Back Home: Being the Narrative of Judge Priest and His PeopleCobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)
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Back Home: Being the Narrative of Judge Priest and His People
Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)
Kentucky -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Short stories, American
For one versed in the mysteries of the unseen he was fairly democratic
in his minglings with the people; and as for D. C. Davello, no one, not
even a candidate, could excel him in cordiality. Together they visited
the office of the Daily Evening News and also the office of our
other paper, the Weekly Argua-Eye, which was upstairs over Leaken's
job-printing shop. They walked through the market house and went to the
city hall to call on the mayor and the city marshal and invite them to
come to St. Clair Hall that night and bring their families with them,
free of charge. Skinny Collins, who was of their tagging juvenile
escort, at once began to put on airs before the rest. The city marshal
was his father.
About the middle of the afternoon they went into Felsburg Brothers Oak
Hall Clothing Emporium, steered by Van Wallace, who seemed to be showing
them round. We followed in behind, half a dozen or more of us, scuffling
our dusty bare feet on the splintery floor between the aisles of
racked-up coats. In the rear was Willie Richey, limping along on one toe
and one heel. Willie Richey always had at least one stone bruise in the
stone-bruise season, and sometimes two.
They went clear back to the end of the store where the office was and
the stove, but we, holding our distance, halted by the counter where
they kept the gift suspenders and neckties--Felsburg Brothers gave a
pair of suspenders or a necktie with every suit, the choice being left
to the customer and depending on whether in his nature the utilitarian
or the decorative instinct was in the ascendency. We halted there, all
eyes and ears and wriggling young bodies. The proprietors advanced
and some of the clerks, and Van Wallace introduced the visitors to Mr.
Herman Felsburg and to Mr. Ike Felsburg, his brother. Mr. Herman said,
“Pleased to meetcher,” with professional warmth, while Mr. Ike murmured,
“Didn't catch the name?” inquiringly, such being the invariable formula
of these two on greeting strangers. Cigars were passed round freely by
D. C. Davello. He must have carried a pocketful of cigars, for he had
more of them for some of the business men who came dropping in as if
by chance. All of a sudden Van Wallace, noting how the group had grown,
said it would be nice if the professor would show us what he could
do. D. C. Davello said it wasn't customary for Daniel the Mystic to
vulgarize his art by giving impromptu demonstrations, but perhaps he
would make an exception just for this once. He spoke to Daniel the
Mystic who was sitting silently in the Messrs. Felsburg's swivel
office-chair with his face in his hands--the poster likeness was
vindicated at last--and after a little arguing he got up and looked all
about him slowly and in silence. His eye fell on the little huddle of
small boys by the necktie counter and he said sharp and quick to Jack
Irons: “Come here, boy!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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