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A Domestic Romance
By
Amelia E. Barr
Chicago
Monarch Book Company
Publishers
Copyright 1899, By
Herbert S. Stone & Co
Peter Van Hoosen was a result of Dutch Calvinism,and Dutch industry and thrift; also, of a belief in theDay of Judgment. The first motives were inheritedtendencies, carefully educated; the last one, a consciousprinciple, going down to the depths of his natureand sharply dividing whatever was just and right fromwhatever was false and wrong. People whose religionwas merely religiosity thought he took himself tooseriously; but if they had a house to build, they wantedthis man—who worked in the great Task-master’s eye—tolay its foundation and raise its walls. So that, as abuilder in stone, Peter Van Hoosen had a wide localcelebrity.
He was a strong, loose-limbed man, with a swarthyface and straight black hair, a man of sturdy beliefsand strong prepossessions, yet not devoid of thosegood manners which spring naturally from a goodheart. Among his fellows he was grave and silent,and his entire personality had something of the coldnessand strength of the stony material with which heworked. In his home there was a difference; there hisblack eyes glowed with affection, and even when a2young man, his wife and his little children could leadhim. As he grew older, and years and experiencesweetened his nature, he became large-hearted andlarge-minded enough to feel that beyond certain limitsthere was a possibly lawful freedom.
These hours of expansion were usually those spentwith his daughter Adriana. He had two otherdaughters, and three sons, each of whom had donevirtuously in their own way; but in Peter’s estimation,Adriana excelled them all. She was the childafter his own heart. In her presence, he felt it goodto be hopeful and kind. She led him to talk of everythingthat was interesting humanity; she asked hisopinion on all subjects. She constantly told him howwise he was! how clear-sighted! how far-seeing! Shebelieved he ought to have been at the head of greataffairs, and sometimes Peter could not help a littlevague regret over the blindness of destiny. In short,Adriana always brought to the front the very bestPeter Van Hoosen; she made him enjoy himself; shemade him think nobly of himself; and is there anymore satisfactory frame of mind? After an hour inAdriana’s company, Peter was always inclined to say:
“Well, well, Yanna! In the Great Day of siftingand sorting, I know that I shall be justified. My well-limedmortar, my wall