When Men Grew Tall, or The Story of Andrew JacksonLewis, Alfred Henry
History
When Men Grew Tall, or The Story of Andrew Jackson
Lewis, Alfred Henry
Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845
The face is a boy's face. It is likewise of the sort called “horse”;
with hollow cheeks and lantern jaws. The forehead is high and narrow.
The yellow hair is long, and tied in a cue with an eelskin--for eelskins
are according to the latest fashionable command sent up from Charleston.
The redeeming feature to the horse face is the eyes. These are big and
blue and deep, and tell of a mighty power for either love or hate.
They are Scotch-Irish eyes, loyal eyes, steadfast eyes, and of that
inveterate breed which if aroused can outstare, outdomineer Satan.
As adding to the horse face a look of command, which sets well with
those blue eyes--so capable of tenderness and ferocity--is a high
predatory nose. The mouth, thin-lipped and wide, is replete of what folk
call character, but does nothing to soften a general expression which is
nothing if not iron. And yet the last word is applicable only at times.
The horse face never turns iron-hard unless danger presses, or perilous
deeds are to be done. In easier, relaxed hours one finds no sternness
there, but gayety and lightness and a love of pleasure.
In dress the horse-faced boy is rather the fop, with a bottle-green
surtout of latest cut, high-collared, long-tailed, open to display a
flowered waistcoat of as many hues as May, from which struggles a ruffle
stiff with starch. The horsefaced boy has his predatory nose buried in
a law book. This is as it should be, for he is a student of the learned
Spruce McCay.
There comes a step at the door; the horsefaced boy takes his nose
from between the covers of the book. Spruce McCay walks in, and throws
himself carelessly into a seat. He is a square, hearty man, with nose
up-tilted and eager, as though somewhere in the distance it sniffed an
orchard. He is of middle years, and well arrived at that highest ground,
just where the pathway of life begins to slope downward toward the final
yet still distant grave.
Spruce McCay glances at a paper or two on his desk. Then, shoving all
aside, he fills and lights a corn-cob pipe. Through the smoke rings he
surveys the horse-faced boy; plainly he meditates a communication.
“Andy, I've been thinking you over.”
Andy says “Yes?” expectantly.
“You should cross the mountains.”
The blue eyes take on a bluer glint, and light up the horse face like
azure lamps.
“Yes, a new country is the place for you. You are now about to be
admitted to practice law; not because you know law, but for the reason
that I have recommended it. As I say, you have little law knowledge; but
you possess courage, brains, perseverance, honesty, prudence and divers
other traits, which you take from your Carrickfergus ancestors. These
should carry you farther in the wilderness than any knowledge of the
books.”
The predatory nose snorts, and the horse face begins to glow
resentfully.
“You think I know no law?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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