The Hermit
In a cave on the south side of the mountain there once lived a hermit. He was only middle aged but his hair was white. He was kind of manner and speech but he often sighed as one bereft of hope. He worked for the farmers round about, who paid him with potatoes or other produce or sometimes with money when they could spare it. He lived a lonely life on the mountainside with no one to share it. Here he snared rabbits and caught skunks and foxes and sold their skins. In a space before the cave he built a rough cabin which concealed the entrance. To one side of this he built a shack to house his chickens and on the other side he planted apples, pears and peaches. Grapes he shunned as open to misconstruction. He gathered firewood in the forest and no one molested him. The water for drinking and cooking came from a spring on the mountainside not far from his door.
He was kind to the children and often gave them candy. The path to and from the schoolhouse led past his door and he often saw the school teacher passing. She was a lady who had begun to teach several years before this story opens. She had been very beautiful as a girl but now some of her fresh complexion had gone where the good complexions go, and she was using apowder puff instead. Her nose was a little sharper and she was rather more positive in some of her ideas than she had been as a young girl. The children always spoke to the hermit and in this way she got to know him.
At Christmas time she had a two-weeks vacation. There was a heavy fall of snow which drifted, so that all the roads were closed. She said to her mother:
“I wonder how my poor hermit is getting along in this snow, all alone on the mountainside.”
“It is toobad,” said her mother, who did and said pretty much as Anna-Bell wished her.
When school opened again she stopped at his house to enquire.
The hermit said he was getting along pretty well, thank you, but she looked around the room with distaste. There was much dirt in the corners, the windows needed cleaning and dirty dishes were standing on the table.
“Don’t you ever go to town?” said she.
“Yes,” he replied, “I am going this afternoon and shall not get home until after dark.”
She made no reply but a light came into her eyes. After school she hurried to the cottage, pinned a towel around her and began to sweep and scrub. Then she closed the door carefully and went home. When he came home it seemed more cheerful but he noticed nothing more. The next morning he only said: “Good Morning,”though she seemed to expect something more. That afternoon on her way home she asked him for a drink of water.
Then she said to him: “Where are you from?”
“My home was in New York,” said he.
“What did you do?” she asked.
“I was in the commission business,” he replied, “but I grew ashamed.”
“You deserve a reward,” said she, “choose one!”
“I need a cook,” said he, “come and cook for me as soon as you can learn.”