Books Should Be Free Loyal Books Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads |
|
The Minister's Charge By: William Dean Howells (1837-1920) |
---|
![]()
THE MINISTER'S CHARGE OR THE APPRENTICESHIP OF LEMUEL BARKER BY WILLIAM D. HOWELLS AUTHOR OF "THE RISE OF SILAS LAPHAM," "A MODERN INSTANCE," "INDIAN
SUMMER," ETC. THE MINISTER'S CHARGE; OR, THE APPRENTICESHIP OF LEMUEL BARKER.
I.
On their way back to the farm house where they were boarding, Sewell's
wife reproached him for what she called his recklessness. "You had no
right," she said, "to give the poor boy false hopes. You ought to have
discouraged him that would have been the most merciful way if you
knew the poetry was bad. Now, he will go on building all sorts of
castles in the air on your praise, and sooner or later they will come
tumbling about his ears just to gratify your passion for saying
pleasant things to people." "I wish you had a passion for saying pleasant things to me, my dear,"
suggested her husband evasively. "Oh, a nice time I should have!" "I don't know about your nice time, but I feel pretty certain
of my own. How do you know Oh, do get up, you implacable
cripple!" he broke off to the lame mare he was driving, and pulled
at the reins. "Don't saw her mouth!" cried Mrs. Sewell. "Well, let her get up, then, and I won't. I don't like to saw her
mouth; but I have to do something when you come down on me with your
interminable consequences. I dare say the boy will never think of my
praise again. And besides, as I was saying when this animal
interrupted me with her ill timed attempts at grazing, how do you
know that I knew the poetry was bad?" "How? By the sound of your voice. I could tell you were dishonest in
the dark, David." "Perhaps the boy knew that I was dishonest too," suggested Sewell. "Oh no, he didn't. I could see that he pinned his faith to every
syllable." "He used a quantity of pins, then; for I was particularly profuse of
syllables. I find that it requires no end of them to make the worse
appear the better reason to a poet who reads his own verses to you.
But come, now, Lucy, let me off a syllable or two. I I have a
conscience, you know well enough, and if I thought But pshaw! I've
merely cheered a lonely hour for the boy, and he'll go back to
hoeing potatoes to morrow, and that will be the end of it." "I hope that will be the end of it," said Mrs. Sewell, with
the darkling reserve of ladies intimate with the designs of
Providence. "Well," argued her husband, who was trying to keep the matter from
being serious, "perhaps he may turn out a poet yet. You never can
tell where the lightning is going to strike. He has some idea of
rhyme, and some perception of reason, and yes, some of the lines
were musical. His general attitude reminded me of Piers
Plowman. Didn't he recall Piers Plowman to you?" "I'm glad you can console yourself in that way, David," said his
wife relentlessly. The mare stopped again, and Sewell looked over his shoulder at the
house, now black in the twilight, on the crest of the low hill
across the hollow behind them. "I declare," he said, "the loneliness
of that place almost broke my heart. There!" he added, as the faint
sickle gleamed in the sky above the roof, "I've got the new moon
right over my left shoulder for my pains. That's what comes of
having a sympathetic nature." The boy was looking at the new moon, across the broken gate which
stopped the largest gap in the tumbled stone wall. He still gripped
in his hand the manuscript which he had been reading to the
minister. "There, Lem," called his mother's voice from the house, "I guess
you've seen the last of 'em for one while. I'm 'fraid you'll take
cold out there 'n the dew. Come in, child." The boy obeyed. "I was looking at the new moon, mother. I saw it
over my right shoulder. Did you hear hear him," he asked, in a
broken and husky voice, "hear how he praised my poetry, mother?" "Oh, do make her get up, David!" cried Mrs... Continue reading book >>
|
This book is in genre |
---|
Literature |
eBook links |
---|
Wikipedia – William Dean Howells |
Wikipedia – The Minister's Charge |
eBook Downloads | |
---|---|
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader |
Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle |
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser |
Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac |
Review this book |
---|