factotum was a celebrity in his way, especially as regards the village of South Salem; he was tall, lanky, angular, with a stooping figure pitching forward when he walked, with long arms forming an arc of a circle with his body. His face was one of frigid impassiveness that many took for solemn piety, in keeping with his responsible duties in church and state. His charity was always accompanied by a lecture which made the recipient feel shrunken in soul, with an inward wish that Solomon had spared both his charity and scathing acrimonious shriving of the poor penitent. It was again a scriptural illustration of the Pharisee and publican. Solomon, if he did not possess all the wisdom of his namesake, was consistently pious of a certain order with the first pronoun unduly prominent. His ultimate destination was assured-he was only living in this world of sin and sorrow as a beacon to light his less fortunate brethren, who possessed less grace, to their ultimate destination; if they were not so auspiciously placed in the hereafter (although to be deprecated), it was quite as much and perhaps more than their poor frailties could expect. CHAPTER XXI. Barney McCarrol and the Cave on the B Mountain "Faith lost, and hope, our charity begins; Too late, the only way to be forgiven." -Pope. ARNABAS MCCARROL was one of those hare brained, rollicking, jovial sons of the Emerald Isle who had emigrated to the New World in search of fortune and pleasure, and had taken up his abode in South Salem, some fifteen or twenty years previously. He had started from his native heath filled with most of the superstition, generous impulses and religious convictions which were characteristic, infused into and animated the breast of most of his race, good, bad and indifferent acted upon, strengthened or weakened by his environment; weakened by the lack of spiritual food to maintain the faith of his forefathers until, at this time, most of the early teachers of Catholicity had dwindled to a mere spark of original religious fervor-still faintly burning in the innermost recesses of his heart, liable to be snuffed out by the lack of sustenance. Added to this lack of opportunity to rekindle the divine spark and also to the spirit of opposition of the times and country, Catholicity, by royal edict, was a proscribed religion by His Majesty, George III. No one who professed the belief of Catholic doctrines could hold property, and any such possessions could be confiscated. The origin of this decree arose more to manifest England's hatred of France and Spain that it was promulgated for the Colonies. Strange that a people who had fled from the same religious persecution and tyranny to Holland and thence to New England, should also be persecutors of their brethren in the Colonies for difference of faith, and who had worshipped God according to their light and the light of their forefathers for upwards of seventeen hundred years. Barney McCarrol having none of the spiritual martyrdom in his being that was characteristic of the saint of that name, possessed of a strong inclination or love of ease, without any degree of controversy, especially when it would bring him into unpleasant prominence and notoriety, is it to be wondered at that every other resident of South Salem considered Barney a follower and firm believer in the doctrines of Davenport and. Hooker, i. e., congregationalism? Only himself being conscious of the spark that was so faintly burning; he was not dull of comprehension of a lesser intelligence and he had quickly come to the conclusion it were better for him to drift with the tide of public opinion of religious thought than to be buffeted by the waves and tide of hostility to a sect that was closely allied to the black art, as it was often described in his hearing by the neighbors. Many congratulated him on his timely rescue from such a faith, being one of those examples of the mercy of the Almighty in the inscrutable manifestation of His all wise providence. In personal appearance Barney was a rotund, affable fellow, wide of girth, having an easy, good nature that inclined to adipose, one of those happy, foolish mortals with well lubricated dispositions, who took the world easy, always willing to lend a helping hand and do those odd jobs about the house for women which facilitated the easy running of the domestic machinery; a positive favorite with the gentler sex, to such an extent as to be often upheld as an example for the edification of their more disobliging spouses. His wants were few and simple, the easiest got, the most welcome; an ardent sportsman, never more happy than when trudging through woods or over mountains with either gun of fishing rod slung over his shoulder; his luck in either direction was proverbial and any event of well-timed or prosperous nature was designated "Barney's luck." Most of his livelihood was gained in this way, rarely was the larder empty of fish or game, and whatever other necessities of life were found by bartering his surplus of the hook or chase. In many of his long tramps through the surrounding country he frequently met with adventures; often staying days at a time with some remnant of a tribe of red men, with whom he was always a welcome guest-participating in a hunt together. He had one peculiarity or deformity which seemed to enhance the jovialty of his disposition and appearance-a cross eye. You could never be quite sure, whether when one eye met yours the other was not wandering to some distant corner in dancing merriment. This, combined with his round, fat face, made him at once a target and a companion for all the children of the town for their pranks, tricks and a sharer of their sports. All the urchins of the village were sure of a frolic, a story of adventure, or a ride on his broad shoulders, at the same time plundering his pockets for rudely constructed toys of his own invention, nuts of all kinds or hunks of gingerbread of which they were sure of finding a bountiful supply. In one of these excursions across Lakes Waccabuc, Rippowam and Oscaleta to the mountains at the further side, which skirts and lies to the north, rising in rocky prominence from the shore, he came upon a rude hut or cavern formed by one of natures upheavals into a cave. This had been more sheltered by the addition of a covering of logs, bark and grass, somewhat thatched and fashioned into a rude habitation which, upon further inspection, seemed to have been occupied. He did not think much of this at the time, as it had, perhaps, been used as a temporary shelter for some belated huntsman who had been overtaken at nightfall far from home, or by one who wished to make an early start next morning in pursuit of game. It had been used for such habitation, as the rocks in one corner had been blackened by smoke of a fire having been kindled. He had also, on one or two occasions, thought he noticed two figures approach at a distance, but remaining in doubt, he had come to the conclusion that this might have been some trick of the imagination on the approach of evening forming the shades and shadows of twilight as some dark cloud flitted |