Flute and Violin, and Other Kentucky Tales and RomancesAllen, James Lane
General
Flute and Violin, and Other Kentucky Tales and Romances
Allen, James Lane
Kentucky -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Short stories, American
From first to last they were as follows: "Woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel;" "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters
according to the flesh;" "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden;" "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they
toil not, neither do they spin;" "Now abideth faith, hope, and charity,
these three; but the greatest of these is charity;" "I would not have
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep;"
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
This concatenation of texts Peter wished to have duly solemnized,
and therefore, when the work was finished, he further requested his
mistress to close the entire chain with the word "Amen," introduced in
some suitable place.
But the only spot now left vacant was one of a few square inches,
located just where the coat-tails hung over the end of Peter's spine;
so that when any one stood full in Peter's rear, he could but marvel at
the sight of so solemn a word emblazoned in so unusual a locality.
Panoplied in this robe of righteousness, and with a worn leathern Bible
in his hand, Peter used to go around of Sundays, and during the week,
by night, preaching from cabin to cabin the gospel of his heavenly
Master.
The angriest lightnings of the sultriest skies often played amid the
darkness upon those sacred coat-tails and around that girdle of
everlasting texts, as though the evil spirits of the air would fain
have burned them and scattered their ashes on the roaring winds. The
slow-sifting snows of winter whitened them as though to chill their
spiritual fires; but winter and summer, year after year, in weariness
of body, often in sore distress of mind, for miles along this lonely
road and for miles across that rugged way, Peter trudged on and on,
withal perhaps as meek a spirit as ever grew foot sore in the paths
of its Master. Many a poor overburdened slave took fresh heart and
strength from the sight of that celestial raiment; many a stubborn,
rebellious spirit, whose flesh but lately quivered under the lash, was
brought low by its humble teaching; many a worn-out old frame, racked
with pain in its last illness, pressed a fevered lip to its hopeful
hem; and many a dying eye closed in death peacefully fixed on its
immortal pledges.
When Peter started abroad, if a storm threatened, he carried an old
cotton umbrella of immense size; and as the storm burst, he gathered
the tails of his coat carefully up under his armpits that they might be
kept dry. Or if caught by a tempest without his umbrella, he would take
his coat off and roll it up inside out, leaving his body exposed to the
fury of the elements. No care, however, could keep it from growing old
and worn and faded; and when the slaves were set free and he was called
upon by the interposition of Providence to lay it finally aside, it was
covered by many a patch and stain as proofs of its devoted usage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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