The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1891-05-09
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A RUSTIC COMEDY.
From Longman's Magazine.


In the struggling, forlorn, unbeautiful
Northumbrian village of Blackford there
was, half a century ago. only one comfor-
table-looking building 1t was none of the
dwellings of the coal and lime carriers, the
hedgers and ditchers, or the drainers, who
formel the bulk of the population, for their
low dropping roofs, mended here and there
with tarpaulin, spoke too eloquently of
damp, draught, and over-pressure; it was
not the red-tiled croft-house inhabited by
Willie Allan, the clever, lazy, kindly, cock
fighting, dog-fancying, boxing, wrestling,
swimming, beekeeping tenant Of the little
farm, for bachelordom and neglect had
combined with Willie's devotion to hobbies
of one kind and another to create of it and
its surroundings an embodiment of pic
turesque disorder; it was not the great
austere-looking, square-built Presbyterian
meeting house, with its prison-like walls
and narrow windows; far less was it the
slated, shabby genteel manse, for in cold
weather the effect of the whitewash upon
it was to threaten the spectator with fit
of the ague. No; on any gusty day in
November, when the very trees on the
hilltops seemed to have turned their shiv-
ering backs to the breeze that whistled
through their branches and whirled away
their red-tinted leaves in a madcap dance,
and the diminutive cot-houses looked almost
as though crouching to escape the blast,
which the gaunt old manse faced in haggard
despair, the "Red Lion" Inn alone, with
its comfortable overcoat of impervious
thatch, retained its aspect of quiet comfort
and toward evening the ruddy glare Of its
kitchen fire pressingly invited the toil-worn
cottars to forsake their scolding wives and
brawling children, their scanty fires and
draughty houses, and enjoy its comfortable
warmth. And often at the same time there
would be light at one of the two attic
windows that peered out from the roof like
pair of open gray eyes from under lids
of thatch. For one of these attic rooms
was the favorite resort of Adam Black, the
thriving publican of Blackford. Hither at
night did he often resort if business was
dull down below to smoke his pipe, to think
over his plans, and to calculate his ingOings
and outgoings; for, as he would sometimes
remark, ''it took a deal of worry for man
as could neither read nor write to keep a
true reckoning" and Adams natural abili-
ties had not been frightened up by educa-
ton.
That did not hinder him from being
greatly liked and respected in Blackford.
The worst that could be said about him
was that he was rather hard, and as a
matter of fact there was little softness in
his nature, though he never failed to greet
his customers with a smile and jest, and if
the smile was little mechanical and the
lest the worst for wear it mattered little to
quiet country folk, who were not ashamed
to laugh at the twentieth repetition of a
witticism. And it was everywhere agreed
that he kept model public house-never,
for instance, allowing any fighting to 90 on
in conspicuous place, but forcing the
comhatants to have it out, if they really
meant business, in Il secluded back yard,
where they could black each others eyes
with the most perfect safety and comfort.
Any man might go to the cred I4ion" with
the assurance that he would not be made a
fool of. Adam knew the drinking capacity
Of every full-grown male In the neighbor=
hood of Blackford, and would let none
trpnsgress his limit, or, if an accident did
happen, generally managed to avoid any
thing in the nature of public exhibition.
And besides, the villagers all knew him to
be, in their own language, as game as Il
bantam. At times Adam might in bar
gain making show himself not over scrupu-
iously above board, and, generally speak
ing, what he could get he took, but never
theless he steered notably clear of paltry
meannesses, and he was known to be stub
bornly faithful to all his friends man,
on the whole, with conscience not too
troublesome, but far from dead.
In domestic life Adam was martinez.
He ruled his son Aleck, his red-haired
servant Bet, and even his niece Kitty with
a rod of iron. Prompt obedience was the
unwritten law of the household. Only
Kitty, besides being the smartest, prettiest,
and cleverest girl in Blackford, was so
wayward and spirited that not even her
uncle, who liked her better than he liked
anybody else in the world, was able To
keep her entirely under control.
1t was great grief to Adam when he
found out that Kitty was in mood to
throw herself away upon Willie Allan.
Not that he disliked, Willie-nobody could
do that-but he thought him unlikely to
be a good husband, that is thriving one,
able to keep his family comfortable, for he
never gave his mind to his business, but
wasted his time over what Adam sometimes
called his menagerie, for the croft-house
was almost a Noahs ark in its way. The
chance visitor was certain TO find at every
season of the year litter of pups before
the kitchen fire, and an old owl and still
more ancient magpie carried on an unceas'
ing struggle for the favorite perch above
the kitchen clock. What had once been
the best bedroom was converted into {
fight for canaries, and there were always
hanging about cages containing finches,
linnets, thrushes, blackbirds, and even
sparrows, for Willie was noted expert
mentalist in the art Of crossing, and could
show an assortment of the most strangely
marked hybrids. The garden was stocked
with bees and the barn with Russian rab
bits. Twenty different kinds of fancy
poultry were allowed to spoil the crops, anC
the dovecote was inhabited by as many va
rieties of pigeons. In the pigsty he had |
tame badoer. and there was litter Of foxes