charlie started for school with a heavy heart. had it not been for his impending doom of service in mr. thomas's family, he would have been the happiest boy that ever carried a school-bag.
it did not require a great deal to render this young gentleman happy. all that was necessary to make up a day of perfect joyfulness with him, was a dozen marbles, permission to wear his worst inexpressibles, and to be thoroughly up in his lessons. to-day he was possessed of all these requisites, but there was also in the perspective along array of skirmishes with aunt rachel, who, he knew, looked on him with an evil eye, and who had frequently expressed herself regarding him, in his presence, in terms by no means complimentary or affectionate; and the manner in which she had intimated her desire, on one or two occasions, to have an opportunity of reforming his personal habits, were by no means calculated to produce a happy frame of mind, now that the opportunity was about to be afforded her.
charlie sauntered on until he came to a lumber-yard, where he stopped and examined a corner of the fence very attentively. "not gone by yet. i must wait for him," said he; and forthwith he commenced climbing the highest pile of boards, the top of which he reached at the imminent risk of his neck. here he sat awaiting the advent of his friend kinch, the absence of death's head and cross bones from the corner of the fence being a clear indication that he had not yet passed on his way to school.
soon, however, he was espied in the distance, and as he was quite a character in his way, we must describe him. his most prominent feature was a capacious hungry-looking mouth, within which glistened a row of perfect teeth. he had the merriest twinkling black eyes, and a nose so small and flat that it would have been a prize to any editor living, as it would have been a physical impossibility to have pulled it, no matter what outrage he had committed. his complexion was of a ruddy brown, and his hair, entirely innocent of a comb, was decorated with divers feathery tokens of his last night's rest. a cap with the front torn off, jauntily set on one side of his head, gave him a rakish and wide-awake air, his clothes were patched and torn in several places, and his shoes were already in an advanced stage of decay. as he approached the fence he took a piece of chalk from his pocket, and commenced to sketch the accustomed startling illustration which was to convey to charlie the intelligence that he had already passed there on his way to school, when a quantity of sawdust came down in a shower on his head. as soon as the blinding storm had ceased, kinch looked up and intimated to charlie that it was quite late, and that there was a probability of their being after time at school.
this information caused charlie to make rather a hasty descent, in doing which his dinner-basket was upset, and its contents displayed at the feet of the voracious kinch.
"now i'll be even with you for that sawdust," cried he, as he pocketed two boiled eggs, and bit an immense piece out of an apple-tart, which he would have demolished completely but for the prompt interposition of its owner.
"oh! my golly! charlie, your mother makes good pies!" he exclaimed with rapture, as soon as he could get his mouth sufficiently clear to speak. "give us another bite,—only a nibble."
but charlie knew by experience what kinch's "nibbles" were, and he very wisely declined, saying sadly as he did so, "you won't get many more dinners from me, kinch. i'm going to leave school." "no! you ain't though, are you?" asked the astonished kinch. "you are not going, are you, really?"
"yes, really," replied charlie, with a doleful look; "mother is going to put me out at service."
"and do you intend to go?" asked kinch, looking at him incredulously.
"why of course," was the reply. "how can i help going if father and mother say i must?"
"i tell you what i should do," said kinch, "if it was me. i should act so bad that the people would be glad to get rid of me. they hired me out to live once, and i led the people they put me with such a dance, that they was glad enough to send me home again."
this observation brought them to the school-house, which was but a trifling distance from the residence of mrs. ellis.
they entered the school at the last moment of grace, and mr. dicker looked at them severely as they took their seats. "just saved ourselves," whispered kinch; "a minute later and we would have been done for;" and with this closing remark he applied himself to his grammar, a very judicious move on his part, for he had not looked at his lesson, and there were but ten minutes to elapse before the class would be called.
the lessons were droned through as lessons usually are at school. there was the average amount of flogging performed; cakes, nuts, and candy, confiscated; little boys on the back seats punched one another as little boys on the back seats always will do, and were flogged in consequence. then the boy who never knew his lessons was graced with the fool's cap, and was pointed and stared at until the arrival of the play-hour relieved him from his disagreeable situation.
"what kind of folks are these thomases?" asked kinch, as he sat beside charlie in the playground munching the last of the apple-tart; "what kind of folks are they? tell me that, and i can give you some good advice, may-be."
"old mrs. thomas is a little dried-up old woman, who wears spectacles and a wig. she isn't of much account—i don't mind her. she's not the trouble; it's of old aunt rachel, i'm thinking. why, she has threatened to whip me when i've been there with mother, and she even talks to her sometimes as if she was a little girl. lord only knows what she'll do to me when she has me there by myself. you should just see her and her cat. i really don't know," continued charlie, "which is the worst looking. i hate them both like poison," and as he concluded, he bit into a piece of bread as fiercely as if he were already engaged in a desperate battle with aunt rachel, and was biting her in self-defence.
"well," said kinch, with the air of a person of vast experience in difficult cases, "i should drown the cat—i'd do that at once—as soon as i got there; then, let me ask you, has aunt rachel got corns?"
"corns! i wish you could see her shoes," replied charlie. "why you could sail down the river in 'em, they are so large. yes, she has got corns, bunions, and rheumatism, and everything else."
"ah! then," said kinch, "your way is clear enough if she has got corns. i should confine myself to operating on them. i should give my whole attention to her feet. when she attempts to take hold of you, do you jist come down on her corns, fling your shins about kinder wild, you know, and let her have it on both feet. you see i've tried that plan, and know by experience that it works well. don't you see, you can pass that off as an accident, and it don't look well to be scratching and biting. as for the lady of the house, old mrs. what's-her-name, do you just manage to knock her wig off before some company, and they'll send you home at once—they'll hardly give you time to get your hat."
charlie laid these directions aside in his mind for future application, and asked,
"what did you do, kinch, to get away from the people you were with?"
"don't ask me," said kinch, laughing; "don't, boy, don't ask me—my conscience troubles me awful about it sometimes. i fell up stairs with dishes, and i fell down stairs with dishes. i spilled oil on the carpet, and broke a looking-glass; but it was all accidental—entirely accidental—they found i was too ''spensive,' and so they sent me home."
"oh, i wouldn't do anything like that—i wouldn't destroy anything—but i've made up my mind that i won't stay there at any rate. i don't mind work—i want to do something to assist father and mother; but i don't want to be any one's servant. i wish i was big enough to work at the shop."
"how did your mother come to think of putting you there?" asked kinch.
"the lord alone knows," was the reply. "i suppose old mrs. thomas told her it was the best thing that could be done for me, and mother thinks what she says is law and gospel. i believe old mrs. thomas thinks a coloured person can't get to heaven, without first living at service a little while."
the school bell ringing put an end to this important conversation, and the boys recommenced their lessons.
when charlie returned from school, the first person he saw on entering the house was robberts, mrs. thomas's chief functionary, and the presiding genius of the wine cellar—when he was trusted with the key. charlie learned, to his horror and dismay, that he had been sent by mrs. thomas to inquire into the possibility of obtaining his services immediately, as they were going to have a series of dinner parties, and it was thought that he could be rendered quite useful.
"and must i go, mother?" he asked.
"yes, my son; i've told robberts that you shall come up in the morning," replied mrs. ellis. then turning to robberts, she inquired, "how is aunt rachel?"
at this question, the liveried gentleman from mrs. thomas's shook his head dismally, and answered: "don't ask me, woman; don't ask me, if you please. that old sinner gets worse and worse every day she lives. these dinners we're 'spectin to have has just set her wild—she is mad as fury 'bout 'em—and she snaps me up just as if i was to blame. that is an awful old woman, now mind i tell you."
as mr. robberts concluded, he took his hat and departed, giving charlie the cheering intelligence that he should expect him early next morning.
charlie quite lost his appetite for supper in consequence of his approaching trials, and, laying aside his books with a sigh of regret, sat listlessly regarding his sisters; enlivened now and then by some cheerful remark from caddy, such as:—
"you'll have to keep your feet cleaner up there than you do at home, or you'll have aunt rach in your wool half a dozen times a day. and you mustn't throw your cap and coat down where you please, on the chairs or tables—she'll bring you out of all that in a short time. i expect you'll have two or three bastings before you have been there a week, for she don't put up with any nonsense. ah, boy," she concluded, chuckling, "you'll have a time of it—i don't envy you!"
with these and similar enlivening anticipations, caddy whiled away the time until it was the hour for charlie to retire for the night, which he, did with a heavy heart.
early the following morning he was awakened by the indefatigable caddy, and he found a small bundle of necessaries prepared, until his trunk of apparel could be sent to his new home. "oh, cad," he exclaimed, rubbing his eyes, "how i do hate to go up there! i'd rather take a good whipping than go."
"well, it is too late now to talk about it; hurry and get your clothes on—it is quite late—you ought to have been off an hour ago."
when he came down stairs prepared to go, his mother "hoped that he was going to behave like a man," which exhortation had the effect of setting him crying at once; and then he had to be caressed by the tearful esther, and, finally, started away with very red eyes, followed to the door by his mother and the girls, who stood looking after him for some moments.
so hurried and unexpected had been his departure, that he had been unable to communicate with his friend kinch. this weighed very heavily on his spirits, and he occupied the time on his way to mrs. thomas's in devising various plans to effect that object.
on arriving, he gave a faint rap, that was responded to by aunt rachel, who saluted him with—
"oh, yer's come, has yer—wipe your feet, child, and come in quick. shut the door after yer."
"what shall i do with this?" timidly asked he, holding up his package of clothes.
"oh, dem's yer rags is dey—fling 'em anywhere, but don't bring 'em in my kitchen," said she. "dere is enuff things in dere now—put 'em down here on this entry table, or dere, long side de knife-board—any wheres but in de kitchen."
charlie mechanically obeyed, and then followed her into her sanctuary.
"have you had your breakfast?" she asked, in a surly tone. "'cause if you haven't, you must eat quick, or you won't get any. i can't keep the breakfast things standing here all day."
charlie, to whom the long walk had given a good appetite, immediately sat down and ate a prodigious quantity of bread and butter, together with several slices of cold ham, washed down by two cups of tea; after which he rested his knife and fork, and informed aunt rachel that he had done.
"well, i think it's high time," responded she. "why, boy, you'll breed a famine in de house if you stay here long enough. you'll have to do a heap of work to earn what you'll eat, if yer breakfast is a sample of yer dinner. come, get up, child! and shell dese 'ere pease—time you get 'em done, old mrs. thomas will be down stairs."
charlie was thus engaged when mrs. thomas entered the kitchen. "well, charles—good morning," said she, in a bland voice. "i'm glad to see you here so soon. has he had his breakfast, aunt rachel?"
"yes; and he eat like a wild animal—i never see'd a child eat more in my life," was aunt rachel's abrupt answer.
"i'm glad he has a good appetite," said mrs. thomas, "it shows he has good health. boys will eat; you can't expect them to work if they don't. but it is time i was at those custards. charlie, put down those peas and go into the other room, and bring me a basket of eggs you will find on the table."
"and be sure to overset the milk that's 'long side of it—yer hear?" added
aunt rachel.
charlie thought to himself that he would like to accommodate her, but he denied himself that pleasure; on the ground that it might not be safe to do it.
mrs. thomas was a housekeeper of the old school, and had a scientific knowledge of the manner in which all sorts of pies and puddings were compounded. she was so learned in custards and preserves that even aunt rachel sometimes deferred to her superior judgment in these matters. carefully breaking the eggs, she skilfully separated the whites from the yolks, and gave the latter to charlie to beat. at first he thought it great fun, and he hummed some of the popular melodies of the day, and kept time with his foot and the spatula. but pretty soon he exhausted his stock of tunes, and then the performances did not go off so well. his arm commenced aching, and he came to the sage conclusion, before he was relieved from his task, that those who eat the custards are much better off than those who prepare them.
this task finished, he was pressed into service by aunt rachel, to pick and stone some raisins which she gave him, with the injunction either to sing or whistle all the time he was "at 'em;" and that if he stopped for a moment she should know he was eating them, and in that case she would visit him with condign punishment on the spot, for she didn't care a fig whose child he was.
thus, in the performance of first one little job and then another, the day wore away; and as the hour approached at which the guests were invited, charlie, after being taken into the dining-room by robberts, where he was greatly amazed at the display of silver, cut glass, and elegant china, was posted at the door to relieve the guests of their coats and hats, which duty he performed to the entire satisfaction of all parties concerned.
at dinner, however, he was not so fortunate. he upset a plate of soup into a gentleman's lap, and damaged beyond repair one of the elegant china vegetable dishes. he took rather too deep an interest in the conversation for a person in his station; and, in fact, the bright boy alluded to by mr. winston, as having corrected the reverend gentleman respecting the quotation from chaucer, was no other than our friend charlie ellis.
in the evening, when the guests were departing, charlie handed mr. winston his coat, admiring the texture and cut of it very much as he did so. mr. winston, amused at the boy's manner, asked—
"what is your name, my little man?"
"charles ellis," was the prompt reply. "i'm named after my father."
"and where did your father come from, charlie?" he asked, looking very much interested.
"from savanah, sir. now tell me where you came from," replied charles.
"i came from new orleans," said mr. winston, with a smile. "now tell me," he continued, "where do you live when you are with your parents? i should like to see your father." charlie quickly put his interrogator in possession of the desired information, after which mr. winston departed, soon followed by the other guests.
charlie lay for some time that night on his little cot before he could get to sleep; and amongst the many matters that so agitated his mind, was his wonder what one of mrs. thomas's guests could want with his father. being unable however, to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion respecting it, he turned over and went to sleep.
