Home > Authors Index > Marietta Holley > Samantha at Coney Island > This page
Samantha at Coney Island, a novel by Marietta Holley |
||
Chapter 16. The Wonderful And Mysterious Sights I Saw In Steeple Chase Park... |
||
| < Previous |
Table of content |
Next > |
|
________________________________________________
_ CHAPTER SIXTEEN. THE WONDERFUL AND MYSTERIOUS SIGHTS I SAW IN STEEPLE CHASE PARK, AND MY SEARCH THERE FOR MY PARDNER
As I went in, I see a immense mirror turnin' round and round seemin'ly invitin' folks to look. But as I glanced in, I tell the truth when I say, I wuzn't much bigger round than a match, and the thinness made me look as tall as three on me. "Oh," sez I, "has grief wore my flesh away like this? If it keeps on I shan't dast to take lemonade, for fear I shall fall into the straw and be drowned." A bystander sez, "Look agin, mom!" I did and I wuzn't more'n two fingers high, and wide as our barn door. I most shrieked and sez to myself, "It has come onto me at last, grief and such doin's as I've seen here, has made me crazy as a loon." And I started away almost on a run. All of a sudden the floor under me which looked solid as my kitchen floor begun to move back and forth with me and sideways and back, to and fro, fro and to, and I goin' with it, one foot goin' one way, and the other foot goin' somewhere else; but by a hurculaneum effort I kep' my equilebrium upright, and made out to git on solid floorin'. But a high-headed female in a hobble skirt, the hobbles hamperin her, fell prostrate. I felt so shook up and wobblin' myself, I thought a little Scripter would stiddy me, and I sez, "Sinners stand on slippery places." "I see they do!" she snapped out, lookin' at me; "but I can't!" I sez to myself as I turned away, "I'll bet she meant me." But bein' tuckered out, I sot down on a reliable-lookin' stool, the high-headed woman takin' another one by my side--there wuz a hull row of folks settin' on 'em--when, all of a sudden, I d'no how it wuz done or why, but them stools all sunk right down to the floor bearin' us with 'em onwillin'ly. I scrambled to my feet quick as I could, and as I riz up I see right in front on me the gigantick, shameless female Bildad had as good as told me Josiah had been flirtin' with. I knowed her to once, the gaudy, flashin' lookin' creeter, bigger than three wimmen ort to be; she wuz ten feet high if she wuz a inch. As she come up to me with mincin' steps, I sez to her in skathin' axents: "What have you done with my innocent pardner? Where is Josiah Allen? Open your guilty breast and confess." And now I'm tellin' the livin' truth, as she towered up in front on me, her breast did open and a man's face looked out on me. My brain tottled, but righted itself with relief, for it wuz not Josiah; it wuz probable some other woman's husband. But I sez to myself, let every woman take care of her own husband if she can; it hain't my funeral. And I hurried off till I come out into a kinder open place with some good stiddy chairs to set down on, and some green willers hangin' down their verdant boughs over some posy beds. Nothin' made up about 'em. Oh how good it looked to me to see sunthin' that God had made, and man hadn't dickered with and manufactured to seem different from what it wuz. Thinks I, if I should take hold of one of these feathery green willer sprays it wouldn't turn into a serpent or try to trip me up, or wobble me down. They looked beautiful to me, and beyond 'em I could see the Ocean, another and fur greater reality, real as life, or death, or taxes, or anything else we can't escape from. [Illustration: "_I'm tellin' the livin' truth, as she towered up in front on me, her breast opened and a man's face looked out on me._" (_See page 253_)] Settin' there lookin' off on them mighty everlastin' waves, forever flowin' back and forth, forth and back, the world of the flimsy and the false seemed to pass away and the Real more nigh to me than it did in the painted land of shams and onreality I had been passin' through. And as I meditated on the disgraceful sight I had seen--that gaudy, guilty creeter with a man concealed in her breast. For if it wuzn't a guilty secret, why wuz the door shet and fastened tight, till the searchlight of a woman's indignant eyes brought him to light? Thinkin' it over calmly and bein' reasonable and just, my feelin's over that female kinder softened down, and I sez to myself, what if there wuz a open winder or door into all our hearts, for outsiders to look in, what would they see? Curious sights, homely ones and beautiful, happy ones and sorrowful, and some kinder betwixt and between. Sacred spots that the nearest ones never got a glimpse on. Eyes that look acrost the coffee pot at you every mornin' never ketched sight on 'em, nor the ones that walk up and down in them hidden gardens. Some with veiled faces mebby, some with reproachful orbs, some white and still, some pert and sassy. Nothin' wicked, most likely; nothin' the law could touch you for; but most probable it might make trouble if them affectionate eyes opposite could behold 'em, for where love is there is jealousy, and a lovin' woman will be jealous of a shadder or a scare-crow. It is nateral nater and can't be helped. But if she stopped to think on't, she herself has her hid-away nooks in her heart, dark or pleasant landscapes, full of them, you never ketch a glimpse on do the best you can. And jealous curosity goes deep. What would Josiah see through my heart's open door? What would I see in hisen? It most skairs me to think on't. No, it hain't best to have open doors into hearts. Lots of times it would be resky; not wrong, you know, but jest resky. Thus I sot and eppisoded, lookin' off onto the melancholy ocean, listenin' to her deep sithes, when onbid come the agonizin' thought, "Had Josiah Allen backslid so fur and been so full of remorse and despair, that his small delicate brain had turned over with him, and he had throwed himself into the arms of the melancholy Ocean? Wuz her deep, mournful sithes preparin' me for the heart-breakin' sorrow?" I couldn't abear the thought, and I riz up and walked away. As I did so a bystander sez, "Have you been up on the Awful Tower?" "No," sez I, "I've been through awful things, enough, accidental like, without layin' plans and climbin' up on 'em." But Hope will always hunch Anxiety out of her high chair in your head and stand up on it. I thought I would go upstairs into another part of the buildin' and mebby I might ketch a glimpse of my pardner in the dense crowd below. And if you'll believe it, as I wuz walkin' upstairs as peaceful as our old brindle cow goin' up the south hill paster, my skirts begun to billow out till they got as big as a hogsit. I didn't care about its bein' fashion to not bulge out round the bottom of your skirts but hobble in; but I see the folks below wuz laughin' at me, and it madded me some when I hadn't done a thing, only jest walk upstairs peaceable. And I don't know to this day what made my clothes billow out so. But I went on and acrost to a balcony, and after I went in, a gate snapped shet behind me and I couldn't git back. And when I got to the other side there wuzn't any steps, and if I got down at all I had to slide down. I didn't like to make the venter, but had to, so I tried to forgit my specs and gray hair and fancy I wuz ten years old, in a pig-tail braid, and pantalettes tied on with my stockin's, and sot off. As I went down with lightnin' speed I hadn't time to think much, but I ricollect this thought come into my harassed brain: Be pardners worth all the trouble I'm havin' and the dretful experiences I'm goin' through? Wouldn't it been better to let him go his length, than to suffer what I'm sufferin'? I reached the floor with such a jolt that my mind didn't answer the question; it didn't have time. All to once, another wind sprung up from nowhere seemin'ly, and tried its best to blow off my bunnet. But thank Heaven, my good green braize veil tied round it with strong lutestring ribbon, held it on, and I see I still had holt of my trusty cotton umbrell, though the wind had blowed it open, but I shet it and grasped it firmly, thinkin' it wuz my only protector and safeguard now Josiah wuz lost, and I hastened away from that crazy spot. [Illustration: "_As I went down with lightnin' speed I had'nt time to think much._" (_See page 258_)] As I passed on I see a hull lot of long ropes danglin' down. On top of 'em wuz a trolley, and folks would hang onto the handle and slide hundreds of feet through the air. But I didn't venter. Disinclination and rumatiz both made me waive off overtures to try it. Pretty soon I come to a huge turn-table, big as our barn floor. It wuz still and harmless lookin' when I first see it, and a lot of folks got onto it, thinkin' I spoze it looked so shiny and good they'd like to patronize it. But pretty soon it begun to move, and then to turn faster and faster till the folks couldn't keep their seats and one by one they wuz throwed off, and went down through a hole in the floor I know not where. As I see 'em disappear one by one in the depths below, thinks I, is that where Josiah Allen has disappeared to? Who knows but he is moulderin' in some underground dungeon, mournin' and pinin' for me and his native land. Of course Reason told me that he couldn't moulder much in two days, but I wuz too much wrought up to listen to Reason, and as I see 'em slide down and disappear, onbeknown to myself I spoke out loud and sez: "Can it be that Josiah is incarcerated in some dungeon below? If he is, I will find and release him or perish with him." A woman who looked as if she belonged there, hearn me and sez, "Who is Josiah?" "My pardner," sez I, and I continued, "You have a kind face, mom; have you seen him? Have you seen Josiah Allen?" [Illustration: "_Pretty soon it begun to move and one by one they wuz throwed off and went down I know not where._" (_See page 260_)] "Describe him," sez she, "there wuz a man here just now hunting for some woman." "Oh, he is very beautiful!" "Young?" sez she. "Well, no; about my age or a little older." "Light complexion? Dark hair and eyes? Stylish dressed?" "No, wrinkled complexion, bald, and what few hairs he's got, gray." She smiled; she couldn't see the beauty Love had gilded his image with. Sez I, "If he's incarcerated in some dungeon below, I too will mount the turn-table of torture, and share his fate or perish on the turn table." Sez she, "There is no dungeons below; the folks come out into a vast place as big as this. There is just as much to see down there as there is here, just as many people and just as much amusement." "Amusement!" sez I in a holler voice. After I left her, I see a whisk broom hangin' up in a handy place, and it had a printed liebill on it, "This whisk broom free." And as my parmetty dress had got kinder dusty a slidin' and wobblin' as I had slode and wobbled, I went to brush off my skirt with it, when all of a sudden somebody or sunthin' gin me a stunnin' blow right in my arm that held the brush. I dropped it without waitin' to argy the matter, and I don't know to this day who or what struck me and what it wuz for. But my conscience wuz clear; I hadn't done nothin'. I santered on and entered an enclosure seemin'ly made of innocent lookin' fence rails. I wuz kinder attracted to it, for it looked some like the rail fence round our gooseberry bushes. But for the lands sake! it wuzn't like any fence in Jonesville or Zoar, for though it looked innocent, it shet me in tight and I couldn't git out. I wandered round and round, and out and in, and it wuz a good half hour before I got out, and I d'no but I'd have been there to this day, if a man hadn't come and opened a gate and let me out. Only one thought kep' up my courage in my fruitless wanderings. It wuz all done in plain sight of everybody, and I could see for myself that Josiah wuzn't kep' there in captivity. There wuz a tall pole in the middle of the Amaze, as they call it (well named, for it is truly amazin'), and the liebill on that pole read, "Climb the pole and ring the bell on it, and we will give you a prize." I didn't try to climb that pole, and wouldn't if I had been a athleet. How did I know but it would turn into a writhin' serpent, and writhe with me? No, I thought I wouldn't take another resk in that dredful spot. And I wuz glad I thought so, for jest a little ways off, some honest, easy lookin' benches stood invitin' the weary passer-by to set down and rest and recooperate. And right there before my eyes some good lookin' folks sot down on 'em trustin'ly, and the hull bench fell over back with 'em and then riz up agin, they fallin' and risin' with it. I hastened away and thought I would go up into the second story agin and mebby ketch sight of my pardner, for the crowd had increased. And as I stood there skannin' the immense crowd below to try to ketch a glimpse of my lawful pardner, all to once I see the folks below wuz laughin' at me. I felt to see if my braize veil hung down straight and graceful, and my front hair wuz all right, and my cameo pin fastened. But nothin' wuz amiss, and I wondered what could it be. The balcony wuz divided off into little spaces, five or six feet square, and I stood in one, innocent as a lamb (or mebby it would be more appropriate to say a sheep), and leanin' on the railin', and one sassy boy called out: "Where wuz you ketched? Are you tame? Wuz you ketched on the Desert of Sara? Did Teddy ketch you for the Government?" and I never knowed till I got down what they wuz laughin' at. The little boxes in the balcony wuz painted on the outside to represent animal cages. On the one where I had been wuz painted the sign Drumedary. Josiah Allen's wife took for a drumedary--The idee! But the view I got of the crowd below wuz impressive, and though it seemed to me that everybody in New York and Brooklyn and the adjacent villages and country, wuz all there a Steeple Chasin', yet I knowed there wuz jest as many dreamin' in Dreamland and bein' luny in Luny Park. And Surf Avenue wuz full, and what they called the Bowery of Coney Island, and all the amusement places along the shore. And all on 'em on the move, jostlin' and bein' jostled, foolin' and bein' fooled, laughin' and bein' laughed at. Why, I wuz told and believe, that sometimes a million folks go to Coney Island on a holiday. And I wuz knowin' myself to over three thousand orphan children goin' there at one time to spend a happy day, the treat bein' gin 'em by some big-hearted men. Plenty to eat and drink, and a hull day of enjoyment, candy, pop corn, circus, etc., bright day, happy hearts, how that day will stand out aginst the dull gray background of their lives! And them men ort to hug themselves thinkin' the thought, over three thousand happinesses wuz set down to their credit in the books of the Recordin' Angel. And I sez to myself, "Samantha, you ort to speak well of anything that so brightens the lives of the children of the great city." As I went into Dreamland Park, it seemed agin as if all the folks in the city wuz there in the immense inner court, surrounded by amusements on every side. They wuz comin' and goin', talkin', laughin', hurryin', santerin', to and fro, fro and to. Lots on 'em talkin' language I never hearn before, but I thought, poor things, you never had the advantage of livin' in Jonesville, so I overlooked it in 'em. [Illustration: _"As I went into Dreamland it seemed as if all the folks in the city was there." (See page 266)_] I see most the first thing as I entered, a place called Creation, and feelin' dubersome that any thing more could be created than what I'd seen that day, I bought a ticket and went in, and to my glad surprise, I found it wuz some like a prayer meetin'. For a man with a loud preachin' voice quoted a lot of Scripter most the first thing. After we all got seated it turned dark as pitch all in a minute. But you could dimly see a vast waste of water, kinder movin' and swashin' to and fro, as if some great force wuz workin' down below. And out of the darkness we hearn that Voice: "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, and the Earth wuz without form and void, and darkness wuz on the face of the deep." Anon the fiery energy that wuz makin' a planet, wuz hearn in deafenin' peals of thunder, and blazed through the sky in sheets of lightnin' and dartin' balls of flame, quietin' down some after awhile. And the Voice continued: "The spirit of God moved on the face of the deep. And God said, Let there be light; and there wuz light." And slowly a faint light dawned and growed brighter and brighter and fleecy clouds appeared. The sky growed golden and rosy in the east, and the sun come up in splendor. Livin' forms appeared in the water, monsters of all kinds and sizes, queerer than any dog I ever see, and the Voice went on: "And God separated the water from the land." Little peaks of land emerged from the water or it seemed as if the water receeded from them, and gradually the dry land appeared, and soon queer livin' forms appeared on it. And gradually, with green grass and verdure, it become fit for the home of man, and then Adam and Eve appeared. They wuzn't clothed in much besides innocence, but somehow they didn't look so immodest as some of the fashonably dressed females of to-day, with dekolitay and peek-a-boo waists, and skin-tight drapery. There wuz good Bible talk and sacred music all through the show. And I felt as if I had looked on and seen a world made right before my eyes, and that I would dearly love to make a few myself if I had time, and Josiah wuz willin'. I wuz highly delighted with it and said as much to the female who sot next to me. She had a discontented, onhappy face, and I guess she had enough to make her so, for her husband who sot by her kep' findin' fault with her all the time, till at last she turned--for you know a angle worm will turn if it is trod on enough--and she sez to me, but meant it for her pardner I knowed: "The lecturer ort to gone on and told how sneakin' mean Adam treated his wife, eatin' the apple, I'll bet down to the very core, and then misusin' her for givin' it to him, and puttin' all the blame on her for bringin' sin into the world, when he wuz jest as much to blame as she wuz." Sez her husband, "You have to slur men all the time, don't you? You can't see or hear anything without findin' sunthin' to complain of about men. I despise such a sperit; men don't have it." Now, I love justice, and I hate to see my sect imposed upon, and then whenever or wherever I travel, I always bear with me the honorary title I won honorably. Jest as men take with 'em on sea or land their titles of B. A. or D. D., just so I ever carry the title, won by high minded and strenous effort, Josiah Allen's wife, P. A. and P. I.--Public Adviser and Private Investigator. Here, I thought, is need for a P. A. So I sez to her, yet in a voice her pardner couldn't help hearin': "I hearn once of a husbands' meetin' in a revival, when the minister asked every man to git up who had complaints to make about his wife. Every man sprung to his feet to once, except one lone man by the door. And the minister sez, 'My friend, you are one man in a million who have no complaints to make about your wife.' The man sez, 'That hain't it; I'm paralyzed, I can't _git_ up.'" I d'no as the husband I aimed this at took it kind or not, but he didn't nag his wife any more in my hearin'. _ |
||