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Speaker 1: Uncle Noah's Christmas Inspiration by Leona Dalrymple, Chapter one, Christmas Cheer.

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The twilight of a Christmas Eve, gray with the portent

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of coming snow, crept slowly over the old plantation of briarwood,

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softening the outlines of a decrepit house still rearing its

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roof in massive dignity, and a tumble down barn flanked

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by barren fields. A quiet melancholy hovered about the old house,

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as if it brooded over a host of by gone

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Yule tides, alive with the shouts of merry negroes and

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the jingle of visiting sleighs. Yule tides. When the snowy

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dusk had been ushered in to the lowing of cattle

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and the neighing of horses safely housed in the old barn.

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There were no negroes now, no blooded stock, no fluttering fowl,

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save one belligerent old turkey gobbler, fleeing from a white

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haired darky who tried in vain to drive him to

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his roost in the barn. In the line library of

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the old house, a man, tall and eagle eyed, peered

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out beneath bushy, white eyebrows, at the fading landscape, blurred

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by the dancing forms of the Negro and the recalcitant Turkey.

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He watched the chase end with an impertinent gobble from

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the Turkey, and at the sound of a closing door

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in the rear of the house, tapped a bell at

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his side. Footsteps shuffled along the hallway, and breathless from

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his chaise, the old Negro entered. Colonel Fairfax wheeled with

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military precision. Uncle Noah, he said, sternly, tomorrow will be Christmas.

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The darky nodded and hobbled hurriedly to the wood fire,

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bending over as he poked it to hide the look

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of anxiety in his face. Laws a massy mass of Fairfax,

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he grumbled, in good natured evasion, you'd most freeze to death.

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I reckons thou sendin for me? He coughed, and amended hastily,

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thou sendin for one of the servants to pile up

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this here fire. The amendment was but one of Uncle

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Noah's many subterfuges to convince himself and his master that

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there had been no changes in the Fairfax fortunes since

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the old days, that he was the last of the

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Colonel's retainers, a wageless, loyal, old dependent attending to the

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manifold tasks of a soul domestic. The negro never admitted

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even to himself that his quaint pretensions, however, were daily

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stimulants to the fierce old colonel, hungrily eating his heart

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out with memories. Uncle Noah was well aware. So the

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pitiful little subterfuges, revealing the subtle understanding of the two,

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peopled the old house with swarming Negroes and the horn

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of plenty, to the joy of both. But to day

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Uncle Noah felt uneasily that the reference to the servants

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had not bolstered the colonel as it usually did, and

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the old Darky groaned inwardly as he added wood to

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the fire. From the corner of his eye, he saw

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that the colonel had drawn himself up to military rigidity

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and evidence that the old soldier was on his metal

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and would brook no opposition, Uncle Noah, he said, fixing

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a stern eye on the old man. In the Fairfax family,

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there has always been a turkey at Christmas. There was

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no suggestion in the darkis affable tones of the erratic

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manner in which his heart was beating. Yes, sir, he

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agreed ofttimes morn one, Owing to circumstances understood by you

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and myself, but by no one else, there would be

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no turkey this year save that, yes, sir, Uncle Noah

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laid a wrinkled brown hand upon the nearest chair for support.

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We have a live turkey in stock, added the colonel, firmly,

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looking squarely into the trembling Negro's eyes. Uncle Noah's heart

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gave a convulsive leap. The thunderbolt had fallen the fierce

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old turkey gobbler, solitary tenant of the crazy outbuildings. The

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imperial tyrant, upon whom Uncle Noah had bestowed the affection

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of his loyal old heart, had been sentenced to death

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by the highest earthly tribunal. The old Negro recognized as

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as I fear'll be tough. Colonel Fairfax, he quavered ah

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Ah a god, a massy mess, a dick. You wouldn't

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kill old Joe. He's too smart for a bird, and

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he's done a most powerful sight. O runnin sah. I

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reckons he's most all muscle. There was an agonized appeal

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in the Darky's voice that cut straight to the Colonel's heart.

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Uncle Noah, he said kindly, it can't be helped. Job

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goes for the sake of some one else, Ol Missus. Yes,

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thank god, Uncle Noah. The Colonel laid a gentle hand

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on the Negro's shoulder. That she doesn't know of our

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er financial crisis. His halting utterance showed how distasteful the

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words were to him, save of course, that we must

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live with economy as we have for years of the

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catastrophe of last fall. She is ignorant, and a Fairfax

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Christmas without a turkey would she must not know, he

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finished abruptly. The Colonel had spoken with a simple dignity

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and confidence that brought the old Negro back from the

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field of sentiment to the barren desert of reality. Dimly

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in his mental chaos stood for three pitiless facts. All

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Missus was grieving her heart out for the Sun with

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whom the Colonel had quarreled three years before. Of this

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money trouble from which Colonel Fairfax had shielded her, she

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must as yet know nothing, And there was no turkey

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for the Christmas dinner. Verily, things looked dark for the

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ill fated job roosting in unsuspecting security in the desolate

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old barn. With bowed head, the darky walked slowly toward

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the door, Uncle Noah. The Colonel's tones were incisive. You

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will kill job to night. I most forgot massa Dick faltered,

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Uncle Noah, that supper is ready, sir, Oh, missus Duncombe downstairs,

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just for I chases job to roost laws a mess

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in massa Dick. Can he live till after supper? The

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colonel nodded, carefully avoiding the old man's troubled eyes, and

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went to join his wife at supper. Christmas Eve, My dear,

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he announced cheerfully as he bent to kiss the sweet,

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wistful face that turned to greet him. I beg your

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pardon for keeping you waiting. Uncle Noah, and I were

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discussing tomorrow's turkey. He gazed calmly at the old negro

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nervously handling the tea things. He has selected a large bird,

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and I have been advising a smaller. The Colonel opened

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his napkin and deftly tucked the hole in the end

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out of sight beneath the table. Now, Uncle Noah, what

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is there to night for supper? To Uncle Noah, this

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nightly question had become a sacred institution, a stimulus to

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imaginative powers highly developed. In his quaint dialogs with the Colonel,

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he forgot the doomed job. It was Christmas Eve, and

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his creative gift took festive wings. Well, sir, he beamed,

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we has a little chicken gumbo, some fried chicken, just

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the right golden brown, sir, Cream potatoes, hot biscuits with

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currant jelly er, slashed ham, and baked potatoes. Colonel Fairfax

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thoughtfully considered the appetizing prospect in accordance with the rules

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of the game. What mattered it that the luscious edibles

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existed only in the brain of the loyal old Darky.

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The little pretense gave to each a delightful thrill, surely

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an adequate extenuation of the harmless diversion. As usual, Colonel

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Fairfax found the key to the situation in the closing

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items of Uncle Noah's list. It all sounds delicious, Uncle Noah,

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he observed, graciously, But I have a touch of my

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old enemy, the dyspepsia. To day I think I shall

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have sliced ham and baked potatoes that I think will

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do for us both. Missus Fairfax agreed, her kindly eyes

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fixed upon Uncle Noah's attentive face, and Sir Uncle Noah began,

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it was Christmas Eve, and this game must be perfectly played.

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Shall I attend to the distribution of gifts in a

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negro's coudice? Sir Yes, agreed. The colonel see that no

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one is slighted. Missus Fairfax bowed her wistful face upon

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her hands to hide the blinding tears, and an odd,

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uncomfortable silence fell upon the little group. At length, the

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Colonel pushed his chair back and rose, Uncle Noah, He said, sternly,

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a suspicious brightness gleaming in his eyes. That turkey of

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yours is making a terrible noise under the window. Make

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him quick gobbling, Patricia, I don't wonder he makes you nervous.

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He's an old renegade. That the object of the Colonel's

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wrath had long since retired to rust mattered not to

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his accuser. The turkey had developed a convenient habit of

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gobbling under the window whenever a motion forced the colonel

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to seek event In stern commands, Uncle Noah crossed to

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the window and commanded job to be silent. Missus Fairfax,

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Southern gentlewoman and thoroughbred from tip to toe, quivered proudly,

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and as Uncle Noah returned, bade him serve the supper

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in tones as well controlled as they were gentle. Chapter two,

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The Inspiration In the Great barren Kitchen, Uncle Noah wiped

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his steel roomed spectacles and glared angrily about him. Oh,

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Missus Greebner had out for young massa dick, he reflected,

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and a colonel say slat no one, gaud em messy,

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what a missieur old world comin to every time, Ol

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miss Kraft, a young massa dick. Colonel says, Job gobbles.

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The old Darky choked miserably at the thought of the

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destined check to Job's gobbling career, and replacing his spectacles,

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carefully carried in the supper, prolonging its simple service to

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the uttermost with the single idea of adding precious minutes

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to the doomed turkey's span of life. When at length

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he sought the barn, it was quite dark, and the

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velvet stillness of the night was dotted thickly with snowflakes.

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With trembling fingers, he opened the great barn door lit

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a queer old lantern hanging just within, and hung it

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high upon a projecting hook. The dim light revealed an

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antique carriage house in one corner of which, upon a rude,

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improvised roost of shingles, the tyrant Job slept the sleep

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of the just and the unjust rolled into one. As

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the lights flickered upon his ruffled feathers. The turkey emitted

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a throaty grunt of disapproval and moved cumbrously around to

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avoid the light. Uncle Noah addressed him with great firmness.

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Now see here, massa Job, he said, tain't no use

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your puttin on your high and mighty airs tonight. I's

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come to interview you, sir, understand. Job majestically tucked his

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head beneath his wing, as if to intimate his indifference

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to the proposed interview. Uncle Noah surveyed his ruffled back

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feathers with increased respect. So he said, you refuse me

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an interview, massa Job, Fairfax. You're sleepy, sah, that's what's

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got unto you. He stroked the turkey with a gentle hand,

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and Job, resenting the indignity, withdrew his head from the

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sheltering wing and pecked at the brown fingers, turning around

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with a stately movement and facing the light once more

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with a sleepy blink of his bright bead like eyes. Now, sir,

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we can talk, exclaimed the negro in delight. Drawing up

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an old box, he seated himself before the roost and

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beamed benevolently over his glasses. Colonel Dunn, say, yo gobble

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under the window about supper time, he began confidentially when

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old miss crabout young Massa dick. The colonel he just

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got a scold about somethin', and as you was the

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most important person about, he just naturally selects you. The

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Turkey held his head upon one side, apparently in critical

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admiration of the Darky's quaint old scarf pin, which resembled

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a grain of corn mounted on a needle. Uncle Noah,

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who had always had a faint mistrust of Job's attitude

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towards this ancient Ethiopian heirloom, promptly removed it to a

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place of safety. Then, with a sudden resolve that no

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thought of the coming tragedy should mar his last visit

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with his old companion, he wrote and sought a dim

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cobwebby corner of the barn. Whence he returned with a box.

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Deez here, Job, he explained, is the flowers what young

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massa dick have sent to his mother every holiday since

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he done went away from here mornin' aspects when the

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Colonel sees him out of plate, he'll declare your goblin's

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somethin fierce under the window again he always do. The

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old negro broke the string of the box and removed

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a glowing mass of purple orchids. Odd transient tenants of

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the crazy old barn Job suddenly reached over and pecked

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a blossom from its stem ate the heart with the

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dainty air of an epicure, and discarded the remainder with

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a noise akin to a gobble of disgust. Uncle Noah

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rose and scandalized. Protest you good for nothin miserable sassed turkey,

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he scolded, hastily removing the orchids. You certainly is the

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most scandless no count bird I ever knowed. Eat one

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o ol missus Orchard's laws a massive job. You goes

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most too far. Now, sir, you be quiet and listen

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to this note I gets from young Massa Dick, and

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he carefully deciphered the written lines for the listening job.

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Dear Uncle Noah, I have written Foster and Company as

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usual to send mother's orchids. They should get there Christmas Eve.

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Will you put them at her plate in the morning.

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I find they are the only suggestion of me that

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the Colonel will allow in the house. I tried another

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letter this week, but it came back unopened, Uncle Noah,

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give mother a merry Christmas for me, Dick. Uncle Noah

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laid the letter on his knee and drew from a

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worn leather wallet several newspaper clippings. They were glowing reports

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gleaned from a stray newspaper of the success of a

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young architect in a distant northern city, one Richard Fairfax. Junior.

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Uncle Noah proudly read them aloud for the hundredth time,

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interpolating little explanatory remarks to the turkey who gobbled threateningly

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but failed to intimidate his tormentor job. What you think

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about this here, quarrel, Uncle Noah said, as the turkey

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eyed him sternly. I say the Colonel's too hot on

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the boy a Quarrel's a quarrel, you say, hum, Maybe

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you're right, but it's this fair Fax pride of the

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Colonel's to keep him from readin the boy's letters and

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nothin else. Sir, he's sorry for that quarrel. Don't you

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forget it? But the colonel he prouder and lucifer. Hum,

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you say, y understand pride, as you're proud yourself. Then,

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as the turkey relapsed into slumber, now see yere massa job,

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ye ain't no more sleepier eyes, Uncle Noah poked the

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turkey with his finger, and Job arched his neck with

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a threatening flap of his wings, and descended from his perch.

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Fight me, will ya, demanded Uncle Noah in secret delight

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you is the touchiest bird. Yere fight with these here

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crusts of bread. Job spread his tail magnificently and began

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an erratic consumption of the bread crusts, pertly taking them

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more by one from the old Negro's hand and arranging

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them upon the barn floor for later and more personal inspection.

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Uncle Noah watched him with misty eyes. Presently his gaze

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furtively sought the rusty axe in the corner, and great

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tear rolled down his cheek. Caught in the wave of

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a sudden panic, he dropped upon his knees and clasped

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his trembling hands. The dusky barn, littered with odds and ends,

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was dimly visible in the glimmering light of the old

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fashioned lantern, whose slanting rays fell upon the doomed bird

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and the praying negro. No thought of sacrilege marred the quaint,

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halting prayer. A terrible earnestness lined the Negro's face with

254
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a holiness of purpose and made it beautiful. Oh Lord,

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he prayed, Save this here, old turkey gobbler. I knows, Lord,

256
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he's a powerful, worthless bird, but he's all as God.

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A's just an old slave massa what's been free since

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the war? And Job, sir, he understands me. Lord, I

259
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don't want to live no more if I ask to

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kill old Job. Send me an inspiration, Lord, and tell

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me how I can save his worthless old hide. Save

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him and an God bless the colonel aimen for an

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interval in which the only sound was that of Job's

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feet as he strutted about, seeking an eatable successor to

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the bread Uncle Noah remained upon his knees in the

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attitude of prayer, perhaps awaiting inspiration. At length, he rose,

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and seating himself upon the box once more buried his

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white head dejectedly in his hands. The snowflakes filtered slowly

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through a crevice at the side, heaping fantastically into a

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miniature drift. Absently, Uncle Noah watched them, his mind traveling

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back to many a snowy Christmas before the war. Suddenly,

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his brown face glowed with radiance, and he drew a

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long breath of relief. Joe, he said, leaning forward and

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patting the turkey. I has it. You'd scarcely believe it, sir,

275
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But I's a gunna save you. He rose, transformed the

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bond and droop of his lean body, replaced by an

277
00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:06,400
alert energy. Now, Joe, he coaxed, I'll just want you

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for to come along with me, peaceable sir, as after you,

279
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to save your old had from the Christmas platter. But Job,

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with a malicious enjoyment of the game, was prancing wildly

281
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about the barn, flapping his wings in hysterical derision of

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his breathless pursuer. Brought to bay, he squawked a protest

283
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and struggled violently as Uncle Noah unceremoniously imprisoned him beneath

284
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one arm. There, Sir exclaimed the Negro triumphantly. Ah, hes, yer,

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you're certainly the most worthless turkey on this yere plantation.

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Tightly clasping the outraged tyrant, Uncle Noah tiptoed to the

287
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lantern and blew it out. Then, stumbling across the floor,

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he stealthily left the barn and set out across the

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snowy fields to a tumble down shanty sole survivor of

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a string of Negro huts long since burned one by

291
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one in the library fireplace. Into its dilapidated interior, he

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thrust the protesting turkey, pausing at the door as he

293
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struck a match to view the bird's temporary quarters. Now,

294
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massa job, Fairfax, he began, I know you is just

295
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mad clean through y're jest naturally objects to beIN toped

296
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out in the snow in the middle of a turkey

297
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knat without beIN asked, he says, your back is full

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of snow. Well, I just ask you, massa job Fairfax.

299
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Ain't to have better an beIN without a head, now,

300
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sa I ask ye to be most terrible quiet as

301
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yea not ies A goin into Coatsville on a little trip.

302
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An I don't want a colonel to know you're here.

303
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He closed the rickety door, and, hurrying back across the fields,

304
00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:40,359
sought the kitchen, his eyes behind their spectacles shining with excitement.

305
00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:45,119
Muffling himself in a quaint red knitted scarf, a dingy overcoat,

306
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and a worn fur cap plentifully earlapped, he left the

307
00:18:48,519 --> 00:18:51,039
house again, pausing only long enough to peer through the

308
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library window at the colonel, who was reading aloud to

309
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his wife, both drawn up in the cheery warmth of

310
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a blazing wood fire. Then he hurried on along the

311
00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,759
road to town, with a prayer in his heart for

312
00:19:03,799 --> 00:19:06,839
the success of his mission. Uncle Noah trudged sturdily down

313
00:19:06,839 --> 00:19:10,079
the two miles to Coatesville, past Major Verney's old plantation,

314
00:19:10,559 --> 00:19:13,400
the cheery lights of the great House twinkling brightly through

315
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a curtain of snow, and into the snow laden air

316
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of the village, streets alive with Christmas shoppers, hawley and

317
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mistletoe Christmas trees filling the air with the odor of

318
00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:28,000
pine dancing snowflakes and bright lights, wonderful windows wreathed and

319
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dotted in Christmas glitter, and cheery voices. Who could resist them?

320
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Uncle Noah felt his heart quiver with hope. Jubilantly, he

321
00:19:36,079 --> 00:19:40,279
turned his steps toward the railroad station. Ahead. The Northern

322
00:19:40,319 --> 00:19:43,039
Express flashed through the snow and came to a stop

323
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with a clang and a roar, disgorging a chattering holiday

324
00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:49,119
crowd who paused for a change of cars at Coatesville

325
00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:53,440
on their southbound trips. Uncle Noah hastened his shuffling footsteps.

326
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The Northern Express, with its horde of transient visitors, had

327
00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:00,559
been a vital part of the inspiration. Upon the station platform,

328
00:20:00,599 --> 00:20:03,240
people stamped up and down in the snow, or laughed

329
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and chatted, quite oblivious to the timid gaze of the

330
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old Darky, who slowly made his way among them. One

331
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by one. Uncle Noah left them all behind, a great

332
00:20:12,279 --> 00:20:16,319
disappointment in his face. In their laughing countenances, he had

333
00:20:16,319 --> 00:20:21,519
found nothing of what he sought. Chapter three, The Gray

334
00:20:21,559 --> 00:20:25,839
eyed Lady. Just ahead, a girl appeared from the shadows

335
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and walked quickly toward the waiting room. Uncle Noah looked

336
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into her fresh, sweet face. Then his own lit up

337
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,359
with renewed hope, and he followed her in and touched

338
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her timidly on the arm. The girl turned, revealing her

339
00:20:37,799 --> 00:20:40,720
face rosy with cold and a pair of warm gray

340
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eyes fringed in lashes of black eyes that frankly offered

341
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a glimpse of a girl's impulsive heart brimming over with

342
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Christmas spirit. Uncle Noah removed the battered fur cap and

343
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bowed low with the deference of a cavalier a asjist

344
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come in to to ask him, miss, He said, simply,

345
00:21:00,839 --> 00:21:04,160
if you'd like to buy an old nigger servant as

346
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for sale? For sale? The girl took in the quaint

347
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figure with a glance of blank astonishment. Why, she gasped,

348
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surely you as, oh, miss, he interrupted timidly, but meeting

349
00:21:19,079 --> 00:21:23,400
her gaze with unwavering sincerity. I suspects asmost a hundred,

350
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but as powerful, tough and full o work an a miss.

351
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I has to sell myself to night cause cuz Uncle

352
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Noah paused uncertainly, seeking a fit expression of his dilemma,

353
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and the girl readily intuitive glanced swiftly about to assure

354
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herself that the waiting room was free from unsympathetic eavesdroppers,

355
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then strangely drawn by this quaint old vender of humanity,

356
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and warmly eager to put him more at his ease,

357
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she impulsively pushed a rocking chair toward the old stove

358
00:21:54,279 --> 00:21:57,279
in the center, and motioned him to be seated. But

359
00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:00,240
Uncle Noah had been reared in the Fairfax family, and

360
00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:03,160
a Fairfax never sat when a lady was still upon

361
00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:06,759
her feet. With a courtly gesture, the old man bowed

362
00:22:06,799 --> 00:22:09,079
her to the chair she had drawn for him. A

363
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quick gleam of approval flashed in the gray eyes, and

364
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with a deepening flush of puzzled interest, the girl instantly

365
00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:18,799
seated herself, unfastening the silver fox at her throat, as

366
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she felt the warm of the old country stove. Please,

367
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I would so much rather you too, would sit down,

368
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she said impulsively, And as Uncle Noah drew forward another

369
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of the rickety old rocking chairs with which the coats

370
00:22:31,079 --> 00:22:34,400
filled waiting room was dotted, she bent toward him. A

371
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light in the wonderful gray eyes that one Uncle Noah's heart.

372
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Tell me, she said, kindly, tell me just why you

373
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want to sell yourself. No, she had not laughed at him.

374
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Uncle Noah glowed to the tips of his fingers at

375
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the ready sympathy of her tone. He beamed mildly at

376
00:22:51,039 --> 00:22:54,200
her over his spectacles, turning the old fur cap round

377
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and round in his hands as he sought to voice

378
00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:02,720
the words struggled to his lips. Old masses money an miss.

379
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,440
He ain't had much since the war, just enough to

380
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:09,359
live comfortable. I'll go in the Coatsville bank crash last fall,

381
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and he don't want old miss for the know. I's

382
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,160
the only one of the niggas was left, and there's

383
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,200
only one old turkey gobbler left to the stock. He's

384
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,319
my old pet, miss, most like a child. And and

385
00:23:21,519 --> 00:23:26,240
Uncle Noah choked. The girl's eyes were misty velvet. And

386
00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:28,680
he told you to kill your pet for the Christmas dinner,

387
00:23:28,839 --> 00:23:33,480
she finished gently. Uncle Noah nodded. MASSA doesn't say we

388
00:23:33,599 --> 00:23:35,920
must have a turkey for the Christmas dinner or old

389
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:40,240
missiles suspect the the financial crisis, what we're in out

390
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:42,519
in the bond. I prays for an inspiration, an I

391
00:23:42,519 --> 00:23:46,480
suspect it come. And so you decided to sell yourself,

392
00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:51,519
began the girl. Yes'm Uncle Noah's voice had grown apologetic.

393
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:54,720
You see, miss, I's the only thing what I really

394
00:23:54,799 --> 00:23:58,599
own sip is here, old stickpin, cause I's free now.

395
00:23:58,839 --> 00:24:00,680
But I reckons if I I has a mind to

396
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,119
sell myself, de norf can't stop me. I's sellin' my

397
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,519
own property. There was a gentle defiance in the old

398
00:24:07,559 --> 00:24:13,279
Negro's argument, and you you wouldn't accept a alone, The

399
00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:17,680
girl flushed. The Negro's hurt eyes were answer enough. Uncle

400
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,759
Noah had not lived in an atmosphere permeated with Fairfax

401
00:24:20,839 --> 00:24:25,680
pride without feeling its influence. I was not asking for charity,

402
00:24:25,759 --> 00:24:30,039
Miss he averred stubbornly. I's a sellin somethin'. I reckons

403
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:32,440
if you buy me, miss An, you'll let me go

404
00:24:32,519 --> 00:24:35,119
back and stay Christmas with the old Master. I'll sell

405
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,359
myself cheap. You see, I's a plannin first to buy

406
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:41,359
a turkey what'll take Job's place on a platter, And

407
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:44,039
then to give the Massa a grand Christmas. WI the

408
00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:46,960
restin' money what I gets for myself, savin' out jest

409
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,480
enough to buy my old turkey An, come to your

410
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:52,480
first day after Christmas. It'd be hard to leave old

411
00:24:52,519 --> 00:24:56,559
Massa and miss but I reckons it's just gotta be done.

412
00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,200
Uncle Noah gulped and blinked, and there was a glimmer

413
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:01,559
of wet flashes about the warm gray eyes that had

414
00:25:01,559 --> 00:25:05,200
won his heart. The girl was silent so long that

415
00:25:05,319 --> 00:25:08,319
Uncle Noah shifted uneasily. But at last she spoke a

416
00:25:08,319 --> 00:25:14,599
little tremulously. For what price will you sell yourself? She asked,

417
00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:17,160
And Uncle Noah never doubted, but that she regarded the

418
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,400
purchase in the same light in which he himself had

419
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:23,480
viewed it. He turned about for his purchaser's thorough inspection,

420
00:25:24,039 --> 00:25:26,559
his bald head above the fringe of white wool about it,

421
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,640
glistening in the lamp let. Do you think I's worth?

422
00:25:30,759 --> 00:25:35,559
Say twenty five dollars? He queried, regarding her fixedly over

423
00:25:35,599 --> 00:25:39,799
his spectacles. The girl touched her throat with an unconscious gesture.

424
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:44,359
Yes you are, she cried impulsively, You are indeed, And

425
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,119
before Uncle Noah had quite time to adjust himself to

426
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:49,799
the joy of his unique sale, the girl thrust a

427
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:52,319
roll of bills into his hands and disappeared through the

428
00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:59,960
station door. Chapter four Christmas Intrigue. Uncle Noah hobbled after her.

429
00:26:00,079 --> 00:26:02,799
Her his new mistress had quite forgotten to tell him

430
00:26:02,799 --> 00:26:05,200
where to deliver himself when his Christmas with the Colonel

431
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:07,720
was over. But when he reached the door, she was

432
00:26:07,759 --> 00:26:10,000
eagerly greeting a man who had just alighted from a

433
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,799
waiting carriage. Uncle Noah could but dimly see, but as

434
00:26:13,839 --> 00:26:16,400
the genial voice reached his ears, he halted in the shadow,

435
00:26:16,519 --> 00:26:20,200
quite content it was Major Verney. The fact that the

436
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:22,960
colonel's old friend and neighbor had driven in from Fernlands

437
00:26:23,039 --> 00:26:25,599
to meet the radiant lady, whose great gray eyes Uncle

438
00:26:25,599 --> 00:26:28,960
Noah now recalled had had the Verney look, which endeared

439
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,720
the owner of Fernlands to all who knew him, seemed

440
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:35,279
to the watching Negro a direct interposition of providence. A

441
00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:38,480
scant mile of cotton fields lay between the two plantations,

442
00:26:38,799 --> 00:26:41,799
and Christmas over, Uncle Noah had but to trudge across

443
00:26:41,839 --> 00:26:45,799
the fields to deliver himself to the Major's guest, and

444
00:26:46,039 --> 00:26:51,240
Ruth concluded Major Verney in laughing reprimand you've kept me waiting, why, child?

445
00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:55,240
The Northern Express came in fifteen minutes ago. Uncle Noah

446
00:26:55,279 --> 00:26:58,160
did not catch the girl's reply as Major Verney assisted

447
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:02,039
her into the carriage and they drove rapidly. The old

448
00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:05,759
darky beamed happily after the retreating carriage. Then, with his

449
00:27:05,839 --> 00:27:08,519
hand tightly clasped about the precious roll of green backs

450
00:27:08,559 --> 00:27:11,000
for which he had so willingly bartered his freedom, he

451
00:27:11,079 --> 00:27:14,440
began a tour of the Coatesville stores. When at length

452
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,440
he staggered into the Big Grocery store for his final purchases.

453
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,720
He was laden with a miscellaneous collection of Christmas packages,

454
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:24,640
from which he was cheerfully disentangled by the bulky proprietor himself.

455
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,680
Uncle Noah made a critical pilgrimage about the store, pausing

456
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,480
at last before a counter where the proprietor had laid

457
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,039
out a number of turkeys for the careful inspection of

458
00:27:34,079 --> 00:27:37,319
this beaming shopper about to select an understudy for the

459
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:41,519
incomparable job. A very respectable fowl was presently mantled in

460
00:27:41,559 --> 00:27:44,680
brown paper and laid beside the other bundles, along with

461
00:27:44,759 --> 00:27:48,680
sundry bags of cranberries and apples, oranges and nuts, celery

462
00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:51,839
and raisins, cigars for the kernel, a box of candy

463
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:56,119
for Missus Fairfax, huge bunches of holly and mistletoe, Christmas

464
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:58,480
wreaths for the windows, and a great bag of cracked

465
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:02,200
corn for the reprieved tyrant, gloomily roosting in the ruined hut.

466
00:28:03,599 --> 00:28:06,200
As Uncle Noah carefully counted out the money required to

467
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:11,519
purchase this astonishing outlay, the bulky proprietor asked pleasantly, Uncle Noah,

468
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:13,200
do you happen to know where I can get a

469
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:16,720
good woman to scrub up my store every evening? Uncle

470
00:28:16,759 --> 00:28:20,440
Noah fingered his scarf pin uncertainly. How much do you

471
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,599
pay for the work, he queried? Fifty cents a day.

472
00:28:24,799 --> 00:28:28,960
The negro leaned forward intense expectancy. Do you suspect I

473
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:33,279
could do it? He demanded excitedly. The proprietor, secretly astonished

474
00:28:33,279 --> 00:28:37,000
by the old man's manner, nodded assuringly. Why yes, you

475
00:28:37,039 --> 00:28:41,160
could easily. It's nothing much. But the colonel Colonel don't

476
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:44,119
have foo to know, exclaimed Uncle Noah. I comes yer

477
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:47,000
Mornin's foys up, and I clare to goodness, sir, I

478
00:28:47,119 --> 00:28:51,160
need the money most powerful. The proprietor was easy going

479
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,720
and too phlegmatic to harbor curiosity, so the bargain was

480
00:28:54,759 --> 00:28:59,200
straightway sealed under a pledge of deepest secrecy. Somewhat Confused

481
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:02,519
by the unusual series of events, Uncle Noah, his eyes

482
00:29:02,559 --> 00:29:05,839
shining with a strange excitement, started for the door, quite

483
00:29:05,839 --> 00:29:10,079
forgetting the countless packages on the counter. The proprietor recalled

484
00:29:10,119 --> 00:29:12,640
him with a hearty laugh. Uncle Noah, he called, you've

485
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:16,720
forgotten one or two little bundles here with a smothered gasp.

486
00:29:16,759 --> 00:29:19,680
The old negro hurried back, but try as they would,

487
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,279
room for all the numerous bundles could not be found.

488
00:29:23,119 --> 00:29:26,720
The proprietor energetically tucked bundles into all of Uncle Noah's pockets,

489
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,680
piled them tower fashion upon his arms, and even hung

490
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:32,240
a collection bound together with a string over his shoulder

491
00:29:32,599 --> 00:29:35,680
while Uncle Noah wheezed and groaned and struggled to find

492
00:29:35,759 --> 00:29:39,240
new and unsuspected storage space in his clothes. But still

493
00:29:39,319 --> 00:29:42,480
there remained bundles and bundles, at which Uncle Noah gazed

494
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:46,640
over his spectacles in growing discomfiture. What am I going

495
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,000
to do? He demanded, I never can come all the

496
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,440
way back here in the snow of desire, old legs. Man,

497
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,759
get one of them station cabs, advised the grocer, and so,

498
00:29:56,039 --> 00:30:01,039
after considerable discussion, the bundle problem was resolved. Ten minutes later,

499
00:30:01,359 --> 00:30:03,680
Uncle Noah entered a hired carriage for the first time

500
00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,519
in his life at the town florist's. He rapped a

501
00:30:06,519 --> 00:30:09,839
timid signal to the driver to stop, and, glowing with anticipation,

502
00:30:10,319 --> 00:30:14,359
spryly shuffled into the warm scented air of the little shop. Here,

503
00:30:14,599 --> 00:30:16,920
to the smiling clerk's astonishment, he ordered a bunch of

504
00:30:17,039 --> 00:30:20,160
violets to be delivered Christmas morning to the young lady

505
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:24,279
with the gray eyes. What's at Major Verney's, surely smiled

506
00:30:24,319 --> 00:30:26,960
the clerk. You don't want that on the card. But

507
00:30:27,079 --> 00:30:30,200
Uncle Noah was stubborn more. He insisted on writing the

508
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:34,359
inscription himself, his orthography quite as quaint as his penmanship,

509
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:36,440
and so the card went to be read by the

510
00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:40,079
wonderful gray eyes in the morning. Back through the snow

511
00:30:40,079 --> 00:30:43,720
in his rickety carriage rolled Uncle Noah rattling home along

512
00:30:43,759 --> 00:30:45,720
the snowy road down which he had trudged in the

513
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:49,359
early evening, chuckling now intermittently in a mental rehearsal of

514
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,880
his new plan. Fifty cents a day, he thought, and

515
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:54,559
to morrow I was a going to slip over to

516
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,359
fern Lands in a morning and ask her to let

517
00:30:56,359 --> 00:30:59,400
me buy myself back on a stallment plan. Most likely

518
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:01,640
she'll take a week and with all the rest of

519
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:04,160
that grocer money. Oh, miss don't have to know what

520
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:07,799
the Colonel and me is a goin through. In accordance

521
00:31:07,799 --> 00:31:10,759
with Uncle Noah's whispered directions, the cab crept gently up

522
00:31:10,799 --> 00:31:13,480
the driveway at Briarwood and paused at the kitchen door,

523
00:31:13,559 --> 00:31:15,799
where the driver, who had taken a great fancy to

524
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:20,119
Uncle Noah, became transformed into a benevolent stevedore, tiptoeing in

525
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,119
and out of the kitchen with the bundles which the

526
00:31:22,119 --> 00:31:24,319
old darky drew from the cavernous pit of the cab.

527
00:31:25,599 --> 00:31:29,240
Job's understudy came last, and Uncle Noah, tightly pressing the

528
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:34,079
precious fowl in his arms, watched the carriage drive slowly away. Then,

529
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,440
after an interval in the kitchen, devoted to hiding his purchases,

530
00:31:37,759 --> 00:31:41,000
he sought the library, striving to simulate a decent depression

531
00:31:41,039 --> 00:31:45,839
over the assumed decapitation of Job. Colonel Fairfax looked up

532
00:31:45,839 --> 00:31:50,319
inquiringly as he entered. I's just come to tell you, sir,

533
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:53,519
said Uncle Noah, with a meaning glance at missus Fairfax

534
00:31:54,079 --> 00:31:56,000
that I has a turkey all ready for the oven.

535
00:31:57,200 --> 00:31:59,880
A faint red crept through the Colonel's skin, but he

536
00:32:00,039 --> 00:32:03,960
met the darky's eyes squarely. Thank you, Uncle Noah, he said,

537
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:08,519
and the Negro shuffled hurriedly away in his old rocking

538
00:32:08,599 --> 00:32:11,920
chair by the kitchen fire. Uncle Noah, alert and excited,

539
00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:14,559
waited until he heard the Colonel and Missus Fairfax go

540
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:18,119
up to bed. Then, chuckling to himself, he extinguished the

541
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,640
kitchen lights, and, carrying one of his Christmas bundles, plodded

542
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:25,160
across the field to Job's nocturnal hermitage. The light of

543
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:28,200
a match revealed the tyrant roosting glumly on the summit

544
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:32,119
of a ruined plowshare. As brought you a Christmas surprise,

545
00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:35,079
Messa Job, Fairfax, said Uncle Noah, And he sprinkled the

546
00:32:35,079 --> 00:32:37,599
floor of the hut with corn, that the turkey might

547
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:41,480
find it in the morning. With his heart full of thanksgiving,

548
00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,680
the Negro plodded homeward through the snow. As he reached

549
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,680
the old barn, the great clock in the library struck twelve,

550
00:32:48,079 --> 00:32:50,920
and faintly through the snowy air floated the distant, silvery

551
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:54,400
charms of the Coatsville, bells clear and sweet, ringing in

552
00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,319
a Christmas morning, creeping to bed. Long after the first

553
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,000
rooster had crowed, Uncle Noah had sought the kitchen again

554
00:33:01,079 --> 00:33:05,799
with the sunrise, his tired eyes opening jubilantly upon a snapping,

555
00:33:05,839 --> 00:33:10,920
cold Christmas morning, radiant in gold and white. Downstairs, clusters

556
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:14,400
of holly and mistletoe festooned doors and windows, dotted the

557
00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,559
old fashioned hanging lamps with spots of crimson, and crowned

558
00:33:17,559 --> 00:33:21,440
the family portraits with royal diadems and evergreen wreaths hung

559
00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:24,680
in the windows, all the work of a wrinkled pair

560
00:33:24,799 --> 00:33:29,119
of faithful brown hands toiling while the world slept. In

561
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,160
the library, a blazing wood fire leaped and crackled, while

562
00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:34,799
in the dining room the table was spread for breakfast.

563
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:39,119
Certain long needed articles of china, which had mysteriously disappeared

564
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:42,240
from time to time since the autumn, dotted a tablecloth

565
00:33:42,279 --> 00:33:45,440
free from holes, a new one subjected to a severe

566
00:33:45,519 --> 00:33:48,680
laundry process during the night, and the napkins no longer

567
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:52,559
resembled ku Kluck's masks. A great bowl of purple orchids

568
00:33:52,599 --> 00:33:59,240
glowed at Missus Fairfax's plate. Chapter five Fern lands. The

569
00:33:59,279 --> 00:34:02,039
Colonel greeted the Christmas festoons of Holly in the library

570
00:34:02,039 --> 00:34:05,240
with a stare of astonished approval. A question had risen

571
00:34:05,279 --> 00:34:07,440
to his lips, but the warning look in Uncle Noah's

572
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,280
eyes as they rested on Missus Fairfax had checked it.

573
00:34:11,119 --> 00:34:13,880
These two had had many financial and domestic secrets from

574
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:17,000
the dear Lady, and the Colonel promptly decided that Uncle

575
00:34:17,039 --> 00:34:19,519
Noah had sold some forgotten relic and had once more

576
00:34:19,559 --> 00:34:22,599
made use of his highly developed faculty for expanding a

577
00:34:22,639 --> 00:34:26,880
small sum to incredible elasticity, and he praised the result accordingly.

578
00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:31,960
Missus Fairfax too brightened wonderfully, yielding to the Christmas spirit

579
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:34,320
with which the old Darky had contrived to fill the house.

580
00:34:35,599 --> 00:34:38,639
Uncle Noah felt a glow of delight at their outspoken appreciation,

581
00:34:39,159 --> 00:34:42,559
and bowing elaborately, he ushered his master and mistress to

582
00:34:42,599 --> 00:34:46,280
breakfast here again. As he seated himself, the Colonel was

583
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,559
conscious of an agreeable flood of astonishment. There was quite

584
00:34:49,599 --> 00:34:53,320
an air about this Christmas breakfast. Fixing his keen eyes

585
00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:56,440
on the tablecloth and napkins, he stealthily fingered them with

586
00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:59,840
a searching look at the waiting Negro. Fortunately, his interest

587
00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:02,960
were speedily diverted. He caught sight of the orchids and

588
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:05,239
the tear stained face of his wife, bending over them

589
00:35:05,679 --> 00:35:09,920
with a wrench of his chair. He arose Patricia, He said, stormily,

590
00:35:10,199 --> 00:35:12,719
Did I not say that nothing of his? Did I not?

591
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:17,519
He paused and gulped. Uncle Noah. He added, unsteadily that

592
00:35:17,679 --> 00:35:19,599
turkey of yours is gobbling like a fiend out of

593
00:35:19,599 --> 00:35:25,440
the window. You he The colonel stopped, abruptly, reddened as

594
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,400
his eyes fell upon the Negro. Uncle Noah had wisely

595
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:33,079
turned away and sternly reseated himself. Somewhat confused by his

596
00:35:33,159 --> 00:35:38,840
thoughtless reference to the late lamented job, Uncle Noah hobbled

597
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:42,559
from the room, his brown face working convulsively. In the kitchen,

598
00:35:42,599 --> 00:35:46,599
he shook with silent laughter, doubling over breathlessly and clasping

599
00:35:46,639 --> 00:35:50,639
his hands over his stomach in aching distress. And what,

600
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:53,599
Uncle Noah asked the colonel kindly, as the old Negro

601
00:35:53,639 --> 00:35:56,320
presently re entered the dining room, have we for our

602
00:35:56,400 --> 00:36:01,320
Christmas breakfast? Well, sir? Uncle Noah began luinley. We has

603
00:36:01,679 --> 00:36:07,559
grapefruit cereal with cream, quail on toast, fried oysters, er, oatmeal,

604
00:36:07,679 --> 00:36:12,719
hot muffins, fried chicken, com bread and coffee. The colonel,

605
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:16,400
appearing to be thoughtfully considering his choice, replied, as usual,

606
00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:19,000
it all sounds delicious, Uncle Noah, but I have a

607
00:36:19,039 --> 00:36:22,199
touch of my old enemy dyspepsia today. I think I

608
00:36:22,199 --> 00:36:24,440
shall have some corn bread and coffee, and so will

609
00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:29,000
missus Fairfax. I don't think you quite understand, mess Sir averred,

610
00:36:29,039 --> 00:36:32,360
Uncle Noah, and Sir, I suspect yer dyspepsia ain't so

611
00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:36,440
bad this morning. We has for breakfast, sir, grapefruit cereal

612
00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:41,800
with cream, quail on toast, fried oysters, er, oatmeal, fried chicken,

613
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:45,400
hot muffins, corn bread and coffee. There was no mistaking

614
00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:48,960
in the emphasis this time. Colonel Fairfax darted a lightning

615
00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:51,239
glance at the negro and amended his selection with a

616
00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:54,559
question in his voice. Well, now, I come to think

617
00:36:54,599 --> 00:36:57,639
of it, Uncle Noah, he said, my dyspepsia isn't nearly

618
00:36:57,679 --> 00:37:02,800
so bad. I'll have a let me see oatmeal that

619
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:06,639
was in the list. I believe h fried chicken, Am

620
00:37:06,639 --> 00:37:12,159
I right? Muffins, corn bread and coffee. There was a

621
00:37:12,159 --> 00:37:15,599
conviction in the colonel's deep voice that something extraordinary was afoot,

622
00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:19,159
and Uncle Noah, flurried by its ominous ring, hurried from

623
00:37:19,159 --> 00:37:23,000
the room. Dimly he had pictured his master's gracious astonishment

624
00:37:23,039 --> 00:37:26,239
and pleasure. Any queries relative to the financial source of

625
00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:29,320
the Christmas delicacies, however, had been lost entirely in the

626
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:34,639
darky's jubilant excitement. Now, he groaned in dismay. Yo is

627
00:37:34,639 --> 00:37:37,880
in a mess for sure, Uncle Noah, he apostrophised himself,

628
00:37:38,239 --> 00:37:39,880
What do you do when it come time for dinner?

629
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:42,440
Here you has a Christmas dinner fit for a king

630
00:37:42,679 --> 00:37:44,920
and a colonel. He know right well that we has

631
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:46,440
only a little left from the money and what we

632
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:50,599
don't get when we sold a silver teapot. It was Christmas, however,

633
00:37:50,679 --> 00:37:53,400
and Uncle Noah felt convinced that the providence that had

634
00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:55,960
watched so well over his Christmas Eve would order a

635
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:59,960
special dispensation for his new dilemma while awaiting its manifestation,

636
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:02,679
and he would studiously avoid the Colonel and would slip

637
00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:05,719
across to Fernlands once the pseudo job was safe in

638
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,320
the oven, and begged the gray eyed lady to accept

639
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:10,480
a dollar a week of the grocer's money. In his

640
00:38:10,559 --> 00:38:15,280
inspired scheme of self redemption. With this in mind, Uncle

641
00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:18,239
Noah served the breakfast, hurried his preparations for the mid

642
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:21,239
day feast, and at five minutes of eleven the turkey,

643
00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:24,840
safely roasting, set out across the fields for Major Verney's.

644
00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:28,960
At Fernland's, the eleven strokes of the grandfather's clock in

645
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,119
the great Hall found the gray eyed lady in the

646
00:38:31,239 --> 00:38:33,800
arms of a young fellow, who had but that instant,

647
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:36,320
bounded lightly up the walk from the sleigh. Major Verney

648
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:40,760
had dispatched to Coatesville to meet the Northern Express. The Major,

649
00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:44,280
smilingly awaiting his opportunity to greet the newcomer, ran his

650
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:46,960
eye approvingly over the lines of the well knit figure

651
00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:51,280
and handsome face of the young man. Well dick, said

652
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:54,480
the Major, advancing with outstretched hand, as the girl flushed

653
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,239
prettily and smoothed back the dark mist of hair from

654
00:38:57,239 --> 00:39:01,159
her forehead. How are you, my boy? Busy? Of course,

655
00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:04,960
we read fine things of you in the papers at times. Then,

656
00:39:05,039 --> 00:39:07,960
as the young man took off his overcoat, what, sir,

657
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,320
the Major, inquired, do you mean by falling in love

658
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:13,159
with my only niece? Here? My brother writes me that

659
00:39:13,239 --> 00:39:15,199
his daughter is engaged to a man who knows me,

660
00:39:15,559 --> 00:39:17,960
and will I pack off a car load of testimonials

661
00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:20,960
by a special messenger endorsing the little rascal who used

662
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:25,559
to steal my apples. What, sir, do you mean well,

663
00:39:25,639 --> 00:39:28,199
Major Dick answered, as he was ushered into the big

664
00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:31,840
living room, his laughing eyes alight with happiness. She had

665
00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:34,440
the verny eyes, and you remember I always liked them.

666
00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:37,679
He sank into a chair by Ruth with a smiling

667
00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:41,400
glance at the Major. It is unusually cold for down here.

668
00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,320
There's a real bracing northern sting in the air, and

669
00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:47,119
what a snow. It's packed down so that the runners

670
00:39:47,119 --> 00:39:51,719
fairly flew. Major, do sit down. The Major was still

671
00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:54,480
bustling about, urging Ruth into another chair by the fire,

672
00:39:54,519 --> 00:39:57,679
that he himself might sit by Dick, poking energetically at

673
00:39:57,679 --> 00:40:00,480
the blazing logs and firing a volley of direct at

674
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:05,480
black Sam there, he exclaimed, finally seating himself. Now, Sir,

675
00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:08,760
relative to this infatuated young person on my left, who

676
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:11,360
has condescended to visit her uncle for the first time

677
00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:14,000
since she arrived on the planet, I met her last night.

678
00:40:14,039 --> 00:40:17,159
According to telegraphed instructions and she kept me waiting. Let

679
00:40:17,159 --> 00:40:20,960
me see, Uncle, protested, ruth you've added fifteen minutes to

680
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,199
that weight every time you've mentioned it, my dear child,

681
00:40:24,199 --> 00:40:26,800
politeness alone has kept me from naming the full extent

682
00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:29,840
of my weight, If you please, sir, He turned to Dick.

683
00:40:30,119 --> 00:40:32,000
She was in the clutches of a beggar who obtained

684
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:36,800
twenty five dollars by a most extraordinary yarn. Twenty five dollars,

685
00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:39,880
Dick whistled, smiling at the flush that crept up to

686
00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:42,800
the gray eyes. Was it an aged father this time

687
00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:46,840
or a hungry brood of motherless waifs Ruthie, Dick listen,

688
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:50,039
cried the girl. Uncle misjudges him. It was a dear

689
00:40:50,079 --> 00:40:52,760
old colored man, and he told me the strangest story.

690
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:55,920
You don't often find a grateful beggar who sends you

691
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:58,719
violets in the morning, purchased with some of your own, shekels, said,

692
00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:02,000
the major, pinching the flushed cheek. Tell him, Ruthie, it

693
00:41:02,079 --> 00:41:04,039
was odd, and I believe I'd have done the same

694
00:41:04,079 --> 00:41:07,599
thing myself. The girl flashed a grateful look at him,

695
00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:09,679
and then told the story of her purchase of the

696
00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:12,960
night before, so eloquently that The Major and Dick heard

697
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:16,480
her through with sober faces, secretly touched by its pathos,

698
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:19,800
and he must have recognized Uncle. She ended for the

699
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:23,719
violets came this morning with the quaintest card. For an instant,

700
00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:26,920
she dreamily scanned the fire, seeing in its glowing embers,

701
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:30,360
the brown wrinkled Negro face with its honest eyes, peering

702
00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:34,000
at her over his spectacles in troubled apprehension. Then she

703
00:41:34,079 --> 00:41:37,639
sprang to her feet. Uncle Edward, she cried, did you

704
00:41:37,679 --> 00:41:40,360
tell Uncle Neb to wait with the sleigh? Those sleigh

705
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:44,559
bells are beginning to sound hysterical merciful goodness, cried the Major.

706
00:41:44,599 --> 00:41:47,239
I certainly did. I had the strictest commands to drive

707
00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:50,440
into church for Mother Vernie at eleven o'clock. Hi, Sam,

708
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:53,159
you black rascal. Tell Uncle Neb. I'll be right out.

709
00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:56,840
I'll tell him. Uncle called Ruth, flying swiftly up the

710
00:41:56,840 --> 00:42:00,199
long hall to the library window, But no clear call

711
00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:02,920
went ringing over the snow to Uncle Neb. Instead, there

712
00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:05,480
was silence, broken at length by a voice that called

713
00:42:05,519 --> 00:42:10,039
softly in great excitement, Dick, Uncle Edward, do come here. Look,

714
00:42:10,559 --> 00:42:13,119
she cried, as they quickly joined her. You see, Uncle

715
00:42:13,159 --> 00:42:17,320
he didn't forget. Smiling, the two men looked from the window.

716
00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:20,760
An old negro, muffled in a threadbare coat, was plodding

717
00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:24,159
up the walk, his eyes scanning the house with evident curiosity.

718
00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:29,199
The Major uttered a quick exclamation, and the girl wheeled about.

719
00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:32,320
Don't you see, she cried, he's come to day, honest

720
00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:36,760
old fellow that he is. See Dick, She stopped abruptly,

721
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:39,239
looking from one to the other. There was something in

722
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:41,679
the two stern faces staring beyond her at the bent

723
00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:45,079
negro that struck a chill to her heart. Dick's face

724
00:42:45,079 --> 00:42:47,320
had gone white, and the Major's hand had stolen to

725
00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:51,039
the younger man's shoulder, as if to steady him. There

726
00:42:51,079 --> 00:42:53,719
was a startled incredulity in the Major's face as he said,

727
00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:57,480
praise up, old man. You didn't know neither did I?

728
00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:03,360
Ruth Dick asked, unsteadily. Is that the old colored man?

729
00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:07,800
Whose whose master? Yes? Cried the girl, the sharp pain

730
00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:10,800
of premonition in her voice. Oh, Dick, who is he?

731
00:43:12,079 --> 00:43:17,039
Dick's miserable eyes sought hers as he answered, it's it's

732
00:43:17,159 --> 00:43:21,280
Dad's uncle. Noah, Ruth I. He turned and sought the hall.

733
00:43:22,599 --> 00:43:26,280
Ruth's face flamed at his words. Uncle Noah's pathetic story

734
00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:28,960
came crowding over her again in the light of Dick's revelation.

735
00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:33,679
His father and mother, the stern old Colonel, of whom

736
00:43:33,719 --> 00:43:37,079
Dick always spoke with such respectful loyalty in spite of

737
00:43:37,119 --> 00:43:40,360
their quarrel, and the dear mother, whose tender eyes, gazing

738
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:43,320
from the old fashioned to geratype Dick always carried, had

739
00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:47,079
made her choke with sudden tears. These two were Uncle

740
00:43:47,119 --> 00:43:51,800
Noah's beloved Old Massa and old miss She turned. The

741
00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:54,960
Major had followed Dick to the hallway. A shuffling step

742
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,320
sounded on the porch outside, and the girl hurried towards

743
00:43:57,320 --> 00:43:59,760
the door, a sudden light of daring in her eyes.

744
00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:03,960
Impulse had always ruled the Verney's, and Ruth was a vernie,

745
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:05,800
from the crown of her dark head to the tips

746
00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:09,280
of her small feet. Catching up Grandmother Verney's long cloak

747
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:13,519
hanging over a chair, she softly left the house. Dick,

748
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:16,440
struggling into his overcoat, turned at the Major's touch on

749
00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:20,360
his arm. Just a minute Dick. Major Verney's genial voice

750
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:23,639
was sympathetic as a woman's. Remember that what the colonel

751
00:44:23,679 --> 00:44:27,280
refused in prosperity, he's not likely to take in adversity.

752
00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:30,159
Sit down here by the fire until we talk it over.

753
00:44:31,599 --> 00:44:33,599
But Major, there was a note of anguish in the

754
00:44:33,639 --> 00:44:36,639
boy's voice. I must go to him. Think of Uncle

755
00:44:36,679 --> 00:44:41,360
Noah's selling himself to help them and and I. But

756
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,119
the Major had already removed the overcoat and gently pushed

757
00:44:44,119 --> 00:44:47,320
his guests into a chair by the fire. Yes, yes,

758
00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:50,159
he said, as he seated himself. We know all about that,

759
00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:53,079
my boy. But I'm afraid Dick. He added, regretfully that

760
00:44:53,159 --> 00:44:57,320
the Colonel wouldn't let you in. He's very bitter. Dick groaned.

761
00:44:57,679 --> 00:45:00,760
He was calmer. Now, you're right, Major, he said steadily.

762
00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:04,039
It hurts so at first that I didn't think I

763
00:45:04,159 --> 00:45:09,400
can't go. Now he leaned forward anxiously. The coats fill bank,

764
00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:15,320
he questioned, abruptly crashed in the autumn in September. Dick

765
00:45:15,360 --> 00:45:19,079
bit his lip, and the Major added he was heavily interested.

766
00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:23,199
Dick stared at the fire. It was all he had,

767
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:28,920
he said, I see. The Major's quiet voice gave no

768
00:45:29,039 --> 00:45:32,920
hint of his own emotion. I didn't know, of course,

769
00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:35,800
I'd heard he lost something. But we all did, but

770
00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:41,119
I thought he had other money. No, tell me, Major,

771
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:43,760
you've been going to Briarwood this winter, just as usual,

772
00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:47,800
of course, every Wednesday night. The Colonel and I are

773
00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:50,559
too old to alter the habit of a lifetime. And besides,

774
00:45:50,599 --> 00:45:53,719
we both loved that long evening playing chess. There's always

775
00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:56,039
a roaring wood fire and a steaming pot of coffee,

776
00:45:56,199 --> 00:45:58,639
and your mother always plays Beethoven for us. Just before

777
00:45:58,639 --> 00:46:02,239
I go, a look of relief shone in Dick's eyes.

778
00:46:03,519 --> 00:46:07,719
Always a fire, he repeated. I'm glad of that. There

779
00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:12,960
was no suggestion of I've want Heavens. No, The Major's

780
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:16,599
deep voice was full of assurance. Last week, he added, thoughtfully,

781
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:19,360
the coffee was pretty weak, But it never occurred to

782
00:46:19,400 --> 00:46:22,840
me that he stopped. Abruptly, rose from his chair with

783
00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:25,760
sudden energy, violently blew his nose, and tramped down to

784
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:28,239
the end of the hall and back. Damn the fair

785
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:31,559
Fax Pride, he exclaimed fiercely. Here, Uncle Noah has been

786
00:46:31,559 --> 00:46:34,280
coming into the library Wednesday nights and telling the Colonel

787
00:46:34,320 --> 00:46:36,360
that the stock had all been bedded down for the night,

788
00:46:36,599 --> 00:46:38,360
when all the time there's been nothing left but this

789
00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:41,559
confounded old Turkey gobble we've been hearing about. He swore

790
00:46:41,639 --> 00:46:45,079
last week that somebody had stolen the silver teapot. Abominable

791
00:46:45,119 --> 00:46:48,079
old liar, he must have sold it. The Major threw

792
00:46:48,119 --> 00:46:51,320
out his arms with a wrathful gesture. All this comedy,

793
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:54,039
if you please from my benefit here. I've been there

794
00:46:54,119 --> 00:46:57,480
every week and never suspected thanks to the infernal stratagems

795
00:46:57,480 --> 00:46:59,960
of that black fiend of an uncle. Noah, damn the

796
00:47:00,119 --> 00:47:04,119
Fairfax pride. The Major sat down as suddenly as he

797
00:47:04,159 --> 00:47:07,639
had risen, and bending over, attacked the fire with vicious energy.

798
00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:11,519
Tell me, Major, Dick presently asked, have you ever mentioned

799
00:47:11,519 --> 00:47:15,440
me to the Colonel since I went north? Once? The

800
00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:20,320
Major made a wry face. I never tried again, Dick colored,

801
00:47:21,159 --> 00:47:24,840
does he know about Ruth? No? I dared not mention it.

802
00:47:25,239 --> 00:47:28,519
The Major looked at the other intently. Dick, He said,

803
00:47:28,719 --> 00:47:33,320
what was this quarrel all about? Anyway? In the beginning,

804
00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:37,559
Major admitted, the young man flushing, it was so childish,

805
00:47:37,559 --> 00:47:40,519
I'm ashamed to speak of it. Out with it, commanded

806
00:47:40,519 --> 00:47:45,519
the Major. I won't be hoodwinked by a Fairfax any longer, well, sir,

807
00:47:45,559 --> 00:47:49,440
if you must know, it was about the war, the war,

808
00:47:49,719 --> 00:47:53,000
exploded the Major. By God, sir, what about the war?

809
00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:56,639
Dad and I were talking it over and well, to

810
00:47:56,719 --> 00:47:58,639
be frank, Major, I said, I thought the North had

811
00:47:58,639 --> 00:48:00,599
been right, and that if I been in the world

812
00:48:00,639 --> 00:48:02,719
at the time, I would have fought with them despite

813
00:48:02,719 --> 00:48:06,159
my Kinsman, go on, did you fight in any other

814
00:48:06,239 --> 00:48:09,280
post mortem wars? The Revolution or the fall of Rome?

815
00:48:10,119 --> 00:48:13,599
Dick ignored the sarcasm. My sympathy for the North made

816
00:48:13,639 --> 00:48:16,519
him furious. He went on, we quarreled terribly, and both

817
00:48:16,559 --> 00:48:18,719
of us said things that I know we didn't mean.

818
00:48:19,280 --> 00:48:23,039
It was the Fairfax temper, Sir, I damn the Fairfax temper,

819
00:48:23,119 --> 00:48:26,880
roared the Major. Thank Heavens, the Verneys are mild. Dick

820
00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:31,199
laughed in spite of himself. I apologized, he continued soberly,

821
00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:33,840
but he wouldn't listen. Told me to get out, said

822
00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:35,880
if I chose to change my opinions about the North,

823
00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:39,880
we'd talk it over, and I of course refused. Of course,

824
00:48:40,039 --> 00:48:44,000
interpolated the Major trimly I've written since, suggesting that we

825
00:48:44,039 --> 00:48:46,639
forget it all and start anew But he won't listen, Sir.

826
00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:51,280
The Major stroked his beard ominously. Did it ever occur?

827
00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:54,440
To you, Dick. He demanded that enough families were estranged

828
00:48:54,480 --> 00:48:57,519
by that war without carrying it over into the twentieth century.

829
00:48:58,280 --> 00:49:00,719
Let me see how long after the war were you born?

830
00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:04,440
Twenty years, wasn't it. I remember your father and Ruths

831
00:49:04,440 --> 00:49:07,639
were married about the same time. Every man has a

832
00:49:07,679 --> 00:49:10,960
right to his opinions. Major Dick asserted with spirit. Of course,

833
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:14,400
I've no personal knowledge of the war, but stubbornly the

834
00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:18,199
North was right Fairfax to the corps, thought the Major,

835
00:49:18,239 --> 00:49:22,760
in secret admiration. The boys is father all over again? Well, Dick,

836
00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:25,440
he said mildly. We older men of the South feel

837
00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:28,679
a little differently about this war. But my boy, these

838
00:49:28,719 --> 00:49:32,480
post bellum disputes don't pay, particularly when one participant was

839
00:49:32,519 --> 00:49:35,679
born long after the guns were quiet. In my opinion,

840
00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:37,920
you didn't know enough about the war to quarrel over it.

841
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:41,840
Great Scott, quarreling over the war, Dick, you deserve to

842
00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:45,920
be spanked. The jingle of sleigh bells rang blithely through

843
00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:48,800
the silence that followed, and the Major sprang to his feet.

844
00:49:49,559 --> 00:49:52,639
Merciful heavens, he exclaimed, staring at his watch. It's twelve o'clock.

845
00:49:52,960 --> 00:49:55,519
That must be Uncle Neb still waiting, and Grandmother Verney's

846
00:49:55,519 --> 00:49:58,400
probably standing on the church porch. Yet mad as a hornet,

847
00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:01,159
he was at the door now calling wildly to the

848
00:50:01,199 --> 00:50:04,239
Negro Uncle Neb, why under the canopy didn't you call me?

849
00:50:05,079 --> 00:50:08,599
The darky? Scratched his head, Messa Edward, he confessed, I

850
00:50:08,639 --> 00:50:11,039
ain't been here. I just drove Missy Ruth over to

851
00:50:11,039 --> 00:50:14,800
Briarwood with Uncle Noah to see Colonel Fairfax. The Major

852
00:50:14,880 --> 00:50:18,199
summoned Dick in great excitement. Dick, he exclaimed, get into

853
00:50:18,199 --> 00:50:20,119
your overcoat as fast as you can and drive over

854
00:50:20,119 --> 00:50:22,599
to Briarwood with Uncle Neb. Ruth's gone ahead of you,

855
00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:25,239
and you couldn't have a better deputy short of an angel.

856
00:50:26,199 --> 00:50:28,840
Dick wrung the Major's hand and fled to the waiting sleigh,

857
00:50:28,880 --> 00:50:32,000
the color flooding his face, and Uncle Neb called the

858
00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:35,159
Major frantically, hurry back, or grandmother Vernie will be tramping

859
00:50:35,159 --> 00:50:39,199
home in the snow. Rheumatism or no rheumatism. With a

860
00:50:39,199 --> 00:50:41,800
wild jingle of bells that seemed to Dick the hysterical

861
00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:47,800
echo of his own heartbeats, the sleigh was off Chapter six,

862
00:50:47,880 --> 00:50:52,760
The Colonel's Christmas at briarwood. The colonel wrought to a

863
00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:56,320
high tension of excitement by the mysterious flood of Christmas prosperity,

864
00:50:56,519 --> 00:50:59,480
of which the latest manifestation had been a fresh newspaper

865
00:50:59,519 --> 00:51:02,639
dated the night before, surmounted by a cigar of no

866
00:51:02,800 --> 00:51:06,840
mean label, had been vainly searching for Uncle Noah, bewildered

867
00:51:06,840 --> 00:51:09,400
by the darky's odd vagaries, which had culminated in the

868
00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:13,440
culprit's disappearance. Just as the Colonel had returned to the library,

869
00:51:13,719 --> 00:51:16,039
drawn his favorite chair up to the cheerful blaze of

870
00:51:16,039 --> 00:51:19,159
the wood fire, and opened his favorite volume. A door

871
00:51:19,199 --> 00:51:21,880
in the rear of the house shut softly, and convinced

872
00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:24,639
that Uncle Noah had returned, the Colonel closed his book

873
00:51:24,639 --> 00:51:27,920
and adjusted his glasses, determined to have an immediate reckoning

874
00:51:27,960 --> 00:51:31,519
with the author of all this Christmas cheer. A light

875
00:51:31,639 --> 00:51:34,840
step sounded behind his chair, and the colonel turned, quite

876
00:51:34,840 --> 00:51:38,079
prime for an altercation. In an instant, however, the old

877
00:51:38,119 --> 00:51:40,679
man was on his feet, bowing grandly in spite of

878
00:51:40,719 --> 00:51:44,400
his astonishment. A girl stood in the doorway, her cloak

879
00:51:44,440 --> 00:51:48,159
falling loosely about her figure. Her cheeks were blazing scarlet

880
00:51:48,199 --> 00:51:50,880
from the cold, and the deep gray eyes, fringed in black,

881
00:51:51,199 --> 00:51:56,239
bore something in their warm depths that stirred familiar memories, Colonel,

882
00:51:56,360 --> 00:51:59,960
she said, stretching out a slim white hand. I'm Ruth Vernie,

883
00:52:00,079 --> 00:52:03,159
Major Edward's niece. I've just driven one of your servants

884
00:52:03,960 --> 00:52:07,039
rare tact was but one of the Verney charms over

885
00:52:07,079 --> 00:52:09,039
from Fernland's, and I thought you wouldn't mind if I

886
00:52:09,119 --> 00:52:13,000
ran in for an instant to enjoy your fire. Why child,

887
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:16,079
the colonel cried, forgetting all else in his delight. You

888
00:52:16,159 --> 00:52:20,559
must be Walter Verney's daughter. Ruth smilingly nodded. I knew it,

889
00:52:20,639 --> 00:52:23,559
he went on, you have his eyes. Sit down here.

890
00:52:23,679 --> 00:52:26,000
I knew your father well when we were boys. He

891
00:52:26,079 --> 00:52:30,280
and I were inseparable. He paused, and added simply, that

892
00:52:30,480 --> 00:52:34,599
was before the war. The dark lashes veiled for an instant,

893
00:52:34,639 --> 00:52:37,599
a certain excitement in the gray eyes. I'm down for

894
00:52:37,679 --> 00:52:40,920
Christmas with Uncle Edward, Ruth explained, And before the colonel

895
00:52:40,920 --> 00:52:43,320
had fully realized that they were chatting happily together like

896
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:48,119
old friends, suddenly the girl exclaimed, Colonel Fairfax, I know

897
00:52:48,199 --> 00:52:49,960
you'll be glad to hear that dad and the Major

898
00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:53,920
are friends again. Indeed, I am agreed the colonel heartily.

899
00:52:54,320 --> 00:52:55,840
In the old days, we would have laughed at the

900
00:52:55,880 --> 00:52:57,920
man who could possibly have suggested a quarrel for the

901
00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:01,719
Verney twins. Nothing but a cruel war could have done it,

902
00:53:01,760 --> 00:53:04,440
said the girl quietly. What does it matter now, she

903
00:53:04,519 --> 00:53:07,480
demanded impetuously. If Daddy did fight for the North and

904
00:53:07,519 --> 00:53:10,119
the Major for the South, it's all so long ago

905
00:53:10,159 --> 00:53:13,519
that a quarrel about it is foolish. The colonel cleared

906
00:53:13,519 --> 00:53:18,920
his throat. Yes, it is foolish, she admitted. You see,

907
00:53:19,159 --> 00:53:21,960
Ruth leaned eagerly forward. I met a man who knew

908
00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:24,280
the Major, and he praised him so highly that I

909
00:53:24,360 --> 00:53:26,920
lay awake all one night thinking what a pity it

910
00:53:27,079 --> 00:53:29,480
was that two such splendid men as Daddy and his

911
00:53:29,559 --> 00:53:32,760
brother should still be enemies over an old, bygone war.

912
00:53:33,480 --> 00:53:36,000
You know, Colonel, they would have been friends ages ago,

913
00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:38,599
only each was too proud to make the first advance.

914
00:53:39,119 --> 00:53:43,320
Wasn't it foolish? The colonel nodded, carefully, shading his eyes

915
00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:47,280
from the fire. They were just wasting precious years of companionship,

916
00:53:47,280 --> 00:53:49,719
went on the girl. That thought came to me as

917
00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:52,000
I lay awake in bed and the very next morning,

918
00:53:52,039 --> 00:53:54,880
I wrote to the Major. You see, Colonel Fairfax, I

919
00:53:54,960 --> 00:53:58,079
feel this way. She explained, there's no north and no south.

920
00:53:58,519 --> 00:54:01,440
Daddy and the Major are so citizens of the United States.

921
00:54:02,519 --> 00:54:05,760
The Colonel rose and busied himself about the fire. When

922
00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:07,960
he put back the tongs and re seated himself, his

923
00:54:08,039 --> 00:54:11,360
cheeks were hot from its blazing warmth. And that's what

924
00:54:11,440 --> 00:54:13,599
I told Uncle Edward in the letter, and Colonel he

925
00:54:13,639 --> 00:54:15,760
wrote me such a glorious letter back that I had

926
00:54:15,760 --> 00:54:18,320
to show it to Daddy. He was delighted, and he

927
00:54:18,360 --> 00:54:20,280
said that any two men who fought over the battles

928
00:54:20,320 --> 00:54:24,079
of a dead war were old fools. Colonel Fairfax winced,

929
00:54:25,039 --> 00:54:28,480
so finished the girl with glowing eyes. Uncle Edward came

930
00:54:28,559 --> 00:54:31,159
rushing north in a great state of excitement. And that's

931
00:54:31,199 --> 00:54:34,360
how I came to be down here over Christmas. In

932
00:54:34,440 --> 00:54:37,880
her impetuous criticism of the wartime quarrel that had separated

933
00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:40,840
the Verney twins for more than forty years and the

934
00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:45,079
expression of her broad, impulsive patriotism, Colonel Fairfax had listened

935
00:54:45,119 --> 00:54:48,440
to certain truths which had long been subconsciously germinating in

936
00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:51,679
his own mind. Before he could recover from the surprise

937
00:54:51,760 --> 00:54:54,800
of finding that he agreed with her. Ruth, touched by

938
00:54:54,840 --> 00:54:57,440
the lines of care, graven upon his fine old face,

939
00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:00,800
had caught her breath with a little sob slipped from

940
00:55:00,800 --> 00:55:03,639
her place by the fire, and was kneeling beside his chair,

941
00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:07,159
her eyes starry with light, her lovely face glorified with

942
00:55:07,199 --> 00:55:11,880
its tender appeal. Colonel. She cried a catch in her voice,

943
00:55:12,800 --> 00:55:15,280
I'm going to marry Dick. It was he who praised

944
00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:20,159
Uncle Edward, so the colonel's face grew scarlet. Then he

945
00:55:20,239 --> 00:55:24,320
laid a trembling hand upon the girl's bowed head. Child,

946
00:55:24,400 --> 00:55:30,440
He said, you you. Tears blinded his eyes, and he stopped.

947
00:55:31,519 --> 00:55:33,559
In the silence that followed, came the sharp sound of

948
00:55:33,599 --> 00:55:37,519
a quick footfall. The colonel looked up. Dick Fairfax stood

949
00:55:37,559 --> 00:55:40,239
in the doorway, his eyes burning strangely in the white

950
00:55:40,239 --> 00:55:44,400
misery of his face. The father rose and straightened himself

951
00:55:44,400 --> 00:55:47,800
with something of his old stern dignity, but at a warm,

952
00:55:47,880 --> 00:55:52,880
girlish touch. He gulped. Dick, he said, queerly, holding out

953
00:55:52,880 --> 00:55:57,679
a trembling hand. We're we're both citizens of the United States,

954
00:55:57,760 --> 00:56:02,639
and it's Christmas Day. Almost before he had finished, the

955
00:56:02,639 --> 00:56:05,480
boy had bounded across the floor and wrung the outstretched hand,

956
00:56:05,760 --> 00:56:09,679
his face radiant with delight by the fire. Ruth cried softly,

957
00:56:09,719 --> 00:56:12,320
and the Colonel gently patted her dark head, his eyes

958
00:56:12,400 --> 00:56:16,239
full of tenderness, then taking refuge from the sharp pain

959
00:56:16,280 --> 00:56:20,199
of his emotion. In austere command, Dick, he said, sternly,

960
00:56:20,480 --> 00:56:24,199
go to your mother. When Uncle Noah, in a state

961
00:56:24,239 --> 00:56:27,840
of beatification impossible to describe, summoned the four to the

962
00:56:27,880 --> 00:56:31,400
wonderful Christmas dinner, Colonel Fairfax was eagerly listening to the

963
00:56:31,440 --> 00:56:34,559
tales of Dick's success as told by Ruth, and Dick

964
00:56:34,639 --> 00:56:37,480
was gently patting his mother's gray hair, a halo of

965
00:56:37,519 --> 00:56:41,280
silver crowning a face radiant with happiness, a Christmas quartet

966
00:56:41,519 --> 00:56:45,199
whose reconciliation. Uncle Noah could as yet but imperfectly comprehend

967
00:56:45,920 --> 00:56:48,320
that he had been the unconscious instrument of it all.

968
00:56:48,599 --> 00:56:51,760
The gray eyed lady had already told him, but Uncle Noah,

969
00:56:51,800 --> 00:56:54,960
busy with numberless culinary problems in the kitchen, had not

970
00:56:55,079 --> 00:56:58,920
as yet had time to ferret it out. At four o'clock,

971
00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:01,480
Major Verney, who had been restrained from dashing over to

972
00:57:01,519 --> 00:57:04,760
Briarwood hours before only by the necessity of soothing the

973
00:57:04,840 --> 00:57:07,679
ruffled feelings of his irate mother after her long wait

974
00:57:07,760 --> 00:57:10,280
for a belated sleigh on the porch of the Coatsville Church,

975
00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:13,800
blustered in, with the aggrieved old lady upon his arm.

976
00:57:14,159 --> 00:57:17,440
We've come to supper, announced the Major no Dick, as

977
00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:19,719
the Colonel rose, sit down. I know all about it,

978
00:57:19,800 --> 00:57:22,119
and to night you're all going back to Fernland's with

979
00:57:22,199 --> 00:57:25,840
me to celebrate the betrothal of these two youngsters. It

980
00:57:25,920 --> 00:57:27,840
has been a day of mystery, as the Colonel said,

981
00:57:28,119 --> 00:57:30,360
but will someone please tell me what Uncle Noah was

982
00:57:30,400 --> 00:57:32,920
doing over at Fernland's this morning when he was needed here?

983
00:57:34,320 --> 00:57:37,400
A silence fell over the little group. The subject was

984
00:57:37,440 --> 00:57:41,280
one whose delicacy forbade the ghost of a blunder. It

985
00:57:41,400 --> 00:57:43,400
was the Major who at last drew his old friend

986
00:57:43,440 --> 00:57:46,400
into the deep window recess, where but the night before

987
00:57:46,480 --> 00:57:49,440
he had watched Uncle Noah pursuing the elusive job, and

988
00:57:49,559 --> 00:57:52,480
told him the story of the faithful old Negro's Christmas Eve.

989
00:57:53,679 --> 00:57:57,559
The Colonel listened intently, the snowy landscape outside growing blurred

990
00:57:57,599 --> 00:57:59,920
and misty, as the record of the old man's devotion

991
00:58:00,159 --> 00:58:04,239
gradually unfolded. Before the Major had finished. The Colonel's hand

992
00:58:04,239 --> 00:58:06,559
had crept to the bell at his side, and as

993
00:58:06,599 --> 00:58:10,119
the darky shuffling footsteps echoed along the corridor, he turned

994
00:58:10,119 --> 00:58:12,880
again and stared with unseeing eyes at the outline of

995
00:58:12,920 --> 00:58:16,360
the old barn. Dick shifted the log and a crimson

996
00:58:16,400 --> 00:58:19,920
glow irradiated the old library, making a halo of soft

997
00:58:19,960 --> 00:58:22,280
fire about the figure of the old darky as he

998
00:58:22,320 --> 00:58:26,639
paused before his master, Uncle Noah said the colonel brokenly.

999
00:58:27,400 --> 00:58:30,800
I but his voice failed him, and he wrung the

1000
00:58:30,800 --> 00:58:34,639
old man's hand in silence. The Major bent and whispered

1001
00:58:34,639 --> 00:58:36,880
a few swift words to the startled darky, and a

1002
00:58:36,920 --> 00:58:40,519
great light illumined the brown face. Don't you go for

1003
00:58:40,679 --> 00:58:43,639
to thank me, massa Dick, he crooned, patting the colonel's

1004
00:58:43,639 --> 00:58:47,599
hand with reverent devotion. I ain't worth it all I need, sir,

1005
00:58:48,039 --> 00:58:51,360
is just a good kick for disobeying orders specks. I

1006
00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:54,079
don't understand it all, but I does know, sir, that

1007
00:58:54,199 --> 00:58:56,599
the lady with the gray eyes what's at Major Verney's

1008
00:58:56,679 --> 00:59:00,679
is is a good fairy. Sir, and Colonel Desmas Supper

1009
00:59:00,679 --> 00:59:05,480
am ready joyously. They filed out, Dick lingering in the

1010
00:59:05,480 --> 00:59:09,119
firelight for a word with Ruth. Grandmother Verney, in high

1011
00:59:09,159 --> 00:59:11,840
good humor, went out on the Colonel's arm. The grievance

1012
00:59:11,880 --> 00:59:14,800
of the morning's belated sleigh quite forgotten in the genial

1013
00:59:14,840 --> 00:59:19,159
warmth of the Fairfax hospitality. And what, Uncle Noah asked

1014
00:59:19,199 --> 00:59:21,559
the Colonel of the Old Darky? As usual? Have we

1015
00:59:21,679 --> 00:59:26,239
to night for supper? Well, Sir, beamed Uncle Noah. We

1016
00:59:26,400 --> 00:59:30,119
has ham and turkey and cranberry sauce and celert and

1017
00:59:30,239 --> 00:59:33,599
baked apples and mince pie and fruit cake. Am An

1018
00:59:34,159 --> 00:59:38,039
lows A massy massa, I's tooker flustrated to recommember any more.

1019
00:59:38,719 --> 00:59:41,960
We'll have them all, cried the Colonel. A terrific gobbling

1020
00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:44,519
arose beneath the dining room window, and the major rose

1021
00:59:44,559 --> 00:59:48,880
and stared out in astonishment. Merciful goodness, Dickie demanded, what

1022
00:59:49,079 --> 00:59:53,000
is that horrible racket? Lows A massy Massa, cried the

1023
00:59:53,039 --> 00:59:56,079
Old Darky. It's job I let him out. Awhile back,

1024
00:59:56,119 --> 00:59:58,280
Sir an I done forgot to put him to roost.

1025
00:59:58,480 --> 01:00:02,039
I reckon he's come to remind me. And beaming happily

1026
01:00:02,079 --> 01:00:04,639
at the radiant Christmas party, Uncle Noah flung up the

1027
01:00:04,639 --> 01:00:07,360
window and in a terrible voice, commanded the tyrant to

1028
01:00:07,400 --> 01:00:14,960
be silent. End of Uncle Noah's Christmas Inspiration by Leona

1029
01:00:15,039 --> 01:00:15,599
Dalrymple