Silas Bradford's Boy — Joseph Conrad Lincoln

Late on a late autumn afternoon in the year 1903 the Village ofDenboro, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was undergoinginspection and appraisal. It did not know that it was undergoinganything of the kind, nor would it have been in the least troubledif it had known.Denboro was satisfied with itself. Not a city--no! Not a crowdedmetropolis, teeming with riches and poverty, its gilded palacesrubbing elbows with its sin-soaked slums--not that indeed. But acommunity of homes, the homes of God-fearing men and noble women,a town with churches and schools, of prosperous shops and a well-patronized circulating library, whose sons have sailed the sevenseas, whose daughters have reared their children to be trueAmericans--in short, my friends, perhaps as fine an example of whata town should be as may be found between the surging billows of theAtlantic upon the one hand and the blue bosom of the Pacific uponthe other. (See the address of the Hon. Alonzo Pearson, deliveredat the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of theincorporation of the township of Denboro, and on file in the officeof Abel Snow, town clerk.)No, Denboro would not have feared inspection, it would havewelcomed it; the more perfect the diamond the purer its glitterbeneath the magnifying glass. If it had been aware that BanksBradford, as he strolled down Main Street toward home and supperthat afternoon, was looking it over with amused condescension itwould not have cared at all. Several of its citizens looked youngMr. Bradford over as he passed, and their comments were singularlyfree from awe or uneasiness.Who did you say? queried Ebenezer Tadgett, peering through thepanes of the window of his secondhand shop. Who did you say'twas, Joe?Jotham Gott, the cards of the euchre hand which had just been dealthim clutched in his huge fist, answered casually. Oh, it's thatboy of Margaret Bradford's, he said. Cap'n Silas Bradford's son.He belongs here in town, but he's been away so much, up to collegeand studyin' law and the like of that, that I guess you ain't seenmuch of him since you come to Denboro to live, Ebenezer. His firstname's Silas, same as his father's was, but they always call him byhis middle one--Banks. Lord knows why! If my old man was as smartas Cap'n Silas was in his day and time I'd be proud to use his nameeven if 'twas Judas; yes--with a chuckle--even if 'twas Eliab--and that's stretchin' things up to the limit of eyesight, you'llhave to give in.The third member of the euchre party was a tall, raw-boned, stoop-shouldered individual with a long face, the most prominent featureof which was nose. His surname was Gibbons and his Christian nameEliab. He sniffed through the prominent feature just mentioned andturned on his heel.Humph! he growled. If my eyesight was so poor I played the kingthinkin' 'twas the right bower I'd keep still, seems to me. Comeon, boys; come on! You owe me seven cents so fur, Jotham, and I'mcal'latin' to make it ten in a couple more hands, which is allwe've got time for.