uld get tired of too much of it. It's pretty nice to live where you
can look out on the snow and the woods, and where you can hear it rain,
and in the spring wake up in the night and listen to the frogs sing."
Westbury's eye ranged about the room, taking in the pictures and
bric-a-brac and the bookshelves along the wall. "I wonder what Captain
Ben Meeker would think to see his old kitchen turned into a library,"
he went on, thoughtfully. "Not many books in his day, I guess; maybe one
or two on the parlor table, mostly about religion. They were pretty
strong on religion, back in that time, though Captain Ben, I guess,
didn't go in on it as heavy as his wife. Captain Ben was more for
hunting, and horses, and dogs, and the man that could cut the most grass
in a day. The story goes that when Eli Brayton, the shoemaker, wanted to
marry Molly Meeker, Captain Ben wouldn't give her to him because he said
Eli hadn't proved himself a man yet. Brayton was boarding in the family
and working in the little shop that used to stand across the road. Aunt
Sarah Meeker, Captain Ben's wife, wanted the shoemaker in the family
because he was religious; but Captain Ben said, 'No, sir, he's got to
prove himself a man before he can have Molly.' Well, one day Eli Brayton
saw a fox up in the timber, and came down to the house and told Captain
Ben about it. 'Let me have your gun,' he said, 'and I'll go up and get
that chap that's been killing your chickens lately.' 'All right,' says
Captain Ben, 'but you won't get him.' Eli didn't say anything, but took
the old musket and slipped up there, and by and by they heard a shot and
pretty soon he came down the hill with Mr. Fox over his shoulder. They
went out on the step to meet him, and he threw the fox down in front of
Molly Meeker. 'There's some fur for you,' he said, 'and I guess he won't
catch any more chickens.' Captain Ben went up to Eli and slapped him on
the shoulder. 'Now you've proved yourself a man,' he says, 'and you can
have Molly.' That was my wife's grandmother. She was an only child and
the Meekers and the Braytons lived here together. Eli Brayton grew to be
quite a character himself. When they came around to him to collect money
for the church he'd contribute some of his unpaid shoe accounts. He knew
the people that owed them would pay the church, because they'd be afraid
not to. Old Deacon Timothy Todd used to do the collecting. He had a
high-keyed voice and no front teeth, and always ch