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From Place to Place

Chapter 3 BOYS WILL BE BOYS

Word Count: 14239    |    Released on: 06/12/2017

old-fashioned full-rigger with all sails set, his black shadow, Jeff Poindexter, had already finished the job of putting the quarters to rights for the day. The cedar water bucket had been prop

ringly employed. A spray of trumpet flowers, plucked from the vine that grew outside the window, had been draped over the framed steel engraving of President Davis and his Cabinet upon the wall; and on the top of the big

ention to his letters. There was an invitation from the Hylan B. Gracey Camp of Confederate Veterans of Eddyburg, asking him to deliver the chief oration at the annual reunion, to be held at Mineral Springs on the twelfth day of the following month; an official notice from the cl

itle, instead of by his name, and bearing on its upper right-hand corner several

of printed forms, a document with seals attached, and a letter that covered two sheets of paper with typewritten lines. To the letter the recipient gave consideration first. Before he reached the end of the opening paragraph he uttered a profound grunt of surprise; his reading of the rest was frequ

that competent functionary, Deputy Sheriff Breck Quarles, sat at ease in his shirt sleeves, engaged, with the smaller blade of his pocketknife, in performing upon his finger nails an operation that combined the

t I've got a little job fur you. I wisht, ef you ain't too busy, that you'd step down the street and se

d waistcoat. "He'll most likely be down round Gafford's stable. Whut's Old Peep been doin', Judge-gettin' himse

have somethin' of a highly onusual nature done to him. You jest tell h

the letter from foreign parts. Court was not in session, and the hour was early and the weather was

deputy stated. "He's o

said Judge Priest. "Send h

t transpire. As he feigned an absorbed interest in a tax notice, which was pasted on a blackboard just outside the office door, there entered the presence of the Judge a man who seemingly was but a few years younger than the Judge himself-a man who looked to be somewhere between sixty-five and seventy. There is a look that

riest's office had such a look out of his eyes. He had a long, simple face, partly inclosed in grey whiskers. Four dollars would have been a sufficient price to pay for the garments he stood in, including the wrec

in an embarrassed fashion and halted,

Judge Priest he

ntly advanced him

re Breck Quarles he come after me and he said ez how y

ishing degree to the grandchildren, of native-born sons and daughters of a certain small green isle in the sea. It was not so much a suggestion of a brogue as it was the suggestion of

u." The tone was one that he might employ in addressing a

extreme forward edge of a chair. His feet shuffled uneasily

of his glasses with rather a quizzical look. In one hand he b

rs back, that your regular Christian

"But I ain't heared it fur so long I come mighty nigh furgittin' it sometimes, myself. You see, Judge Priest, when I wasn't nothin' but jest a shaver folks started in to callin' me Peep-on account of my last name bein'

r's name Philip and your mothe

aby, long before I could remember anything a-tall. But they always told me my paw's name was Phil, or P

reckin the record is straight this fur. And now think hard and see ef you kin

a shake of th

in the Old Country before I was born. The onliest kin I ever had over here was that there no-'count trifl

nodded befor

to p'int that way. Accordin' to the proofs, this here Uncle Daniel of yours lived in a little town called Kilmare, in Ireland." He gl

mination grinned a fai

afford he lets me sleep in a little room behind the feed room, and his wife she gives me my vittles. Oncet in a while I git

oney in it,

hey are to pay me in cash. Still, I manage to git along. I don't live

t money you ever had in

and at his thatch of faded whiti

ne time, suh. Seems like I've sorter g

, whut would you say ef I was to

wer cam

disrespectful, I'd say you was pran

bent forward

duty to inform you that at this moment you ar

e?" The tone expresse

ounds i

e, was torn between a desire to stay and hear more and an urge to hurry forth and spread the unbelievable tidings. After the briefest of strug

lk the volunteer bearer of a miraculous tale fairly ran. As for the m

thousand pounds of money oughter ma

ounds sterlin'-English money. Near ez I kin figger offhand, it comes in our money to somewheres between thirty

reckin there must be some mistake. Why, Judge, I don't scursely know anybody tha

frum. It was sent to me by a firm of barristers in that town-lawyers we'd call 'em. In this letter they ask me to find you and to tell you whut's happened. It seems, frum wh

o. They learnt in some way that your father and your mother settled in this town a mighty long time ago, and that they died here and left one son, which is you. All the rest of the f

ame. That's the news I had to tell you. Allow

across the desktop toward him. On his face, of a sudden, was a queer, eager look. It was

got it h

gh expecting to see a bulky

to be got up and sworn to before a man called a British consul; and likely there'll be a lot of papers that you'll have to sign; and then all the

ng it downcast. "I'm afeared, then, I won't be ab

y n

me. Raised the way I was, I never got no bo

chubby face; and compassion wa

t. You can make your mark-just a cross mark o

it in the ink-well and

showed it to one of the hands at the liver' stable and he busted out laughin'. And then I come to find out this here feller had tricked me fur to make game of me. He hadn't wrote my name out a-tall-he'd wrote some dirty words instid. So after that

plans

t had come to him: "I reckin, suh, it wouldn't be no more'n fair and proper ef I divided my money with you to pay you back fur all this tr

tech a cent of your money. There'll be some court dues and some lawyers' fees, and sech, to pay over there in Ireland; but after that's settled up every

d the figure

Brothers when you leave here and git yourself fitted out with some suitable clothin'. And you'd better go to Max Biederman's, too, and order a better pair of shoes fur yourself than them you've got on. Tell 'em I sent you and that I guarantee t

odgin's somewheres round town. You see, Peep, comin' into a proper

me-him and his wife both; and I wouldn't like fur 'em to think I was gittin' stuck up jest because I've had this here streak of luck come to me. Mebbe, seein' ez how things has changed with me, they'd be willin' to take me in fur a

est heartily. "I don't know but whut you'v

at I could count on." He hesitated a moment. "I reckin-I reckin, suh, it'll be a right

ll. Was you figurin' on in

suh; I

you think of spend

es, his lips moving i

"I could use ez much ez a silver

is detail kin be arranged. Here, Peep"-he extended his hand-"here's your dollar." Then, as the other drew back, stammering a refusal,

to see me when you're in need of cash, and I'll try to let you have whut you require-in reason. I'll keep a

ut to be so, I kind of imagine quite a passel of fellers will suddenly discover themselves strangely and affectionately drawed toward you. Y

m in business, or to sell you desirable pieces of real estate; or even to let you loan 'em various sums of money. I wouldn't be surprised but whut a number of sech chances will be comin' your way durin' the next few days, and frum then on. Ef sech should be the case

nd thank you ag'in, Judge, specially fur

is face was again the look of one who sees before h

Judge Priest, rising and stepping to his door, watched the retreating figure of the town

is chair and sat down, tugg

ss of the room, "I wonder whut a man sixty-odd-year old is go

was alone was one of his habits. Also, it was characteristic of him that he had refrained from betraying his inquisiti

ht by no less a person than Deputy Sheriff Quarles, who, some twenty minutes

ay done with the first piece of money he got his hands on out of that there f

a keen glance in Mr.

ly, "how did you come to hear

rt of town by this time. Why, I reckin twenty-five or fifty people must 'a' been wa

metimes ez whut bad news does-don't it, now? Well, son, I give up the riddle. Tell m

through Legal Row till he comes to Franklin Street, and then he goes up Franklin to B. Weil & Son's confectionary store; and there he turns in. I happened to be followin' 'long behin

bag of mixed candies-kisses and candy mottoes, and sech ez them, you know; and a sack of fresh roasted peanuts-a big sack, it was, fifteen-cent size; and two prize boxes; and some gingersnaps-ten cents' worth; and a coconu

arms till he looks sort of like some new kind of a summertime Santy Klaws; and he sets down on a good

natchelly eatin' his fool head off. A young chap that's clerkin' in Bagby's grocery, next door, steps up to him and speaks to him, meanin', I suppose, to ast him is it true he

red. He didn't seem to pay no heed to the grown-up people standin' there; but he sees a couple of boys about ten years old in the crowd

d peanuts and the candy and the gingersnaps, and was fixin' to take turns drinkin' the milk out of the coconut. I s'pose they've got it all cracked out of the shell and et up by now-the coc

m right sorry I missed it. . . . Busy ketchin' up, huh? Yes; I reckin he

ed it. He acted to me like a plum' distracted idiot. A grown man with forty thousand pounds of solid money settin' on the side of a

me the question, I should say, speakin' offhand, that it looks to me more ez ef the heart was the organ that was

ading; it spread to beat the wireless, travelling as it did by that mouth-to-ear method of communication which is so amazingly swift and generally as tremendously incorrect. Persons who could not credit the tale at all,

of the earlier narrators. Between breakfast and supper-time Peep O'Day's position in the common estimation of his fellow citizens underwent a radical and revolutionary change. He ceased-autom

he city papers by the local correspondents of the same; and the press associations had picked up a stickful of the story and sped it broadcast over leased w

ing stocks, in oil stocks, in all kinds of attractive stocks, showed interest; in circular form samples of the most optimistic and alluring literature

e ladies; others had been widowed, either by death or request. Various other persons of both sexes, residing here, there and elsewhere in our country, suddenly remembered

ugh no fault of their own, should at the present moment be in such straitened circumstances and in such dire need of temporary assistance of a financial nature. Ticker and printer's ink, operating in conjunctio

casioned by the fact that the person referred to was for the moment well out of touch with t

asmuch as there remained for him yet to serve nearly eight long and painfully tedious weeks of a three-months' vagrancy sentence. Unlike most of those now manifesting their interest, he did not

he morning following the morning when Peep O'Day, having been abruptly translated from the masses of the penniless to the

ence-if indeed they gave it a thought-as one of the utterly trivial and inconsequential incidents of the cosmic scheme, were moved to speak to him, to clasp his hand, and, in numerous instances, to express a hearty satisfa

n better than though he had been brusque and rude; while those who sought to question him regarding his plans for the future drew from him only mumbled and e

ge; and that these youngsters remained his companions throughout the day. Likewise the events of that day were such as to confirm a majority of the observers in practically the same

evidences of sanity. With his troupe of ragged juveniles trailing behind him, he first visited Felsburg Brothers' Emporium to exchange his old and disreputable costume for

megranate blossom, he presently issued from Felsburg Brothers' and entered M. Biederman's shoe store, two doors below. Here Mr. Biederman fitted him with shoes

ight-that already, between these small boys, on the one part, and this old m

door, was admitted to Judge Priest's private chambers, the boys meantime waiting outside in the hall. When he came forth he

his reason had not been under suspicion already, as a result of his freakish excess in the matter of B. Weil & Son's wares on the preceding day; b

had stalked O'Day to this point and was lying in wait for him as he came out of the courthouse into the Public Square, being anxious to describe to him some espe

isappointment and indignation dried up the salivary founts instantly when the prospective patron declined to listen to him at all and, br

y; he inquired in a warm voice regarding O'Day's health; and then, with a rare burst of generosity, he invited, nay urged, O'Day to step inside and have something on the house-wines,

ed an opportunity to partake of refreshment suitable to his years; and now he stepped into the Bon Ton toy store and bought for cash-mos

ded into the wagon, such purchases as a dozen bottles of soda pop, assorted flavours; cheese, crackers-soda and animal; sponge cakes with weather-proof pink icing on them; fruits of

ngside the laden wagon. He was holding the lines in his hands and shouting orders at his team, who showed a colty inclination to shy at objects, to kick up their heels without provocation, and at intervals to try to run a

ral reliable witnesses, playing games. It was not so strange that holidaying boys should play games; the amazing feature of the performance was that Peep O'Day, a man old en

by dust and grass stains; his flame-coloured tie was twisted under one ear; his new straw hat was mashed quite out of shape; and i

courthouse or Judge Priest's home to turn over to the Judge the unopened mail which had been delivered to him at Gafford's stables; then he would secure from the Judge a loa

would lead him to expend all the money in tin flutes. In one case the group he so incongruously headed would be for that one day a gang of make-believe banditti; in another, they would constitute themselves a fife-and-

they went swimming together in Guthrie's Gravel Pit, out by the old Fair Grounds, where his spare naked shanks contrasted strongly with their plump freckled legs as all of them splashed through t

h from his quarters in Gafford's stables, wearing a pair of boots that M. Biederman's establishment had turned out to his order and his measure-not such boots as a sensible man might be expected to

longings drew from many persons, the owner went clumping about in them, with the rumply legs of his trousers tucked down in t

may be that small boys have a lesser sense of humour than horses have, for certainly the b

ir elders. Perhaps this was because the elders, being blind in their superior wisdom, saw neither this thing nor the communion that flourished

s, his peculiar excursions and his weird purchases. If he did not actually encourage him in these constant exhibitions of

ic topic was intolerable, felt it his duty to speak to the Judge upon the subject. This gentleman-his name was S. P. Escott-held, with o

he conversation with Judge Priest to certain of his

s whut ails him! Fur one, I'm certainly not never goin' to vote fur him again. Why, it's gettin' to be ez much ez a man's

d, S. P.?" in

oughter be done about it, and didn't he think it was beholdin' on him ez circuit judge to do somethin' right away, sech ez havin' O'Day tuck up and tried fur a lunatic, and that I fur one was ready and willin' to testif

tizen, thataway! It shows he can't be rational his own self. Personally I claim Old Priest is failin' mentally-he must b

ering, turned and entered the front gate of his boarding house. It was not exactly h

months-two months in which each day the man furnished cumulative and piled-up material for de

sue, marked the climax of the man's new r?le in his new career. The first of these was the a

land, was on a certain afternoon delivered over into Judge Priest's hands, and by him, in turn, handed to the rightful owner, a

aid of the paying teller, instructed O'Day in the technical details requisite to the drawing of personal checks, Judge Priest went home and had his

's champions, heralded for weeks and weeks in advance of its coming by dead walls emblazoned with the finest examples of the lithographer's art, and by half-page advertisements in the Daily Evening News. On the

nt, a dwarfish and debilitated-looking creature, worn mangy and slick on its various angles, like the cover of an old-fashioned haircloth trunk; and obviously most of the c

k the doors were opened: at one-ten the eyes of the proprietor were made glad and his heart was uplifted within him by the sight of a st

th one hand holding fast to the string of a captive toy balloon. Behind him, in an uneven jostling formation, followed many small boys and some small girls. A census of the ranks would have develope

es rode on their tethers, nodding and twisting like so many big iridescent bubbles; and half a block away, at the edge of the lot, a balloon vender, whose entire stock had been

reserved-seat section for himself and those who accompanied him. From such superior points of vantage the whole crew of them witnessed the performance, from the thrilling gra

nts of both barrels in the refreshment stand out in the menagerie tent. They whooped their unbridled approval when the wild Indian chief, after shooting down a stuffed coon with a bow and arrow from somewhere up near the top of the centre pole

austible depths of his baggy white pants-a flute with a string and a bent pin affixed to it-and, secretly hooking the pin in the tail of the cross ringmaster's coat, was thereafter enab

em, paying the bills. As his guests they stayed for the concert; and, following this, they patronised the side sho

town the tale of poor old Peep O'Day's latest exhibition of freakishness was being retailed, with elaborations, to interested a

her. It began to happen when he reached the modest home of P. Gafford, adjoining the Gafford stables, on Locust Street, and found sitting on the lowermost step of the porch

ung man's nerves. His ankle bones still ached where the ball and chain had been hitched; on his palms the blisters induced by the uncongenial use of a sledge ham

ther in all the world, and, therefore, had more reason than any other living being to expect kindness and generosity at his uncle's hands. He spoke socialistica

ade him good-by-not good night but good-by! And, going inside the house, he close

ly he found small satisfaction in his profanity, rich though it may have been in metaphor and variety. So p

nd attentive attitude, it might have been adduced by one skilled in the trick of putting two and two together that the pair of them had reached a prior understanding s

cuit judge of the district, setting forth that, inasmuch as Paul Felix O'Day had by divers acts shown himself to be of unsound mind, now, therefore, came his nephew and next of kin praying that a committee or curator be appointed to take over the estate of the said Paul Felix O'Day, and admin

having the interests of his client at heart and perhaps also visions of a large contingent fee in his mind. No retainer had been paid. The state of Mr. Dwyer's finances-or, ra

cipal a speedy hearing of the issue, with a view to preventing the defendant named in the pleadings from dissi

ong-distance phone; and the Judge, cutting short his vacation and leaving uncaught

impending litigation, he sent a messenger to find Peep O'Day and

was substantially duplicated: There was the same cast of two, the same stage properties, the same atmosphere of untidy

o git ready to try to prove that you are feeble-minded? And, on top of that, that he's goin' to ask that a committee be app'inted fur you-in other

n with me and made hit all clear to me, yestiddy e

ornin' at ten. The other side is askin' fur a quick decision; and

r you sa

ent your interests in court? That's the mai

d a lawye

superfluous," stated Judge Priest dryly. "Still, in most cas

r ast me no questions about the way I've been carryin' on sence I come into this here money; but I reckin m

see, I'm the judge that's got to decide whether you are a responsible person-whether you're mentally capable of handlin' your own financial affairs, or whether you ain't. So you'd better wait and mak

a lawyer specially to represent you. Under the law it's my duty, in sech a case ez this here o

rds. "A guardian ad litem is simply a lawyer that tends to your affairs till the case is settled one way or the other

was you, I wouldn't draw out any more money frum the

ng. Not often, even in the case of exciting murder trials, had the old courtroom held a larger crowd; certainly never had it held so many boys. Boys, and boys exclusively, filled the back rows of benches downstairs. More boys

e mysterious source had been equipped with a neat wardrobe. Plainly he was endeavouring to wear a loo

the room, touching elbows with old Colonel Farrell

dant during these proceedings," Judge Priest had stated a few minutes earlier, us

ions in a tone inaudible to those about them; had listened to the whispered answers of O'Day; and

than Mr. Sublette was. For our present purposes, I deem it sufficient to say that in all his professional career Mr. Sublette was never more eloquent, never more forceful, never more vehement in his allegations, and never more convinced-as he himself stated, not once bu

freely and through the perspiration radiating confidence in his contentions, c

and of sonorous language, the colonel carried concealed a shrewd old brain. It was as though a skilled marksman lurked in ambush amid a tangle of luxuriant

g address by counsel. Indeed, the defendant has no counsel. Furthermore, the defendant, also acting upon my advice, will present no witnesses in his own behalf. But, with Your Ho

claimed Mr. Su

e learned counsel object

inly a victim of senility, an individual prematurely in his dotage-any utterances by him will be of no value whatsoever in aiding

the use of big words; the

of O'Day and Colonel Farrell. "The court will hear the defendant. He is no

ng arms dangling at his sides, half facing Judge Priest and half facing his nephew an

orehouse ez a pauper. I can't remember the time when I didn't have to work for my board and keep, and work hard. While other boys was goin' to school and playin' hooky, an

that there porehouse, I've had a hankerin' here inside of me"-he lifted one hand and touched his breast-"I've had a hankerin' to be a boy and to do all the things a boy does; to do the things I was chiselled out of doin'

ome true; and I started out fur to do it. And I done it! And I reckin that's the cause of my bein' here to-day, accused of

orehouse wearin' an old pair of somebody else's cast-off shoes-mebbe a man's shoes, with rags wropped round my feet to keep the snow frum comin' through the cracks in 'em, and to keep 'em frum slippin' right spang off my feet. I got three toes frostbit oncet durin' a cold spell, wearin' them kind of shoes. But here the other week I foun

said that I was learnin' 'em nobody knowed whut devilment. And he spoke of my havin' egged 'em on to steal watermelons frum Mister Bel

e been runnin' round with. They're mighty nice clean boys, all of 'em. Some of 'em are mighty near ez pore ez whut I uster be; but there ain't no real harm in any of 'em. We git along together f

owth. And I've got several of 'em that was smokin' cigarettes on the sly to promise me they'd quit. So I don't figger ez I'v

leman has brung them watermelons up, I'm goi

guilty look, over his shoulder toward th

watermelons tasted sweeter to a boy ef he thought he'd hooked 'em out of a patch; so I never let on to my little pardners yonder that I'd the same ez paid Mister Bell in advance

vain foolishment.' Mebbe you're right, suh, about the fritterin' part; but ef spendin' money in a certain way gives a man ez much pleasure ez

ks, I didn't spend only a dollar a day, or mebbe two dollars, and once three dollars in a single day out of whut was comin' to me. The Judge here, he let me have that out

k; and they give me the money I wanted-an even two hundred dollars. And part of that there money I used to pay fur circus tickets fur all the little boys and little girls I could fi

ow up to be ez old ez I am without havin' been to at least one circus. So I taken 'em all in and paid all the bills; and when night come there wasn't but 'bout nine dollars left out of the w

about, ef it was ten times ez big. I don't regret the investment and I don't aim to lie about it now. Mister Sublette, I'd do the same th

me have so much money all in one lump to spend takin' a passel of little shavers that ain't no kin to me to the circus and to the side show, besides lettin'

hildhood. Meanin' no offence, suh, but you was wrong there too. The way I look at it, a man can't be in his second childhood without he's had his firs

oment and loo

that grows up, no matter how old he may git to be, is entitled

hat his temerity should have carried him so far. There was a strange

iently advised as to the sanity of the man himself. The court cares to hear

he look upon the face of Nephew Percival Dwyer's attorney. At any rate, His Honour hardly had uttered the last syllable of his decision before, from the rear of the courtroom and from the gallery above, there arose a shri

e no effort to quell the outburst or to have it quelled-not even when a considerable number of the adults present jo

t. It was apparent that he had more to say; an

judgment of this court that the late defendant, being entirely sa

the late defendant sane but that he is the sanest man in thi

dge Priest beckoned to Sheriff Giles Birdsong, who, at the tail of the depa

ent fur malicious mischief ag'in this here Perce Dwyer knockin' round amongst the records somewheres-an indictment the grand jury

is apt to be revived, and that the said Dwyer is liable to be tuck into custody by you and lodged in the county jail sometime during the e

e to me," said Mr. Birdsong promptly. "W

so i

porch of his old white house out on Clay Street, waiting for Jeff Poindexter to summon him to supper. Peep O'Day opened the front gate an

rtily, "and set down a spell

"I jest come out here, suh, to thank you fur whut you done to-day on my ac

"but I couldn't accept any reward fur renderin'

. Weil & Son's store, doin' a little tradin', and I run acrost a new kind of knickknack, which it seemed like to me it was about the best thing I ever tasted in my whole life. So, on t

s side coat pocket and thrust it into Judge Priest's hands; then, backing away

lattened confections, each moulded round a short length of wooden splinter. These sirupy arti

h long strides of his booted legs. Half a dozen small boys, who, it was evident, had remained hidden during the ceremony

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