"Let's see," said the philosopher, turning his eyes to the ceiling; "that came on Saturday."
We all asked the solving of this problem, and the instantaneous result seemed wonderful. After supper, at our request, he told us his history, and when we realized that this man had gained for himself all his knowledge, we looked on him as one coming from wonderland. It was hardly credible that he should have power to solve the most difficult mathematical problems, calculate eclipses, as well as do all that could be required in civil or hydraulic engineering, and that he had accomplished this by his own will, which, pushing aside all obstacles, fought for the supremacy of his brain life. His father desired him to have no book knowledge, and he told us that when a young boy he would wait for sleep to close his father's eyes, and would then, by the light of pitch-pine knots and birch-bark in the fireplace, pursue his studies. This was pursuing knowledge under difficulties which would have proved insurmountable to many. But not so to Mr. Dayton, for he steadily gained; and though to an utter disregard for his unquenchable thirst for knowledge was added the daily fight for bread, he rose triumphantly above these difficulties, and mastered the most intricate mathematical calculation with the ease which is born only of a superior development of brain. Matthias had told us truly, and when he left us for his home we felt that in him we found new strength for much that was good and true, and for abhorrence of evil.
During this visit the Camlet cloak was brought out, and Aunt Phebe and I together ripped out the sleeves. She said they would make a splendid green stripe in a carpet, and in her quiet, careful way she sat removing their linings, when she started as if frightened, exclaiming:
"Why, Emily, what on earth does this mean?"
"What is it?" I said, and she held before me in her hand a long brown paper, and within its folds were two bills of equal denomination.
"I wonder if this one has anything in it?" I said, and even as I said it my fingers came upon a similarly folded paper, and two more bills were brought to light. They were a valuable gift, and Aunt Phebe's gratitude gave vent in a forcible way, I knew, for Aunt Hildy told me afterward she thanked her "e'en a'most to death." I could hardly wait to rip the body of the cloak, and my surprise was unbounded when I discovered its contents.
There were two sums of money left in trust with us, and in her dear, good way she had made us wondrously grateful to her for the faith she had reposed in us; a deed of some of her land, which the street had cut into, which she desired us to use for some one who was needy, unless we ourselves needed it; and in the last sentences of her message to us she said:
"If ever anybody belongin' to me comes in your path, give 'em a lift. I can trust you to do it, and the Lord will spare your lives, I know. Don't tell any livin' soul, Emily." This was a sacred message to both Louis and myself, and I should feel it sacrilege to write it all out here, even though I much desire to.
Dear Aunt Hildy! when we essayed to thank her, she said:
"There, there, don't say a word; I've allus said I'd be my own executioner, (I did not correct her mistake), and I know that's the way. You see, some day I'll go out like a candle, for all my mother's folks died that way, so I want to be ready. The other side of the house live longer, more pity for it too. They've handed down more trouble than you know, but I aint like one of 'em; it's my mother I belong to."