Litchfield enquirer., 1874-01-29
From the Atlantic Monthly. Faithful Bean.

can serving man, the day when the farm CTS son came Ill from the hill side and took situation ill the village or larger | town as the ''hired man." gard ener, coachman. woodchopper. and so on. Now, America can do >omething better, and Ire- land hos taken tine place. Mr. Abbott, in his RollO stories, embalned the character of the hired man in Jonas. Tie only trouble with Jonas was, that he had no l glimpse of human failibiity Had Mr Abbott named his hero "Abstract Per lection endowed win Knowledge of the Useful Arts it would have been a more truthful description; even the smallest child began to fear that Jonas was but another name for Abbott. However, there might be high artistic finish claimed for this, for boy almost believed in the in- fallibility of tbe Yankee hired man. He was the Archimedes of kites, the Stephen son of boats and rafts, The Christopher Wren of the workshop, the Agassiz of the neighboring forest and field. Wood chucks and water-rats seemed to come at his bidding; he had all sorts of practical mplishments; he was the interpreter | of nature to the young neophyte, and, if good-tempered and obliging, the best possible company for the growing boys of the family.
 | Then, the hired man held the happi- ness of the ladies of the family in the hol- low of his hand, for, adding the duty of coachman to his other duties, he could always pretend that ''them hosses was n't fit to go out" (if he did not choose to go himself). It is astonishing how many things can happen to horse, if you want to use him; and the distempers, accidents and drawbacks which suggest themselves to pampered eOachman in full posses | sion of the situation are like those great | perils to the state which are constantly | about to happen in the imagination of a rival politician.
 | As write, there comes to me the mem ory of large, old-fashioned, and most comfortable country-honse in village in Connecticut, filled with queer and com posits family, nest of orphans holding | all degrees of relationship to each other, but gathered under the roof of one be- nevolent and kindly soul whom we called 'Uncle." This excellent man had a sort of lieutenancy of Providence; he deemed himself the person to go forward and succor those who had lost father and mother. Uncle was rich. and of great so- | cial esteem; his name was quoted through out the country; but much of the good which he did remained unknown until the sod had covered him. Through his am- pie and profusely ordered kitchen march ed phalanx of "hired men," designated by the oldest of Puritan names. Benight Plumstone was the one shall select as the type of the disagreeable; Faithful Bean was the typical saint and success of them all. Benight never had dry wood for the fires; his work was never done; & grumbler by profession, he spoiled every Virginia reel of whole winter, by de- claring that "them hosses was a-freezin' to death," long before the young ladies were ready to go home. "Benight," in- deed! be darkness, be desolation, be dis appointment, wherever Benightis, or was, UT Is G0 b0!
 Accustomed, as we were, to New Eng land names, we were undoubtedly amused when uncle told us he had hired man by the name of Faithful Bean" To so- Der us, he added gravely that Faithfurs mother came from those very fens of Lin colnshire from which Oliver Cromwell drew his Puritan followers, such as Praise God Barebones," etc. This, as historical fact, of course, had & calming influence, and reminded us of the sombre circumstance that the academy demanded of us history lesson. not yet committed to memory, on the morrow; but youth is elastic and sheds trouble, and knowl- edge of history, easily. We watched for Faithful with considerable tittering.
 He made his entrse on 8 scene which he was destined to fill for many years, one cold winter evening, by bringing up to the parlor leather apron full of wood, and by making so brilliant and success full fire, that it Eliminates now the for saken shores of the past like some lonely Pharos, burning brightly through the ages. I should be mortified to confess how many years I remember that fire! and how uncle drew up to it, extending his large hands, fan-shaped, from his knees, and exclaimed, "Now, this is some thirg liker'
 Uncle was always parenthetical in his expression of satisfaction.
 After tea we crept down into that warm, spacious, and enchanting kitchen, which must have covered several acres; 6 wood- en ''horse,' full of freshly ironed clothes, that always seemed like atheatre property, in the background, with the stately form of Statira, our cook and tyrant, before it; an immense fireplace bore it's holocaust of logs, and an altar stone was erected to the perpetual cracking of butternuts. We found that Faithful had already been approached by Dick, the adventurous Co., lumbus of the family, and that he had al- ready cracked some of the most obtnse l buttsrnuts which had ever stained the | fingers or bafded the zeal of an ardent and exploring people. Faithful knew. what, alas! so few do know, tho secret of ex- tracting the soft, yellow, satin kernels whole!
 In an hours time. after much pleasant conversation, and a conviction, deep as the butternuts were oleaginous, that Faithful was a good fellow, we bore the plate of butternut ''meats," as we called them, proudly and triumphantly to Cous- l in Miranda. se We were all possessed, even then, of the subtle divination of courtiers. We knew that Cousin Miranda was the power behind the throne. She could prohibit butternut cracking, and visits to the kitchen, and she could send away Faith | full, if she chose. There were no limits to Cousin Miranda's powers. She was housekeeper, guardian angel, guide, phi losopher and friend to our poor little group. A young girl, beautiful, educa- l ted, accomplished. with the fair, blue eyes, and slender figure of the Alruna Maiden, with the hands and arms which the Venus of Milo has ost.-I should need the pencil which drew the Monna Lisa ors the Madonna della Seggiola to picture Mirandal She was in love with duty, and had been brought up in the hard New England school of self-renunci- ation, which preached the steep and thor ny road to heaven. She could stand by 8 bedside and assist surgeon through a terrible operation, with no greater sign of emotion than deep red spot on either usually pale cheek. She was the most perfect of nurses, never feverish or Aust cred, and having 8 superhuman control
 over her patient Did he rebel at her re-
 fusal of some expected luxury and ment- 1 ally call her :.cold d-hearted," he repented
 when he woke at early dawn. and found
 that her blue eyes had been watching
 with untiring solicitude during the night,
 and that the hand which she pressed on
 his hot forehead was as cool as the dew | of heaven and not less pure Miranda