The money earned in this way Hugh for a time gave to his father, and
when the man had become stupid with drink he grew quarrelsome and
demanded that the boy return to live with him. Hugh had not the spirit
to refuse and sometimes did not want to refuse. When neither the station
master nor his wife was about he slipped away and went with his father
to sit for a half day with his back against the wall of the fishing
shack, his soul at peace. In the sunlight he sat and stretched forth his
long legs. His small sleepy eyes stared out over the river. A delicious
feeling crept over him and for the moment he thought of himself as
completely happy and made up his mind that he did not want to return
again to the railroad station and to the woman who was so determined to
arouse him and make of him a man of her own people.
Hugh looked at his father asleep and snoring in the long grass on the
river bank. An odd feeling of disloyalty crept over him and he became
uncomfortable. The man's mouth was open and he snored lustily. From his
greasy and threadbare clothing arose the smell of fish. Flies gathered
in swarms and alighted on his face. Disgust took possession of Hugh.
A flickering but ever recurring light came into his eyes. With all the
strength of his awakening soul he struggled against the desire to give
way to the inclination to stretch himself out beside the man and sleep.
The words of the New England woman, who was, he knew, striving to lift
him out of slothfulness and ugliness into some brighter and better way
of life, echoed dimly in his mind. When he arose and went back along the
street to the station master's house and when the woman there looked at
him reproachfully and muttered words about the poor white trash of the
town, he was ashamed and looked at the floor.
Hugh began to hate his own father and his own people. He connected
the man who had bred him with the dreaded inclination toward sloth in
himself. When the farmhand came to the station and demanded the money
he had earned by carrying trunks, he turned away and went across a
dusty road to the Shepard's house. After a year or two he paid no more
attention to the dissolute farmhand who came occasionally to the station
to mutter and swear at him; and, when he had earned a little money, gave
it to the woman to keep for him. “Well,” he said, speaking slowly and
with the hesitating drawl characteristic of his people, “if you give me
time I'll learn. I want to be what you want me to be. If you stick to me
I'll try to make a man of myself.”
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account