Part 22 (1/2)
A MAN WHO HATED HIMSELF
The light of the following day brought little hope or courage; but Haldane started out, after a meagre breakfast, to find some means of obtaining a dinner and a place to sleep. He was not as successful as usual, and noon had pa.s.sed before he found anything to do.
As he was plodding wearily along through a suburb he heard some one behind a high board fence speaking so loudly and angrily that he stopped to listen, and was not a little surprised to find that the man was talking to himself. For a few moments there was a sound of a saw, and when it ceased, a harsh, querulous voice commenced again:
”A-a-h”--it would seem that the man thus given to soliloquy often began and finished his sentences with a vindictive and prolonged guttural sound like that here indicated--”Miserable hand at sawin' wood! Why don't you let some one saw it that knows how? Tryin' to save a half dollar; when you know it'll give you the rheumatiz, and cost ten in doctor bills! 'Nother thing; it's mean--mean as dirt. You know there's poor devils who need the work, and you're cheatin' 'em out of it. But it's just like yer! A-a-h!” and then the saw began again.
Haldane was inclined to believe that this irascible stranger was as providential as the croaking ravens that fed the prophet, and he promptly sought the gate and entered. An old man looked up in some surprise. He was short in stature and had the stoop of one who is bending under the weight of years and infirmities. His features were as withered and brown as a russet apple that had been kept long past its season, and his head was surmounted by a shock of white locks that bristled out in all directions, as if each particular hair was on bad terms with its neighbors. Curious seams and wrinkles gave the continuous impression that the old gentleman had just swallowed something very bitter, and was making a wry face over it. But Haldane was in no mood for the study of physiognomy and character, however interesting a subject he might stumble upon, and he said:
”I am looking for a little work, and with your permission I will saw that wood for whatever you are willing to pay.”
”That won't be much.”
”It will be enough to get a hungry man a dinner.”
”Haven't you had any dinner?”
”No.”
”Why didn't you ask for one, then?”
”Why should I ask you for a dinner?”
”Why shouldn't you? If I be a tight-fisted man, I'm not mean enough to refuse a hungry man.”
”Give me some work, and I can buy my dinner.”
”What's your name?”
”Egbert Haldane.”
”Ah ha! That name's been in the papers lately.”
”Yes, and _I_ have been in jail.”
”And do you expect me to have a man around that's been in jail?”
”No; I don't expect any humanity from any human being that knows anything about me. I am treated as if I were the devil himself, and hadn't the power or wish to do anything save rob and murder. The public should keep such as I am in prison the rest of our lives, or else cut our throats. But this sending us out in the world to starve, and to be kicked and cuffed during the process, is scarcely in keeping with the Bible civilization they are always boasting of.”
He spoke recklessly and bitterly, and his experience made his words appear to him only too true. But his shrivelled and shrunken auditor grinned appreciatively, and said, with more than his usual vindictive emphasis:
”A-a-h! that's the right kind of talk. Now you're gittin' past all this make-believin' to the truth. We're a cussed mean set--we folk who go to church and read the Bible, and then do just what the devil tells us, a-helpin him along all the time. Satan's got a strong grip on you, from all I hear, and we're all a-helpin' him keep it. You've gone half way to the devil, and all the good people tell you to go the rest of the way, for they won't have anything to do with you. Hain't that the way?”
”Oh, no,” said Haldane with a bitter sneer; ”some of the good people to whom you refer put themselves out so far as to give me a little advice.”
”What was it wuth to you? Which would you ruther--some good advice from me, or the job of sawin' the wood there?”
”Give me the saw--no matter about the advice,” said Haldane, throwing off his coat.
”A-a-h! wasn't I a fool to ask that question? Well, I don't belong to the good people, so go ahead--I don't s'pose you know much about sawin'