal it."
"What did Barbara say?" he stammered. The high colour had mounted to histemples.
"She didn't know what to say at first, but she recognised it as her hairribbon. I told her you hadn't meant to steal it--that you'd just foundit somewheres and had forgot to give it to h
er, and it was all right.She laughed some, but it was a funny laugh. You must be careful,Roger--you won't always have your mother to get you out of scrapes."
Roger wondered if the knot of blue ribbon that had so strangely goneback to Barbara had, by any chance, carried to her its intangiblefreight of dreams and kisses, with a boyish tear or two, of which he hadthe grace not to be ashamed.
"Your pa was in the habit of annexin' female belongin's, though the Lordknows where he ever got 'em. I suppose he picked 'em up on thestreet--he was so dreadful absent-minded. He was systematic about 'em ina way, though. After he died, I found 'em all put away most careful in abox--a handkerchief and one kid glove, and a piece of ribbon about likethe one I took back to Barbara. He was flighty sometimes: constantdevotion to readin' had unsettled his mind.
"That brings me to what I wanted to say when I first started out.I don't want you should load up your trunk with your pa's books tothe exclusion of your clothes, and I don't want you to spend yourevenin's readin'."
"I'm not apt to read very much, Mother, if I work in an office in thedaytime and go to law school at night."
[Sidenote: Ten Books Only]
"That's so, too, but there's Sundays. You can take any ten of your pa'sbooks that you like, but no more. I'll keep the rest here against thetime the train is blocked and the mails don't come through. I may get ataste for your pa's books myself."
Roger did not think it likely, but he was too wise to say so.
"And I didn't tell you this before, but I've made it my business to goand see the Judge and tell him how you saved my life at the expense ofFido's. I don't know when I've seen a man so mad. I was goin' to suggestthat we get him another dog from some place, and land sakes! he cleandrove it out of my mind.
"I don't know how you've stood it, bein' there in the office with him,and I told him so. He's got a red-headed boy from the Ridge in therenow, and I think maybe the Judge will get what's comin' to him before hegets through. I've learned not to trifle with anybody what has red hair,but seemin'ly the Judge ain't. It takes some folks a long time to learn.
"Barbara's goin' to the city, too, to spend the Winter with that MissWynne in the cottage that's under the same roof with other cottages andthe bedrooms off the kitchen. I don't know how Barbara'll take towashin' in the sink, when she's always had that rose-sprigged bowl andpitcher of her ma's, but it's her business, not mine, and if she wantsto go, she can.
[Sidenote: "Me and Miriam"]
"Me and Miriam'll set together evenings and keep each other from bein'lonesome. She ain't much more company than a cow, as far as talkin'goes, but there's a feelin,' some way, about another person bein' in thehouse, when the wind gets to howlin' down the chimney. We may arrange tohave supper together, once in a while, and in case of severe weather,put the two fires goin' in one house, which ever's the warmest.
"I don't know what we shall do, for we ain't talked it over much yet,but with church twice on Sunday and prayer-meetin' Wednesday evenings,and the sewin' circle on Friday, and two New York papers every week, andMiriam, and all your pa's books to prop up against the lamp, I don'treckon I'll get so dreadful lonesome. I've thought some of gettin'myself a cat. There's somethin' mighty comfortable and heartenin' abouta cup of hot tea and the sound of purrin' close by. And on the Springexcursion to the city, I reckon I'll come up and see you, if I don'thave no more pain in my back."
[Sidenote: Dr. Conrad's Automobile]
"I'd love to have you come, Mother, and I'd do all I could to give you agood time. I know the others would, too. Doctor Conrad has an automobileand----"
Miss Mattie became deeply concerned. "Is he treatin' himself for it?"she demanded.
"I don't think so," answered Roger, choking back a laugh.
"It beats all," mused Miss Mattie. "They say the shoemaker's childrennever have shoes, and it seems that doctors have diseases just likeother folks. I disremember of havin' heard of this, but I know from myown experience that a disease with only one word to it can be dreadfulpainful. Is it catchin'?"
"Not with full speed on," replied Roger. "An automobile is very hard tocatch."
"Well, see that you don't take it," cautioned Miss Mattie. The firstpart of his answer was obscure, but she was not one to pause over anuninteresting detail.
"You've warned me about almost everything now, Mother," he said,smiling. "Is there anything else?"
"Nothing but matrimony, and that's included under the head of designingfemales. I shouldn't want you to get married."
"Why not?"
[Sidenote: Welded Souls]
"I don't know as I could tell you just why, only it seems to me that aperson is just as well off without it. I've been thinking of it a gooddeal since I've had these New York papers and read so much about twosouls bein' welded into one. My soul wasn't never welded with your pa's,nor his with mine, as I know of.
"Marriage wasn't so dreadful different from livin' at home. It remindedme of the Summer ma took a boarder, your pa required so much waitin' on.And when you came, I had a baby to take care of besides. If I was weldedI never noticed it--I was too busy."
Roger's heart softened into unspeakable pity. In missing the "welding,"Miss Mattie had missed the best that life has to give. Somewhere,doubtless, the man existed who could have stirred the woman's soulbeneath the surface shallows and set the sordid tasks of daily living intune with the music that sways the world.
[Sidenote: "Un-marriage"]
"There's a good deal in the papers about un-marriage, too," resumed MissMattie, "and I can't understand it. When you've stood before the altarand said 'till death do us part,' I don't see how another man, who ain'teven a minister, can undo it and let you have another chance at it.Maybe you do, bein' as you're up in law, but I don't.
"It looks to me as if the laws were wrong or else the marriage ceremonyought to be written different. If a man said, 'I take thee to be mywedded wife, to love and to cherish until I see somebody else I likebetter,' I could understand the un-marriage, but I can't now. When youget to be a power in the law, Roger, I think you should try to get thatfixed. I never was welded, but after I'd given my word, I stuck to it,even though your pa was dreadful aggravatin' sometimes. He didn't meanto be, but he was. I guess it's the nature of men folks."
Deeply moved, Roger went over and kissed her smooth cheek. "Have I beenaggravating, Mother?"
Miss Mattie's eyes grew misty. She took off her spectacles and wipedthem briskly on one corner of the table-cover. "No more'n was natural,I guess," she answered. "You've been a good boy, Roger, and I want youshould be a good man. When you get away from home, where your mothercan't look after you, just remember that she expects you to be good,like your pa. He might have been aggravatin', but he wasn't wicked."
[Sidenote: Remember]
All the best part of the boy's nature rose in answer, and the mist cameinto his eyes, too. "I'll remember, Mother, and you shall never bedisappointed in me--I promise you that."