Outcroppings [pp. 334-336]

Outcroppings.
Skeggs." He cannot reassure himself by going down
the list of Priscilla's virtues; he only asks dumbly,
"Why?"
On his journey home he picks up his broken
threads of self-satisfaction one by one, and by the
time he arrives has recovered his moral tone. For a
few days he comports himself with added dignity,
and criticises with some sharpness the household at
large, the children's deportment, Priscilla's lack of
style, her neglect of certain home comforts; but the
relation of his adventures and the consciousness of
his vast worldly experience tempers his discontent
and finally restores his bucolic equanimity. The
vexed questions which troubled his mind lose their
importance under the sunny sky-in the fresh, crisp
air. We who are wiser than Rusticus know without
asking or answering why there is a line between him
and Urban, how far it reaches, and what an impassable barrier it is; but our prejudices will not let us
decide honestly whether the town or country mouse
has the best of it in the bewitching game called
"Life." -A. Mk. B.
How Jennett saw the Comet.
IN yielding to the demands of society with regard
to the comet, I had come to-grief. For a week I
remained in my bed, faithfully attended by the cause
of my woe. For a time I thought that Jennett's
devotion to me was penitential, and that the three
lumps of sugar she persistently dropped into my tea,
although I never wish but one, were by way of
atonement; but she was apparently so oblivious of
her connection with my abject condition that I
became doubtful of her responsibility myself, and
was inclined to throw the blame on Mrs. Grundy
or the comet. One must blame somebody or
something. At the end of a week the cold I had
caught yielded to the persuasive influences of hot and
cold, wet and dry, sweet and sour, etc., after the
usual manner of colds, and left me; but also left a
haunting sense of duty unfulfilled: I had not seen
the comet. I could not take up a newspaper without being reminded of my duty, and not a friend
called that did not reproach me for my neglect.
Finally I.awoke one morning, and from my bed
caught a glimpse of a star that was peeping through
the blinds and promising a clear sky. I called Jennett, and throwing on a wrap, stepped out upon
the balcony. I shall never forget that scene. Before me lay the city, indistinct and shadowy; beyond
it the waters of the bay and the mountains of Contra
Costa, faintly defined against the sky, which was
already beginning to flush with the approach of the
coming day. Above were the stars, the perfect
crescent of the waning moon, and the beautiful
comet. The air was soft and full of perfume from
the flowers that were just awakening in the garden
below-awakening to gaze upon its beauty. Presently in a tree close by a little bird awoke and gave
one sweet sleepy call to its mate, and was as softly
answered; then all was silent.
Jennett stood beside me, and seemed lost in admiration of the weird beauty of the scene. What
solemn thoughts gave her that air of rapt meditation?
Suddenly she asked:
"Is that the comet's tail, ma'm?
"Yes," I answered quickly. Surely it was time
to go in.
Jennett followed, and contemplatively tapping
her chin, continued:
"I was thinking-cows are strange-so different
from us. There is their hoofs and horns-and they
eat grass and drink water-and then the milk they
give-cows are strange. There was Squire Avord.
He got to be governor through being hooked with a
cow." Here Jennett faded from the room after her
usual manner, having launched me without a pilot
upon an unknown sea of speculation.
I crept back to my bed and vainly tried to sleep.
I thought of all the small boys in our schools who
are being taught to look forward to the presidential
chair as their natural destination, and with a view
to the future of my three small nephews, speculated as
to the breed of the cow, whether Durham or Devon,
and her method of hooking, that resulted so felicitously for Squire Avord. Then the mathematical
side of the question presented itself. If a cow
could hook a full-grown man into the gubernatorial
chair, what might reasonably be hoped from the
political influence of-say a goat?
It was broad daylight before I concluded these were
things past finding out. Then came Jennett with a
large silver salver, on which were grouped a cup of
coffee, a piece of bread, and an egg, all in the center
of the tray, and looking like three small islands in a
sea of napkin. Placing these before me, she said
with a sllht accession of animation:
"Why, ma'm, goslin's is'most as cheap as eggs."
"Well, do you advise me to eat goslings instead of
eggs, for the sake of economy?"
"No, ma'm, I was only thinking."
"Yes, Jennett, but how did the cow hook Squire
Avord into the gubernatorial chair?"
"The which, ma'm?"
"How did the cow make Squire Avord governor?"
"He got hooked with a cow, and it set him agin
farming'
And this is how Jennett saw the comet.
L.
I n the October number will be begun a new serial, by an anonymous
author, a story of San Francisco wealthy society, entitled
" A SHEPHERD AT COURT."
836
[Sept.
t