Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-12-06

49, Dneister, under
H9S SS8C the very shadow
@NYSAS of the great forest
HSN& of Dombrovna l
oEk " was only 10 years
~old, but large for my age,
&e wild and willful and prone to
strange attachments, and,
HS4X when once interested, none
could be more tender and
stcadfast than l. But no
matter how misplaced my af-
lection might be, to oppose it
only meant to strengthen it, so, as a
rule. my parents usually contented
themselves with a little good natured
ridicule at my expense One of my
chums, and one to whom I was particu-
larly attached, and he to me as well. was
an old peddler whom everybody called
Uncle Fedia Who he was, where he
came from, whose estate he belonged to,
whether he had any family or had ever
followed any more Christian calling than
that of peddIer, were questions no
one seemed able to answer. There
are SO many such creatures in our
country, seemingly alone in the
world, wandering up and down, do
ing no harm and no good, dropped
down here and there, as it were, by
Providence in fit of observation-disclosures,
quite as useless as the solitary gull on
the surface of the broad ocean, and,
like it, with no resting place, doomed to
be forever moving on. Uncle Fedia
made the tour of the villages, and five
or six times year he and his lean little
nag, quite as rough and shaggy as him
self. were sure to show themselves at
Michalowka. There was more rope and
Irvine than leather in the harness which
bound his horse to the little old cart
carrying his merchandise. 1t was a
queer turnout, and queer driver. and
possible it was quite natural that people
shouldn't like Uncle Fedia In the first
place, he followed Il calling which Chris
tians usually abandon to Jews and Bo-
hemians, and to look at the man and his
great shock of iron-gray hair, his tan
gled beard, his patched clothing, and
hang-dog air, casual observer would
be much more likely to take him for one
or the worthless vagabonds of the high
way than to class him among the bright
eyed. red-cheeked and sOberly clad Rus
sian peasants.
Besides all this the peasants had a
suspicion that Uncle Fedia was given to
Che practice of witchcraft. Such
nomads as he were almost invariably
addicted to the black art, else why do
they always carry, hidden away at the
bottom of their packs. dream books,
sympathetic ink, magic pens, and spy
glasses with which one may see man
plainly mile and half away. Such
fellows go everywhere, never missing a
house, arriving at dusk and departing at
daybrcak. Is it at all astonishing that
they should cast side-long glances at our
children and cattle?
And grave accusations, too, were not
infrequently made against Uncle Fedia
by the inmates of the manor houses in
the district, it often happening, after
someone had been imprudent enough to
give him shelter over night that things
would be missing after the peddler had
taken his leave-a silver plate, table
cloth, or an ornament of some kind Nor
were the servants slow in charging the
theft upon Fedia
Last of all, the pcddler lad the repu-
taton of being confirmed drunkard.
More than once he had been picked up
on the highway, having been found lying
under the very wheels of his cart. True,
it does happen that such men sometimes
droD In the roadway on winter nights
overcome by fatigue and cold, but it was
deemed quite safe to charge Fedia' acct
dent to liquor. Nor did it seem possible
that bIawl could take place at one of
the taverns without the conclusion being
reached, as well by the participants as
police authorities, that the Ieddlcr. whose
passport was never quite regular, was
at the bottom of it, and the silent and
unsociable outsider, who rarely ex-
changed a friendly greeting with any one,
was forthwith dragged out of his corner
and punished because his looks and &C
tions were against him, 1t was not sur
prising that :he children, taking their
cue from their parents, should have soon
learned to dread and hate this man, and
occasionally amuse themselves pelting
him with stones and hooting at him till,
with one hand grasping his horses head
and with his own bent to shield his face
from the missiles he urged his sorry nag
to quicken its pace and escape without
so much as q word of complaint or a
gesture of anger. In short, among all
these good people Uncle Fedia had not a
single friend. But this made no differ
eIce to me. l liked him, and he
was part and parcel of the joys of my
childhood. ! was sure to hear the sound
of his horses bells tnkling in the dis
lance on the morning of every fete day.
NV little heart bounded as he entered
the vestibule clad in his rude sheepskin
and bringing with him that strange ooor
which l have since learned belongs to
wretchedness and misery. Then with
what eager eyes would watch the open
ing of Uncle Fedia's pack, with its
double compartment. What treasures
it contained and with what skill did the
peddler spread them out before the cOvet-
GUS eyes of the maids of our household.
The lower compartment was the one
which Interested me most, for in it were
stored the playthings, tops, penknives,
and the like. 1t often happened that
my POCKET money would be Iowa fact
which Uncle Fedia was able to divine by
a single glance at my face. Then with
a kind look in his eyes, which he was
careful to conceal from the others, he
FASTENED to give me credit for any little
trinket l chose to select from his stock.
But my father didn't like this man,
and when present never failed to make
sign to our old major-dom which meant:
Hurry him out as soon as he finishes his
business, and watch him till he is gone.