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extra good and Uncle Ezra's great barns were packed to the doors and filled the air about them with exotic fragrance13.
There was much pickling, preserving, and canning done in Aunt Eppie's kitchen, for she hated to see anything go to waste. The savory14 smell of catsup and chili15 sauce in the making and of vinegar cooking with spices to pickle16 the pears and peaches streamed out of the door and whetted17 the appetite of passers-by. It was impossible for Aunt Eppie's family to consume all these bottled delicacies18 during the winter. Hence her cellar was crowded with the accumulation of many years. Still she insisted on making more each year. When the plenitude of peaches or grapes or cucumbers was so great that it was a human impossibility to can them all, she gave of her surplus to the tenants19, grudgingly21, yet with a certain Lady Bountiful pleasure in bestowing22 favors, and always with many admonitions as to the sin of improvidence23.
"It's a sin for sech things to go to waste," she would say. "I'm sure I've give away twenty bushel this year if I've give one. An' all the tenants could have 'em jes as plentiful24 as us if they'd only plant 'em an' tend 'em. I do think it's a shame for folks to live like hawgs from hand to mouth an' never plant a tree ner a bush ner hardly a tater to put in their mouths. Jes look at all these tenant20 houses! Not a fruit tree ner a berry bush ner hardly as much as a row o' beets25 an' cabbages! The shiftlessness of some folks is sech that it's a wonder the Lord A'mighty don't send a plague on 'em."
As the weeks went by Jerry began to follow Judith with his eyes and to think about her when she was not in sight. She seemed to have become all at once a much more interesting person than the little black-haired tomboy that he had played and quarreled with ever since he could remember. One October evening when he came up from work and Judith was in the barnyard milking, he lingered about after putting up the horses, pretending to tinker with the harness. It was past the time to go home and he was hungry as a bear; but something held him. Judith got up from the red and white cow and went to the Jersey26, the milking stool in one hand, the bucket
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in the other. Jerry followed her with his eyes. She had on an old blue cotton dress with a long tear in one sleeve and her arms and neck were bare. Her arms and neck looked very beautiful to Jerry.
When she had finished milking the Jersey she got up, kicked the milking stool over toward the fence where the cows would not step on it, and turning to go to the house saw Jerry still pretending to work with the harness.
"Well, Jerry Blackford, hain't you got started fer home yet! Haow long d'ye think yer mammy'll keep yer supper hot fer ye?"
"Till I git there," answered Jerry, coming up beside her.
The horses, as soon as the harness fell from them, had gone at once to the horsepond and taken a long, satisfying drink, then trotted28 back to the barn to munch8 the good alfalfa hay that Jerry had pitched down for them. It had been a warm, lazy day. The sun had just set and the evening was still, blue and luminous29. Three two-year-old colts that had been brought up for the night, feeling the stimulation30 of the cool air, began to frolic about the barnyard. They began by rolling in the loose straw and chaff31, turning over and over on their backs and waving their hoofs32 foolishly in the air. Then one colt scrambled34 to his feet and raced to the gate, the others after him. Back they came from the road gate to the other gate leading into the field, then round and round the barnyard snorting and neighing, their heads and tails high, their manes flowing, their hoofs pounding rhythmically35, their beautiful, strong, sleek37 bodies taut38 with the joy of the gallop39. The work team, having eaten a good supper, trotted out from the barn and joined in the fun with as much zest41 as the colts.
In the middle of the barnyard stood Charlie, Uncle Ezra's old white mule42. He was too old to do much work and was usually left out at pasture. To-night Uncle Ezra had brought him up because he was going to use him in the morning to help haul in corn fodder43. Being old and white, he always looked rough and dirty; and he had an ugly bare spot on one shoulder where the harness had rubbed off the hair. His under lip had
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grown loose and flabby and sagged44 down, giving his face a sullen45 look. Isolated46 by his age and his kind, he stood perfectly47 motionless, his knees bent48 like those of an old man, his head low, his haunches slack, his whole body sagging49, and took not the least notice of the horses galloping50 about him. In joyous51 madcap career they raced in front of him, behind him, all around him; but he neither stirred nor raised his head.
"That's haow folks is when they git old," said Jerry, looking meditatively52 at the ancient beast.
"Yaas, an' ain't he for all the world like Uncle Ezry? Seems to me them two has growed to look alike, they bin53 so long together."
"The colts hates him 'cause he's old and 'cause he's a mule," mused54 Jerry, "an' he hates the colts 'cause they won't leave him have no peace."
Judith had taken from the pocket of her dress a stub of green crayon and begun to draw on the whitewashed55 fence post. Jerry watched her and saw the profile of Uncle Ezra appear in green on the white post, then beside it the profile of Charlie the mule. She had skilfully56 modified the features just enough to best bring out the points of resemblance.
"See, hain't they like as twins? They're both the same dirty gray color, both got the same hangin' under lip an' hook nose an' the same big ears."
"An' both is deaf as posts," laughed Jerry.
Judith had her back to him admiring her handiwork. He wanted to lean forward and kiss the white nape of her neck. Instead, he turned about and started off for home.
* * * * * * *
A little before Thanksgiving there came a cold, heavy rain, then a blighting57 frost that killed the morning glories and the geraniums and blackened everything in the garden except the beets and cabbages. A strong, cold wind blew the trees bare in a single night, and the whole aspect of the world was changed. Two days ago it had been summer. Now it was winter.
It was not so pleasant for Judith at Aunt Eppie's after the
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cold weather came. Driven in for warmth from the deserted58 and windswept barnyard, she found little to interest her in the stuffy59, overheated kitchen or the bare, cold bedroom that she shared with Cissy. As the days grew colder, the sitting room took the place of the porch. Here a hideous60 product of modernity known as a "base burner" was pressed into service. It stood on a square of ornamental61 zinc62 placed over the rag carpet and kept clean and shiny by Cissy's floor rag. It was covered with knobs and scrolls63 and glorious with polished nickel. All around its fat belly it had several rows of little mica36 windows. When a fire was lighted in this gorgeous crematory and fed with a bucket of cannel coal, mined in the neighboring state of West Virginia, it made the room so hot that Judith had to gasp64 for breath.
As the days grew colder, Uncle Ezra spent more and more of his time sitting silently with his feet on the fender of the majestic65 base burner.
The afternoons were short now, and it was night long before the chores were done. The last thing at night Judith had to milk the cows, feed the pigs and calves66 and shut up the chickens. When at last she came in shivering out of the dark and cold, there was no steaming hot coffee waiting to hearten her, no bacon sizzling in the pan, no biscuits fluffy67 and fragrant68 from the oven. The deserted kitchen was bleak69 in its chilly70 neatness and a leftover71 meal was coldly set forth72 on the table in the sitting room: cold vegetables and bacon left from dinner, cold biscuits and corn cakes, cold water and cold skim milk to drink, a cheerless and uninviting spread. This had been Aunt Eppie's custom from the beginning of time, and there was never any breach73 in its observance. As soon as the great base burner of the sitting room was put into operation, the kitchen fire was allowed to go out immediately after dinner, and it was not lighted again until next morning. Aunt Eppie, in explaining this custom, always made a great deal of the fact that it saved work for Cissy. What of course it did save was fuel. A tiny lamp set in the middle of this chill-inspiring table irritated the eyes with its feeble glare and
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served only to make darkness visible. Aunt Eppie possessed74 a large, round-burner lamp with a polished nickel bowl and a "hand painted" china shade. This lamp was a present from one of her married children. She prized it greatly but never lighted its oil-consuming wick except when she had visitors of importance.
When the silent and cheerless supper was over and the dishes gathered up and washed, everybody went immediately to bed.
"Never be out o' bed at eight ner in at five," was Aunt Eppie's oft repeated motto; and winter and summer this rule was rigidly75 observed. In the bitter winter mornings as well as in the radiant dawns of summer, the whole family turned out at a quarter to five. They ate breakfast by lamplight. Then while Cissy and Judith washed the dishes, Aunt Eppie and Uncle Ezra sat over the base burner waiting for daylight. With no light in the room but the glow from the mica windows of the stove, the two old people sat in unbroken silence, slaves to their lifelong habit of thrift76.
The dreary77 monotony of this manner of life soon palled78 upon Judith and she decided79 to leave Aunt Eppie's service.
"I'm a-goin' back home nex' Satiddy, Aunt Eppie," announced Judith, when one Saturday evening she received her dollar as usual.
"What, a-goin' home, Judy! There hain't nuthin fer you to do at home, an' you won't be earnin' a cent of money. What's the idee of a-goin' back home?"
Judith looked straight at Aunt Eppie with her dark, level eyes.
"I'm a-goin' home 'cause I want to," she said with unashamed simplicity80.
"You'd best stay right where you are," advised Aunt Eppie. "Look at Cissy that's been a-workin' for me so long, haow well fixed81 she is. She's got money loaned out an' a-bringin' her in five per cent interest. You could do jes as well as her if you'd be willin' to stay here an' tend your work, 'stead o' goin' off an' a-loafin' round yer dad's place an' finally
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a-marryin' some good-fer-nuthin tenant farmer. You'd best stay here, Judy, an' learn to be a good thrifty82 housekeeper83 like Cissy."
Aunt Eppie said this last with a certain clinching84 finality, as though it had been quite decided that Judith was to stay. A more timid and impressionable girl might have been influenced. But Judith, heeding85 only her own inner promptings, could be neither tempted86 nor bullied87 by Aunt Eppie. When the following Saturday arrived she collected her dollar, packed her satchel88, climbed onto a wagon89 that was passing on the way back from Sadieville and was jolted90 toward home.
Aunt Eppie looked after her with an aggrieved91 expression.
"That's jes haow it allus is," she remarked to the faithful Cissy, as they turned back together into the kitchen. "They hain't got no notion what's good for 'em. You no sooner get 'em trained into your ways than they're up an' gone. Thankless an' shiftless—all of 'em."
She went back to her sewing in disgust, meditating92 bitterly that they would now have to pay a male hired man four times what they had been paying to Judith.
Judith was glad to get back to the humbler but warmer atmosphere at home, and the folks were glad to have her back. She made Bill and the boys roar again and slap their sides with delight when she imitated Aunt Eppie's shriek93 of terror at the fear of the poorhouse. She spread out on the table her accumulated wealth amounting to sixteen dollars; and delighted the twins with a present of three dollars each to buy them stuff for a new dress. To Elmer she gave a dollar to buy him a popgun and reserved the rest of the money to spend riotously94 on clothes for herself.
"An' we'll all have new dresses for the party," exulted95 Lizzie May. "Poolers is a-going to have a party Christmas Eve an' we're all bid to go. But we'll have to hurry to git the dresses done."
Unable to wait a minute longer, the girls drove to Clayton first thing next morning and selected the material for their dresses. They chose cotton voile as being the prettiest, most
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party-like material to be had for the sum that they were able to spend. Lizzie May selected a delicate pink. Luella's choice was a medium blue with darker blue shadow bars running through it. Judith's was a red and white check. They were delighted and voluble over their purchases. They felt gay and festive96 and full of holiday spirit, like boarding school girls on a visit home. On the way home they all tried to talk at once and laughed so much that Tom and Bob, disturbed by the unusual hilarity97 behind them, kept looking around inquiringly trying to see what was going on. As they jolted at a fast trot27 past the Pettit place, Aunt Eppie peered out of the kitchen window.
"There goes them Pippinger girls, an' I'll bet they've spent most every cent Judy's earned while she's been here," she said to Cissy, turning away from the window with her heavy money sigh. "It beats me haow extravagant98 an' shiftless folks kin12 be. They don't seem to ever have a thought that there's another day a-comin'."
That very afternoon the girls started to make their dresses. They could hardly wait to eat and wash the dishes.
On Christmas Eve, when they were dressed ready for the party, they felt somehow like different beings, as though they were not workaday people at all but ladies who had always worn new, fluffy dresses, white stockings, and shiny shoes.
It was a drive of three miles to the scene of the party. Then the mules99 had to be hitched100 to a fence post at the top of the ridge101 and the remaining quarter of a mile made on foot. The descent into the hollow where the Pooler house stood was too steep and narrow to attempt with a wagon at night. Tom Pooler, the father of Lizzie May's sweetheart, was a tenant of old Hiram Stone and lived in one of Hiram Stone's tenant houses. Like most of the other tenant houses in Scott County, it was built close to the acres of tobacco land with which it belonged. Proximity102 to the main road was a matter not taken into account.
By the light of two lanterns the Pippingers proceeded on foot down the steep, scarcely marked wagon track that led
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to the house, the girls carefully holding up their skirts and stepping daintily so as to avoid the mud. The night was mild and bright with stars. As they walked a light wind blew in their faces and the dead leaves rustled103 under their feet. As they approached the house, they saw light shining not only from the windows but from many little square chinks in the walls. The reason for these little golden squares of light dated back to the building of the house several years before. Tom Pooler had made an arrangement with Old Man Stone's overseer to build the house if Stone would supply the lumber104. The overseer supplied green lumber. Tom set to work briskly to build the house and soon completed the twelve by fourteen packing case which in that locality is called a house. All went well until the green boards began to shrink. Then Tom approached his landlord's manager in this wise:
"Whatcha gimme green lumber to build that 'ere house fer? The boards is shrunk naow so's a man might jes as well be a-livin' in a corn crib. You could throw a dawg through any o' them there cracks atween them shrunk boards. You'll have to gimme some more lumber to fix it, else I hain't a-goin' to stay on there nary week."
The overseer grudgingly supplied another load of lumber, with which Tom set to work to make the house tight and shipshape. This time he nailed the boards crosswise. They turned out to be as green as the first lot; and in a few months they had shrunk away from each other, leaving the house dotted with little square holes. "I'll fix that," said Tom to himself one Sunday morning, and started toward the corn crib. He soon came back with a wheelbarrow load of corn cobs and started to drive them into the holes and break off the ends. For an hour or so he worked busily driving in cobs and breaking off the ends. When he was called to dinner he surveyed the results of his work and saw that he had mended only a small patch of the great chequered expanse still gaping105 with holes. In the afternoon he began again, but with diminished energy. Along toward four o'clock the weariness of well doing suddenly came upon him. There were too many holes.
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"Aw, hell, let 'er go the way she is," he muttered disgustedly, and felt in his pocket for another chew of tobacco.
It was to this house of many little golden windows that the Pippingers were now coming in the darkness. Arrived at the door, they turned their lanterns low and set them beside several other low-burning lanterns that stood in a little cluster against the house wall. Pushing open the door and entering without knock or ceremony, they found themselves in a stifling106 hot room crowded with people. The dim glare of two small kerosene107 lamps seemed a brilliant illumination after the darkness of outside; and for a moment they were dazzled.
Addie Pooler, the eldest108 girl, came forward and escorted Judith and the twins to a shedlike leanto back of the house where the Pooler boys slept and which was now doing duty as a dressing109 room. Here the four youngest Pooler children were already asleep all in one bed, two at each end, under a quilt roughly constructed of various sized pieces of dark colored goods cut from the less worn portions of men's old coats and trousers. Several sleeping babies were disposed here and there about the room on improvised110 beds made of overcoats or lap-robes. The girls put their coats and scarves on another large bed already piled with outdoor clothing, patted their hair a little in front of the small, face-distorting mirror over the chest of drawers, and followed Addie back into the kitchen.
Here the party was not yet under way. The women and girls and small children of both sexes were sitting or standing111 self-consciously about the walls. For the most part they sat bolt upright and stared straight ahead of them. Now and then they eyed each other covertly112. Sometimes a woman would speak to her neighbor in a hushed voice and thus start up a small whispered conversation; but of general talk there was none. Almost all of them, daughters and mothers alike, were painfully thin, with pinched, angular features and peculiarly dead expressionless eyes. The faces of the girls wore already an old, patient, settled look, as though a black dress and a few gray hairs would make them sisters instead of daughters of the older women.
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Tom Pooler, the host, a little man, red-faced and choleric114 like a bantam fighting cock, the possessor of a tremendous ego115, sat in a round-backed armchair by the stove and spat116 tobacco juice into the wood box. His feet in heavy gray cotton socks were comfortably extended upon the fender. He was the center of a group of older men who stood and sat about the stove spitting tobacco juice and discussing the same things that they always did. The young men were nowhere to be seen. They were all standing outside with the lanterns.
All at once the door flew open and Jabez Moorhouse came in with his fiddle117.
Jabez was in the best of spirits. He had taken a drop before he started, had had several pulls from the bottle on the way over to keep out the cold, and was feeling in holiday spirit. He was much in demand at gatherings118 like these on account of his ability to play the fiddle and call off the dances; and his response was usually a ready one. But he never went without a flask119 of good corn whiskey in his pocket to blur120 his eyes and his mind and nimble his fingers and his feelings.
"Waal, naow, gals121, whatcha doin' here anyway? Settin' all raound solemn, like you was to a buryin'?"
He opened the door and held it open while he called out into the darkness:
"Hi there, you backward young fellers! Air you a-goin' to set aout on the doorstep with the dawgs all night? Come along in here an' pick yer gals fer the fu'st dance."
They came pouring in, elbowing and shoving each other and uttering loud guffaws122 to cover their embarrassment123. They were healthier and less angular than the girls and the look of premature124 age had not been stamped upon their features.
"Naow then, you good lookin' gals, git up onto the floor; an' if a partner don't pick you, you pick a partner. This here is leap year anyway. Besides it's allus the wimmin that picks the men, though they try to make out it hain't. I say every gal40 that wants to git a good man step out onto the floor. An' every gal that wants to stay a old maid keep a-settin' by her mammy."
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Nobody was offended by the crassness125 of Jabez' exhortation126. It was what they had all been waiting for. This crude joviality127 and the smell of corn whiskey that was beginning to pervade128 the atmosphere soon cured the young fellows of their bashfulness, and there was much pulling and pushing of the girls from their seats, which they pretended to wish to retain.
Jabez had stationed himself in a corner and was tuning129 his fiddle.
"Naow then, all aboard! Form a line daown the middle; a lady an' a gent, a lady an' a gent. Gents to the right, ladies to the lef'. Swing yer partners."
He broke into the tune130 of one of the square dances familiar in that neighborhood, and the feet of the young men and girls followed him. Awkwardly and haltingly enough they stepped the first figure. The girls, with their angularities sticking out of their skimpy, ill-fitting dresses, moved at first as though from the pulling of wires. The young men slumped131 and floundered, lost their partners and got tangled132 up in the chain of dancers and had to be untangled again. As they warmed to the music, however, the feet lightened, the arms limbered, and self-consciousness was forgotten.
The men about the stove kept the fire well stoked and the room grew hotter and hotter, especially to the dancers. Dance followed upon dance. Tobacco smoke and the fumes133 of corn whiskey filled the stale air. The cheeks of every one were blazing from the heat and closeness. The children in the chairs were all asleep, leaning against their mothers. The older men in the corner by the stove watched the dancers and talked and spat tobacco juice into the wood box. They spat so much tobacco juice that the wood was covered with it. Fortunately it was the spitters who had the job of putting the wood into the stove, so it was their own affair. For the dancing girls in their slippers134 and light dresses, their feet and hearts beating time to the music, the spit encrusted wood box did not exist. With the beautiful ability of youth to ignore the ugly and sordid135, however near at hand, they danced and laughed
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and coquetted with their partners, feeling in this their hour far removed above the humdrum136 of their lives.
The two prettiest girls in the room were Bill Pippinger's daughters, Lizzie May and Judith. Lizzie May, with her pale pink dress, cornsilk hair and small, dainty features, made one think of a wild rose. Dan Pooler could not take his eyes from her and insisted on being her partner in every dance, until toward the end of the evening the two disappeared entirely137 from the dancing floor. Judith in red and white shone in her dark loveliness like a poppy among weeds. Something more than her beauty set her apart from the others: an ease and naturalness of movement, a freedom from constraint138, a completeness of abandon to the fun and merrymaking, to which these daughters of toil139 in their most hectic140 moments could never attain141. Somehow, in spite of her ancestry142, she had escaped the curse of the soil, else she could never have known how to be so free, so glad, so careless and joyous.
This difference from the other girls singled her out for comment more than once; and the comment was always adverse143, less from maliciousness144 than from lack of comprehension; although envy, naturally enough, was not absent.
"My sakes, Judy Pippinger'd otta think shame to herse'f," whispered Jenny Whitmarsh to Esther Pooler, "the way she goes on with the fellers!"
"If Judy's poor mammy was alive, she wouldn't like to see her a-goin' on in that way," sighed Aunt Mary Blackford to Aunt Maggie Slatten. "That way o' carryin' on ain't a-goin' to bring her to no good."
The men about the stove had by this time passed the bottle several times and were filled with good feeling and reminiscences, as they watched the dancers passing in a far-off blur. The young men too had occasionally slipped aside to enjoy a swig with a companion, and were becoming bolder and more demonstrative in the dance. From time to time the talk of one of them slipped past the bounds of the decent and caused the cheeks of his partner to flush still redder.
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As they danced the old game of "Skip to ma Loo," everybody sang noisily:
Dad's ole hat an' mam's ole shoe,
Dad's ole hat an' mam's ole shoe,
Dad's ole hat an' mam's ole shoe,
Skip to ma Loo, ma da'lin'.
In the pauses of the dance, the voices of the men about the stove could be heard growing louder and more vociferous145, as the bottles became lighter146.
I'll git another one better'n you,
I'll git another one better'n you,
I'll git another one better'n you,
Skip to ma Loo, ma da'lin'.
Aunt Nannie Pooler, a wizened147, bent little woman, the mother of eleven, now began to spread out the refreshments148 on a table in a corner. Some of the older women got up and assisted her. The Poolers were noted149 for their improvidence and their lavishness150 in entertaining. Soon the table was spread with layer cakes, cookies, corn cakes and plates of cold fried chicken. The smell of bad coffee boiling on the stove had permeated151 the room for some time. It was now poured into cups, mugs, bowls, glasses, anything that would hold liquid, and the guests invited to step up and partake.
"Yaas, we eat at our haouse," Tom Pooler's voice could be heard saying loudly. "An' anybody comes in our doors, neighbor or stranger, goes away with his belly full."
"Whose hencoop d'ye reckon old man Pooler reached this fried chicken out'n?" asked Edd Whitmarsh of young Bob Crupper, when the two had retired152 to the back stoop to enjoy chicken washed down by a swig of whiskey.
"Whosever it was he had 'em fed fat," answered Bob, devouring153 a piece of the breast with great satisfaction. "I sholy
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do love a fat chicken. I kinder hope the joke was on Uncle Ezry."
With the leg of a chicken in one hand and a corn cake in the other, Jabez, now blissfully intoxicated154, stood beside the table and rallied the girls as they came up. Most of them were too excited to care for food and Jabez knew it.
"Waal naow, Judy, my gal, hain't you a-goin' to do nothin' but nibble155 at a half of a wing, like you was a mouse on a pantry shelf? I seen you a-dancin' that fast an' a-laughin' that hard, a body'd think you'd be clean wore out an' a-needin' vittles. If you'd worked that hard at the washtub, I'll bet you'd be a-wantin' to eat a' right."
Judith's cheeks were scarlet and her dark eyes blazing. She looked at him from under her straight black eyebrows156 with the peculiar113 level gaze of hers. Even in the excitement of the moment there was something calm and critical, almost cold in that clear, unwavering look. She had always resented the self-appointed privilege of the old to make sport of the young.
"When you was seventeen did you eat hearty157 at parties, Uncle Jabez?"
Jabez did not notice the question. "Land, Judy," he said meditatively, "it makes a body feel old to see haow quick you young uns grows up. It seems like only day afore yestiddy you was a little brat158 a-crawlin' raound on the kitchen floor. When I'd step into yer dad's to see about borryin' a tool or gittin' shoes put onto a hoss, I'd have to walk careful to keep from settin' my foot daown on yuh. An' naow here ye be a tall, growed young leddy; an' if there's a handsomer gal in Scott County I'd like to have her showed to me."
Just then Jerry Blackford came up, grabbed Judith on both sides of her red and white checked waist and whisked her away to another corner of the room.
The music and dancing began again after Jabez had finished his chicken leg and ended in a wild, helter-skelter scramble33, the young men chasing the girls around and around the room, catching159 them and kissing them with loud, resounding160 smacks161.
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The girls exchanged slaps for kisses, and the sound of female fingers ringing on male cheeks peppered the air.
"Young folks to the wall; ole folks to the middle," called out the voice of Jabez. "This is dad's an' mammy's turn naow. Step out here you ole timers an' show the young uns haow we used to dance when we was lads an' gals."
Tom Pooler could be heard pulling his shoes out from under the stove.
"Yaas, by gollies, let's show 'em haow we done a barn dance. We hain't so stiff with rheumatics but what we kin step a figger yet, hey, Nannie?"
The other men about the stove shambled after Tom to the middle of the floor. The older women, exhorted162 by their daughters and husbands, were at last persuaded to forsake163 their chairs and join the circle.
Although nearly all of the "old folks" were under fifty and most of them in the thirties and forties, it was a scarecrow array of bent limbs, bowed shoulders, sunken chests, twisted contortions164, and jagged angularities, that formed the circle for the old folks' dance. Grotesque165 in their deformities, these men and women, who should have been in the full flower of their lives, were already classed among the aged166. And old they were in body and spirit. It was only on such rare occasions as this that the stimulation of social feeling and corn whiskey incited167 them to try to imitate with Punch and Judy antics the natural gaiety of youth.
"Yaas, we'll teach 'em haow to step a dance," cried Andy Blackford, the father of Jerry, floundering into the wrong place in the chain and grabbing the wrong partner with his great, seamy, wart-covered hands. "This is haow we done it in the old days, hain't it, Aunt Susie?"
The skinny, dried-up, little women in their black dresses and white aprons168 did not get much enjoyment169 out of the dance. There was neither lure170 nor mystery about the other sex for them any more; and they were disgusted and nauseated171 by the foul172 whiskey breath that spewed out upon them from their partners' mouths. The thought of the hard-earned money
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thrown away upon said whiskey did not tend to make them more cheerful. They went through the dance as they had gone through everything else since childhood, as a matter of course, because the circumstances of their lives demanded it of them.
Toward the close of the dance, Tom Pooler fell sprawling173 upon the floor. The drink had gone to his legs as well as to his head. He took the fall as an unwarranted insult to his dignity and scrambled to his feet flushed with whiskey, importance and indignation.
"I tell ye, I'm a baar in the woods, I am. Nobody don't dass say nuthin to Tom Pooler that he don't wanta hear—not Ezry Pettit ner Hiram Stone ner none of 'em. I don't take no sass from nobody no matter haow much land they got. I bet I cud lick any man in Scott County. I tell ye I'm a baar in the woods."
"You shet up yer mouth, ye dern ole fool an' don't git to quarrelin' in yer own house. Whatcha drink all that whiskey fer?" admonished174 Aunt Nannie in a loud whisper close to his ear. He glared at her with small, fiery175, bloodshot eyes, like an angry old boar at bay. She met the glare firmly and calmly. Under her cold gaze that had restrained him so many times before he calmed down. But for a long time he kept muttering to himself: "I'm a baar in the woods, I am. Yaas, sir, I'm a baar in the woods."
The young people had paid no attention to the dancing of their elders. They had slipped away into corners and were absorbed in their own affairs.
The party was over with the old folks' dance. There was much sorting out of clothing, wrapping up of sleeping babies and shaking of older children to get them wide enough awake to walk to the wagons176. No one told the host and hostess that they had enjoyed themselves; such things went without saying. When the Pippingers were all ready to start and had at last selected their own lanterns out of the bewildering cluster by the door, Lizzie May was not to be found anywhere. They waited and called. By and by she appeared around the corner
[Pg 93]
of the house; she had been saying good-by to Dan. She seemed flustered177 and excited.
After they had reached the wagon and were driving along the ridge road, they heard Jabez, who was striding home across fields, singing ebulliently178 as he walked:
Possum up the 'simmons tree,
Raccoon on the graoun';
Raccoon says, "You son of a bitch,
Throw them 'simmons daown."
The night was still, mild and bright with stars. There was a clean smell of earth and dried leaves. The song came across the fields out of the darkness, rich, clear and mellow179. A soft, cool wind blew in their heated faces; and the stars twinkled down through the tracery of bare treetops.
"Ain't Uncle Jabez awful!" sighed Luella, snuggling down into the straw. "He kin play the fiddle good; but land he does use sech langridge."
"Oh, don't think yerse'f so nice, Elly," snapped Judith, who had loved the sound of the singing. "His langridge hain't no worse'n other men folks'. On'y the song hain't true, 'cause a coon kin climb a tree jes as good as a possum any day."
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1
gossamer
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| n.薄纱，游丝 | |
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2
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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3
sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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4
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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5
maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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6
hogs
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| n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人 | |
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7
munched
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| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
munch
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| v.用力嚼，大声咀嚼 | |
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9
luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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10
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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11
pumpkins
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| n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊 | |
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12
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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13
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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14
savory
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| adj.风味极佳的，可口的，味香的 | |
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chili
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| n.辣椒 | |
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pickle
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| n.腌汁，泡菜；v.腌，泡 | |
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17
whetted
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| v.（在石头上）磨（刀、斧等）( whet的过去式和过去分词 )；引起，刺激（食欲、欲望、兴趣等） | |
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18
delicacies
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| n.棘手( delicacy的名词复数 )；精致；精美的食物；周到 | |
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19
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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20
tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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21
grudgingly
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22
bestowing
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| 砖窑中砖堆上层已烧透的砖 | |
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23
improvidence
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| n.目光短浅 | |
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24
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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25
beets
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| 甜菜( beet的名词复数 )； 甜菜根； （因愤怒、难堪或觉得热而）脸红 | |
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jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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27
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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28
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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29
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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stimulation
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| n.刺激，激励，鼓舞 | |
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chaff
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| v.取笑，嘲笑；n.谷壳 | |
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32
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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33
scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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34
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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rhythmically
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| adv.有节奏地 | |
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36
mica
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| n.云母 | |
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37
sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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38
taut
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| adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的 | |
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39
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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40
gal
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| n.姑娘，少女 | |
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41
zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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42
mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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43
fodder
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| n.草料；炮灰 | |
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44
sagged
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| 下垂的 | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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48
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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sagging
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| 下垂[沉，陷]，松垂，垂度 | |
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50
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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51
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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52
meditatively
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| adv.冥想地 | |
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53
bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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54
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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55
whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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57
blighting
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| 使凋萎( blight的现在分词 )； 使颓丧； 损害； 妨害 | |
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58
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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59
stuffy
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| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
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60
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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61
ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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62
zinc
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| n.锌；vt.在...上镀锌 | |
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63
scrolls
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| n.（常用于录写正式文件的）纸卷( scroll的名词复数 )；卷轴；涡卷形（装饰）；卷形花纹v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的第三人称单数 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕 | |
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64
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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65
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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66
calves
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| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
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67
fluffy
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| adj.有绒毛的，空洞的 | |
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68
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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69
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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70
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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71
leftover
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| n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的 | |
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72
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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73
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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74
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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75
rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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76
thrift
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| adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约 | |
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77
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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78
palled
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| v.（因过多或过久而）生厌，感到乏味，厌烦( pall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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80
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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81
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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82
thrifty
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| adj.节俭的；兴旺的；健壮的 | |
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83
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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84
clinching
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的现在分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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85
heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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86
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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87
bullied
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| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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88
satchel
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| n.(皮或帆布的)书包 | |
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89
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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90
jolted
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| （使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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91
aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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92
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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93
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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94
riotously
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| adv.骚动地，暴乱地 | |
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95
exulted
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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96
festive
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| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
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97
hilarity
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| n.欢乐；热闹 | |
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98
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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99
mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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100
hitched
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| （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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101
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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102
proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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103
rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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104
lumber
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| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
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105
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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106
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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107
kerosene
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| n.(kerosine)煤油，火油 | |
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108
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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109
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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110
improvised
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| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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111
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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112
covertly
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| adv.偷偷摸摸地 | |
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113
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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114
choleric
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| adj.易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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115
ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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116
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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117
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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118
gatherings
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| 聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集 | |
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119
flask
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| n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱 | |
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120
blur
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| n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚 | |
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121
gals
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| abbr.gallons （复数）加仑（液量单位）n.女孩，少女( gal的名词复数 ) | |
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122
guffaws
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| n.大笑，狂笑( guffaw的名词复数 )v.大笑，狂笑( guffaw的第三人称单数 ) | |
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123
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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124
premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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125
crassness
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126
exhortation
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| n.劝告，规劝 | |
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127
joviality
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| n.快活 | |
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128
pervade
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| v.弥漫，遍及，充满，渗透，漫延 | |
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129
tuning
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| n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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130
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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131
slumped
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| 大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下] | |
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132
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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133
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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134
slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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135
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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136
humdrum
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| adj.单调的，乏味的 | |
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137
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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138
constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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139
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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140
hectic
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| adj.肺病的；消耗热的；发热的；闹哄哄的 | |
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141
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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142
ancestry
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| n.祖先，家世 | |
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143
adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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144
maliciousness
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| [法] 恶意 | |
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145
vociferous
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| adj.喧哗的，大叫大嚷的 | |
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146
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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147
wizened
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| adj.凋谢的；枯槁的 | |
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148
refreshments
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| n.点心,便餐;(会议后的)简单茶点招 待 | |
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149
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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150
lavishness
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| n.浪费，过度 | |
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151
permeated
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| 弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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152
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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153
devouring
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| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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154
intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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155
nibble
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| n.轻咬，啃；v.一点点地咬，慢慢啃，吹毛求疵 | |
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156
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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157
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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158
brat
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| n.孩子；顽童 | |
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159
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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160
resounding
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| adj. 响亮的 | |
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161
smacks
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| 掌掴（声）( smack的名词复数 )； 海洛因； （打的）一拳； 打巴掌 | |
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162
exhorted
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| v.劝告，劝说( exhort的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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163
forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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164
contortions
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| n.扭歪，弯曲；扭曲，弄歪，歪曲( contortion的名词复数 ) | |
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165
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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166
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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167
incited
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| 刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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168
aprons
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| 围裙( apron的名词复数 )； 停机坪，台口（舞台幕前的部份） | |
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169
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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170
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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171
nauseated
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| adj.作呕的，厌恶的v.使恶心，作呕( nauseate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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172
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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173
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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174
admonished
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| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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175
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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176
wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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177
flustered
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| adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词) | |
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178
ebulliently
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179
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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