"This is the state of man:to-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hopes;to-morrow blossoms,And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;The third day comes a frost,a killing frost,And,when he thinks,good,easy man,full surely His greatness is a-ripening,nips his root,And then he falls,as I do."Watch me take the plunge!"said Laddie.
"`Mad frenzy fires him now,'"quoted Leon.
It was Sunday after dinner.We had been to church and Sunday-school in the forenoon,and we had a houseful of company for dinner.All of them remained to spend the afternoon,because in our home it was perfectly lovely.We had a big dinner with everything good to start on,and then we talked and visited and told all the news.The women exchanged new recipes for cooking,advised each other about how to get more work done with less worry,to doctor their sick folks,and to make their dresses.At last,when every thing was talked over,and there began to be a quiet time,father would reach across the table,pick up a paper and read all the interesting things that had happened in the country during the past week;the jokes too,and they made people think of funny stories to tell,and we just laughed.In the Agriculturist there were new ways to farm easier,to make land bear more crops;so he divided that with the neighbours,also how to make gardens,and prune trees.Before he finished,he always managed to work in a lot about being honest,kind,and loving God.
He and mother felt so good over Leon,and by this time they were beginning to see that they were mighty glad about the money too.
It wouldn't have been so easy to work,and earn,and pay back all that for our school,roads,and the church;and every day you could see plainer how happy they felt that they didn't have to do it.Because they were so glad about these things,they invited every one they met that day;but we knew Saturday mother felt that probably she would ask a crowd,from the chickens,pie,and cake she got ready.When the reading part was over,and the women were beginning to look at the clock,and you knew they felt they should go home,and didn't want to,Laddie arose and said that,and Leon piped up like he always does and made every one laugh.Of course they looked at Laddie,and no one knew what he meant,so all the women and a few of the men asked him.
"Watch me,I said,"laughed Laddie as he left the room.
Soon Mrs.Dover,sitting beside the front window,cried:"Here he is at the gate!"He was on his horse,but he hitched it and went around the house and up the back way.Before long the stair door of the sitting-room opened,and there he stood.We stared at him.Of course he was bathed,and in clean clothing to start with,but he had washed and brushed some more,until he shone.His cheeks were as smooth and as clear pink as any girl's,his eyes blue-gray and big,with long lashes and heavy brows.His hair was bright brown and wavy,and he was so big and broad.He never had been sick a day in his life,and he didn't look as if he ever would be.
And clothes DO make a difference.He would have had exactly the same hair,face,and body,wearing a hickory shirt and denim trousers;but he wouldn't have looked as he did in the clothes he wore at college,when it was Sunday there,or he was invited to a party at the President's.I don't see how any man could possibly be handsomer or look finer.His shirt,collar,and cuffs were snow-white,like everything had to be before mother got through with it;his big loose tie almost reached his shoulders;and our men could do a thing no other man in the neighbourhood did:they could appear easier in the finest suit they could put on than in their working clothes.
Mother used to say one thing she dreaded about Sunday was the evident tortures of the poor men squirming in boots she knew pinched them,coats too tight,and collars too high.She said they acted like half-broken colts fretting over restriction.
Always she said to father and the boys when they went to buy their new clothes:"Now,DON'T join the harness fighters!Get your clothing big enough to set your bodies with comfort and ease."I suppose those other men would have looked like ours if their mothers had told them.You can always see that a man needs a woman to help him out awful bad.
Of course Laddie knew he was handsome;he had to know all of them were looking at him curiously,but he stood there buttoning his glove and laughing to himself until Sarah Hood asked:"Now what are you up to?"He took a step toward her,ran one hand under her lanternjawed chin,pulled her head against his side and turned up her face.
"Sarah,"he said,"'member the day we spoiled the washing?"Every one laughed.They had made jokes about it until our friends knew what they meant.
"What are you going to spoil now?"asked Sarah.
"The Egyptians!The `furriners.'I'm going right after them!""Well,you could be in better business,"said Sarah Hood sharply.
Laddie laughed and squeezed her chin,and hugged her head against him.
"Listen to that,now!"he cried."My best friend going back on me.Sarah,I thought you,of all people,would wish me luck.""I do !"she said instantly."And that's the very reason I don't want you mixed up with that mysterious,offish,stuck-up mess.""Bless your dear heart!"said Laddie,giving her a harder squeeze than ever."You got that all wrong,Sarah.You'll live to see the day,very shortly,when you'll change every word of it.""I haven't done anything but get surer about it every day for two years,anyway,"said Sarah Hood.
"Exactly!"said Laddie,"but wait until I have taken the plunge!
