TOLD BY THE FAMILY STORY-TELLER.
It was not a new story; indeed, it was hardly a story at all: but the children liked the family story-teller’s way of telling it and of acting it out. The family story-teller made a big matter of that barn-moving. He put in words enough to describe an earthquake, or a West-India hurricane, or a volcano pouring out red-hot melted lava, or a steamboat bursting her boiler and blowing herself up. He also wanted plenty of room in which to fling his arms about, and shake his fists, and make other kinds of motions, so as to act out what was done, and especially what the oxen-drivers did.
“Oh, yes!” the family story-teller said, taking a leap into the middle of the floor: “I’ll tell how the barn came from Jorullo. All keep quiet. The story is going to begin now. One morning the barrel-man—a collector of barrels—went forth from his house by the back-door; and there he stood with folded arms (like this), looking at all his carts, wheelbarrows, barrels, haystacks, garden-tools, and many other things. And he said, ‘Behold, I have carts, wheelbarrows, barrels, haystacks, garden-tools, and many other things, but have no roof whereunder to shelter them.’ And he said, ‘Behold, in Jorullo there stands a barn,—a brown barn, a right goodly barn. This barn will I buy. And I will get oxen (horned oxen with their drivers) and horses, and moving-men with their stout wheels, and timbers, and great iron chains; and the timbers shall be raised upon the wheels, and the barn shall be raised upon the timbers, and the oxen shall draw, and the wheels shall roll, and the barn shall come from Jorullo; and in that will I shelter my carts, barrels, wheelbarrows, haystacks, garden-tools, and many other things.’
“And he sent round about into all the country; and there came twenty oxen, and horses besides, with their drivers, from South Stromriffe and Smithersville and Mt. Lob and Trilerbite Four Corners; and the Paxhamborough moving-men came with their stout wheels, and their timbers, and their great iron chains; and the timbers were raised upon the wheels, and the barn was raised upon the timbers. Then the drivers began to shout, and flourish their whips (like this): ‘Get up there!’ ‘Gee!’ ‘Haw!’ ‘Come along!’ ‘Hi, hi, hi!’ ‘What’re ye ’bout?’ The horses and oxen began to draw with mighty strength; the wheels began to roll; and the barn began to move from Jorullo.
“And first they came to a telegraph-wire, and there they stopped. ‘Take down that telegraph-wire!’ shouted the head moving-man, ‘and let it stay down till the barn passes by.’ Then out came the ladders, and up climbed the men, and down came the telegraph-wire.”
“And out jumped a cat!” cried one of the little boys.
THE BARREL-MAN CUTS THE BRANCHES, AND THE OWNER COMPLAINS.
“Yes, out jumped a cat from the barn-window, with a kitten in her mouth. She thought ’twas time to move into some other building. She went back to Jorullo and left her kitten, and came back and jumped in at the same window just as they were going to start again. ‘Ready!’ cried the head moving-man. Then the drivers began to shout, and flourish their whips (like this): ‘Come along here!’ ‘Haw!’ ‘Whoa!’ ‘Go on!’ ‘Gee!’ ‘Get up there!’ ‘What ye ’bout there?’ The horses and oxen began to draw with mighty strength; the wheels began to roll; and the barn moved on.
“And next they came to a railroad-crossing, and there they stopped. Across the way was a signboard; and on the signboard were capital letters, ‘LOOK OUT FOR THE ENGINE WHEN THE BELL RINGS.’ ‘Take down that signboard!’ shouted the head moving-man, ‘and let it stay down while the barn passes by.’ Then out came the ladders, and up climbed the men, and down came the signboard.”
“And out jumped the cat again!” cried the same little boy.
“To be sure, out jumped the cat again, with another kitten in her mouth, and ran. She had farther to go this time; and, before she got back, the head moving-man called out, ‘Ready!’ Then the drivers began to shout, and flourish their whips (like this): ‘Move along now!’ ‘What are ye doin’ there!’ ‘Hi, hi!’ ‘Get up!’ ‘Go on!’ ‘Haw!’ ‘Haw!’ ‘Keep a-movin’!’ The horses and oxen began to draw with mighty strength; the wheels began to roll; and the barn moved on.
“And next they came to a great oak-tree, whose limbs overhung the road, and there they stopped. ‘Chop off a few of those limbs!’ shouted the head moving-man. Then out came the ladders, and up went the men with their hatchets; and crack, snap! went the limbs. Soon ran somebody from a little house a long distance off, bawling away, and shaking his fists, ‘What you doin’ up there? Stop chopping; stop chopping! I’ll make you pay damages!’—‘All right! I’ll pay damages!’ cried the head moving-man; and just then the cat came back, and jumped in at the window. The drivers began to shout, and flourish their whips (like this): ‘Come up!’ ‘Gee!’ ‘Gee, I say!’ ‘Come along!’ ‘Whoa!’ ‘Back!’ ‘Get up now!’ ‘Hawbuck!’ ‘Mind there!’ ‘Hi, hi, hi!’ ‘Now go ’long!’ The horses and oxen began to draw with mighty strength; the wheels began to roll; and the barn moved on.
“At home, Hepsy Bacon and another woman, Sophrony by name, sat at the chamber-window, peeling potatoes. They had come to help the barrel-man’s wife get the dinner ready; for the Paxhamborough moving-men, and all the oxen-drivers from South Stromriffe and Smithersville and Mt. Lob and Trilerbite Four Corners, must have their dinners. And the barrel-man had said, ‘Watch out from the chamber-windows; and, when the barn comes in sight, put your potatoes in the pot.’
“Three great dinner-kettles were set boiling on the stove, besides tea-kettles, frying-pans, stew-pans, sauce-pans, coffee-pots, tea-pots, and many other things.
THE HORSES AND THE OXEN APPEAR IN SIGHT.
“At two o’clock the great brown barn came in sight, with all the horses and oxen and drivers, and a crowd of men and boys and dogs following on. Then ran Hepsy Bacon and Sophrony, and dropped into the pot their peeled potatoes, along with the meat, cabbages, parsnips, squashes, turnips, carrots, rye-dumplings, and many other things; and the table was set with plates, spoons, cups, saucers, forks, knives, napkins, tumblers, and many other things.
“At half-past two the great brown barn came rolling past the windows, with all the twenty oxen (twenty horned oxen) and horses (horses with tails), and crowds of men, and drivers cracking their whips, and boys shouting, and dogs barking, and a grand hurrah all round. The barrel-man’s lame horse whinnied and ran; the cow mooed and ran; the geese squawked and ran; the turkeys gobbled and ran; the old pig grunted and ran; the little pigs squeaked and ran; the hens cackled and ran; the two cats mewed and ran, and one jumped up on the house; the dogs barked; while Hepsy Bacon and Sophrony, with their long necks out the window, waved white handkerchiefs. When the barn stopped, out leaped the cat that came from Jorullo, with another kitten in her mouth. The boys hooted her,—‘Meauw, meauw!—’st, ’st!—quish! pr—rr—rr—rr—rr!’—and back she went again. Somebody chased her in, and found she had one kitten there besides the one in her mouth.
“When every thing was ready, the men came in to dinner,—tall men, short men, fat men, lean men, dark men, light men, young men, old men, curly-haired men, straight-haired men, men with shaggy coats, men with butchers’ frocks, men with bruised hands, men with bad coughs, men with pains in their shoulders, all tired, and all very hungry; for they had eaten nothing since early in the morning, and had walked all the way from their homes in South Stromriffe, Smithersville, Mt. Lob, Paxhamborough, and Trilerbite Four Corners. The barrel-man’s wife and Hepsy Bacon filled up the dishes as fast as they were emptied; and Sophrony, with the coffee-pot in one hand and the teapot in the other, asked each one, ‘Tea, or coffee, sir?’
“One poor sickly man who was troubled with a very bad cough was asked to stay all night, so that he needn’t take anymore cold; and Hepsy Bacon and Sophrony made for him in the frying-pan a cough-medicine of molasses and castor-oil and pepper and sugar and butter and vinegar, and many other things.
“Next morning there were four kittens in the barn. That cat must have gone all the way back to Jorullo in the night, and brought those others, one at a time.
“And now, children,” said the family story-teller in conclusion, “stand around—little and big, old and young—while I show you the beautiful, graphic, and animated drawings which the barrel-man made himself on the very day that the barn came down from Jorullo.”
THE FOURTEEN HUNGRY MEN SIT AROUND THE TABLE; AND SOPHRONY SAYS, “TEA, OR COFFEE, SIR?”