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- 4976
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T03:55:03.879Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 4919
- text
- solemn disposition; that he was of the mind of Solomon; that he lived
calmly, decorously, temperately; and though a very poor man, was,
nevertheless, a highly respectable one. At times I imagined that he
might even be an elder or deacon of some small country church. I thought
it would not be a bad plan to run this excellent man for President of
the United States. He would prove a great reformer of abuses.
His name was Merrymusk. I had often thought how jolly a name for so
unjolly a wight. I inquired of people whether they knew Merrymusk. But
it was some time before I learned much about him. He was by birth a
Marylander, it appeared, who had long lived in the country round about;
a wandering man; until within some ten years ago, a thriftless man,
though perfectly innocent of crime; a man who would work hard a month
with surprising soberness, and then spend all his wages in one riotous
night. In youth he had been a sailor, and run away from his ship at
Batavia, where he caught the fever, and came nigh dying. But he rallied,
reshipped, landed home, found all his friends dead, and struck for the
Northern interior, where he had since tarried. Nine years back he had
married a wife, and now had four children. His wife was become a perfect
invalid; one child had the white-swelling, and the rest were rickety. He
and his family lived in a shanty on a lonely barren patch nigh the
railroad-track, where it passed close to the base of a mountain. He had
bought a fine cow to have plenty of wholesome milk for his children; but
the cow died during an accouchement, and he could not afford to buy
another. Still, his family never suffered for lack of food. He worked
hard and brought it to them.
Now, as I said before, having long previously sawed my wood, this
Merrymusk came for his pay.
‘My friend,’ said I, ‘do you know of any gentleman hereabouts who owns
an extraordinary cock?’
The twinkle glittered quite plain in the wood-sawyer’s eye.
‘I know of no _gentleman_,’ he replied, ‘who has what might well be
called an extraordinary cock.’
Oh, thought I, this Merrymusk is not the man to enlighten me. I am
afraid I shall never discover this extraordinary cock.
Not having the full change to pay Merrymusk, I gave him his due, as nigh
as I could make it, and told him that in a day or two I would take a
walk and visit his place, and hand him the remainder. Accordingly one
fine morning I sallied forth upon the errand. I had much ado finding the
best road to the shanty. No one seemed to know where it was exactly. It
lay in a very lonely part of the country, a densely-wooded mountain on
one side (which I call October Mountain, on account of its bannered
aspect in that month), and a thicketed swamp on the other, the railroad
cutting the swamp. Straight as a die the railroad cut it; many times a
day tantalising the wretched shanty with the sight of all the beauty,
rank, fashion, health, trunks, silver and gold, dry-goods and groceries,
brides and grooms, happy wives and husbands, flying by the lonely
door--no time to stop--flash! here they are--and there they go!--out of
sight at both ends--as if that part of the world were only made to fly
over, and not to settle upon. And this was about all the shanty saw of
what people call ‘life.’
- title
- Chunk 2