Читать книгу Brother Jonathan онлайн

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“Well said, John,” said the Governor.

He added, beating on the back of his chair:

“I may have to follow my heart; but I will tell you a story of an old Connecticut judge who followed his heart, and something unexpected happened.”

The Governor dropped his stately tone, and used the language of home. That was a charm, the home tone.

“It was at the time of the blue-laws,” he said. “Those laws in one part of the State were so strict as to forbid the making of mince pies at Christmas-time.

“One of these laws forbid a man to kiss his wife in public on Sunday.”

The Governor seldom used story-book language. He was going to do so now, and it would make the very fire seem friendly.

“Wandering Rufus was a merry lad. He married a young wife, a very handsome girl, and he loved her. Soon after his marriage he went to sea, and it was after he went to sea that the law was enacted against the Sunday kissing. The lawmakers little thought of the men at sea.

“His wife looked out for him to come back, as a good wife should. She pressed her nose against the pane. She dreamed and dreamed of how happy she should be when he should come leaping up from the wharf to greet her.