Paul Rundel: A NovelHarben, Will N. (Will Nathaniel)
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Paul Rundel: A Novel
Harben, Will N. (Will Nathaniel)
Fugitives from justice -- Fiction; Georgia -- Fiction; Ku Klux Klan (19th century) -- Fiction
“That won't do at all--_not at all_,” Trawley protested, with firmness.
“I've never seed an eye like his'n in a human head. He heard I was
ailin', an' come in here last week friendly like to talk to me.
Well”--Trawley averted his face and sat linking his fingers like wooden
prongs--“I just don't know how to tell you about it, Cap. He said--Paul
said some o' the quarest, most comfortin' things that ever a sick man
heard. I want to see 'im ag'in--I just _must_. I've been to preachers,
an' to old Christian men like Tye over thar, an' they all gave me the
same stale song-and-dance; but this young fellow, with his shinin'
face an' happy way, had some'n fresh. Why, he said that the Lord just
couldn't be hard on any repentant soul He'd ever created. I wish I
could tell you how Paul fixed it, but I can't remember. He said the ugly
sights I'd seed was just in _me_--just in my own mind--an' that as soon
as I seed that I was part an' parcel of God Hisse'f all them gloomy
shadows would pass away an' I'd see visions o' true light. He cited the
thief on the cross--you remember about that feller? He was dyin' thar by
the Saviour, you know, an' the Lord said to him, 'This day shalt thou be
with me in Paradise.' As Paul fixed it up nothin' the thief had done in
days gone by was to be helt ag'in' 'im--_nothin'!_ He says it is all a
matter of wrong thought or right thought. He told a purty tale that was
sorter like a new-fashioned parable. He said, take two brothers, for
instance. A lawyer comes away across the ocean from the old country an'
tells 'em, on his word an' honor, that a kinsman has died over thar an'
left 'em a million apiece, but that they will have to be patient an'
wait a year before the money will be paid into the'r hands. Now, Paul
said one of 'em, for example, would believe the lawyer an' spend his
year full o' happy expectations, but t'other wouldn't trust the lawyer's
statement, an' in his doubt an' uncertainty his year would be the most
miserable he ever spent. Both come in at the end on the same actual
level, you see, Cap, but the trustin' fellow got in twelve months
quicker--that's all. Paul says that illustrates what is called havin'
the kingdom of heaven within you--it's our'n if we'll just believe it's
our'n an' move in an' take possession.”
Hoag's countenance was full of shadow. For a moment he seemed undecided
as to what to say. He whipped his leg steadily and cleared his throat.
One of the negro attendants leaned in at the door and asked Trawley a
question, and the liveryman replied sharply:
“Give 'im any pair he wants, an' don't disturb me ag'in while I'm
talkin'.” He uttered a low groan as the negro withdrew and looked up
at his frowning companion. “I tell you, Jim Hoag, when a man gits in
trouble like I am in, a puny thing like whether he rents a turnout, or a
hub is split, or a tire off, amounts to so little that it makes 'im mad
to think about it.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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