The housekeeper left the room to obey, and returned ushering in an

individual who, as he performs an important part in this history,

deserves some special notice.

He was a mulatto, between forty-five and fifty years of age, of medium

size, and regular features, with a quantity of woolly hair and beard

that hung down upon his breast. He was neatly dressed in the gray

homespun cloth of the country, and entered with a smiling countenance

and respectful manner. Upon the whole he was rather a good-looking and

pleasing darky. He was a character, too, in his way. He possessed a fair

amount of intellect, and a considerable fund of general information. He

had contrived, somehow or other, to read and write; and he would read

everything he could lay his hands on, from the Bible to the almanac. He

had formed his own opinions upon most of the subjects that interest

society, and he expressed them freely. He kept himself well posted up in

the politics of the day, and was ready to discuss them with anyone who

would enter into the debate.

He had a high appreciation of himself, and also a deep veneration for

his superiors. And thus it happened that, when in the presence of his

betters, he maintained a certain sort of droll dignity in himself while

treating them with the utmost deference. He was faithful in his dealings

with his numerous employers, all of whom he looked upon as so many

helpless dependents under his protection, for whose well-being in

certain respects he was strictly responsible. So much for his character.

In circumstances he was a free man, living with his wife and children,

who were also free, in a small house on Mr. Brudenell's estate, and

supporting his family by such a very great variety of labor as had

earned for him the title of "Professor of Odd Jobs." It was young Herman

Brudenell, when a boy, who gave him this title, which, from its singular

appropriateness, stuck to him; for he could, as he expressed it himself,

"do anything as any other man could do." He could shoe a horse, doctor a

cow, mend a fence, make a boot, set a bone, fix a lock, draw a tooth,

roof a cabin, drive a carriage, put up a chimney, glaze a window, lay a

hearth, play a fiddle, or preach a sermon. He could do all these

things, and many others besides too numerous to mention, and he did do

them for the population of the whole neighborhood, who, having no

regular mechanics, gave this "Jack of all Trades" a plenty of work. This

universal usefulness won for him, as I said, the title of "Professor of

Odd Jobs." This was soon abbreviated to the simple "Professor," which

had a singular significance also when applied to one who, in addition to

all his other excellencies, believed himself to be pretty well posted up

in law, physic, and theology, upon either of which he would stop in his

work to hold forth to anyone who would listen.




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