"
She informed me, while the singers were gathered, as usual, at the Ark,
that Luther had gone to make farewell visits to his friends. He had
three married sisters living in different parts of the State. They had
children. The children were very fond of him, and he was going on such a
long voyage. Mrs. Cradlebow was looking beyond the singers, her eyes
shining clear and sad above the pathetic smile on her lips--
"And he says he shan't come back again until he comes to give me such
pleasure as I never dreamed of."
Those words come to me now, either as part of the endless mockery of
life, or as strains of hidden music, deep and true, running ever beneath
the world's dull misinterpretation.
Afterwards, the choir of voices in the room formed an effectual shield
for confidential conversation.
"You don't know what a good boy he's always been to me, teacher," Mrs.
Cradlebow continued, with a manner unusual to her, I thought, as of one
seeking for sympathy; "so that I've learned to depend so much on him,
more, I think, than on anybody else. Some boys when they're growing up
so, they feel independent and they answer you back short, but the older
he grew, the gentler he was to me, always, and if he had any trouble, it
never made him cross to me; and I think it's harder to see anybody so
than if they was cross, for he's quick in ways, I know, but when things
go real hard against him, he's patient.
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