Page:Female Prose Writers of America.djvu/392

 “There now,” said Mrs. Bagly, “don’t worry any more, and I’ll give him something that will make him sleep sweetly.”

“Not camphor sling?” I said, inquiringly.

“La, no; now don’t be so scared. I’ll just go into the kitchen and take my pipe and let the smoke of the tobacco go into a bowl of water, and then I’ll sweeten some of that water and give it to him; it will make him so easy and still.”

This was something so novel, that I hardly knew what to say; it seemed a strange medicine for a babe, and yet she assured me that she had used it a hundred times, and that it was harmless. But the screams of the child continuing, I allowed her to do as she pleased, though I said, faintly—

“I hope his father won’t smell the smoke when he comes in to see the baby; he perfectly despises the weed, as he calls it.”

Mrs. Bagly stopped short in the middle of the room: “Well, I’m beat now! I never heard of a lawyer before that didn’t chaw, nor smoke, or, at least, take snuff. Why, Squire Tappan never come to see my old man, but he’d out with his box, and ‘Won’t you take a pinch, Mrs. Bagly?’ He was a smart man, I can tell you, and I believe it was the tobacco put the grit into him. He never spoke but he had a pinch between his thumb and finger, and it was scattered as thick among his books and papers as a French stew with pepper.”

“Well, well, Mrs. Bagly, my baby will cry itself to death if something isn’t done.”

“I know it, ma’am; it will certainly bust itself if it don’t have the smoked water;” and she disappeared to fetch it.

“Oh, dear,” I groaned within myself, “I wish Charles were here, perhaps he could aid me;” but he was gone to the next village, and would not be at home for some hours.

The nurse was not long absent, and taking the child in her lap fed it freely. Its cries ceased, and it soon fell asleep. With a feeling of relief I flung myself upon the bed, while she wrapped little Arthur in his blanket, laid him in his cradle, and left the room to attend to her duties in the kitchen.

I soon fell into a quiet sleep, and I know not how long I had