ALL THREE of the men at once became guardians2 of Abraham Lincoln, and in their several ways heartily3 interested in his welfare.
The Deacon was fired by the missionary4 spirit of his kind and class.
"No use talkin' no more about the heathen 'On Greenland's icy mountains,' or any place else," he communed with himself that evening, as he sat and smoked, and occasionally glanced at the ebon face of the sleeper6 in the corner. "Providence7 has cut out a job for me, and sent it home. Rather, He sent me where I couldn't help stumblin' upon it, and reckonizin' it. The responsibility to Him is clear. I've got heathen enough to last me for a 'coon's age, to lift that poor, ignorant soul up, and bring it to a knowledge of Christian9 ways. He's not nice nor purty; never heard of a pagan that wuz. Wouldn't be pagans if they wuz. But he's a man and a brother, and the Bible says that I'm my brother's keeper. I'll keep him agin fifty-'leven o' that old snortin' rebel and Copperhead Blowhard10 Billings. I wuzzent brung up in the woods to be scared by the hootin' of an owl8."
"We might take him along with us, Si," said Shorty, in a low tone, with a nod toward Abraham267 Lincoln. "We could make a bully11 cook out of him. We could have no end of fun with him. We could learn him lots o' tricks. He's as strong as an ox, and after I'd give him a few lessons in puttin' up his hands, he'd knock out that sassy nigger o' the Colonel's."
"I think so, too," acquiesced12 Si, with an estimating glance at the sleeper.
Abraham Lincoln's education began bright and early the next morning, when Shorty kicked and shook him into wakefulness at the sound of the reveille.
"Git up; git up," said Shorty. "Wash your hands and face, comb your hair, cut some wood and put it on the fire, and bring a kettle o' water from the spring."
"Wash my hands and face," said the negro, in a dazed way. "Wha' fo'? Don't got nufin on dem. Comb my ha'r? Nebber did dat in my life."
"Well, you've got to do it now every mornin', and be spry about it, too. Come, don't move around as if sawed out o' basswood. This ain't nigger-quarters. Git some springs in your feet."
And he emphasized his injunctions with a vigorous push.
The negro's face looked as if he began to have doubts as to whether freedom was all that had been represented to him. To have to get up early every morning, and wash his face and hands and comb his hair, seemed at the moment to be a high price to pay for liberty.
"Does I hab tuh do dat ebbery mornin', Boss?" he said, turning with a look of plaintive13 inquiry14 to the Deacon.268
"Why, certainly," said the Deacon, who had just finished his own ablutions,' and was combing his hair. "Every man must do that to be decent."
Abraham Lincoln gave a deep sigh.
"Washes himself as if he's afraid the water'd scald him," said the Deacon, watching the negro's awkward efforts. "He'll have to take more kindly16 to water, if he comes into a Baptist total immersion17 family. There's no salvation18 except by water, and plenty of it, too. Now," he continued, as the black man had finished, "pick up that ax and cut some wood to get breakfast with."
Abraham Lincoln took the ax, and began belaboring19 the wood, while the Deacon studied him with a critical eye. There was little that the Deacon prided himself on more than his skill as a wood chopper. People who think the ax is a simple, skill-less tool, dependent for its efficiency solely21 upon the strength and industry with which it is wielded22, make a great mistake. There is as much difference in the way men handle axes, and in the result they produce, as there is in their playing the violin. Anybody can chop, it is true, as anybody can daub with a paint brush, but a real axman of the breed of the Deacon, who had gone into the wilderness23 with scarcely any other tool than an ax, can produce results with it of which the clumsy hacker24 can scarcely imagine. The Deacon watched the negro's work with disgust and impatience25.
"Hadn't oughter named sich a clumsy pounder as that 'Abraham Lincoln,'" he mused26. "Old Abe could handle an ax with the best of 'em. This feller handles it as if it was a handspike. If Si couldn't 've269 used an ax better'n that when he was 10 years old, I'd 'a' felt mortally ashamed o' him. Gracious, what a job I have before me o' makin' a first-class man out o' him."
The Deacon Gives Abe a Lesson in Wood Chopping 269
He took the ax from the negro's hand, and patiently showed him how to hold and strike with it. The man apparently28 tried his best to learn, but it270 was a perspiring29 effort for him and the Deacon. The negro presently dropped his ax, sat down on the log, and wiped his forehead with his shirtsleeve.
"'Fore27 God, Boss, dat's de hardest way ob cuttin' wood dat I ebber seed. Hit'll kill me done daid to chop wood dat a-way."
"Pshaw!" said the impatient Deacon. "You're simply stupid; that's all. That's the only way to handle an ax. You kin5 cut with half the work that way."
He was discovering what so many of us have found out, that among the hardest things in life is that of getting people to give up clumsy ways for those that are better.
In the meantime the boys had gotten breakfast. Then Shorty, who was dying to train their new acquisition for a winning fight with the Colonel's negro, took him behind the house for a little private instruction in boxing. The field-hand had never even heard of such a thing before, but Shorty was too much in earnest to care for a little thing like that. He went at his task with a will, making the negro double his fists just so, strike in a particular way, make a certain "guard," and hit out scientifically. Shorty was so enthusiastic that he did not stop to think that it was severe labor20 for the poor negro, and when he had to stop his lesson at the end of half an hour to go on battalion30 drill he left his pupil in a state of collapse31.
Ignorant of the new ordeal32 through which his charge had been going, the Deacon went out in search of him. He had just finished reading the news in the Cincinnati Commercial, ending with an271 editorial on "Our Duty Toward the Freedmen," which impelled33 him to think that he could not begin Abraham Lincoln's education too soon.
"Now, Abe," said he briskly, "you've had a good rest, and it's time that you should be doin' some thing. You ought to learn to read as soon as possible, and you might as well begin to learn your letters at once. I'll give you your first lesson. Here are some nice large letters in this newspaper head, that you kin learn very easily. Now, the first one is T. You see it is a cross."
"Afo' de Lawd, Boss," wailed34 the desperate negro, "I jest can't l'arn no mo', now, nohow. 'Deed I can't. Hit's bin15 nuffin but l'arn, l'arn, ebbery minnit sense I got up dis mawnin', an' my haid's jest bustin', so hit is. I a'most wisht I wuz back wid my ole mas'r, who didn't want to l'arn me nuffin."
The astonished Deacon paused and reflected.
"Mebbe we've bin tryin' to force this plant too fast. There's danger about puttin' new wine into old bottles. It's not the right way to train anything. The way to break a colt is to hang the bridle35 on the fence where he kin see and smell it for a day or two. I'll go a little slow with him at first. Would you like something more to eat, Abe?"
"Yes, Boss. 'Deed I would," answered the negro with cheerful promptness, forgetting all about the pangs36 of the "new birth of freedom."
THE END OF BOOK NO. 2.
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1
picket
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| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
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guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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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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sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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7
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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blowhard
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| n.自吹自擂者 | |
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bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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12
acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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15
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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16
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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17
immersion
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| n.沉浸；专心 | |
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18
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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19
belaboring
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| v.毒打一顿( belabor的现在分词 )；责骂；就…作过度的说明；向…唠叨 | |
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20
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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hacker
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| n.能盗用或偷改电脑中信息的人，电脑黑客 | |
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25
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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26
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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27
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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29
perspiring
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| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
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battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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31
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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32
ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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33
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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36
pangs
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| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
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