Chapter 28

The folks of Faraway have been carefully if rudely pictured, but
the look of my own person, since I grew to the stature of manhood,
I have left wholly to the imagination of the reader. I will wager he
knew long since what manner of man I was and has measured me
to the fraction of an inch, and knows even the colour of my hair
and eyes from having been so long in my company. If not - well, I
shall have to write him a letter.

When Uncle Eb and I took the train for New York that summer day
in 1860, some fifteen years after we came down Paradise Road
with the dog and wagon and pack basket, my head, which, in that
far day, came only to the latitude of his trouser pocket, had now
mounted six inches above his own. That is all I can say here on
that branch of my subject. I was leaving to seek my fortune in the
big city; Uncle Eb was off for a holiday and to see Hope and bring
her home for a short visit. I remember with what sadness I looked
back that morning at mother and father as they stood by the gate
slowly waving their handkerchiefs. Our home at last was emptied
of its young, and even as they looked the shadow of old age must
have fallen suddenly before them. I knew how they would go back
into that lonely room and how, while the clock went on with its
ticking, Elizabeth would sit down and cover her face a moment,
while David would make haste to take up his chores.

We sat in silence a long time after the train was off, a mighty
sadness holding our tongues. Uncle Eb, who had never ridden a
long journey on the cars before, had put on his grand suit of
broadcloth. The day was hot and dusty, and before we had gone far
he was sadly soiled. But a suit never gave him any worry, once it
was on. He sat calmly, holding his knee in his hands and looking
out of the open window, a squint in his eyes that stood for some
high degree of interest in the scenery.

'What do you think of this country?' I enquired.

'Looks purty fair,' said he, as he brushed his face with his
handkerchief and coughed to clear his throat of the dust, 'but 'tain't
quite so pleasant to the taste as some other parts o' the country. I
ruther liked the flavour of Saint Lawrence all through, but
Jefferson is a leetle gritty.'

He put down the window as he spoke.

'A leetle tobaccer'll improve it some,' he added, as his hand went
down for the old silver box. 'The way these cars dew rip along!
Consamed if it ain't like flyin'! Kind o' makes me feel like a bird.'

The railroad was then not the familiar thing it is now in the north
country. The bull in the fields had not yet come to an
understanding of its rights, and was frequently tempted into
argument with a locomotive. Bill Fountain, who came out of a
back