He seemed there in the twilight like a
dazed angel who had lost his way, and had half forgotten his
errand, which yet he must try to tell to anybody who would
listen.
I have heard my mother say that sometimes he would ask if he
might take her baby in his arms and sing to it; and that though
she was half afraid herself, the baby--I like to fancy I was that
baby--seemed to enjoy it, and played gleefully with the old man's
flowing gray locks.
Good Larkin Moore was well known through the two neighboring
counties, Essex and Middlesex. We saw him afterward on the banks
of the Merrimack. He always wore a loose calico tunic over his
trousers; and, when the mood came upon him, he started off with
two canes,--seeming to think he could travel faster as a
quadruped than as a biped. He was entirely harmless; his only
wish was to preach or to sing.
A characteristic anecdote used to be told of him: that once, as a
stage-coach containing, only a few passengers passed him on the
road, he asked the favor of a seat on the top, and was refused.
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