Kelsey bore himself with the deferential humility characteristic of the mountaineers towards the aged among them.
'What war the word ez ye war a-layin' off to say ter me, gran'dad?' he asked, striving to effect a diversion.
'Waal, waal, look a-hyar, Hiram,' exclaimed the old man, remembering his question in eager precipitancy. 'This hyar 'Cajah Green, ye know, ez air a-runnin' fur sher'ff—air—air he Republikin or Dimmycrat?'
'Thar's no man in these hyar parts smart enough ter find that out,' interpolated Obediah Scruggs in the door, circumspectly taking the apple seeds out of his mouth. He was the son of one of the magnates, and the son-in-law of the other; his matrimonial venture had resulted in doubling his filial obligations. His wife had brought, instead of a dowry, her aged father to the fireside.
''Cajah Green,' continued the speaker, 'run ez a independent las' time, an' thar war so many bolters an' sech they split the vote, an' he war 'lected. An' now he air a-runnin' agin.'
The old man listened to this statement, his eye blazing, his chin in a quiver, his lean figure erect, and the pipe in his palsied hand shaking till the coal of fire on top showed brightening tendencies.
'Waal, sir! waal!' exclaimed the aged politician, with intense bitterness. 'The stren'th an' the seasonin' hev all gone out'n the lan'! Whenst I war young,' he declared dramatically, drawing the pitiable contrast, 'folks knowed what they war, an they let other folks know, too, ef they hed ter club it inter 'em. But them was Old Hickory's times. Waal, waal, we ain't a-goin' ter see Old Hickory no more—no—more!'
'I hopes not,' said the other old man, with sudden asperity. 'I hopes we'll never see no sech tormentin' old Dimmycrat agin. But law! I needn't fret my soul. Henry Clay shook all the life out'n him five year afore he died. Henry Clay made a speech agin Andrew Jackson in 1840 what forty thousan' people kem ter hear. Thar war a man fur ye! He hed a tongue like a bell; 'pears like ter me I kin hear it yit, when I listens right hard. By Gum!' triumphantly, 'that day he tuk the stiffenin' out'n Old Hickory! Surely, surely, he did! Ef I thought I war never a-goin' ter hear Old Hickory's name agin I'd tune up my ears fur the angel's quirin'. I war born a Republikin, I grow'd ter be a good Whig, an' I'll die a Republikin. Ef that ain't religion I dunno what air! That's the way I hev lived an' walked afore the Lord. An' hyar in the evenin' o' my days I hev got ter set alongside o' this hyar old consarn, an' hear him jow 'bout'n Old Hickory from mornin' till night. Ef I hed knowed how he war goin' ter turn out 'bout'n Old Hickory in his las' days, I wouldn't hev let my darter marry his son, thirty-five year ago. I knowed he war a Dimmycrat, but I never knowed the stren'th o' the failin' till I were called on ter 'speriunce it.'
'Ye 'lowed t'other day, gran'dad,' said Kelsey, addressing the aged paralytic in a propitiatory manner, 'ez ye warn't a-goin' ter talk 'bout'n Old Hickory no more. It 'pears like ter me ez ye oughter gin yer 'tention ter the candidates ez ye hev got ter vote fur in August—'Cajah Green, an' sech.'
But it must be admitted that Micajah Green was not half the man that Old Hickory was, and the filial remonstrance had no effect. The acrimonies of fifty years ago were renewed across the hearth with a rancour that suggests that an old grudge, like old wine, improves with time. No one ventured to interrupt, but Obediah Scruggs, still lounging in the door, commented in a low tone: