once that was bald-headed and used to have fits; he wasn’t our uncle,
I don’t know what he was to us–some kin or another I reckon–father’s
seen him a thousand times–hain’t you, father! We used to have a calf
that et apples and just chawed up dishrags like nothing, and if you stay
here you’ll see lots of funerals–won’t he, Sis! Did you ever see a
house afire? I have! Once me and Jim Terry—-”
But Sellers began to speak now, and the storm ceased. He began to tell
about an enormous speculation he was thinking of embarking some capital
in–a speculation which some London bankers had been over to consult with
him about–and soon he was building glittering pyramids of coin, and
Washington was presently growing opulent under the magic of his
eloquence. But at the same time Washington was not able to ignore the
cold entirely. He was nearly as close to the stove as he could get,
and yet he could not persuade himself, that he felt the slightest heat,
notwithstanding the isinglass’ door was still gently and serenely
glowing. He tried to get a trifle closer to the stove, and the
consequence was, he tripped the supporting poker and the stove-door
tumbled to the floor. And then there was a revelation–there was nothing
in the stove but a lighted tallow-candle! The poor youth blushed and
felt as if lie must die with shame. But the Colonel was only
disconcerted for a moment–he straightway found his voice again:
“A little idea of my own, Washington–one of the greatest things in the
world! You must write and tell your father about it–don’t forget that,
now. I have been reading up some European Scientific reports–friend of
mine, Count Fugier, sent them to me–sends me all sorts of things from
Paris–he thinks the world of me, Fugier does. Well, I saw that the
Academy of France had been testing the properties of heat, and they came
to the conclusion that it was a nonconductor or something like that,
and of course its influence must necessarily be deadly in nervous
organizations with excitable temperaments, especially where there is any
tendency toward rheumatic affections. Bless you I saw in a moment what
was the matter with us, and says I, out goes your fires! –no more slow
torture and certain death for me, sir. What you want is the appearance
of heat, not the heat itself–that’s the idea. Well how to do it was the
next thing. I just put my head, to work, pegged away, a couple of days,
and here you are! Rheumatism? Why a man can’t any more start a case of
rheumatism in this house than he can shake an opinion out of a mummy!
Stove with a candle in it and a transparent door–that’s it–it has been
the salvation of this family. Don’t you fail to write your father about
it, Washington. And tell him the idea is mine–I’m no more conceited
than most people, I reckon, but you know it is human nature for a man to
want credit for a thing like that.”
Washington said with his blue lips that he would, but he said in his
secret heart that he would promote no such iniquity. He tried to believe
in the healthfulness of the invention, and succeeded tolerably well;
but after all he could not feel that good health in a frozen, body was
any real improvement on the rheumatism.
CHAPTER VIII.
–Whan pe horde is thynne, as of seruyse,
Nought replenesshed with grete diuersite
Of mete & drinke, good chere may then suffise
With honest talkyng—-
The Book of Curtesye.
MAMMON. Come on, sir. Now, you set your foot on shore
In Novo Orbe; here’s the rich Peru:
And there within, sir, are the golden mines,
Great Solomon’s Ophir!—-
B. Jonson
The supper at Col. Sellers’s was not sumptuous, in the beginning, but it
improved on acquaintance. That is to say, that what Washington regarded
at first sight as mere lowly potatoes, presently became awe-inspiring
agricultural productions that had been reared in some ducal garden beyond
the sea, under the sacred eye of the duke himself, who had sent them to
Sellers; the bread was from corn which could be grown in only one favored
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