E-text prepared by Roger Frank
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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ALL THE BROTHERS
WERE VALIANT
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS
ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
ALL THE BROTHERS
WERE VALIANT
BY
BEN AMES WILLIAMS
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1919
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1919, by
The Ridgway Company
Copyright, 1919
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Set up and electrotyped. Published, May, 1919
ALL THE BROTHERS
WERE VALIANT
ALL THE BROTHERS
WERE VALIANT
I
The fine old house stood on JumpingTom Hill, above the town. It hadstood there before there was a town, when onlya cabin or two fringed the woods below, nearerthe shore. The weather boarding had beenbrought in ships from England, ready sawed;likewise the bricks of the chimney. Indiansused to come to the house in the cold of winter,begging shelter. Given blankets, andfood, and drink, they slept upon the kitchenfloor; and when Joel Shore’s great-great-grandfathercame down in the morning, he found Indiansand blankets gone together. Sometimes6the Indians came back with a venison haunch,or a bear steak ... sometimes not at all.
The house had, now, the air of disuse whichold New England houses often have. It wasin perfect repair; its paint was white, and itsshutters hung squarely at the windows. Butthe grass was uncut in the yard, and the lackof a veranda, and the tight-closed doors andwindows, made the house seem lifeless andlacking the savor of human presence. Therewas a white-painted picket fence around theyard; and a rambler rose draped these pickets.The buds on the rose were bursting into crimsonflower.
The house was four-square, plain, and withoutany ornamentation. It was built about agreat, square chimney that was like a spine.There were six flues in this chimney, and a potatop each flue. These little chimney potsbreaking the severe outlines of the house, gave7t