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Jeff Briggs's Love Story By: Bret Harte (1836-1902) |
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By Bret Harte
JEFF BRIGGS'S LOVE STORY.
I.
It was raining and blowing at Eldridge's Crossing. From the stately
pine trees on the hill tops, which were dignifiedly protesting through
their rigid spines upward, to the hysterical willows in the hollow, that
had whipped themselves into a maudlin fury, there was a general tumult.
When the wind lulled, the rain kept up the distraction, firing long
volleys across the road, letting loose miniature cataracts from the
hill sides to brawl in the ditches, and beating down the heavy heads
of wild oats on the levels; when the rain ceased for a moment the wind
charged over the already defeated field, ruffled the gullies, scattered
the spray from the roadside pines, and added insult to injury. But both
wind and rain concentrated their energies in a malevolent attempt to
utterly disperse and scatter the "Half way House," which seemed to
have wholly lost its way, and strayed into the open, where, dazed and
bewildered, unprepared and unprotected, it was exposed to the taunting
fury of the blast. A loose, shambling, disjointed, hastily built
structure representing the worst features of Pioneer renaissance it
rattled its loose window sashes like chattering teeth, banged its
ill hung shutters, and admitted so much of the invading storm, that it
might have blown up or blown down with equal facility. Jefferson Briggs, proprietor and landlord of the "Half way House," had
just gone through the formality of closing his house for the night,
hanging dangerously out of the window in the vain attempt to subdue a
rebellious shutter that had evidently entered into conspiracy with the
invaders, and, shutting a door as against a sheriff's posse, was going
to bed i. e., to read himself asleep, as was his custom. As he entered
his little bedroom in the attic with a highly exciting novel in his
pocket and a kerosene lamp in his hand, the wind, lying in wait for
him, instantly extinguished his lamp and slammed the door behind him.
Jefferson Briggs relighted the lamp, as if confidentially, in a corner,
and, shielding it in the bosom of his red flannel shirt, which gave him
the appearance of an illuminated shrine, hung a heavy bear skin across
the window, and then carefully deposited his lamp upon a chair at his
bedside. This done, he kicked off his boots, flung them into a corner,
and, rolling himself in a blanket, lay down upon the bed. A habit of
early rising, bringing with it, presumably, the proverbial accompaniment
of health, wisdom, and pecuniary emoluments, had also brought with it
certain ideas of the effeminacy of separate toilettes and the virtue of
readiness. In a few moments he was deep in a chapter. A vague pecking at his door as of an unseasonable woodpecker, finally
asserted itself to his consciousness. "Come in," he said, with his eye
still on the page. The door opened to a gaunt figure, partly composed of bed quilt and
partly of plaid shawl. A predominance of the latter and a long wisp of
iron gray hair determined her sex. She leaned against the post with an
air of fatigue, half moral and half physical. "How ye kin lie thar, abed, Jeff, and read and smoke on sich a night!
The sperrit o' the Lord abroad over the yearth and up stage not gone by
yet. Well, well! it's well thar ez SOME EZ CAN'T SLEEP." "The up coach, like as not, is stopped by high water on the North Fork,
ten miles away, aunty," responded Jeff, keeping to the facts. Possibly
not recognizing the hand of the beneficent Creator in the rebellious
window shutter, he avoided theology. "Well," responded the figure, with an air of delivering an unheeded and
thankless warning, "it is not for ME to say. P'raps it's all His wisdom
that some will keep to their own mind. It's well ez some hezn't narves,
and kin luxuriate in terbacker in the night watches. But He says, 'I'll
come like a thief in the night!' like a thief in the night, Jeff." Totally unable to reconcile this illustration with the delayed "Pioneer"
coach and Yuba Bill, its driver, Jeff lay silent... Continue reading book >>
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Literature |
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