The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-05-15

Is
| offer better. Then Jud Guernsey limited
that Pinney might be a little under the
| weather. But to this Teachum replied:
you've teased him enough to make
| saint swear, Jud Gauzy. Why it was only
| last week Fourth of July night that you
brought the cannon right under his win
dow and touched her off. What hain't you
| done to sicken him, jude"
'Wall, the rest of us haven't been skit-
fish about bothering him first and last"
replied Guernsey, with ''you-too" apollo
| getic tone.
Jabez Peckham denied the possibility of
Pinneys illness "Pinney's one of Phar-
| aoh's lean kind sure enough, but he is
prudent man in his victuals, and couldn't
be sick-that is, of his own accord"
The vague hint of these words, ''of his
| own accord" echoed what was in the minds
of all of them, and was the nearest to voic-
| ing that suspicion that any dared permit
| himself to make.
1t was fully an hour before any one sug-
gested that it would be well to make
closer inspection than was possible from
| the porch of Barker'S store. Then 1T was
limited that Teachum, by virtue of once
having been constable, and Guernsey, by
| reason of now being tithing man, should
go and examine the path that led from the
side door of Pinney's house to the padlocked
door of the store, that tracks might be dis
| covered, if any there were. These two
thereupon crossed the turnpike, scaled the
stone wall, and went first to the store
| The paddock creaked in the door as they
tried it, but was firm, and the shutters
were tight. Then they carefully inspected
| the little narrow path, watched closely by
| the crowd on Barker's porch. Barker him
| self, standing on his door-siu under a
wreath of palm-leaf hats that festooned
the doorway, announced that they had dis
| covered nothing and would discover moth
| ing unless they went inside.
| " pvTa1 .rryal ynH hot natl hI1fP
ney,n he said. "Do you suppose that any
body-well, If there's tracks, they're in the
| grass"
The two men certainly found nothing,
| for they were seen to be standing in front
of Pinney's door, looking with inquiry at
| it as though it had a voice and would
answer their unspoken questions. But the
! house was sphynx-like, and Teachum and
|. Guernsey returned to Barker's, not even
daring to rap on Pinney's door. No one
| had raped there for twenty years, and
habit asserts itself even in critical emer-
| gencieS
Nothing there said Teachum as he
| came up the porch steps.
Not sound - said Guernsey.
| Nobody wanted to say it, Nobody
wanted to hear it said; yet every one be-
| lieved that Pinney was dead This sus-
| picion gave tone to their utterances. They
| discussed Pinney's virtues and curiously
| enough, through all these years Pinney IS
| name and his presence had caused the smile
| of pity or contempt to come, yet now there
| was confession that the man had good
| traits. Jabez Peclzham found the throng
nodding assent when he said that though
PinneY was ''monstrous solitary man, he
| had always lived upright" To Teachum's
suggestion that though "Pinney had not
been to meeting for twenty years, he paid
more pew rent than any one at the Corners,
! and generally sent a barrel of pork to the
| donati tho Maio daI 70 na
effect that though Pinney had not voted
for twenty years, yet he was a good
Dimicrat and histed flag when Polk beat
| Clay" Jud Guernsey, who prided him
self upon his own gallantry suggested
that though ''Pinney never spoke to vim
min folks he always took off his hat when
they traded with him, and bowed 'em out
the door like young beau" while Barker,
| though the rival storekeeper of the
| Corners, admitted that he should ''feel bad
to hear that anything had happened to
Pinney, though we've been in the same
| trade here for twenty years"
| So they spoke well of him whose mys-
FERROUS absence had alarmed them, and
| continued furtively to watch the silent
red house and the little brown store.
| A generation OF years have passed since
| Humphrey Pinney began his career of 81
lence and automatic regularity. For twenty
4 years precisely at sunrise he opened the side
| door of his little house and threw back the
| faded green shutter that sheltered the rear
| window. Then he went down the path,
| stopping at the well to let the bucket down
| into it and get pail of water. which he
carried into the store The path thus made
| across the lot had been worn hard and
smooth by his always slippered feet The
| only exercise men ever saw him busy him
self about was with the bucket at the well,
| or if there was snow he cleared it from the
narrow path. He had trod that path, like
a sentry beat at sunrise, at high noon, at
| sunset, and when the distant church bell
rang nine O'Clock at night; back and forth,
| back and FORTH eight times day. He was
| a time-piece for the neighbors; just as the
noon train in the railway that ran along
| the tow-path came to be afterward. But
he never was behind time In the dim rec
| objection of older men there appeared the
| picture of a stalwart, handsome-eyed young
fellow, who was as genial as he was proud
| and gentle. Then came the self-imposed
| light No one had seen him in any place
| under the open sky for twenty years ex-
| cepting in that path; no one in all these
| years had met him elsewhere than in his
store. There he had good custom. His
weight was honest and his prices just The
| store was sooty place, with great rafters
cobwebbed and grimy by the years neg
| lect and log was always burning in the
great fireplace in heat of summer or dead
| of winter. There was a musty flavor of
whale oil, salt fish, and crackers, and a
| gliStening barricade of hoes and rakeS and
| shovels was erected near the fireplace. On
a battered row of shelves were calicoes and
| ginghams, and tough cowhide boots, ar
| rayed like chess men in disorder, stood
upon one end of the long counter, while at
| the other, in labyrinthian confusion in q
glass case, were pins and needless tapes
and thread, scissors and pencils and in
| greasy boxes ancient sugar bull's-eyes.
| from which the sweetness seemed to
have oozed away and left only the ribbed
| anatomy Of cOnfections. Behind this
counter by pair of pendant scales stood
Pinney. His thin hair hung as nature had
it in misty locks far down upon his should
ers, and tenuous beard combining with
his hair made a fringe about, SO that it
| seemed as though his clothes were sur
mounted by tippet all about the neck of
thin gray hair. His eyes were gentle, and
his manner too His feet were always
clad in slippers, his coat had been FURNISHED
| by the years SO that it shone as polished
| wood, and the palm leaf hat had been
dyed to a bronze-like color by the hickory
smoke of years. His method of trade was
| simple When one asked the price of any
article Pinney would produce placard on
which the figures had been drawn and show
| it. No one ever dickered with him. His
| communication was simply YEA, yea" or
| may, nay.n No one had heard him speak
| another word for twenty years. Yet they
knew he was well informed. No man at
| the Corners received larger mail. Thus
| all his business was done and his strange
| habit of life was less cause of astonish-
ment than the fact that he took two news
papers, one Wing, one Democratic 1t was
I