He wore broad polished shoes, low, and fastened with buckles, and
against the black of his attire his stiffly starched, immaculate white
waistcoat was conspicuous. Only a few of its lower buttons of pearl
were fastened; above that it was open, and from one of the buttonholes,
the second from the top, his long gold watch-chain hung from its large
gold hook. The black cravat was not hidden by his white beard, which
he did not wear as long as many Ohio gentlemen of that day, and he was
crowned by a large Panama hat, yellowed by years of summer service, and
bisected by a ridge that began at the middle of the broad brim directly
in front, ran back, climbed and surmounted the large high crown, and
then, descending, ended its impressive career at the middle of the
broad brim behind.
I was walking on his left hand, near the fence, but as we entered the
shade of the elms and shrubbery of the Swedenborgian churchyard, I went
around to his other side, because a ghost dwelt in the Swedenborgian
churchyard. My cousin had pointed it out to me, and once I had seen it
distinctly.
The precaution was unnecessary, for I had long known my grandfather for
a brave man. He had been a soldier, and many persons in Urbana still
saluted him as major, though at that time he was mayor; going up town,
in fact, meant to go to the town hall before going anywhere else. In
the shade he removed his hat, and taking out a large silk handkerchief,
passed it several times over his red, perspiring face.
It was, as I have said, a hot afternoon, even for an August afternoon
in Ohio, and it was the hottest hour of the afternoon. Main Street,
when we turned into it presently, was deserted, and wore an unreal
appearance, like the street of the dead town that was painted on
the scene at the “opera-house.” Far to the south it stretched its
interminable length in white dust, until its trees came together in
that mysterious distance where the fairgrounds were, and to the north
its vista was closed by the bronze figure of the cavalryman standing
on his pedestal in the Square, his head bowed in sad meditation, one
gauntleted hand resting on his hip, the other on his saber-hilt. Out
over the thick dust of the street the heat quivered and vibrated, and
if you squinted in the sun at the cavalryman, he seemed to move, to
tremble, in the shimmer of that choking atmosphere.
The town hall stood in Market Square; for, in addition to _the_ Square,
where the bronze cavalryman stood on his pedestal, there was Market
Square, the day of civic centers not having dawned on Urbana in that
time, nor, doubtless, in this.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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