As the days of the glorious Ozark autumn passed, Brian's healthful,
outdoor work on the timbered mountain-side brought to the man of the
cities a physical grace and beauty he had lacked,--the grace of physical
strength and the beauty of clean and rugged health. The bright autumn
sun and the winds that swept over the many miles of tree-clad hills
browned his skin; while his work with the ax developed his muscles and
enforced deep breathing of the bracing mountain air, thus bringing
a more generous supply of richer blood, which touched his now firmly
rounded cheeks with color.
The gift of humor and the faculty of quaint and witty conversational
twists, with the genius of storytelling that was his from his Irish
mother, made quick friends for him of the mountain neighbors who
welcomed this new pupil of their old school-teacher with whole-hearted
pleasure, and quoted his jests and sayings throughout the country with
never-failing delight. And Judy,--it is not too much to say that Judy
became his most ardent admirer and devoted slave.
But the dear old mistress of the little log house by the river alone
recognized that these outward changes in the human wreck that the
river had brought to her were but manifestations of a more potent
transformation that was taking place in the man's inner life; and it was
this inner change that filled the teacher's loving heart with joy, and
which she watched with keen and delighted interest.
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