"
"Did he give any reason for being so lenient to the widow?" asked
Lummox.
"He said that her son had given him a core of his apple when they
were boys together. Dan'l ez mighty thoughtful o' folks that was
kind to him in them days."
"Is that all?" said Lummox, astonished.
"Well--I've kinder thought suthin' else," said Mrs. Bigsby
hesitatingly.
"What?"
"That its bein' Christmas Day--and as I've heard tell that's NO DAY
IN LAW, but just like Sunday--Dan'l mebbe thought that he might
crawl outer that satisfaction piece, ef he ever wanted ter! Dan'l
is mighty cute."
VI
Mr. John Lummox was not behind his employer in developing
unexpected traits of character. Hitherto holding aloof from his
neighbors in Old Folksville, he suddenly went to a social
gathering, and distinguished himself as the principal and popular
guest of the evening. As Dan'l Borem afterward told his sister:
"He was one o' them Combination Minstrels and Variety Shows in one.
He sang through a whole opery, made the pianner jest howl, gave
some recitations, Casabianker and Betsy and I are Out; imitated all
them tragedians; did tricks with cards and fetched rabbits outer
hats, besides liftin' the pianner with two men sittin' on it, jest
by his teeth. Created snakes!" said Borem, concluding his account,
which here is necessarily abbreviated, "ef he learnt all that in
his two years in Europe I ain't sayin' anythin' more agin'
eddication and furrin' travel after this! Why, the next day there
was quite a run on the Bank jest to see HIM.
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