The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-04-01
[Scribner's for April
Perky'S Cross.

cedents of every man who came to Kansas in
those equivocal days. As a general rule, they
cared only to know how the newcomer stood
on the slavery question. Nevertheless, 1t
fretted them to feel that they had man
among them whose oddity of conduct piqued
curiosity. while torbidding even reasonable
conjecture concerning that other existence OF
his, ''back in the States" And Perky gave
the people of Seward Center just that feeling.
Perky was perplexity. He was also a
printer; and his employer, the editor of the
Clarion of Freedom, had cerelessly disclosed
the secret that he was the author OF certain
Procrustean rhymes in the last number of
that excellent family journal, bearing the
caption, 'Sadly We ROAM" and having cut
of horse at the top of them. These verses
had pleased the minister very much, and he
thought he detected in their somber mono
tone "the yearning of jaded soul for the
rest and Joy of the New Jerusalem, (which
was pretty thing to say, Perky remarked,
when the editor told him of it. Public opin-
ion was somewhat calmer, but not harmo-
nized or satisfied by the minister's pathogno-
my. There could be no doubt, they were all
agreed, that Perky was not easy in his mind !;
but the cause was still as deep mystery as
ever. Various were the surmiSes and sug-
.gestions-some kindly, and some otherwise
touching the matter, as poverty, grief, des-
ment of the community was best expressed,
after all, by Aunt Naomi Seybold, when, in
answer to some new hint upon the subject,
she said with solemn earnestness that was
intended to be conclusive and convincing:
"He's just a-totin' of cross, a-toting of a
cross"
OF course these things came to Perky's ears
now and then; but if they disturbed him in
the least there was no betrayal of it in his
looks, his speech, or his actions. Indeed, he
might have passed for a thoroughly content
ed, If not really happy, man, as he sat upon
the little bench under the cottonwood in
front of the Clarion office that rare June
morning, watching the white and blue clouds
fold and unfold, and fold again, like the flags
of some splendid parade. Behind him rose
the hill of rocks and cedars, and dense in
volvment of vines and shadows, which hid
the dreary waste of raw prairie that lay be-
yond; In front of him, those two foremost
symbols of advancing civilization, the little
tin signs of the American Bible Society,""
and "Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express" flashed
back the SUMS brightness from the dull! gray
of the store door at the upper end of "the
avenue,' as they called the generous exag-
geration of wagon-road which led through
the village and on to the river out there in
the low belt of elms and sycamores, a mile
away. And the sky above 1t all was very
beautiful, he thought, as he turned reluctant
ly from il at last, and glanced curiously about
him, like one in doubt about the indemnity of
his surroundings. Then he said to himself:
3'Perky, old fellow, we wont finger any long
primer to-day; we'll rest, and have ramble."
A moment later and he was gone.
Perky wac resting and rambling considera-
bly, now. The weekly publication of the
Clarion was several times delayed by his
neglect of his type-setting; and once the ed-
tor had to humiliate himself and expose his
gaunt subscription list to great peril by send
ing out halt sheet, "owing.i' he said, "to
circumstances over which we have no con-
troll" This mishap had the effect of keeping
Perky steadily at work for three consecutive
days. 1t also afforded him occasion TO speak
to the editor, in delicate and confidential
way, OF certain grave facts connected with
the newspaper business. "For instance" he
remarked, "a paper should be prompt in its
appearance as the sunrise, for if it Tags, peo-
pie soon lose faith in its stability, and cease
to pay for it in advance; and the half-sheet
continuance should never be resorted to-" he
continued, 'sfor the size of newspaper is a
good deal like plenary inspiration, and won t
bear trifing with" This bit of philosophy
being kindly received, he dropped his conf
dental tone and manner, and want on, after
the habit of your true printer the country
lions in other affairs, including politics, edu-
cation, religion, and, finally, matrimony. cit
is every mans duty" he declared with some
warmth, ITO get marfied-and every woman's
too" he quickly added. Then he stopped,
>blushed little, and lifting the slug that con-
cealed the next word of the manuscript on
case before him, resumed his work. They
smiled one to another in a knowing way, the
editor and the ofice-boy, and urged him to
proceed with his discourse but he only shook
his head, and answered, trife sadly: "Not
now, not now" The next day, and the
next, he was unusually reticent, and they
noticed that he usually threw back as much
as half line of type from his composing
stick into the boxes as if he had unconscious
ly set up the wrong words. When he did not
appear the following morning, they knew he
must have returned to his resting and his
rambling.
Ifproof had been Immediately required of
the fact that Perky had taken another holi-
day, it would only have been necessary to
cali Aunt Naomi Seybold as a witness, for she
had seen him saunter past her front window
the window where she always put the
cracked porcelain teapot that held her rose
geranium-and he had stopped awhile at the
Widow Hainline's gate on his way down the
road toward the woods. A halt at the widows
gate had of late become regular feature of
Perky's rambles. He had been known to
tarry there on some occasions for fully an
hour and more than once it had been OBJ
served that he had not gone on over to the
and came back. To suppose that these cir
cumstannes attracted no attention and pro-
voked no comment would be to fancy Seward
Center community OF winged creatures with
crowns and harps, which it was not. The
matter had gradually assumed an interest
in the public mind second only to that of the
pending strife for the county seat between
the Center and the rival town of Konomo.
Hence the religious patience with which
Aunt Naomi Seybold watched Perky's move
ments from behind her window-curtains :
hence, also, the significance that had been
attached to his casual remarks in the Clarion
office upon he subject of matrimony. The
Center really believed that Perky was in love
with the Widow.
The Widow Hainline, it is proper to say,
was not widow at all. She was divorced
wife, who had resumed her maiden name,
but still retained the title of "Mrs." on ac-
count Of her son Benny, glad-eyed little lad
of eight years. Her husband had abandoned
her when Benny was but two years old; she
had obtained divorce three years later, and
the next summer she had come 10 Kansas,
hoping in time to get farm for the boy.
This was substantially all they knew about
her, except that during her nearly three
years residence in the Center she had been a
well-behaved, Woodworking woman. 1t
seemed strange that, with her bitter expert
ence and her ftgid and methodical ways, she
should be thinking of marriage; much stran-
ger than that Perky, who was soslonely and
80 peculiar, should be contemplating such
thing. To be sure there was no absolute evi-
dence that her thoughts were running in that
direction. But, is there ever any but cir
cumstantial testimony in such cases? Perky
had been seen going to and coming from her
house very often; she spoke of him always,
when she spoke of him at all. with noticeable
kindness; her face flushed with evident pleas
ure whenever anybody praised him little for
his known good qualities or made generous
excuse for bis faults. And then, had she not
bought dress with gaudy pink stripe in it,
and did she not lately wear an unusual bow
of bright ribbon at her throat, and sometimes
big red rose in her hair? Surely these signs.
meaning so much with other people, could
not be mere accidents or idle freaks with her
So the verdict of the Center soon came to be
unanimous that if the widow thought she did
not love Perky she was very much mistaken.
The Center having made up It's mind, there
was no more doubt and no more discussion.
And yet, as matter of fact, Perky had never
once been known TO 60 into the widows
house, nor had he and the widow ever been
seen to so much as chat together at the gate.
TTTl- II 4. 2