In The Boyhood of Lincoln Part 11

[Ill.u.s.tration: AUNT OLIVE'S WEDDING.]

"Polk hitched up the reins and the horse stood still. How solemn it seemed! The woods were still and shady. You could hear the water rus.h.i.+ng in the timber. The full moon hung in the clear sky over the river, and seemed to lay on the water like a sparkling boat. I was happy then. On our journey home we were chased by a bear. I don't think that the bear would have hurt us, but the scent of him frightened the horse and made him run like a deer.

"Well, we portaged a stream at midnight, just as the moon was going down. We made our curtilage here, and here we lived happy until husband died of a fever. I'm a middlin' good woman. I go to all the meetin's round, and wake 'em up. I've got a powerful tongue, and there isn't a lazy bone in my whole body. Work away--work away! That's the way to get along in the world. Peg away!"

While Aunt Olive had been relating this odd story, John Hanks, a cousin of the Lincolns, had come quietly to the door, and entered and sat down beside the Tunker. He had come to Indiana from Kentucky when Abraham was fourteen years of age, and he made his home with the Lincolns for four years, when he went to Illinois, and was enthused by the wonders of prairie farming. It was Uncle John who gave to Abraham Lincoln the name of rail-splitter. He loved the boy Lincoln, and led his heart away to the rich prairies of Illinois a few years after the present scenes.

"He and I," he once said of Abraham, "worked barefooted, grubbed, plowed, mowed, and cradled together. When we returned from the field, he would s.n.a.t.c.h a piece of corn-bread, sit down on a chair, with his feet elevated, and read. He read constantly."

This man had heard Aunt Olive--Indiana, or "Injiany," he called her--relate her marriage experiences many times. He was not interested in the old story, but he took a keen delight in observing the curiosity and surprise that such a novel tale awakened in the mind of the Tunker.

"This is very extraordinary," said the Tunker, "very extraordinary. We do not have in Germany any stories like that. I hardly know what my people would say to such a story as that. This is a very extraordinary country--very extraordinary."

"I can tell you a wedding story worth two o' that," said Uncle John Hanks. "Why, that ain't nowhere to it.--Now, Aunt Injiany, you wait, and set still. I'm goin' to tell the elder about the 'TWO TURKEY-CALLS.'"

The Tunker only said, "This is all very extraordinary." Uncle John crossed his legs and bent forward his long whiskers, stretched out one arm, and was about to begin, when Aunt Olive said:

"You wait, John Hanks--you wait. I'm goin' to tell the elder that there story myself."

John Hanks never disputed with Aunt Olive.

"Well, tell it," said he, and the backwoods woman began:

"'Tis a master-place to get married out here. There's a great many more men than women in the timber, and the men get lonesome-like, and no man is a whole man without a wife. Men ought not to live alone anywhere.

They can not out here. Well, well, the timber is full of wild turkeys, especially in the fall of the year, but they are hard to shoot. The best way to get a shot at a turkey is by a turkey-call. You never heard one, did you? You are not to blame for bein' ignorant. It is like this--"

Aunt Indiana put her hands to her mouth like a sh.e.l.l, and blew a low, mysterious whistle.

"Well, there came a young settler from Kentucky and took up a claim on Pigeon Creek; and there came a widow from Ohio and took a claim about three miles this side of him, and neither had seen the other. Well, well, one s.h.i.+ny autumn mornin' each of them took in to their heads to go out turkey-huntin', and curiously enough each started along the creek toward each other. The girl's name was Nancy, and the man's name was Albert. Nancy started down the creek, and Albert up the creek, and each had a right good rifle.

"Nancy stood still as soon as she found a hollow place in the timber, put up her hand--_so_--and made a turkey-call--_so_--and listened.

"Albert heard the call in the hollow timber, though he was almost a mile away, and he put up his hands--_so_--and answered--_so_.

"'A turkey,' said Nancy, said she. 'I wish I had a turkey to cook.'

"'A turkey,' said Albert, said he. 'I wish I had some one at home to cook a turkey.'

"Then each stole along slowly toward the other, through the hollow timber.

"It was just a lovely mornin'. Jays were callin', and nuts were fallin', and the trees were all yellow and red, and the air put life into you, and made you feel as though you would live forever.

"Well, they both of them stopped again, Nancy and Albert. Nancy she called--_so_--and Albert--_so_.

"'A turkey, sure,' said Nancy.

"'A turkey, sure,' said Albert.

"Then each went forward a little, and stopped and called again.

"They were so near each other now that each began to hide behind the thicket, so that neither might scare the turkey.

"Well, each was scootin' along with head bowed--_so_--gun in hand--_so_--one wis.h.i.+n' for a husband and one for a wife, and each for a good fat turkey, when what should each hear but a voice in a tree! It was a very solemn voice, and it said:

"'Quit!'

"Each thought there was a scared turkey somewhere, and each became more stealthy and cautious, and there was a long silence.

"At last Nancy she called again--_so_--and Albert he answered her--_so_--and each thought there was a turkey within shootin' distance, and each crept along a little nearer each other.

"At last Nancy saw the bushes stir a few rods in front of her, and raised her gun into position, still hiding in the tangle. Albert discovered a movement in front of him, and he took the same position.

"Nancy was sure she could see something dark before her, and that it must be the turkey in the tangle. She put her finger on the lock of the gun, when a voice in the air said:

"'Quit!'

"'It's a turkey in the tops of the timber,' thought she, 'and he is watchin' me, and warnin' the other turkey.'

"Albert, too, was preparin' to shoot in the tangle when the command from the tree-top came. Each thought it would be well to reconnoiter a little, so as to get a better shot.

"Nancy kneeled down on the moss among the red-berry bushes, and peeked cautiously through an openin' in the tangle. What was that?

"A hat? Yes, it was a hat!

"Albert he peeked through another openin', and his heart sunk like a stone within him. What was that? A bonnet? Yes, it was a bonnet!

"Was ever such a thing as that seen before in the timber? Bears had been seen, and catamounts, and prairie wolves, but a bonnet! He drew back his gun. Just then there came another command from the tree-top:

"'Quit!'

"Now, would you believe it? Well, two guns were discharged at that turkey in the tree, and it came tumblin' down, a twenty-pounder, dead as a stone.

"Nancy run toward it. Albert run towards it.

"'It's yourn,' said Nancy.

"'It's yourn,' said Albert.

"Each looked at the other.

"Nancy looked real pink and pretty, and Albert he looked real n.o.ble and handsome-like.

"'I'm thinkin',' said Albert, 'it kind o' belongs to both of us.'

"'So I think, too,' said Nancy, said she. 'Come over to my cabin and I'll cook it for ye. I'm an honest girl, I am.'

"The two went along as chipper as two squirrels. The creek looked really pretty to 'em, and the prairie was all a-glitter with frost, and the sky was all pleasant-like, and you know the rest. There, now. They're livin' there yet. Just like poetry--wasn't it, now?"

"Very extraordinary," said the Tunker, "very! I never read a novel like that. Very extraordinary!"