Miss Grief and Other Stories (9 page)

“The original legend would be better than that if we could only find it, for real life is always better than fiction,” I answered.

“In real life we are all masked; but in fiction the author shows the faces as they are, Dora.”

“I do not believe we are all masked, Erminia. I can read my friends like a printed page.”

“O, the wonderful faith of youth!” said Erminia, retiring upon her seniority.

Presently the little church on the hill came into view through a vista in the trees. We passed the mill and its flowing race, the blacksmith's shop, the great grass meadow, and drew up in front of the quaint hotel where the trustees allowed the world's people, if uninquisitive and decorous, to remain in the Community for short periods of time, on the payment of three dollars per week for each person. This village was our favorite retreat, our little hiding-place in the hill-country; at that time it was almost as isolated as a solitary island, for the Community owned thousands of outlying acres and held no intercourse with the surrounding townships. Content with their own, unmindful of the rest of the world, these Germans grew steadily richer and richer, solving quietly the problem of co-operative labor, while the French and Americans worked at it in vain with newspapers, orators, and even cannon to aid them. The members of the Community were no ascetic anchorites; each tiled roof covered a home with a thrifty mother and train of grave little children, the girls in short-waisted gowns, kerchiefs, and frilled caps, and the boys in tailed coats, long-flapped vests, and trousers, as soon as they were able to toddle. We liked them all, we liked the life; we liked the mountain-high beds, the coarse snowy linen, and the remarkable counterpanes; we liked the cream-stewed chicken, the Käse-lab, and fresh butter, but, of all, the hot bretzels for breakfast. And
let not the hasty city imagination turn to the hard, salty, sawdust cake in the shape of a broken-down figure eight which is served with lager-beer in saloons and gardens. The Community bretzel was of a delicate flaky white in the inside, shading away into a golden-brown crust of crisp involutions, light as a feather, and flanked by little pats of fresh, unsalted butter, and a deep-blue cup wherein the coffee was hot, the cream yellow, and the sugar broken lumps from the old-fashioned loaf, now alas! obsolete.

We stayed among the simple people and played at shepherdesses and pastorellas; we adopted the hours of the birds, we went to church on Sunday and sang German chorals as old as Luther. We even played at work to the extent of helping gather apples, eating the best, and riding home on top of the loaded four-horse wains. But one day we heard of a new diversion, a sulphur-spring over the hills about two miles from the hotel on land belonging to the Community; and, obeying the fascination which earth's native medicines exercise over all earth's children, we immediately started in search of the nauseous spring. The road wound over the hill, past one of the apple-orchards, where the girls were gathering the red fruit, and then down a little declivity where the track branched off to the Community coal-mine; then a solitary stretch through the thick woods, a long hill with a curve, and at the foot a little dell with a patch of meadow, a brook, and a log-house with overhanging roof, a forlorn house unpainted and desolate. There was not even the blue door which enlivened many of the Community dwellings. “This looks like the huts of the Black Forest,” said Erminia. “Who would have supposed that we should find such an antique in Ohio!”

“I am confident it was built by the M.B.'s,” I replied. “They tramped, you know, extensively through the State, burying axes and leaving every now and then a mastodon behind them.”

“Well, if the Mound-Builders selected this site they showed good taste,” said Erminia, refusing, in her afternoon indolence, the argumentum nonsensicum with which we were accustomed to enliven our conversation. It was, indeed, a lovely spot,—the little meadow, smooth and bright as green velvet, the brook chattering over the pebbles, and the hills, gay in red and yellow foliage, rising abruptly on all sides. After some labor we swung open the great gate and entered the yard, crossed the brook on a mossy plank, and followed the path through the grass towards the lonely house. An old shepherd-dog lay at the door of a dilapidated shed, like a block-house, which had once been a stable; he did not bark, but, rising slowly, came along beside us,—a large, gaunt animal that looked at us with such melancholy eyes that Erminia stooped to pat him. Ermine had a weakness for dogs; she herself owned a wild beast of the dog kind that went by the name of the “Emperor Trajan”; and, accompanied by this dignitary, she was accustomed to stroll up the avenues of C——, lost in maiden meditations.

We drew near the house and stepped up on the sunken piazza, but no signs of life appeared. The little loophole windows were pasted over with paper, and the plank door had no latch or handle. I knocked, but no one came. “Apparently it is a haunted house, and that dog is the spectre,” I said, stepping back.

“Knock three times,” suggested Ermine; “that is what they always do in ghost-stories.”

“Try it yourself. My knuckles are not cast-iron.”

Ermine picked up a stone and began tapping on the door. “Open sesame,” she said, and it opened.

Instantly the dog slunk away to his block-house and a woman confronted us, her dull face lighting up as her eyes ran rapidly over our attire from head to foot. “Is there a sulphur-spring here?” I asked. “We would like to try the water.”

“Yes, it's here fast enough in the back hall. Come in, ladies; I'm right proud to see you. From the city, I suppose?”

“From C——,” I answered; “we are spending a few days in the Community.”

Our hostess led the way through the little hall, and throwing open a back door pulled up a trap in the floor, and there we saw the spring,—a shallow well set in stones, with a jar of butter cooling in its white water. She brought a cup, and we drank. “Delicious,” said Ermine. “The true, spoiled-egg flavor! Four cups is the minimum allowance, Dora.”

“I reckon it's good for the insides,” said the woman, standing with arms akimbo and staring at us. She was a singular creature, with large black eyes, Roman nose, and a mass of black hair tightly knotted on the top of her head, but pinched and gaunt; her yellow forehead was wrinkled with a fixed frown, and her thin lips drawn down in permanent discontent. Her dress was a shapeless linsey-woolsey gown, and home-made list slippers covered her long, lank feet. “Be that the fashion?” she asked, pointing to my short, closely fitting walking-dress.

“Yes,” I answered; “do you like it?”

“Well, it does for you, sis, because you're so little and peaked-like, but it wouldn't do for me. The other lady, now, don't wear nothing like that; is she even with the style, too?”

“There is such a thing as being above the style, madam,” replied Ermine, bending to dip up glass number two.

“Our figgers is a good deal alike,” pursued the woman; “I reckon that fashion ud suit me best.”

Willowy Erminia glanced at the stick-like hostess. “You do me honor,” she said, suavely. “I shall consider myself fortunate, madam, if you will allow me to send you patterns from C——. What are we if not well dressed?”

“You have a fine dog,” I began hastily, fearing lest the great, black eyes should penetrate the sarcasm; “what is his name?”

“A stupid beast! He's none of mine; belongs to my man.”

“Your husband?”

“Yes, my man. He works in the coal-mine over the hill.”

“You have no children?”

“Not a brat. Glad of it, too.”

“You must be lonely,” I said, glancing around the desolate house. To my surprise, suddenly the woman burst into a flood of tears, and sinking down on the floor she rocked from side to side, sobbing, and covering her face with her bony hands.

“What can be the matter with her?” I said in alarm; and, in my agitation, I dipped up some sulphur-water and held it to her lips.

“Take away the smelling stuff,—I hate it!” she cried, pushing the cup angrily from her.

Ermine looked on in silence for a moment or two, then she took off her neck-tie, a bright-colored Roman scarf, and threw it across the trap into the woman's lap. “Do me the favor to accept that trifle, madam,” she said, in her soft voice.

The woman's sobs ceased as she saw the ribbon; she fingered it with one hand in silent admiration, wiped her wet face with
the skirt of her gown, and then suddenly disappeared into an adjoining room, closing the door behind her.

“Do you think she is crazy?” I whispered.

“O no; merely pensive.”

“Nonsense, Ermine! But why did you give her that ribbon?”

“To develop her æsthetic taste,” replied my cousin, finishing her last glass, and beginning to draw on her delicate gloves.

Immediately I began gulping down my neglected dose; but so vile was the odor that some time was required for the operation, and in the midst of my struggles our hostess reappeared. She had thrown on an old dress of plaid delaine, a faded red ribbon was tied over her head, and around her sinewed throat reposed the Roman scarf pinned with a glass brooch.

“Really, madam, you honor us,” said Ermine, gravely.

“Thankee, marm. It's so long since I've had on anything but that old bag, and so long since I've seen anything but them Dutch girls over to the Community, with their wooden shapes and wooden shoes, that it sorter come over me all 't onct what a miserable life I've had. You see, I ain't what I looked like; now I've dressed up a bit I feel more like telling you that I come of good Ohio stock, without a drop of Dutch blood. My father, he kep' a store in Sandy, and I had everything I wanted until I must needs get crazy over Painting Sol at the Community. Father, he wouldn't hear to it, and so I ran away; Sol, he turned out good for nothing to work, and so here I am, yer see, in spite of all his pictures making me out the Queen of Sheby.”

“Is your husband an artist?” I asked.

“No, miss. He's a coal-miner, he is. But he used to like to paint me all sorts of ways. Wait, I'll show yer.” Going up the
rough stairs that led into the attic, the woman came back after a moment with a number of sheets of drawing-paper which she hung up along the walls with pins for our inspection. They were all portraits of the same face, with brick-red cheeks, enormous black eyes, and a profusion of shining black hair hanging down over plump white shoulders; the costumes were various, but the faces were the same. I gazed in silence, seeing no likeness to anything earthly. Erminia took out her glasses and scanned the pictures slowly.

“Yourself, madam, I perceive,” she said, much to my surprise.

“Yes, 'm, that's me,” replied our hostess, complacently. “I never was like those yellow-haired girls over to the Community. Sol allers said my face was real rental.”

“Rental?” I repeated, inquiringly.

“Oriental, of course,” said Ermine. “Mr.—Mr. Solomon is quite right. May I ask the names of these characters, madam?”

“Queen of Sheby, Judy, Ruth, Esthy, Po-co-hon-tus, Goddessaliberty, Sunset, and eight Octobers, them with the grapes. Sunset's the one with the red paint behind it like clouds.”

“Truly a remarkable collection,” said Ermine. “Does Mr. Solomon devote much time to his art?”

“No, not now. He couldn't make a cent out of it, so he's took to digging coal. He painted all them when we was first married, and he went a journey all the way to Cincinnati to sell 'em. First he was going to buy me a silk dress and some ear-rings, and, after that, a farm. But pretty soon home he come on a canal-boat, without a shilling, and a bringing all the pictures back with him! Well, then he tried most everything, but he never could keep to any one trade, for he'd just as lief quit
work in the middle of the forenoon and go to painting; no boss'll stand that, you know. We kep' a going down, and I had to sell the few things my father give me when he found I was married whether or no,—my chany, my feather-beds, and my nice clothes, piece by piece. I held on to the big looking-glass for four years, but at last it had to go, and then I just gave up and put on a linsey-woolsey gown. When a girl's spirit's once broke, she don't care for nothing, you know; so, when the Community offered to take Sol back as coal-digger, I just said, ‘Go,' and we come.” Here she tried to smear the tears away with her bony hands, and gave a low groan.

“Groaning probably relieves you,” observed Ermine.

“Yes, 'm. It's kinder company like, when I'm all alone. But you see it's hard on the prettiest girl in Sandy to have to live in this lone lorn place. Why, ladies, you mightn't believe it, but I had open-work stockings, and feathers in my winter bunnets before I was married!” And the tears broke forth afresh.

“Accept my handkerchief,” said Ermine; “it will serve your purpose better than fingers.”

The woman took the dainty cambric and surveyed it curiously, held at arm's length. “Reg'lar thistle-down, now, ain't it?” she said; “and smells like a locust-tree blossom.”

“Mr. Solomon, then, belonged to the Community?” I asked, trying to gather up the threads of the story.

“No, he didn't either; he's no Dutchman, I reckon, he's a Lake County man, born near Painesville, he is.”

“I thought you spoke as though he had been in the Community.”

“So he had; he didn't belong, but he worked for 'em since he was a boy, did middling well, in spite of the painting, until
one day, when he come over to Sandy on a load of wood and seen me standing at the door. That was the end of him,” continued the woman, with an air of girlish pride; “he couldn't work no more for thinking of me.”

“
Où la vanité va-t-elle se nicher?”
murmured Ermine, rising. “Come, Dora; it is time to return.”

As I hastily finished my last cup of sulphur-water, our hostess followed Ermine towards the door. “Will you have your handkercher back, marm?” she said, holding it out reluctantly.