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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15985-h.zip b/15985-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1fa43a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/15985-h.zip diff --git a/15985-h/15985-h.htm b/15985-h/15985-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..057dff8 --- /dev/null +++ b/15985-h/15985-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8201 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <title> + Deephaven and Selected Stories and Sketches, by Sarah Orne Jewett. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + h1 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + font-variant: small-caps; + line-height: 2; + } + + h2.chapter { font-style: italic;} + + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + hr.chapter { width: 66%; + margin-top: 3em; + } + hr.book { width: 80%; + margin-top: 4em; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .lg {font-size: larger;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .contents {font-variant: small-caps; + list-style: none; + margin-top: 1em;} + + .author {text-align: center; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Deephaven and Selected Stories & Sketches +by Sarah Orne Jewett + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Deephaven and Selected Stories & Sketches + +Author: Sarah Orne Jewett + +Release Date: June 4, 2005 [EBook #15985] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEEPHAVE AND OTHERS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Louise Pryor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>Deephaven<br /> +<span style="font-size: smaller">and</span><br /> +Selected Stories and Sketches</h1> + +<p class="center">by</p> +<p class="author">Sarah Orne Jewett</p> + + +<h2 style="margin-top=5em;">Contents</h2> + +<ul> + <li class="contents"><a href="#DEEPHAVEN">Deephaven</a> (1877)</li> + <li class="contents"><a + href="#SELECTED_STORIES_AND_SKETCHES">Selected Stories and + Sketches</a> + <ul> + <li class="contents"><a href="#An_Autumn_Holiday">An Autumn + Holiday</a> (1881)</li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#From_a_Mournful_Villager">From a + Mournful Villager</a> (1881)</li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#An_October_Ride">An October + Ride</a> (1881)</li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#Toms_Husband">Tom's Husband</a> (1884)</li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#Miss_Debbys_Neighbors">Miss Debby's + Neighbors</a> (1884)</li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> + + + +<hr class="book" /> +<h1><a name="DEEPHAVEN" id="DEEPHAVEN"></a> +Deephaven</h1> + +<h2><a name="Preface" id="Preface"></a> + Preface</h2> + +<p>This book is not wholly new, several of the chapters having already been +published in the "Atlantic Monthly." It has so often been asked if +Deephaven may not be found on the map of New England under another name, +that, to prevent any misunderstanding, I wish to say, while there is a +likeness to be traced, few of the sketches are drawn from that town +itself, and the characters will in almost every case be looked for there +in vain.</p> + +<p>I dedicate this story of out-of-door life and country people first to my +father and mother, my two best friends, and also to all my other +friends, whose names I say to myself lovingly, though I do not write +them here.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">S. O. J.</p> + +<h2 style="margin-top=5em;"><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a> +Contents</h2> + + <ul> + <li class="contents"><a href="#Kate_Lancasters_Plan">Kate Lancaster's + Plan</a></li> + <li class="contents"><a + href="#The_Brandon_House_and_the_Lighthouse">The Brandon House and + the Lighthouse</a></li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#My_Lady_Brandon_and_the_Widow_Jim">My + Lady Brandon and the Widow Jim</a></li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#Deephaven_Society">Deephaven + Society</a></li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#The_Captains">The Captains</a></li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#Danny">Danny</a></li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#Captain_Sands">Captain Sands</a></li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#The_Circus_at_Denby">The Circus at + Denby</a></li> + <li class="contents"><a + href="#Cunner_Fishing">Cunner-Fishing</a></li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#Mrs_Bonny">Mrs. Bonny</a></li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#In_Shadow">In Shadow</a></li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#Miss_Chauncey">Miss Chauncey</a></li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#Last_Days_in_Deephaven">Last Days in + Deephaven</a></li> + </ul> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="Kate_Lancasters_Plan" id="Kate_Lancasters_Plan"></a> + <a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>Kate Lancaster's Plan</h2> + + +<p>I had been spending the winter in Boston, and Kate Lancaster and I had +been together a great deal, for we are the best of friends. It happened +that the morning when this story begins I had waked up feeling sorry, +and as if something dreadful were going to happen. There did not seem to +be any good reason for it, so I undertook to discourage myself more by +thinking that it would soon be time to leave town, and how much I should +miss being with Kate and my other friends. My mind was still disquieted +when I went down to breakfast; but beside my plate I found, with a +hoped-for letter from my father, a note from Kate. To this day I have +never known any explanation of that depression of my spirits, and I hope +that the good luck which followed will help some reader to lose fear, +and to smile at such shadows if any chance to come.</p> + +<p>Kate had evidently written to me in an excited state of mind, for her +note was not so trig-looking as usual; but this is what she said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Helen,—I have a plan—I + think it a most delightful plan—in + which you and I are chief characters. Promise that you will say + yes; if you do not you will have to remember all your life that you + broke a girl's heart. Come round early, and lunch with me and dine + with me. I'm to be all alone, and it's a long story and will need a + great deal of talking over.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right"> K.</p></div> + +<p>I showed this note to my aunt, and soon went round, very much +interested. My latch-key opened the Lancasters' door, and I hurried to +the parlor, where I heard my friend practising with great diligence. I +went up to her, and she turned her head and kissed me solemnly. You need +not smile; we are not sentimental girls, and are both much averse to +indiscriminate kissing, though I have not the adroit habit of shying in +which Kate is proficient. It would sometimes be impolite in any one +else, but she shies so affectionately.</p> + +<p>"Won't you sit down, dear?" she said, with great +ceremony, +<a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>and went on +with her playing, which was abominable that morning; her fingers stepped +on each other, and, whatever the tune might have been in reality, it +certainly had a most remarkable incoherence as I heard it then. I took +up the new Littell and made believe read it, and finally threw it at +Kate; you would have thought we were two children.</p> + +<p>"Have you heard that my grand-aunt, Miss Katharine Brandon of +Deephaven, +is dead?" I knew that she had died in November, at least six months +before.</p> + +<p>"Don't be nonsensical, Kate!" said I. "What is it +you are going to tell +me?"</p> + +<p>"My grand-aunt died very old, and was the last of her generation. She +had a sister and three brothers, one of whom had the honor of being my +grandfather. Mamma is sole heir to the family estates in Deephaven, +wharf-property and all, and it is a great inconvenience to her. The +house is a charming old house, and some of my ancestors who followed the +sea brought home the greater part of its furnishings. Miss Katharine was +a person who ignored all frivolities, and her house was as sedate as +herself. I have been there but little, for when I was a child my aunt +found no pleasure in the society of noisy children who upset her +treasures, and when I was older she did not care to see strangers, and +after I left school she grew more and more feeble; I had not been there +for two years when she died. Mamma went down very often. The town is a +quaint old place which has seen better days. There are high rocks at the +shore, and there is a beach, and there are woods inland, and hills, and +there is the sea. It might be dull in Deephaven for two young ladies who +were fond of gay society and dependent upon excitement, I suppose; but +for two little girls who were fond of each other and could play in the +boats, and dig and build houses in the sea-sand, and gather shells, and +carry their dolls wherever they went, what could be pleasanter?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said I, promptly.</p> + +<p>Kate had told this a little at a time, with a few appropriate bars of +music between, which suddenly reminded me of the story of a Chinese +procession which I had read in one of Marryat's novels when I was a +child: "A thousand white elephants richly caparisoned,—ti-tum +tilly-lily," and so on, for a page +<a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>or two. She seemed to have finished +her story for that time, and while it was dawning upon me what she +meant, she sang a bit from one of Jean Ingelow's verses:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Will ye step aboard, my dearest,<br /></span> +<span>For the high seas lie before us?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and then came over to sit beside me and tell the whole story in a more +sensible fashion.</p> + +<p>"You know that my father has been meaning to go to England in the +autumn? Yesterday he told us that he is to leave in a month and will be +away all summer, and mamma is going with him. Jack and Willy are to join +a party of their classmates who are to spend nearly the whole of the +long vacation at Lake Superior. I don't care to go abroad again now, and +I did not like any plan that was proposed to me. Aunt Anna was here all +the afternoon, and she is going to take the house at Newport, which is +very pleasant and unexpected, for she hates housekeeping. Mamma thought +of course that I would go with her, but I did not wish to do that, and +it would only result in my keeping house for her visitors, whom I know +very little; and she will be much more free and independent by herself. +Beside, she can have my room if I am not there. I have promised to make +her a long visit in Baltimore next winter instead. I told mamma that I +should like to stay here and go away when I choose. There are ever so +many visits which I have promised; I could stay with you and your Aunt +Mary at Lenox if she goes there, for a while, and I have always wished +to spend a summer in town; but mamma did not encourage that at all. In +the evening papa gave her a letter which had come from Mr. Dockum, the +man who takes care of Aunt Katharine's place, and the most charming idea +came into my head, and I said I meant to spend my summer in Deephaven.</p> + +<p>"At first they laughed at me, and then they said I might go if I chose, +and at last they thought nothing could be pleasanter, and mamma wishes +she were going herself. I asked if she did not think you would be the +best person to keep me company, and she does, and papa announced that he +was just going to suggest my asking you. I am to take Ann and Maggie, +who will be overjoyed, for they came from that part of the country, and +the other servants are to go with Aunt Anna, +<a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>and old Nora will come to +take care of this house, as she always does. Perhaps you and I will come +up to town once in a while for a few days. We shall have such jolly +housekeeping. Mamma and I sat up very late last night, and everything is +planned. Mr. Dockum's house is very near Aunt Katharine's, so we shall +not be lonely; though I know you're no more afraid of that than I. O +Helen, won't you go?"</p> + +<p>Do you think it took me long to decide?</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster sailed the 10th of June, and my Aunt Mary went to +spend her summer among the Berkshire Hills, so I was at the Lancasters' +ready to welcome Kate when she came home, after having said good by to +her father and mother. We meant to go to Deephaven in a week, but were +obliged to stay in town longer. Boston was nearly deserted of our +friends at the last, and we used to take quiet walks in the cool of the +evening after dinner, up and down the street, or sit on the front steps +in company with the servants left in charge of the other houses, who +also sometimes walked up and down and looked at us wonderingly. We had +much shopping to do in the daytime, for there was a probability of our +spending many days in doors, and as we were not to be near any large +town, and did not mean to come to Boston for weeks at least, there was a +great deal to be remembered and arranged. We enjoyed making our plans, +and deciding what we should want, and going to the shops together. I +think we felt most important the day we conferred with Ann and made out +a list of the provisions which must be ordered. This was being +housekeepers in earnest. Mr. Dockum happened to come to town, and we +sent Ann and Maggie, with most of our boxes, to Deephaven in his company +a day or two before we were ready to go ourselves, and when we reached +there the house was opened and in order for us.</p> + +<p>On our journey to Deephaven we left the railway twelve miles from that +place, and took passage in a stage-coach. There was only one passenger +beside ourselves. She was a very large, thin, weather-beaten woman, and +looked so tired and lonesome and good-natured, that I could not help +saying it was very dusty; and she was apparently delighted to answer +that she should think everybody was sweeping, and she always felt, after +being in the cars a while, as if she had been +<a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>taken all to pieces and +left in the different places. And this was the beginning of our +friendship with Mrs. Kew.</p> + +<p>After this conversation we looked industriously out of the window into +the pastures and pine-woods. I had given up my seat to her, for I do not +mind riding backward in the least, and you would have thought I had done +her the greatest favor of her life. I think she was the most grateful of +women, and I was often reminded of a remark one of my friends once made +about some one: "If you give Bessie a half-sheet of letter-paper, she +behaves to you as if it were the most exquisite of presents!" Kate and I +had some fruit left in our lunch-basket, and divided it with Mrs. Kew, +but after the first mouthful we looked at each other in dismay. "Lemons +with oranges' clothes on, aren't they?" said she, as Kate threw hers out +of the window, and mine went after it for company; and after this we +began to be very friendly indeed. We both liked the odd woman, there was +something so straightforward and kindly about her.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to Deephaven, dear?" she asked me, and then: "I wonder if +you are going to stay long? All summer? Well, that's clever! I do hope +you will come out to the Light to see me; young folks 'most always like +my place. Most likely your friends will fetch you."</p> + +<p>"Do you know the Brandon house?" asked Kate.</p> + +<p>"Well as I do the meeting-house. There! I wonder I didn't know from the +beginning, but I have been a trying all the way to settle it who you +could be. I've been up country some weeks, stopping with my mother, and +she seemed so set to have me stay till strawberry-time, and would hardly +let me come now. You see she's getting to be old; why, every time I've +come away for fifteen years she's said it was the last time I'd ever see +her, but she's a dreadful smart woman of her age. 'He' wrote me some o' +Mrs. Lancaster's folks were going to take the Brandon house this summer; +and so you are the ones? It's a sightly old place; I used to go and see +Miss Katharine. She must have left a power of china-ware. She set a +great deal by the house, and she kept everything just as it used to be +in her mother's day."</p> + +<p>"Then you live in Deephaven too?" asked Kate.</p> + +<p>"I've been here the better part of my life. I was raised up +<a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>among the +hills in Vermont, and I shall always be a real up-country woman if I +live here a hundred years. The sea doesn't come natural to me, it kind +of worries me, though you won't find a happier woman than I be, 'long +shore. When I was first married 'he' had a schooner and went to the +banks, and once he was off on a whaling voyage, and I hope I may never +come to so long a three years as those were again, though I was up to +mother's. Before I was married he had been 'most everywhere. When he +came home that time from whaling, he found I'd taken it so to heart that +he said he'd never go off again, and then he got the chance to keep +Deephaven Light, and we've lived there seventeen years come January. +There isn't great pay, but then nobody tries to get it away from us, and +we've got so's to be contented, if it is lonesome in winter."</p> + +<p>"Do you really live in the lighthouse? I remember how I used to beg to +be taken out there when I was a child, and how I used to watch for the +light at night," said Kate, enthusiastically.</p> + +<p>So began a friendship which we both still treasure, for knowing Mrs. Kew +was one of the pleasantest things which happened to us in that +delightful summer, and she used to do so much for our pleasure, and was +so good to us. When we went out to the lighthouse for the last time to +say good by, we were very sorry girls indeed. We had no idea until then +how much she cared for us, and her affection touched us very much. She +told us that she loved us as if we belonged to her, and begged us not to +forget her,—as if we ever could!—and to remember that there was always +a home and a warm heart for us if she were alive. Kate and I have often +agreed that few of our acquaintances are half so entertaining. Her +comparisons were most striking and amusing, and her comments upon the +books she read—for she was a great reader—were very shrewd and clever, +and always to the point. She was never out of temper, even when the +barrels of oil were being rolled across her kitchen floor. And she was +such a wise woman! This stage-ride, which we expected to find tiresome, +we enjoyed very much, and we were glad to think, when the coach stopped, +and "he" came to meet her with great satisfaction, that we had one +friend in Deephaven at all events.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>I liked the house from my very +first sight of it. It stood behind a row +of poplars which were as green and flourishing as the poplars which +stand in stately processions in the fields around Quebec. It was an +imposing great white house, and the lilacs were tall, and there were +crowds of rose-bushes not yet out of bloom; and there were box borders, +and there were great elms at the side of the house and down the road. +The hall door stood wide open, and my hostess turned to me as we went +in, with one of her sweet, sudden smiles. "Won't we have a good time, +Nelly?" said she. And I thought we should.</p> + +<p>So our summer's housekeeping began in most pleasant fashion. It was just +at sunset, and Ann's and Maggie's presence made the house seem familiar +at once. Maggie had been unpacking for us, and there was a delicious +supper ready for the hungry girls. Later in the evening we went down to +the shore, which was not very far away; the fresh sea-air was welcome +after the dusty day, and it seemed so quiet and pleasant in Deephaven.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="The_Brandon_House_and_the_Lighthouse" +id="The_Brandon_House_and_the_Lighthouse"></a> +<a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>The Brandon House and the Lighthouse</h2> + + +<p>I do not know that the Brandon house is really very remarkable, but I +never have been in one that interested me in the same way. Kate used to +recount to select audiences at school some of her experiences with her +Aunt Katharine, and it was popularly believed that she once carried down +some indestructible picture-books when they were first in fashion, and +the old lady basted them for her to hem round the edges at the rate of +two a day. It may have been fabulous. It was impossible to imagine any +children in the old place; everything was for grown people; even the +stair-railing was too high to slide down on. The chairs looked as if +they had been put, at the furnishing of the house, in their places, and +there they meant to remain. The carpets were particularly interesting, +and I remember Kate's pointing out to me one day a great square figure +in one, and telling me she used to keep house there with her dolls for +lack of a better play-house, and if one of them chanced to fall outside +the boundary stripe, it was immediately put to bed with a cold. It is a +house with great possibilities; it might easily be made charming. There +are four very large rooms on the lower floor, and six above, a wide hall +in each story, and a fascinating garret over the whole, where were many +mysterious old chests and boxes, in one of which we found Kate's +grandmother's love-letters; and you may be sure the vista of rummages +which Mr. Lancaster had laughed about was explored to its very end. The +rooms all have elaborate cornices, and the lower hall is very fine, with +an archway dividing it, and panellings of all sorts, and a great door at +each end, through which the lilacs in front and the old pensioner +plum-trees in the garden are seen exchanging bows and gestures. Coming +from the Lancasters' high city house, it did not seem as if we had to go +up stairs at all there, for every step of the stairway is so broad and +low, and you come half-way to a square landing with an old +straight-backed chair in each farther corner; and between them a large, +round-topped window, with a cushioned seat, looking out on the garden +and the village, the hills far inland, and the sunset beyond +<a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>all. Then +you turn and go up a few more steps to the upper hall, where we used to +stay a great deal. There were more old chairs and a pair of remarkable +sofas, on which we used to deposit the treasures collected in our +wanderings. The wide window which looks out on the lilacs and the sea +was a favorite seat of ours. Facing each other on either side of it are +two old secretaries, and one of them we ascertained to be the +hiding-place of secret drawers, in which may be found valuable records +deposited by ourselves one rainy day when we first explored it. We +wrote, between us, a tragic "journal" on some yellow old +letter-paper we +found in the desk. We put it in the most hidden drawer by itself, and +flatter ourselves that it will be regarded with great interest some time +or other. Of one of the front rooms, "the best chamber," we +stood rather +in dread. It is very remarkable that there seem to be no ghost-stories +connected with any part of the house, particularly this. We are neither +of us nervous; but there is certainly something dismal about the room. +The huge curtained bed and immense easy-chairs, windows, and everything +were draped in some old-fashioned kind of white cloth which always +seemed to be waving and moving about of itself. The carpet was most +singularly colored with dark reds and indescribable grays and browns, +and the pattern, after a whole summer's study, could never be followed +with one's eye. The paper was captured in a French prize somewhere some +time in the last century, and part of the figure was shaggy, and therein +little spiders found habitation, and went visiting their acquaintances +across the shiny places. The color was an unearthly pink and a +forbidding maroon, with dim white spots, which gave it the appearance of +having moulded. It made you low-spirited to look long in the mirror; and +the great lounge one could not have cheerful associations with, after +hearing that Miss Brandon herself did not like it, having seen so many +of her relatives lie there dead. There were fantastic china ornaments +from Bible subjects on the mantel, and the only picture was one of the +Maid of Orleans tied with an unnecessarily strong rope to a very stout +stake. The best parlor we also rarely used, because all the portraits +which hung there had for some unaccountable reason taken a violent +dislike to us, and followed us +<a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>suspiciously with their eyes. The +furniture was stately and very uncomfortable, and there was something +about the room which suggested an invisible funeral.</p> + +<p>There is not very much to say about the dining-room. It was not +specially interesting, though the sea was in sight from one of the +windows. There were some old Dutch pictures on the wall, so dark that +one could scarcely make out what they were meant to represent, and one +or two engravings. There was a huge sideboard, for which Kate had +brought down from Boston Miss Brandon's own silver which had stood there +for so many years, and looked so much more at home and in place than any +other possibly could have looked, and Kate also found in the closet the +three great decanters with silver labels chained round their necks, +which had always been the companions of the tea-service in her aunt's +lifetime. From the little closets in the sideboard there came a most +significant odor of cake and wine whenever one opened the doors. We used +Miss Brandon's beautiful old blue India china which she had given to +Kate, and which had been carefully packed all winter. Kate sat at the +head and I at the foot of the round table, and I must confess that we +were apt to have either a feast or a famine, for at first we often +forgot to provide our dinners. If this were the case Maggie was sure to +serve us with most derisive elegance, and make us wait for as much +ceremony as she thought necessary for one of Mrs. Lancaster's +dinner-parties.</p> + +<p>The west parlor was our favorite room down stairs. It had a great +fireplace framed in blue and white Dutch tiles which ingeniously and +instructively represented the careers of the good and the bad man; the +starting-place of each being a very singular cradle in the centre at the +top. The last two of the series are very high art: a great coffin stands +in the foreground of each, and the virtuous man is being led off by two +disagreeable-looking angels, while the wicked one is hastening from an +indescribable but unpleasant assemblage of claws and horns and eyes +which is rapidly advancing from the distance, open-mouthed, and bringing +a chain with it.</p> + +<p>There was a large cabinet holding all the small curiosities and +knick-knacks there seemed to be no other place for,—odd china figures +and cups and vases, unaccountable Chinese +<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>carvings and exquisite corals +and sea-shells, minerals and Swiss wood-work, and articles of <i>vertu</i> +from the South Seas. Underneath were stored boxes of letters and old +magazines; for this was one of the houses where nothing seems to have +been thrown away. In one parting we found a parcel of old manuscript +sermons, the existence of which was a mystery, until Kate remembered +there had been a gifted son of the house who entered the ministry and +soon died. The windows had each a pane of stained glass, and on the wide +sills we used to put our immense bouquets of field-flowers. There was +one place which I liked and sat in more than any other. The chimney +filled nearly the whole side of the room, all but this little corner, +where there was just room for a very comfortable high-backed cushioned +chair, and a narrow window where I always had a bunch of fresh green +ferns in a tall champagne-glass. I used to write there often, and always +sat there when Kate sang and played. She sent for a tuner, and used to +successfully coax the long-imprisoned music from the antiquated piano, +and sing for her visitors by the hour. She almost always sang her oldest +songs, for they seemed most in keeping with everything about us. I used +to fancy that the portraits liked our being there. There was one young +girl who seemed solitary and forlorn among the rest in the room, who +were all middle-aged. For their part they looked amiable, but rather +unhappy, as if she had come in and interrupted their conversation. We +both grew very fond of her, and it seemed, when we went in the last +morning on purpose to take leave of her, as if she looked at us +imploringly. She was soon afterward boxed up, and now enjoys society +after her own heart in Kate's room in Boston.</p> + +<p>There was the largest sofa I ever saw opposite the fireplace; it must +have been brought in in pieces, and built in the room. It was broad +enough for Kate and me to lie on together, and very high and square; but +there was a pile of soft cushions at one end. We used to enjoy it +greatly in September, when the evenings were long and cool, and we had +many candles, and a fire—and crickets too—on the hearth, +and the dear +dog lying on the rug. I remember one rainy night, just before Miss +Tennant and Kitty Bruce went away; we had a real drift-wood fire, and +blew out the lights and told stories. Miss Margaret +<a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>knows so many and +tells them so well. Kate and I were unusually entertaining, for we +became familiar with the family record of the town, and could recount +marvellous adventures by land and sea, and ghost-stories by the dozen. +We had never either of us been in a society consisting of so many +travelled people! Hardly a man but had been the most of his life at sea. +Speaking of ghost-stories, I must tell you that once in the summer two +Cambridge girls who were spending a week with us unwisely enticed us +into giving some thrilling recitals, which nearly frightened them out of +their wits, and Kate and I were finally in terror ourselves. We had all +been on the sofa in the dark, singing and talking, and were waiting in +great suspense after I had finished one of such particular horror that I +declared it should be the last, when we heard footsteps on the hall +stairs. There were lights in the dining-room which shone faintly through +the half-closed door, and we saw something white and shapeless come +slowly down, and clutched each other's gowns in agony. It was only +Kate's dog, who came in and laid his head in her lap and slept +peacefully. We thought we could not sleep a wink after this, and I +bravely went alone out to the light to see my watch, and, finding it was +past twelve, we concluded to sit up all night and to go down to the +shore at sunrise, it would be so much easier than getting up early some +morning. We had been out rowing and had taken a long walk the day +before, and were obliged to dance and make other slight exertions to +keep ourselves awake at one time. We lunched at two, and I never shall +forget the sunrise that morning; but we were singularly quiet and +abstracted that day, and indeed for several days after Deephaven was "a +land in which it seemed always afternoon," we breakfasted so late.</p> + +<p>As Mrs. Kew had said, there was "a power of china." Kate +and I were +convinced that the lives of her grandmothers must have been spent in +giving tea-parties. We counted ten sets of cups, beside quantities of +stray ones; and some member of the family had evidently devoted her time +to making a collection of pitchers.</p> + +<p>There was an escritoire in Miss Brandon's own room, which we looked over +one day. There was a little package of letters; ship letters mostly, +tied with a very pale and tired-looking +<a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>blue ribbon. They were in a +drawer with a locket holding a faded miniature on ivory and a lock of +brown hair, and there were also some dry twigs and bits of leaf which +had long ago been bright wild-roses, such as still bloom among the +Deephaven rocks. Kate said that she had often heard her mother wonder +why her aunt never had cared to marry, for she had chances enough +doubtless, and had been rich and handsome and finely educated. So there +was a sailor lover after all, and perhaps he had been lost at sea and +she faithfully kept the secret, never mourning outwardly. "And I always +thought her the most matter-of-fact old lady," said Kate; "yet here's +her romance, after all." We put the letters outside on a chair to read, +but afterwards carefully replaced them, without untying them. I'm glad +we did. There were other letters which we did read, and which interested +us very much,—letters from her girl friends written in the +boarding-school vacations, and just after she finished school. Those in +one of the smaller packages were charming; it must have been such a +bright, nice girl who wrote them! They were very few, and were tied with +black ribbon, and marked on the outside in girlish writing: "My dearest +friend, Dolly McAllister, died September 3, 1809, aged eighteen." The +ribbon had evidently been untied and the letters read many times. One +began: "My dear, delightful Kitten: I am quite overjoyed to find my +father has business which will force him to go to Deephaven next week, +and he kindly says if there be no more rain I may ride with him to see +you. I will surely come, for if there is danger of spattering my gown, +and he bids me stay at home, I shall go galloping after him and overtake +him when it is too late to send me back. I have so much to tell you." I +wish I knew more about the visit. Poor Miss Katharine! it made us sad to +look over these treasures of her girlhood. There were her compositions +and exercise-books; some samplers and queer little keepsakes; withered +flowers and some pebbles and other things of like value, with which +there was probably some pleasant association. "Only think of her keeping +them all her days," said I to Kate. "I am continually throwing some +relic of the kind away, because I forget why I have it!"</p> + +<p>There was a box in the lower part which Kate was glad to find, for she +had heard her mother wonder if some such +<a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>things were not in existence. +It held a crucifix and a mass-book and some rosaries, and Kate told me +Miss Katharine's youngest and favorite brother had become a Roman +Catholic while studying in Europe. It was a dreadful blow to the family; +for in those days there could have been few deeper disgraces to the +Brandon family than to have one of its sons go over to popery. Only Miss +Katharine treated him with kindness, and after a time he disappeared +without telling even her where he was going, and was only heard from +indirectly once or twice afterward. It was a great grief to her. "And +mamma knows," said Kate, "that she always had a lingering hope of his +return, for one of the last times she saw Aunt Katharine before she was +ill she spoke of soon going to be with all the rest, and said, 'Though +your Uncle Henry, dear,'—and stopped and smiled sadly; 'you'll think me +a very foolish old woman, but I never quite gave up thinking he might +come home.'"</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Mrs. Kew did the honors of the lighthouse thoroughly on our first visit; +but I think we rarely went to see her that we did not make some +entertaining discovery. Mr. Kew's nephew, a guileless youth of forty, +lived with them, and the two men were of a mechanical turn and had +invented numerous aids to housekeeping,—appendages to the stove, and +fixtures on the walls for everything that could be hung up; catches in +the floor to hold the doors open, and ingenious apparatus to close them; +but, above all, a system of barring and bolting for the wide "fore +door," which would have disconcerted an energetic battering-ram. After +all this work being expended, Mrs. Kew informed us that it was usually +wide open all night in summer weather. On the back of this door I +discovered one day a row of marks, and asked their significance. It +seemed that Mrs. Kew had attempted one summer to keep count of the +number of people who inquired about the depredations of the neighbors' +chickens. Mrs. Kew's bedroom was partly devoted to the fine arts. There +was a large collection of likenesses of her relatives and friends on the +wall, which was interesting in the extreme. Mrs. Kew was always much +pleased to tell their names, and her remarks about any feature not +exactly perfect were very searching and critical. +<a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a> "That's my oldest +brother's wife, Clorinthy Adams that was. She's well featured, if it +were not for her nose, and that looks as if it had been thrown at her, +and she wasn't particular about having it on firm, in hopes of getting a +better one. She sets by her looks, though."</p> + +<p>There were often sailing-parties that came there from up and down the +coast. One day Kate and I were spending the afternoon at the Light; we +had been fishing, and were sitting in the doorway listening to a +reminiscence of the winter Mrs. Kew kept school at the Four Corners; saw +a boatful coming, and all lost our tempers. Mrs. Kew had a lame ankle, +and Kate offered to go up with the visitors. There were some girls and +young men who stood on the rocks awhile, and then asked us, with much +better manners than the people who usually came, if they could see the +lighthouse, and Kate led the way. She was dressed that day in a costume +we both frequently wore, of gray skirts and blue sailor-jacket, and her +boots were much the worse for wear. The celebrated Lancaster complexion +was rather darkened by the sun. Mrs. Kew expressed a wish to know what +questions they would ask her, and I followed after a few minutes. They +seemed to have finished asking about the lantern, and to have become +personal.</p> + +<p>"Don't you get tired staying here?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed!" said Kate.</p> + +<p>"Is that your sister down stairs?"</p> + +<p>"No, I have no sister."</p> + +<p>"I should think you would wish she was. Aren't you ever +lonesome?"</p> + +<p>"Everybody is, sometimes," said Kate.</p> + +<p>"But it's such a lonesome place!" said one of the +girls. "I should think +you would get work away. I live in Boston. Why, it's so awful quiet! +nothing but the water, and the wind, when it blows; and I think either +of them is worse than nothing. And only this little bit of a rocky +place! I should want to go to walk."</p> + +<p>I heard Kate pleasantly refuse the offer of pay for her services, and +then they began to come down the steep stairs laughing and chattering +with each other. Kate stayed behind to close the doors and leave +everything all right, and the girl who had talked the most waited too, +and when they were on +<a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>the stairs just above me, and the +others out of +hearing, she said, "You're real good to show us the things. I guess +you'll think I'm silly, but I do like you ever so much! I wish you would +come to Boston. I'm in a real nice store,—H——'s, on +Winter Street; +and they will want new saleswomen in October. Perhaps you could be at my +counter. I'd teach you, and you could board with me. I've got a real +comfortable room, and I suppose I might have more things, for I get good +pay; but I like to send money home to mother. I'm at my aunt's now, but +I am going back next Monday, and if you will tell me what your name is, +I'll find out for certain about the place, and write you. My name's Mary +Wendell."</p> + +<p>I knew by Kate's voice that this had touched her. "You are very kind; +thank you heartily," said she; "but I cannot go and work with you. I +should like to know more about you. I live in Boston too; my friend and +I are staying over in Deephaven for the summer only." And she held out +her hand to the girl, whose face had changed from its first expression +of earnest good-humor to a very startled one; and when she noticed +Kate's hand, and a ring of hers, which had been turned round, she looked +really frightened.</p> + +<p>"O, will you please excuse me?" said she, +blushing. "I ought to have +known better; but you showed us round so willing, and I never thought of +your not living here. I didn't mean to be rude."</p> + +<p>"Of course you did not, and you were not. I am very glad you said it, +and glad you like me," said Kate; and just then the party called the +girl, and she hurried away, and I joined Kate. "Then you heard it all. +That was worth having!" said she. "She was such an honest +little soul, +and I mean to look for her when I get home."</p> + +<p>Sometimes we used to go out to the Light early in the morning with the +fishermen who went that way to the fishing-grounds, but we usually made +the voyage early in the afternoon if it were not too hot, and we went +fishing off the rocks or sat in the house with Mrs. Kew, who often +related some of her Vermont experiences, or Mr. Kew would tell us +surprising sea-stories and ghost-stories like a story-book sailor. Then +we would have an unreasonably good supper and afterward climb the ladder +to the lantern to see the lamps +<a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>lighted, and sit there for a while +watching the ships and the sunset. Almost all the coasters came in sight +of Deephaven, and the sea outside the light was their grand highway. +Twice from the lighthouse we saw a yacht squadron like a flock of great +white birds. As for the sunsets, it used to seem often as if we were +near the heart of them, for the sea all around us caught the color of +the clouds, and though the glory was wonderful, I remember best one +still evening when there was a bank of heavy gray clouds in the west +shutting down like a curtain, and the sea was silver-colored. You could +look under and beyond the curtain of clouds into the palest, clearest +yellow sky. There was a little black boat in the distance drifting +slowly, climbing one white wave after another, as if it were bound out +into that other world beyond. But presently the sun came from behind the +clouds, and the dazzling golden light changed the look of everything, +and it was the time then to say one thought it a beautiful sunset; while +before one could only keep very still, and watch the boat, and wonder if +heaven would not be somehow like that far, faint color, which was +neither sea nor sky.</p> + +<p>When we came down from the lighthouse and it grew late, we would beg for +an hour or two longer on the water, and row away in the twilight far out +from land, where, with our faces turned from the Light, it seemed as if +we were alone, and the sea shoreless; and as the darkness closed round +us softly, we watched the stars come out, and were always glad to see +Kate's star and my star, which we had chosen when we were children. I +used long ago to be sure of one thing,—that, however far away heaven +might be, it could not be out of sight of the stars. Sometimes in the +evening we waited out at sea for the moonrise, and then we would take +the oars again and go slowly in, once in a while singing or talking, but +oftenest silent.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="My_Lady_Brandon_and_the_Widow_Jim" +id="My_Lady_Brandon_and_the_Widow_Jim"></a> +<a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>My Lady Brandon and the Widow Jim</h2> + + +<p>When it was known that we had arrived in Deephaven, the people who had +known Miss Brandon so well, and Mrs. Lancaster also, seemed to consider +themselves Kate's friends by inheritance, and were exceedingly polite to +us, in either calling upon us or sending pleasant messages. Before the +first week had ended we had no lack of society. They were not strangers +to Kate, to begin with, and as for me, I think it is easy for me to be +contented, and to feel at home anywhere. I have the good fortune and the +misfortune to belong to the navy,—that is, my father +does,—and my life +has been consequently an unsettled one, except during the years of my +school life, when my friendship with Kate began.</p> + +<p>I think I should be happy in any town if I were living there with Kate +Lancaster. I will not praise my friend as I can praise her, or say half +the things I might say honestly. She is so fresh and good and true, and +enjoys life so heartily. She is so child-like, without being childish; +and I do not tell you that she is faultless, but when she makes mistakes +she is sorrier and more ready to hopefully try again than any girl I +know. Perhaps you would like to know something about us, but I am not +writing Kate's biography and my own, only telling you of one summer +which we spent together. Sometimes in Deephaven we were between six and +seven years old, but at other times we have felt irreparably grown-up, +and as if we carried a crushing weight of care and duty. In reality we +are both twenty-four, and it is a pleasant age, though I think next year +is sure to be pleasanter, for we do not mind growing older, since we +have lost nothing that we mourn about, and are gaining so much. I shall +be glad if you learn to know Kate a little in my stories. It is not that +I am fond of her and endow her with imagined virtues and graces; no one +can fail to see how unaffected she is, or not notice her thoughtfulness +and generosity and her delightful fun, which never has a trace of +coarseness or silliness. It was very pleasant having her for one's +companion, for she has an unusual power of winning people's confidence, +and of knowing with surest instinct how to meet them on their +<a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>own +ground. It is the girl's being so genuinely sympathetic and interested +which makes every one ready to talk to her and be friends with her; just +as the sunshine makes it easy for flowers to grow which the chilly winds +hinder. She is not polite for the sake of seeming polite, but polite for +the sake of being kind, and there is not a particle of what Hugh Miller +justly calls the insolence of condescension about her; she is not +brilliantly talented, yet she does everything in a charming fashion of +her own; she is not profoundly learned, yet she knows much of which many +wise people are ignorant, and while she is a patient scholar in both +little things and great, she is no less a teacher to all her +friends,—dear Kate Lancaster!</p> + +<p>We knew that we were considered Miss Brandon's representatives in +Deephaven society, and this was no slight responsibility, as she had +received much honor and respect. We heard again and again what a loss +she had been to the town, and we tried that summer to do nothing to +lessen the family reputation, and to give pleasure as well as take it, +though we were singularly persistent in our pursuit of a good time. I +grew much interested in what I heard of Miss Brandon, and it seems to me +that it is a great privilege to have an elderly person in one's +neighborhood, in town or country, who is proud, and conservative, and +who lives in stately fashion; who is intolerant of sham and of useless +novelties, and clings to the old ways of living and behaving as if it +were part of her religion. There is something immensely respectable +about the gentlewomen of the old school. They ignore all bustle and +flashiness, and the conceit of the younger people, who act as if at last +it had been time for them to appear and manage this world as it ought to +have been managed before. Their position in modern society is much like +that of the King's Chapel in its busy street in Boston. It perhaps might +not have been easy to approach Miss Brandon, but I am sure that if I had +visited in Deephaven during her lifetime I should have been very proud +if I had been asked to take tea at her house, and should have liked to +speak afterward of my acquaintance with her. It would have been +impossible not to pay her great deference; it is a pleasure to think +that she must have found this world a most polite world, and have had +the highest opinion +<a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>of its good manners. <i>Noblesse +oblige</i>: that is +true in more ways than one!</p> + +<p>I cannot help wondering if those of us who will be left by and by to +represent our own generation will seem to have such superior elegance of +behavior; if we shall receive so much respect and be so much valued. It +is hard to imagine it. We know that the world gains new refinements and +a better culture; but to us there never will be such imposing ladies and +gentlemen as these who belong to the old school.</p> + +<p>The morning after we reached Deephaven we were busy up stairs, and there +was a determined blow at the knocker of the front door. I went down to +see who was there, and had the pleasure of receiving our first caller. +She was a prim little old woman who looked pleased and expectant, who +wore a neat cap and front, and whose eyes were as bright as black beads. +She wore no bonnet, and had thrown a little three-cornered shawl, with +palm-leaf figures, over her shoulders; and it was evident that she was a +near neighbor. She was very short and straight and thin, and so quick +that she darted like a pickerel when she moved about. It occurred to me +at once that she was a very capable person, and had +"faculty," and, dear +me, how fast she talked! She hesitated a moment when she saw me, and +dropped a fragment of a courtesy. "Miss Lan'k'ster?" said she, +doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"No," said I, "I'm Miss Denis: Miss Lancaster is at +home, though: come +in, won't you?"</p> + +<p>"O Mrs. Patton!" said Kate, who came down just +then. "How very kind of +you to come over so soon! I should have gone to see you to-day. I was +asking Mrs. Kew last night if you were here."</p> + +<p>"Land o' compassion!" said Mrs. Patton, as she shook Kate's hand +delightedly. "Where'd ye s'pose I'd be, dear? I ain't like to move away +from Deephaven now, after I've held by the place so long, I've got as +many roots as the big ellum. Well, I should know you were a Brandon, no +matter where I see you. You've got a real Brandon look; tall and +straight, ain't you? It's four or five years since I saw you, except +once at church, and once you went by, down to the shore, I suppose. It +was a windy day in the spring of the year."</p> + +<p>"I remember it very well," said Kate. "Those were +both +<a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>visits of only a +day or two, and I was here at Aunt Katharine's funeral, and went away +that same evening. Do you remember once I was here in the summer for a +longer visit, five or six years ago, and I helped you pick currants in +the garden? You had a very old mug."</p> + +<p>"Now, whoever would ha' thought o' your rec'lecting +that?" said Mrs. +Patton. "Yes. I had that mug because it was handy to carry about among +the bushes, and then I'd empt' it into the basket as fast as I got it +full. Your aunt always told me to pick all I wanted; she couldn't use +'em, but they used to make sights o' currant wine in old times. I s'pose +that mug would be considerable of a curiosity to anybody that wasn't +used to seeing it round. My grand'ther Joseph Toggerson—my mother was a +Toggerson—picked it up on the long sands in a wad of sea-weed: strange +it wasn't broke, but it's tough; I've dropped it on the floor, many's +the time, and it ain't even chipped. There's some Dutch reading on it +and it's marked 1732. Now I shouldn't ha' thought you'd remembered that +old mug, I declare. Your aunt she had a monstrous sight of chiny. She's +told me where 'most all of it come from, but I expect I've forgot. My +memory fails me a good deal by spells. If you hadn't come down I suppose +your mother would have had the chiny packed up this spring,—what she +didn't take with her after your aunt died. S'pose she hasn't made up her +mind what to do with the house?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Kate; "she wishes she could: it is a +great puzzle to us."</p> + +<p>"I hope you will find it in middling order," said +Mrs. Patton, humbly. +"Me and Mis' Dockum have done the best we knew,—opened the +windows and +let in the air and tried to keep it from getting damp. I fixed all the +woollens with fresh camphire and tobacco the last o' the winter; you +have to be dreadful careful in one o' these old houses, 'less everything +gets creaking with moths in no time. Miss Katharine, how she did hate +the sight of a moth-miller! There's something I'll speak about before I +forget it: the mice have eat the backs of a pile o' old books that's +stored away in the west chamber closet next to Miss Katharine's room, +and I set a trap there, but it was older 'n the ten commandments, that +trap was, and the spring's rusty. I guess you'd better get some new ones +<a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>and set round in different places, +'less the mice'll pester you. There +ain't been no chance for 'em to get much of a living 'long through the +winter, but they'll be sure to come back quick as they find there's +likely to be good board. I see your aunt's cat setting out on the front +steps. She never was no great of a mouser, but it went to my heart to +see how pleased she looks! Come right back, didn't she? How they do hold +to their old haunts!"</p> + +<p>"Was that Miss Brandon's cat?" I asked, with great +interest. "She has +been up stairs with us, but I supposed she belonged to some neighbor, +and had strayed in. She behaved as if she felt at home, poor old +pussy!"</p> + +<p>"We must keep her here," said Kate.</p> + +<p>"Mis' Dockum took her after your mother went off, and Miss Katharine's +maids," said Mrs. Patton; "but she told me that it was a long spell +before she seemed to feel contented. She used to set on the steps and +cry by the hour together, and try to get in, to first one door and then +another. I used to think how bad Miss Katharine would feel; she set a +great deal by a cat, and she took notice of this as long as she did of +anything. Her mind failed her, you know. Great loss to Deephaven, she +was. Proud woman, and some folks were scared of her; but I always got +along with her, and I wouldn't ask for no kinder friend nor neighbor. +I've had my troubles, and I've seen the day I was suffering poor, and I +couldn't have brought myself to ask town help nohow, but I wish ye'd ha' +heared her scold me when she found it out; and she come marching into my +kitchen one morning, like a grenadier, and says she, 'Why didn't you +send and tell me how sick and poor you are?' says she. And she said +she'd ha' been so glad to help me all along, but she thought I had +means,—everybody did; and I see the tears in her eyes, but she was +scolding me and speaking as if she was dreadful mad. She made me +comfortable, and she sent over one o' her maids to see to me, and got +the doctor, and a load o' stuff come up from the store, so I didn't have +to buy anything for a good many weeks. I got better and so's to work, +but she never'd let me say nothing about it. I had a good deal o' +trouble, and I thought I'd lost my health, but I hadn't, and that was +thirty or forty years ago. There never was nothing going on at the great +house +<a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>that she didn't have me over, +sewing or cleaning or company; and +I got so that I knew how she liked to have things done. I felt as if it +was my own sister, though I never had one, when I was going over to help +lay her out. She used to talk as free to me as she would to Miss Lorimer +or Miss Carew. I s'pose ye ain't seen nothing o' them yet? She was a +good Christian woman, Miss Katharine was. 'The memory of the just is +blessed'; that's what Mr. Lorimer said in his sermon the Sunday after +she died, and there wasn't a blood-relation there to hear it. I declare +it looked pitiful to see that pew empty that ought to ha' been the +mourners' pew. Your mother, Mis' Lancaster, had to go home Saturday, +your father was going away sudden to Washington, I've understood, and +she come back again the first of the week. There! it didn't make no sort +o' difference, p'r'aps nobody thought of it but me. There hadn't been +anybody in the pew more than a couple o' times since she used to sit +there herself, regular as Sunday come." And Mrs. Patton looked for a +minute as if she were going to cry, but she changed her mind upon second +thought.</p> + +<p>"Your mother gave me most of Miss Katharine's clothes; this +cap belonged +to her, that I've got on now; it's 'most wore out, but it does for +mornings."</p> + +<p>"O," said Kate, "I have two new ones for you in one +of my trunks! Mamma +meant to choose them herself, but she had not time, and so she told me, +and I think I found the kind she thought you would like."</p> + +<p>"Now I'm sure!" said Mrs. Patton, "if that ain't +kind; you don't tell me +that Mis' Lancaster thought of me just as she was going off? I shall set +everything by them caps, and I'm much obliged to you too, Miss Kate. I +was just going to speak of that time you were here and saw the mug; you +trimmed a cap for Miss Katharine to give me, real Boston style. I guess +that box of cap-fixings is up on the top shelf of Miss Katharine's +closet now, to the left hand," said Mrs. Patton, with wistful certainty. +"She used to make her every-day caps herself, and she had some beautiful +materials laid away that she never used. Some folks has laughed at me +for being so particular 'bout wearing caps except for best, but I don't +know's it's presuming beyond my station, and somehow I feel more respect +for myself when I have a good cap on. I +<a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>can't get over your mother's +rec'lecting about me; and she sent me a handsome present o' money this +spring for looking after the house. I never should have asked for a +cent; it's a pleasure to me to keep an eye on it, out o' respect to your +aunt. I was so pleased when I heard you were coming long o' your friend. +I like to see the old place open; it was about as bad as having no +meeting. I miss seeing the lights, and your aunt was a great hand for +lighting up bright; the big hall lantern was lit every night, and she +put it out when she went up stairs. She liked to go round same's if it +was day. You see I forget all the time she was sick, and go back to the +days when she was well and about the house. When her mind was failing +her, and she was up stairs in her room, her eyesight seemed to be lost +part of the time, and sometimes she'd tell us to get the lamp and a +couple o' candles in the middle o' the day, and then she'd be as +satisfied! But she used to take a notion to set in the dark, some +nights, and think, I s'pose. I should have forty fits, if I undertook +it. That was a good while ago; and do you rec'lect how she used to play +the piano? She used to be a great hand to play when she was young."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I remember it," said Kate, who told me afterward +how her aunt +used to sit at the piano in the twilight and play to herself. "She was +formerly a skilful musician," said my friend, "though one +would not have +imagined she cared for music. When I was a child she used to play in +company of an evening, and once when I was here one of her old friends +asked for a tune, and she laughingly said that her day was over and her +fingers were stiff; though I believe she might have played as well as +ever then, if she had cared to try. But once in a while when she had +been quiet all day and rather sad—I am ashamed that I used to think she +was cross—she would open the piano and sit there until late, while I +used to be enchanted by her memories of dancing-tunes, and old psalms, +and marches and songs. There was one tune which I am sure had a history: +there was a sweet wild cadence in it, and she would come back to it +again and again, always going through with it in the same measured way. +I have remembered so many things about my aunt since I have been here," +said Kate, "which I hardly noticed and did not understand when they +happened. I was afraid of her when I was a little +<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>girl, but I think if +I had grown up sooner, I should have enjoyed her heartily. It never used +to occur to me that she had a spark of tenderness or of sentiment, until +just before she was ill, but I have been growing more fond of her ever +since. I might have given her a great deal more pleasure. It was not +long after I was through school that she became so feeble, and of course +she liked best having mamma come to see her; one of us had to be at +home. I have thought lately how careful one ought to be, to be kind and +thoughtful to one's old friends. It is so soon too late to be good to +them, and then one is always so sorry."</p> + +<p>I must tell you more of Mrs. Patton; of course it was not long before we +returned her call, and we were much entertained; we always liked to see +our friends in their own houses. Her house was a little way down the +road, unpainted and gambrel-roofed, but so low that the old lilac-bushes +which clustered round it were as tall as the eaves. The Widow Jim (as +nearly every one called her in distinction to the widow Jack Patton, who +was a tailoress and lived at the other end of the town) was a very +useful person. I suppose there must be her counterpart in all old New +England villages. She sewed, and she made elaborate rugs, and she had a +decided talent for making carpets,—if there were one to be made, which +must have happened seldom. But there were a great many to be turned and +made over in Deephaven, and she went to the Carews' and Lorimers' at +house-cleaning time or in seasons of great festivity. She had no equal +in sickness, and knew how to brew every old-fashioned dose and to make +every variety of herb-tea, and when her nursing was put to an end by her +patient's death, she was commander-in-chief at the funeral, and stood +near the doorway to direct the mourning friends to their seats; and I +have no reason to doubt that she sometimes even had the immense +responsibility of making out the order of the procession, since she had +all genealogy and relationship at her tongue's end. It was an awful +thing in Deephaven, we found, if the precedence was wrongly assigned, +and once we chanced to hear some bitter remarks because the cousins of +the departed wife had been placed after the husband's +relatives,—"the +blood-relations ridin' behind them that was only kin by marriage! I +don't wonder they felt hurt!" said +<a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>the person who spoke; a most +unselfish and unassuming soul, ordinarily.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Patton knew everybody's secrets, but she told them judiciously if +at all. She chattered all day to you as a sparrow twitters, and you did +not tire of her; and Kate and I were never more agreeably entertained +than when she told us of old times and of Kate's ancestors and their +contemporaries; for her memory was wonderful, and she had either seen +everything that had happened in Deephaven for a long time, or had +received the particulars from reliable witnesses. She had known much +trouble; her husband had been but small satisfaction to her, and it was +not to be wondered at if she looked upon all proposed marriages with +compassion. She was always early at church, and she wore the same bonnet +that she had when Kate was a child; it was such a well-preserved, proper +black straw bonnet, with discreet bows of ribbon, and a useful lace veil +to protect it from the weather.</p> + +<p>She showed us into the best room the first time we went to see her. It +was the plainest little room, and very dull, and there was an exact +sufficiency about its furnishings. Yet there was a certain dignity about +it; it was unmistakably a best room, and not a place where one might +make a litter or carry one's every-day work. You felt at once that +somebody valued the prim old-fashioned chairs, and the two half-moon +tables, and the thin carpet, which must have needed anxious stretching +every spring to make it come to the edge of the floor. There were some +mourning-pieces by way of decoration, inscribed with the names of Mrs. +Patton's departed friends,—two worked in crewel to the memory of her +father and mother, and two paper memorials, with the woman weeping under +the willow at the side of a monument. They were all brown with age; and +there was a sampler beside, worked by "Judith Beckett, aged ten," and +all five were framed in slender black frames and hung very high on the +walls. There was a rocking-chair which looked as if it felt too grand +for use, and considered itself imposing. It tilted far back on its +rockers, and was bent forward at the top to make one's head +uncomfortable. It need not have troubled itself; nobody would ever wish +to sit there. It was such a big rocking-chair, and Mrs. Patton was proud +of it; always generously urging her guests +<a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>to enjoy its comfort, which +was imaginary with her, as she was so short that she could hardly have +climbed into it without assistance.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Patton was a little ceremonious at first, but soon recovered +herself and told us a great deal which we were glad to hear. I asked her +once if she had not always lived at Deephaven. "Here and beyond East +Parish," said she. "Mr. Patton,—that was my +husband,—he owned a good +farm there when I married him, but I come back here again after he died; +place was all mortgaged. I never got a cent, and I was poorer than when +I started. I worked harder 'n ever I did before or since to keep things +together, but 't wasn't any kind o' use. Your mother knows all about it, +Miss Kate,"—as if we might not be willing to believe it on her +authority. "I come back here a widow and destitute, and I tell you the +world looked fair to me when I left this house first to go over there. +Don't you run no risks, you're better off as you be, dears. But land +sakes alive, 'he' didn't mean no hurt! and he set everything by me when +he was himself. I don't make no scruples of speaking about it, everybody +knows how it was, but I did go through with everything. I never knew +what the day would bring forth," said the widow, as if this were the +first time she had had a chance to tell her sorrows to a sympathizing +audience. She did not seem to mind talking about the troubles of her +married life any more than a soldier minds telling the story of his +campaigns, and dwells with pride on the worst battle of all.</p> + +<p>Her favorite subject always was Miss Brandon, and after a pause she said +that she hoped we were finding everything right in the house; she had +meant to take up the carpet in the best spare room, but it didn't seem +to need it; it was taken up the year before, and the room had not been +used since, there was not a mite of dust under it last time. And Kate +assured her, with an appearance of great wisdom, that she did not think +it could be necessary at all.</p> + +<p>"I come home and had a good cry yesterday after I was over to +see you," +said Mrs. Patton, and I could not help wondering if she really could +cry, for she looked so perfectly dried up, so dry that she might rustle +in the wind. "Your aunt had been failin' so long that just after she +died it was a relief, but +<a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a> I've got so's to forget all about +that, and I +miss her as she used to be; it seemed as if you had stepped into her +place, and you look some as she used to when she was young."</p> + +<p>"You must miss her," said Kate, "and I know how much +she used to depend +upon you. You were very kind to her."</p> + +<p>"I sat up with her the night she died," said the widow, +with mournful +satisfaction. "I have lived neighbor to her all my life except the +thirteen years I was married, and there wasn't a week I wasn't over to +the great house except I was off to a distance taking care of the sick. +When she got to be feeble she always wanted me to 'tend to the cleaning +and to see to putting the canopies and curtains on the bedsteads, and +she wouldn't trust nobody but me to handle some of the best china. I +used to say, 'Miss Katharine, why don't you have some young folks come +and stop with you? There's Mis' Lancaster's daughter a growing up'; but +she didn't seem to care for nobody but your mother. You wouldn't believe +what a hand she used to be for company in her younger days. Surprisin' +how folks alters. When I first rec'lect her much she was as straight as +an arrow, and she used to go to Boston visiting and come home with the +top of the fashion. She always did dress elegant. It used to be gay +here, and she was always going down to the Lorimers' or the Carews' to +tea, and they coming here. Her sister was married; she was a good deal +older; but some of her brothers were at home. There was your grandfather +and Mr. Henry. I don't think she ever got it over,—his disappearing so. +There were lots of folks then that's dead and gone, and they used to +have their card-parties, and old Cap'n Manning—he's dead and +gone—used +to have 'em all to play whist every fortnight, sometimes three or four +tables, and they always had cake and wine handed round, or the cap'n +made some punch, like's not, with oranges in it, and lemons; <i>he</i> knew +how! He was a bachelor to the end of his days, the old cap'n was, but he +used to entertain real handsome. I rec'lect one night they was a playin' +after the wine was brought in, and he upset his glass all over Miss +Martha Lorimer's invisible-green watered silk, and spoilt the better +part of two breadths. She sent right over for me early the next morning +to see if I knew of anything to take out the spots, but I didn't, though +I can take grease out o' +<a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a> most any material. We tried clear +alcohol, and +saleratus-water, and hartshorn, and pouring water through, and heating +of it, and when we got through it was worse than when we started. She +felt dreadful bad about it, and at last she says, 'Judith, we won't work +over it any more, but if you 'll give me a day some time or 'nother, +we'll rip it up and make a quilt of it.' I see that quilt last time I +was in Miss Rebecca's north chamber. Miss Martha was her aunt; you never +saw her; she was dead and gone before your day. It was a silk old Cap'n +Peter Lorimer, her brother, who left 'em his money, brought home from +sea, and she had worn it for best and second best eleven year. It looked +as good as new, and she never would have ripped it up if she could have +matched it. I said it seemed to be a shame, but it was a curi's figure. +Cap'n Manning fetched her one to pay for it the next time he went to +Boston. She didn't want to take it, but he wouldn't take no for an +answer; he was free-handed, the cap'n was. I helped 'em make it 'long of +Mary Ann Simms the dressmaker,—she's dead and gone too,—the time it +was made. It was brown, and a beautiful-looking piece, but it wore +shiny, and she made a double-gown of it before she died."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Patton brought Kate and me some delicious old-fashioned cake with +much spice in it, and told us it was made by old Mrs. Chantrey Brandon's +receipt which she got in England, that it would keep a year, and she +always kept a loaf by her, now that she could afford it; she supposed we +knew Miss Katharine had named her in her will long before she was sick. +"It has put me beyond fear of want," said +Mrs. Patton. "I won't deny +that I used to think it would go hard with me when I got so old I +couldn't earn my living. You see I never laid up but a little, and it's +hard for a woman who comes of respectable folks to be a pauper in her +last days; but your aunt, Miss Kate, she thought of it too, and I'm sure +I'm thankful to be so comfortable, and to stay in my house, which I +couldn't have done, like's not. Miss Rebecca Lorimer said to me after I +got news of the will, 'Why, Mis' Patton, you don't suppose your friends +would ever have let you want!' And I says, 'My friends are kind,—the +Lord bless 'em!—but I feel better to be able to do for myself than to +be beholden.'"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>After this long call we went +down to the post-office, and coming home +stopped for a while in the old burying-ground, which we had noticed the +day before; and we sat for the first time on the great stone in the +wall, in the shade of a maple-tree, where we so often waited afterward +for the stage to come with the mail, or rested on our way home from a +walk. It was a comfortable perch; we used to read our letters there, I +remember.</p> + +<p>I must tell you a little about the Deephaven burying-ground, for its +interest was inexhaustible, and I do not know how much time we may have +spent in reading the long epitaphs on the grave-stones and trying to +puzzle out the inscriptions, which were often so old and worn that we +could only trace a letter here and there. It was a neglected corner of +the world, and there were straggling sumachs and acacias scattered about +the enclosure, while a row of fine old elms marked the boundary of two +sides. The grass was long and tangled, and most of the stones leaned one +way or the other, and some had fallen flat. There were a few handsome +old family monuments clustered in one corner, among which the one that +marked Miss Brandon's grave looked so new and fresh that it seemed +inappropriate. "It should have been dingy to begin with, like the +rest," +said Kate one day; "but I think it will make itself look like its +neighbors as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>There were many stones which were sacred to the memory of men who had +been lost at sea, almost always giving the name of the departed ship, +which was so kept in remembrance; and one felt as much interest in the +ship Starlight, supposed to have foundered off the Cape of Good Hope, as +in the poor fellow who had the ill luck to be one of her crew. There +were dozens of such inscriptions, and there were other stones +perpetuating the fame of Honourable gentlemen who had been members of +His Majesty's Council, or surveyors of His Majesty's Woods, or King's +Officers of Customs for the town of Deephaven. Some of the epitaphs were +beautiful, showing that tenderness for the friends who had died, that +longing to do them justice, to fully acknowledge their virtues and +dearness, which is so touching, and so unmistakable even under the +stiff, quaint expressions and formal words which were thought suitable +to be chiselled on the stones, so soon +<a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>to be looked at carelessly by +the tearless eyes of strangers. We often used to notice names, and learn +their history from the old people whom we knew, and in this way we heard +many stories which we never shall forget. It is wonderful, the romance +and tragedy and adventure which one may find in a quiet old-fashioned +country town, though to heartily enjoy the every-day life one must care +to study life and character, and must find pleasure in thought and +observation of simple things, and have an instinctive, delicious +interest in what to other eyes is unflavored dulness.</p> + +<p>To go back to Mrs. Patton; on our way home, after our first call upon +her, we stopped to speak to Mrs. Dockum, who mentioned that she had seen +us going in to the "Widow Jim's."</p> + +<p>"Willin' woman," said Mrs. Dockum, "always been +respected; got an +uncommon facility o' speech. I never saw such a hand to talk, but then +she has something to say, which ain't the case with everybody. Good +neighbor, does according to her means always. Dreadful tough time of it +with her husband, shif'less and drunk all his time. Noticed that dent in +the side of her forehead, I s'pose? That's where he liked to have killed +her; slung a stone bottle at her."</p> + +<p>"<i>What!</i>" said Kate and I, very much shocked.</p> + +<p>"She don't like to have it inquired about; but she and I were +sitting up +with 'Manda Damer one night, and she gave me the particulars. I knew he +did it, for she had a fit o' sickness afterward. Had sliced cucumbers +for breakfast that morning; he was very partial to them, and he wanted +some vinegar. Happened to be two bottles in the cellar-way; were just +alike, and one of 'em was vinegar and the other had sperrit in it at +haying-time. He takes up the wrong one and pours on quick, and out come +the hayseed and flies, and he give the bottle a sling, and it hit her +there where you see the scar; might put the end of your finger into the +dent. He said he meant to break the bottle ag'in the door, but it went +slant-wise, sort of. I don' know, I'm sure" +(meditatively). "She said he +was good-natured; it was early in the mornin', and he hadn't had time to +get upset; but he had a high temper naturally, and so much drink hadn't +made it much better. She had good prospects when she married him. +Six-foot-two and red cheeks and +<a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>straight as a Noroway pine; had a good +property from his father, and his mother come of a good family, but he +died in debt; drank like a fish. Yes, 'twas a shame, nice woman; good +consistent church-member; always been respected; useful among the +sick."</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="Deephaven_Society" +id="Deephaven_Society"></a> +<a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>Deephaven Society</h2> + + +<p>It was curious to notice, in this quaint little fishing-village by the +sea, how clearly the gradations of society were defined. The place +prided itself most upon having been long ago the residence of one +Governor Chantrey, who was a rich shipowner and East India merchant, and +whose fame and magnificence were almost fabulous. It was a never-ceasing +regret that his house should have burned down after he died, and there +is no doubt that if it were still standing it would rival any ruin of +the Old World.</p> + +<p>The elderly people, though laying claim to no slight degree of present +consequence, modestly ignored it, and spoke with pride of the grand way +in which life was carried on by their ancestors, the Deephaven families +of old times. I think Kate and I were assured at least a hundred times +that Governor Chantrey kept a valet, and his wife, Lady Chantrey, kept a +maid, and that the governor had an uncle in England who was a baronet; +and I believe this must have been why our friends felt so deep an +interest in the affairs of the English nobility: they no doubt felt +themselves entitled to seats near the throne itself. There were formerly +five families who kept their coaches in Deephaven; there were balls at +the governor's, and regal entertainments at other of the grand mansions; +there is not a really distinguished person in the country who will not +prove to have been directly or indirectly connected with Deephaven. We +were shown the cellar of the Chantrey house, and the terraces, and a few +clumps of lilacs, and the grand rows of elms. There are still two of the +governor's warehouses left, but his ruined wharves are fast +disappearing, and are almost deserted, except by small barefooted boys +who sit on the edges to fish for sea-perch when the tide comes in. There +is an imposing monument in the burying-ground to the great man and his +amiable consort. I am sure that if there were any surviving relatives of +the governor they would receive in Deephaven far more deference than is +consistent with the principles of a republican government; but the +family became extinct long since, and I have heard, +<a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>though it is not a +subject that one may speak of lightly, that the sons were unworthy their +noble descent and came to inglorious ends.</p> + +<p>There were still remaining a few representatives of the old families, +who were treated with much reverence by the rest of the townspeople, +although they were, like the conies of Scripture, a feeble folk.</p> + +<p>Deephaven is utterly out of fashion. It never recovered from the effects +of the embargo of 1807, and a sand-bar has been steadily filling in the +mouth of the harbor. Though the fishing gives what occupation there is +for the inhabitants of the place, it is by no means sufficient to draw +recruits from abroad. But nobody in Deephaven cares for excitement, and +if some one once in a while has the low taste to prefer a more active +life, he is obliged to go elsewhere in search of it, and is spoken of +afterward with kind pity. I well remember the Widow Moses said to me, in +speaking of a certain misguided nephew of hers, "I never could see what +could 'a' sot him out to leave so many privileges and go way off to +Lynn, with all them children too. Why, they lived here no more than a +cable's length from the meetin'-house!"</p> + +<p>There were two schooners owned in town, and 'Bijah Mauley and Jo Sands +owned a trawl. There were some schooners and a small brig slowly going +to pieces by the wharves, and indeed all Deephaven looked more or less +out of repair. All along shore one might see dories and wherries and +whale-boats, which had been left to die a lingering death. There is +something piteous to me in the sight of an old boat. If one I had used +much and cared for were past its usefulness, I should say good by to it, +and have it towed out to sea and sunk; it never should be left to fall +to pieces above high-water mark.</p> + +<p>Even the commonest fishermen felt a satisfaction, and seemed to realize +their privilege, in being residents of Deephaven; but among the nobility +and gentry there lingered a fierce pride in their family and town +records, and a hardly concealed contempt and pity for people who were +obliged to live in other parts of the world. There were acknowledged to +be a few disadvantages,—such as living nearly a dozen miles from the +railway,—but, as Miss Honora Carew said, the tone of Deephaven society +had always been very high, and it was +<a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>very nice that there had never +been any manufacturing element introduced. She could not feel too +grateful, herself, that there was no disagreeable foreign population.</p> + +<p>"But," said Kate one day, "wouldn't you like to have +some pleasant new +people brought into town?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, my dear," said Miss Honora, rather +doubtfully; "I have +always been public-spirited; but then, we always have guests in summer, +and I am growing old. I should not care to enlarge my acquaintance to +any great extent." Miss Honora and Mrs. Dent had lived gay lives in +their younger days, and were interested and connected with the outside +world more than any of our Deephaven friends; but they were quite +contented to stay in their own house, with their books and letters and +knitting, and they carefully read Littell and "the new magazine," as +they called the Atlantic.</p> + +<p>The Carews were very intimate with the minister and his sister, and +there were one or two others who belonged to this set. There was Mr. +Joshua Dorsey, who wore his hair in a queue, was very deaf, and carried +a ponderous cane which had belonged to his venerated father,—a much +taller man than he. He was polite to Kate and me, but we never knew him +much. He went to play whist with the Carews every Monday evening, and +commonly went out fishing once a week. He had begun the practice of law, +but he had lost his hearing, and at the same time his lady-love had +inconsiderately fallen in love with somebody else; after which he +retired from active business life. He had a fine library, which he +invited us to examine. He had many new books, but they looked shockingly +overdressed, in their fresher bindings, beside the old brown volumes of +essays and sermons, and lighter works in many-volume editions.</p> + +<p>A prominent link in society was Widow Tully, who had been the +much-respected housekeeper of old Captain Manning for forty years. When +he died he left her the use of his house and family pew, besides an +annuity. The existence of Mr. Tully seemed to be a myth. During the +first of his widow's residence in town she had been much affected when +obliged to speak of him, and always represented herself as having seen +better days and as being highly connected. But she was apt to be +ungrammatical when excited, and there was +<a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>a whispered tradition that +she used to keep a toll-bridge in a town in Connecticut; though the +mystery of her previous state of existence will probably never be +solved. She wore mourning for the captain which would have befitted his +widow, and patronized the townspeople conspicuously, while she herself +was treated with much condescension by the Carews and Lorimers. She +occupied, on the whole, much the same position that Mrs. Betty Barker +did in Cranford. And, indeed, Kate and I were often reminded of that +estimable town. We heard that Kate's aunt, Miss Brandon, had never been +appreciative of Mrs. Tully's merits, and that since her death the others +had received Mrs. Tully into their society rather more.</p> + +<p>It seemed as if all the clocks in Deephaven, and all the people with +them, had stopped years ago, and the people had been doing over and over +what they had been busy about during the last week of their unambitious +progress. Their clothes had lasted wonderfully well, and they had no +need to earn money when there was so little chance to spend it; indeed, +there were several families who seemed to have no more visible means of +support than a balloon. There were no young people whom we knew, though +a number used to come to church on Sunday from the inland farms, or "the +country," as we learned to say. There were children among the +fishermen's families at the shore, but a few years will see Deephaven +possessed by two classes instead of the time-honored three.</p> + +<p>As for our first Sunday at church, it must be in vain to ask you to +imagine our delight when we heard the tuning of a bass-viol in the +gallery just before service. We pressed each other's hands most +tenderly, looked up at the singers' seats, and then trusted ourselves to +look at each other. It was more than we had hoped for. There were also a +violin and sometimes a flute, and a choir of men and women singers, +though the congregation were expected to join in the psalm-singing. The +first hymn was</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"The Lord our God is full of might,<br /></span> +<span>The winds obey his will,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>to the tune of St. Ann's. It was all so delightfully old-fashioned; our +pew was a square pew, and was by an open +<a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>window looking seaward. We +also had a view of the entire congregation, and as we were somewhat +early, we watched the people come in, with great interest. The Deephaven +aristocracy came with stately step up the aisle; this was all the chance +there was for displaying their unquestioned dignity in public.</p> + +<p>Many of the people drove to church in wagons that were low and old and +creaky, with worn buffalo-robes over the seat, and some hay tucked +underneath for the sleepy, undecided old horse. Some of the younger +farmers and their wives had high, shiny wagons, with tall +horsewhips,—which they sometimes brought into church,—and +they drove +up to the steps with a consciousness of being conspicuous and enviable. +They had a bashful look when they came in, and for a few minutes after +they took their seats they evidently felt that all eyes were fixed upon +them; but after a little while they were quite at their ease, and looked +critically at the new arrivals.</p> + +<p>The old folks interested us most. "Do you notice how many more +old women +there are than old men?" whispered Kate to me. And we wondered if the +husbands and brothers had been drowned, and if it must not be sad to +look at the blue, sunshiny sea beyond the marshes, if the far-away white +sails reminded them of some ships that had never sailed home into +Deephaven harbor, or of fishing-boats that had never come back to land.</p> + +<p>The girls and young men adorned themselves in what they believed to be +the latest fashion, but the elderly women were usually relics of old +times in manner and dress. They wore to church thin, soft silk gowns +that must have been brought from over the seas years upon years before, +and wide collars fastened with mourning-pins holding a lock of hair. +They had big black bonnets, some of them with stiff capes, such as Kate +and I had not seen before since our childhood. They treasured large +rusty lace veils of scraggly pattern, and wore sometimes, on pleasant +Sundays, white China-crape shawls with attenuated fringes; and there +were two or three of these shawls in the congregation which had been +dyed black, and gave an aspect of meekness and general unworthiness to +the aged wearer, they clung and drooped about the figure in such a +hopeless way. We used to notice often the most interesting +<a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>scarfs, +without which no Deephaven woman considered herself in full dress. +Sometimes there were red India scarfs in spite of its being hot weather; +but our favorite ones were long strips of silk, embroidered along the +edges and at the ends with dismal-colored floss in odd patterns. I think +there must have been a fashion once, in Deephaven, of working these +scarfs, and I should not be surprised to find that it was many years +before the fashion of working samplers came about. Our friends always +wore black mitts on warm Sundays, and many of them carried neat little +bags of various designs on their arms, containing a precisely folded +pocket-handkerchief, and a frugal lunch of caraway seeds or red and +white peppermints. I should like you to see, with your own eyes, Widow +Ware and Miss Exper'ence Hull, two old sisters whose personal appearance +we delighted in, and whom we saw feebly approaching down the street this +first Sunday morning under the shadow of the two last members of an +otherwise extinct race of parasols.</p> + +<p>There were two or three old men who sat near us. They were +sailors,—there is something unmistakable about a +sailor,—and they had +a curiously ancient, uncanny look, as if they might have belonged to the +crew of the Mayflower, or even have cruised about with the Northmen in +the times of Harold Harfager and his comrades. They had been blown about +by so many winter winds, so browned by summer suns, and wet by salt +spray, that their hands and faces looked like leather, with a few deep +folds instead of wrinkles. They had pale blue eyes, very keen and quick; +their hair looked like the fine sea-weed which clings to the kelp-roots +and mussel-shells in little locks. These friends of ours sat solemnly at +the heads of their pews and looked unflinchingly at the minister, when +they were not dozing, and they sang with voices like the howl of the +wind, with an occasional deep note or two.</p> + +<p>Have you never seen faces that seemed old-fashioned? Many of the people +in Deephaven church looked as if they must be—if not supernaturally +old—exact copies of their remote ancestors. I wonder if it is not +possible that the features and expression may be almost perfectly +reproduced. These faces were not modern American faces, but belonged +rather to the days of the early settlement of the country, the old +<a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>colonial times. We often heard +quaint words and expressions which we +never had known anywhere else but in old books. There was a great deal +of sea-lingo in use; indeed, we learned a great deal ourselves, +unconsciously, and used it afterward to the great amusement of our +friends; but there were also many peculiar provincialisms, and among the +people who lived on the lonely farms inland we often noticed words we +had seen in Chaucer, and studied out at school in our English literature +class. Everything in Deephaven was more or less influenced by the sea; +the minister spoke oftenest of Peter and his fishermen companions, and +prayed most earnestly every Sunday morning for those who go down to the +sea in ships. He made frequent allusions and drew numberless +illustrations of a similar kind for his sermons, and indeed I am in +doubt whether, if the Bible had been written wholly in inland countries, +it would have been much valued in Deephaven.</p> + +<p>The singing was very droll, for there was a majority of old voices, +which had seen their best days long before, and the bass-viol was +excessively noticeable, and apt to be a little ahead of the time the +singers kept, while the violin lingered after. Somewhere on the other +side of the church we heard an acute voice which rose high above all the +rest of the congregation, sharp as a needle, and slightly cracked, with +a limitless supply of breath. It rose and fell gallantly, and clung long +to the high notes of Dundee. It was like the wail of the banshee, which +sounds clear to the fated hearer above all other noises. We afterward +became acquainted with the owner of this voice, and were surprised to +find her a meek widow, who was like a thin black beetle in her pathetic +cypress veil and big black bonnet. She looked as if she had forgotten +who she was, and spoke with an apologetic whine; but we heard she had a +temper as high as her voice, and as much to be dreaded as the +equinoctial gale.</p> + +<p>Near the church was the parsonage, where Mr. Lorimer lived, and the old +Lorimer house not far beyond was occupied by Miss Rebecca Lorimer. Some +stranger might ask the question why the minister and his sister did not +live together, but you would have understood it at once after you had +lived for a little while in town. They were very fond of each other, and +the minister dined with Miss Rebecca on Sundays, and +<a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>she passed the day +with him on Wednesdays, and they ruled their separate households with +decision and dignity. I think Mr. Lorimer's house showed no signs of +being without a mistress, any more than his sister's betrayed the want +of a master's care and authority.</p> + +<p>The Carews were very kind friends of ours, and had been Miss Brandon's +best friends. We heard that there had always been a coolness between +Miss Brandon and Miss Lorimer, and that, though they exchanged visits +and were always polite, there was a chill in the politeness, and one +would never have suspected them of admiring each other at all. We had +the whole history of the trouble, which dated back scores of years, from +Miss Honora Carew, but we always took pains to appear ignorant of the +feud, and I think Miss Lorimer was satisfied that it was best not to +refer to it, and to let bygones be bygones. It would not have been true +Deephaven courtesy to prejudice Kate against her grand-aunt, and Miss +Rebecca cherished her dislike in silence, which gave us a most grand +respect for her, since we knew she thought herself in the right; though +I think it never had come to an open quarrel between these majestic +aristocrats.</p> + +<p>Miss Honora Carew and Mr. Dick and their elder sister, Mrs. Dent, had a +charmingly sedate and quiet home in the old Carew house. Mrs. Dent was +ill a great deal while we were there, but she must have been a very +brilliant woman, and was not at all dull when we knew her. She had +outlived her husband and her children, and she had, several years before +our summer there, given up her own home, which was in the city, and had +come back to Deephaven. Miss Honora—dear Miss Honora!—had +been one of +the brightest, happiest girls, and had lost none of her brightness and +happiness by growing old. She had lost none of her fondness for society, +though she was so contented in quiet Deephaven, and I think she enjoyed +Kate's and my stories of our pleasures as much as we did hers of old +times. We used to go to see her almost every day. "Mr. Dick," as they +called their brother, had once been a merchant in the East Indies, and +there were quantities of curiosities and most beautiful china which he +had brought and sent home, which gave the house a character of its own. +He had been very rich and had lost some of his money, and +<a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>then he came +home and was still considered to possess princely wealth by his +neighbors. He had a great fondness for reading and study, which had not +been lost sight of during his business life, and he spent most of his +time in his library. He and Mr. Lorimer had their differences of opinion +about certain points of theology, and this made them much fonder of each +other's society, and gave them a great deal of pleasure; for after every +series of arguments, each was sure that he had vanquished the other, or +there were alternate victories and defeats which made life vastly +interesting and important.</p> + +<p>Miss Carew and Mrs. Dent had a great treasury of old brocades and laces +and ornaments, which they showed us one day, and told us stories of the +wearers, or, if they were their own, there were always some +reminiscences which they liked to talk over with each other and with us. +I never shall forget the first evening we took tea with them; it +impressed us very much, and yet nothing wonderful happened. Tea was +handed round by an old-fashioned maid, and afterward we sat talking in +the twilight, looking out at the garden. It was such a delight to have +tea served in this way. I wonder that the fashion has been almost +forgotten. Kate and I took much pleasure in choosing our tea-poys; hers +had a mandarin parading on the top, and mine a flight of birds and a +pagoda; and we often used them afterward, for Miss Honora asked us to +come to tea whenever we liked. "A stupid, common country +town" some one +dared to call Deephaven in a letter once, and how bitterly we resented +it! That was a house where one might find the best society, and the most +charming manners and good-breeding, and if I were asked to tell you what +I mean by the word "lady," I should ask you to go, if it +were possible, +to call upon Miss Honora Carew.</p> + +<p>After a while the elder sister said, "My dears, we always have prayers +at nine, for I have to go up stairs early nowadays." And then the +servants came in, and she read solemnly the King of glory Psalm, which I +have always liked best, and then Mr. Dick read the church prayers, the +form of prayer to be used in families. We stayed later to talk with Miss +Honora after we had said good night to Mrs. Dent. And we told each +other, as we went home in the moonlight down the quiet street, how much +we had enjoyed the evening, for somehow +<a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>the house and the people had +nothing to do with the present, or the hurry of modern life. I have +never heard that psalm since without its bringing back that summer night +in Deephaven, the beautiful quaint old room, and Kate and I feeling so +young and worldly, by contrast, the flickering, shaded light of the +candles, the old book, and the voices that said Amen.</p> + +<p>There were several other fine old houses in Deephaven beside this and +the Brandon house, though that was rather the most imposing. There were +two or three which had not been kept in repair, and were deserted, and +of course they were said to be haunted, and we were told of their +ghosts, and why they walked, and when. From some of the local +superstitions Kate and I have vainly endeavored ever since to shake +ourselves free. There was a most heathenish fear of doing certain things +on Friday, and there were countless signs in which we still have +confidence. When the moon is very bright and other people grow +sentimental, we only remember that it is a fine night to catch hake.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="The_Captains" id="The_Captains"></a> +<a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>The Captains</h2> + + +<p>I should consider my account of Deephaven society incomplete if I did +not tell you something of the ancient mariners, who may be found every +pleasant morning sunning themselves like turtles on one of the wharves. +Sometimes there was a considerable group of them, but the less constant +members of the club were older than the rest, and the epidemics of +rheumatism in town were sadly frequent. We found that it was etiquette +to call them each captain, but I think some of the Deephaven men took +the title by brevet upon arriving at a proper age.</p> + +<p>They sat close together because so many of them were deaf, and when we +were lucky enough to overhear the conversation, it seemed to concern +their adventures at sea, or the freight carried out by the Sea Duck, the +Ocean Rover, or some other Deephaven ship,—the particulars of the +voyage and its disasters and successes being as familiar as the +wanderings of the children of Israel to an old parson. There were +sometimes violent altercations when the captains differed as to the +tonnage of some craft that had been a prey to the winds and waves, +dry-rot, or barnacles fifty years before. The old fellows puffed away at +little black pipes with short stems, and otherwise consumed tobacco in +fabulous quantities. It is needless to say that they gave an immense +deal of attention to the weather. We used to wish we could join this +agreeable company, but we found that the appearance of an outsider +caused a disapproving silence, and that the meeting was evidently not to +be interfered with. Once we were impertinent enough to hide ourselves +for a while just round the corner of the warehouse, but we were afraid +or ashamed to try it again, though the conversation was inconceivably +edifying. Captain Isaac Horn, the eldest and wisest of all, was +discoursing upon some cloth he had purchased once in Bristol, which the +shopkeeper delayed sending until just as they were ready to weigh +anchor.</p> + +<p>"I happened to take a look at that cloth," said the +captain, in a loud +droning voice, "and as quick as I got sight of it, I +<a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>spoke onpleasant +of that swindling English fellow, and the crew, they stood back. I was +dreadful high-tempered in them days, mind ye; and I had the gig manned. +We was out in the stream, just ready to sail. 'T was no use waiting any +longer for the wind to change, and we was going north-about. I went +ashore, and when I walks into his shop ye never see a creatur' so +wilted. Ye see the miser'ble sculpin thought I'd never stop to open the +goods, an' it was a chance I did, mind ye! 'Lor,' says he, grinning and +turning the color of a biled lobster, 'I s'posed ye were a standing out +to sea by this time.' 'No,' says I, 'and I've got my men out here on the +quay a landing that cloth o' yourn, and if you don't send just what I +bought and paid for down there to go back in the gig within fifteen +minutes, I'll take ye by the collar and drop ye into the dock.' I was +twice the size of him, mind ye, and master strong. 'Don't ye like it?' +says he, edging round; 'I'll change it for ye, then.' Ter'ble perlite he +was. 'Like it?' says I, 'it looks as if it were built of dog's hair and +divil's wool, kicked together by spiders; and it's coarser than Irish +frieze; three threads to an <i>armful</i>,' says I."</p> + +<p>This was evidently one of the captain's favorite stories, for we heard +an approving grumble from the audience.</p> + +<p>In the course of a walk inland we made a new acquaintance, Captain Lant, +whom we had noticed at church, and who sometimes joined the company on +the wharf. We had been walking through the woods, and coming out to his +fields we went on to the house for some water. There was no one at home +but the captain, who told us cheerfully that he should be pleased to +serve us, though his women-folks had gone off to a funeral, the other +side of the P'int. He brought out a pitcherful of milk, and after we had +drunk some, we all sat down together in the shade. The captain brought +an old flag-bottomed chair from the woodhouse, and sat down facing Kate +and me, with an air of certainty that he was going to hear something new +and make some desirable new acquaintances, and also that he could tell +something it would be worth our while to hear. He looked more and more +like a well-to-do old English sparrow, and chippered faster and faster.</p> + +<p>"Queer ye should know I'm a sailor so quick; why, I've +<a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>been a-farming +it this twenty years; have to go down to the shore and take a day's +fishing every hand's turn, though, to keep the old hulk clear of +barnacles. There! I do wish I lived nigher the shore, where I could see +the folks I know, and talk about what's been a-goin' on. You don't know +anything about it, you don't; but it's tryin' to a man to be called 'old +Cap'n Lant,' and, so to speak, be forgot when there's anything stirring, +and be called gran'ther by clumsy creatur's goin' on fifty and sixty, +who can't do no more work to-day than I can; an' then the women-folks +keeps a-tellin' me to be keerful and not fall, and as how I'm too old to +go out fishing; and when they want to be soft-spoken, they say as how +they don't see as I fail, and how wonderful I keep my hearin'. I never +did want to farm it, but 'she' always took it to heart when I was off on +a v'y'ge, and this farm and some consider'ble means beside come to her +from her brother, and they all sot to and give me no peace of mind till +I sold out my share of the Ann Eliza and come ashore for good. I did +keep an eighth of the Pactolus, and I was ship's husband for a long +spell, but she never was heard from on her last voyage to Singapore. I +was the lonesomest man, when I first come ashore, that ever you see. +Well, you are master hands to walk, if you come way up from the Brandon +house. I wish the women was at home. Know Miss Brandon? Why, yes; and I +remember all her brothers and sisters, and her father and mother. I can +see 'em now coming into meeting, proud as Lucifer and straight as a +mast, every one of 'em. Miss Katharine, she always had her butter from +this very farm. Some of the folks used to go down every Saturday, and my +wife, she's been in the house a hundred times, I s'pose. So you are +Hathaway Brandon's grand-daughter?" (to Kate); "why, he and +I have been +out fishing together many's the time,—he and Chantrey, his next younger +brother. Henry, he was a disapp'intment; he went to furrin parts and +turned out a Catholic priest, I s'pose you've heard? I never was so set +ag'in Mr. Henry as some folks was. He was the pleasantest spoken of the +whole on 'em. You do look like the Brandons; you really favor 'em +consider'ble. Well, I'm pleased to see ye, I'm sure."</p> + +<p>We asked him many questions about the old people, and +<a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>found he knew all +the family histories and told them with great satisfaction. We found he +had his pet stories, and it must have been gratifying to have an +entirely new and fresh audience. He was adroit in leading the +conversation around to a point where the stories would come in +appropriately, and we helped him as much as possible. In a small +neighborhood all the people know each other's stories and experiences by +heart, and I have no doubt the old captain had been snubbed many times +on beginning a favorite anecdote. There was a story which he told us +that first day, which he assured us was strictly true, and it is +certainly a remarkable instance of the influence of one mind upon +another at a distance. It seems to me worth preserving, at any rate; and +as we heard it from the old man, with his solemn voice and serious +expression and quaint gestures, it was singularly impressive.</p> + +<p>"When I was a youngster," said Captain Lant, "I was +an orphan, and I was +bound out to old Mr. Peletiah Daw's folks, over on the Ridge Road. It +was in the time of the last war, and he had a nephew, Ben Dighton, a +dreadful high-strung, wild fellow, who had gone off on a privateer. The +old man, he set everything by Ben; he would disoblige his own boys any +day to please him. This was in his latter days, and he used to have +spells of wandering and being out of his head; and he used to call for +Ben and talk sort of foolish about him, till they would tell him to +stop. Ben never did a stroke of work for him, either, but he was a +handsome fellow, and had a way with him when he was good-natured. One +night old Peletiah had been very bad all day and was getting quieted +down, and it was after supper; we sat round in the kitchen, and he lay +in the bedroom opening out. There were some pitch-knots blazing, and the +light shone in on the bed, and all of a sudden something made me look up +and look in; and there was the old man setting up straight, with his +eyes shining at me like a cat's. 'Stop 'em!' says he; '<i>stop 'em!</i>' and +his two sons run in then to catch hold of him, for they thought he was +beginning with one of his wild spells; but he fell back on the bed and +began to cry like a baby. 'O, dear me,' says he, 'they've hung +him,—hung him right up to the yard-arm! O, they oughtn't to have done +it; cut him down quick! he didn't think; he means well, Ben does; he was +hasty. O my God, I can't bear +<a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>to see him swing round by the neck! It's +poor Ben hung up to the yard-arm. Let me alone, I say!' Andrew and +Moses, they were holding him with all their might, and they were both +hearty men, but he 'most got away from them once or twice, and he +screeched and howled like a mad creatur', and then he would cry again +like a child. He was worn out after a while and lay back quiet, and said +over and over, 'Poor Ben!' and 'hung at the yard-arm'; and he told the +neighbors next day, but nobody noticed him much, and he seemed to forget +it as his mind come back. All that summer he was miser'ble, and towards +cold weather he failed right along, though he had been a master strong +man in his day, and his timbers held together well. Along late in the +fall he had taken to his bed, and one day there came to the house a +fellow named Sim Decker, a reckless fellow he was too, who had gone out +in the same ship with Ben. He pulled a long face when he came in, and +said he had brought bad news. They had been taken prisoner and carried +into port and put in jail, and Ben Dighton had got a fever there and +died.</p> + +<p>"'You lie!' says the old man from the bedroom, speaking as loud and +f'erce as ever you heard. 'They hung him to the yard-arm!'</p> + +<p>"'Don't mind him,' says Andrew; 'he's wandering-like, and he had a bad +dream along back in the spring; I s'posed he'd forgotten it.' But the +Decker fellow he turned pale, and kept talking crooked while he listened +to old Peletiah a-scolding to himself. He answered the questions the +women-folks asked him,—they took on a good deal,—but pretty soon he +got up and winked to me and Andrew, and we went out in the yard. He +began to swear, and then says he, 'When did the old man have his dream?' +Andrew couldn't remember, but I knew it was the night before he sold the +gray colt, and that was the 24th of April.</p> + +<p>"'Well,' says Sim Decker, 'on the twenty-third day of April Ben Dighton +was hung to the yard-arm, and I see 'em do it, Lord help him! I didn't +mean to tell the women, and I s'posed you'd never know, for I'm all the +one of the ship's company you're ever likely to see. We were taken +prisoner, and Ben was mad as fire, and they were scared of him and +chained him to the deck; and while he was sulking there, a +<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>little +parrot of a midshipman come up and grinned at him, and snapped his +fingers in his face; and Ben lifted his hands with the heavy irons and +sprung at him like a tiger, and the boy dropped dead as a stone; and +they put the bight of a rope round Ben's neck and slung him right up to +the yard-arm, and there he swung back and forth until as soon as we +dared one of us clim' up and cut the rope and let him go over the ship's +side; and they put us in irons for that, curse 'em! How did that old man +in there know, and he bedridden here, nigh upon three thousand miles +off?' says he. But I guess there wasn't any of us could tell him," said +Captain Lant in conclusion. "It's something I never could account for, +but it's true as truth. I've known more such cases; some folks laughs at +me for believing 'em,—'the cap'n's yarns,' they calls 'em,—but if +you'll notice, everybody's got some yarn of that kind they do believe, +if they won't believe yours. And there's a good deal happens in the +world that's myster'ous. Now there was Widder Oliver Pinkham, over to +the P'int, told me with her own lips that she—" But just here we saw +the captain's expression alter suddenly, and looked around to see a +wagon coming up the lane. We immediately said we must go home, for it +was growing late, but asked permission to come again and hear the Widow +Oliver Pinkham story. We stopped, however, to see "the +women-folks," and +afterward became so intimate with them that we were invited to spend the +afternoon and take tea, which invitation we accepted with great pride. +We went out fishing, also, with the captain and "Danny," of +whom I will +tell you presently. I often think of Captain Lant in the winter, for he +told Kate once that he "felt master old in winter to what he did in +summer." He likes reading, fortunately, and we had a letter from him, +not long ago, acknowledging the receipt of some books of travel by land +and water which we had luckily thought to send him. He gave the latitude +and longitude of Deephaven at the beginning of his letter, and signed +himself, "Respectfully yours with esteem, Jacob Lant (condemned as +unseaworthy)."</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="Danny" id="Danny"></a> +<a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>Danny</h2> + + +<p>Deephaven seemed more like one of the lazy little English seaside towns +than any other. It was not in the least American. There was no +excitement about anything; there were no manufactories; nobody seemed in +the least hurry. The only foreigners were a few stranded sailors. I do +not know when a house or a new building of any kind had been built; the +men were farmers, or went outward in boats, or inward in fish-wagons, or +sometimes mackerel and halibut fishing in schooners for the city +markets. Sometimes a schooner came to one of the wharves to load with +hay or firewood; but Deephaven used to be a town of note, rich and busy, +as its forsaken warehouses show.</p> + +<p>We knew almost all the fisher-people at the shore, even old Dinnett, who +lived an apparently desolate life by himself in a hut and was reputed to +have been a bloodthirsty pirate in his youth. He was consequently feared +by all the children, and for misdemeanors in his latter days avoided +generally. Kate talked with him awhile one day on the shore, and made +him come up with her for a bandage for his hand which she saw he had +hurt badly; and the next morning he brought us a "new" lobster +apiece,—fishermen mean that a thing is only not salted when they say it +is "fresh." We happened to be in the hall, and received him +ourselves, +and gave him a great piece of tobacco and (unintentionally) the means of +drinking our health. "Bless your pretty hearts!" said he; +"may ye be +happy, and live long, and get good husbands, and if they ain't good to +you may they die from you!"</p> + +<p>None of our friends were more interesting than the fishermen. The +fish-houses, which might be called the business centre of the town, were +at a little distance from the old warehouses, farther down the harbor +shore, and were ready to fall down in despair. There were some fishermen +who lived near by, but most of them were also farmers in a small way, +and lived in the village or farther inland. From our eastern windows we +could see the moorings, and we always liked to watch the boats go out or +come straying in, one after the +<a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>other, ripping and skimming under the +square little sails; and we often went down to the fish-houses to see +what kind of a catch there had been.</p> + +<p>I should have imagined that the sea would become very commonplace to men +whose business was carried on in boats, and who had spent night after +night and day after day from their boyhood on the water; but that is a +mistake. They have an awe of the sea and of its mysteries, and of what +it hides away from us. They are childish in their wonder at any strange +creature which they find. If they have not seen the sea-serpent, they +believe, I am sure, that other people have, and when a great shark or +black-fish or sword-fish was taken and brought in shore, everybody went +to see it, and we talked about it, and how brave its conqueror was, and +what a fight there had been, for a long time afterward.</p> + +<p>I said that we liked to see the boats go out, but I must not give you +the impression that we saw them often, for they weighed anchor at an +early hour in the morning. I remember once there was a light fog over +the sea, lifting fast, as the sun was coming up, and the brownish sails +disappeared in the mist, while voices could still be heard for some +minutes after the men were hidden from sight. This gave one a curious +feeling, but afterward, when the sun had risen, everything looked much +the same as usual; the fog had gone, and the dories and even the larger +boats were distant specks on the sparkling sea.</p> + +<p>One afternoon we made a new acquaintance in this wise. We went down to +the shore to see if we could hire a conveyance to the lighthouse the +next morning. We often went out early in one of the fishing-boats, and +after we had stayed as long as we pleased, Mr. Kew would bring us home. +It was quiet enough that day, for not a single boat had come in, and +there were no men to be seen along-shore. There was a solemn company of +lobster-coops or cages which had been brought in to be mended. They +always amused Kate. She said they seemed to her like droll old women +telling each other secrets. These were scattered about in different +attitudes, and looked more confidential than usual.</p> + +<p>Just as we were going away we happened to see a man at work in one of +the sheds. He was the fisherman whom we +<a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>knew least of all; an +odd-looking, silent sort of man, more sunburnt and weather-beaten than +any of the others. We had learned to know him by the bright red flannel +shirt he always wore, and besides, he was lame; some one told us he had +had a bad fall once, on board ship. Kate and I had always wished we +could find a chance to talk with him. He looked up at us pleasantly, and +when we nodded and smiled, he said "Good day" in a gruff, +hearty voice, +and went on with his work, cleaning mackerel.</p> + +<p>"Do you mind our watching you?" asked Kate.</p> + +<p>"No, <i>ma'am</i>!" said the fisherman emphatically. So +there we stood.</p> + +<p>Those fish-houses were curious places, so different from any other kind +of workshop. In this there was a seine, or part of one, festooned among +the cross-beams overhead, and there were snarled fishing-lines, and +barrows to carry fish in, like wheelbarrows without wheels; there were +the queer round lobster-nets, and "kits" of salt mackerel, +tubs of bait, +and piles of clams; and some queer bones, and parts of remarkable fish, +and lobster-claws of surprising size fastened on the walls for ornament. +There was a pile of rubbish down at the end; I dare say it was all +useful, however,—there is such mystery about the business.</p> + +<p>Kate and I were never tired of hearing of the fish that come at +different times of the year, and go away again, like the birds; or of +the actions of the dog-fish, which the 'longshore-men hate so bitterly; +and then there are such curious legends and traditions, of which almost +all fishermen have a store.</p> + +<p>"I think mackerel are the prettiest fish that swim," said +I presently.</p> + +<p>"So do I, miss," said the man, "not to say but I've seen more +fancy-looking fish down in southern waters, bright as any flower you +ever see; but a mackerel," holding up one admiringly, "why, +they're so +clean-built and trig-looking! Put a cod alongside, and he looks as +lumbering as an old-fashioned Dutch brig aside a yacht.</p> + +<p>"Those are good-looking fish, but they an't made much account of," +continued our friend, as he pushed aside the mackerel and took another +tub. "They're hake, I s'pose you know. But I forgot,—I can't stop to +bother with them now." And +<a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>he pulled forward a barrow full of small +fish, flat and hard, with pointed, bony heads.</p> + +<p>"Those are porgies, aren't they?" asked Kate.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the man, "an' I'm going to sliver them +for the trawls."</p> + +<p>We knew what the trawls were, and supposed that the porgies were to be +used for bait; and we soon found out what "slivering" meant, +by seeing +him take them by the head and cut a slice from first one side and then +the other in such a way that the pieces looked not unlike smaller fish.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," said I, "that fishermen always +have sharper knives +than other people."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we do like a sharp knife in our trade; and then we are mostly +strong-handed."</p> + +<p>He was throwing the porgies' heads and backbones—all that was left of +them after slivering—in a heap, and now several cats walked in as if +they felt at home, and began a hearty lunch. "What a troop of pussies +there is round here," said I; "I wonder what will become of +them in the +winter,—though, to be sure, the fishing goes on just the same."</p> + +<p>"The better part of them don't get through the cold weather," said +Danny. "Two or three of the old ones have been here for years, and are +as much belonging to Deephaven as the meetin'-house; but the rest of +them an't to be depended on. You'll miss the young ones by the dozen, +come spring. I don't know myself but they move inland in the fall of the +year; they're knowing enough, if that's all!"</p> + +<p>Kate and I stood in the wide doorway, arm in arm, looking sometimes at +the queer fisherman and the porgies, and sometimes out to sea. It was +low tide; the wind had risen a little, and the heavy salt air blew +toward us from the wet brown ledges in the rocky harbor. The sea was +bright blue, and the sun was shining. Two gulls were swinging lazily to +and fro; there was a flock of sand-pipers down by the water's edge, in a +great hurry, as usual.</p> + +<p>Presently the fisherman spoke again, beginning with an odd laugh: "I +<i>was</i> scared last winter! Jack Scudder and me, we were up in the Cap'n +Manning storehouse hunting for a half-bar'l of salt the skipper said was +there. It was an awful blustering kind of day, with a thin icy rain +blowing from all +<a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>points at once; sea roaring as if +it wished it could +come ashore and put a stop to everything. Bad days at sea, them are; +rigging all froze up. As I was saying, we were hunting for a half-bar'l +of salt, and I laid hold of a bar'l that had something heavy in the +bottom, and tilted it up, and my eye! there was a stir and a scratch and +a squeal, and out went some kind of a creatur', and I jumped back, not +looking for anything live, but I see in a minute it was a cat; and +perhaps you think it is a big story, but there were eight more in there, +hived in together to keep warm. I car'd 'em up some new fish that night; +they seemed short of provisions. We hadn't been out fishing as much as +common, and they hadn't dared to be round the fish-houses much, for a +fellow who came in on a coaster had a dog, and he used to chase 'em. +Hard chance they had, and lots of 'em died, I guess; but there seem to +be some survivin' relatives, an' al'ays just so hungry! I used to feed +them some when I was ashore. I think likely you've heard that a cat will +fetch you bad luck; but I don't know's that made much difference to me. +I kind of like to keep on the right side of 'em, too; if ever I have a +bad dream there's sure to be a cat in it; but I was brought up to be +clever to dumb beasts, an' I guess it's my natur'. Except fish," said +Danny after a minute's thought; "but then it never seems like they had +feelin's like creatur's that live ashore." And we all laughed heartily +and felt well acquainted.</p> + +<p>"I s'pose you misses will laugh if I tell ye I kept a kitty once +myself." This was said rather shyly, and there was evidently a story, so +we were much interested, and Kate said, "Please tell us about it; was it +at sea?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was at sea; leastways, on a coaster. I got her in a sing'lar +kind of way: it was one afternoon we were lying alongside Charlestown +Bridge, and I heard a young cat screeching real pitiful; and after I +looked all round, I see her in the water clutching on to the pier of the +bridge, and some little divils of boys were heaving rocks down at her. I +got into the schooner's tag-boat quick, I tell ye, and pushed off for +her, 'n' she let go just as I got there, 'n' I guess you never saw a +more miser'ble-looking creatur' than I fished out of the water. Cold +weather it was. Her leg was hurt, and her eye, and I thought first I'd +drop her overboard again, and then I didn't, +<a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>and I took her aboard the +schooner and put her by the stove. I thought she might as well die where +it was warm. She eat a little mite of chowder before night, but she was +very slim; but next morning, when I went to see if she was dead, she +fell to licking my finger, and she did purr away like a dolphin. One of +her eyes was out, where a stone had took her, and she never got any use +of it, but she used to look at you so clever with the other, and she got +well of her lame foot after a while. I got to be ter'ble fond of her. +She was just the knowingest thing you ever saw, and she used to sleep +alongside of me in my bunk, and like as not she would go on deck with me +when it was my watch. I was coasting then for a year and eight months, +and I kept her all the time. We used to be in harbor consider'ble, and +about eight o'clock in the forenoon I used to drop a line and catch her +a couple of cunners. Now, it is cur'us that she used to know when I was +fishing for her. She would pounce on them fish and carry them off and +growl, and she knew when I got a bite,—she'd watch the line; but when +we were mackereling she never give us any trouble. She would never lift +a paw to touch any of our fish. She didn't have the thieving ways common +to most cats. She used to set round on deck in fair weather, and when +the wind blew she al'ays kept herself below. Sometimes when we were in +port she would go ashore awhile, and fetch back a bird or a mouse, but +she wouldn't eat it till she come and showed it to me. She never wanted +to stop long ashore, though I never shut her up; I always give her her +liberty. I got a good deal of joking about her from the fellows, but she +was a sight of company. I don' know as I ever had anything like me as +much as she did. Not to say as I ever had much of any trouble with +anybody, ashore or afloat. I'm a still kind of fellow, for all I look so +rough.</p> + +<p>"But then, I han't had a home, what I call a home, since I was going on +nine year old."</p> + +<p>"How has that happened?" asked Kate.</p> + +<p>"Well, mother, she died, and I was bound out to a man in the tanning +trade, and I hated him, and I hated the trade; and when I was a little +bigger I ran away, and I've followed the sea ever since. I wasn't much +use to him, I guess; leastways, he never took the trouble to hunt me up.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>About the best place I +ever was in was a hospital. It was in foreign +parts. Ye see I'm crippled some? I fell from the topsail yard to the +deck, and I struck my shoulder, and broke my leg, and banged myself all +up. It was to a nuns' hospital where they took me. All of the nuns were +Catholics, and they wore big white things on their heads. I don't +suppose you ever saw any. Have you? Well, now, that's queer! When I was +first there I was scared of them; they were real ladies, and I wasn't +used to being in a house, any way. One of them, that took care of me +most of the time, why, she would even set up half the night with me, and +I couldn't begin to tell you how good-natured she was, an' she'd look +real sorry too. I used to be ugly, I ached so, along in the first of my +being there, but I spoke of it when I was coming away, and she said it +was all right. She used to feed me, that lady did; and there were some +days I couldn't lift my head, and she would rise it on her arm. She give +me a little mite of a book, when I come away. I'm not much of a hand at +reading, but I always kept it on account of her. She was so pleased when +I got so's to set up in a chair and look out of the window. She wasn't +much of a hand to talk English. I did feel bad to come away from there; +I 'most wished I could be sick a while longer. I never said much of +anything either, and I don't know but she thought it was queer, but I am +a dreadful clumsy man to say anything, and I got flustered. I don't +know's I mind telling you; I was 'most a-crying. I used to think I'd lay +by some money and ship for there and carry her something real pretty. +But I don't rank able-bodied seaman like I used, and it's as much as I +can do to get a berth on a coaster; I suppose I might go as cook. I +liked to have died with my hurt at that hospital, but when I was getting +well it made me think of when I was a mite of a chap to home before +mother died, to be laying there in a clean bed with somebody to do for +me. Guess you think I'm a good hand to spin long yarns; somehow it comes +easy to talk to-day."</p> + +<p>"What became of your cat?" asked Kate, after a pause, +during which our +friend sliced away at the porgies.</p> + +<p>"I never rightfully knew; it was in Salem harbor, and a windy night. I +was on deck consider'ble, for the schooner pitched lively, and once or +twice she dragged her anchor. I +<a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>never saw the kitty after she eat her +supper. I remember I gave her some milk,—I used to buy her a pint once +in a while for a treat; I don't know but she might have gone off on a +cake of ice, but it did seem as if she had too much sense for that. Most +likely she missed her footing, and fell overboard in the dark. She was +marked real pretty, black and white, and kep' herself just as clean! She +knew as well as could be when foul weather was coming; she would bother +round and act queer; but when the sun was out she would sit round on +deck as pleased as a queen. There! I feel bad sometimes when I think of +her, and I never went into Salem since without hoping that I should see +her. I don't know but if I was a-going to begin my life over again, I'd +settle down ashore and have a snug little house and farm it. But I guess +I shall do better at fishing. Give me a trig-built topsail schooner +painted up nice, with a stripe on her, and clean sails, and a fresh wind +with the sun a-shining, and I feel first-rate."</p> + +<p>"Do you believe that codfish swallow stones before a +storm?" asked Kate. +I had been thinking about the lonely fisherman in a sentimental way, and +so irrelevant a question shocked me. "I saw he felt slightly embarrassed +at having talked about his affairs so much," Kate told me afterward, +"and I thought we should leave him feeling more at his ease if we talked +about fish for a while." And sure enough he did seem relieved, and gave +us his opinion about the codfish at once, adding that he never cared +much for cod any way; folks up country bought 'em a good deal, he heard. +Give him a haddock right out of the water for his dinner!</p> + +<p>"I never can remember," said Kate, "whether it is +cod or haddock that +have a black stripe along their sides—"</p> + +<p>"O, those are haddock," said I; "they say that the +Devil caught a +haddock once, and it slipped through his fingers and got scorched; so +all the haddock had the same mark afterward."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, how did you know that old story?" said Danny, laughing +heartily; "ye mustn't believe all the old stories ye hear, mind +ye!"</p> + +<p>"O, no," said we.</p> + +<p>"Hullo! There's Jim Toggerson's boat close in shore. She +<a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>sets low in +the water, so he's done well. He and Skipper Scudder have been out +deep-sea fishing since yesterday."</p> + +<p>Our friend pushed the porgies back into a corner, stuck his knife into a +beam, and we hurried down to the shore. Kate and I sat on the pebbles, +and he went out to the moorings in a dirty dory to help unload the fish.</p> + +<p>We afterward saw a great deal of Danny, as all the men called him. But +though Kate and I tried our best and used our utmost skill and tact to +make him tell us more about himself, he never did. But perhaps there was +nothing more to be told.</p> + +<p>The day we left Deephaven we went down to the shore to say good by to +him and to some other friends, and he said, "Goin', are ye? Well, I'm +sorry; ye've treated me first-rate; the Lord bless ye!" and then was so +much mortified at the way he had said farewell that he turned and fled +round the corner of the fish-house.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="Captain_Sands" id="Captain_Sands"></a> +<a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>Captain Sands</h2> + + +<p>Old Captain Sands was one of the most prominent citizens of Deephaven, +and a very good friend of Kate's and mine. We often met him, and grew +much interested in him before we knew him well. He had a reputation in +town for being peculiar and somewhat visionary; but every one seemed to +like him, and at last one morning, when we happened to be on our way to +the wharves, we stopped at the door of an old warehouse which we had +never seen opened before. Captain Sands sat just inside, smoking his +pipe, and we said good morning, and asked him if he did not think there +was a fog coming in by and by. We had thought a little of going out to +the lighthouse. The cap'n rose slowly, and came out so that he could see +farther round to the east. "There's some scud coming in +a'ready," said +he. "None to speak of yet, I don't know's you can see +it,—yes, you're +right; there's a heavy bank of fog lyin' off, but it won't be in under +two or three hours yet, unless the wind backs round more and freshens +up. Weren't thinking of going out, were ye?"</p> + +<p>"A little," said Kate, "but we had nearly given it +up. We are getting to +be very weather-wise, and we pride ourselves on being quick at seeing +fogs." At which the cap'n smiled and said we were consider'ble young to +know much about weather, but it looked well that we took some interest +in it; most young people were fools about weather, and would just as +soon set off to go anywhere right under the edge of a thunder-shower. +"Come in and set down, won't ye?" he added; "it ain't +much of a place; +I've got a lot of old stuff stowed away here that the women-folks don't +want up to the house. I'm a great hand for keeping things." And he +looked round fondly at the contents of the wide low room. "I come down +here once in a while and let in the sun, and sometimes I want to hunt up +something or 'nother; kind of stow-away place, ye see." And then he +laughed apologetically, rubbing his hands together, and looking out to +sea again as if he wished to appear unconcerned; yet we saw that he +wondered +<a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>if we thought it ridiculous for a +man of his age to have +treasured up so much trumpery in that cobwebby place. There were some +whole oars and the sail of his boat and two or three killicks and +painters, not to forget a heap of worn-out oars and sails in one corner +and a sailor's hammock slung across the beam overhead, and there were +some sailor's chests and the capstan of a ship and innumerable boxes +which all seemed to be stuffed full, besides no end of things lying on +the floor and packed away on shelves and hanging to rusty big-headed +nails in the wall. I saw some great lumps of coral, and large, rough +shells, a great hornet's nest, and a monstrous lobster-shell. The cap'n +had cobbled and tied up some remarkable old chairs for the accommodation +of himself and his friends.</p> + +<p>"What a nice place!" said Kate in a frank, delighted way +which could not +have failed to be gratifying.</p> + +<p>"Well, no," said the cap'n, with his slow smile, "it +ain't what you'd +rightly call 'nice,' as I know of: it ain't never been cleared out all +at once since I began putting in. There's nothing that's worth anything, +either, to anybody but me. Wife, she's said to me a hundred times, 'Why +don't you overhaul them old things and burn 'em?' She's al'ays at me +about letting the property, as if it were a corner-lot in Broadway. +That's all women-folks know about business!" And here the captain caught +himself tripping, and looked uneasy for a minute. "I suppose I might +have let it for a fish-house, but it's most too far from the shore to be +handy—and—well—there are some things here that I set +a good deal by."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that a sword-fish's sword in that piece of wood?" +Kate asked +presently; and was answered that it was found broken off as we saw it, +in the hull of a wreck that went ashore on Blue P'int when the captain +was a young man, and he had sawed it out and kept it ever +since,—fifty-nine years. Of course we went closer to look at it, and we +both felt a great sympathy for this friend of ours, because we have the +same fashion of keeping worthless treasures, and we understood perfectly +how dear such things may be.</p> + +<p>"Do you mind if we look round a little?" I asked +doubtfully, for I knew +how I should hate having strangers look over my own treasury. But +Captain Sands looked pleased at our +<a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>interest, and said cheerfully that +we might overhaul as much as we chose. Kate discovered first an old +battered wooden figure-head of a ship,—a woman's head with long curly +hair falling over the shoulders. The paint was almost gone, and the dust +covered most of what was left: still there was a wonderful spirit and +grace, and a wild, weird beauty which attracted us exceedingly; but the +captain could only tell us that it had belonged to the wreck of a Danish +brig which had been driven on the reef where the lighthouse stands now, +and his father had found this on the long sands a day or two afterward. +"That was a dreadful storm," said the captain. "I've +heard the old folks +tell about it; it was when I was only a year or two old. There were +three merchantmen wrecked within five miles of Deephaven. This one was +all stove to splinters, and they used to say she had treasure aboard. +When I was small I used to have a great idea of going out there to the +rocks at low water and trying to find some gold, but I never made out no +great." And he smiled indulgently at the thought of his youthful +dream.</p> + +<p>"Kate," said I, "do you see what beauties these +Turk's-head knots are?" +We had been taking a course of first lessons in knots from Danny, and +had followed by learning some charmingly intricate ones from Captain +Lant, the stranded mariner who lived on a farm two miles or so inland. +Kate came over to look at the Turk's-heads, which were at either end of +the rope handles of a little dark-blue chest.</p> + +<p>Captain Sands turned in his chair and nodded approval. "That's a neat +piece of work, and it was a first-rate seaman who did it; he's dead and +gone years ago, poor young fellow; an I-talian he was, who sailed on the +Ranger three or four long voyages. He fell from the mast-head on the +voyage home from Callao. Cap'n Manning and old Mr. Lorimer, they owned +the Ranger, and when she come into port and they got the news they took +it as much to heart as if he'd been some relation. He was smart as a +whip, and had a way with him, and the pleasantest kind of a voice; you +couldn't help liking him. They found out that he had a mother alive in +Port Mahon, and they sent his pay and some money he had in the bank at +Riverport out to her by a ship that was going to the Mediterranean. He +had some clothes in his chest, and they +<a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>sold those and sent her the +money,—all but some trinkets they supposed he was keeping for her; I +rec'lect he used to speak consider'ble about his mother. I shipped one +v'y'ge with him before the mast, before I went out mate of the Daylight. +I happened to be in port the time the Ranger got in, an' I see this +chist lying round in Cap'n Manning's storehouse, and I offered to give +him what it was worth; but we was good friends, and he told me take it +if I wanted it, it was no use to him, and I've kept it ever since.</p> + +<p>"There are some of his traps in it now, I believe; ye can +look." And we +took off some tangled cod-lines and opened the chest. There was only a +round wooden box in the till, and in some idle hour at sea the young +sailor had carved his initials and an anchor and the date on the cover. +We found some sail-needles and a palm in this "kit," as the +sailors call +it, and a little string of buttons with some needles and yarn and thread +in a neat little bag, which perhaps his mother had made for him when he +started off on his first voyage. Besides these things there was only a +fanciful little broken buckle, green and gilt, which he might have +picked up in some foreign street, and his protection-paper carefully +folded, wherein he was certified as being a citizen of the United +States, with dark complexion and dark hair.</p> + +<p>"He was one of the pleasantest fellows that ever I shipped +with," said +the captain, with a gruff tenderness in his voice. "Always willin' to do +his work himself, and like's not when the other fellows up the rigging +were cold, or ugly about something or 'nother, he'd say something that +would set them all laughing, and somehow it made you good-natured to see +him round. He was brought up a Catholic, I s'pose; anyway, he had some +beads, and sometimes they would joke him about 'em on board ship, but he +would blaze up in a minute, ugly as a tiger. I never saw him mad about +anything else, though he wouldn't stand it if anybody tried to crowd +him. He fell from the main-to'-gallant yard to the deck, and was dead +when they picked him up. They were off the Bermudas. I suppose he lost +his balance, but I never could see how; he was sure-footed, and as quick +as a cat. They said they saw him try to catch at the stay, but there was +a heavy sea running, and the ship rolled just so's to let him through +between +<a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>the rigging, and he struck the deck +like a stone. I don't +know's that chest has been opened these ten years,—I declare it carries +me back to look at those poor little traps of his. Well, it's the way of +the world; we think we're somebody, and we have our day, but it isn't +long afore we're forgotten."</p> + +<p>The captain reached over for the paper, and taking out a clumsy pair of +steel-bowed spectacles, read it through carefully. "I'll warrant he took +good care of this," said he. "He was an I-talian, and no more of an +American citizen than a Chinese; I wonder he hadn't called himself John +Jones, that's the name most of the foreigners used to take when they got +their papers. I remember once I was sick with a fever in Chelsea +Hospital, and one morning they came bringing in the mate of a Portugee +brig on a stretcher, and the surgeon asked what his name was. 'John +Jones,' says he. 'O, say something else,' says the surgeon; 'we've got +five John Joneses here a'ready, and it's getting to be no name at all.' +Sailors are great hands for false names; they have a trick of using them +when they have any money to leave ashore, for fear their shipmates will +go and draw it out. I suppose there are thousands of dollars unclaimed +in New York banks, where men have left it charged to their false names; +then they get lost at sea or something, and never go to get it, and +nobody knows whose it is. They're curious folks, take 'em altogether, +sailors is; specially these foreign fellows that wander about from ship +to ship. They're getting to be a dreadful low set, too, of late years. +It's the last thing I'd want a boy of mine to do,—ship before the mast +with one of these mixed crews. It's a dog's life, anyway, and the risks +and the chances against you are awful. It's a good while before you can +lay up anything, unless you are part owner. I saw all the p'ints a good +deal plainer after I quit followin' the sea myself, though I've always +been more or less into navigation until this last war come on. I know +when I was ship's husband of the Polly and Susan there was a young man +went out cap'n of her,—her last voyage, and she never was heard from. +He had a wife and two or three little children, and for all he was so +smart, they would have been about the same as beggars, if I hadn't +happened to have his life insured the day I was having the papers made +out for the ship. I happened to think of it. Five thousand dollars there +<a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>was, and I sent it to the widow +along with his primage. She hadn't +expected nothing, or next to nothing, and she was pleased, I tell +ye."</p> + +<p>"I think it was very kind in you to think of that, Captain +Sands," said +Kate. And the old man said, flushing a little, "Well, I'm not so smart +as some of the men who started when I did, and some of 'em went ahead of +me, but some of 'em didn't, after all. I've tried to be honest, and to +do just about as nigh right as I could, and you know there's an old +sayin' that a cripple in the right road will beat a racer in the +wrong."</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="The_Circus_at_Denby" +id="The_Circus_at_Denby"></a> +<a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>The Circus at Denby</h2> + + +<p>Kate and I looked forward to a certain Saturday with as much eagerness +as if we had been little school-boys, for on that day we were to go to a +circus at Denby, a town perhaps eight miles inland. There had not been a +circus so near Deephaven for a long time, and nobody had dared to +believe the first rumor of it, until two dashing young men had deigned +to come themselves to put up the big posters on the end of 'Bijah +Mauley's barn. All the boys in town came as soon as possible to see +these amazing pictures, and some were wretched in their secret hearts at +the thought that they might not see the show itself. Tommy Dockum was +more interested than any one else, and mentioned the subject so +frequently one day when he went blackberrying with us, that we grew +enthusiastic, and told each other what fun it would be to go, for +everybody would be there, and it would be the greatest loss to us if we +were absent. I thought I had lost my childish fondness for circuses, but +it came back redoubled; and Kate may contradict me if she chooses, but I +am sure she never looked forward to the Easter Oratorio with half the +pleasure she did to this "caravan," as most of the people +called it.</p> + +<p>We felt that it was a great pity that any of the boys and girls should +be left lamenting at home, and finding that there were some of our +acquaintances and Tommy's who saw no chance of going, we engaged Jo +Sands and Leander Dockum to carry them to Denby in two fish-wagons, with +boards laid across for the extra seats. We saw them join the straggling +train of carriages which had begun to go through the village from all +along shore, soon after daylight, and they started on their journey +shouting and carousing, with their pockets crammed with early apples and +other provisions. We thought it would have been fun enough to see the +people go by, for we had had no idea until then how many inhabitants +that country held.</p> + +<p>We had asked Mrs. Kew to go with us; but she was half an hour later than +she had promised, for, since there was no wind, she could not come +ashore in the sail-boat, and Mr. +<a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a> Kew had had to row her in in the dory. +We saw the boat at last nearly in shore, and drove down to meet it: even +the horse seemed to realize what a great day it was, and showed a +disposition to friskiness, evidently as surprising to himself as to us.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Kew was funnier that day than we had ever known her, which is +saying a great deal, and we should not have had half so good a time if +she had not been with us; although she lived in the lighthouse, and had +no chance to "see passing," which a woman prizes so highly in the +country, she had a wonderful memory for faces, and could tell us the +names of all Deephaveners and of most of the people we met outside its +limits. She looked impressed and solemn as she hurried up from the +water's edge, giving Mr. Kew some parting charges over her shoulder as +he pushed off the boat to go back; but after we had convinced her that +the delay had not troubled us, she seemed more cheerful. It was evident +that she felt the importance of the occasion, and that she was pleased +at our having chosen her for company. She threw back her veil entirely, +sat very straight, and took immense pains to bow to every acquaintance +whom she met. She wore her best Sunday clothes, and her manner was +formal for the first few minutes; it was evident that she felt we were +meeting under unusual circumstances, and that, although we had often met +before on the friendliest terms, our having asked her to make this +excursion in public required a different sort of behavior at her hands, +and a due amount of ceremony and propriety. But this state of things did +not last long, as she soon made a remark at which Kate and I laughed so +heartily in lighthouse-acquaintance fashion, that she unbent, and gave +her whole mind to enjoying herself.</p> + +<p>When we came by the store where the post-office was kept we saw a small +knot of people gathered round the door, and stopped to see what had +happened. There was a forlorn horse standing near, with his harness tied +up with fuzzy ends of rope, and the wagon was cobbled together with +pieces of board; the whole craft looked as if it might be wrecked with +the least jar. In the wagon were four or five stupid-looking boys and +girls, one of whom was crying softly. Their father was sick, some one +told us. "He was took faint, but he is +<a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>coming to all right; they have +give him something to take: their name is Craper, and they live way over +beyond the Ridge, on Stone Hill. They were goin' over to Denby to the +circus, and the man was calc'lating to get doctored, but I d' know's he +can get so fur; he's powerful slim-looking to me." Kate and I went to +see if we could be of any use, and when we went into the store we saw +the man leaning back in his chair, looking ghastly pale, and as if he +were far gone in consumption. Kate spoke to him, and he said he was +better; he had felt bad all the way along, but he hadn't given up. He +was pitiful, poor fellow, with his evident attempt at dressing up. He +had the bushiest, dustiest red hair and whiskers, which made the pallor +of his face still more striking, and his illness had thinned and paled +his rough, clumsy hands. I thought what a hard piece of work it must +have been for him to start for the circus that morning, and how +kind-hearted he must be to have made such an effort for his children's +pleasure. As we went out they stared at us gloomily. The shadow of their +disappointment touched and chilled our pleasure.</p> + +<p>Somebody had turned the horse so that he was heading toward home, and by +his actions he showed that he was the only one of the party who was +glad. We were so sorry for the children; perhaps it had promised to be +the happiest day of their lives, and now they must go back to their +uninteresting home without having seen the great show.</p> + +<p>"I am so sorry you are disappointed," said Kate, as we +were wondering +how the man who had followed us could ever climb into the wagon.</p> + +<p>"Heh?" said he, blankly, as if he did not know what her +words meant. +"What fool has been a turning o' this horse?" he asked a man who was +looking on.</p> + +<p>"Why, which way be ye goin'?"</p> + +<p>"To the circus," said Mr. Craper, with decision, +"where d'ye s'pose? +That's where I started for, anyways." And he climbed in and glanced +round to count the children, struck the horse with the willow switch, +and they started off briskly, while everybody laughed. Kate and I joined +Mrs. Kew, who had enjoyed the scene.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>Well, there!" said +she, "I wonder the folks in the old North +burying-ground ain't a-rising up to go to Denby to that caravan!"</p> + +<p>We reached Denby at noon; it was an uninteresting town which had grown +up around some mills. There was a great commotion in the streets, and it +was evident that we had lost much in not having seen the procession. +There was a great deal of business going on in the shops, and there were +two or three hand-organs at large, near one of which we stopped awhile +to listen, just after we had met Leander and given the horse into his +charge. Mrs. Kew finished her shopping as soon as possible, and we +hurried toward the great tents, where all the flags were flying. I think +I have not told you that we were to have the benefit of seeing a +menagerie in addition to the circus, and you may be sure we went +faithfully round to see everything that the cages held.</p> + +<p>I cannot truthfully say that it was a good show; it was somewhat dreary, +now that I think of it quietly and without excitement. The creatures +looked tired, and as if they had been on the road for a great many +years. The animals were all old, and there was a shabby great elephant +whose look of general discouragement went to my heart, for it seemed as +if he were miserably conscious of a misspent life. He stood dejected and +motionless at one side of the tent, and it was hard to believe that +there was a spark of vitality left in him. A great number of the people +had never seen an elephant before, and we heard a thin little old man, +who stood near us, say delightedly, "There's the old creatur', and no +mistake, Ann 'Liza. I wanted to see him most of anything. My sakes +alive, ain't he big!"</p> + +<p>And Ann 'Liza, who was stout and sleepy-looking, droned out, "Ye-es, +there's consider'ble of him; but he looks as if he ain't got no +animation."</p> + +<p>Kate and I turned away and laughed, while Mrs. Kew said confidentially, +as the couple moved away, "<i>She</i> needn't be a reflectin' on the poor +beast. That's Mis Seth Tanner, and there isn't a woman in Deephaven nor +East Parish to be named the same day with her for laziness. I'm glad she +didn't catch sight of me; she'd have talked about nothing for a +fortnight."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>There was a picture of a huge +snake in Deephaven, and I was just +wondering where he could be, or if there ever had been one, when we +heard a boy ask the same question of the man whose thankless task it was +to stir up the lions with a stick to make them roar. "The snake's +dead," +he answered good-naturedly. "Didn't you have to dig an awful long grave +for him?" asked the boy; but the man said he reckoned they curled him up +some, and smiled as he turned to his lions, who looked as if they needed +a tonic. Everybody lingered longest before the monkeys, who seemed to be +the only lively creatures in the whole collection; and finally we made +our way into the other tent, and perched ourselves on a high seat, from +whence we had a capital view of the audience and the ring, and could see +the people come in. Mrs. Kew was on the lookout for acquaintances, and +her spirits as well as our own seemed to rise higher and higher. She was +on the alert, moving her head this way and that to catch sight of +people, giving us a running commentary in the mean time. It was very +pleasant to see a person so happy as Mrs. Kew was that day, and I dare +say in speaking of the occasion she would say the same thing of Kate and +me,—for it was such a good time! We bought some peanuts, without which +no circus seems complete, and we listened to the conversations which +were being carried on around us while we were waiting for the +performance to begin. There were two old farmers whom we had noticed +occasionally in Deephaven; one was telling the other, with great +confusion of pronouns, about a big pig which had lately been killed. +"John did feel dreadful disappointed at having to kill now," we heard +him say, "bein' as he had calc'lated to kill along near Thanksgivin' +time; there was goin' to be a new moon then, and he expected to get +seventy-five or a hundred pound more on to him. But he didn't seem to +gain, and me and 'Bijah both told him he'd be better to kill now, while +everything was favor'ble, and if he set out to wait something might +happen to him, and then I've always held that you can't get no hog only +just so fur, and for my part I don't like these great overgrown +creatur's. I like well enough to see a hog that'll weigh six hunderd, +just for the beauty on't, but for my eatin' give me one that'll just +rise three. 'Bijah's accurate, and he says he is goin' to weigh risin' +five hundred and +<a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>fifty. I shall stop, as I go home, +to John's wife's +brother's and see if they've got the particulars yet; John was goin' to +get the scales this morning. I guess likely consider'ble many'll gather +there to-morrow after meeting. John didn't calc'late to cut up till +Monday."</p> + +<p>"I guess likely I 'll stop in to-morrow," said the other +man; "I like to +see a han'some hog. Chester White, you said? Consider them best, don't +ye?" But this question never was answered, for the greater part of the +circus company in gorgeous trappings came parading in.</p> + +<p>The circus was like all other circuses, except that it was shabbier than +most, and the performers seemed to have less heart in it than usual. +They did their best, and went through with their parts conscientiously, +but they looked as if they never had had a good time in their lives. The +audience was hilarious, and cheered and laughed at the tired clown until +he looked as if he thought his speeches might possibly be funny, after +all. We were so glad we had pleased the poor thing; and when he sang a +song our satisfaction was still greater, and so he sang it all over +again. Perhaps he had been associating with people who were used to +circuses. The afternoon was hot, and the boys with Japanese fans and +trays of lemonade did a remarkable business for so late in the season; +the brass band on the other side of the tent shrieked its very best, and +all the young men of the region had brought their girls, and some of +these countless pairs of country lovers we watched a great deal, as they +"kept company" with more or less depth of satisfaction in +each other. We +had a grand chance to see the fashions, and there were many old people +and a great number of little children, and some families had evidently +locked their house door behind them, since they had brought both the dog +and the baby.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't it seem as if you were a child again?" Kate +asked me. "I am +sure this is just the same as the first circus I ever saw. It grows more +and more familiar, and it puzzles me to think they should not have +altered in the least while I have changed so much, and have even had +time to grow up. You don't know how it is making me remember other +things of which I have not thought for years. I was seven years old when +I went that first time. Uncle Jack invited me. I had a +<a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>new parasol, and +he laughed because I would hold it over my shoulder when the sun was in +my face. He took me into the side-shows and bought me everything I asked +for, on the way home, and we did not get home until twilight. The rest +of the family had dined at four o'clock and gone out for a long drive, +and it was such fun to have our dinner by ourselves. I sat at the head +of the table in mamma's place, and when Bridget came down and insisted +that I must go to bed, Uncle Jack came softly up stairs and sat by the +window, smoking and telling me stories. He ran and hid in the closet +when we heard mamma coming up, and when she found him out by the +cigar-smoke, and made believe scold him, I thought she was in earnest, +and begged him off. Yes; and I remember that Bridget sat in the next +room, making her new dress so she could wear it to church next day. I +thought it was a beautiful dress, and besought mamma to have one like +it. It was bright green with yellow spots all over it," said +Kate. "Ah, +poor Uncle Jack! he was so good to me! We were always telling stories of +what we would do when I was grown up. He died in Canton the next year, +and I cried myself ill; but for a long time I thought he might not be +dead, after all, and might come home any day. He used to seem so old to +me, and he really was just out of college and not so old as I am now. +That day at the circus he had a pink rosebud in his buttonhole, and—ah! +when have I ever thought of this before!—a woman sat before us who had +a stiff little cape on her bonnet like a shelf, and I carefully put +peanuts round the edge of it, and when she moved her head they would +fall. I thought it was the best fun in the world, and I wished Uncle +Jack to ride the donkey; I was sure he could keep on, because his horse +had capered about with him one day on Beacon Street, and I thought him a +perfect rider, since nothing had happened to him then."</p> + +<p>"I remember," said Mrs. Kew, presently, "that just +before I was married +'he' took me over to Wareham Corners to a caravan. My sister Hannah and +the young man who was keeping company with her went too. I haven't been +to one since till to-day, and it does carry me back same's it does you, +Miss Kate. It doesn't seem more than five years ago, and what +<a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>would I +have thought if I had known 'he' and I were going to keep a lighthouse +and be contented there, what's more, and sometimes not get ashore for a +fortnight; settled, gray-headed old folks! We were gay enough in those +days. I know old Miss Sabrina Smith warned me that I'd better think +twice before I took up with Tom Kew, for he was a light-minded young +man. I speak o' that to him in the winter-time, when he sets reading the +almanac half asleep and I'm knitting, and the wind's a' howling and the +waves coming ashore on those rocks as if they wished they could put out +the light and blow down the lighthouse. We were reflected on a good deal +for going to that caravan; some of the old folks didn't think it was +improvin'—Well, I should think that man was a trying to break his +neck!"</p> + +<p>Coming out of the great tent was disagreeable enough, and we seemed to +have chosen the worst time, for the crowd pushed fiercely, though I +suppose nobody was in the least hurry, and we were all severely jammed, +while from somewhere underneath came the wails of a deserted dog. We had +not meant to see the side-shows, and went carelessly past two or three +tents; but when we came in sight of the picture of the Kentucky +giantess, we noticed that Mrs. Kew looked at it wistfully, and we +immediately asked if she cared anything about going to see the wonder, +whereupon she confessed that she never heard of such a thing as a +woman's weighing six hundred and fifty pounds, so we all three went in. +There were only two or three persons inside the tent, beside a little +boy who played the hand-organ.</p> + +<p>The Kentucky giantess sat in two chairs on a platform, and there was a +large cage of monkeys just beyond, toward which Kate and I went at once. +"Why, she isn't more than two thirds as big as the picture," +said Mrs. +Kew, in a regretful whisper; "but I guess she's big enough; doesn't she +look discouraged, poor creatur'?" Kate and I felt ashamed of ourselves +for being there. No matter if she had consented to be carried round for +a show, it must have been horrible to be stared at and joked about day +after day; and we gravely looked at the monkeys, and in a few minutes +turned to see if Mrs. Kew were not ready to come away, when to our +surprise +<a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>we saw that she was talking to the +giantess with great +interest, and we went nearer.</p> + +<p>"I thought your face looked natural the minute I set foot inside the +door," said Mrs. Kew; "but you've—altered some since I +saw you, and I +couldn't place you till I heard you speak. Why, you used to be spare; I +am amazed, Marilly! Where are your folks?"</p> + +<p>"I don't wonder you are surprised," said the +giantess. "I was a good +ways from this when you knew me, wasn't I? But father he run through +with every cent he had before he died, and 'he' took to drink and it +killed him after a while, and then I begun to grow worse and worse, till +I couldn't do nothing to earn a dollar, and everybody was a coming to +see me, till at last I used to ask 'em ten cents apiece, and I scratched +along somehow till this man came round and heard of me, and he offered +me my keep and good pay to go along with him. He had another giantess +before me, but she had begun to fall away consider'ble, so he paid her +off and let her go. This other giantess was an awful expense to him, she +was such an eater; now I don't have no great of an +appetite,"—this was +said plaintively,—"and he's raised my pay since I've been with him +because we did so well. I took up with his offer because I was nothing +but a drag and never will be. I'm as comfortable as I can be, but it's a +pretty hard business. My oldest boy is able to do for himself, but he's +married this last year, and his wife don't want me. I don't know's I +blame her either. It would be something like if I had a daughter now; +but there, I'm getting to like travelling first-rate; it gives anybody a +good deal to think of."</p> + +<p>"I was asking the folks about you when I was up home the early part of +the summer," said Mrs. Kew, "but all they knew was that you +were living +out in New York State. Have you been living in Kentucky long? I saw it +on the picture outside."</p> + +<p>"No," said the giantess, "that was a picture the man +bought cheap from +another show that broke up last year. It says six hundred and fifty +pounds, but I don't weigh more than four hundred. I haven't been weighed +for some time past. Between you and me I don't weigh so much as that, +but you mustn't mention it, for it would spoil my reputation, and +<a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>might +hender my getting another engagement." And then the poor giantess lost +her professional look and tone as she said, "I believe I'd rather die +than grow any bigger. I do lose heart sometimes, and wish I was a smart +woman and could keep house. I'd be smarter than ever I was when I had +the chance; I tell you that! Is Tom along with you?"</p> + +<p>"No. I came with these young ladies, Miss Lancaster and Miss Denis, who +are stopping over to Deephaven for the summer." Kate and I turned as we +heard this introduction; we were standing close by, and I am proud to +say that I never saw Kate treat any one more politely than she did that +absurd, pitiful creature with the gilt crown and many bracelets. It was +not that she said much, but there was such an exquisite courtesy in her +manner, and an apparent unconsciousness of there being anything in the +least surprising or uncommon about the giantess.</p> + +<p>Just then a party of people came in, and Mrs. Kew said good by +reluctantly. "It has done me sights of good to see you," said our new +acquaintance; "I was feeling down-hearted just before you came in. I'm +pleased to see somebody that remembers me as I used to be." And they +shook hands in a way that meant a great deal, and when Kate and I said +good afternoon the giantess looked at us gratefully, and said, "I'm very +much obliged to you for coming in, young ladies."</p> + +<p>"Walk in! walk in!" the man was shouting as we came +away. "Walk in and +see the wonder of the world, ladies and gentlemen,—the largest woman +ever seen in America,—the great Kentucky giantess!"</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't you have liked to stay longer?" Kate asked +Mrs. Kew as we came +down the street. But she answered that it would be no satisfaction; the +people were coming in, and she would have no chance to talk. "I never +knew her very well; she is younger than I, and she used to go to meeting +where I did, but she lived five or six miles from our house. She's had a +hard time of it, according to her account," said +Mrs. Kew. "She used to +be a dreadful flighty, high-tempered girl, but she's lost that now, I +can see by her eyes. I was running over in my mind to see if there was +anything I could do for her, but I don't know as there is. She said the +man who hired her was kind. I guess your treating her so polite did her +as much +<a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>good as anything. She used to be +real ambitious. I had it on my +tongue's end to ask her if she couldn't get a few days' leave and come +out to stop with me, but I thought just in time that she'd sink the dory +in a minute. There! seeing her has took away all the fun," said Mrs. Kew +ruefully; and we were all dismal for a while, but at last, after we were +fairly started for home, we began to be merry again.</p> + +<p>We passed the Craper family whom we had seen at the store in the +morning; the children looked as stupid as ever, but the father, I am +sorry to say, had been tempted to drink more whiskey than was good for +him. He had a bright flush on his cheeks, and he was flourishing his +whip, and hoarsely singing some meaningless tune. "Poor +creature!" said +I, "I should think this day's pleasuring would kill him." +"Now, wouldn't +you think so?" said Mrs. Kew, sympathizingly; "but the truth is, you +couldn't kill one of those Crapers if you pounded him in a mortar."</p> + +<p>We had a pleasant drive home, and we kept Mrs. Kew to supper, and +afterward went down to the shore to see her set sail for home. Mr. Kew +had come in some time before, and had been waiting for the moon to rise. +Mrs. Kew told us that she should have enough to think of for a year, she +had enjoyed the day so much; and we stood on the pebbles watching the +boat out of the harbor, and wishing ourselves on board, it was such a +beautiful evening.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>We went to another show that summer, the memory of which will never +fade. It is somewhat impertinent to call it a show, and "public +entertainment" is equally inappropriate, though we certainly were +entertained. It had been raining for two or three days; the +Deephavenites spoke of it as "a spell of weather." Just +after tea, one +Thursday evening, Kate and I went down to the post-office. When we +opened the great hall door, the salt air was delicious, but we found the +town apparently wet through and discouraged; and though it had almost +stopped raining just then, there was a Scotch mist, like a snow-storm +with the chill taken off, and the Chantrey elms dripped hurriedly, and +creaked occasionally in the east-wind.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>There will not be a cap'n +on the wharves for a week after this," said +I to Kate; "only think of the cases of rheumatism!"</p> + +<p>We stopped for a few minutes at the Carews', who were as much surprised +to see us as if we had been mermaids out of the sea, and begged us to +give ourselves something warm to drink, and to change our boots the +moment we got home. Then we went on to the post-office. Kate went in, +but stopped, as she came out with our letters, to read a written notice +securely fastened to the grocery door by four large carpet-tacks with +wide leathers round their necks.</p> + +<p>"Dear," said she, exultantly, "there's going to be a +lecture to-night in +the church,—a free lecture on the Elements of True Manhood. Wouldn't +you like to go?" And we went.</p> + +<p>We were fifteen minutes later than the time appointed, and were sorry to +find that the audience was almost imperceptible. The dampness had +affected the antiquated lamps so that those on the walls and on the +front of the gallery were the dimmest lights I ever saw, and sent their +feeble rays through a small space the edges of which were clearly +defined. There were two rather more energetic lights on the table near +the pulpit, where the lecturer sat, and as we were in the rear of the +church, we could see the yellow fog between ourselves and him. There +were fourteen persons in the audience, and we were all huddled together +in a cowardly way in the pews nearest the door: three old men, four +women, and four children, besides ourselves and the sexton, a deaf +little old man with a wooden leg.</p> + +<p>The children whispered noisily, and soon, to our surprise, the lecturer +rose and began. He bowed, and treated us with beautiful deference, and +read his dreary lecture with enthusiasm. I wish I could say, for his +sake, that it was interesting; but I cannot tell a lie, and it was so +long! He went on and on, until it seemed as if I had been there ever +since I was a little girl. Kate and I did not dare to look at each +other, and in my desperation at feeling her quiver with laughter, I +moved to the other end of the pew, knocking over a big hymn-book on the +way, which attracted so much attention that I have seldom felt more +embarrassed in my life. Kate's great dog rose several times to shake +himself and yawn loudly, and then lie down again despairingly.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>You would have thought the man +was addressing an enthusiastic Young +Men's Christian Association. He exhorted with fervor upon our duties as +citizens and as voters, and told us a great deal about George Washington +and Benjamin Franklin, whom he urged us to choose as our examples. He +waited for applause after each of his outbursts of eloquence, and +presently went on again, in no wise disconcerted at the silence, and as +if he were sure that he would fetch us next time. The rain began to fall +again heavily, and the wind wailed around the meeting-house. If the +lecture had been upon any other subject it would not have been so hard +for Kate and me to keep sober faces; but it was directed entirely toward +young men, and there was not a young man there.</p> + +<p>The children in front of us mildly scuffled with each other at one time, +until the one at the end of the pew dropped a marble, which struck the +floor and rolled with a frightful noise down the edge of the aisle where +there was no carpet. The congregation instinctively started up to look +after it, but we recollected ourselves and leaned back again in our +places, while the awed children, after keeping unnaturally quiet, fell +asleep, and tumbled against each other helplessly. After a time the man +sat down and wiped his forehead, looking well satisfied; and when we +were wondering whether we might with propriety come away, he rose again, +and said it was a free lecture, and he thanked us for our kind patronage +on that inclement night; but in other places which he had visited there +had been a contribution taken up for the cause. It would, perhaps, do no +harm,—would the sexton—But the sexton could not have heard +the sound +of a cannon at that distance, and slumbered on. Neither Kate nor I had +any money, except a twenty-dollar bill in my purse, and some coppers in +the pocket of her water-proof cloak which she assured me she was +prepared to give; but we saw no signs of the sexton's waking, and as one +of the women kindly went forward to wake the children, we all rose and +came away.</p> + +<p>After we had made as much fun and laughed as long as we pleased that +night, we became suddenly conscious of the pitiful side of it all; and +being anxious that every one should have the highest opinion of +Deephaven, we sent Tom Dockum early in the morning with an anonymous +note to the lecturer, +<a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>whom he found +without much trouble; but afterward +we were disturbed at hearing that he was going to repeat his lecture +that evening,—the wind having gone round to the +northwest,—and I have +no doubt there were a good many women able to be out, and that he +harvested enough ten-cent pieces to pay his expenses without our help; +though he had particularly told us it was for "the cause," +the evening +before, and that ought to have been a consolation.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="Cunner_Fishing" id="Cunner_Fishing"></a> +<a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>Cunner-Fishing</h2> + + +<p>One of the chief pleasures in Deephaven was our housekeeping. Going to +market was apt to use up a whole morning, especially if we went to the +fish-houses. We depended somewhat upon supplies from Boston, but +sometimes we used to chase a butcher who took a drive in his old +canvas-topped cart when he felt like it, and as for fish, there were +always enough to be caught, even if we could not buy any. Our +acquaintances would often ask if we had anything for dinner that day, +and would kindly suggest that somebody had been boiling lobsters, or +that a boat had just come in with some nice mackerel, or that somebody +over on the Ridge was calculating to kill a lamb, and we had better +speak for a quarter in good season. I am afraid we were looked upon as +being in danger of becoming epicures, which we certainly are not, and we +undoubtedly roused a great deal of interest because we used to eat +mushrooms, which grew in the suburbs of the town in wild luxuriance.</p> + +<p>One morning Maggie told us that there was nothing in the house for +dinner, and, taking an early start, we went at once down to the store to +ask if the butcher had been seen, but finding that he had gone out +deep-sea fishing for two days, and that when he came back he had planned +to kill a veal, we left word for a sufficient piece of the doomed animal +to be set apart for our family, and strolled down to the shore to see if +we could find some mackerel; but there was not a fisherman in sight, and +after going to all the fish-houses we concluded that we had better +provide for ourselves. We had not brought our own lines, but we knew +where Danny kept his, and after finding a basket of suitable size, and +taking some clams from Danny's bait-tub, we went over to the hull of an +old schooner which was going to pieces alongside one of the ruined +wharves. We looked down the hatchway into the hold, and could see the +flounders and sculpin swimming about lazily, and once in a while a +little pollock scooted down among them impertinently and then +disappeared. "There is that same big flounder that we saw day before +yesterday," said I. "I know +<a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>him because one of his fins is half gone. I +don't believe he can get out, for the hole in the side of the schooner +isn't very wide, and it is higher up than flounders ever swim. Perhaps +he came in when he was young, and was too lazy to go out until he was so +large he couldn't. Flounders always look so lazy, and as if they thought +a great deal of themselves."</p> + +<p>"I hope they will think enough of themselves to keep away from my hook +this morning," said Kate, philosophically, "and the sculpin too. I am +going to fish for cunners alone, and keep my line short." And she +perched herself on the quarter, baited her hook carefully, and threw it +over, with a clam-shell to call attention. I went to the rail at the +side, and we were presently much encouraged by pulling up two small +cunners, and felt that our prospects for dinner were excellent. Then I +unhappily caught so large a sculpin that it was like pulling up an open +umbrella, and after I had thrown him into the hold to keep company with +the flounder, our usual good luck seemed to desert us. It was one of the +days when, in spite of twitching the line and using all the tricks we +could think of, the cunners would either eat our bait or keep away +altogether. Kate at last said we must starve unless we could catch the +big flounder, and asked me to drop my hook down the hatchway; but it +seemed almost too bad to destroy his innocent happiness. Just then we +heard the noise of oars, and to our delight saw Cap'n Sands in his dory +just beyond the next wharf. "Any luck?" said +he. "S'pose ye don't care +anything about going out this morning?"</p> + +<p>"We are not amusing ourselves; we are trying to catch some fish for +dinner," said Kate. "Could you wait out by the red buoy +while we get a +few more, and then should you be back by noon, or are you going for a +longer voyage, Captain Sands?"</p> + +<p>"I was going out to Black Rock for cunners myself," said +the cap'n. "I +should be pleased to take ye, if ye'd like to go." So we wound up our +lines, and took our basket and clams and went round to meet the boat. I +felt like rowing, and took the oars while Kate was mending her sinker +and the cap'n was busy with a snarled line.</p> + +<p>"It's pretty hot," said he, presently, "but I see a +breeze coming in, +and the clouds seem to be thickening; I guess we +<a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>shall have it cooler +'long towards noon. It looked last night as if we were going to have +foul weather, but the scud seemed to blow off, and it was as pretty a +morning as ever I see. 'A growing moon chaws up the clouds,' my +gran'ther used to say. He was as knowing about the weather as anybody I +ever come across; 'most always hit it just about right. Some folks lay +all the weather to the moon, accordin' to where she quarters, and when +she's in perigee we're going to have this kind of weather, and when +she's in apogee she's got to do so and so for sartain; but gran'ther he +used to laugh at all them things. He said it never made no kind of +difference, and he went by the looks of the clouds and the feel of the +air, and he thought folks couldn't make no kind of rules that held good, +that had to do with the moon. Well, he did use to depend on the moon +some; everybody knows we aren't so likely to have foul weather in a +growing moon as we be when she's waning. But some folks I could name, +they can't do nothing without having the moon's opinion on it. When I +went my second voyage afore the mast we was in port ten days at Cadiz, +and the ship she needed salting dreadful. The mate kept telling the +captain how low the salt was in her, and we was going a long voyage from +there, but no, he wouldn't have her salted nohow, because it was the +wane of the moon. He was an amazing set kind of man, the cap'n was, and +would have his own way on sea or shore. The mate was his own brother, +and they used to fight like a cat and dog; they owned most of the ship +between 'em. I was slushing the mizzen-mast, and heard 'em a disputin' +about the salt. The cap'n was a first-rate seaman and died rich, but he +was dreadful notional. I know one time we were a lyin' out in the stream +all ready to weigh anchor, and everything was in trim, the men were up +in the rigging and a fresh breeze going out, just what we'd been waiting +for, and the word was passed to take in sail and make everything fast. +The men swore, and everybody said the cap'n had had some kind of a +warning. But that night it began to blow, and I tell you afore morning +we were glad enough we were in harbor. The old Victor she dragged her +anchor, and the fore-to'gallant sail and r'yal got loose somehow and was +blown out of the bolt-ropes. Most of the canvas and rigging was old, but +we had first-rate weather after that, and didn't bend near all +<a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>the new +sail we had aboard, though the cap'n was most afraid we'd come short +when we left Boston. That was 'most sixty year ago," said the captain, +reflectively. "How time does slip away! You young folks haven't any +idea. She was a first-rate ship, the old Victor was, though I suppose +she wouldn't cut much of a dash now 'longside of some of the new +clippers.</p> + +<p>"There used to be some strange-looking crafts in those days; there was +the old brig Hannah. They used to say she would sail backwards as fast +as forwards, and she was so square in the bows, they used to call her +the sugar-box. She was master old, the Hannah was, and there wasn't a +port from here to New Orleans where she wasn't known; she used to carry +a master cargo for her size, more than some ships that ranked two +hundred and fifty ton, and she was put down for two hundred. She used to +make good voyages, the Hannah did, and then there was the Pactolus; she +was just about such another,—you would have laughed to see her. She +sailed out of this port for a good many years. Cap'n Wall he told me +that if he had her before the wind with a cargo of cotton, she would +make a middling good run, but load her deep with salt, and you might as +well try to sail a stick of oak timber with a handkerchief. She was a +stout-built ship: I shouldn't wonder if her timbers were afloat +somewhere yet; she was sold to some parties out in San Francisco. There! +everything's changed from what it was when I used to follow the sea. I +wonder sometimes if the sailors have as queer works aboard ship as they +used. Bless ye! Deephaven used to be a different place to what it is +now; there was hardly a day in the year that you didn't hear the +shipwrights' hammers, and there was always something going on at the +wharves. You would see the folks from up country comin' in with their +loads of oak knees and plank, and logs o' rock-maple for keels when +there was snow on the ground in winter-time, and the big sticks of +timber-pine for masts would come crawling along the road with their +three and four yoke of oxen all frosted up, the sleds creaking and the +snow growling and the men flapping their arms to keep warm, and +hallooing as if there wan't nothin' else goin' on in the world except to +get them masts to the ship-yard. Bless ye! two o' them teams together +would stretch +<a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>from here 'most up to the Widow +Jim's place,—no such +timber-pines nowadays."</p> + +<p>"I suppose the sailors are very jolly together +sometimes," said Kate, +meditatively, with the least flicker of a smile at me. The captain did +not answer for a minute, as he was battling with an obstinate snarl in +his line; but when he had found the right loop he said, "I've had the +best times and the hardest times of my life at sea, that's certain! I +was just thinking it over when you spoke. I'll tell you some stories one +day or 'nother that'll please you. Land! you've no idea what tricks some +of those wild fellows will be up to. Now, saying they fetch home a cargo +of wines and they want a drink; they've got a trick so they can get it. +Saying it's champagne, they'll fetch up a basket, and how do you suppose +they'll get into it?"</p> + +<p>Of course we didn't know.</p> + +<p>"Well, every basket will be counted, and they're fastened up +particular, +so they can tell in a minute if they've been tampered with; and neither +must you draw the corks if you could get the basket open. I suppose ye +may have seen champagne, how it's all wired and waxed. Now, they take a +clean tub, them fellows do, and just shake the basket and jounce it up +and down till they break the bottles and let the wine drain out; then +they take it down in the hold and put it back with the rest, and when +the cargo is delivered there's only one or two whole bottles in that +basket, and there's a dreadful fuss about its being stowed so foolish." +The captain told this with an air of great satisfaction, but we did not +show the least suspicion that he might have assisted at some such +festivity.</p> + +<p>"Then they have a way of breaking into a cask. It won't do to start the +bung, and it won't do to bore a hole where it can be seen, but they're +up to that: they slip back one of the end hoops and bore two holes +underneath it, one for the air to go in and one for the liquor to come +out, and after they get all out they want they put in some spigots and +cut them down close to the stave, knock back the hoop again, and there +ye are, all trig."</p> + +<p>"I never should have thought of it," said Kate, admiringly.</p> + +<p>"There isn't nothing," Cap'n Sands went on, "that'll +hender some masters +from cheating the owners a little. Get +<a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>them off in a foreign port, and +there's nobody to watch, and they most of them have a feeling that they +ain't getting full pay, and they'll charge things to the ship that she +never seen nor heard of. There were two shipmasters that sailed out of +Salem. I heard one of 'em tell the story. They had both come into port +from Liverpool nigh the same time, and one of 'em, he was dressed up in +a handsome suit of clothes, and the other looked kind of poverty-struck. +'Where did you get them clothes?' says he. 'Why, to Liverpool,' says the +other; 'you don't mean to say you come away without none, cheap as cloth +was there?' 'Why, yes,' says the other cap'n,—'I can't afford to wear +such clothes as those be, and I don't see how you can, either.' 'Charge +'em to the ship, bless ye; the owners expect it.'</p> + +<p>"So the next v'y'ge the poor cap'n he had a nice rig for +himself made to +the best tailor's in Bristol, and charged it, say ten pounds, in the +ship's account; and when he came home the ship's husband he was looking +over the papers, and 'What's this?' says he, 'how come the ship to run +up a tailor's bill?' 'Why, them's mine,' says the cap'n, very meaching. +'I understood that there wouldn't be no objection made.' 'Well, you made +a mistake,' says the other, laughing; 'guess I'd better scratch this +out.' And it wasn't long before the cap'n met the one who had put him up +to doing it, and he give him a blowing up for getting him into such a +fix. 'Land sakes alive!' says he, 'were you fool enough to set it down +in the account? Why, I put mine in, so many bolts of Russia duck.'"</p> + +<p>Captain Sands seemed to enjoy this reminiscence, and to our +satisfaction, in a few minutes, after he had offered to take the oars, +he went on to tell us another story.</p> + +<p>"Why, as for cheating, there's plenty of that all over the world. The +first v'y'ge I went into Havana as master of the Deerhound, she had +never been in the port before and had to be measured and recorded, and +then pay her tonnage duties every time she went into port there +afterward, according to what she was registered on the custom-house +books. The inspector he come aboard, and he went below and looked round, +and he measured her between decks; but he never offered to set down any +figgers, and when we came back into the cabin, says he, +'Yes—yes—good +ship! you put one +<a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>bloon front of this eye, +<i>so!</i>' says he, 'an' I not +see with him; and you put one more doubloon front of other eye, and how +you think I see at all what figger you write?' So I took his book and I +set down her measurements and made her out twenty ton short, and he took +his doubloons and shoved 'em into his pocket. There, it isn't what you +call straight dealing, but everybody done it that dared, and you'd eat +up all the profits of a v'y'ge and the owners would just as soon you'd +try a little up-country air, if you paid all those dues according to +law. Tonnage was dreadful high and wharfage too, in some ports, and +they'd get your last cent some way or 'nother if ye weren't sharp.</p> + +<p>"Old Cap'n Carew, uncle to them ye see to meeting, did a smart thing in +the time of the embargo. Folks got tired of it, and it was dreadful hard +times; ships rotting at the wharves, and Deephaven never was quite the +same afterward, though the old place held out for a good while before +she let go as ye see her now. You'd 'a' had a hard grip on't when I was +a young man to make me believe it would ever be so dull here. Well, +Cap'n Carew he bought an old brig that was lying over by East Parish, +and he began fitting her up and loading her for the West Indies, and the +farmers they'd come in there by night from all round the country, to +sell salt-fish and lumber and potatoes, and glad enough they were, I +tell ye. The rigging was put in order, and it wasn't long before she was +ready to sail, and it was all kept mighty quiet. She lay up to an old +wharf in a cove where she wouldn't be much noticed, and they took care +not to paint her any or to attract any attention.</p> + +<p>"One day Cap'n Carew was over in Riverport dining out with some +gentlemen, and the revenue officer sat next to him, and by and by says +he, 'Why won't ye take a ride with me this afternoon? I've had warning +that there's a brig loading for the West Indies over beyond Deephaven +somewheres, and I'm going over to seize her.' And he laughed to himself +as if he expected fun, and something in his pocket beside. Well, the +first minute that Cap'n Carew dared, after dinner, he slipped out, and +he hired the swiftest horse in Riverport and rode for dear life, and +told the folks who were in the secret, and some who weren't, what was +the matter, and every soul turned to +<a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>and helped finish loading her and +getting the rigging ready and the water aboard; but just as they were +leaving the cove—the wind was blowing just right—along came the +revenue officer with two or three men, and they come off in a boat and +boarded her as important as could be.</p> + +<p>"'Won't ye step into the cabin, gentlemen, and take a glass o' wine?' +says Cap'n Carew, very polite; and the wind came in fresher,—something +like a squall for a few minutes,—and the men had the sails spread +before you could say Jack Robi'son, and before those fellows knew what +they were about the old brig was a standing out to sea, and the folks on +the wharves cheered and yelled. The Cap'n gave the officers a good scare +and offered 'em a free passage to the West Indies, and finally they said +they wouldn't report at headquarters if he'd let 'em go ashore; so he +told the sailors to lower their boat about two miles off Deephaven, and +they pulled ashore meek enough. Cap'n Carew had a first-rate run, and +made a lot of money, so I have heard it said. Bless ye! every shipmaster +would have done just the same if he had dared, and everybody was glad +when they heard about it. Dreadful foolish piece of business that +embargo was!</p> + +<p>"Now I declare," said Captain Sands, after he had finished this +narrative, "here I'm a telling stories and you're doin' all the work. +You'll pull a boat ahead of anybody, if you keep on. Tom Kew was +a-praisin' up both of you to me the other day: says he, 'They don't put +on no airs, but I tell ye they can pull a boat well, and swim like +fish,' says he. There now, if you'll give me the oars I'll put the dory +just where I want her, and you can be getting your lines ready. I know a +place here where it's always toler'ble fishing, and I guess we'll get +something."</p> + +<p>Kate and I cracked our clams on the gunwale of the boat, and cut them +into nice little bits for bait with a piece of the shell, and by the +time the captain had thrown out the killick we were ready to begin, and +found the fishing much more exciting than it had been at the wharf.</p> + +<p>"I don't know as I ever see 'em bite faster," said the old sailor, +presently; "guess it's because they like the folks that's fishing. Well, +I'm pleased. I thought I'd let 'Bijah take some along to Denby in the +cart to-morrow if I got more than I +<a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>could use at home. I didn't +calc'late on having such a lively crew aboard. I s'pose ye wouldn't care +about going out a little further by and by to see if we can't get two or +three haddock?" And we answered that we should like nothing better.</p> + +<p>It was growing cloudy, and was much cooler,—the perfection of +a day for +fishing,—and we sat there diligently pulling in cunners, and talking a +little once in a while. The tide was nearly out, and Black Rock looked +almost large enough to be called an island. The sea was smooth and the +low waves broke lazily among the seaweed-covered ledges, while our boat +swayed about on the water, lifting and falling gently as the waves went +in shore. We were not a very long way from the lighthouse, and once we +could see Mrs. Kew's big white apron as she stood in the doorway for a +few minutes. There was no noise except the plash of the low-tide waves +and the occasional flutter of a fish in the bottom of the dory. Kate and +I always killed our fish at once by a rap on the head, for it certainly +saved the poor creatures much discomfort, and ourselves as well, and it +made it easier to take them off the hook than if they were flopping +about and making us aware of our cruelty.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the captain wound up his line and said he thought we'd better +be going in, and Kate and I looked at him with surprise. "It is only +half past ten," said I, looking at my watch. "Don't hurry in on our +account," added Kate, persuasively, for we were having a very +good time.</p> + +<p>"I guess we won't mind about the haddock. I've got a feelin' +we'd better +go ashore." And he looked up into the sky and turned to see the +west. "I +knew there was something the matter; there's going to be a shower." And +we looked behind us to see a bank of heavy clouds coming over fast. "I +wish we had two pair of oars," said Captain Sands. "I'm +afraid we shall +get caught."</p> + +<p>"You needn't mind us," said Kate. "We aren't in the +least afraid of our +clothes, and we don't get cold when we're wet; we have made sure of +that."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad to hear that," said the +cap'n. "Women-folks are apt to +be dreadful scared of a wetting; but I'd just as lief not get wet +myself. I had a twinge of rheumatism yesterday. I +<a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>guess we'll get +ashore fast enough. No. I feel well enough to-day, but you can row if +you want to, and I'll take the oars the last part of the way."</p> + +<p>When we reached the moorings the clouds were black, and the thunder +rattled and boomed over the sea, while heavy spatters of rain were +already falling. We did not go to the wharves, but stopped down the +shore at the fish-houses, the nearer place of shelter. "You just select +some of those cunners," said the captain, who was beginning to be a +little out of breath, "and then you can run right up and get under +cover, and I'll put a bit of old sail over the rest of the fish to keep +the fresh water off." By the time the boat touched the shore and we had +pulled it up on the pebbles, the rain had begun in good earnest. Luckily +there was a barrow lying near, and we loaded that in a hurry, and just +then the captain caught sight of a well-known red shirt in an open door, +and shouted, "Halloa, Danny! lend us a hand with these fish, for we're +nigh on to being shipwrecked." And then we ran up to the fish-house and +waited awhile, though we stood in the doorway watching the lightning, +and there were so many leaks in the roof that we might almost as well +have been out of doors. It was one of Danny's quietest days, and he +silently beheaded hake, only winking at us once very gravely at +something our other companion said.</p> + +<p>"There!" said Captain Sands, "folks may say what +they have a mind to; I +didn't see that shower coming up, and I know as well as I want to that +my wife did, and impressed it on my mind. Our house sets high, and she +watches the sky and is al'ays a worrying when I go out fishing for fear +something's going to happen to me,' specially sence I've got to be along +in years."</p> + +<p>This was just what Kate and I wished to hear, for we had been told that +Captain Sands had most decided opinions on dreams and other mysteries, +and could tell some stories which were considered incredible by even a +Deephaven audience, to whom the marvellous was of every-day occurrence.</p> + +<p>"Then it has happened before?" asked Kate. "I +wondered why you started +so suddenly to come in."</p> + +<p>"Happened!" said the captain. "Bless ye, yes! I'll +tell you my views +about these p'ints one o' those days. I've thought a +<a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>good deal about +'em by spells. Not that I can explain 'em, nor anybody else, but it's no +use to laugh at 'em as some folks do. Cap'n Lant—you know Cap'n +Lant?—he and I have talked it over consider'ble, and he says to me, +'Everybody's got some story of the kind they will believe in spite of +everything, and yet they won't believe yourn.'"</p> + +<p>The shower seemed to be over now, and we felt compelled to go home, as +the captain did not go on with his remarks. I hope he did not see +Danny's wink. Skipper Scudder, who was Danny's friend and partner, came +up just then and asked us if we knew what the sign was when the sun came +out through the rain. I said that I had always heard it would rain again +next day. "O no," said Skipper Scudder, "the Devil is +whipping his +wife."</p> + +<p>After dinner Kate and I went for a walk through some pine woods which +were beautiful after the rain; the mosses and lichens which had been +dried up were all freshened and blooming out in the dampness. The smell +of the wet pitch-pines was unusually sweet, and we wandered about for an +hour or two there, to find some ferns we wanted, and then walked over +toward East Parish, and home by the long beach late in the afternoon. We +came as far as the boat-landing, meaning to go home through the lane, +but to our delight we saw Captain Sands sitting alone on an old +overturned whaleboat, whittling busily at a piece of dried kelp. "Good +evenin'," said our friend, cheerfully. And we explained that we had +taken a long walk and thought we would rest awhile before we went home +to supper. Kate perched herself on the boat, and I sat down on a ship's +knee which lay on the pebbles.</p> + +<p>"Didn't get any hurt from being out in the shower, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," laughed Kate, "and we had such a good +time. I hope you +won't mind taking us out again some time."</p> + +<p>"Bless ye! no," said the captain. "My girl Lo'isa, +she that's Mis +Winslow over to Riverport, used to go out with me a good deal, and it +seemed natural to have you aboard. I missed Lo'isa after she got +married, for she was al'ays ready to go anywhere 'long of father. She's +had slim health of late years. I tell 'em she's been too much shut up +out of the fresh air and sun. When she was young her mother never could +pr'vail on +<a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>her to set in the house stiddy and +sew, and she used to have +great misgivin's that Lo'isa never was going to be capable. How about +those fish you caught this morning? good, were they? Mis Sands had +dinner on the stocks when I got home, and she said she wouldn't fry any +'til supper-time; but I calc'lated to have 'em this noon. I like 'em +best right out o' the water. Little more and we should have got them +wet. That's one of my whims; I can't bear to let fish get rained on."</p> + +<p>"O Captain Sands!" said I, there being a convenient +pause, "you were +speaking of your wife just now; did you ask her if she saw the +shower?"</p> + +<p>"First thing she spoke of when I got into the house. 'There,' says she, +'I was afraid you wouldn't see the rain coming in time, and I had my +heart in my mouth when it began to thunder. I thought you'd get soaked +through, and be laid up for a fortnight,' says she. 'I guess a summer +shower won't hurt an old sailor like me,' says I." And the captain +reached for another piece of his kelp-stalk, and whittled away more +busily than ever. Kate took out her knife and also began to cut kelp, +and I threw pebbles in the hope of hitting a spider which sat +complacently on a stone not far away, and when he suddenly vanished +there was nothing for me to do but to whittle kelp also.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose," said Kate, "that Mrs. Sands really +made you know about +that shower?"</p> + +<p>The captain put on his most serious look, coughed slowly, and moved +himself a few inches nearer us, along the boat. I think he fully +understood the importance and solemnity of the subject. "It ain't for us +to say what we do know or don't, for there's nothing sartain, but I made +up my mind long ago that there's something about these p'ints that's +myster'ous. My wife and me will be sitting there to home and there won't +be no word between us for an hour, and then of a sudden we'll speak up +about the same thing. Now the way I view it, she either puts it into my +head or I into hers. I've spoke up lots of times about something, when I +didn't know what I was going to say when I began, and she'll say she was +just thinking of that. Like as not you have noticed it sometimes? There +was something my mind was dwellin' on yesterday, and she come right out +with it, and I'd a good deal rather she +<a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>hadn't," said the captain, +ruefully. "I didn't want to rake it all over ag'in, I'm +sure." And then +he recollected himself, and was silent, which his audience must confess +to have regretted for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I used to think a good deal about such things when I was younger, and +I'm free to say I took more stock in dreams and such like than I do now. +I rec'lect old Parson Lorimer—this Parson Lorimer's father who was +settled here first—spoke to me once about it, and said it was a +tempting of Providence, and that we hadn't no right to pry into secrets. +I know I had a dream-book then that I picked up in a shop in Bristol +once when I was there on the Ranger, and all the young folks were beset +to get sight of it. I see what fools it made of folks, bothering their +heads about such things, and I pretty much let them go: all this stuff +about spirit-rappings is enough to make a man crazy. You don't get no +good by it. I come across a paper once with a lot of letters in it from +sperits, and I cast my eye over 'em, and I says to myself, 'Well, I +always was given to understand that when we come to a futur' state we +was goin' to have more wisdom than we can get afore'; but them letters +hadn't any more sense to 'em, nor so much, as a man could write here +without schooling, and I should think that if the letters be all +straight, if the folks who wrote 'em had any kind of ambition they'd +want to be movin' back here again. But as for one person's having +something to do with another any distance off, why, that's another +thing; there ain't any nonsense about that. I know it's true jest as +well as I want to," said the cap'n, warming up. "I'll tell +ye how I was +led to make up my mind about it. One time I waked a man up out of a +sound sleep looking at him, and it set me to thinking. First, there +wasn't any noise, and then ag'in there wasn't any touch so he could feel +it, and I says to myself, 'Why couldn't I ha' done it the width of two +rooms as well as one, and why couldn't I ha' done it with my back +turned?' It couldn't have been the looking so much as the thinking. And +then I car'd it further, and I says, 'Why ain't a mile as good as a +yard? and it's the thinking that does it,' says I, 'and we've got some +faculty or other that we don't know much about. We've got some way of +sending our thought like a bullet goes out of a gun and it hits. We +don't know nothing except what +<a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>we see. And some folks is scared, and +some more thinks it is all nonsense and laughs. But there's something we +haven't got the hang of.' It makes me think o' them little black +polliwogs that turns into frogs in the fresh-water puddles in the ma'sh. +There's a time before their tails drop off and their legs have sprouted +out, when they don't get any use o' their legs, and I dare say they're +in their way consider'ble; but after they get to be frogs they find out +what they're for without no kind of trouble. I guess we shall turn these +fac'lties to account some time or 'nother. Seems to me, though, that we +might depend on 'em now more than we do."</p> + +<p>The captain was under full sail on what we had heard was his pet +subject, and it was a great satisfaction to listen to what he had to +say. It loses a great deal in being written, for the old sailor's voice +and gestures and thorough earnestness all carried no little persuasion. +And it was impossible not to be sure that he knew more than people +usually do about these mysteries in which he delighted.</p> + +<p>"Now, how can you account for this?" said he. "I +remember not more than +ten years ago my son's wife was stopping at our house, and she had left +her child at home while she come away for a rest. And after she had been +there two or three days, one morning she was sitting in the kitchen +'long o' the folks, and all of a sudden she jumped out of her chair and +ran into the bedroom, and next minute she come out laughing, and looking +kind of scared. 'I could ha' taken my oath,' says she,'that I heard Katy +cryin' out mother,' says she, 'just as if she was hurt. I heard it so +plain that before I stopped to think it seemed as if she were right in +the next room. I'm afeard something has happened.' But the folks +laughed, and said she must ha' heard one of the lambs. 'No, it wasn't,' +says she, 'it was Katy.' And sure enough, just after dinner a young man +who lived neighbor to her come riding into the yard post-haste to get +her to go home, for the baby had pulled some hot water over on to +herself and was nigh scalded to death and cryin' for her mother every +minute. Now, who's going to explain that? It wasn't any common hearing +that heard that child's cryin' fifteen miles. And I can tell you another +thing that happened among my own folks. There was an own cousin of mine +married to a man by the name of John +<a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a> Hathorn. He was trading up to +Parsonsfield, and business run down, so he wound up there, and thought +he'd make a new start. He moved down to Denby, and while he was getting +under way, he left his family up to the old place, and at the time I +speak of, was going to move 'em down in about a fortnight.</p> + +<p>"One morning his wife was fidgeting round, and finally she came down +stairs with her bonnet and shawl on, and said somebody must put the +horse right into the wagon and take her down to Denby. 'Why, what for, +mother?' they says. 'Don't stop to talk,' says she; 'your father is +sick, and wants me. It's been a worrying me since before day, and I +can't stand it no longer.' And the short of the story is that she kept +hurrying 'em faster and faster, and then she got hold of the reins +herself, and when they got within five miles of the place the horse fell +dead, and she was nigh about crazy, and they took another horse at a +farm-house on the road. It was the spring of the year, and the going was +dreadful, and when they got to the house John Hathorn had just died, and +he had been calling for his wife up to 'most the last breath he drew. He +had been taken sick sudden the day before, but the folks knew it was bad +travelling, and that she was a feeble woman to come near thirty miles, +and they had no idee he was so bad off. I'm telling you the living +truth," said Captain Sands, with an emphatic shake of his +head. "There's +more folks than me can tell about it, and if you were goin' to keel-haul +me next minute, and hang me to the yard-arm afterward, I couldn't say it +different. I was up to Parsonsfield to the funeral; it was just after I +quit following the sea. I never saw a woman so broke down as she was. +John was a nice man; stiddy and pleasant-spoken and straightforrard and +kind to his folks. He belonged to the Odd Fellows, and they all marched +to the funeral. There was a good deal of respect shown him, I tell ye.</p> + +<p>"There is another story I'd like to have ye hear, if it's so that you +ain't beat out hearing me talk. When I get going I slip along as easy as +a schooner wing-and-wing afore the wind.</p> + +<p>"This happened to my own father, but I never heard him say much about +it; never could get him to talk it over to any length, best I could do. +But gran'ther, his father, told me +<a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>about it nigh upon fifty times, +first and last, and always the same way. Gran'ther lived to be old, and +there was ten or a dozen years after his wife died that he lived year +and year about with Uncle Tobias's folks and our folks. Uncle Tobias +lived over on the Ridge. I got home from my first v'y'ge as mate of the +Daylight just in time for his funeral. I was disapp'inted to find the +old man was gone. I'd fetched him some first-rate tobacco, for he was a +great hand to smoke, and I was calc'latin' on his being pleased: old +folks like to be thought of, and then he set more by me than by the +other boys. I know I used to be sorry for him when I was a little +fellow. My father's second wife she was a well-meaning woman, but an +awful driver with her work, and she was always making of him feel he +wasn't no use. I do' know as she meant to, either. He never said +nothing, and he was always just so pleasant, and he was fond of his +book, and used to set round reading, and tried to keep himself out of +the way just as much as he could. There was one winter when I was small +that I had the scarlet-fever, and was very slim for a long time +afterward, and I used to keep along o' gran'ther, and he would tell me +stories. He'd been a sailor,—it runs in our blood to foller the +sea,—and he'd been wrecked two or three times and been taken by the +Algerine pirates. You remind me to tell you some time about that; and I +wonder if you ever heard about old Citizen Leigh, that used to be about +here when I was a boy. He was taken by the Algerines once, same's +gran'ther, and they was dreadful f'erce just then, and they sent him +home to get the ransom money for the crew; but it was a monstrous price +they asked, and the owners wouldn't give it to him, and they s'posed +likely the men was dead by that time, any way. Old Citizen Leigh he went +crazy, and used to go about the streets with a bundle of papers in his +hands year in and year out. I've seen him a good many times. Gran'ther +used to tell me how he escaped. I'll remember it for ye some day if +you'll put me in mind.</p> + +<p>"I got to be mate when I was twenty, and I was as strong a +fellow as you +could scare up, and darin'!—why, it makes my blood run cold when I +think of the reckless things I used to do. I was off at sea after I was +fifteen year old, and there wasn't anybody so glad to see me as +gran'ther when I came +<a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>home. I expect he used to be +lonesome after I +went off, but then his mind failed him quite a while before he died. +Father was clever to him, and he'd get him anything he spoke about; but +he wasn't a man to set round and talk, and he never took notice himself +when gran'ther was out of tobacco, so sometimes it would be a day or +two. I know better how he used to feel now that I'm getting to be along +in years myself, and likely to be some care to the folks before long. I +never could bear to see old folks neglected; nice old men and women who +have worked hard in their day and been useful and willin'. I've seen 'em +many a time when they couldn't help knowing that the folks would a +little rather they'd be in heaven, and a good respectable headstone put +up for 'em in the burying-ground.</p> + +<p>"Well, now, I'm sure I've forgot what I was going to tell you. O, yes; +about grandmother dreaming about father when he come home from sea. +Well, to go back to the first of it, gran'ther never was rugged; he had +ship-fever when he was a young man, and though he lived to be so old, he +never could work hard and never got forehanded; and Aunt Hannah Starbird +over at East Parish took my sister to fetch up, because she was named +for her, and Melinda and Tobias stayed at home with the old folks, and +my father went to live with an uncle over in Riverport, whom he was +named for. He was in the West India trade and was well-off, and he had +no children, so they expected he would do well by father. He was +dreadful high-tempered. I've heard say he had the worst temper that was +ever raised in Deephaven.</p> + +<p>"One day he set father to putting some cherries into a bar'l +of rum, and +went off down to his wharf to see to the loading of a vessel, and afore +he come back father found he'd got hold of the wrong bar'l, and had +sp'ilt a bar'l of the best Holland gin; he tried to get the cherries +out, but that wasn't any use, and he was dreadful afraid of Uncle +Matthew, and he run away, and never was heard of from that time out. +They supposed he'd run away to sea, as he had a leaning that way, but +nobody ever knew for certain; and his mother she 'most mourned herself +to death. Gran'ther told me that it got so at last that if they could +only know for sure that he was dead it was all they would ask. But it +went on four years, and +<a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>gran'ther got used to it some; though +grandmother never would give up. And one morning early, before day, she +waked him up, and says she, 'We're going to hear from Matthew. Get up +quick and go down to the store!' 'Nonsense,' says he. 'I've seen him,' +says grandmother, 'and he's coming home. He looks older, but just the +same other ways, and he's got long hair, like a horse's mane, all down +over his shoulders.' 'Well, let the dead rest,' says gran'ther; 'you've +thought about the boy till your head is turned.' 'I tell you I saw +Matthew himself,' says she, 'and I want you to go right down to see if +there isn't a letter.' And she kept at him till he saddled the horse, +and he got down to the store before it was opened in the morning, and he +had to wait round, and when the man came over to unlock it he was 'most +ashamed to tell what his errand was, for he had been so many times, and +everybody supposed the boy was dead. When he asked for a letter, the man +said there was none there, and asked if he was expecting any particular +one. He didn't get many letters, I s'pose; all his folks lived about +here, and people didn't write any to speak of in those days. Gran'ther +said he thought he wouldn't make such a fool of himself again, but he +didn't say anything, and he waited round awhile, talking to one and +another who came up, and by and by says the store-keeper, who was +reading a newspaper that had just come, 'Here's some news for you, +Sands, I do believe! There are three vessels come into Boston harbor +that have been out whaling and sealing in the South Seas for three or +four years, and your son Matthew's name is down on the list of the +crew.' 'I tell ye,' says gran'ther, 'I took that paper, and I got on my +horse and put for home, and your grandmother she hailed me, and she +said, "You've heard, haven't you?" before I told her a word.'</p> + +<p>"Gran'ther he got his breakfast and started right off for Boston, and +got there early the second day, and went right down on the wharves. +Somebody lent him a boat, and he went out to where there were two +sealers laying off riding at anchor, and he asked a sailor if Matthew +was aboard. 'Ay, ay,' says the sailor, 'he's down below.' And he sung +out for him, and when he come up out of the hold his hair was long, down +over his shoulders like a horse's mane, just as his mother saw it in the +dream. Gran'ther he didn't know what +<a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>to say,—it scared him,—and he +asked how it happened; and father told how they'd been off sealing in +the South Seas, and he and another man had lived alone on an island for +months, and the whole crew had grown wild in their ways of living, being +off so long, and for one thing had gone without caps and let their hair +grow. The rest of the men had been ashore and got fixed up smart, but he +had been busy, and had put it off till that morning; he was just going +ashore then. Father was all struck up when he heard about the dream, and +said his mind had been dwellin' on his mother and going home, and he +come down to let her see him just as he was and she said it was the same +way he looked in the dream. He never would have his hair cut—father +wouldn't—and wore it in a queue. I remember seeing him with it when I +was a boy; but his second wife didn't like the looks of it, and she come +up behind him one day and cut it off with the scissors. He was terrible +worked up about it. I never see father so mad as he was that day. Now +this is just as true as the Bible," said Captain Sands. "I +haven't put a +word to it, and gran'ther al'ays told a story just as it was. That woman +saw her son; but if you ask me what kind of eyesight it was, I can't +tell you, nor nobody else."</p> + +<p>Later that evening Kate and I drifted into a long talk about the +captain's stories and these mysterious powers of which we know so +little. It was somewhat chilly in the house, and we had kindled a fire +in the fireplace, which at first made a blaze which lighted the old room +royally, and then quieted down into red coals and lazy puffs of smoke. +We had carried the lights away, and sat with our feet on the fender, and +Kate's great dog was lying between us on the rug. I remember that +evening so well; we could see the stars through the window plainer and +plainer as the fire went down, and we could hear the noise of the sea.</p> + +<p>"Do you remember in the old myth of Demeter and +Persephone," Kate asked +me, "where Demeter takes care of the child and gives it ambrosia and +hides it in fire, because she loves it and wishes to make it immortal, +and to give it eternal youth; and then the mother finds it out and cries +in terror to hinder her, and the goddess angrily throws the child down +<a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>and rushes away? And he had to +share the common destiny of mankind, +though he always had some wonderful inscrutable grace and wisdom, +because a goddess had loved him and held him in her arms. I always +thought that part of the story beautiful where Demeter throws off her +disguise and is no longer an old woman, and the great house is filled +with brightness like lightning, and she rushes out through the halls +with her yellow hair waving over her shoulders, and the people would +give anything to bring her back again, and to undo their mistake. I knew +it almost all by heart once," said Kate, "and I am always +finding a new +meaning in it. I was just thinking that it may be that we all have given +to us more or less of another nature, as the child had whom Demeter +wished to make like the gods. I believe old Captain Sands is right, and +we have these instincts which defy all our wisdom and for which we never +can frame any laws. We may laugh at them, but we are always meeting +them, and one cannot help knowing that it has been the same through all +history. They are powers which are imperfectly developed in this life, +but one cannot help the thought that the mystery of this world may be +the commonplace of the next."</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said I, "why it is that one hears so +much more of such +things from simple country people. They believe in dreams, and they have +a kind of fetichism, and believe so heartily in supernatural causes. I +suppose nothing could shake Mrs. Patton's faith in warnings. There is no +end of absurdity in it, and yet there is one side of such lives for +which one cannot help having reverence; they live so much nearer to +nature than people who are in cities, and there is a soberness about +country people oftentimes that one cannot help noticing. I wonder if +they are unconsciously awed by the strength and purpose in the world +about them, and the mysterious creative power which is at work with them +on their familiar farms. In their simple life they take their instincts +for truths, and perhaps they are not always so far wrong as we imagine. +Because they are so instinctive and unreasoning they may have a more +complete sympathy with Nature, and may hear her voices when wiser ears +are deaf. They have much in common, after all, with the plants which +grow up out of the +<a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>ground and the wild creatures +which depend upon +their instincts wholly."</p> + +<p>"I think," said Kate, "that the more one lives out +of doors the more +personality there seems to be in what we call inanimate things. The +strength of the hills and the voice of the waves are no longer only +grand poetical sentences, but an expression of something real, and more +and more one finds God himself in the world, and believes that we may +read the thoughts that He writes for us in the book of Nature." And +after this we were silent for a while, and in the mean time it grew very +late, and we watched the fire until there were only a few sparks left in +the ashes. The stars faded away and the moon came up out of the sea, and +we barred the great hall door and went up stairs to bed. The lighthouse +lamp burned steadily, and it was the only light that had not been blown +out in all Deephaven.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="Mrs_Bonny" id="Mrs_Bonny"></a> +<a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>Mrs. Bonny</h2> + + +<p>I am sure that Kate Lancaster and I must have spent by far the greater +part of the summer out of doors. We often made long expeditions out into +the suburbs of Deephaven, sometimes being gone all day, and sometimes +taking a long afternoon stroll and coming home early in the evening +hungry as hunters and laden with treasure, whether we had been through +the pine woods inland or alongshore, whether we had met old friends or +made some desirable new acquaintances. We had a fashion of calling at +the farm-houses, and by the end of the season we knew as many people as +if we had lived in Deephaven all our days. We used to ask for a drink of +water; this was our unfailing introduction, and afterward there were +many interesting subjects which one could introduce, and we could always +give the latest news at the shore. It was amusing to see the curiosity +which we aroused. Many of the people came into Deephaven only on special +occasions, and I must confess that at first we were often naughty enough +to wait until we had been severely cross-questioned before we gave a +definite account of ourselves. Kate was very clever at making +unsatisfactory answers when she cared to do so. We did not understand, +for some time, with what a keen sense of enjoyment many of those people +made the acquaintance of an entirely new person who cordially gave the +full particulars about herself; but we soon learned to call this by +another name than impertinence.</p> + +<p>I think there were no points of interest in that region which we did not +visit with conscientious faithfulness. There were cliffs and +pebble-beaches, the long sands and the short sands; there were Black +Rock and Roaring Rock, High Point and East Point, and Spouting Rock; we +went to see where a ship had been driven ashore in the night, all hands +being lost and not a piece of her left larger than an axe-handle; we +visited the spot where a ship had come ashore in the fog, and had been +left high and dry on the edge of the marsh when the tide went out; we +saw where the brig Methuselah had been wrecked, and the shore had been +<a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>golden with her cargo of lemons +and oranges, which one might carry away +by the wherryful.</p> + +<p>Inland there were not many noted localities, but we used to enjoy the +woods, and our explorations among the farms, immensely. To the westward +the land was better and the people well-to-do; but we went oftenest +toward the hills and among the poorer people. The land was uneven and +full of ledges, and the people worked hard for their living, at most +laying aside only a few dollars each year. Some of the more enterprising +young people went away to work in shops and factories; but the custom +was by no means universal, and the people had a hungry, discouraged +look. It is all very well to say that they knew nothing better, that it +was the only life of which they knew anything; there was too often a +look of disappointment in their faces, and sooner or later we heard or +guessed many stories: that this young man had wished for an education, +but there had been no money to spare for books or schooling; and that +one had meant to learn a trade, but there must be some one to help his +father with the farm-work, and there was no money to hire a man to work +in his place if he went away. The older people had a hard look, as if +they had always to be on the alert and must fight for their place in the +world. One could only forgive and pity their petty sharpness, which +showed itself in trifling bargains, when one understood how much a +single dollar seemed where dollars came so rarely. We used to pity the +young girls so much. It was plain that those who knew how much easier +and pleasanter our lives were could not help envying us.</p> + +<p>There was a high hill half a dozen miles from Deephaven which was known +in its region as "the mountain." It was the highest land +anywhere near +us, and having been told that there was a fine view from the top, one +day we went there, with Tommy Dockum for escort. We overtook Mr. +Lorimer, the minister, on his way to make parochial calls upon some +members of his parish who lived far from church, and to our delight he +proposed to go with us instead. It was a great satisfaction to have him +for a guide, for he knew both the country and the people more intimately +than any one else. It was a long climb to the top of the hill, but not a +hard one. The sky was clear, and there was a fresh wind, though we had +left +<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>none at all at the +sea-level. After lunch, Kate and I spread our +shawls over a fine cushion of mountain-cranberry, and had a long talk +with Mr. Lorimer about ancient and modern Deephaven. He always seemed as +much pleased with our enthusiasm for the town as if it had been a +personal favor and compliment to himself. I remember how far we could +see, that day, and how we looked toward the far-away blue mountains, and +then out over the ocean. Deephaven looked insignificant from that height +and distance, and indeed the country seemed to be mostly covered with +the pointed tops of pines and spruces, and there were long tracts of +maple and beech woods with their coloring of lighter, fresher green.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we go down, now," said Mr. Lorimer, long before +Kate and I had +meant to propose such a thing; and our feeling was that of dismay. "I +should like to take you to make a call with me. Did you ever hear of old +Mrs. Bonny?"</p> + +<p>"No," said we, and cheerfully gathered our wraps and +baskets; and when +Tommy finally came panting up the hill after we had begun to think that +our shoutings and whistling were useless, we sent him down to the +horses, and went down ourselves by another path. It led us a long +distance through a grove of young beeches; the last year's whitish +leaves lay thick on the ground, and the new leaves made so close a roof +overhead that the light was strangely purple, as if it had come through +a great church window of stained glass. After this we went through some +hemlock growth, where, on the lower branches, the pale green of the new +shoots and the dark green of the old made an exquisite contrast each to +the other. Finally we came out at Mrs. Bonny's. Mr. Lorimer had told us +something about her on the way down, saying in the first place that she +was one of the queerest characters he knew. Her husband used to be a +charcoal-burner and basket-maker, and she used to sell butter and +berries and eggs, and choke-pears preserved in molasses. She always came +down to Deephaven on a little black horse, with her goods in baskets and +bags which were fastened to the saddle in a mysterious way. She had the +reputation of not being a neat housekeeper, and none of the wise women +of the town would touch her butter especially, so it was always a joke +when she coaxed a new +<a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>resident or a strange shipmaster +into buying her +wares; but the old woman always managed to jog home without the freight +she had brought. "She must be very old, now," said +Mr. Lorimer; "I have +not seen her in a long time. It cannot be possible that her horse is +still alive!" And we all laughed when we saw Mrs. Bonny's steed at a +little distance, for the shaggy old creature was covered with mud, +pine-needles, and dead leaves, with half the last year's burdock-burs in +all Deephaven snarled into his mane and tail and sprinkled over his fur, +which looked nearly as long as a buffalo's. He had hurt his leg, and his +kind mistress had tied it up with a piece of faded red calico and an end +of ragged rope. He gave us a civil neigh, and looked at us curiously. +Then an impertinent little yellow-and-white dog, with one ear standing +up straight and the other drooping over, began to bark with all his +might; but he retreated when he saw Kate's great dog, who was walking +solemnly by her side and did not deign to notice him. Just now Mrs. +Bonny appeared at the door of the house, shading her eyes with her hand, +to see who was coming. "Landy!" said she, "if it ain't +old Parson +Lorimer! And who be these with ye?"</p> + +<p>"This is Miss Kate Lancaster of Boston, Miss Katharine Brandon's niece, +and her friend Miss Denis."</p> + +<p>"Pleased to see ye," said the old woman; "walk in +and lay off your +things." And we followed her into the house. I wish you could have seen +her: she wore a man's coat, cut off so that it made an odd short jacket, +and a pair of men's boots much the worse for wear; also, some short +skirts, beside two or three aprons, the inner one being a dress-apron, +as she took off the outer ones and threw them into a corner; and on her +head was a tight cap, with strings to tie under her chin. I thought it +was a nightcap, and that she had forgotten to take it off, and dreaded +her mortification if she should suddenly become conscious of it; but I +need not have troubled myself, for while we were with her she pulled it +on and tied it tighter, as if she considered it ornamental.</p> + +<p>There were only two rooms in the house; we went into the kitchen, which +was occupied by a flock of hens and one turkey. The latter was evidently +undergoing a course of medical treatment behind the stove, and was +allowed to stay with us, +<a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>while the hens were remorselessly +hustled out +with a hemlock broom. They all congregated on the doorstep, apparently +wishing to hear everything that was said.</p> + +<p>"Ben up on the mountain?" asked our hostess. "Real +sightly place. Goin' +to be a master lot o' rosbries; get any down to the shore sence I quit +comin'?"</p> + +<p>"O yes," said Mr. Lorimer, "but we miss seeing you."</p> + +<p>"I s'pose so," said Mrs. Bonny, smoothing her apron +complacently; "but +I'm getting old, and I tell 'em I'm goin' to take my comfort; sence 'he' +died, I don't put myself out no great; I've got money enough to keep me +long's I live. Beckett's folks goes down often, and I sends by them for +what store stuff I want."</p> + +<p>"How are you now?" asked the minister; "I think I +heard you were ill in +the spring."</p> + +<p>"Stirrin', I'm obliged to ye. I wasn't laid up long, and I was so's I +could get about most of the time. I've got the best bitters ye ever see, +good for the spring of the year. S'pose yer sister, Miss Lorimer, +wouldn't like some? she used to be weakly lookin'." But her brother +refused the offer, saying that she had not been so well for many years.</p> + +<p>"Do you often get out to church nowadays, Mrs. Bonny? I +believe Mr. Reid +preaches in the school-house sometimes, down by the great ledge; doesn't +he?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, he does; but I don't know as I get much of any good. Parson +Reid, he's a worthy creatur', but he never seems to have nothin' to say +about foreordination and them p'ints. Old Parson Padelford was the man! +I used to set under his preachin' a good deal; I had an aunt living down +to East Parish. He'd get worked up, and he'd shut up the Bible and +preach the hair off your head, 'long at the end of the sermon. Couldn't +understand more nor a quarter part what he said," said Mrs. Bonny, +admiringly. "Well, we were a-speaking about the meeting over to the +ledge; I don't know's I like them people any to speak of. They had a +great revival over there in the fall, and one Sunday I thought's how I'd +go; and when I got there, who should be a-prayin' but old Ben Patey,—he +always lays out to get converted,—and he kep' it up diligent till I +couldn't stand it no longer; and by and by says he, 'I've been a +wanderer'; and I up and says, 'Yes, you +<a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>have, I'll back ye up on that, +Ben; ye've wandered around my wood-lot and spoilt half the likely young +oaks and ashes I've got, a-stealing your basket-stuff.' And the folks +laughed out loud, and up he got and cleared. He's an awful old thief, +and he's no idea of being anything else. I wa'n't a-goin' to set there +and hear him makin' b'lieve to the Lord. If anybody's heart is in it, I +ain't a-goin' to hender 'em; I'm a professor, and I ain't ashamed of it, +week-days nor Sundays neither. I can't bear to see folks so pious to +meeting, and cheat yer eye-teeth out Monday morning. Well, there! we +ain't none of us perfect; even old Parson Moody was round-shouldered, +they say."</p> + +<p>"You were speaking of the Becketts just now," said +Mr. Lorimer (after we +had stopped laughing, and Mrs. Bonny had settled her big steel-bowed +spectacles, and sat looking at him with an expression of extreme wisdom. +One might have ventured to call her "peart," I +think). "How do they get +on? I am seldom in this region nowadays, since Mr. Reid has taken it +under his charge."</p> + +<p>"They get along, somehow or 'nother," replied Mrs. Bonny; +"they've got +the best farm this side of the ledge, but they're dreadful lazy and +shiftless, them young folks. Old Mis' Hate-evil Beckett was tellin' me +the other day—she that was Samanthy Barnes, you know—that +one of the +boys got fighting, the other side of the mountain, and come home with +his nose broke and a piece o' one ear bit off. I forget which ear it +was. Their mother is a real clever, willin' woman, and she takes it to +heart, but it's no use for her to say anything. Mis' Hate-evil Beckett, +says she, 'It does make my man feel dreadful to see his brother's folks +carry on so.' 'But there,' says I, 'Mis' Beckett, it's just such things +as we read of; Scriptur' is fulfilled: In the larter days there shall be +disobedient children.'"</p> + +<p>This application of the text was too much for us, but Mrs. Bonny looked +serious, and we did not like to laugh. Two or three of the exiled fowls +had crept slyly in, dodging underneath our chairs, and had perched +themselves behind the stove. They were long-legged, half-grown +creatures, and just at this minute one rash young rooster made a manful +attempt to crow. "Do tell!" said his mistress, who rose in +great wrath, +<a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a> +"you needn't be so forth-putting, as I knows on!" After this we were +urged to stay and have some supper. Mrs. Bonny assured us she could pick +a likely young hen in no time, fry her with a bit of pork, and get us up +"a good meat tea"; but we had to disappoint her, as we had +some distance +to walk to the house where we had left our horses, and a long drive +home.</p> + +<p>Kate asked if she would be kind enough to lend us a tumbler (for ours +was in the basket, which was given into Tommy's charge). We were +thirsty, and would like to go back to the spring and get some water.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear," said Mrs. Bonny, "I've got a glass, if +it's so's I can find +it." And she pulled a chair under the little cupboard over the +fireplace, mounted it, and opened the door. Several things fell out at +her, and after taking a careful survey she went in, head and shoulders, +until I thought that she would disappear altogether; but soon she came +back, and reaching in took out one treasure after another, putting them +on the mantel-piece or dropping them on the floor. There were some +bunches of dried herbs, a tin horn, a lump of tallow in a broken plate, +a newspaper, and an old boot, with a number of turkey-wings tied +together, several bottles, and a steel trap, and finally, such a +tumbler! which she produced with triumph, before stepping down. She +poured out of it on the table a mixture of old buttons and squash-seeds, +beside a lump of beeswax which she said she had lost, and now pocketed +with satisfaction. She wiped the tumbler on her apron and handed it to +Kate, but we were not so thirsty as we had been, though we thanked her +and went down to the spring, coming back as soon as possible, for we +could not lose a bit of the conversation.</p> + +<p>There was a beautiful view from the doorstep, and we stopped a minute +there. "Real sightly, ain't it?" said Mrs. Bonny. "But +you ought to be +here and look across the woods some morning just at sun-up. Why, the sky +is all yaller and red, and them low lands topped with fog! Yes, it's +nice weather, good growin' weather, this week. Corn and all the rest of +the trade looks first-rate. I call it a forrard season. It's just such +weather as we read of, ain't it?"</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>I don't remember where, +just at this moment," said Mr. Lorimer.</p> + +<p>"Why, in the almanac, bless ye!" said she, with a tone of +pity in her +grum voice; could it be possible he didn't know,—the Deephaven +minister!</p> + +<p>We asked her to come and see us. She said she had always thought she'd +get a chance some time to see Miss Katharine Brandon's house. She should +be pleased to call, and she didn't know but she should be down to the +shore before very long. She was 'shamed to look so shif'less that day, +but she had some good clothes in a chist in the bedroom, and a boughten +bonnet with a good cypress veil, which she had when "he" died. She +calculated they would do, though they might be old-fashioned, some. She +seemed greatly pleased at Mr. Lorimer's having taken the trouble to come +to see her. All those people had a great reverence for "the +minister." +We were urged to come again in "rosbry" time, which was near at hand, +and she gave us messages for some of her old customers and +acquaintances. "I believe some of those old creatur's will never +die," +said she; "why, they're getting to be ter'ble old, ain't they, Mr. +Lorimer? There! ye've done me a sight of good, and I wish I could ha' +found the Bible, to hear ye read a Psalm." When Mr. Lorimer shook hands +with her, at leaving, she made him a most reverential courtesy. He was +the greatest man she knew; and once during the call, when he was +speaking of serious things in his simple, earnest way, she had so devout +a look, and seemed so interested, that Kate and I, and Mr. Lorimer +himself, caught a new, fresh meaning in the familiar words he spoke.</p> + +<p>Living there in the lonely clearing, deep in the woods and far from any +neighbor, she knew all the herbs and trees and the harmless wild +creatures who lived among them, by heart; and she had an amazing store +of tradition and superstition, which made her so entertaining to us that +we went to see her many times before we came away in the autumn. We went +with her to find some pitcher-plants, one day, and it was wonderful how +much she knew about the woods, what keen observation she had. There was +something so wild and unconventional about Mrs. Bonny that it was like +taking an afternoon walk with a good-natured Indian. We used to +<a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>carry +her offerings of tobacco, for she was a great smoker, and advised us to +try it, if ever we should be troubled with nerves, or +"narves," as she +pronounced the name of that affliction.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="In_Shadow" id="In_Shadow"></a> +<a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>In Shadow</h2> + + +<p>Soon after we went to Deephaven we took a long drive one day with Mr. +Dockum, the kindest and silentest of men. He had the care of the Brandon +property, and had some business at that time connected with a large +tract of pasture-land perhaps ten miles from town. We had heard of the +coast-road which led to it, how rocky and how rough and wild it was, and +when Kate heard by chance that Mr. Dockum meant to go that way, she +asked if we might go with him. He said he would much rather take us than +"go sole alone," but he should be away until late and we +must take our +dinner, which we did not mind doing at all.</p> + +<p>After we were three or four miles from Deephaven the country looked very +different. The shore was so rocky that there were almost no places where +a boat could put in, so there were no fishermen in the region, and the +farms were scattered wide apart; the land was so poor that even the +trees looked hungry. At the end of our drive we left the horse at a +lonely little farm-house close by the sea. Mr. Dockum was to walk a long +way inland through the woods with a man whom he had come to meet, and he +told us if we followed the shore westward a mile or two we should find +some very high rocks, for which he knew we had a great liking. It was a +delightful day to spend out of doors; there was an occasional whiff of +east-wind. Seeing us seemed to be a perfect godsend to the people whose +nearest neighbors lived far out of sight. We had a long talk with them +before we went for our walk. The house was close by the water by a +narrow cove, around which the rocks were low, but farther down the shore +the land rose more and more, and at last we stood at the edge of the +highest rocks of all and looked far down at the sea, dashing its white +spray high over the ledges that quiet day. What could it be in winter +when there was a storm and the great waves came thundering in?</p> + +<p>After we had explored the shore to our hearts' content and were tired, +we rested for a while in the shadow of some gnarled pitch-pines which +stood close together, as near the +<a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>sea as they dared. They looked like a +band of outlaws; they were such wild-looking trees. They seemed very +old, and as if their savage fights with the winter winds had made them +hard-hearted. And yet the little wild-flowers and the thin green +grass-blades were growing fearlessly close around their feet; and there +were some comfortable birds'-nests in safe corners of their rough +branches.</p> + +<p>When we went back to the house at the cove we had to wait some time for +Mr. Dockum. We succeeded in making friends with the children, and gave +them some candy and the rest of our lunch, which luckily had been even +more abundant than usual. They looked thin and pitiful, but even in that +lonely place, where they so seldom saw a stranger or even a neighbor, +they showed that there was an evident effort to make them look like +other children, and they were neatly dressed, though there could be no +mistake about their being very poor. One forlorn little soul, with +honest gray eyes and a sweet, shy smile, showed us a string of beads +which she wore round her neck; there were perhaps two dozen of them, +blue and white, on a bit of twine, and they were the dearest things in +all her world. When we came away we were so glad that we could give the +man more than he asked us for taking care of the horse, and his thanks +touched us.</p> + +<p>"I hope ye may never know what it is to earn every dollar as hard as I +have. I never earned any money as easy as this before. I don't feel as +if I ought to take it. I've done the best I could," said the man, with +the tears coming into his eyes, and a huskiness in his voice. "I've done +the best I could, and I'm willin' and my woman is, but everything seems +to have been ag'in' us; we never seem to get forehanded. It looks +sometimes as if the Lord had forgot us, but my woman she never wants me +to say that; she says He ain't, and that we might be worse off,—but I +don' know. I haven't had my health; that's hendered me most. I'm a +boat-builder by trade, but the business's all run down; folks buys 'em +second-hand nowadays, and you can't make nothing. I can't stand it to +foller deep-sea fishing, and—well, you see what my land's wuth. But my +oldest boy, he's getting ahead. He pushed off this spring, and he works +in a box-shop to Boston; a cousin o' his mother's got him the chance. He +sent me ten dollars a +<a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>spell ago and his mother a +shawl. I don't see how +he done it, but he's smart!"</p> + +<p>This seemed to be the only bright spot in their lives, and we admired +the shawl and sat down in the house awhile with the mother, who seemed +kind and patient and tired, and to have great delight in talking about +what one should wear. Kate and I thought and spoke often of these people +afterward, and when one day we met the man in Deephaven we sent some +things to the children and his wife, and begged him to come to the house +whenever he came to town; but we never saw him again, and though we made +many plans for going again to the cove, we never did. At one time the +road was reported impassable, and we put off our second excursion for +this reason and others until just before we left Deephaven, late in +October.</p> + +<p>We knew the coast-road would be bad after the fall rains, and we found +that Leander, the eldest of the Dockum boys, had some errand that way, +so he went with us. We enjoyed the drive that morning in spite of the +rough road. The air was warm, and sweet with the smell of +bayberry-bushes and pitch-pines and the delicious saltness of the sea, +which was not far from us all the way. It was a perfect autumn day. +Sometimes we crossed pebble beaches, and then went farther inland, +through woods and up and down steep little hills; over shaky bridges +which crossed narrow salt creeks in the marsh-lands. There was a little +excitement about the drive, and an exhilaration in the air, and we +laughed at jokes forgotten the next minute, and sang, and were jolly +enough. Leander, who had never happened to see us in exactly this +hilarious state of mind before, seemed surprised and interested, and +became unusually talkative, telling us a great many edifying particulars +about the people whose houses we passed, and who owned every wood-lot +along the road. "Do you see that house over on the pi'nt?" +he asked. "An +old fellow lives there that's part lost his mind. He had a son who was +drowned off Cod Rock fishing, much as twenty-five years ago, and he's +worn a deep path out to the end of the pi'nt where he goes out every +hand's turn o' the day to see if he can't see the boat coming in." And +Leander looked round to see if we were not amused, +<a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>and seemed puzzled +because we didn't laugh. Happily, his next story was funny.</p> + +<p>We saw a sleepy little owl on the dead branch of a pine-tree; we saw a +rabbit cross the road and disappear in a clump of juniper, and squirrels +run up and down trees and along the stone-walls with acorns in their +mouths. We passed straggling thickets of the upland sumach, leafless, +and holding high their ungainly spikes of red berries; there were sturdy +barberry-bushes along the lonely wayside, their unpicked fruit hanging +in brilliant clusters. The blueberry-bushes made patches of dull red +along the hillsides. The ferns were whitish-gray and brown at the edges +of the woods, and the asters and golden-rods which had lately looked so +gay in the open fields stood now in faded, frost-bitten companies. There +were busy flocks of birds flitting from field to field, ready to start +on their journey southward.</p> + +<p>When we reached the house, to our surprise there was no one in sight and +the place looked deserted. We left the wagon, and while Leander went +toward the barn, which stood at a little distance, Kate and I went to +the house and knocked. I opened the door a little way and said +"Hallo!" +but nobody answered. The people could not have moved away, for there +were some chairs standing outside the door, and as I looked in I saw the +bunches of herbs hanging up, and a trace of corn, and the furniture was +all there. It was a great disappointment, for we had counted upon seeing +the children again. Leander said there was nobody at the barn, and that +they must have gone to a funeral; he couldn't think of anything else.</p> + +<p>Just now we saw some people coming up the road, and we thought at first +that they were the man and his wife coming back; but they proved to be +strangers, and we eagerly asked what had become of the family.</p> + +<p>"They're dead, both on 'em. His wife she died about nine weeks ago last +Sunday, and he died day before yesterday. Funeral's going to be this +afternoon. Thought ye were some of her folks from up country, when we +were coming along," said the man.</p> + +<p>"Guess they won't come nigh," said the woman, scornfully; +<a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a> "'fraid +they'd have to help provide for the children. I was half-sister to him, +and I've got to take the two least ones."</p> + +<p>"Did you say he was going to be buried this afternoon?" +asked Kate, +slowly. We were both more startled than I can tell.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the man, who seemed much better-natured than +his wife. She +appeared like a person whose only aim in life was to have things over +with. "Yes, we're going to bury at two o'clock. They had a master sight +of trouble, first and last."</p> + +<p>Leander had said nothing all this time. He had known the man, and had +expected to spend the day with him and to get him to go on two miles +farther to help bargain for a dory. He asked, in a disappointed way, +what had carried him off so sudden.</p> + +<p>"Drink," said the woman, relentlessly. "He ain't +been good for nothing +sence his wife died: she was took with a fever along in the first of +August. <i>I</i>'d ha' got up from it!"</p> + +<p>"Now don't be hard on the dead, Marthy," said her +husband. "I guess they +done the best they could. They weren't shif'less, you know; they never +had no health; 't was against wind and tide with 'em all the time." And +Kate asked, "Did you say he was your brother?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I was half-sister to him," said the woman, +promptly, with perfect +unconsciousness of Kate's meaning.</p> + +<p>"And what will become of those poor children?"</p> + +<p>"I've got the two youngest over to my place to take care on, +and the two +next them has been put out to some folks over to the cove. I dare say +like's not they'll be sent back."</p> + +<p>"They're clever child'n, I guess," said the man, who +spoke as if this +were the first time he had dared take their part. "Don't be ha'sh, +Marthy! Who knows but they may do for us when we get to be old?" And +then she turned and looked at him with utter contempt. "I can't stand it +to hear men-folks talking on what they don't know nothing about," said +she. "The ways of Providence is dreadful myster'ous," she +went on with a +whine, instead of the sharp tone of voice which we had heard before. +"We've had a hard row, and we've just got our own children off our hands +and able to do for themselves, and now here are these to be fetched +up."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>But perhaps they'll be a +help to you; they seem to be good little +things," said Kate. "I saw them in the summer, and they seemed to be +pleasant children, and it is dreadfully hard for them to be left alone. +It's not their fault, you know. We brought over something for them; will +you be kind enough to take the basket when you go home?"</p> + +<p>"Thank ye, I'm sure," said the aunt, relenting +slightly. "You can speak +to my man about it, and he'll give it to somebody that's going by. I've +got to walk in the procession. They'll be obliged, I'm sure. I s'pose +you're the young ladies that come here right after the Fourth o' July, +ain't you? I should be pleased to have you call and see the child'n if +you're over this way again. I heard 'em talk about you last time I was +over. Won't ye step into the house and see him? He looks real natural," +she added. But we said, "No, thank you."</p> + +<p>Leander told us he believed he wouldn't bother about the dory that day, +and he should be there at the house whenever we were ready. He evidently +considered it a piece of good luck that he had happened to arrive in +time for the funeral. We spoke to the man about the things we had +brought for the children, which seemed to delight him, poor soul, and we +felt sure he would be kind to them. His wife shouted to him from a +window of the house that he'd better not loiter round, or they wouldn't +be half ready when the folks began to come, and we said good by to him +and went away.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful morning, and we walked slowly along the shore to the +high rocks and the pitch-pine trees which we had seen before; the air +was deliciously fresh, and one could take long deep breaths of it. The +tide was coming in, and the spray dashed higher and higher. We climbed +about the rocks and went down in some of the deep cold clefts into which +the sun could seldom shine. We gathered some wild-flowers; bits of +pimpernel and one or two sprigs of fringed gentian which had bloomed +late in a sheltered place, and a pale little bouquet of asters. We sat +for a long time looking off to sea, and we could talk or think of almost +nothing beside what we had seen and heard at the farm-house. We said how +much we should like to go to that funeral, and we even made up our minds +to go back in season, but we gave up the idea: we had no right there, +and it would seem as if we were merely curious, +<a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>and we were afraid our +presence would make the people ill at ease, the minister especially. It +would be an intrusion.</p> + +<p>We spoke of the children, and tried to think what could be done for +them: we were afraid they would be told so many times that it was lucky +they did not have to go to the poor-house, and yet we could not help +pitying the hard-worked, discouraged woman whom we had seen, in spite of +her bitterness. Poor soul! she looked like a person to whom nobody had +ever been very kind, and for whom life had no pleasures: its sunshine +had never been warm enough to thaw the ice at her heart.</p> + +<p>We remembered how we knocked at the door and called loudly, but there +had been no answer, and we wondered how we should have felt if we had +gone farther into the room and had found the dead man in his coffin, all +alone in the house. We thought of our first visit, and what he had said +to us, and we wished we had come again sooner, for we might have helped +them so much more if we had only known.</p> + +<p>"What a pitiful ending it is," said Kate. "Do you +realize that the +family is broken up, and the children are to be half strangers to each +other? Did you not notice that they seemed very fond of each other when +we saw them in the summer? There was not half the roughness and apparent +carelessness of one another which one so often sees in the country. +Theirs was such a little world; one can understand how, when the man's +wife died, he was bewildered and discouraged, utterly at a loss. The +thoughts of winter, and of the little children, and of the struggles he +had already come through against poverty and disappointment were +terrible thoughts; and like a boat adrift at sea, the waves of his +misery brought him in against the rocks, and his simple life was +wrecked."</p> + +<p>"I suppose his grandest hopes and wishes would have been realized in a +good farm and a thousand or two dollars in safe keeping," said I. "Do +you remember that merry little song in 'As You Like It'?</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Who doth ambition shun<br /></span> +<span>And loves to live i' the sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Seeking the food he eats,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And pleased with what he gets';<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>and</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">'Here shall he see<br /></span> +<span class="i4">No enemy<br /></span> +<span>But winter and rough weather.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>That is all he lived for, his literal daily bread. I suppose what would +be prosperity to him would be miserably insufficient for some other +people. I wonder how we can help being conscious, in the midst of our +comforts and pleasures, of the lives which are being starved to death in +more ways than one."</p> + +<p>"I suppose one thinks more about these things as one grows +older," said +Kate, thoughtfully. "How seldom life in this world seems to be a +success! Among rich or poor only here and there one touches +satisfaction, though the one who seems to have made an utter failure may +really be the greatest conqueror. And, Helen, I find that I understand +better and better how unsatisfactory, how purposeless and disastrous, +any life must be which is not a Christian life! It is like being always +in the dark, and wandering one knows not where, if one is not learning +more and more what it is to have a friendship with God."</p> + +<p>By the middle of the afternoon the sky had grown cloudy, and a wind +seemed to be coming in off the sea, and we unwillingly decided that we +must go home. We supposed that the funeral would be all over with, but +found we had been mistaken when we reached the cove. We seated ourselves +on a rock near the water; just beside us was the old boat, with its +killick and painter stretched ashore, where its owner had left it.</p> + +<p>There were several men standing around the door of the house, looking +solemn and important, and by and by one of them came over to us, and we +found out a little more of the sad story. We liked this man, there was +so much pity in his face and voice. "He was a real willin', honest man, +Andrew was," said our new friend, "but he used to be sickly, +and seemed +to have no luck, though for a year or two he got along some better. When +his wife died he was sore afflicted, and couldn't get over it, and he +didn't know what to do or what was going to become of 'em with winter +comin' on, and—well—I may's well tell ye; he took to drink and it +<a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>killed him right off. I come over two or three times and made some +gruel and fixed him up's well's I could, and the little gals done the +best they could, but he faded right out, and didn't know anything the +last time I see him, and he died Sunday mornin', when the tide begun to +ebb. I always set a good deal by Andrew; we used to play together down +to the great cove; that's where he was raised, and my folks lived there +too. I've got one o' the little gals. I always knowed him and his +wife."</p> + +<p>Just now we heard the people in the house singing +"China," the Deephaven +funeral hymn, and the tune suited well that day, with its wailing rise +and fall; it was strangely plaintive. Then the funeral exercises were +over, and the man with whom we had just been speaking led to the door a +horse and rickety wagon, from which the seat had been taken, and when +the coffin had been put in he led the horse down the road a little way, +and we watched the mourners come out of the house two by two. We heard +some one scold in a whisper because the wagon was twice as far off as it +need have been. They evidently had a rigid funeral etiquette, and felt +it important that everything should be carried out according to rule. We +saw a forlorn-looking kitten, with a bit of faded braid round its neck, +run across the road in terror and presently appear again on the +stone-wall, where she sat looking at the people. We saw the dead man's +eldest son, of whom he had told us in the summer with such pride. He had +shown his respect for his father as best he could, by a black band on +his hat and a pair of black cotton gloves a world too large for him. He +looked so sad, and cried bitterly as he stood alone at the head of the +people. His aunt was next, with a handkerchief at her eyes, fully equal +to the proprieties of the occasion, though I fear her grief was not so +heartfelt as her husband's, who dried his eyes on his coat-sleeve again +and again. There were perhaps twenty of the mourners, and there was much +whispering among those who walked last. The minister and some others +fell into line, and the procession went slowly down the slope; a strange +shadow had fallen over everything. It was like a November day, for the +air felt cold and bleak. There were some great sea-fowl high in the air, +fighting their way toward the sea against the wind, and giving now and +then a wild, far-off +<a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>ringing cry. We could hear the +dull sound of the +sea, and at a little distance from the land the waves were leaping high, +and breaking in white foam over the isolated ledges.</p> + +<p>The rest of the people began to walk or drive away, but Kate and I stood +watching the funeral as it crept along the narrow, crooked road. We had +never seen what the people called "walking funerals" until we came to +Deephaven, and there was something piteous about this; the mourners +looked so few, and we could hear the rattle of the wagon-wheels. "He's +gone, ain't he?" said some one near us. That was +it,—<i>gone</i>.</p> + +<p>Before the people had entered the house, there had been, I am sure, an +indifferent, business-like look, but when they came out, all that was +changed; their faces were awed by the presence of death, and the +indifference had given place to uncertainty. Their neighbor was +immeasurably their superior now. Living, he had been a failure by their +own low standards; but now, if he could come back, he would know +secrets, and be wise beyond anything they could imagine, and who could +know the riches of which he might have come into possession?</p> + +<p>To Kate and me there came a sudden consciousness of the mystery and +inevitableness of death; it was not fear, thank God! but a thought of +how certain it was that some day it would be a mystery to us no longer. +And there was a thought, too, of the limitation of this present life; we +were waiting there, in company with the people, the great sea, and the +rocks and fields themselves, on this side the boundary. We knew just +then how close to this familiar, every-day world might be the other, +which at times before had seemed so far away, out of reach of even our +thoughts, beyond the distant stars.</p> + +<p>We stayed awhile longer, until the little black funeral had crawled out +of sight; until we had seen the last funeral guest go away and the door +had been shut and fastened with a queer old padlock and some links of +rusty chain. The door fitted loosely, and the man gave it a vindictive +shake, as if he thought that the poor house had somehow been to blame, +and that after a long desperate struggle for life under its roof and +among the stony fields the family must go away defeated. +<a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a> It is not +likely that any one else will ever go to live there. The man to whom the +farm was mortgaged will add the few forlorn acres to his pasture-land, +and the thistles which the man who is dead had fought so many years will +march in next summer and take unmolested possession.</p> + +<p>I think to-day of that fireless, empty, forsaken house, where the winter +sun shines in and creeps slowly along the floor; the bitter cold is in +and around the house, and the snow has sifted in at every crack; outside +it is untrodden by any living creature's footstep. The wind blows and +rushes and shakes the loose window-sashes in their frames, while the +padlock knocks—knocks against the door.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="Miss_Chauncey" id="Miss_Chauncey"></a> +<a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>Miss Chauncey</h2> + + +<p>The Deephaven people used to say sometimes complacently, that certain +things or certain people were "as dull as East Parish." Kate +and I grew +curious to see that part of the world which was considered duller than +Deephaven itself; and as upon inquiry we found that it was not out of +reach, one day we went there.</p> + +<p>It was like Deephaven, only on a smaller scale. The village—though it +is a question whether that is not an exaggerated term to apply—had +evidently seen better days. It was on the bank of a river, and perhaps +half a mile from the sea. There were a few old buildings there, some +with mossy roofs and a great deal of yellow lichen on the sides of the +walls next the sea; a few newer houses, belonging to fishermen; some +dilapidated fish-houses; and a row of fish-flakes. Every house seemed to +have a lane of its own, and all faced different ways except two +fish-houses, which stood amiably side by side. There was a church, which +we had been told was the oldest in the region. Through the windows we +saw the high pulpit and sounding-board, and finally found the keys at a +house near by; so we went in and looked around at our leisure. A rusty +foot-stove stood in one of the old square pews, and in the gallery there +was a majestic bass-viol with all its strings snapped but the largest, +which gave out a doleful sound when we touched it.</p> + +<p>After we left the church we walked along the road a little way, and came +in sight of a fine old house which had apparently fallen into ruin years +before. The front entrance was a fine specimen of old-fashioned +workmanship, with its columns and carvings, and the fence had been a +grand affair in its day, though now it could scarcely stand alone. The +long range of out-buildings were falling piece by piece; one shed had +been blown down entirely by a late high wind. The large windows had many +panes of glass, and the great chimneys were built of the bright red +bricks which used to be brought from over-seas in the days of the +colonies. We noticed the gnarled lilacs in the yard, the wrinkled +cinnamon-roses, and a +<a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>flourishing company of French +pinks, or "bouncing +Bets," as Kate called them.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we go in," said I; "the door is open a +little way. There surely +must be some stories about its being haunted. We will ask Miss Honora." +And we climbed over the boards which were put up like pasture-bars +across the wide front gateway.</p> + +<p>"We shall certainly meet a ghost," said Kate.</p> + +<p>Just as we stood on the steps the door was pulled wide open; we started +back, and, well-grown young women as we are, we have confessed since +that our first impulse was to run away. On the threshold there stood a +stately old woman who looked surprised at first sight of us, then +quickly recovered herself and stood waiting for us to speak. She was +dressed in a rusty black satin gown, with scant, short skirt and huge +sleeves; on her head was a great black bonnet with a high crown and a +close brim, which came far out over her face. "What is your +pleasure?" +said she; and we felt like two awkward children. Kate partially +recovered her wits, and asked which was the nearer way to Deephaven.</p> + +<p>"There is but one road, past the church and over the hill. It cannot be +missed." And she bowed gravely, when we thanked her and begged her +pardon, we hardly knew why, and came away.</p> + +<p>We looked back to see her still standing in the doorway. "Who in the +world can she be?" said Kate. And we wondered and puzzled and talked +over "the ghost" until we saw Miss Honora Carew, who told us +that it was +Miss Sally Chauncey.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I know her, poor old soul!" said Miss Honora; +"she has such a +sad history. She is the last survivor of one of the most aristocratic +old colonial families. The Chaunceys were of great renown until early in +the present century, and then their fortunes changed. They had always +been rich and well-educated, and I suppose nobody ever had a gayer, +happier time than Miss Sally did in her girlhood, for they entertained a +great deal of company and lived in fine style; but her father was +unfortunate in business, and at last was utterly ruined at the time of +the embargo; then he became partially insane, and died after many years +of poverty. I have often heard a tradition that a sailor to whom he had +broken a +<a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>promise had cursed him, and that +none of the family had died +in their beds or had any good luck since. The East Parish people seem to +believe in it, and it is certainly strange what terrible sorrow has come +to the Chaunceys. One of Miss Sally's brothers, a fine young officer in +the navy who was at home on leave, asked her one day if she could get on +without him, and she said yes, thinking he meant to go back to sea; but +in a few minutes she heard the noise of a pistol in his room, and +hurried in to find him lying dead on the floor. Then there was another +brother who was insane, and who became so violent that he was chained +for years in one of the upper chambers, a dangerous prisoner. I have +heard his horrid cries myself, when I was a young girl," said Miss +Honora, with a shiver.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sally is insane, and has been for many years, and this +seems to me +the saddest part of the story. When she first lost her reason she was +sent to a hospital, for there was no one who could take care of her. The +mania was so acute that no one had the slightest thought that she would +recover or even live long. Her guardian sold the furniture and pictures +and china, almost everything but clothing, to pay the bills at the +hospital, until the house was fairly empty; and then one spring day, I +remember it well, she came home in her right mind, and, without a +thought of what was awaiting her, ran eagerly into her home. It was a +terrible shock, and she never has recovered from it, though after a long +illness her insanity took a mild form, and she has always been perfectly +harmless. She has been alone many years, and no one can persuade her to +leave the old house, where she seems to be contented, and does not +realize her troubles; though she lives mostly in the past, and has +little idea of the present, except in her house affairs, which seem +pitiful to me, for I remember the housekeeping of the Chaunceys when I +was a child. I have always been to see her, and she usually knows me, +though I have been but seldom of late years. She is several years older +than I. The town makes her an allowance every year, and she has some +friends who take care that she does not suffer, though her wants are +few. She is an elegant woman still, and some day, if you like, I will +give you something to carry to her, and a message, if I can think of +one, and you must go to make her +<a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>a call. I hope she will happen to be +talkative, for I am sure you would enjoy her. For many years she did not +like to see strangers, but some one has told me lately that she seems to +be pleased if people go to see her."</p> + +<p>You may be sure it was not many days before Kate and I claimed the +basket and the message, and went again to East Parish. We boldly lifted +the great brass knocker, and were dismayed because nobody answered. +While we waited, a girl came up the walk and said that Miss Sally lived +up stairs, and she would speak to her if we liked. "Sometimes she don't +have sense enough to know what the knocker means," we were told. There +was evidently no romance about Miss Sally to our new acquaintance.</p> + +<p>"Do you think," said I, "that we might go in and +look around the lower +rooms? Perhaps she will refuse to see us."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed," said the girl; "only run the minute I +speak; you'll have +time enough, for she walks slow and is a little deaf."</p> + +<p>So we went into the great hall with its wide staircase and handsome +cornices and panelling, and then into the large parlor on the right, and +through it to a smaller room looking out on the garden, which sloped +down to the river. Both rooms had fine carved mantels, with Dutch-tiled +fireplaces, and in the cornices we saw the fastenings where pictures had +hung,—old portraits, perhaps. And what had become of them? The girl did +not know: the house had been the same ever since she could remember, +only it would all fall through into the cellar soon. But the old lady +was proud as Lucifer, and wouldn't hear of moving out.</p> + +<p>The floor in the room toward the river was so broken that it was not +safe, and we came back through the hall and opened the door at the foot +of the stairs. "Guess you won't want to stop long there," +said the girl. +Three old hens and a rooster marched toward us with great solemnity when +we looked in. The cobwebs hung in the room, as they often do in old +barns, in long, gray festoons; the lilacs outside grew close against the +two windows where the shutters were not drawn, and the light in the room +was greenish and dim.</p> + +<p>Then we took our places on the threshold, and the girl +<a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>went up stairs +and announced us to Miss Sally, and in a few minutes we heard her come +along the hall.</p> + +<p>"Sophia," said she, "where are the gentry +waiting?" And just then she +came in sight round the turn of the staircase. She wore the same great +black bonnet and satin gown, and looked more old-fashioned and ghostly +than before. She was not tall, but very erect, in spite of her great +age, and her eyes seemed to "look through you" in an uncanny way. She +slowly descended the stairs and came toward us with a courteous +greeting, and when we had introduced ourselves as Miss Carew's friends +she gave us each her hand in a most cordial way and said she was pleased +to see us. She bowed us into the parlor and brought us two rickety, +straight-backed chairs, which, with an old table, were all the furniture +there was in the room. "Sit ye down," said she, herself +taking a place +in the window-seat. I have seen few more elegant women than Miss +Chauncey. Thoroughly at her ease, she had the manner of a lady of the +olden times, using the quaint fashion of speech which she had been +taught in her girlhood. The long words and ceremonious phrases suited +her extremely well. Her hands were delicately shaped, and she folded +them in her lap, as no doubt she had learned to do at boarding-school so +many years before. She asked Kate and me if we knew any young ladies at +that school in Boston, saying that most of her intimate friends had left +when she did, but some of the younger ones were there still.</p> + +<p>She asked for the Carews and Mr. Lorimer, and when Kate told her that +she was Miss Brandon's niece, and asked if she had not known her, she +said, "Certainly, my dear; we were intimate friends at one time, but I +have seen her little of late."</p> + +<p>"Do you not know that she is dead?" asked Kate.</p> + +<p>"Ah, they say every one is 'dead,' nowadays. I do not comprehend the +silly idea!" said the old lady, impatiently. "It is an excuse, I +suppose. She could come to see me if she chose, but she was always a +ceremonious body, and I go abroad but seldom now; so perhaps she waits +my visit. I will not speak uncourteously, and you must remember me to +her kindly."</p> + +<p>Then she asked us about other old people in Deephaven, and about +families in Boston whom she had known in her +<a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>early days. I think every +one of whom she spoke was dead, but we assured her that they were all +well and prosperous, and we hoped we told the truth. She asked about the +love-affairs of men and women who had died old and gray-headed within +our remembrance; and finally she said we must pardon her for these +tiresome questions, but it was so rarely she saw any one direct from +Boston, of whom she could inquire concerning these old friends and +relatives of her family.</p> + +<p>Something happened after this which touched us both inexpressibly: she +sat for some time watching Kate with a bewildered look, which at last +faded away, a smile coming in its place. "I think you are like my +mother," she said; "did any one ever say to you that you are like my +mother? Will you let me see your forehead? Yes; and your hair is only a +little darker." Kate had risen when Miss Chauncey did, and they stood +side by side. There was a tone in the old lady's voice which brought the +tears to my eyes. She stood there some minutes looking at Kate. I wonder +what her thoughts were. There was a kinship, it seemed to me, not of +blood, only that they both were of the same stamp and rank: Miss +Chauncey of the old generation and Kate Lancaster of the new. Miss +Chauncey turned to me, saying, "Look up at the portrait and you will see +the likeness too, I think." But when she turned and saw the bare +wainscoting of the room, she looked puzzled, and the bright flash which +had lighted up her face was gone in an instant, and she sat down again +in the window-seat; but we were glad that she had forgotten. Presently +she said, "Pardon me, but I forget your question."</p> + +<p>Miss Carew had told us to ask her about her school-days, as she nearly +always spoke of that time to her; and, to our delight, Miss Sally told +us a long story about her friends and about her "coming-out +party," when +boat-loads of gay young guests came down from Riverport, and all the +gentry from Deephaven. The band from the fort played for the dancing, +the garden was lighted, the card-tables were in this room, and a grand +supper was served. She also remembered what some of her friends wore, +and her own dress was a silver-gray brocade with rosebuds of three +colors. She told us how she watched the boats go off up river in the +middle of the summer night; how sweet the music sounded; how bright the +<a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>moonlight was; how she wished we +had been there at her party.</p> + +<p>"I can't believe I am an old woman. It seems only +yesterday," said she, +thoughtfully. And then she lost the idea, and talked about Kate's +great-grandmother, whom she had known, and asked us how she had been +this summer.</p> + +<p>She asked us if we would like to go up stairs where she had a fire, and +we eagerly accepted, though we were not in the least cold. Ah, what a +sorry place it was! She had gathered together some few pieces of her old +furniture, which half filled one fine room, and here she lived. There +was a tall, handsome chest of drawers, which I should have liked much to +ransack. Miss Carew had told us that Miss Chauncey had large claims +against the government, dating back sixty or seventy years, but nobody +could ever find the papers; and I felt sure that they must be hidden +away in some secret drawer. The brass handles and trimmings were +blackened, and the wood looked like ebony. I wanted to climb up and look +into the upper part of this antique piece of furniture, and it seemed to +me I could at once put my hand on a package of "papers relating to the +embargo."</p> + +<p>On a stand near the window was an old Bible, fairly worn out with +constant use. Miss Chauncey was religious; in fact, it was the only +subject about which she was perfectly sane. We saw almost nothing of her +insanity that day, though afterward she was different. There were days +when her mind seemed clear; but sometimes she was silent, and often she +would confuse Kate with Miss Brandon, and talk to her of long-forgotten +plans and people. She would rarely speak of anything more than a minute +or two, and then would drift into an entirely foreign subject.</p> + +<p>She urged us that afternoon to stay to luncheon with her; she said she +could not offer us dinner, but she would give us tea and biscuit, and no +doubt we should find something in Miss Carew's basket, as she was always +kind in remembering her fancies. Miss Honora had told us to decline, if +she asked us to stay; but I should have liked to see her sit at the head +of her table, and to be a guest at such a lunch-party.</p> + +<p>Poor creature! it was a blessed thing that her shattered reason made her +unconscious of the change in her fortunes, and +<a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>incapable of comparing +the end of her life with its beginning. To herself she was still Miss +Chauncey, a gentlewoman of high family, possessed of unusual worldly +advantages. The remembrance of her cruel trials and sorrows had faded +from her mind. She had no idea of the poverty of her surroundings when +she paced back and forth, with stately steps, on the ruined terraces of +her garden; the ranks of lilies and the conserve-roses were still in +bloom for her, and the box-borders were as trimly kept as ever; and when +she pointed out to us the distant steeples of Riverport, it was plain to +see that it was still the Riverport of her girlhood. If the boat-landing +at the foot of the garden had long ago dropped into the river and gone +out with the tide; if the maids and men who used to do her bidding were +all out of hearing; if there had been no dinner company that day and no +guests were expected for the evening,—what did it matter? The twilight +had closed around her gradually, and she was alone in her house, but she +did not heed the ruin of it or the absence of her friends. On the +morrow, life would again go on.</p> + +<p>We always used to ask her to read the Bible to us, after Mr. Lorimer had +told us how grand and beautiful it was to listen to her. I shall never +hear some of the Psalms or some chapters of Isaiah again without being +reminded of her; and I remember just now, as I write, one summer +afternoon when Kate and I had lingered later than usual, and we sat in +the upper room looking out on the river and the shore beyond, where the +light had begun to grow golden as the day drew near sunset. Miss Sally +had opened the great book at random and read slowly, "In my Father's +house are many mansions"; and then, looking off for a moment at a leaf +which had drifted into the window-recess, she repeated it: "In my +Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told +you." Then she went on slowly to the end of the chapter, and with her +hands clasped together on the Bible she fell into a reverie, and the +tears came into our eyes as we watched her look of perfect content. +Through all her clouded years the promises of God had been her only +certainty.</p> + +<p>Miss Chauncey died early in the winter after we left Deephaven, and one +day when I was visiting Kate in Boston Mr. Lorimer came to see us, and +told us about her.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>It seems that after much +persuasion she was induced to go to spend the +winter with a neighbor, her house having become uninhabitable, and she +was, beside, too feeble to live alone. But her fondness for her old home +was too strong, and one day she stole away from the people who took care +of her, and crept in through the cellar, where she had to wade through +half-frozen water, and then went up stairs, where she seated herself at +a front window and called joyfully to the people who went by, asking +them to come in to see her, as she had got home again. After this she +was very ill, and one day, when she was half delirious, they missed her, +and found her at last sitting on her hall stairway, which she was too +feeble to climb. She lived but a short time afterwards, and in her last +days her mind seemed perfectly clear. She said over and over again how +good God had always been to her, and she was gentle, and unwilling to be +a trouble to those who had the care of her.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lorimer spoke of her simple goodness, and told us that though she +had no other sense of time, and hardly knew if it were summer or winter, +she was always sure when Sunday came, and always came to church when he +preached at East Parish, her greatest pleasure seeming to be to give +money, if there was a contribution. "She may be a lesson to +us," added +the old minister, reverently; "for, though bewildered in mind, bereft of +riches and friends and all that makes this world dear to many of us, she +was still steadfast in her simple faith, and was never heard to complain +of any of the burdens which God had given her."</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="Last_Days_in_Deephaven" +id="Last_Days_in_Deephaven"></a> +<a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>Last Days in Deephaven</h2> + + +<p>When the summer was ended it was no sorrow to us, for we were even more +fond of Deephaven in the glorious autumn weather than we had ever been +before. Mr. Lancaster was abroad longer than he had intended to be at +first, and it was late in the season before we left. We were both ready +to postpone going back to town as late as possible; but at last it was +time for my friend to re-establish the Boston housekeeping, and to take +up the city life again. I must admit we half dreaded it: we were +surprised to find how little we cared for it, and how well one can get +on without many things which are thought indispensable.</p> + +<p>For the last fortnight we were in the house a good deal, because the +weather was wet and dreary. At one time there was a magnificent storm, +and we went every day along the shore in the wind and rain for a mile or +two to see the furious great breakers come plunging in against the +rocks. I never had seen such a wild, stormy sea as that; the rage of it +was awful, and the whole harbor was white with foam. The wind had blown +northeast steadily for days, and it seemed to me that the sea never +could be quiet and smooth and blue again, with soft white clouds sailing +over it in the sky. It was a treacherous sea; it was wicked; it had all +the trembling land in its power, if it only dared to send its great +waves far ashore. All night long the breakers roared, and the wind +howled in the chimneys, and in the morning we always looked fearfully +across the surf and the tossing gray water to see if the lighthouse were +standing firm on its rock. It was so slender a thing to hold its own in +such a wide and monstrous sea. But the sun came out at last, and not +many days afterward we went out with Danny and Skipper Scudder to say +good by to Mrs. Kew. I have been some voyages at sea, but I never was so +danced about in a little boat as I was that day. There was nothing to +fear with so careful a crew, and we only enjoyed the roughness as we +went out and in, though it took much manoeuvring to land us at the +island.</p> + +<p>It was very sad work to us—saying good by to our friends, +<a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>and we tried +to make believe that we should spend the next summer in Deephaven, and +we meant at any rate to go down for a visit. We were glad when the +people said they should miss us, and that they hoped we should not +forget them and the old place. It touched us to find that they cared so +much for us, and we said over and over again how happy we had been, and +that it was such a satisfactory summer. Kate laughingly proposed one +evening, as we sat talking by the fire and were particularly contented, +that we should copy the Ladies of Llangollen, and remove ourselves from +society and its distractions.</p> + +<p>"I have thought often, lately," said my friend, +"what a good time they +must have had, and I feel a sympathy and friendliness for them which I +never felt before. We could have guests when we chose, as we have had +this summer, and we could study and grow very wise, and what could be +pleasanter? But I wonder if we should grow very lazy if we stayed here +all the year round; village life is not stimulating, and there would not +be much to do in winter,—though I do not believe that need be true; one +may be busy and useful in any place."</p> + +<p>"I suppose if we really belonged in Deephaven we should think it a hard +fate, and not enjoy it half so much as we have this summer," said I. +"Our idea of happiness would be making long visits in Boston; and we +should be heart-broken when we had to come away and leave our +lunch-parties, and symphony concerts, and calls, and fairs, the +reading-club and the childrens' hospital. We should think the people +uncongenial and behind the times, and that the Ridge road was stupid and +the long sands desolate; while we remembered what delightful walks we +had taken out Beacon Street to the three roads, and over the Cambridge +Bridge. Perhaps we should even be ashamed of the dear old church for +being so out of fashion. We should have the blues dreadfully, and think +there was no society here, and wonder why we had to live in such a +town."</p> + +<p>"What a gloomy picture!" said Kate, laughing. "Do +you know that I have +understood something lately better than I ever did before,—it is that +success and happiness are not things of chance with us, but of choice. I +can see how we +<a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>might so easily have had a dull +summer here. Of course +it is our own fault if the events of our lives are hindrances; it is we +who make them bad or good. Sometimes it is a conscious choice, but +oftener unconscious. I suppose we educate ourselves for taking the best +of life or the worst, do not you?"</p> + +<p>"Dear old Deephaven!" said Kate, gently, after we had +been silent a +little while. "It makes me think of one of its own old ladies, with its +clinging to the old fashions and its respect for what used to be +respectable when it was young. I cannot make fun of what was once dear +to somebody, and which realized somebody's ideas of beauty or fitness. I +don't dispute the usefulness of a new, bustling, manufacturing town with +its progressive ideas; but there is a simple dignity in a town like +Deephaven, as if it tried to be loyal to the traditions of its +ancestors. It quietly accepts its altered circumstances, if it has seen +better days, and has no harsh feelings toward the places which have +drawn away its business, but it lives on, making its old houses and +boats and clothes last as long as possible."</p> + +<p>"I think one cannot help," said I, "having a +different affection for an +old place like Deephaven from that which one may have for a newer town. +Here—though there are no exciting historical associations and none of +the veneration which one has for the very old cities and towns +abroad—it is impossible not to remember how many people have walked the +streets and lived in the houses. I was thinking to-day how many girls +might have grown up in this house, and that their places have been ours; +we have inherited their pleasures, and perhaps have carried on work +which they began. We sit in somebody's favorite chair and look out of +the windows at the sea, and have our wishes and our hopes and plans just +as they did before us. Something of them still lingers where their lives +were spent. We are often reminded of our friends who have died; why are +we not reminded as surely of strangers in such a house as this,—finding +some trace of the lives which were lived among the sights we see and the +things we handle, as the incense of many masses lingers in some old +cathedral, and one catches the spirit of longing and prayer where so +many heavy hearts have brought their burdens and have gone away +comforted?"</p> + +<p>"When I first came here," said Kate, "it used to +seem very +<a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>sad to me to +find Aunt Katharine's little trinkets lying about the house. I have +often thought of what you have just said. I heard Mrs. Patton say the +other day that there is no pocket in a shroud, and of course it is +better that we should carry nothing out of this world. Yet I can't help +wishing that it were possible to keep some of my worldly goods always. +There are one or two books of mine and some little things which I have +had a long time, and of which I have grown very fond. It makes me so +sorry to think of their being neglected and lost. I cannot believe I +shall forget these earthly treasures when I am in heaven, and I wonder +if I shall not miss them. Isn't it strange to think of not reading one's +Bible any more? I suppose this is a very low view of heaven, don't you?" +And we both smiled.</p> + +<p>"I think the next dwellers in this house ought to find a decided +atmosphere of contentment," said I. "Have you ever thought +that it took +us some time to make it your house instead of Miss Brandon's? It used to +seem to me that it was still under her management, that she was its +mistress; but now it belongs to you, and if I were ever to come back +without you I should find you here."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>It is bewildering to know that this is the last chapter, and that it +must not be long. I remember so many of our pleasures of which I have +hardly said a word. There were our guests, of whom I have told you +nothing, and of whom there was so much to say. Of course we asked my +Aunt Mary to visit us, and Miss Margaret Tennant, and many of our +girlfriends. All the people we know who have yachts made the port of +Deephaven if they were cruising in the neighboring waters. Once a most +cheerful party of Kate's cousins and some other young people whom we +knew very well came to visit us in this way, and the yacht was kept in +the harbor a week or more, while we were all as gay as bobolinks and +went frisking about the country, and kept late hours in the sober old +Brandon house. My Aunt Mary, who was with us, and Kate's aunt, Mrs. +Thorniford, who knew the Carews, and was commander of the yacht-party, +tried to keep us in order, and to make us ornaments to Deephaven society +instead of reproaches and stumbling-blocks. Kate's younger brothers were +<a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>with us, waiting until it was +time for them to go back to college, and +I think there never had been such picnics in Deephaven before, and I +fear there never will be again.</p> + +<p>We are fond of reading, and we meant to do a great deal of it, as every +one does who goes away for the summer; but I must confess that our grand +plans were not well carried out. Our German dictionaries were on the +table in the west parlor until the sight of them mortified us, and +finally, to avoid their silent reproach, I put them in the closet, with +the excuse that it would be as easy to get them there, and they would be +out of the way. We used to have the magazines sent us from town; you +would have smiled at the box of books which we carried to Deephaven, and +indeed we sent two or three times for others; but I do not remember that +we ever carried out that course of study which we had planned with so +much interest. We were out of doors so much that there was often little +time for anything else.</p> + +<p>Kate said one day that she did not care, in reading, to be always making +new acquaintances, but to be seeing more of old ones; and I think it is +a very wise idea. We each have our pet books; Kate carries with her a +much-worn copy of "Mr. Rutherford's Children," which has been her +delight ever since she can remember. Sibyl and Chryssa are dear old +friends, though I suppose now it is not merely what Kate reads, but what +she associates with the story. I am not often separated from Jean +Ingelow's "Stories told to a Child," that charmingly wise +and pleasant +little book. It is always new, like Kate's favorite. It is very hard to +make a list of the books one likes best, but I remember that we had "The +Village on the Cliff," and "Henry Esmond," and +"Tom Brown at Rugby," +with his more serious ancestor, "Sir Thomas Browne." I am sure we had +"Fenelon," for we always have that; and there was "Pet +Marjorie," and +"Rab," and "Annals of a Parish," and "The +Life of the Reverend Sydney +Smith"; beside Miss Tytler's "Days of Yore," and +"The Holy and Profane +State," by Thomas Fuller, from which Kate gets so much entertainment and +profit. We read Mr. Emerson's essays together, out of doors, and some +stories which had been our dear friends at school, like "Leslie +Goldthwaite." There was a very good library in the house, and we both +like old books, so we enjoyed +<a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>that. And we used to read the Spectator, +and many old-fashioned stories and essays and sermons, with much more +pleasure because they had such quaint old brown leather bindings. You +will not doubt that we had some cherished volumes of poetry, or that we +used to read them aloud to each other when we sat in our favorite corner +of the rocks at the shore, or were in the pine woods of an afternoon.</p> + +<p>We used to go out to tea, and do a great deal of social visiting, which +was very pleasant. Dinner-parties were not in fashion, though it was a +great attention to be asked to spend the day, which courtesy we used to +delight in extending to our friends; and we entertained company in that +way often. When we first went out we were somewhat interesting on +account of our clothes, which were of later pattern than had been +adopted generally in Deephaven. We used to take great pleasure in +arraying ourselves on high days and holidays, since when we went +wandering on shore, or out sailing or rowing, we did not always dress as +befitted our position in the town. Fish-scales and blackberry-briers so +soon disfigure one's clothes.</p> + +<p>We became in the course of time learned in all manner of 'longshore +lore, and even profitably employed ourselves one morning in going +clam-digging with old Ben Horn, a most fascinating ancient mariner. We +both grew so well and brown and strong, and Kate and I did not get tired +of each other at all, which I think was wonderful, for few friendships +would bear such a test. We were together always, and alone together a +great deal; and we became wonderfully well acquainted. We are such good +friends that we often were silent for a long time, when mere +acquaintances would have felt compelled to talk and try to entertain +each other.</p> + +<p>Before we left the leaves had fallen off all the trees except the oaks, +which make in cold weather one of the dreariest sounds one ever hears: a +shivering rustle, which makes one pity the tree and imagine it +shelterless and forlorn. The sea had looked rough and cold for many +days, and the old house itself had grown chilly,—all the world seemed +waiting for the snow to come. There was nobody loitering on the wharves, +and when we went down the street we walked fast, arm in arm, to keep +warm. The houses were shut up as close as possible, +<a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>and the old sailors +did not seem cheery any longer; they looked forlorn, and it was not a +pleasant prospect to be so long weather-bound in port. If they ventured +out, they put on ancient great-coats, with huge flaps to the pockets and +large horn buttons, and they looked contemptuously at the vane, which +always pointed to the north or east. It felt like winter, and the +captains rolled more than ever as they walked, as if they were on deck +in a heavy sea. The rheumatism claimed many victims, and there was one +day, it must be confessed, when a biting, icy fog was blown in-shore, +that Kate and I were willing to admit that we could be as comfortable in +town, and it was almost time for sealskin jackets.</p> + +<p>In the front yards we saw the flower-beds black with frost, except a few +brave pansies which had kept green and had bloomed under the tall +china-aster stalks, and one day we picked some of these little flowers +to put between the leaves of a book and take away with us. I think we +loved Deephaven all the more in those last days, with a bit of +compassion in our tenderness for the dear old town which had so little +to amuse it. So long a winter was coming, but we thought with a sigh how +pleasant it would be in the spring.</p> + +<p>You would have smiled at the treasures we brought away with us. We had +become so fond of even our fishing-lines; and this very day you may see +in Kate's room two great bunches of Deephaven cat-o'-nine-tails. They +were much in our way on the journey home, but we clung affectionately to +these last sheaves of our harvest.</p> + +<p>The morning we came away our friends were all looking out from door or +window to see us go by, and after we had passed the last house and there +was no need to smile any longer, we were very dismal. The sun was +shining again bright and warm as if the Indian summer were beginning, +and we wished that it had been a rainy day.</p> + +<p>The thought of Deephaven will always bring to us our long quiet summer +days, and reading aloud on the rocks by the sea, the fresh salt air, and +the glory of the sunsets; the wail of the Sunday psalm-singing at +church, the yellow lichen that grew over the trees, the houses, and the +stone-walls; our boating and wanderings ashore; our importance as +members of society, and how kind every one was to us both. By and by +<a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>the Deephaven warehouses will +fall and be used for firewood by the +fisher-people, and the wharves will be worn away by the tides. The few +old gentlefolks who still linger will be dead then; and I wonder if some +day Kate Lancaster and I will go down to Deephaven for the sake of old +times, and read the epitaphs in the burying-ground, look out to sea, and +talk quietly about the girls who were so happy there one summer long +before. I should like to walk along the beach at sunset, and watch the +color of the marshes and the sea change as the light of the sky goes +out. It would make the old days come back vividly. We should see the +roofs and chimneys of the village, and the great Chantrey elms look +black against the sky. A little later the marsh fog would show faintly +white, and we should feel it deliciously cold and wet against our hands +and faces; when we looked up there would be a star; the crickets would +chirp loudly; perhaps some late sea-birds would fly inland. Turning, we +should see the lighthouse lamp shine out over the water, and the great +sea would move and speak to us lazily in its idle, high-tide sleep.</p> + + +<hr class="book" /> +<h1><a name="SELECTED_STORIES_AND_SKETCHES" +id="SELECTED_STORIES_AND_SKETCHES"> +</a><a name="Page_569" id="Page_569"></a>Selected Stories and Sketches</h1> + + +<h2><a name="Page_570" id="Page_570"></a>Contents</h2> + +<ul> + <li class="contents"><a href="#An_Autumn_Holiday">An Autumn + Holiday</a> </li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#From_a_Mournful_Villager">From a + Mournful Villager</a> </li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#An_October_Ride">An October + Ride</a> </li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#Toms_Husband">Tom's Husband</a> </li> + <li class="contents"><a href="#Miss_Debbys_Neighbors">Miss Debby's + Neighbors</a> </li> +</ul> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="An_Autumn_Holiday" +id="An_Autumn_Holiday"></a> +<a name="Page_571" id="Page_571"></a>An Autumn Holiday</h2> + + +<p>I had started early in the afternoon for a long walk; it was just the +weather for walking, and I went across the fields with a delighted +heart. The wind came straight in from the sea, and the sky was bright +blue; there was a little tinge of red still lingering on the maples, and +my dress brushed over the late golden-rods, while my old dog, who seemed +to have taken a new lease of youth, jumped about wildly and raced after +the little birds that flew up out of the long brown grass—the constant +little chickadees, that would soon sing before the coming of snow. But +this day brought no thought of winter; it was one of the October days +when to breathe the air is like drinking wine, and every touch of the +wind against one's face is a caress: like a quick, sweet kiss, that wind +is. You have a sense of companionship; it is a day that loves you.</p> + +<p>I went strolling along, with this dear idle day for company; it was a +pleasure to be alive, and to go through the dry grass, and to spring +over the stone walls and the shaky pasture fences. I stopped by each of +the stray apple-trees that came in my way, to make friends with it, or +to ask after its health, if it were an old friend. These old apple-trees +make very charming bits of the world in October; the leaves cling to +them later than to the other trees, and the turf keeps short and green +underneath; and in this grass, which was frosty in the morning, and has +not quite dried yet, you can find some cold little cider apples, with +one side knurly, and one shiny bright red or yellow cheek. They are wet +with dew, these little apples, and a black ant runs anxiously over them +when you turn them round and round to see where the best place is to +bite. There will almost always be a bird's nest in the tree, and it is +most likely to be a robin's nest. The prehistoric robins must have been +cave dwellers, for they still make their nests as much like cellars as +they can, though they follow the new fashion and build them aloft. One +always has a thought of spring at the sight of a robin's nest. It is so +little while ago that it was spring, and we were so glad to have the +birds come back, and the life of the new year was just showing itself; +we were +<a name="Page_572" id="Page_572"></a>looking forward to so much growth +and to the realization and +perfection of so many things. I think the sadness of autumn, or the +pathos of it, is like that of elderly people. We have seen how the +flowers looked when they bloomed and have eaten the fruit when it was +ripe; the questions have had their answer, the days we waited for have +come and gone. Everything has stopped growing. And so the children have +grown to be men and women, their lives have been lived, the autumn has +come. We have seen what our lives would be like when we were older; +success or disappointment, it is all over at any rate. Yet it only makes +one sad to think it is autumn with the flowers or with one's own life, +when one forgets that always and always there will be the spring again.</p> + +<p>I am very fond of walking between the roads. One grows so familiar with +the highways themselves. But once leap the fence and there are a hundred +roads that you can take, each with its own scenery and entertainment. +Every walk of this kind proves itself a tour of exploration and +discovery, and the fields of my own town, which I think I know so well, +are always new fields. I find new ways to go, new sights to see, new +friends among the things that grow, and new treasures and pleasures +every summer; and later, when the frosts have come and the swamps have +frozen, I can go everywhere I like all over my world.</p> + +<p>That afternoon I found something I had never seen before—a +little grave +alone in a wide pasture which had once been a field. The nearest house +was at least two miles away, but by hunting for it I found a very old +cellar, where the child's home used to be, not very far off, along the +slope. It must have been a great many years ago that the house had stood +there; and the small slate head-stone was worn away by the rain and +wind, so there was nothing to be read, if indeed there had ever been any +letters on it. It had looked many a storm in the face, and many a red +sunset. I suppose the woods near by had grown and been cut, and grown +again, since it was put there. There was an old sweet-brier bush growing +on the short little grave, and in the grass underneath I found a +ground-sparrow's nest. It was like a little neighborhood, and I have +felt ever since as if I belonged to it; and I wondered then if one of +the young ground-sparrows was not always +<a name="Page_573" id="Page_573"></a>sent to take the nest when the +old ones were done with it, so they came back in the spring year after +year to live there, and there were always the stone and the sweet-brier +bush and the birds to remember the child. It was such a lonely place in +that wide field under the great sky, and yet it was so comfortable too; +but the sight of the little grave at first touched me strangely, and I +tried to picture to myself the procession that came out from the house +the day of the funeral, and I thought of the mother in the evening after +all the people had gone home, and how she missed the baby, and kept +seeing the new grave out here in the twilight as she went about her +work. I suppose the family moved away, and so all the rest were buried +elsewhere.</p> + +<p>I often think of this place, and I link it in my thoughts with something +I saw once in the water when I was out at sea: a little boat that some +child had lost, that had drifted down the river and out to sea; too long +a voyage, for it was a sad little wreck, with even its white sail of a +hand-breadth half under water, and its twine rigging trailing astern. It +was a silly little boat, and no loss, except to its owner, to whom it +had seemed as brave and proud a thing as any ship of the line to you and +me. It was a shipwreck of his small hopes, I suppose, and I can see it +now, the toy of the great winds and waves, as it floated on its way, +while I sailed on mine, out of sight of land.</p> + +<p>The little grave is forgotten by everybody but me, I think: the mother +must have found the child again in heaven a very long time ago: but in +the winter I shall wonder if the snow has covered it well, and next year +I shall go to see the sweet-brier bush when it is in bloom. God knows +what use that life was, the grave is such a short one, and nobody knows +whose little child it was; but perhaps a thousand people in the world +to-day are better because it brought a little love into the world that +was not there before.</p> + +<p>I sat so long here in the sun that the dog, after running after all the +birds, and even chasing crickets, and going through a great piece of +affectation in barking before an empty woodchuck's hole to kill time, +came to sit patiently in front of me, as if he wished to ask when I +would go on. I had never been in this part of the pasture before. It was +at one +<a name="Page_574" id="Page_574"></a>side of the way I usually took, +so presently I went on to find a +favorite track of mine, half a mile to the right, along the bank of a +brook. There had been heavy rains the week before, and I found more +water than usual running, and the brook was apparently in a great hurry. +It was very quiet along the shore of it; the frogs had long ago gone +into winter-quarters, and there was not one to splash into the water +when he saw me coming. I did not see a musk-rat either, though I knew +where their holes were by the piles of fresh-water mussel shells that +they had untidily thrown out at their front door. I thought it might be +well to hunt for mussels myself, and crack them in search of pearls, but +it was too serene and beautiful a day. I was not willing to disturb the +comfort of even a shell-fish. It was one of the days when one does not +think of being tired: the scent of the dry everlasting flowers, and the +freshness of the wind, and the cawing of the crows, all come to me as I +think of it, and I remember that I went a long way before I began to +think of going home again. I knew I could not be far from a cross-road, +and when I climbed a low hill I saw a house which I was glad to make the +end of my walk—for a time, at any rate. It was some time since I had +seen the old woman who lived there, and I liked her dearly, and was sure +of a welcome. I went down through the pasture lane, and just then I saw +my father drive away up the road, just too far for me to make him hear +when I called. That seemed too bad at first, until I remembered that he +would come back again over the same road after a while, and in the mean +time I could make my call. The house was low and long and unpainted, +with a great many frost-bitten flowers about it. Some hollyhocks were +bowed down despairingly, and the morning-glory vines were more miserable +still. Some of the smaller plants had been covered to keep them from +freezing, and were braving out a few more days, but no shelter would +avail them much longer. And already nobody minded whether the gate was +shut or not, and part of the great flock of hens were marching proudly +about among the wilted posies, which they had stretched their necks +wistfully through the fence for all summer. I heard the noise of +spinning in the house, and my dog scurried off after the cat as I went +in the door. I saw Miss Polly Marsh and her sister, Mrs. Snow, stepping +back and +<a name="Page_575" id="Page_575"></a>forward together spinning yarn at +a pair of big wheels. The +wheels made such a noise with their whir and creak, and my friends were +talking so fast as they twisted and turned the yarn, that they did not +hear my footstep, and I stood in the doorway watching them, it was such +a quaint and pretty sight. They went together like a pair of horses, and +kept step with each other to and fro. They were about the same size, and +were cheerful old bodies, looking a good deal alike, with their checked +handkerchiefs over their smooth gray hair, their dark gowns made short +in the skirts, and their broad little feet in gray stockings and low +leather shoes without heels. They stood straight, and though they were +quick at their work they moved stiffly; they were talking busily about +some one.</p> + +<p>"I could tell by the way the doctor looked that he didn't think there +was much of anything the matter with her," said Miss Polly +Marsh. "'You +needn't tell me,' says I, the other day, when I see him at Miss +Martin's. 'She'd be up and about this minute if she only had a mite o' +resolution;' and says he, 'Aunt Polly, you're as near right as usual;'" +and the old lady stopped to laugh a little. "I told him that wa'n't +saying much," said she, with an evident consciousness of the underlying +compliment and the doctor's good opinion. "I never knew one of that +tribe that hadn't a queer streak and wasn't shif'less; but they're +tougher than ellum roots;" and she gave the wheel an emphatic turn, +while Mrs. Snow reached for more rolls of wool, and happened to see me.</p> + +<p>"Wherever did you come from?" said they, in great +surprise. "Why, you +wasn't anywhere in sight when I was out speaking to the doctor," said +Mrs. Snow. "Oh, come over horseback, I suppose. Well, now, we're pleased +to see ye."</p> + +<p>"No," said I, "I walked across the fields. It was +too pleasant to stay +in the house, and I haven't had a long walk for some time before." I +begged them not to stop spinning, but they insisted that they should not +have turned the wheels a half-dozen times more, even if I had not come, +and they pushed them back to the wall before they came to sit down to +talk with me over their knitting—for neither of them were ever known to +be idle. Mrs. Snow was only there for a visit; she was a widow, and +lived during most of the year with her son; and Aunt Polly was at home +but seldom herself, as she was a +<a name="Page_576" id="Page_576"></a>famous nurse, and was often in demand +all through that part of the country. I had known her all my days. +Everybody was fond of the good soul, and she had been one of the most +useful women in the world. One of my pleasantest memories is of a long +but not very painful illness one winter, when she came to take care of +me. There was no end either to her stories or her kindness. I was +delighted to find her at home that afternoon, and Mrs. Snow also.</p> + +<p>Aunt Polly brought me some of her gingerbread, which she knew I liked, +and a stout little pitcher of milk, and we sat there together for a +while, gossiping and enjoying ourselves. I told all the village news +that I could think of, and I was just tired enough to know it, and to be +contented to sit still for a while in the comfortable three-cornered +chair by the little front window. The October sunshine lay along the +clean kitchen floor, and Aunt Polly darted from her chair occasionally +to catch stray little wisps of wool which the breeze through the door +blew along from the wheels. There was a gay string of red peppers +hanging over the very high mantel-shelf, and the wood-work in the room +had never been painted, and had grown dark brown with age and smoke and +scouring. The clock ticked solemnly, as if it were a judge giving the +laws of time, and felt itself to be the only thing that did not waste +it. There was a bouquet of asparagus and some late sprigs of larkspur +and white petunias on the table underneath, and a Leavitt's Almanac lay +on the county paper, which was itself lying on the big Bible, of which +Aunt Polly made a point of reading two chapters every day in course. I +remember her saying, despairingly, one night, half to herself, "I don' +know but I may skip the Chronicles next time," but I have never to this +day believed that she did. They asked me at once to come into the best +room, but I liked the old kitchen best. "Who was it that you were +talking about as I came in?" said I. "You said you didn't +believe there +was much the matter with her." And Aunt Polly clicked her +knitting-needles faster, and told me that it was Mary Susan Ash, over by +Little Creek.</p> + +<p>"They're dreadful nervous, all them Ashes," said +Mrs. Snow. "You know +young Joe Adams's wife, over our way, is a sister to her, and she's +forever a-doctorin'. Poor fellow! <i>he's</i> +<a name="Page_577" id="Page_577"></a> got a drag. I'm real sorry for +Joe; but, land sakes alive! he might 'a known better. They said she had +an old green bandbox with a gingham cover, that was stowed full o' +vials, that she moved with the rest of her things when she was married, +besides some she car'd in her hands. I guess she ain't in no more hurry +to go than any of the rest of us. I've lost every mite of patience with +her. I was over there last week one day, and she'd had a call from the +new supply—you know Adams's folks is Methodists—and he was +took in by +her. She made out she'd got the consumption, and she told how many +complaints she had, and what a sight o' medicine she took, and she +groaned and sighed, and her voice was so weak you couldn't more than +just hear it. I stepped right into the bedroom after he'd been prayin' +with her, and was taking leave. You'd thought, by what he said, she was +going right off then. She was coughing dreadful hard, and I knew she +hadn't no more cough than I had. So says I, 'What's the matter, Adaline? +I'll get ye a drink of water. Something in your throat, I s'pose. I hope +you won't go and get cold, and have a cough.' She looked as if she could +'a bit me, but I was just as pleasant 's could be. Land! to see her +laying there, I suppose the poor young fellow thought she was all gone. +He meant well. I wish he had seen her eating apple-dumplings for dinner. +She felt better 'long in the first o' the afternoon before he come. I +says to her, right before him, that I guessed them dumplings did her +good, but she never made no answer. She will have these dyin' spells. I +don't know's she can help it, but she needn't act as if it was a credit +to anybody to be sick and laid up. Poor Joe, he come over for me last +week another day, and said she'd been havin' spasms, and asked me if +there wa'n't something I could think of. 'Yes,' says I; 'you just take a +pail o' stone-cold water, and throw it square into her face; that'll +bring her out of it;' and he looked at me a minute, and then he burst +out a-laughing—he couldn't help it. He's too good to her; that's the +trouble."</p> + +<p>"You never said that to her about the dumplings?" said Aunt Polly, +admiringly. "Well, <i>I</i> shouldn't ha' dared;" and she +rocked and knitted +away faster than ever, while we all laughed. "Now with Mary Susan it's +different. I suppose she does have the neurology, and she's a poor +broken-down creature. +<a name="Page_578" id="Page_578"></a> I do feel for her more than I do +for Adaline. She +was always a willing girl, and she worked herself to death, and she +can't help these notions, nor being an Ash neither."</p> + +<p>"I'm the last one to be hard on anybody that's sick, and in +trouble," +said Mrs. Snow.</p> + +<p>"Bless you, she set up with Ad'line herself three nights in +one week, to +my knowledge. It's more'n I would do," said Aunt Polly, as if there were +danger that I should think Mrs. Snow's kind heart to be made of flint.</p> + +<p>"It ain't what I call watching," said she, +apologetically. "We both doze +off, and then when the folks come in in the morning she'll tell what a +sufferin' night she's had. She likes to have it said she has to have +watchers."</p> + +<p>"It's strange what a queer streak there is running through the whole of +'em," said Aunt Polly, presently. "It always was so, far +back's you can +follow 'em. Did you ever hear about that great-uncle of theirs that +lived over to the other side o' Denby, over to what they call the Denby +Meadows? We had a cousin o' my father's that kept house for him (he was +a single man), and I spent most of a summer and fall with her once when +I was growing up. She seemed to want company: it was a lonesome sort of +a place."</p> + +<p>"There! I don't know when I have thought to' that," said +Mrs. Snow, +looking much amused. "What stories you did use to tell, after you come +home, about the way he used to act! Dear sakes! she used to keep us +laughing till we was tired. Do tell her about him, Polly; she'll like to +hear."</p> + +<p>"Well, I've forgot a good deal about it: you see it was much as fifty +years ago. I wasn't more than seventeen or eighteen years old. He was a +very respectable man, old Mr. Dan'el Gunn was, and a cap'n in the +militia in his day. Cap'n Gunn, they always called him. He was well off, +but he got sun-struck, and never was just right in his mind afterward. +When he was getting over his sickness after the stroke he was very +wandering, and at last he seemed to get it into his head that he was his +own sister Patience that died some five or six years before: she was +single too, and she always lived with him. They said when he got so's to +sit up in his arm-chair of an afternoon, when he was getting better, he +fought 'em dreadfully because they fetched him his own clothes to put +on; he +<a name="Page_579" id="Page_579"></a>said they was brother Dan'el's +clothes. So, sure enough, they +got out an old double gown, and let him put it on, and he was as +peaceable as could be. The doctor told 'em to humor him, but they +thought it was a fancy he took, and he would forget it; but the next day +he made 'em get the double gown again, and a cap too, and there he used +to set up alongside of his bed as prim as a dish. When he got round +again so he could set up all day, they thought he wanted the dress; but +no; he seemed to be himself, and had on his own clothes just as usual in +the morning; but when he took his nap after dinner and waked up again, +he was in a dreadful frame o' mind, and had the trousers and coat off in +no time, and said he was Patience. He used to fuss with some +knitting-work he got hold of somehow; he was good-natured as could be, +and sometimes he would make 'em fetch him the cat, because Patience used +to have a cat that set in her lap while she knit. I wasn't there then, +you know, but they used to tell me about it. Folks used to call him Miss +Dan'el Gunn.</p> + +<p>"He'd been that way some time when I went over. I'd heard about his +notions, and I was scared of him at first, but I found out there wasn't +no need. Don't you know I was sort o' 'fraid to go, 'Lizabeth, when +Cousin Statiry sent for me after she went home from that visit she made +here? She'd told us about him, but sometimes, 'long at the first of it, +he used to be cross. He never was after I went there. He was a clever, +kind-hearted man, if ever there was one," said Aunt Polly, with +decision. "He used to go down to the corner to the store sometimes in +the morning, and he would see to business. And before he got feeble +sometimes he would work out on the farm all the morning, stiddy as any +of the men; but after he come in to dinner he would take off his coat, +if he had it on, and fall asleep in his arm-chair, or on a l'unge there +was in his bedroom, and when he waked up he would be sort of bewildered +for a while, and then he'd step round quick's he could, and get his +dress out o' the clothes-press, and the cap, and put 'em on right over +the rest of his clothes. He was always small-featured and smooth-shaved, +and I don' know as, to come in sudden, you would have thought he was a +man, except his hair stood up short and straight all on the top of his +head, as men-folks had a fashion o' combing their hair then, and I +<a name="Page_580" id="Page_580"></a>must +say he did make a dreadful ordinary-looking woman. The neighbors got +used to his ways, and, land! I never thought nothing of it after the +first week or two.</p> + +<p>"His sister's clothes that he wore first was too small for him, and so +my cousin Statiry, that kep' his house, she made him a linsey-woolsey +dress with a considerable short skirt, and he was dreadful pleased with +it, she said, because the other one never would button over good, and +showed his wais'coat, and she and I used to make him caps; he used to +wear the kind all the old women did then, with a big crown, and close +round the face. I've got some laid away up-stairs now that was my +mother's—she wore caps very young, mother did. His nephew that lived +with him carried on the farm, and managed the business, but he always +treated the cap'n as if he was head of everything there. Everybody +pitied the cap'n; folks respected him; but you couldn't help laughing, +to save ye. We used to try to keep him in, afternoons, but we couldn't +always."</p> + +<p>"Tell her about that day he went to meeting," said Mrs. Snow.</p> + +<p>"Why, one of us always used to stay to home with him; we took +turns; and +somehow or 'nother he never offered to go, though by spells he would be +constant to meeting in the morning. Why, bless you, you never'd think +anything ailed him a good deal of the time, if you saw him before noon, +though sometimes he would be freaky, and hide himself in the barn, or go +over in the woods, but we always kept an eye on him. But this Sunday +there was going to be a great occasion. Old Parson Croden was going to +preach; he was thought more of than anybody in this region: you've heard +tell of him a good many times, I s'pose. He was getting to be old, and +didn't preach much. He had a colleague, they set so much by him in his +parish, and I didn't know's I'd ever get another chance to hear him, so +I didn't want to stay to home, and neither did Cousin Statiry; and Jacob +Gunn, old Mr. Gunn's nephew, he said it might be the last time ever he'd +hear Parson Croden, and he set in the seats anyway; so we talked it all +over, and we got a young boy to come and set 'long of the cap'n till we +got back. He hadn't offered to go anywhere of an afternoon for a long +time. I +<a name="Page_581" id="Page_581"></a>s'pose he thought women ought to +be stayers at home according +to Scripture.</p> + +<p>"Parson Ridley—his wife was a niece to old +Dr. Croden—and the old +doctor they was up in the pulpit, and the choir was singing the first +hymn—it was a fuguing tune, and they was doing their best: seems to me +it was 'Canterbury New.' Yes, it was; I remember I thought how splendid +it sounded, and Jacob Gunn he was a-leading off; and I happened to look +down the aisle, and who should I see but the poor old cap'n in his cap +and gown parading right into meeting before all the folks! There! I +wanted to go through the floor. Everybody 'most had seen him at home, +but, my goodness! to have him come into meeting!"</p> + +<p>"What did you do?" said I.</p> + +<p>"Why, nothing," said Miss Polly; "there was nothing +<i>to</i> do. I thought I +should faint away; but I called Cousin Statiry's 'tention, and she +looked dreadful put to it for a minute; and then says she, 'Open the +door for him; I guess he won't make no trouble,' and, poor soul, he +didn't. But to see him come up the aisle! He'd fixed himself nice as he +could, poor creatur; he'd raked out Miss Patience's old Navarino bonnet +with green ribbons and a willow feather, and set it on right over his +cap, and he had her bead bag on his arm, and her turkey-tail fan that +he'd got out of the best room; and he come with little short steps up to +the pew: and I s'posed he'd set by the door; but no, he made to go by +us, up into the corner where she used to set, and took her place, and +spread his dress out nice, and got his handkerchief out o' his bag, +just's he'd seen her do. He took off his bonnet all of a sudden, as if +he'd forgot it, and put it under the seat, like he did his hat—that was +the only thing he did that any woman wouldn't have done—and the crown +of his cap was bent some. I thought die I should. The pew was one of +them up aside the pulpit, a square one, you know, right at the end of +the right-hand aisle, so I could see the length of it and out of the +door, and there stood that poor boy we'd left to keep the cap'n company, +looking as pale as ashes. We found he'd tried every way to keep the old +gentleman at home, but he said he got f'erce as could be, so he didn't +dare to say no more, and Cap'n Gunn drove him back twice to the house, +and that's why he got in +<a name="Page_582" id="Page_582"></a>so late. I didn't know but it was +the boy that +had set him on to go to meeting when I see him walk in, and I could 'a +wrung his neck; but I guess I misjudged him; he was called a stiddy boy. +He married a daughter of Ichabod Pinkham's over to Oak Plains, and I saw +a son of his when I was taking care of Miss West last spring through +that lung fever—looked like his father. I wish I'd thought to tell him +about that Sunday. I heard he was waiting on that pretty Becket girl, +the orphan one that lives with Nathan Becket. Her father and mother was +both lost at sea, but she's got property."</p> + +<p>"What did they say in church when the captain came in, Aunt +Polly?" said +I.</p> + +<p>"Well, a good many of them laughed—they couldn't help +it, to save them; +but the cap'n he was some hard o' hearin', so he never noticed it, and +he set there in the corner and fanned him, as pleased and satisfied as +could be. The singers they had the worst time, but they had just come to +the end of a verse, and they played on the instruments a good while in +between, but I could see 'em shake, and I s'pose the tune did stray a +little, though they went through it well. And after the first fun of it +was over, most of the folks felt bad. You see, the cap'n had been very +much looked up to, and it was his misfortune, and he set there quiet, +listening to the preaching. I see some tears in some o' the old folks' +eyes: they hated to see him so broke in his mind, you know. There was +more than usual of 'em out that day; they knew how bad he'd feel if he +realized it. A good Christian man he was, and dreadful precise, I've +heard 'em say."</p> + +<p>"Did he ever go again?" said I.</p> + +<p>"I seem to forget," said Aunt Polly. "I dare say. I +wasn't there but +from the last of June into November, and when I went over again it +wasn't for three years, and the cap'n had been dead some time. His mind +failed him more and more along at the last. But I'll tell you what he +did do, and it was the week after that very Sunday, too. He heard it +given out from the pulpit that the Female Missionary Society would meet +with Mis' William Sands the Thursday night o' that week—the sewing +society, you know; and he looked round to us real knowing; and Cousin +Statiry, says she to me, under her bonnet, 'You don't s'pose he'll want +to go?' and I like to +<a name="Page_583" id="Page_583"></a>have laughed right out. But sure +enough he did, +and what do you suppose but he made us fix over a handsome black watered +silk for him to wear, that had been his sister's best dress. He said +he'd outgrown it dreadful quick. Cousin Statiry she wished to heaven +she'd thought to put it away, for Jacob had given it to her, and she was +meaning to make it over for herself; but it didn't do to cross the cap'n +and Jacob Gunn gave Statiry another one—the best he could get, but it +wasn't near so good a piece, she thought. He set everything by Statiry, +and so did the cap'n, and well they might.</p> + +<p>"We hoped he'd forget all about it the next day; but he didn't; and I +always thought well of those ladies, they treated him so handsome, and +tried to make him enjoy himself. He did eat a great supper; they kep' +a-piling up his plate with everything. I couldn't help wondering if some +of 'em would have put themselves out much if it had been some poor +flighty old woman. The cap'n he was as polite as could be, and when +Jacob come to walk home with him he kissed 'em all round and asked 'em +to meet at his house. But the greatest was—land! I don't know when I've +thought so much about those times—one afternoon he was setting at home +in the keeping-room, and Statiry was there, and Deacon Abel Pinkham +stopped in to see Jacob Gunn about building some fence, and he found +he'd gone to mill, so he waited a while, talking friendly, as they +expected Jacob might be home; and the cap'n was as pleased as could be, +and he urged the deacon to stop to tea. And when he went away, says he +to Statiry, in a dreadful knowing way, 'Which of us do you consider the +deacon come to see?' You see, the deacon was a widower. Bless you! when +I first come home I used to set everybody laughing, but I forget most of +the things now. There was one day, though"—</p> + +<p>"Here comes your father," said Mrs. Snow. "Now we +mustn't let him go by +or you'll have to walk 'way home." And Aunt Polly hurried out to speak +to him, while I took my great bunch of golden-rod, which already drooped +a little, and followed her, with Mrs. Snow, who confided to me that the +captain's nephew Jacob had offered to Polly that summer she was over +there, and she never could see why she didn't have him: only love goes +where it is sent, and Polly wasn't one to +<a name="Page_584" id="Page_584"></a>marry for what she could get +if she didn't like the man. There was plenty that would have said yes, +and thank you too, sir, to Jacob Gunn.</p> + +<p>That was a pleasant afternoon. I reached home when it was growing dark +and chilly, and the early autumn sunset had almost faded in the west. It +was a much longer way home around by the road than by the way I had come +across the fields.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="From_a_Mournful_Villager" +id="From_a_Mournful_Villager"></a> +<a name="Page_585" id="Page_585"></a>From a Mournful Villager</h2> + + +<p>Lately I have been thinking, with much sorrow, of the approaching +extinction of front yards, and of the type of New England village +character and civilization with which they are associated. Formerly, +because I lived in an old-fashioned New England village, it would have +been hard for me to imagine that there were parts of the country where +the Front yard, as I knew it, was not in fashion, and that Grounds +(however small) had taken its place. No matter how large a piece of land +lay in front of a house in old times, it was still a front yard, in +spite of noble dimension and the skill of practiced gardeners.</p> + +<p>There are still a good many examples of the old manner of out-of-door +life and customs, as well as a good deal of the old-fashioned provincial +society, left in the eastern parts of the New England States; but put +side by side with the society that is American rather than provincial, +one discovers it to be in a small minority. The representative United +States citizen will be, or already is, a Westerner, and his instincts +and ways of looking at things have certain characteristics of their own +which are steadily growing more noticeable.</p> + +<p>For many years New England was simply a bit of Old England transplanted. +We all can remember elderly people whose ideas were wholly under the +influence of their English ancestry. It is hardly more than a hundred +years since we were English colonies, and not independent United States, +and the customs and ideas of the mother country were followed from force +of habit. Now one begins to see a difference; the old traditions have +had time to almost die out even in the most conservative and least +changed towns, and a new element has come in. The true characteristics +of American society, as I have said, are showing themselves more and +more distinctly to the westward of New England, and come back to it in a +tide that steadily sweeps away the old traditions. It rises over the +heads of the prim and stately idols before which our grandfathers and +grandmothers bowed down and worshiped, +<a name="Page_586" id="Page_586"></a>and which we ourselves were at +least taught to walk softly by as they toppled on their thrones.</p> + +<p>One cannot help wondering what a lady of the old school will be like a +hundred years from now! But at any rate she will not be in heart and +thought and fashion of good breeding as truly an Englishwoman as if she +had never stepped out of Great Britain. If one of our own elderly ladies +were suddenly dropped into the midst of provincial English society, she +would be quite at home; but west of her own Hudson River she is lucky if +she does not find herself behind the times, and almost a stranger and a +foreigner.</p> + +<p>And yet from the first there was a little difference, and the colonies +were New England and not Old. In some ways more radical, yet in some +ways more conservative, than the people across the water, they showed a +new sort of flower when they came into bloom in this new climate and +soil. In the old days there had not been time for the family ties to be +broken and forgotten. Instead of the unknown English men and women who +are our sixth and seventh cousins now, they had first and second cousins +then; but there was little communication between one country and the +other, and the mutual interest in every-day affairs had to fade out +quickly. A traveler was a curiosity, and here, even between the villages +themselves, there was far less intercourse than we can believe possible. +People stayed on their own ground; their horizons were of small +circumference, and their whole interest and thought were spent upon +their own land, their own neighbors, their own affairs, while they not +only were contented with this state of things but encouraged it. One has +only to look at the high-walled pews of the old churches, at the high +fences of the town gardens, and at even the strong fortifications around +some family lots in the burying-grounds, to be sure of this. The +interviewer was not besought and encouraged in those days,—he was +defied. In that quarter, at least, they had the advantage of us. Their +interest was as real and heartfelt in each other's affairs as ours, let +us hope; but they never allowed idle curiosity to show itself in the +world's market-place, shameless and unblushing.</p> + +<p>There is so much to be said in favor of our own day, and the men and +women of our own time, that a plea for a recognition +<a name="Page_587" id="Page_587"></a>of the quaintness +and pleasantness of village life in the old days cannot seem unwelcome, +or without deference to all that has come with the later years of ease +and comfort, or of discovery in the realms of mind or matter. We are +beginning to cling to the elderly people who are so different from +ourselves, and for this reason: we are paying them instinctively the +honor that is due from us to our elders and betters; they have that +grand prestige and dignity that only comes with age; they are like old +wines, perhaps no better than many others when they were young, but now +after many years they have come to be worth nobody knows how many +dollars a dozen, and the connoisseurs make treasures of the few bottles +of that vintage which are left.</p> + +<p>It was a restricted and narrowly limited life in the old days. Religion, +or rather sectarianism, was apt to be simply a matter of inheritance, +and there was far more bigotry in every cause and question,—a fiercer +partisanship; and because there were fewer channels of activity, and +those undivided into specialties, there was a whole-souled concentration +of energy that was as efficient as it was sometimes narrow and +short-sighted. People were more contented in the sphere of life to which +it had pleased God to call them, and they do not seem to have been so +often sorely tempted by the devil with a sight of the kingdoms of the +world and the glory of them. We are more likely to busy ourselves with +finding things to do than in doing with our might the work that is in +our hands already. The disappearance of many of the village front yards +may come to be typical of the altered position of woman, and mark a +stronghold on her way from the much talked-of slavery and subjection to +a coveted equality. She used to be shut off from the wide acres of the +farm, and had no voice in the world's politics; she must stay in the +house, or only hold sway out of doors in this prim corner of land where +she was queen. No wonder that women clung to their rights in their +flower-gardens then, and no wonder that they have grown a little +careless of them now, and that lawn mowers find so ready a sale. The +whole world is their front yard nowadays!</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>There might be written a history of front yards in New England which +would be very interesting to read. It would +<a name="Page_588" id="Page_588"></a>end in a treatise upon +landscape gardening and its possibilities, and wild flights of +imagination about the culture of plants under glass, the application of +artificial heat in forcing, and the curious mingling and development of +plant life, but it would begin in the simple time of the early +colonists. It must have been hard when, after being familiar with the +gardens and parks of England and Holland, they found themselves +restricted to front yards by way of pleasure grounds. Perhaps they +thought such things were wrong, and that having a pleasant place to walk +about in out of doors would encourage idle and lawless ways in the +young; at any rate, for several years it was more necessary to raise +corn and potatoes to keep themselves from starving than to lay out +alleys and plant flowers and box borders among the rocks and stumps. +There is a great pathos in the fact that in so stern and hard a life +there was time or place for any gardens at all. I can picture to myself +the little slips and cuttings that had been brought over in the ship, +and more carefully guarded than any of the household goods; I can see +the women look at them tearfully when they came into bloom, because +nothing else could be a better reminder of their old home. What fears +there must have been lest the first winter's cold might kill them, and +with what love and care they must have been tended! I know a rose-bush, +and a little while ago I knew an apple-tree, that were brought over by +the first settlers; the rose still blooms, and until it was cut down the +old tree bore apples. It is strange to think that civilized New England +is no older than the little red roses that bloom in June on that slope +above the river in Kittery. Those earliest gardens were very pathetic in +the contrast of their extent and their power of suggestion and +association. Every seed that came up was thanked for its kindness, and +every flower that bloomed was the child of a beloved ancestry.</p> + +<p>It would be interesting to watch the growth of the gardens as life +became easier and more comfortable in the colonies. As the settlements +grew into villages and towns, and the Indians were less dreadful, and +the houses were better and more home-like, the busy people began to find +a little time now and then when they could enjoy themselves soberly. +Beside the +<a name="Page_589" id="Page_589"></a>fruits of the earth they could +have some flowers and a sprig +of sage and southernwood and tansy, or lavender that had come from +Surrey and could be dried to be put among the linen as it used to be +strewn through the chests and cupboards in the old country.</p> + +<p>I like to think of the changes as they came slowly; that after a while +tender plants could be kept through the winter, because the houses were +better built and warmer, and were no longer rough shelters which were +only meant to serve until there could be something better. Perhaps the +parlor, or best room, and a special separate garden for the flowers were +two luxuries of the same date, and they made a noticeable change in the +manner of living,—the best room being a formal recognition of the +claims of society, and the front yard an appeal for the existence of +something that gave pleasure,—beside the merely useful and wholly +necessary things of life. When it was thought worth while to put a fence +around the flower-garden the respectability of art itself was +established and made secure. Whether the house was a fine one, and its +inclosure spacious, or whether it was a small house with only a narrow +bit of ground in front, this yard was kept with care, and it was +different from the rest of the land altogether. The children were not +often allowed to play there, and the family did not use the front door +except upon occasions of more or less ceremony. I think that many of the +old front yards could tell stories of the lovers who found it hard to +part under the stars, and lingered over the gate; and who does not +remember the solemn group of men who gather there at funerals, and stand +with their heads uncovered as the mourners go out and come in, two by +two. I have always felt rich in the possession of an ancient York +tradition of an old fellow who demanded, as he lay dying, that the grass +in his front yard should be cut at once; it was no use to have it +trodden down and spoilt by the folks at the funeral. I always hoped it +was good hay weather; but he must have been certain of that when he +spoke. Let us hope he did not confuse this world with the next, being so +close upon the borders of it! It was not man-like to think of the front +yard, since it was the special domain of the women,—the men of the +family respected but ignored it,—they had to be +<a name="Page_590" id="Page_590"></a>teased in the spring +to dig the flower beds, but it was the busiest time of the year; one +should remember that.</p> + +<p>I think many people are sorry, without knowing why, to see the fences +pulled down; and the disappearance of plain white palings causes almost +as deep regret as that of the handsome ornamental fences and their high +posts with urns or great white balls on top. A stone coping does not +make up for the loss of them; it always looks a good deal like a lot in +a cemetery, for one thing; and then in a small town the grass is not +smooth, and looks uneven where the flower-beds were not properly +smoothed down. The stray cows trample about where they never went +before; the bushes and little trees that were once protected grow ragged +and scraggly and out at elbows, and a few forlorn flowers come up of +themselves, and try hard to grow and to bloom. The ungainly red tubs +that are perched on little posts have plants in them, but the poor +posies look as if they would rather be in the ground, and as if they are +held too near the fire of the sun. If everything must be neglected and +forlorn so much the more reason there should be a fence, if but to hide +it. Americans are too fond of being stared at; they apparently feel as +if it were one's duty to one's neighbor. Even if there is nothing really +worth looking at about a house, it is still exposed to the gaze of the +passers-by. Foreigners are far more sensible than we, and the +out-of-door home life among them is something we might well try to copy. +They often have their meals served out of doors, and one can enjoy an +afternoon nap in a hammock, or can take one's work out into the shady +garden with great satisfaction, unwatched; and even a little piece of +ground can be made, if shut in and kept for the use and pleasure of the +family alone, a most charming unroofed and trellised summer ante-room to +the house. In a large, crowded town it would be selfish to conceal the +rare bits of garden, where the sight of anything green is a godsend; but +where there is the whole wide country of fields and woods within easy +reach I think there should be high walls around our gardens, and that we +lose a great deal in not making them entirely separate from the highway; +as much as we should lose in making the walls of our parlors and +dining-rooms of glass, and building the house as close to the street as +possible.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_591" id="Page_591"></a>But to go back to the little +front yards: we are sorry to miss them and +their tangle or orderliness of roses and larkspur and honeysuckle, +Canterbury bells and London pride, lilacs and peonies. These may all +bloom better than ever in the new beds that are cut in the turf; but +with the side fences that used to come from the corners of the house to +the front fence, other barriers, as I have said here over and over, have +been taken away, and the old-fashioned village life is becoming extinct. +People do not know what they lose when they make way with the reserve, +the separateness, the sanctity of the front yard of their grandmothers. +It is like writing down the family secrets for any one to read; it is +like having everybody call you by your first name and sitting in any pew +in church, and like having your house in the middle of a road, to take +away the fence which, slight as it may be, is a fortification round your +home. More things than one may come in without being asked. We Americans +had better build more fences than take any away from our lives. There +should be gates for charity to go out and in, and kindness and sympathy +too, but his life and his house are together each man's stronghold and +castle, to be kept and defended.</p> + +<p>I was much amused once at thinking that the fine old solid paneled doors +were being unhinged faster than ever nowadays, since so many front gates +have disappeared, and the click of the latch can no longer give notice +of the approach of a guest. Now the knocker sounds or the bell rings +without note or warning, and the village housekeeper cannot see who is +coming in until they have already reached the door. Once the guests +could be seen on their way up the walk. It must be a satisfaction to +look through the clear spots of the figured ground-glass in the new +doors, and I believe if there is a covering inside few doors will be +found unprovided with a peephole. It was better to hear the gate open +and shut, and if it caught and dragged as front gates are very apt to do +you could have time always for a good look out of the window at the +approaching friend.</p> + +<p>There are few of us who cannot remember a front-yard garden which seemed +to us a very paradise in childhood. It was like a miracle when the +yellow and white daffies came into bloom in the spring, and there was a +time when tiger-lilies +<a name="Page_592" id="Page_592"></a>and the taller rose-bushes were +taller than we +were, and we could not look over their heads as we do now. There were +always a good many lady's-delights that grew under the bushes, and came +up anywhere in the chinks of the walk of the door-step, and there was a +little green sprig called ambrosia that was a famous stray-away. Outside +the fence one was not unlikely to see a company of French pinks, which +were forbidden standing-room inside as if they were tiresome poor +relations of the other flowers. I always felt a sympathy for French +pinks,—they have a fresh, sweet look, as if they resigned themselves to +their lot in life and made the best of it, and remembered that they had +the sunshine and rain, and could see what was going on in the world, if +they were outlaws.</p> + +<p>I like to remember being sent on errands, and being asked to wait while +the mistress of the house picked some flowers to send back to my mother. +They were almost always prim, flat bouquets in those days; the larger +flowers were picked first and stood at the back and looked over the +heads of those that were shorter of stem and stature, and the givers +always sent a message that they had not stopped to arrange them. I +remember that I had even then a great dislike to lemon verbena, and that +I would have waited patiently outside a gate all the afternoon if I knew +that some one would kindly give me a sprig of lavender in the evening. +And lilies did not seem to me overdressed, but it was easy for me to +believe that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like a great +yellow marigold, or even the dear little single ones that were yellow +and brown, and bloomed until the snow came.</p> + +<p>I wish that I had lived for a little while in those days when lilacs +were a new fashion, and it was a great distinction to have some growing +in a front yard. It always seems as if lilacs and poplars belonged to +the same generation with a certain kind of New English gentlemen and +ladies, who were ascetic and severe in some of their fashions, while in +others they were more given to pleasuring and mild revelry than either +their ancestors or the people who have lived in their houses since. +Fifty years ago there seems to have been a last tidal wave of Puritanism +which swept over the country, and drowned for a time the sober feasting +and dancing which before had been +<a name="Page_593" id="Page_593"></a>considered no impropriety in the +larger villages. Whist-playing was clung to only by the most worldly +citizens, and, as for dancing, it was made a sin in itself and a +reproach, as if every step was taken willfully in seven-leagued boots +toward a place which is to be the final destination of all the wicked.</p> + +<p>A single poplar may have a severe and uncharitable look, but a row of +them suggests the antique and pleasing pomp and ceremony of their early +days, before the sideboard cupboards were only used to keep the boxes of +strings and nails and the duster; and the best decanters were put on a +high shelf, while the plain ones were used for vinegar in the kitchen +closet. There is far less social visiting from house to house than there +used to be. People in the smaller towns have more acquaintances who live +at a distance than was the case before the days of railroads, and there +are more guests who come from a distance, which has something to do with +making tea-parties and the entertainment of one's neighbors less +frequent than in former times. But most of the New England towns have +changed their characters in the last twenty years, since the +manufactories have come in and brought together large numbers either of +foreigners or of a different class of people from those who used to make +the most of the population. A certain class of families is rapidly +becoming extinct. There will be found in the older villages very few +persons left who belong to this class, which was once far more important +and powerful; the oldest churches are apt to be most thinly attended +simply because a different sort of ideas, even of heavenly things, +attract the newer residents. I suppose that elderly people have said, +ever since the time of Shem, Ham, and Japhet's wives in the ark, that +society is nothing to what it used to be, and we may expect to be always +told what unworthy successors we are of our grandmothers. But the fact +remains that a certain element of American society is fast dying out, +giving place to the new; and with all our glory and pride in modern +progress and success we cling to the old associations regretfully. There +is nothing to take the place of the pleasure we have in going to see our +old friends in the parlors which have changed little since our +childhood. No matter how advanced in years we seem to ourselves we are +children still to the gracious hostess. Thank Heaven for the friends +<a name="Page_594" id="Page_594"></a>who have always known us! They +may think us unreliable and young still; +they may not understand that we have become busy and more or less +important people to ourselves and to the world,—we are pretty sure to +be without honor in our own country, but they will never forget us, and +we belong to each other and always shall.</p> + +<p>I have received many kindnesses at my friends' hands, but I do not know +that I have ever felt myself to be a more fortunate or honored guest +than I used years ago, when I sometimes went to call upon an elderly +friend of my mother who lived in most pleasant and stately fashion. I +used to put on my very best manner, and I have no doubt that my thoughts +were well ordered, and my conversation as proper as I knew how to make +it. I can remember that I used to sit on a tall ottoman, with nothing to +lean against, and my feet were off soundings, I was so high above the +floor. We used to discuss the weather, and I said that I went to school +(sometimes), or that it was then vacation, as the case might be, and we +tried to make ourselves agreeable to each other. Presently my lady would +take her keys out of her pocket, and sometimes a maid would come to +serve me, or else she herself would bring me a silver tray with some +pound-cakes baked in hearts and rounds, and a small glass of wine, and I +proudly felt that I was a guest, though I was such a little thing an +attention was being paid me, and a thrill of satisfaction used to go +over me for my consequence and importance. A handful of sugar-plums +would have seemed nothing beside this entertainment. I used to be +careful not to crumble the cake, and I used to eat it with my gloves on, +and a pleasant fragrance would cling for some time afterward to the ends +of the short Lisle-thread fingers. I have no doubt that my manners as I +took leave were almost as distinguished as those of my hostess, though I +might have been wild and shy all the rest of the week. It was not many +years ago that I went to my old friend's funeral—and saw them carry her +down the long, wide walk, between the tall box borders which were her +pride; and all the air was heavy and sweet with the perfume of the early +summer blossoms; the white lilacs and the flowering currants were still +in bloom, and the rows of her dear Dutch tulips stood dismayed in their +flaunting colors and watched her go away.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_595" id="Page_595"></a>My sketch of the already +out-of-date or fast vanishing village fashions +perhaps should be ended here, but I cannot resist a wish to add another +bit of autobiography of which I have been again and again reminded in +writing these pages. The front yard I knew best belonged to my +grandfather's house. My grandmother was a proud and solemn woman, and +she hated my mischief, and rightly thought my elder sister a much better +child than I. I used to be afraid of her when I was in the house, but I +shook off even her authority and forgot I was under anybody's rule when +I was out of doors. I was first cousin to a caterpillar if they called +me to come in, and I was own sister to a giddy-minded bobolink when I +ran away across the fields, as I used to do very often. But when I was a +very little child indeed my world was bounded by the fences that were +around my home; there were wide green yards and tall elm-trees to shade +them; there was a long line of barns and sheds, and one of these had a +large room in its upper story, with an old ship's foresail spread over +the floor, and made a capital play-room in wet weather. Here fruit was +spread in the fall, and there were some old chests and pieces of +furniture that had been discarded; it was like the garret, only much +pleasanter. The children in the village now cannot possibly be so happy +as I was then. I used to mount the fence next the street and watch the +people go in and out of the quaint-roofed village shops that stood in a +row on the other side, and looked as if they belonged to a Dutch or old +English town. They were burnt down long ago, but they were charmingly +picturesque; the upper stories sometimes projected over the lower, and +the chimneys were sometimes clustered together and built of bright red +bricks.</p> + +<p>And I was too happy when I could smuggle myself into the front yard, +with its four lilac bushes and its white fences to shut it in from the +rest of the world, beside other railings that went from the porch down +each side of the brick walk, which was laid in a pattern, and had H. C., +1818, cut deeply into one of the bricks near the door-step. The H. C. +was for Henry Currier, the mason, who had signed this choice bit of work +as if it were a picture, and he had been dead so many years that I used +to think of his initials as if the corner brick were a little +grave-stone for him. The knocker used to be so bright that it +<a name="Page_596" id="Page_596"></a>shone at +you, and caught your eye bewilderingly, as you came in from the street +on a sunshiny day. There were very few flowers, for my grandmother was +old and feeble when I knew her, and could not take care of them; but I +remember that there were blush roses, and white roses, and cinnamon +roses all in a tangle in one corner, and I used to pick the crumpled +petals of those to make myself a delicious coddle with ground cinnamon +and damp brown sugar. In the spring I used to find the first green grass +there, for it was warm and sunny, and I used to pick the little French +pinks when they dared show their heads in the cracks of the flag-stones +that were laid around the house. There were small shoots of lilac, too, +and their leaves were brown and had a faint, sweet fragrance, and a +little later the dandelions came into bloom; the largest ones I knew +grew there, and they have always been to this day my favorite flowers.</p> + +<p>I had my trials and sorrows in this paradise, however; I lost a cent +there one day which I never have found yet! And one morning, there +suddenly appeared in one corner a beautiful, dark-blue <i>fleur-de-lis</i>, +and I joyfully broke its neck and carried it into the house, but +everybody had seen it, and wondered that I could not have left it alone. +Besides this, it befell me later to sin more gravely still; my +grandmother had kept some plants through the winter on a three-cornered +stand built like a flight of steps, and when the warm spring weather +came this was put out of doors. She had a cherished tea-rose bush, and +what should I find but a bud on it; it was opened just enough to give a +hint of its color. I was very pleased; I snapped it off at once, for I +had heard so many times that it was hard to make roses bloom; and I ran +in through the hall and up the stairs, where I met my grandmother on the +square landing. She sat down in the window-seat, and I showed her +proudly what was crumpled in my warm little fist. I can see it now!—it +had no stem at all, and for many days afterward I was bowed down with a +sense of my guilt and shame, for I was made to understand it was an +awful thing to have blighted and broken a treasured flower like that.</p> + +<p>It must have been the very next winter that my grandmother died. She had +a long illness which I do not remember much about; but the night she +died might have been yesterday +<a name="Page_597" id="Page_597"></a>night, it is all so fresh and clear in +my mind. I did not live with her in the old house then, but in a new +house close by, across the yard. All the family were at the great house, +and I could see that lights were carried hurriedly from one room to +another. A servant came to fetch me, but I would not go with her; my +grandmother was dying, whatever that might be, and she was taking leave +of every one—she was ceremonious even then. I did not dare to go with +the rest; I had an intense curiosity to see what dying might be like, +but I was afraid to be there with her, and I was also afraid to stay at +home alone. I was only five years old. It was in December, and the sky +seemed to grow darker and darker, and I went out at last to sit on a +door-step and cry softly to myself, and while I was there some one came +to another door next the street, and rang the bell loudly again and +again. I suppose I was afraid to answer the summons—indeed, I do not +know that I thought of it; all the world had been still before, and the +bell sounded loud and awful through the empty house. It seemed as if the +messenger from an unknown world had come to the wrong house to call my +poor grandmother away; and that loud ringing is curiously linked in my +mind with the knocking at the gate in "Macbeth." I never can think of +one without the other, though there was no fierce Lady Macbeth to bid me +not be lost so poorly in my thoughts; for when they all came back awed +and tearful, and found me waiting in the cold, alone, and afraid more of +this world than the next, they were very good to me. But as for the +funeral, it gave me vast entertainment; it was the first grand public +occasion in which I had taken any share.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="An_October_Ride" +id="An_October_Ride"></a> +<a name="Page_598" id="Page_598"></a>An October Ride</h2> + + +<p>It was a fine afternoon, just warm enough and just cool enough, and I +started off alone on horseback, though I do not know why I should say +alone when I find my horse such good company. She is called Sheila, and +she not only gratifies one's sense of beauty, but is very interesting in +her character, while her usefulness in this world is beyond question. I +grow more fond of her every week; we have had so many capital good times +together, and I am certain that she is as much pleased as I when we +start out for a run.</p> + +<p>I do not say to every one that I always pronounce her name in German +fashion because she occasionally shies, but that is the truth. I do not +mind her shying, or a certain mysterious and apparently unprovoked jump, +with which she sometimes indulges herself, and no one else rides her, so +I think she does no harm, but I do not like the principle of allowing +her to be wicked, unrebuked and unhindered, and some day I shall give my +mind to admonishing this four-footed Princess of Thule, who seems at +present to consider herself at the top of royalty in this kingdom or any +other. I believe I should not like her half so well if she were tamer +and entirely and stupidly reliable; I glory in her good spirits and I +think she has a right to be proud and willful if she chooses. I am proud +myself of her quick eye and ear, her sure foot, and her slender, +handsome chestnut head. I look at her points of high breeding with +admiration, and I thank her heartily for all the pleasure she has given +me, and for what I am sure is a steadfast friendship between us,—and a +mutual understanding that rarely knows a disappointment or a mistake. +She is careful when I come home late through the shadowy, twilighted +woods, and I can hardly see my way; she forgets then all her little +tricks and capers, and is as steady as a clock with her tramp, tramp, +over the rough, dark country roads. I feel as if I had suddenly grown a +pair of wings when she fairly flies over the ground and the wind +whistles in my ears. There never was a time when she could not go a +little faster, but she is willing to go step by step through the close +woods, pushing her way +<a name="Page_599" id="Page_599"></a>through the branches, and +stopping considerately +when a bough that will not bend tries to pull me off the saddle. And she +never goes away and leaves me when I dismount to get some flowers or a +drink of spring water, though sometimes she thinks what fun it would be. +I cannot speak of all her virtues for I have not learned them yet. We +are still new friends, for I have only ridden her two years and I feel +all the fascination of the first meeting every time I go out with her, +she is so unexpected in her ways; so amusing, so sensible, so brave, and +in every way so delightful a horse.</p> + +<p>It was in October, and it was a fine day to look at, though some of the +great clouds that sailed through the sky were a little too heavy-looking +to promise good weather on the morrow, and over in the west (where the +wind was coming from) they were packed close together and looked gray +and wet. It might be cold and cloudy later, but that would not hinder my +ride; it is a capital way to keep warm, to come along a smooth bit of +road on the run, and I should have time at any rate to go the way I +wished, so Sheila trotted quickly through the gate and out of the +village. There was a flicker of color left on the oaks and maples, and +though it was not Indian-summer weather it was first cousin to it. I +took off my cap to let the wind blow through my hair; I had half a mind +to go down to the sea, but it was too late for that; there was no moon +to light me home. Sheila took the strip of smooth turf just at the side +of the road for her own highway, she tossed her head again and again +until I had my hand full of her thin, silky mane, and she gave quick +pulls at her bit and hurried little jumps ahead as if she expected me +already to pull the reins tight and steady her for a hard gallop. I +patted her and whistled at her, I was so glad to see her again and to be +out riding, and I gave her part of her reward to begin with, because I +knew she would earn it, and then we were on better terms than ever. She +has such a pretty way of turning her head to take the square lump of +sugar, and she never bit my fingers or dropped the sugar in her life.</p> + +<p>Down in the lower part of the town on the edge of York, there is a long +tract of woodland, covering what is called the Rocky Hills; rough, high +land, that stretches along from beyond Agamenticus, near the sea, to the +upper part of Eliot, +<a name="Page_600" id="Page_600"></a>near the Piscataqua River. Standing on +Agamenticus, the woods seem to cover nearly the whole of the country as +far as one can see, and there is hardly a clearing to break this long +reach of forest of which I speak; there must be twenty miles of it in an +almost unbroken line. The roads cross it here and there, and one can +sometimes see small and lonely farms hiding away in the heart of it. The +trees are for the most part young growth of oak or pine, though I could +show you yet many a noble company of great pines that once would have +been marked with the king's arrow, and many a royal old oak which has +been overlooked in the search for ships' knees and plank for the navy +yard, and piles for the always shaky, up-hill and down, pleasant old +Portsmouth bridge. The part of these woods which I know best lies on +either side the already old new road to York on the Rocky Hills, and +here I often ride, or even take perilous rough drives through the +cart-paths, the wood roads which are busy thoroughfares in the winter, +and are silent and shady, narrowed by green branches and carpeted with +slender brakes, and seldom traveled over, except by me, all summer long.</p> + +<p>It was a great surprise, or a succession of surprises, one summer, when +I found that every one of the old uneven tracks led to or at least led +by what had once been a clearing, and in old days must have been the +secluded home of some of the earliest adventurous farmers of this +region. It must have taken great courage, I think, to strike the first +blow of one's axe here in the woods, and it must have been a brave +certainty of one's perseverance that looked forward to the smooth field +which was to succeed the unfruitful wilderness. The farms were far +enough apart to be very lonely, and I suppose at first the cry of fierce +wild creatures in the forest was an every-day sound, and the Indians +stole like snakes through the bushes and crept from tree to tree about +the houses watching, begging, and plundering, over and over again. There +are some of these farms still occupied, where the land seems to have +become thoroughly civilized, but most of them were deserted long ago; +the people gave up the fight with such a persistent willfulness and +wildness of nature and went away to the village, or to find more +tractable soil and kindlier neighborhoods.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_601" id="Page_601"></a>I do not know why it is these +silent, forgotten places are so +delightful to me; there is one which I always call my farm, and it was a +long time after I knew it well before I could find out to whom it had +once belonged. In some strange way the place has become a part of my +world and to belong to my thoughts and my life.</p> + +<p>I suppose every one can say, "I have a little kingdom where I give +laws." Each of us has truly a kingdom in thought, and a certain +spiritual possession. There are some gardens of mine where somebody +plants the seeds and pulls the weeds for me every year without my ever +taking a bit of trouble. I have trees and fields and woods and seas and +houses, I own a great deal of the world to think and plan and dream +about. The picture belongs most to the man who loves it best and sees +entirely its meaning. We can always have just as much as we can take of +things, and we can lay up as much treasure as we please in the higher +world of thought that can never be spoiled or hindered by moth or rust, +as lower and meaner wealth can be.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>As for this farm of mine, I found it one day when I was coming through +the woods on horseback trying to strike a shorter way out into the main +road. I was pushing through some thick underbrush, and looking ahead I +noticed a good deal of clear sky as if there were an open place just +beyond, and presently I found myself on the edge of a clearing. There +was a straggling orchard of old apple-trees, the grass about them was +close and short like the wide door-yard of an old farm-house and into +this cleared space the little pines were growing on every side. The old +pines stood a little way back watching their children march in upon +their inheritance, as if they were ready to interfere and protect and +defend, if any trouble came. I could see that it would not be many +years, if they were left alone, before the green grass would be covered, +and the old apple-trees would grow mossy and die for lack of room and +sunlight in the midst of the young woods. It was a perfect acre of turf, +only here and there I could already see a cushion of juniper, or a tuft +of sweet fern or bayberry. I walked the horse about slowly, picking a +hard little yellow apple here and there from the boughs over my head, +and at +<a name="Page_602" id="Page_602"></a>last I found a cellar all grown +over with grass, with not even a +bit of a crumbling brick to be seen in the hollow of it. No doubt there +were some underground. It was a very large cellar, twice as large as any +I had ever found before in any of these deserted places, in the woods or +out. And that told me at once that there had been a large house above +it, an unusual house for those old days; the family was either a large +one, or it had made for itself more than a merely sufficient covering +and shelter, with no inch of unnecessary room. I knew I was on very high +land, but the trees were so tall and close that I could not see beyond +them. The wind blew over pleasantly and it was a curiously protected and +hidden place, sheltered and quiet, with its one small crop of cider +apples dropping ungathered to the ground, and unharvested there, except +by hurrying black ants and sticky, witless little snails.</p> + +<p>I suppose my feeling toward this place was like that about a ruin, only +this seemed older than a ruin. I could not hear my horse's foot-falls, +and an apple startled me when it fell with a soft thud, and I watched it +roll a foot or two and then stop, as if it knew it never would have +anything more to do in the world. I remembered the Enchanted Palace and +the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, and it seemed as if I were on the way +to it, and this was a corner of that palace garden. The horse listened +and stood still, without a bit of restlessness, and when we heard the +far cry of a bird she looked round at me, as if she wished me to notice +that we were not alone in the world, after all. It was strange, to be +sure, that people had lived there, and had had a home where they were +busy, and where the fortunes of life had found them; that they had +followed out the law of existence in its succession of growth and +flourishing and failure and decay, within that steadily narrowing circle +of trees.</p> + +<p>The relationship of untamed nature to what is tamed and cultivated is a +very curious and subtle thing to me; I do not know if every one feels it +so intensely. In the darkness of an early autumn evening I sometimes +find myself whistling a queer tune that chimes in with the crickets' +piping and the cries of the little creatures around me in the garden. I +have no thought of the rest of the world. I wonder what I am; there is a +strange self-consciousness, but I am only a part of one great +<a name="Page_603" id="Page_603"></a>existence +which is called nature. The life in me is a bit of all life, and where I +am happiest is where I find that which is next of kin to me, in friends, +or trees, or hills, or seas, or beside a flower, when I turn back more +than once to look into its face.</p> + +<p>The world goes on year after year. We can use its forces, and shape and +mould them, and perfect this thing or that, but we cannot make new +forces; we only use the tools we find to carve the wood we find. There +is nothing new; we discover and combine and use. Here is the wild +fruit,—the same fruit at heart as that with which the gardener wins his +prize. The world is the same world. You find a diamond, but the diamond +was there a thousand years ago; you did not make it by finding it. We +grow spiritually, until we grasp some new great truth of God; but it was +always true, and waited for us until we came. What is there new and +strange in the world except ourselves! Our thoughts are our own; God +gives our life to us moment by moment, but He gives it to be our own.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Ye on your harps must lean to hear<br /></span> +<span>A secret chord that mine will bear."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>As I looked about me that day I saw the difference that men had made +slowly fading out of sight. It was like a dam in a river; when it is +once swept away the river goes on the same as before. The old patient, +sublime forces were there at work in their appointed way, but perhaps by +and by, when the apple-trees are gone and the cellar is only a rough +hollow in the woods, some one will again set aside these forces that +have worked unhindered, and will bring this corner of the world into a +new use and shape. What if we could stop or change forever the working +of these powers! But Nature repossesses herself surely of what we boldly +claim. The pyramids stand yet, it happens, but where are all those +cities that used also to stand in old Egypt, proud and strong, and +dating back beyond men's memories or traditions,—turned into sand again +and dust that is like all the rest of the desert, and blows about in the +wind? Yet there cannot be such a thing as life that is lost. The tree +falls and decays, in the dampness of the woods, and is part of the earth +under foot, but another tree is growing out of it; perhaps it is part of +its own life that +<a name="Page_604" id="Page_604"></a>is springing again from the part +of it that died. God +must always be putting again to some use the life that is withdrawn; it +must live, because it is Life. There can be no confusion to God in this +wonderful world, the new birth of the immortal, the new forms of the +life that is from everlasting to everlasting, or the new way in which it +comes. But it is only God who can plan and order it all,—who is a +father to his children, and cares for the least of us. I thought of his +unbroken promises; the people who lived and died in that lonely place +knew Him, and the chain of events was fitted to their thoughts and +lives, for their development and education. The world was made for them, +and God keeps them yet; somewhere in his kingdom they are in their +places,—they are not lost; while the trees they left grow older, and +the young trees spring up, and the fields they cleared are being covered +over and turned into wild land again.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>I had visited this farm of mine many times since that first day, but +since the last time I had been there I had found out, luckily, something +about its last tenant. An old lady whom I knew in the village had told +me that when she was a child she remembered another very old woman, who +used to live here all alone, far from any neighbors, and that one +afternoon she had come with her mother to see her. She remembered the +house very well; it was larger and better than most houses in the +region. Its owner was the last of her family; but why she lived alone, +or what became of her at last, or of her money or her goods, or who were +her relatives in the town, my friend did not know. She was a thrifty, +well-to-do old soul, a famous weaver and spinner, and she used to come +to the meeting-house at the Old Fields every Sunday, and sit by herself +in a square pew. Since I knew this, the last owner of my farm has become +very real to me, and I thought of her that day a great deal, and could +almost see her as she sat alone on her door-step in the twilight of a +summer evening, when the thrushes were calling in the woods; or going +down the hills to church, dressed in quaint fashion, with a little +sadness in her face as she thought of her lost companions and how she +did not use to go to church alone. And I pictured her funeral to myself, +and watched her carried away at last by the narrow road that +<a name="Page_605" id="Page_605"></a>wound +among the trees; and there was nobody left in the house after the +neighbors from the nearest farms had put it to rights, and had looked +over her treasures to their hearts' content. She must have been a +fearless woman, and one could not stay in such a place as this, year in +and year out, through the long days of summer and the long nights of +winter, unless she found herself good company.</p> + +<p>I do not think I could find a worse avenue than that which leads to my +farm, I think sometimes there must have been an easier way out which I +have yet failed to discover, but it has its advantages, for the trees +are beautiful and stand close together, and I do not know such green +brakes anywhere as those which grow in the shadiest places. I came into +a well-trodden track after a while, which led into a small granite +quarry, and then I could go faster, and at last I reached a pasture wall +which was quickly left behind and I was only a little way from the main +road. There were a few young cattle scattered about in the pasture, and +some of them which were lying down got up in a hurry and stared at me +suspiciously as I rode along. It was very uneven ground, and I passed +some stiff, straight mullein stalks which stood apart together in a +hollow as if they wished to be alone. They always remind me of the rigid +old Scotch Covenanters, who used to gather themselves together in +companies, against the law, to worship God in some secret hollow of the +bleak hill-side. Even the smallest and youngest of the mulleins was a +Covenanter at heart; they had all put by their yellow flowers, and they +will stand there, gray and unbending, through the fall rains and winter +snows, to keep their places and praise God in their own fashion, and +they take great credit to themselves for doing it, I have no doubt, and +think it is far better to be a stern and respectable mullein than a +straying, idle clematis, that clings and wanders, and cannot bear wet +weather. I saw members of the congregation scattered through the pasture +and felt like telling them to hurry, for the long sermon had already +begun! But one ancient worthy, very late on his way to the meeting, +happened to stand in our way, and Sheila bit his dry head off, which was +a great pity.</p> + +<p>After I was once on the high road it was not long before I found myself +in another part of the town altogether. It is +<a name="Page_606" id="Page_606"></a>great fun to ride about +the country; one rouses a great deal of interest; there seems to be +something exciting in the sight of a girl on horseback, and people who +pass you in wagons turn to look after you, though they never would take +the trouble if you were only walking. The country horses shy if you go +by them fast, and sometimes you stop to apologize. The boys will leave +anything to come and throw a stone at your horse. I think Sheila would +like to bite a boy, though sometimes she goes through her best paces +when she hears them hooting, as if she thought they were admiring her, +which I never allow myself to doubt. It is considered a much greater +compliment if you make a call on horseback than if you came afoot, but +carriage people are nothing in the country to what they are in the city.</p> + +<p>I was on a good road and Sheila was trotting steadily, and I did not +look at the western sky behind me until I suddenly noticed that the air +had grown colder and the sun had been for a long time behind a cloud; +then I found there was going to be a shower, in a very little while, +too. I was in a thinly settled part of the town, and at first I could +not think of any shelter, until I remembered that not very far distant +there was an old house, with a long, sloping roof, which had formerly +been the parsonage of the north parish; there had once been a church +near by, to which most of the people came who lived in this upper part +of the town. It had been for many years the house of an old minister, of +widespread fame in his day; I had always heard of him from the elderly +people, and I had often thought I should like to go into his house, and +had looked at it with great interest, but until within a year or two +there had been people living there. I had even listened with pleasure to +a story of its being haunted, and this was a capital chance to take a +look at the old place, so I hurried toward it.</p> + +<p>As I went in at the broken gate it seemed to me as if the house might +have been shut up and left to itself fifty years before, when the +minister died, so soon the grass grows up after men's footsteps have +worn it down, and the traces are lost of the daily touch and care of +their hands. The home lot was evidently part of a pasture, and the sheep +had nibbled close to the door-step, while tags of their long, spring +wool, +<a name="Page_607" id="Page_607"></a>washed clean by summer rains, +were caught in the rose-bushes near +by.</p> + +<p>It had been a very good house in its day, and had a dignity of its own, +holding its gray head high, as if it knew itself to be not merely a +farm-house, but a Parsonage. The roof looked as if the next winter's +weight of snow might break it in, and the window panes had been loosened +so much in their shaking frames that many of them had fallen out on the +north side of the house, and were lying on the long grass underneath, +blurred and thin but still unbroken. That was the last letter of the +house's death warrant, for now the rain could get in, and the crumbling +timbers must loose their hold of each other quickly. I had found a dry +corner of the old shed for the horse and left her there, looking most +ruefully over her shoulder after me as I hurried away, for the rain had +already begun to spatter down in earnest. I was not sorry when I found +that somebody had broken a pane of glass in the sidelight of the front +door, near the latch, and I was very pleased when I found that by +reaching through I could unfasten a great bolt and let myself in, as +perhaps some tramp in search of shelter had done before me. However, I +gave the blackened brass knocker a ceremonious rap or two, and I could +have told by the sound of it, if in no other way, that there was nobody +at home. I looked up to see a robin's nest on the cornice overhead, and +I had to push away the lilacs and a withered hop vine which were both +trying to cover up the door.</p> + +<p>It gives one a strange feeling, I think, to go into an empty house so +old as this. It was so still there that the noise my footsteps made +startled me, and the floor creaked and cracked as if some one followed +me about. There was hardly a straw left or a bit of string or paper, but +the rooms were much worn, the bricks in the fire-places were burnt out, +rough and crumbling, and the doors were all worn smooth and round at the +edges. The best rooms were wainscoted, but up-stairs there was a long, +unfinished room with a little square window at each end, under the +sloping roof, and as I listened there to the rain I remembered that I +had once heard an old man say wistfully, that he had slept in just such +a "linter" chamber as this when he was a boy, and that he never could +sleep anywhere +<a name="Page_608" id="Page_608"></a>now so well as he used there +while the rain fell on the +roof just over his bed.</p> + +<p>Down-stairs I found a room which I knew must have been the study. It was +handsomely wainscoted, and the finish of it was even better than that of +the parlor. It must have been a most comfortable place, and I fear the +old parson was luxurious in his tastes and less ascetic, perhaps, than +the more puritanical members of his congregation approved. There was a +great fire-place with a broad hearth-stone, where I think he may have +made a mug of flip sometimes, and there were several curious, narrow, +little cupboards built into the wall at either side, and over the +fire-place itself two doors opened and there were shelves inside, +broader at the top as the chimney sloped back. I saw some writing on one +of these doors and went nearer to read it. There was a date at the top, +some time in 1802, and his reverence had had a good quill pen and ink +which bravely stood the test of time; he must have been a tall man to +have written so high. I thought it might be some record of a great storm +or other notable event in his house or parish, but I was amused to find +that he had written there on the unpainted wood some valuable recipes +for the medical treatment of horses. "It is Useful for a +Sprain—and For +a Cough, Take of Elecampane"—and so on. I hope he was not a hunting +parson, but one could hardly expect to find any reference to the early +fathers or federal head-ship in Adam on the cupboard door. I thought of +the stories I had heard of the old minister and felt very well +acquainted with him, though his books had been taken down and his fire +was out, and he himself had gone away. I was glad to think what a good, +faithful man he was, who spoke comfortable words to his people and lived +pleasantly with them in this quiet country place so many years. There +are old people living who have told me that nobody preaches nowadays as +he used to preach, and that he used to lift his hat to everybody; that +he liked a good dinner, and always was kind to the poor.</p> + +<p>I thought as I stood in the study, how many times he must have looked +out of the small-paned western windows across the fields, and how in his +later days he must have had a treasure of memories of the people who had +gone out of that room the better for his advice and consolation, the +people +<a name="Page_609" id="Page_609"></a>whom he had helped and taught and +ruled. I could not imagine +that he ever angrily took his parishioners to task for their errors of +doctrine; indeed, it was not of his active youth and middle age that I +thought at all, but of the last of his life, when he sat here in the +sunshine of a winter afternoon, and the fire flickered and snapped on +the hearth, and he sat before it in his arm-chair with a brown old book +which he laid on his knee while he thought and dozed, and roused himself +presently to greet somebody who came in, a little awed at first, to talk +with him. It was a great thing to be a country minister in those old +days, and to be such a minister as he was; truly the priest and ruler of +his people. The times have changed, and the temporal power certainly is +taken away. The divine right of ministers is almost as little believed +in as that of kings, by many people; it is not possible for the +influence to be so great, the office and the man are both looked at with +less reverence. It is a pity that it should be so, but the conservative +people who like old-fashioned ways cannot tell where to place all the +blame. And it is very odd to think that these iconoclastic and +unpleasant new times of ours will, a little later, be called old times, +and that the children, when they are elderly people, will sigh to have +them back again.</p> + +<p>I was very glad to see the old house, and I told myself a great many +stories there, as one cannot help doing in such a place. There must have +been so many things happen in so many long lives which were lived there; +people have come into the world and gone out of it again from those +square rooms with their little windows, and I believe if there are +ghosts who walk about in daylight I was only half deaf to their voices, +and heard much of what they tried to tell me that day. The rooms which +had looked empty at first were filled again with the old clergymen, who +met together with important looks and complacent dignity, and eager talk +about some minor point in theology that is yet unsettled; the awkward, +smiling couples, who came to be married; the mistress of the house, who +must have been a stately person in her day; the little children who, +under all their shyness, remembered the sugar-plums in the old parson's +pockets,—all these, and even the tall cane that must have stood in the +entry, were visible to my mind's eye. And I even heard a sermon from the +old +<a name="Page_610" id="Page_610"></a>preacher who died so long ago, on +the beauty of a life well spent.</p> + +<p>The rain fell steadily and there was no prospect of its stopping, though +I could see that the clouds were thinner and that it was only a shower. +In the kitchen I found an old chair which I pulled into the study, which +seemed more cheerful than the rest of the house, and then I remembered +that there were some bits of board in the kitchen also, and the thought +struck me that it would be good fun to make a fire in the old +fire-place. Everything seemed right about the chimney. I even went up +into the garret to look at it there, for I had no wish to set the +parsonage on fire, and I brought down a pile of old corn husks for +kindlings which I found on the garret floor. I built my fire carefully, +with two bricks for andirons, and when I lit it it blazed up gayly, I +poked it and it crackled, and though I was very well contented there +alone I wished for some friend to keep me company, it was selfish to +have so much pleasure with no one to share it. The rain came faster than +ever against the windows, and the room would have been dark if it had +not been for my fire, which threw out a magnificent yellow light over +the old brown wood-work. I leaned back and watched the dry sticks fall +apart in red coals and thought I might have to spend the night there, +for if it were a storm and not a shower I was several miles from home, +and a late October rain is not like a warm one in June to fall upon +one's shoulders. I could hear the house leaking when it rained less +heavily, and the soot dropped down the chimney and great drops of water +came down, too, and spluttered in the fire. I thought what a merry thing +it would be if a party of young people ever had to take refuge there, +and I could almost see their faces and hear them laugh, though until +that minute they had been strangers to me.</p> + +<p>But the shower was over at last, and my fire was out, and the last pale +shining of the sun came into the windows, and I looked out to see the +distant fields and woods all clear again in the late afternoon light. I +must hurry to get home before dark, so I raked up the ashes and left my +chair beside the fire-place, and shut and fastened the front door after +me, and went out to see what had become of my horse, shaking the dust +and cobwebs off my dress as I crossed the wet grass to +<a name="Page_611" id="Page_611"></a>the shed. The +rain had come through the broken roof and poor Sheila looked anxious and +hungry as if she thought I might have meant to leave her there till +morning in that dismal place. I offered her my apologies, but she made +even a shorter turn than usual when I had mounted, and we scurried off +down the road, spattering ourselves as we went. I hope the ghosts who +live in the parsonage watched me with friendly eyes, and I looked back +myself, to see a thin blue whiff of smoke still coming up from the great +chimney. I wondered who it was that had made the first fire there,—but +I think I shall have made the last.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="Toms_Husband" id="Toms_Husband"></a> +<a name="Page_612" id="Page_612"></a>Tom's Husband</h2> + + +<p>I shall not dwell long upon the circumstances that led to the marriage +of my hero and heroine; though their courtship was, to them, the only +one that has ever noticeably approached the ideal, it had many aspects +in which it was entirely commonplace in other people's eyes. While the +world in general smiles at lovers with kindly approval and sympathy, it +refuses to be aware of the unprecedented delight which is amazing to the +lovers themselves.</p> + +<p>But, as has been true in many other cases, when they were at last +married, the most ideal of situations was found to have been changed to +the most practical. Instead of having shared their original duties, and, +as school-boys would say, going halves, they discovered that the cares +of life had been doubled. This led to some distressing moments for both +our friends; they understood suddenly that instead of dwelling in heaven +they were still upon earth, and had made themselves slaves to new laws +and limitations. Instead of being freer and happier than ever before, +they had assumed new responsibilities; they had established a new +household, and must fulfill in some way or another the obligations of +it. They looked back with affection to their engagement; they had been +longing to have each other to themselves, apart from the world, but it +seemed that they never felt so keenly that they were still units in +modern society. Since Adam and Eve were in Paradise, before the devil +joined them, nobody has had a chance to imitate that unlucky couple. In +some respects they told the truth when, twenty times a day, they said +that life had never been so pleasant before; but there were mental +reservations on either side which might have subjected them to the +accusation of lying. Somehow, there was a little feeling of +disappointment, and they caught themselves wondering—though they would +have died sooner than confess it—whether they were quite so happy as +they had expected. The truth was, they were much happier than people +usually are, for they had an uncommon capacity for enjoyment. For a +little while they were like a sail-boat that is beating and has to drift +a few minutes before +<a name="Page_613" id="Page_613"></a>it can catch the wind and start +off on the other +tack. And they had the same feeling, too, that any one is likely to have +who has been long pursuing some object of his ambition or desire. +Whether it is a coin, or a picture, or a stray volume of some old +edition of Shakespeare, or whether it is an office under government or a +lover, when fairly in one's grasp there is a loss of the eagerness that +was felt in pursuit. Satisfaction, even after one has dined well, is not +so interesting and eager a feeling as hunger.</p> + +<p>My hero and heroine were reasonably well established to begin with: they +each had some money, though Mr. Wilson had most. His father had at one +time been a rich man, but with the decline, a few years before, of +manufacturing interests, he had become, mostly through the fault of +others, somewhat involved; and at the time of his death his affairs were +in such a condition that it was still a question whether a very large +sum or a moderately large one would represent his estate. Mrs. Wilson, +Tom's step-mother, was somewhat of an invalid; she suffered severely at +times with asthma, but she was almost entirely relieved by living in +another part of the country. While her husband lived, she had accepted +her illness as inevitable, and rarely left home; but during the last few +years she had lived in Philadelphia with her own people, making short +and wheezing visits only from time to time, and had not undergone a +voluntary period of suffering since the occasion of Tom's marriage, +which she had entirely approved. She had a sufficient property of her +own, and she and Tom were independent of each other in that way. Her +only other stepchild was a daughter, who had married a navy officer, and +had at this time gone out to spend three years (or less) with her +husband, who had been ordered to Japan.</p> + +<p>It is not unfrequently noticed that in many marriages one of the persons +who choose each other as partners for life is said to have thrown +himself or herself away, and the relatives and friends look on with +dismal forebodings and ill-concealed submission. In this case it was the +wife who might have done so much better, according to public opinion. +She did not think so herself, luckily, either before marriage or +afterward, and I do not think it occurred to her to picture to herself +the sort of career which would have been her alternative. She had +<a name="Page_614" id="Page_614"></a>been +an only child, and had usually taken her own way. Some one once said +that it was a great pity that she had not been obliged to work for her +living, for she had inherited a most uncommon business talent, and, +without being disreputably keen at a bargain, her insight into the +practical working of affairs was very clear and far-reaching. Her +father, who had also been a manufacturer, like Tom's, had often said it +had been a mistake that she was a girl instead of a boy. Such executive +ability as hers is often wasted in the more contracted sphere of women, +and is apt to be more a disadvantage than a help. She was too +independent and self-reliant for a wife; it would seem at first thought +that she needed a wife herself more than she did a husband. Most men +like best the women whose natures cling and appeal to theirs for +protection. But Tom Wilson, while he did not wish to be protected +himself, liked these very qualities in his wife which would have +displeased some other men; to tell the truth, he was very much in love +with his wife just as she was. He was a successful collector of almost +everything but money, and during a great part of his life he had been an +invalid, and he had grown, as he laughingly confessed, very +old-womanish. He had been badly lamed, when a boy, by being caught in +some machinery in his father's mill, near which he was idling one +afternoon, and though he had almost entirely outgrown the effect of his +injury, it had not been until after many years. He had been in college, +but his eyes had given out there, and he had been obliged to leave in +the middle of his junior year, though he had kept up a pleasant +intercourse with the members of his class, with whom he had been a great +favorite. He was a good deal of an idler in the world. I do not think +his ambition, except in the case of securing Mary Dunn for his wife, had +ever been distinct; he seemed to make the most he could of each day as +it came, without making all his days' works tend toward some grand +result, and go toward the upbuilding of some grand plan and purpose. He +consequently gave no promise of being either distinguished or great. +When his eyes would allow, he was an indefatigable reader; and although +he would have said that he read only for amusement, yet he amused +himself with books that were well worth the time he spent over them.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_615" id="Page_615"></a>The house where he lived +nominally belonged to his step-mother, but she +had taken for granted that Tom would bring his wife home to it, and +assured him that it should be to all intents and purposes his. Tom was +deeply attached to the old place, which was altogether the pleasantest +in town. He had kept bachelor's hall there most of the time since his +father's death, and he had taken great pleasure, before his marriage, in +refitting it to some extent, though it was already comfortable and +furnished in remarkably good taste. People said of him that if it had +not been for his illnesses, and if he had been a poor boy, he probably +would have made something of himself. As it was, he was not very well +known by the towns-people, being somewhat reserved, and not taking much +interest in their every-day subjects of conversation. Nobody liked him +so well as they liked his wife, yet there was no reason why he should be +disliked enough to have much said about him.</p> + +<p>After our friends had been married for some time, and had outlived the +first strangeness of the new order of things, and had done their duty to +their neighbors with so much apparent willingness and generosity that +even Tom himself was liked a great deal better than he ever had been +before, they were sitting together one stormy evening in the library, +before the fire. Mrs. Wilson had been reading Tom the letters which had +come to him by the night's mail. There was a long one from his sister in +Nagasaki, which had been written with a good deal of ill-disguised +reproach. She complained of the smallness of the income of her share in +her father's estate, and said that she had been assured by American +friends that the smaller mills were starting up everywhere, and +beginning to do well again. Since so much of their money was invested in +the factory, she had been surprised and sorry to find by Tom's last +letters that he had seemed to have no idea of putting in a proper person +as superintendent, and going to work again. Four per cent. on her other +property, which she had been told she must soon expect instead of eight, +would make a great difference to her. A navy captain in a foreign port +was obliged to entertain a great deal, and Tom must know that it cost +them much more to live than it did him, and ought to think of their +interests. She hoped he would talk over what +<a name="Page_616" id="Page_616"></a>was best to be done with +their mother (who had been made executor, with Tom, of his father's +will).</p> + +<p>Tom laughed a little, but looked disturbed. His wife had said something +to the same effect, and his mother had spoken once or twice in her +letters of the prospect of starting the mill again. He was not a bit of +a business man, and he did not feel certain, with the theories which he +had arrived at of the state of the country, that it was safe yet to +spend the money which would have to be spent in putting the mill in +order. "They think that the minute it is going again we shall be making +money hand over hand, just as father did when we were children," he +said. "It is going to cost us no end of money before we can make +anything. Before father died he meant to put in a good deal of new +machinery, I remember. I don't know anything about the business myself, +and I would have sold out long ago if I had had an offer that came +anywhere near the value. The larger mills are the only ones that are +good for anything now, and we should have to bring a crowd of French +Canadians here; the day is past for the people who live in this part of +the country to go into the factory again. Even the Irish all go West +when they come into the country, and don't come to places like this any +more."</p> + +<p>"But there are a good many of the old work-people down in the +village," +said Mrs. Wilson. "Jack Towne asked me the other day if you weren't +going to start up in the spring."</p> + +<p>Tom moved uneasily in his chair. "I'll put you in for +superintendent, if +you like," he said, half angrily, whereupon Mary threw the newspaper at +him; but by the time he had thrown it back he was in good humor again.</p> + +<p>"Do you know, Tom," she said, with amazing seriousness, +"that I believe +I should like nothing in the world so much as to be the head of a large +business? I hate keeping house,—I always did; and I never did so much +of it in all my life put together as I have since I have been married. I +suppose it isn't womanly to say so, but if I could escape from the whole +thing I believe I should be perfectly happy. If you get rich when the +mill is going again, I shall beg for a housekeeper, and shirk +everything. I give you fair warning. I don't believe I keep this house +half so well as you did before I came here."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_617" id="Page_617"></a>Tom's eyes twinkled. "I +am going to have that glory,—I don't think you +do, Polly; but you can't say that I have not been forbearing. I +certainly have not told you more than twice how we used to have things +cooked. I'm not going to be your kitchen-colonel."</p> + +<p>"Of course it seemed the proper thing to do," said his wife, +meditatively; "but I think we should have been even happier than we have +if I had been spared it. I have had some days of wretchedness that I +shudder to think of. I never know what to have for breakfast; and I +ought not to say it, but I don't mind the sight of dust. I look upon +housekeeping as my life's great discipline;" and at this pathetic +confession they both laughed heartily.</p> + +<p>"I've a great mind to take it off your hands," said +Tom. "I always +rather liked it, to tell the truth, and I ought to be a better +housekeeper,—I have been at it for five years; though housekeeping for +one is different from what it is for two, and one of them a woman. You +see you have brought a different element into my family. Luckily, the +servants are pretty well drilled. I do think you upset them a good deal +at first!"</p> + +<p>Mary Wilson smiled as if she only half heard what he was saying. She +drummed with her foot on the floor and looked intently at the fire, and +presently gave it a vigorous poking. "Well?" said Tom, after he had +waited patiently as long as he could.</p> + +<p>"Tom! I'm going to propose something to you. I wish you would really do +as you said, and take all the home affairs under your care, and let me +start the mill. I am certain I could manage it. Of course I should get +people who understood the thing to teach me. I believe I was made for +it; I should like it above all things. And this is what I will do: I +will bear the cost of starting it, myself,—I think I have money enough, +or can get it; and if I have not put affairs in the right trim at the +end of a year I will stop, and you may make some other arrangement. If I +have, you and your mother and sister can pay me back."</p> + +<p>"So I am going to be the wife, and you the husband," said +Tom, a little +indignantly; "at least, that is what people will say. It's a regular +Darby and Joan affair, and you think you +<a name="Page_618" id="Page_618"></a>can do more work in a day than +I can do in three. Do you know that you must go to town to buy cotton? +And do you know there are a thousand things about it that you don't +know?"</p> + +<p>"And never will?" said Mary, with perfect good +humor. "Why, Tom, I can +learn as well as you, and a good deal better, for I like business, and +you don't. You forget that I was always father's right-hand man after I +was a dozen years old, and that you have let me invest my money and some +of your own, and I haven't made a blunder yet."</p> + +<p>Tom thought that his wife had never looked so handsome or so happy. "I +don't care, I should rather like the fun of knowing what people will +say. It is a new departure, at any rate. Women think they can do +everything better than men in these days, but I'm the first man, +apparently, who has wished he were a woman."</p> + +<p>"Of course people will laugh," said Mary, "but they +will say that it's +just like me, and think I am fortunate to have married a man who will +let me do as I choose. I don't see why it isn't sensible: you will be +living exactly as you were before you married, as to home affairs; and +since it was a good thing for you to know something about housekeeping +then, I can't imagine why you shouldn't go on with it now, since it +makes me miserable, and I am wasting a fine business talent while I do +it. What do we care for people's talking about it?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that it is something like women's smoking: it isn't +wicked, but it isn't the custom of the country. And I don't like the +idea of your going among business men. Of course I should be above going +with you, and having people think I must be an idiot; they would say +that you married a manufacturing interest, and I was thrown in. I can +foresee that my pride is going to be humbled to the dust in every way," +Tom declared in mournful tones, and began to shake with laughter. "It is +one of your lovely castles in the air, dear Polly, but an old brick mill +needs a better foundation than the clouds. No, I'll look around, and get +an honest, experienced man for agent. I suppose it's the best thing we +can do, for the machinery ought not to lie still any longer; but I mean +to sell the factory as soon as I can. I devoutly wish it would take +fire, for the insurance would be the best price we are likely to get. +<a name="Page_619" id="Page_619"></a> +That is a famous letter from Alice! I am afraid the captain has been +growling over his pay, or they have been giving too many little dinners +on board ship. If we were rid of the mill, you and I might go out there +this winter. It would be capital fun."</p> + +<p>Mary smiled again in an absent-minded way. Tom had an uneasy feeling +that he had not heard the end of it yet, but nothing more was said for a +day or two. When Mrs. Tom Wilson announced, with no apparent thought of +being contradicted, that she had entirely made up her mind, and she +meant to see those men who had been overseers of the different +departments, who still lived in the village, and have the mill put in +order at once, Tom looked disturbed, but made no opposition; and soon +after breakfast his wife formally presented him with a handful of keys, +and told him there was some lamb in the house for dinner; and presently +he heard the wheels of her little phaeton rattling off down the road. I +should be untruthful if I tried to persuade any one that he was not +provoked; he thought she would at least have waited for his formal +permission, and at first he meant to take another horse, and chase her, +and bring her back in disgrace, and put a stop to the whole thing. But +something assured him that she knew what she was about, and he +determined to let her have her own way. If she failed, it might do no +harm, and this was the only ungallant thought he gave her. He was sure +that she would do nothing unladylike, or be unmindful of his dignity; +and he believed it would be looked upon as one of her odd, independent +freaks, which always had won respect in the end, however much they had +been laughed at in the beginning. "Susan," said he, as that estimable +person went by the door with the dust-pan, "you may tell Catherine to +come to me for orders about the house, and you may do so yourself. I am +going to take charge again, as I did before I was married. It is no +trouble to me, and Mrs. Wilson dislikes it. Besides, she is going into +business, and will have a great deal else to think of."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; very well, sir," said Susan, who was suddenly +moved to ask so +many questions that she was utterly silent. But her master looked very +happy; there was evidently no disapproval of his wife; and she went on +up the stairs, and +<a name="Page_620" id="Page_620"></a>began to sweep them down, +knocking the dust-brush +about excitedly, as if she were trying to kill a descending colony of +insects.</p> + +<p>Tom went out to the stable and mounted his horse, which had been waiting +for him to take his customary after-breakfast ride to the post-office, +and he galloped down the road in quest of the phaeton. He saw Mary +talking with Jack Towne, who had been an overseer and a valued workman +of his father's. He was looking much surprised and pleased.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't caring so much about getting work, myself," he +explained; +"I've got what will carry me and my wife through; but it'll be better +for the young folks about here to work near home. My nephews are wanting +something to do; they were going to Lynn next week. I don't say but I +should like to be to work in the old place again. I've sort of missed +it, since we shut down."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry I was so long in overtaking you," said Tom, +politely, to his +wife. "Well, Jack, did Mrs. Wilson tell you she's going to start the +mill? You must give her all the help you can."</p> + +<p>"'Deed I will," said Mr. Towne, gallantly, without a bit of +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"I don't know much about the business yet," said +Mrs. Wilson, who had +been a little overcome at Jack Towne's lingo of the different rooms and +machinery, and who felt an overpowering sense of having a great deal +before her in the next few weeks. "By the time the mill is ready, I will +be ready, too," she said, taking heart a little; and Tom, who was quick +to understand her moods, could not help laughing, as he rode alongside. +"We want a new barrel of flour, Tom, dear," she said, by way of +punishment for his untimely mirth.</p> + +<p>If she lost courage in the long delay, or was disheartened at the steady +call for funds, she made no sign; and after a while the mill started up, +and her cares were lightened, so that she told Tom that before next pay +day she would like to go to Boston for a few days, and go to the +theatre, and have a frolic and a rest. She really looked pale and thin, +and she said she never worked so hard in all her life; but nobody knew +how happy she was, and she was so glad she had married Tom, for some men +would have laughed at it.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_621" id="Page_621"></a>I laughed at it," +said Tom, meekly. "All is, if I don't cry by and by, +because I am a beggar, I shall be lucky." But Mary looked fearlessly +serene, and said that there was no danger at present.</p> + +<p>It would have been ridiculous to expect a dividend the first year, +though the Nagasaki people were pacified with difficulty. All the +business letters came to Tom's address, and everybody who was not +directly concerned thought that he was the motive power of the +reawakened enterprise. Sometimes business people came to the mill, and +were amazed at having to confer with Mrs. Wilson, but they soon had to +respect her talents and her success. She was helped by the old clerk, +who had been promptly recalled and reinstated, and she certainly did +capitally well. She was laughed at, as she had expected to be, and +people said they should think Tom would be ashamed of himself; but it +soon appeared that he was not to blame, and what reproach was offered +was on the score of his wife's oddity. There was nothing about the mill +that she did not understand before very long, and at the end of the +second year she declared a small dividend with great pride and triumph. +And she was congratulated on her success, and every one thought of her +project in a different way from the way they had thought of it in the +beginning. She had singularly good fortune: at the end of the third year +she was making money for herself and her friends faster than most people +were, and approving letters began to come from Nagasaki. The Ashtons had +been ordered to stay in that region, and it was evident that they were +continually being obliged to entertain more instead of less. Their +children were growing fast, too, and constantly becoming more expensive. +The captain and his wife had already begun to congratulate themselves +secretly that their two sons would in all probability come into +possession, one day, of their uncle Tom's handsome property.</p> + +<p>For a good while Tom enjoyed life, and went on his quiet way serenely. +He was anxious at first, for he thought that Mary was going to make +ducks and drakes of his money and her own. And then he did not exactly +like the looks of the thing, either; he feared that his wife was growing +successful as a business person at the risk of losing her womanliness. +But as time went on, and he found there was no fear of that, he +<a name="Page_622" id="Page_622"></a>accepted the situation +philosophically. He gave up his collection of +engravings, having become more interested in one of coins and medals, +which took up most of his leisure time. He often went to the city in +pursuit of such treasures, and gained much renown in certain quarters as +a numismatologist of great skill and experience. But at last his house +(which had almost kept itself, and had given him little to do beside +ordering the dinners, while faithful old Catherine and her niece Susan +were his aids) suddenly became a great care to him. Catherine, who had +been the main-stay of the family for many years, died after a short +illness, and Susan must needs choose that time, of all others, for being +married to one of the second hands in the mill. There followed a long +and dismal season of experimenting, and for a time there was a +procession of incapable creatures going in at one kitchen door and out +of the other. His wife would not have liked to say so, but it seemed to +her that Tom was growing fussy about the house affairs, and took more +notice of those minor details than he used. She wished more than once, +when she was tired, that he would not talk so much about the +housekeeping; he seemed sometimes to have no other thought.</p> + +<p>In the early days of Mrs. Wilson's business life, she had made it a rule +to consult her husband on every subject of importance; but it had +speedily proved to be a formality. Tom tried manfully to show a deep +interest which he did not feel, and his wife gave up, little by little, +telling him much about her affairs. She said that she liked to drop +business when she came home in the evening; and at last she fell into +the habit of taking a nap on the library sofa, while Tom, who could not +use his eyes much by lamp-light, sat smoking or in utter idleness before +the fire. When they were first married his wife had made it a rule that +she should always read him the evening papers, and afterward they had +always gone on with some book of history or philosophy, in which they +were both interested. These evenings of their early married life had +been charming to both of them, and from time to time one would say to +the other that they ought to take up again the habit of reading +together. Mary was so unaffectedly tired in the evening that Tom never +liked to propose a walk; for, though he was not a man of peculiarly +social nature, he had always +<a name="Page_623" id="Page_623"></a>been accustomed to pay an occasional +evening visit to his neighbors in the village. And though he had little +interest in the business world, and still less knowledge of it, after a +while he wished that his wife would have more to say about what she was +planning and doing, or how things were getting on. He thought that her +chief aid, old Mr. Jackson, was far more in her thoughts than he. She +was forever quoting Jackson's opinions. He did not like to find that she +took it for granted that he was not interested in the welfare of his own +property; it made him feel like a sort of pensioner and dependent, +though, when they had guests at the house, which was by no means seldom, +there was nothing in her manner that would imply that she thought +herself in any way the head of the family. It was hard work to find +fault with his wife in any way, though, to give him his due, he rarely +tried.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>But, this being a wholly unnatural state of things, the reader must +expect to hear of its change at last, and the first blow from the enemy +was dealt by an old woman, who lived near by, and who called to Tom one +morning, as he was driving down to the village in a great hurry (to post +a letter, which ordered his agent to secure a long-wished-for ancient +copper coin, at any price), to ask him if they had made yeast that week, +and if she could borrow a cupful, as her own had met with some +misfortune. Tom was instantly in a rage, and he mentally condemned her +to some undeserved fate, but told her aloud to go and see the cook. This +slight delay, besides being killing to his dignity, caused him to lose +the mail, and in the end his much-desired copper coin. It was a hard day +for him, altogether; it was Wednesday, and the first days of the week +having been stormy the washing was very late. And Mary came home to +dinner provokingly good-natured. She had met an old school-mate and her +husband driving home from the mountains, and had first taken them over +her factory, to their great amusement and delight, and then had brought +them home to dinner. Tom greeted them cordially, and manifested his +usual graceful hospitality; but the minute he saw his wife alone he said +in a plaintive tone of rebuke, "I should think you might have remembered +that the servants are unusually busy to-day. I do wish you would take a +little +<a name="Page_624" id="Page_624"></a>interest in things at home. The +women have been washing, and I'm +sure I don't know what sort of a dinner we can give your friends. I wish +you had thought to bring home some steak. I have been busy myself, and +couldn't go down to the village. I thought we would only have a +lunch."</p> + +<p>Mary was hungry, but she said nothing, except that it would be all +right,—she didn't mind; and perhaps they could have some canned soup.</p> + +<p>She often went to town to buy or look at cotton, or to see some +improvement in machinery, and she brought home beautiful bits of +furniture and new pictures for the house, and showed a touching +thoughtfulness in remembering Tom's fancies; but somehow he had an +uneasy suspicion that she could get along pretty well without him when +it came to the deeper wishes and hopes of her life, and that her most +important concerns were all matters in which he had no share. He seemed +to himself to have merged his life in his wife's; he lost his interest +in things outside the house and grounds; he felt himself fast growing +rusty and behind the times, and to have somehow missed a good deal in +life; he had a suspicion that he was a failure. One day the thought +rushed over him that his had been almost exactly the experience of most +women, and he wondered if it really was any more disappointing and +ignominious to him than it was to women themselves. "Some of them may be +contented with it," he said to himself, soberly. "People +think women are +designed for such careers by nature, but I don't know why I ever made +such a fool of myself."</p> + +<p>Having once seen his situation in life from such a standpoint, he felt +it day by day to be more degrading, and he wondered what he should do +about it; and once, drawn by a new, strange sympathy, he went to the +little family burying ground. It was one of the mild, dim days that come +sometimes in early November, when the pale sunlight is like the pathetic +smile of a sad face, and he sat for a long time on the limp, +frost-bitten grass beside his mother's grave.</p> + +<p>But when he went home in the twilight his step-mother, who just then was +making them a little visit, mentioned that she had been looking through +some boxes of hers that had been packed long before and stowed away in +the garret. +<a name="Page_625" id="Page_625"></a> "Everything looks very nice +up there," she said, in her +wheezing voice (which, worse than usual that day, always made him +nervous); and added, without any intentional slight to his feelings, "I +do think you have always been a most excellent housekeeper."</p> + +<p>"I'm tired of such nonsense!" he exclaimed, with +surprising indignation. +"Mary, I wish you to arrange your affairs so that you can leave them for +six months at least. I am going to spend this winter in Europe."</p> + +<p>"Why, Tom, dear!" said his wife, appealingly. "I +couldn't leave my +business any way in the"—</p> + +<p>But she caught sight of a look on his usually placid countenance that +was something more than decision, and refrained from saying anything +more.</p> + +<p>And three weeks from that day they sailed.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapter" /> +<h2 class="chapter"><a name="Miss_Debbys_Neighbors" +id="Miss_Debbys_Neighbors"></a> +<a name="Page_626" id="Page_626"></a>Miss Debby's Neighbors</h2> + + +<p>There is a class of elderly New England women which is fast dying +out:—those good souls who have sprung from a soil full of the true New +England instincts; who were used to the old-fashioned ways, and whose +minds were stored with quaint country lore and tradition. The fashions +of the newer generations do not reach them; they are quite unconscious +of the western spirit and enterprise, and belong to the old days, and to +a fast-disappearing order of things.</p> + +<p>But a shrewder person does not exist than the spokeswoman of the +following reminiscences, whose simple history can be quickly told, since +she spent her early life on a lonely farm, leaving it only once for any +length of time,—one winter when she learned her trade of tailoress. She +afterward sewed for her neighbors, and enjoyed a famous reputation for +her skill; but year by year, as she grew older, there was less to do, +and at last, to use her own expression, "Everybody got into the way of +buying cheap, ready-made-up clothes, just to save 'em a little trouble," +and she found herself out of business, or nearly so. After her mother's +death, and that of her favorite younger brother Jonas, she left the farm +and came to a little house in the village, where she lived most +comfortably the rest of her life, having a small property which she used +most sensibly. She was always ready to render any special service with +her needle, and was a most welcome guest in any household, and a most +efficient helper. To be in the same room with her for a while was sure +to be profitable, and as she grew older she was delighted to recall the +people and events of her earlier life, always filling her descriptions +with wise reflections and much quaint humor. She always insisted, not +without truth, that the railroads were making everybody look and act of +a piece, and that the young folks were more alike than people of her own +day. It is impossible to give the delightfulness of her talk in any +written words, as well as many of its peculiarities, for her way of +going round Robin Hood's barn between the beginning of her story and its +end +<a name="Page_627" id="Page_627"></a>can hardly be followed at all, +and certainly not in her own dear +loitering footsteps.</p> + +<p>On an idle day her most devoted listener thought there was nothing +better worth doing than to watch this good soul at work. A book was held +open for the looks of the thing, but presently it was allowed to flutter +its leaves and close, for Miss Debby began without any apparent +provocation:—</p> + +<p>"They may say whatever they have a mind to, but they can't persuade me +that there's no such thing as special providences," and she twitched her +strong linen thread so angrily through the carpet she was sewing, that +it snapped and the big needle flew into the air. It had to be found +before any further remarks could be made, and the listener also knelt +down to search for it. After a while it was discovered clinging to Miss +Debby's own dress, and after reharnessing it she went to work again at +her long seam. It was always significant of a succession of Miss Debby's +opinions when she quoted and berated certain imaginary persons whom she +designated as "They," who stood for the opposite side of the +question, +and who merited usually her deepest scorn and fullest antagonism. Her +remarks to these offending parties were always prefaced with "I tell +'em," and to the listener's mind "they" always stood +rebuked, but not +convinced, in spiritual form it may be, but most intense reality; a +little group as solemn as Miss Debby herself. Once the listener ventured +to ask who "they" were, in her early childhood, but she was only +answered by a frown. Miss Debby knew as well as any one the difference +between figurative language and a lie. Sometimes they said what was +right and proper, and were treated accordingly; but very seldom, and on +this occasion it seemed that they had ventured to trifle with sacred +things.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you're too young to remember John Ashby's +grandmother? A good +woman she was, and she had a dreadful time with her family. They never +could keep the peace, and there was always as many as two of them who +didn't speak with each other. It seems to come down from generation to +generation like a—<i>curse!</i>" And Miss Debby spoke the +last word as if +she had meant it partly for her thread, which had again knotted and +caught, and she snatched the offered scissors without a word, but said +peaceably, after a +<a name="Page_628" id="Page_628"></a>minute or two, that the thread +wasn't what it used +to be. The next needleful proved more successful, and the listener asked +if the Ashbys were getting on comfortably at present.</p> + +<p>"They always behave as if they thought they needed +nothing," was the +response. "Not that I mean that they are any ways contented, but they +never will give in that other folks holds a candle to 'em. There's one +kind of pride that I do hate,—when folks is satisfied with their selves +and don't see no need of improvement. I believe in self-respect, but I +believe in respecting other folks's rights as much as your own; but it +takes an Ashby to ride right over you. I tell 'em it's the spirit of the +tyrants of old, and it's the kind of pride that goes before a fall. John +Ashby's grandmother was a clever little woman as ever stepped. She came +from over Hardwick way, and I think she kep' 'em kind of decent-behaved +as long as she was round; but she got wore out a doin' of it, an' went +down to her grave in a quick consumption. My mother set up with her the +night she died. It was in May, towards the latter part, and an awful +rainy night. It was the storm that always comes in apple-blossom time. I +remember well that mother come crying home in the morning and told us +Mis' Ashby was dead. She brought Marilly with her, that was about my own +age, and was taken away within six months afterwards. She pined herself +to death for her mother, and when she caught the scarlet fever she went +as quick as cherry-bloom when it's just ready to fall and a wind strikes +it. She wa'n't like the rest of 'em. She took after her mother's folks +altogether.</p> + +<p>"You know our farm was right next to theirs,—the one Asa +Hopper owns +now, but he's let it all run out,—and so, as we lived some ways from +the stores, we had to be neighborly, for we depended on each other for a +good many things. Families in lonesome places get out of one supply and +another, and have to borrow until they get a chance to send to the +village; or sometimes in a busy season some of the folks would have to +leave work and be gone half a day. Land, you don't know nothing about +old times, and the life that used to go on about here. You can't step +into a house anywheres now that there ain't the county map and they +don't fetch out the photograph book; and in every district you'll find +all the folks has got the same chromo picture hung up, and all sorts of +luxuries and +<a name="Page_629" id="Page_629"></a>makeshifts o' splendor that would +have made the folks I +was fetched up by stare their eyes out o' their heads. It was all we +could do to keep along then; and if anybody was called rich, it was only +because he had a great sight of land,—and then it was drudge, drudge +the harder to pay the taxes. There was hardly any ready money; and I +recollect well that old Tommy Simms was reputed wealthy, and it was told +over fifty times a year that he'd got a solid four thousand dollars in +the bank. He strutted round like a turkey-cock, and thought he ought to +have his first say about everything that was going.</p> + +<p>"I was talking about the Ashbys, wasn't I? I do' know's I ever told you +about the fight they had after their father died about the old house. +Joseph was married to a girl he met in camp-meeting time, who had a +little property—two or three hundred dollars—from an old +great uncle +that she'd been keeping house for; and I don't know what other plans she +may have had for spending of her means, but she laid most of it out in a +husband; for Joseph never cared any great about her that I could see, +though he always treated her well enough. She was a poor ignorant sort +of thing, seven years older than he was; but she had a pleasant kind of +a face, and seemed like an overgrown girl of six or eight years old. I +remember just after they was married Joseph was taken down with a quinsy +sore throat,—being always subject to them,—and mother was +over in the +forenoon, and she was one that was always giving right hand and left, +and she told Susan Ellen—that was his wife—to step over in the +afternoon and she would give her some blackberry preserve for him; she +had some that was nice and it was very healing. So along about half-past +one o'clock, just as we had got the kitchen cleared, and mother and I +had got out the big wheels to spin a few rolls,—we always liked to spin +together, and mother was always good company;—my brother Jonas—that +was the youngest of us—looked out of the window, and says he: 'Here +comes Joe Ashby's wife with a six-quart pail.'</p> + +<p>"Mother she began to shake all over with a laugh she tried to swallow +down, but I didn't know what it was all about, and in come poor Susan +Ellen and lit on the edge of the first chair and set the pail down +beside of her. We tried to make her feel welcome, and spoke about +everything we could contrive, +<a name="Page_630" id="Page_630"></a>seein' as it was the first time she'd +been over; and she seemed grateful and did the best she could, and lost +her strangeness with mother right away, for mother was the best hand to +make folks feel to home with her that I ever come across. There ain't +many like her now, nor never was, I tell 'em. But there wa'n't nothing +said about the six-quart pail, and there it set on the floor, until +Susan Ellen said she must be going and mentioned that there was +something said about a remedy for Joseph's throat. 'Oh, yes,' says +mother, and she brought out the little stone jar she kept the preserve +in, and there wa'n't more than the half of it full. Susan Ellen took up +the cover off the pail, and I walked off into the bedroom, for I thought +I should laugh, certain. Mother put in a big spoonful, and another, and +I heard 'em drop, and she went on with one or two more, and then she +give up. 'I'd give you the jar and welcome,' she says, 'but I ain't very +well off for preserves, and I was kind of counting on this for tea in +case my brother's folks are over.' Susan Ellen thanked her, and said +Joseph would be obliged, and back she went acrost the pasture. I can see +that big tin pail now a-shining in the sun.</p> + +<p>"The old man was alive then, and he took a great spite against poor +Susan Ellen, though he never would if he hadn't been set on by John; and +whether he was mad because Joseph had stepped in to so much good money +or what, I don't know,—but he twitted him about her, and at last he and +the old man between 'em was too much to bear, and Joe fitted up a couple +o' rooms for himself in a building he'd put up for a kind of work-shop. +He used to carpenter by spells, and he clapboarded it and made it as +comfortable as he could, and he ordered John out of it for good and all; +but he and Susan Ellen both treated the old sir the best they knew how, +and Joseph kept right on with his farm work same as ever, and meant to +lay up a little more money to join with his wife's, and push off as soon +as he could for the sake of peace, though if there was anybody set by +the farm it was Joseph. He was to blame for some things,—I never saw an +Ashby that wasn't,—and I dare say he was aggravating. They were +clearing a piece of woodland that winter, and the old man was laid up in +the house with the rheumatism, off and on, and that made him fractious, +and he and John connived together, till +<a name="Page_631" id="Page_631"></a>one day Joseph and Susan Ellen +had taken the sleigh and gone to Freeport Four Corners to get some flour +and one thing and another, and to have the horse shod beside, so they +was likely to be gone two or three hours. John Jacobs was going by with +his oxen, and John Ashby and the old man hailed him, and said they'd +give him a dollar if he'd help 'em, and they hitched the two yoke, his +and their'n, to Joseph's house. There wa'n't any foundation to speak of, +the sills set right on the ground, and he'd banked it up with a few old +boards and some pine spills and sand and stuff, just to keep the cold +out. There wa'n't but a little snow, and the roads was smooth and icy, +and they slipped it along as if it had been a hand-sled, and got it down +the road a half a mile or so to the fork of the roads, and left it +settin' there right on the heater-piece. Jacobs told afterward that he +kind of disliked to do it, but he thought as long as their minds were +set, he might as well have the dollar as anybody. He said when the house +give a slew on a sideling piece in the road, he heard some of the +crockery-ware smash down, and a branch of an oak they passed by caught +hold of the stove-pipe that come out through one of the walls, and give +that a wrench, but he guessed there wa'n't no great damage. Joseph may +have given 'em some provocation before he went away in the morning,—I +don't know <i>but</i> he did, and I don't know <i>as</i> he did,—but +at any rate when he was coming home late in the afternoon he caught +sight of his house (some of our folks was right behind, and they saw +him), and he stood right up in the sleigh and shook his fist, he was so +mad; but afterwards he bu'st out laughin'. It did look kind of curi's; +it wa'n't bigger than a front entry, and it set up so pert right there +on the heater-piece, as if he was calc'latin' to farm it. The folks said +Susan Ellen covered up her face in her shawl and began to cry. I s'pose +the pore thing was discouraged. Joseph was awful mad,—he was kind of +laughing and cryin' together. Our folks stopped and asked him if there +was anything they could do, and he said no; but Susan Ellen went in to +view how things were, and they made up a fire, and then Joe took the +horse home, and I guess they had it hot and heavy. Nobody supposed +they'd ever make up 'less there was a funeral in the family to bring 'em +together, the fight had gone so far,—but 'long in the winter old +Mr. +<a name="Page_632" id="Page_632"></a> +Ashby, the boys' father, was taken down with a spell o' sickness, and +there wa'n't anybody they could get to come and look after the house. +The doctor hunted, and they all hunted, but there didn't seem to be +anybody—'twa'n't so thick settled as now, and there was no spare +help—so John had to eat humble pie, and go and ask Susan Ellen if she +wouldn't come back and let by-gones be by-gones. She was as good-natured +a creatur' as ever stepped, and did the best she knew, and she spoke up +as pleasant as could be, and said she'd go right off that afternoon and +help 'em through.</p> + +<p>"The old Ashby had been a hard drinker in his day and he was all broke +down. Nobody ever saw him that he couldn't walk straight, but he got a +crooked disposition out of it, if nothing else. I s'pose there never was +a man loved sperit better. They said one year he was over to Cyrus +Barker's to help with the haying, and there was a jug o' New England rum +over by the spring with some gingerbread and cheese and stuff; and he +went over about every half an hour to take something, and along about +half-past ten he got the jug middling low, so he went to fill it up with +a little water, and lost holt of it and it sunk, and they said he drunk +the spring dry three times!</p> + +<p>"Joe and Susan Ellen stayed there at the old place well into +the summer, +and then after planting they moved down to the Four Corners where they +had bought a nice little place. Joe did well there,—he carried on the +carpenter trade, and got smoothed down considerable, being amongst +folks. John he married a Pecker girl, and got his match too; she was the +only living soul he ever was afraid of. They lived on there a spell +and—why, they must have lived there all of fifteen or twenty years, now +I come to think of it, for the time they moved was after the railroad +was built. 'Twas along in the winter and his wife she got a notion to +buy a place down to the Falls below the Corners after the mills got +started and have John work in the spinning-room while she took boarders. +She said 'twa'n't no use staying on the farm, they couldn't make a +living off from it now they'd cut the growth. Joe's folks and she never +could get along, and they said she was dreadfully riled up hearing how +much Joe was getting in the machine shop.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_633" id="Page_633"></a>They needn't tell me +about special providences being all moonshine," +said Miss Debby for the second time, "if here wa'n't a plain one, I'll +never say one word more about it. You see, that very time Joe Ashby got +a splinter in his eye and they were afraid he was going to lose his +sight, and he got a notion that he wanted to go back to farming. He +always set everything by the old place, and he had a boy growing up that +neither took to his book nor to mill work, and he wanted to farm it too. +So Joe got hold of John one day when he come in with some wood, and +asked him why he wouldn't take his place for a year or two, if he wanted +to get to the village, and let him go out to the old place. My brother +Jonas was standin' right by and heard 'em and said he never heard nobody +speak civiller. But John swore and said he wa'n't going to be caught in +no such a trap as that. His father left him the place and he was going +to do as he'd a mind to. There'd be'n trouble about the property, for +old Mr. Ashby had given Joe some money he had in the bank. Joe had got +to be well off, he could have bought most any farm about here, but he +wanted the old place 'count of his attachment. He set everything by his +mother, spite of her being dead so long. John hadn't done very well +spite of his being so sharp, but he let out the best of the farm on +shares, and bought a mis'able sham-built little house down close by the +mills,—and then some idea or other got into his head to fit that up to +let and move it to one side of the lot, and haul down the old house from +the farm to live in themselves. There wa'n't no time to lose, else the +snow would be gone; so he got a gang o' men up there and put shoes +underneath the sills, and then they assembled all the oxen they could +call in, and started. Mother was living then, though she'd got to be +very feeble, and when they come for our yoke she wouldn't have Jonas let +'em go. She said the old house ought to stay in its place. Everybody had +been telling John Ashby that the road was too hilly, and besides the +house was too old to move, they'd rack it all to pieces dragging it so +fur; but he wouldn't listen to no reason.</p> + +<p>"I never saw mother so stirred up as she was that day, and when she see +the old thing a moving she burst right out crying. We could see one end +of it looking over the slope of the +<a name="Page_634" id="Page_634"></a>hill in the pasture between it and +our house. There was two windows that looked our way, and I know Mis' +Ashby used to hang a piece o' something white out o' one of 'em when she +wanted mother to step over for anything. They set a good deal by each +other, and Mis' Ashby was a lame woman. I shouldn't ha' thought John +would had 'em haul the house right over the little gardin she thought so +much of, and broke down the laylocks and flowering currant she set +everything by. I remember when she died I wasn't more'n seven or eight +year old, it was all in full bloom and mother she broke off a branch and +laid into the coffin. I do' know as I've ever seen any since or set in a +room and had the sweetness of it blow in at the windows without +remembering that day,—'twas the first funeral I ever went to, and that +may be some reason. Well, the old house started off and mother watched +it as long as she could see it. She was sort o' feeble herself then, as +I said, and we went on with the work,—'twas a Saturday, and we was +baking and churning and getting things to rights generally. Jonas had +been over in the swamp getting out some wood he'd cut earlier in the +winter—and along in the afternoon he come in and said he s'posed I +wouldn't want to ride down to the Corners so late, and I said I did feel +just like it, so we started off. We went the Birch Ridge road, because +he wanted to see somebody over that way,—and when we was going home by +the straight road, Jonas laughed and said we hadn't seen anything of +John Ashby's moving, and he guessed he'd got stuck somewhere. He was +glad he hadn't nothing to do with it. We drove along pretty quick, for +we were some belated, and we didn't like to leave mother all alone after +it come dark. All of a sudden Jonas stood up in the sleigh, and says he, +'I don't believe but the cars is off the track;' and I looked and there +did seem to be something the matter with 'em. They hadn't been running +more than a couple o' years then, and we was prepared for anything.</p> + +<p>"Jonas he whipped up the horse and we got there pretty quick, and I'll +be bound if the Ashby house hadn't got stuck fast right on the track, +and stir it one way or another they couldn't. They'd been there since +quarter-past one, pulling and hauling,—and the men was all hoarse with +yelling, and the cars had come from both ways and met there,—one each +<a name="Page_635" id="Page_635"></a>side of the crossing,—and +the passengers was walking about, scolding +and swearing,—and somebody'd gone and lit up a gre't bonfire. You never +see such a sight in all your life! I happened to look up at the old +house, and there were them two top windows that used to look over to our +place, and they had caught the shine of the firelight, and made the poor +old thing look as if it was scared to death. The men was banging at it +with axes and crowbars, and it was dreadful distressing. You pitied it +as if it was a live creatur'. It come from such a quiet place, and +always looked kind of comfortable, though so much war had gone on +amongst the Ashbys. I tell you it was a judgment on John, for they got +it shoved back after a while, and then wouldn't touch it again,—not one +of the men,—nor let their oxen. The plastering was all stove, and the +outside walls all wrenched apart,—and John never did anything more +about it; but let it set there all summer, till it burnt down, and there +was an end, one night in September. They supposed some traveling folks +slept in it and set it afire, or else some boys did it for fun. I was +glad it was out of the way. One day, I know, I was coming by with +mother, and she said it made her feel bad to see the little strips of +leather by the fore door, where Mis' Ashby had nailed up a rosebush +once. There! there ain't an Ashby alive now of the old stock, except +young John. Joe's son went off to sea, and I believe he was lost +somewhere in the China seas, or else he died of a fever; I seem to +forget. He was called a smart boy, but he never could seem to settle +down to anything. Sometimes I wonder folks is as good as they be, when I +consider what comes to 'em from their folks before 'em, and how they're +misshaped by nature. Them Ashbys never was like other folks, and yet +some good streak or other there was in every one of 'em. You can't +expect much from such hindered creator's,—it's just like beratin' a +black and white cat for being a poor mouser. It ain't her fault that the +mice see her quicker than they can a gray one. If you get one of them +masterful dispositions put with a good strong will towards the right, +that's what makes the best of men; but all them Ashbys cared about was +to grasp and get, and be cap'ns. They liked to see other folks put down, +just as if it was going to set them up. And they didn't know nothing. +They make me think of some o' +<a name="Page_636" id="Page_636"></a> them old marauders that used to hive up +into their castles, in old times, and then go out a-over-setting and +plundering. And I tell you that same sperit was in 'em. They was born a +couple o' hundred years too late. Kind of left-over folks, as it were." +And Miss Debby indulged in a quiet chuckle as she bent over her work. +"John he got captured by his wife,—she carried too many +guns for him. I +believe he died very poor and her own son wouldn't support her, so she +died over in Freeport poor-house. And Joe got along better; his wife was +clever but rather slack, and it took her a good while to see through +things. She married again pretty quick after he died. She had as much as +seven or eight thousand dollars, and she was taken just as she stood by +a roving preacher that was holding meetings here in the winter time. He +sold out her place here, and they went up country somewheres that he +come from. Her boy was lost before that, so there was nothing to hinder +her. There, don't you think I'm always a-fault-finding! When I get hold +of the real thing in folks, I stick to 'em,—but there's an awful sight +of poor material walking about that ain't worth the ground it steps on. +But when I look back a little ways, I can't blame some of 'em; though it +does often seem as if people might do better if they only set to work +and tried. I must say I always do feel pleased when I think how mad John +was,—this John's father,—when he couldn't do just as he'd a mind to +with the pore old house. I couldn't help thinking of Joe's mansion, that +he and his father hauled down to the heater piece in the fork of the +roads. Sometimes I wonder where them Ashbys all went to. They'd mistake +one place for the other in the next world, for 'twould make heaven out +o' hell, because they could be disagreeing with somebody, and—well, I +don't know,—I'm sure they kep' a good row going while they was in this +world. Only with mother;—somehow she could get along with anybody, and +not always give 'em their way either."</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Deephaven and Selected Stories & +Sketches, by Sarah Orne Jewett + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEEPHAVE AND OTHERS *** + +***** This file should be named 15985-h.htm or 15985-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/9/8/15985/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Louise Pryor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Deephaven and Selected Stories & Sketches + +Author: Sarah Orne Jewett + +Release Date: June 4, 2005 [EBook #15985] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEEPHAVE AND OTHERS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Louise Pryor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +DEEPHAVEN + +and + +SELECTED STORIES AND SKETCHES + + +by + +SARAH ORNE JEWETT + + + + +Contents + + +DEEPHAVEN (1877) + +SELECTED STORIES AND SKETCHES + + AN AUTUMN HOLIDAY (1881) + + FROM A MOURNFUL VILLAGER (1881) + + AN OCTOBER RIDE (1881) + + TOM'S HUSBAND (1884) + + MISS DEBBY'S NEIGHBORS (1884) + + + + + + +DEEPHAVEN + + + + +Preface + +This book is not wholly new, several of the chapters having already been +published in the "Atlantic Monthly." It has so often been asked if +Deephaven may not be found on the map of New England under another name, +that, to prevent any misunderstanding, I wish to say, while there is a +likeness to be traced, few of the sketches are drawn from that town +itself, and the characters will in almost every case be looked for there +in vain. + +I dedicate this story of out-of-door life and country people first to my +father and mother, my two best friends, and also to all my other +friends, whose names I say to myself lovingly, though I do not write +them here. + +S. O. J. + + + + +Contents + + +KATE LANCASTER'S PLAN + +THE BRANDON HOUSE AND THE LIGHTHOUSE + +MY LADY BRANDON + +DEEPHAVEN SOCIETY + +THE CAPTAINS + +DANNY + +CAPTAIN SANDS + +THE CIRCUS AT DENBY + +CUNNER-FISHING + +MRS. BONNY + +IN SHADOW + +MISS CHAUNCEY + +LAST DAYS IN DEEPHAVEN + + + + +_Kate Lancaster's Plan_ + + +I had been spending the winter in Boston, and Kate Lancaster and I had +been together a great deal, for we are the best of friends. It happened +that the morning when this story begins I had waked up feeling sorry, +and as if something dreadful were going to happen. There did not seem to +be any good reason for it, so I undertook to discourage myself more by +thinking that it would soon be time to leave town, and how much I should +miss being with Kate and my other friends. My mind was still disquieted +when I went down to breakfast; but beside my plate I found, with a +hoped-for letter from my father, a note from Kate. To this day I have +never known any explanation of that depression of my spirits, and I hope +that the good luck which followed will help some reader to lose fear, +and to smile at such shadows if any chance to come. + +Kate had evidently written to me in an excited state of mind, for her +note was not so trig-looking as usual; but this is what she said:-- + + Dear Helen,--I have a plan--I think it a most delightful plan--in + which you and I are chief characters. Promise that you will say + yes; if you do not you will have to remember all your life that you + broke a girl's heart. Come round early, and lunch with me and dine + with me. I'm to be all alone, and it's a long story and will need a + great deal of talking over. + + K. + +I showed this note to my aunt, and soon went round, very much +interested. My latch-key opened the Lancasters' door, and I hurried to +the parlor, where I heard my friend practising with great diligence. I +went up to her, and she turned her head and kissed me solemnly. You need +not smile; we are not sentimental girls, and are both much averse to +indiscriminate kissing, though I have not the adroit habit of shying in +which Kate is proficient. It would sometimes be impolite in any one +else, but she shies so affectionately. + +"Won't you sit down, dear?" she said, with great ceremony, and went on +with her playing, which was abominable that morning; her fingers stepped +on each other, and, whatever the tune might have been in reality, it +certainly had a most remarkable incoherence as I heard it then. I took +up the new Littell and made believe read it, and finally threw it at +Kate; you would have thought we were two children. + +"Have you heard that my grand-aunt, Miss Katharine Brandon of Deephaven, +is dead?" I knew that she had died in November, at least six months +before. + +"Don't be nonsensical, Kate!" said I. "What is it you are going to tell +me?" + +"My grand-aunt died very old, and was the last of her generation. She +had a sister and three brothers, one of whom had the honor of being my +grandfather. Mamma is sole heir to the family estates in Deephaven, +wharf-property and all, and it is a great inconvenience to her. The +house is a charming old house, and some of my ancestors who followed the +sea brought home the greater part of its furnishings. Miss Katharine was +a person who ignored all frivolities, and her house was as sedate as +herself. I have been there but little, for when I was a child my aunt +found no pleasure in the society of noisy children who upset her +treasures, and when I was older she did not care to see strangers, and +after I left school she grew more and more feeble; I had not been there +for two years when she died. Mamma went down very often. The town is a +quaint old place which has seen better days. There are high rocks at the +shore, and there is a beach, and there are woods inland, and hills, and +there is the sea. It might be dull in Deephaven for two young ladies who +were fond of gay society and dependent upon excitement, I suppose; but +for two little girls who were fond of each other and could play in the +boats, and dig and build houses in the sea-sand, and gather shells, and +carry their dolls wherever they went, what could be pleasanter?" + +"Nothing," said I, promptly. + +Kate had told this a little at a time, with a few appropriate bars of +music between, which suddenly reminded me of the story of a Chinese +procession which I had read in one of Marryat's novels when I was a +child: "A thousand white elephants richly caparisoned,--ti-tum +tilly-lily," and so on, for a page or two. She seemed to have finished +her story for that time, and while it was dawning upon me what she +meant, she sang a bit from one of Jean Ingelow's verses:-- + + "Will ye step aboard, my dearest, + For the high seas lie before us?" + +and then came over to sit beside me and tell the whole story in a more +sensible fashion. + +"You know that my father has been meaning to go to England in the +autumn? Yesterday he told us that he is to leave in a month and will be +away all summer, and mamma is going with him. Jack and Willy are to join +a party of their classmates who are to spend nearly the whole of the +long vacation at Lake Superior. I don't care to go abroad again now, and +I did not like any plan that was proposed to me. Aunt Anna was here all +the afternoon, and she is going to take the house at Newport, which is +very pleasant and unexpected, for she hates housekeeping. Mamma thought +of course that I would go with her, but I did not wish to do that, and +it would only result in my keeping house for her visitors, whom I know +very little; and she will be much more free and independent by herself. +Beside, she can have my room if I am not there. I have promised to make +her a long visit in Baltimore next winter instead. I told mamma that I +should like to stay here and go away when I choose. There are ever so +many visits which I have promised; I could stay with you and your Aunt +Mary at Lenox if she goes there, for a while, and I have always wished +to spend a summer in town; but mamma did not encourage that at all. In +the evening papa gave her a letter which had come from Mr. Dockum, the +man who takes care of Aunt Katharine's place, and the most charming idea +came into my head, and I said I meant to spend my summer in Deephaven. + +"At first they laughed at me, and then they said I might go if I chose, +and at last they thought nothing could be pleasanter, and mamma wishes +she were going herself. I asked if she did not think you would be the +best person to keep me company, and she does, and papa announced that he +was just going to suggest my asking you. I am to take Ann and Maggie, +who will be overjoyed, for they came from that part of the country, and +the other servants are to go with Aunt Anna, and old Nora will come to +take care of this house, as she always does. Perhaps you and I will come +up to town once in a while for a few days. We shall have such jolly +housekeeping. Mamma and I sat up very late last night, and everything is +planned. Mr. Dockum's house is very near Aunt Katharine's, so we shall +not be lonely; though I know you're no more afraid of that than I. O +Helen, won't you go?" + +Do you think it took me long to decide? + +Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster sailed the 10th of June, and my Aunt Mary went to +spend her summer among the Berkshire Hills, so I was at the Lancasters' +ready to welcome Kate when she came home, after having said good by to +her father and mother. We meant to go to Deephaven in a week, but were +obliged to stay in town longer. Boston was nearly deserted of our +friends at the last, and we used to take quiet walks in the cool of the +evening after dinner, up and down the street, or sit on the front steps +in company with the servants left in charge of the other houses, who +also sometimes walked up and down and looked at us wonderingly. We had +much shopping to do in the daytime, for there was a probability of our +spending many days in doors, and as we were not to be near any large +town, and did not mean to come to Boston for weeks at least, there was a +great deal to be remembered and arranged. We enjoyed making our plans, +and deciding what we should want, and going to the shops together. I +think we felt most important the day we conferred with Ann and made out +a list of the provisions which must be ordered. This was being +housekeepers in earnest. Mr. Dockum happened to come to town, and we +sent Ann and Maggie, with most of our boxes, to Deephaven in his company +a day or two before we were ready to go ourselves, and when we reached +there the house was opened and in order for us. + +On our journey to Deephaven we left the railway twelve miles from that +place, and took passage in a stage-coach. There was only one passenger +beside ourselves. She was a very large, thin, weather-beaten woman, and +looked so tired and lonesome and good-natured, that I could not help +saying it was very dusty; and she was apparently delighted to answer +that she should think everybody was sweeping, and she always felt, after +being in the cars a while, as if she had been taken all to pieces and +left in the different places. And this was the beginning of our +friendship with Mrs. Kew. + +After this conversation we looked industriously out of the window into +the pastures and pine-woods. I had given up my seat to her, for I do not +mind riding backward in the least, and you would have thought I had done +her the greatest favor of her life. I think she was the most grateful of +women, and I was often reminded of a remark one of my friends once made +about some one: "If you give Bessie a half-sheet of letter-paper, she +behaves to you as if it were the most exquisite of presents!" Kate and I +had some fruit left in our lunch-basket, and divided it with Mrs. Kew, +but after the first mouthful we looked at each other in dismay. "Lemons +with oranges' clothes on, aren't they?" said she, as Kate threw hers out +of the window, and mine went after it for company; and after this we +began to be very friendly indeed. We both liked the odd woman, there was +something so straightforward and kindly about her. + +"Are you going to Deephaven, dear?" she asked me, and then: "I wonder if +you are going to stay long? All summer? Well, that's clever! I do hope +you will come out to the Light to see me; young folks 'most always like +my place. Most likely your friends will fetch you." + +"Do you know the Brandon house?" asked Kate. + +"Well as I do the meeting-house. There! I wonder I didn't know from the +beginning, but I have been a trying all the way to settle it who you +could be. I've been up country some weeks, stopping with my mother, and +she seemed so set to have me stay till strawberry-time, and would hardly +let me come now. You see she's getting to be old; why, every time I've +come away for fifteen years she's said it was the last time I'd ever see +her, but she's a dreadful smart woman of her age. 'He' wrote me some o' +Mrs. Lancaster's folks were going to take the Brandon house this summer; +and so you are the ones? It's a sightly old place; I used to go and see +Miss Katharine. She must have left a power of china-ware. She set a +great deal by the house, and she kept everything just as it used to be +in her mother's day." + +"Then you live in Deephaven too?" asked Kate. + +"I've been here the better part of my life. I was raised up among the +hills in Vermont, and I shall always be a real up-country woman if I +live here a hundred years. The sea doesn't come natural to me, it kind +of worries me, though you won't find a happier woman than I be, 'long +shore. When I was first married 'he' had a schooner and went to the +banks, and once he was off on a whaling voyage, and I hope I may never +come to so long a three years as those were again, though I was up to +mother's. Before I was married he had been 'most everywhere. When he +came home that time from whaling, he found I'd taken it so to heart that +he said he'd never go off again, and then he got the chance to keep +Deephaven Light, and we've lived there seventeen years come January. +There isn't great pay, but then nobody tries to get it away from us, and +we've got so's to be contented, if it is lonesome in winter." + +"Do you really live in the lighthouse? I remember how I used to beg to +be taken out there when I was a child, and how I used to watch for the +light at night," said Kate, enthusiastically. + +So began a friendship which we both still treasure, for knowing Mrs. Kew +was one of the pleasantest things which happened to us in that +delightful summer, and she used to do so much for our pleasure, and was +so good to us. When we went out to the lighthouse for the last time to +say good by, we were very sorry girls indeed. We had no idea until then +how much she cared for us, and her affection touched us very much. She +told us that she loved us as if we belonged to her, and begged us not to +forget her,--as if we ever could!--and to remember that there was always +a home and a warm heart for us if she were alive. Kate and I have often +agreed that few of our acquaintances are half so entertaining. Her +comparisons were most striking and amusing, and her comments upon the +books she read--for she was a great reader--were very shrewd and clever, +and always to the point. She was never out of temper, even when the +barrels of oil were being rolled across her kitchen floor. And she was +such a wise woman! This stage-ride, which we expected to find tiresome, +we enjoyed very much, and we were glad to think, when the coach stopped, +and "he" came to meet her with great satisfaction, that we had one +friend in Deephaven at all events. + +I liked the house from my very first sight of it. It stood behind a row +of poplars which were as green and flourishing as the poplars which +stand in stately processions in the fields around Quebec. It was an +imposing great white house, and the lilacs were tall, and there were +crowds of rose-bushes not yet out of bloom; and there were box borders, +and there were great elms at the side of the house and down the road. +The hall door stood wide open, and my hostess turned to me as we went +in, with one of her sweet, sudden smiles. "Won't we have a good time, +Nelly?" said she. And I thought we should. + +So our summer's housekeeping began in most pleasant fashion. It was just +at sunset, and Ann's and Maggie's presence made the house seem familiar +at once. Maggie had been unpacking for us, and there was a delicious +supper ready for the hungry girls. Later in the evening we went down to +the shore, which was not very far away; the fresh sea-air was welcome +after the dusty day, and it seemed so quiet and pleasant in Deephaven. + + + + +_The Brandon House and the Lighthouse_ + + +I do not know that the Brandon house is really very remarkable, but I +never have been in one that interested me in the same way. Kate used to +recount to select audiences at school some of her experiences with her +Aunt Katharine, and it was popularly believed that she once carried down +some indestructible picture-books when they were first in fashion, and +the old lady basted them for her to hem round the edges at the rate of +two a day. It may have been fabulous. It was impossible to imagine any +children in the old place; everything was for grown people; even the +stair-railing was too high to slide down on. The chairs looked as if +they had been put, at the furnishing of the house, in their places, and +there they meant to remain. The carpets were particularly interesting, +and I remember Kate's pointing out to me one day a great square figure +in one, and telling me she used to keep house there with her dolls for +lack of a better play-house, and if one of them chanced to fall outside +the boundary stripe, it was immediately put to bed with a cold. It is a +house with great possibilities; it might easily be made charming. There +are four very large rooms on the lower floor, and six above, a wide hall +in each story, and a fascinating garret over the whole, where were many +mysterious old chests and boxes, in one of which we found Kate's +grandmother's love-letters; and you may be sure the vista of rummages +which Mr. Lancaster had laughed about was explored to its very end. The +rooms all have elaborate cornices, and the lower hall is very fine, with +an archway dividing it, and panellings of all sorts, and a great door at +each end, through which the lilacs in front and the old pensioner +plum-trees in the garden are seen exchanging bows and gestures. Coming +from the Lancasters' high city house, it did not seem as if we had to go +up stairs at all there, for every step of the stairway is so broad and +low, and you come half-way to a square landing with an old +straight-backed chair in each farther corner; and between them a large, +round-topped window, with a cushioned seat, looking out on the garden +and the village, the hills far inland, and the sunset beyond all. Then +you turn and go up a few more steps to the upper hall, where we used to +stay a great deal. There were more old chairs and a pair of remarkable +sofas, on which we used to deposit the treasures collected in our +wanderings. The wide window which looks out on the lilacs and the sea +was a favorite seat of ours. Facing each other on either side of it are +two old secretaries, and one of them we ascertained to be the +hiding-place of secret drawers, in which may be found valuable records +deposited by ourselves one rainy day when we first explored it. We +wrote, between us, a tragic "journal" on some yellow old letter-paper we +found in the desk. We put it in the most hidden drawer by itself, and +flatter ourselves that it will be regarded with great interest some time +or other. Of one of the front rooms, "the best chamber," we stood rather +in dread. It is very remarkable that there seem to be no ghost-stories +connected with any part of the house, particularly this. We are neither +of us nervous; but there is certainly something dismal about the room. +The huge curtained bed and immense easy-chairs, windows, and everything +were draped in some old-fashioned kind of white cloth which always +seemed to be waving and moving about of itself. The carpet was most +singularly colored with dark reds and indescribable grays and browns, +and the pattern, after a whole summer's study, could never be followed +with one's eye. The paper was captured in a French prize somewhere some +time in the last century, and part of the figure was shaggy, and therein +little spiders found habitation, and went visiting their acquaintances +across the shiny places. The color was an unearthly pink and a +forbidding maroon, with dim white spots, which gave it the appearance of +having moulded. It made you low-spirited to look long in the mirror; and +the great lounge one could not have cheerful associations with, after +hearing that Miss Brandon herself did not like it, having seen so many +of her relatives lie there dead. There were fantastic china ornaments +from Bible subjects on the mantel, and the only picture was one of the +Maid of Orleans tied with an unnecessarily strong rope to a very stout +stake. The best parlor we also rarely used, because all the portraits +which hung there had for some unaccountable reason taken a violent +dislike to us, and followed us suspiciously with their eyes. The +furniture was stately and very uncomfortable, and there was something +about the room which suggested an invisible funeral. + +There is not very much to say about the dining-room. It was not +specially interesting, though the sea was in sight from one of the +windows. There were some old Dutch pictures on the wall, so dark that +one could scarcely make out what they were meant to represent, and one +or two engravings. There was a huge sideboard, for which Kate had +brought down from Boston Miss Brandon's own silver which had stood there +for so many years, and looked so much more at home and in place than any +other possibly could have looked, and Kate also found in the closet the +three great decanters with silver labels chained round their necks, +which had always been the companions of the tea-service in her aunt's +lifetime. From the little closets in the sideboard there came a most +significant odor of cake and wine whenever one opened the doors. We used +Miss Brandon's beautiful old blue India china which she had given to +Kate, and which had been carefully packed all winter. Kate sat at the +head and I at the foot of the round table, and I must confess that we +were apt to have either a feast or a famine, for at first we often +forgot to provide our dinners. If this were the case Maggie was sure to +serve us with most derisive elegance, and make us wait for as much +ceremony as she thought necessary for one of Mrs. Lancaster's +dinner-parties. + +The west parlor was our favorite room down stairs. It had a great +fireplace framed in blue and white Dutch tiles which ingeniously and +instructively represented the careers of the good and the bad man; the +starting-place of each being a very singular cradle in the centre at the +top. The last two of the series are very high art: a great coffin stands +in the foreground of each, and the virtuous man is being led off by two +disagreeable-looking angels, while the wicked one is hastening from an +indescribable but unpleasant assemblage of claws and horns and eyes +which is rapidly advancing from the distance, open-mouthed, and bringing +a chain with it. + +There was a large cabinet holding all the small curiosities and +knick-knacks there seemed to be no other place for,--odd china figures +and cups and vases, unaccountable Chinese carvings and exquisite corals +and sea-shells, minerals and Swiss wood-work, and articles of _vertu_ +from the South Seas. Underneath were stored boxes of letters and old +magazines; for this was one of the houses where nothing seems to have +been thrown away. In one parting we found a parcel of old manuscript +sermons, the existence of which was a mystery, until Kate remembered +there had been a gifted son of the house who entered the ministry and +soon died. The windows had each a pane of stained glass, and on the wide +sills we used to put our immense bouquets of field-flowers. There was +one place which I liked and sat in more than any other. The chimney +filled nearly the whole side of the room, all but this little corner, +where there was just room for a very comfortable high-backed cushioned +chair, and a narrow window where I always had a bunch of fresh green +ferns in a tall champagne-glass. I used to write there often, and always +sat there when Kate sang and played. She sent for a tuner, and used to +successfully coax the long-imprisoned music from the antiquated piano, +and sing for her visitors by the hour. She almost always sang her oldest +songs, for they seemed most in keeping with everything about us. I used +to fancy that the portraits liked our being there. There was one young +girl who seemed solitary and forlorn among the rest in the room, who +were all middle-aged. For their part they looked amiable, but rather +unhappy, as if she had come in and interrupted their conversation. We +both grew very fond of her, and it seemed, when we went in the last +morning on purpose to take leave of her, as if she looked at us +imploringly. She was soon afterward boxed up, and now enjoys society +after her own heart in Kate's room in Boston. + +There was the largest sofa I ever saw opposite the fireplace; it must +have been brought in in pieces, and built in the room. It was broad +enough for Kate and me to lie on together, and very high and square; but +there was a pile of soft cushions at one end. We used to enjoy it +greatly in September, when the evenings were long and cool, and we had +many candles, and a fire--and crickets too--on the hearth, and the dear +dog lying on the rug. I remember one rainy night, just before Miss +Tennant and Kitty Bruce went away; we had a real drift-wood fire, and +blew out the lights and told stories. Miss Margaret knows so many and +tells them so well. Kate and I were unusually entertaining, for we +became familiar with the family record of the town, and could recount +marvellous adventures by land and sea, and ghost-stories by the dozen. +We had never either of us been in a society consisting of so many +travelled people! Hardly a man but had been the most of his life at sea. +Speaking of ghost-stories, I must tell you that once in the summer two +Cambridge girls who were spending a week with us unwisely enticed us +into giving some thrilling recitals, which nearly frightened them out of +their wits, and Kate and I were finally in terror ourselves. We had all +been on the sofa in the dark, singing and talking, and were waiting in +great suspense after I had finished one of such particular horror that I +declared it should be the last, when we heard footsteps on the hall +stairs. There were lights in the dining-room which shone faintly through +the half-closed door, and we saw something white and shapeless come +slowly down, and clutched each other's gowns in agony. It was only +Kate's dog, who came in and laid his head in her lap and slept +peacefully. We thought we could not sleep a wink after this, and I +bravely went alone out to the light to see my watch, and, finding it was +past twelve, we concluded to sit up all night and to go down to the +shore at sunrise, it would be so much easier than getting up early some +morning. We had been out rowing and had taken a long walk the day +before, and were obliged to dance and make other slight exertions to +keep ourselves awake at one time. We lunched at two, and I never shall +forget the sunrise that morning; but we were singularly quiet and +abstracted that day, and indeed for several days after Deephaven was "a +land in which it seemed always afternoon," we breakfasted so late. + +As Mrs. Kew had said, there was "a power of china." Kate and I were +convinced that the lives of her grandmothers must have been spent in +giving tea-parties. We counted ten sets of cups, beside quantities of +stray ones; and some member of the family had evidently devoted her time +to making a collection of pitchers. + +There was an escritoire in Miss Brandon's own room, which we looked over +one day. There was a little package of letters; ship letters mostly, +tied with a very pale and tired-looking blue ribbon. They were in a +drawer with a locket holding a faded miniature on ivory and a lock of +brown hair, and there were also some dry twigs and bits of leaf which +had long ago been bright wild-roses, such as still bloom among the +Deephaven rocks. Kate said that she had often heard her mother wonder +why her aunt never had cared to marry, for she had chances enough +doubtless, and had been rich and handsome and finely educated. So there +was a sailor lover after all, and perhaps he had been lost at sea and +she faithfully kept the secret, never mourning outwardly. "And I always +thought her the most matter-of-fact old lady," said Kate; "yet here's +her romance, after all." We put the letters outside on a chair to read, +but afterwards carefully replaced them, without untying them. I'm glad +we did. There were other letters which we did read, and which interested +us very much,--letters from her girl friends written in the +boarding-school vacations, and just after she finished school. Those in +one of the smaller packages were charming; it must have been such a +bright, nice girl who wrote them! They were very few, and were tied with +black ribbon, and marked on the outside in girlish writing: "My dearest +friend, Dolly McAllister, died September 3, 1809, aged eighteen." The +ribbon had evidently been untied and the letters read many times. One +began: "My dear, delightful Kitten: I am quite overjoyed to find my +father has business which will force him to go to Deephaven next week, +and he kindly says if there be no more rain I may ride with him to see +you. I will surely come, for if there is danger of spattering my gown, +and he bids me stay at home, I shall go galloping after him and overtake +him when it is too late to send me back. I have so much to tell you." I +wish I knew more about the visit. Poor Miss Katharine! it made us sad to +look over these treasures of her girlhood. There were her compositions +and exercise-books; some samplers and queer little keepsakes; withered +flowers and some pebbles and other things of like value, with which +there was probably some pleasant association. "Only think of her keeping +them all her days," said I to Kate. "I am continually throwing some +relic of the kind away, because I forget why I have it!" + +There was a box in the lower part which Kate was glad to find, for she +had heard her mother wonder if some such things were not in existence. +It held a crucifix and a mass-book and some rosaries, and Kate told me +Miss Katharine's youngest and favorite brother had become a Roman +Catholic while studying in Europe. It was a dreadful blow to the family; +for in those days there could have been few deeper disgraces to the +Brandon family than to have one of its sons go over to popery. Only Miss +Katharine treated him with kindness, and after a time he disappeared +without telling even her where he was going, and was only heard from +indirectly once or twice afterward. It was a great grief to her. "And +mamma knows," said Kate, "that she always had a lingering hope of his +return, for one of the last times she saw Aunt Katharine before she was +ill she spoke of soon going to be with all the rest, and said, 'Though +your Uncle Henry, dear,'--and stopped and smiled sadly; 'you'll think me +a very foolish old woman, but I never quite gave up thinking he might +come home.'" + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Kew did the honors of the lighthouse thoroughly on our first visit; +but I think we rarely went to see her that we did not make some +entertaining discovery. Mr. Kew's nephew, a guileless youth of forty, +lived with them, and the two men were of a mechanical turn and had +invented numerous aids to housekeeping,--appendages to the stove, and +fixtures on the walls for everything that could be hung up; catches in +the floor to hold the doors open, and ingenious apparatus to close them; +but, above all, a system of barring and bolting for the wide "fore +door," which would have disconcerted an energetic battering-ram. After +all this work being expended, Mrs. Kew informed us that it was usually +wide open all night in summer weather. On the back of this door I +discovered one day a row of marks, and asked their significance. It +seemed that Mrs. Kew had attempted one summer to keep count of the +number of people who inquired about the depredations of the neighbors' +chickens. Mrs. Kew's bedroom was partly devoted to the fine arts. There +was a large collection of likenesses of her relatives and friends on the +wall, which was interesting in the extreme. Mrs. Kew was always much +pleased to tell their names, and her remarks about any feature not +exactly perfect were very searching and critical. "That's my oldest +brother's wife, Clorinthy Adams that was. She's well featured, if it +were not for her nose, and that looks as if it had been thrown at her, +and she wasn't particular about having it on firm, in hopes of getting a +better one. She sets by her looks, though." + +There were often sailing-parties that came there from up and down the +coast. One day Kate and I were spending the afternoon at the Light; we +had been fishing, and were sitting in the doorway listening to a +reminiscence of the winter Mrs. Kew kept school at the Four Corners; saw +a boatful coming, and all lost our tempers. Mrs. Kew had a lame ankle, +and Kate offered to go up with the visitors. There were some girls and +young men who stood on the rocks awhile, and then asked us, with much +better manners than the people who usually came, if they could see the +lighthouse, and Kate led the way. She was dressed that day in a costume +we both frequently wore, of gray skirts and blue sailor-jacket, and her +boots were much the worse for wear. The celebrated Lancaster complexion +was rather darkened by the sun. Mrs. Kew expressed a wish to know what +questions they would ask her, and I followed after a few minutes. They +seemed to have finished asking about the lantern, and to have become +personal. + +"Don't you get tired staying here?" + +"No, indeed!" said Kate. + +"Is that your sister down stairs?" + +"No, I have no sister." + +"I should think you would wish she was. Aren't you ever lonesome?" + +"Everybody is, sometimes," said Kate. + +"But it's such a lonesome place!" said one of the girls. "I should think +you would get work away. I live in Boston. Why, it's so awful quiet! +nothing but the water, and the wind, when it blows; and I think either +of them is worse than nothing. And only this little bit of a rocky +place! I should want to go to walk." + +I heard Kate pleasantly refuse the offer of pay for her services, and +then they began to come down the steep stairs laughing and chattering +with each other. Kate stayed behind to close the doors and leave +everything all right, and the girl who had talked the most waited too, +and when they were on the stairs just above me, and the others out of +hearing, she said, "You're real good to show us the things. I guess +you'll think I'm silly, but I do like you ever so much! I wish you would +come to Boston. I'm in a real nice store,--H----'s, on Winter Street; +and they will want new saleswomen in October. Perhaps you could be at my +counter. I'd teach you, and you could board with me. I've got a real +comfortable room, and I suppose I might have more things, for I get good +pay; but I like to send money home to mother. I'm at my aunt's now, but +I am going back next Monday, and if you will tell me what your name is, +I'll find out for certain about the place, and write you. My name's Mary +Wendell." + +I knew by Kate's voice that this had touched her. "You are very kind; +thank you heartily," said she; "but I cannot go and work with you. I +should like to know more about you. I live in Boston too; my friend and +I are staying over in Deephaven for the summer only." And she held out +her hand to the girl, whose face had changed from its first expression +of earnest good-humor to a very startled one; and when she noticed +Kate's hand, and a ring of hers, which had been turned round, she looked +really frightened. + +"O, will you please excuse me?" said she, blushing. "I ought to have +known better; but you showed us round so willing, and I never thought of +your not living here. I didn't mean to be rude." + +"Of course you did not, and you were not. I am very glad you said it, +and glad you like me," said Kate; and just then the party called the +girl, and she hurried away, and I joined Kate. "Then you heard it all. +That was worth having!" said she. "She was such an honest little soul, +and I mean to look for her when I get home." + +Sometimes we used to go out to the Light early in the morning with the +fishermen who went that way to the fishing-grounds, but we usually made +the voyage early in the afternoon if it were not too hot, and we went +fishing off the rocks or sat in the house with Mrs. Kew, who often +related some of her Vermont experiences, or Mr. Kew would tell us +surprising sea-stories and ghost-stories like a story-book sailor. Then +we would have an unreasonably good supper and afterward climb the ladder +to the lantern to see the lamps lighted, and sit there for a while +watching the ships and the sunset. Almost all the coasters came in sight +of Deephaven, and the sea outside the light was their grand highway. +Twice from the lighthouse we saw a yacht squadron like a flock of great +white birds. As for the sunsets, it used to seem often as if we were +near the heart of them, for the sea all around us caught the color of +the clouds, and though the glory was wonderful, I remember best one +still evening when there was a bank of heavy gray clouds in the west +shutting down like a curtain, and the sea was silver-colored. You could +look under and beyond the curtain of clouds into the palest, clearest +yellow sky. There was a little black boat in the distance drifting +slowly, climbing one white wave after another, as if it were bound out +into that other world beyond. But presently the sun came from behind the +clouds, and the dazzling golden light changed the look of everything, +and it was the time then to say one thought it a beautiful sunset; while +before one could only keep very still, and watch the boat, and wonder if +heaven would not be somehow like that far, faint color, which was +neither sea nor sky. + +When we came down from the lighthouse and it grew late, we would beg for +an hour or two longer on the water, and row away in the twilight far out +from land, where, with our faces turned from the Light, it seemed as if +we were alone, and the sea shoreless; and as the darkness closed round +us softly, we watched the stars come out, and were always glad to see +Kate's star and my star, which we had chosen when we were children. I +used long ago to be sure of one thing,--that, however far away heaven +might be, it could not be out of sight of the stars. Sometimes in the +evening we waited out at sea for the moonrise, and then we would take +the oars again and go slowly in, once in a while singing or talking, but +oftenest silent. + + + + +_My Lady Brandon and the Widow Jim_ + + +When it was known that we had arrived in Deephaven, the people who had +known Miss Brandon so well, and Mrs. Lancaster also, seemed to consider +themselves Kate's friends by inheritance, and were exceedingly polite to +us, in either calling upon us or sending pleasant messages. Before the +first week had ended we had no lack of society. They were not strangers +to Kate, to begin with, and as for me, I think it is easy for me to be +contented, and to feel at home anywhere. I have the good fortune and the +misfortune to belong to the navy,--that is, my father does,--and my life +has been consequently an unsettled one, except during the years of my +school life, when my friendship with Kate began. + +I think I should be happy in any town if I were living there with Kate +Lancaster. I will not praise my friend as I can praise her, or say half +the things I might say honestly. She is so fresh and good and true, and +enjoys life so heartily. She is so child-like, without being childish; +and I do not tell you that she is faultless, but when she makes mistakes +she is sorrier and more ready to hopefully try again than any girl I +know. Perhaps you would like to know something about us, but I am not +writing Kate's biography and my own, only telling you of one summer +which we spent together. Sometimes in Deephaven we were between six and +seven years old, but at other times we have felt irreparably grown-up, +and as if we carried a crushing weight of care and duty. In reality we +are both twenty-four, and it is a pleasant age, though I think next year +is sure to be pleasanter, for we do not mind growing older, since we +have lost nothing that we mourn about, and are gaining so much. I shall +be glad if you learn to know Kate a little in my stories. It is not that +I am fond of her and endow her with imagined virtues and graces; no one +can fail to see how unaffected she is, or not notice her thoughtfulness +and generosity and her delightful fun, which never has a trace of +coarseness or silliness. It was very pleasant having her for one's +companion, for she has an unusual power of winning people's confidence, +and of knowing with surest instinct how to meet them on their own +ground. It is the girl's being so genuinely sympathetic and interested +which makes every one ready to talk to her and be friends with her; just +as the sunshine makes it easy for flowers to grow which the chilly winds +hinder. She is not polite for the sake of seeming polite, but polite for +the sake of being kind, and there is not a particle of what Hugh Miller +justly calls the insolence of condescension about her; she is not +brilliantly talented, yet she does everything in a charming fashion of +her own; she is not profoundly learned, yet she knows much of which many +wise people are ignorant, and while she is a patient scholar in both +little things and great, she is no less a teacher to all her +friends,--dear Kate Lancaster! + +We knew that we were considered Miss Brandon's representatives in +Deephaven society, and this was no slight responsibility, as she had +received much honor and respect. We heard again and again what a loss +she had been to the town, and we tried that summer to do nothing to +lessen the family reputation, and to give pleasure as well as take it, +though we were singularly persistent in our pursuit of a good time. I +grew much interested in what I heard of Miss Brandon, and it seems to me +that it is a great privilege to have an elderly person in one's +neighborhood, in town or country, who is proud, and conservative, and +who lives in stately fashion; who is intolerant of sham and of useless +novelties, and clings to the old ways of living and behaving as if it +were part of her religion. There is something immensely respectable +about the gentlewomen of the old school. They ignore all bustle and +flashiness, and the conceit of the younger people, who act as if at last +it had been time for them to appear and manage this world as it ought to +have been managed before. Their position in modern society is much like +that of the King's Chapel in its busy street in Boston. It perhaps might +not have been easy to approach Miss Brandon, but I am sure that if I had +visited in Deephaven during her lifetime I should have been very proud +if I had been asked to take tea at her house, and should have liked to +speak afterward of my acquaintance with her. It would have been +impossible not to pay her great deference; it is a pleasure to think +that she must have found this world a most polite world, and have had +the highest opinion of its good manners. _Noblesse oblige_: that is +true in more ways than one! + +I cannot help wondering if those of us who will be left by and by to +represent our own generation will seem to have such superior elegance of +behavior; if we shall receive so much respect and be so much valued. It +is hard to imagine it. We know that the world gains new refinements and +a better culture; but to us there never will be such imposing ladies and +gentlemen as these who belong to the old school. + +The morning after we reached Deephaven we were busy up stairs, and there +was a determined blow at the knocker of the front door. I went down to +see who was there, and had the pleasure of receiving our first caller. +She was a prim little old woman who looked pleased and expectant, who +wore a neat cap and front, and whose eyes were as bright as black beads. +She wore no bonnet, and had thrown a little three-cornered shawl, with +palm-leaf figures, over her shoulders; and it was evident that she was a +near neighbor. She was very short and straight and thin, and so quick +that she darted like a pickerel when she moved about. It occurred to me +at once that she was a very capable person, and had "faculty," and, dear +me, how fast she talked! She hesitated a moment when she saw me, and +dropped a fragment of a courtesy. "Miss Lan'k'ster?" said she, +doubtfully. + +"No," said I, "I'm Miss Denis: Miss Lancaster is at home, though: come +in, won't you?" + +"O Mrs. Patton!" said Kate, who came down just then. "How very kind of +you to come over so soon! I should have gone to see you to-day. I was +asking Mrs. Kew last night if you were here." + +"Land o' compassion!" said Mrs. Patton, as she shook Kate's hand +delightedly. "Where'd ye s'pose I'd be, dear? I ain't like to move away +from Deephaven now, after I've held by the place so long, I've got as +many roots as the big ellum. Well, I should know you were a Brandon, no +matter where I see you. You've got a real Brandon look; tall and +straight, ain't you? It's four or five years since I saw you, except +once at church, and once you went by, down to the shore, I suppose. It +was a windy day in the spring of the year." + +"I remember it very well," said Kate. "Those were both visits of only a +day or two, and I was here at Aunt Katharine's funeral, and went away +that same evening. Do you remember once I was here in the summer for a +longer visit, five or six years ago, and I helped you pick currants in +the garden? You had a very old mug." + +"Now, whoever would ha' thought o' your rec'lecting that?" said Mrs. +Patton. "Yes. I had that mug because it was handy to carry about among +the bushes, and then I'd empt' it into the basket as fast as I got it +full. Your aunt always told me to pick all I wanted; she couldn't use +'em, but they used to make sights o' currant wine in old times. I s'pose +that mug would be considerable of a curiosity to anybody that wasn't +used to seeing it round. My grand'ther Joseph Toggerson--my mother was a +Toggerson--picked it up on the long sands in a wad of sea-weed: strange +it wasn't broke, but it's tough; I've dropped it on the floor, many's +the time, and it ain't even chipped. There's some Dutch reading on it +and it's marked 1732. Now I shouldn't ha' thought you'd remembered that +old mug, I declare. Your aunt she had a monstrous sight of chiny. She's +told me where 'most all of it come from, but I expect I've forgot. My +memory fails me a good deal by spells. If you hadn't come down I suppose +your mother would have had the chiny packed up this spring,--what she +didn't take with her after your aunt died. S'pose she hasn't made up her +mind what to do with the house?" + +"No," said Kate; "she wishes she could: it is a great puzzle to us." + +"I hope you will find it in middling order," said Mrs. Patton, humbly. +"Me and Mis' Dockum have done the best we knew,--opened the windows and +let in the air and tried to keep it from getting damp. I fixed all the +woollens with fresh camphire and tobacco the last o' the winter; you +have to be dreadful careful in one o' these old houses, 'less everything +gets creaking with moths in no time. Miss Katharine, how she did hate +the sight of a moth-miller! There's something I'll speak about before I +forget it: the mice have eat the backs of a pile o' old books that's +stored away in the west chamber closet next to Miss Katharine's room, +and I set a trap there, but it was older 'n the ten commandments, that +trap was, and the spring's rusty. I guess you'd better get some new ones +and set round in different places, 'less the mice'll pester you. There +ain't been no chance for 'em to get much of a living 'long through the +winter, but they'll be sure to come back quick as they find there's +likely to be good board. I see your aunt's cat setting out on the front +steps. She never was no great of a mouser, but it went to my heart to +see how pleased she looks! Come right back, didn't she? How they do hold +to their old haunts!" + +"Was that Miss Brandon's cat?" I asked, with great interest. "She has +been up stairs with us, but I supposed she belonged to some neighbor, +and had strayed in. She behaved as if she felt at home, poor old pussy!" + +"We must keep her here," said Kate. + +"Mis' Dockum took her after your mother went off, and Miss Katharine's +maids," said Mrs. Patton; "but she told me that it was a long spell +before she seemed to feel contented. She used to set on the steps and +cry by the hour together, and try to get in, to first one door and then +another. I used to think how bad Miss Katharine would feel; she set a +great deal by a cat, and she took notice of this as long as she did of +anything. Her mind failed her, you know. Great loss to Deephaven, she +was. Proud woman, and some folks were scared of her; but I always got +along with her, and I wouldn't ask for no kinder friend nor neighbor. +I've had my troubles, and I've seen the day I was suffering poor, and I +couldn't have brought myself to ask town help nohow, but I wish ye'd ha' +heared her scold me when she found it out; and she come marching into my +kitchen one morning, like a grenadier, and says she, 'Why didn't you +send and tell me how sick and poor you are?' says she. And she said +she'd ha' been so glad to help me all along, but she thought I had +means,--everybody did; and I see the tears in her eyes, but she was +scolding me and speaking as if she was dreadful mad. She made me +comfortable, and she sent over one o' her maids to see to me, and got +the doctor, and a load o' stuff come up from the store, so I didn't have +to buy anything for a good many weeks. I got better and so's to work, +but she never'd let me say nothing about it. I had a good deal o' +trouble, and I thought I'd lost my health, but I hadn't, and that was +thirty or forty years ago. There never was nothing going on at the great +house that she didn't have me over, sewing or cleaning or company; and +I got so that I knew how she liked to have things done. I felt as if it +was my own sister, though I never had one, when I was going over to help +lay her out. She used to talk as free to me as she would to Miss Lorimer +or Miss Carew. I s'pose ye ain't seen nothing o' them yet? She was a +good Christian woman, Miss Katharine was. 'The memory of the just is +blessed'; that's what Mr. Lorimer said in his sermon the Sunday after +she died, and there wasn't a blood-relation there to hear it. I declare +it looked pitiful to see that pew empty that ought to ha' been the +mourners' pew. Your mother, Mis' Lancaster, had to go home Saturday, +your father was going away sudden to Washington, I've understood, and +she come back again the first of the week. There! it didn't make no sort +o' difference, p'r'aps nobody thought of it but me. There hadn't been +anybody in the pew more than a couple o' times since she used to sit +there herself, regular as Sunday come." And Mrs. Patton looked for a +minute as if she were going to cry, but she changed her mind upon second +thought. + +"Your mother gave me most of Miss Katharine's clothes; this cap belonged +to her, that I've got on now; it's 'most wore out, but it does for +mornings." + +"O," said Kate, "I have two new ones for you in one of my trunks! Mamma +meant to choose them herself, but she had not time, and so she told me, +and I think I found the kind she thought you would like." + +"Now I'm sure!" said Mrs. Patton, "if that ain't kind; you don't tell me +that Mis' Lancaster thought of me just as she was going off? I shall set +everything by them caps, and I'm much obliged to you too, Miss Kate. I +was just going to speak of that time you were here and saw the mug; you +trimmed a cap for Miss Katharine to give me, real Boston style. I guess +that box of cap-fixings is up on the top shelf of Miss Katharine's +closet now, to the left hand," said Mrs. Patton, with wistful certainty. +"She used to make her every-day caps herself, and she had some beautiful +materials laid away that she never used. Some folks has laughed at me +for being so particular 'bout wearing caps except for best, but I don't +know's it's presuming beyond my station, and somehow I feel more respect +for myself when I have a good cap on. I can't get over your mother's +rec'lecting about me; and she sent me a handsome present o' money this +spring for looking after the house. I never should have asked for a +cent; it's a pleasure to me to keep an eye on it, out o' respect to your +aunt. I was so pleased when I heard you were coming long o' your friend. +I like to see the old place open; it was about as bad as having no +meeting. I miss seeing the lights, and your aunt was a great hand for +lighting up bright; the big hall lantern was lit every night, and she +put it out when she went up stairs. She liked to go round same's if it +was day. You see I forget all the time she was sick, and go back to the +days when she was well and about the house. When her mind was failing +her, and she was up stairs in her room, her eyesight seemed to be lost +part of the time, and sometimes she'd tell us to get the lamp and a +couple o' candles in the middle o' the day, and then she'd be as +satisfied! But she used to take a notion to set in the dark, some +nights, and think, I s'pose. I should have forty fits, if I undertook +it. That was a good while ago; and do you rec'lect how she used to play +the piano? She used to be a great hand to play when she was young." + +"Indeed I remember it," said Kate, who told me afterward how her aunt +used to sit at the piano in the twilight and play to herself. "She was +formerly a skilful musician," said my friend, "though one would not have +imagined she cared for music. When I was a child she used to play in +company of an evening, and once when I was here one of her old friends +asked for a tune, and she laughingly said that her day was over and her +fingers were stiff; though I believe she might have played as well as +ever then, if she had cared to try. But once in a while when she had +been quiet all day and rather sad--I am ashamed that I used to think she +was cross--she would open the piano and sit there until late, while I +used to be enchanted by her memories of dancing-tunes, and old psalms, +and marches and songs. There was one tune which I am sure had a history: +there was a sweet wild cadence in it, and she would come back to it +again and again, always going through with it in the same measured way. +I have remembered so many things about my aunt since I have been here," +said Kate, "which I hardly noticed and did not understand when they +happened. I was afraid of her when I was a little girl, but I think if +I had grown up sooner, I should have enjoyed her heartily. It never used +to occur to me that she had a spark of tenderness or of sentiment, until +just before she was ill, but I have been growing more fond of her ever +since. I might have given her a great deal more pleasure. It was not +long after I was through school that she became so feeble, and of course +she liked best having mamma come to see her; one of us had to be at +home. I have thought lately how careful one ought to be, to be kind and +thoughtful to one's old friends. It is so soon too late to be good to +them, and then one is always so sorry." + +I must tell you more of Mrs. Patton; of course it was not long before we +returned her call, and we were much entertained; we always liked to see +our friends in their own houses. Her house was a little way down the +road, unpainted and gambrel-roofed, but so low that the old lilac-bushes +which clustered round it were as tall as the eaves. The Widow Jim (as +nearly every one called her in distinction to the widow Jack Patton, who +was a tailoress and lived at the other end of the town) was a very +useful person. I suppose there must be her counterpart in all old New +England villages. She sewed, and she made elaborate rugs, and she had a +decided talent for making carpets,--if there were one to be made, which +must have happened seldom. But there were a great many to be turned and +made over in Deephaven, and she went to the Carews' and Lorimers' at +house-cleaning time or in seasons of great festivity. She had no equal +in sickness, and knew how to brew every old-fashioned dose and to make +every variety of herb-tea, and when her nursing was put to an end by her +patient's death, she was commander-in-chief at the funeral, and stood +near the doorway to direct the mourning friends to their seats; and I +have no reason to doubt that she sometimes even had the immense +responsibility of making out the order of the procession, since she had +all genealogy and relationship at her tongue's end. It was an awful +thing in Deephaven, we found, if the precedence was wrongly assigned, +and once we chanced to hear some bitter remarks because the cousins of +the departed wife had been placed after the husband's relatives,--"the +blood-relations ridin' behind them that was only kin by marriage! I +don't wonder they felt hurt!" said the person who spoke; a most +unselfish and unassuming soul, ordinarily. + +Mrs. Patton knew everybody's secrets, but she told them judiciously if +at all. She chattered all day to you as a sparrow twitters, and you did +not tire of her; and Kate and I were never more agreeably entertained +than when she told us of old times and of Kate's ancestors and their +contemporaries; for her memory was wonderful, and she had either seen +everything that had happened in Deephaven for a long time, or had +received the particulars from reliable witnesses. She had known much +trouble; her husband had been but small satisfaction to her, and it was +not to be wondered at if she looked upon all proposed marriages with +compassion. She was always early at church, and she wore the same bonnet +that she had when Kate was a child; it was such a well-preserved, proper +black straw bonnet, with discreet bows of ribbon, and a useful lace veil +to protect it from the weather. + +She showed us into the best room the first time we went to see her. It +was the plainest little room, and very dull, and there was an exact +sufficiency about its furnishings. Yet there was a certain dignity about +it; it was unmistakably a best room, and not a place where one might +make a litter or carry one's every-day work. You felt at once that +somebody valued the prim old-fashioned chairs, and the two half-moon +tables, and the thin carpet, which must have needed anxious stretching +every spring to make it come to the edge of the floor. There were some +mourning-pieces by way of decoration, inscribed with the names of Mrs. +Patton's departed friends,--two worked in crewel to the memory of her +father and mother, and two paper memorials, with the woman weeping under +the willow at the side of a monument. They were all brown with age; and +there was a sampler beside, worked by "Judith Beckett, aged ten," and +all five were framed in slender black frames and hung very high on the +walls. There was a rocking-chair which looked as if it felt too grand +for use, and considered itself imposing. It tilted far back on its +rockers, and was bent forward at the top to make one's head +uncomfortable. It need not have troubled itself; nobody would ever wish +to sit there. It was such a big rocking-chair, and Mrs. Patton was proud +of it; always generously urging her guests to enjoy its comfort, which +was imaginary with her, as she was so short that she could hardly have +climbed into it without assistance. + +Mrs. Patton was a little ceremonious at first, but soon recovered +herself and told us a great deal which we were glad to hear. I asked her +once if she had not always lived at Deephaven. "Here and beyond East +Parish," said she. "Mr. Patton,--that was my husband,--he owned a good +farm there when I married him, but I come back here again after he died; +place was all mortgaged. I never got a cent, and I was poorer than when +I started. I worked harder 'n ever I did before or since to keep things +together, but 't wasn't any kind o' use. Your mother knows all about it, +Miss Kate,"--as if we might not be willing to believe it on her +authority. "I come back here a widow and destitute, and I tell you the +world looked fair to me when I left this house first to go over there. +Don't you run no risks, you're better off as you be, dears. But land +sakes alive, 'he' didn't mean no hurt! and he set everything by me when +he was himself. I don't make no scruples of speaking about it, everybody +knows how it was, but I did go through with everything. I never knew +what the day would bring forth," said the widow, as if this were the +first time she had had a chance to tell her sorrows to a sympathizing +audience. She did not seem to mind talking about the troubles of her +married life any more than a soldier minds telling the story of his +campaigns, and dwells with pride on the worst battle of all. + +Her favorite subject always was Miss Brandon, and after a pause she said +that she hoped we were finding everything right in the house; she had +meant to take up the carpet in the best spare room, but it didn't seem +to need it; it was taken up the year before, and the room had not been +used since, there was not a mite of dust under it last time. And Kate +assured her, with an appearance of great wisdom, that she did not think +it could be necessary at all. + +"I come home and had a good cry yesterday after I was over to see you," +said Mrs. Patton, and I could not help wondering if she really could +cry, for she looked so perfectly dried up, so dry that she might rustle +in the wind. "Your aunt had been failin' so long that just after she +died it was a relief, but I've got so's to forget all about that, and I +miss her as she used to be; it seemed as if you had stepped into her +place, and you look some as she used to when she was young." + +"You must miss her," said Kate, "and I know how much she used to depend +upon you. You were very kind to her." + +"I sat up with her the night she died," said the widow, with mournful +satisfaction. "I have lived neighbor to her all my life except the +thirteen years I was married, and there wasn't a week I wasn't over to +the great house except I was off to a distance taking care of the sick. +When she got to be feeble she always wanted me to 'tend to the cleaning +and to see to putting the canopies and curtains on the bedsteads, and +she wouldn't trust nobody but me to handle some of the best china. I +used to say, 'Miss Katharine, why don't you have some young folks come +and stop with you? There's Mis' Lancaster's daughter a growing up'; but +she didn't seem to care for nobody but your mother. You wouldn't believe +what a hand she used to be for company in her younger days. Surprisin' +how folks alters. When I first rec'lect her much she was as straight as +an arrow, and she used to go to Boston visiting and come home with the +top of the fashion. She always did dress elegant. It used to be gay +here, and she was always going down to the Lorimers' or the Carews' to +tea, and they coming here. Her sister was married; she was a good deal +older; but some of her brothers were at home. There was your grandfather +and Mr. Henry. I don't think she ever got it over,--his disappearing so. +There were lots of folks then that's dead and gone, and they used to +have their card-parties, and old Cap'n Manning--he's dead and gone--used +to have 'em all to play whist every fortnight, sometimes three or four +tables, and they always had cake and wine handed round, or the cap'n +made some punch, like's not, with oranges in it, and lemons; _he_ knew +how! He was a bachelor to the end of his days, the old cap'n was, but he +used to entertain real handsome. I rec'lect one night they was a playin' +after the wine was brought in, and he upset his glass all over Miss +Martha Lorimer's invisible-green watered silk, and spoilt the better +part of two breadths. She sent right over for me early the next morning +to see if I knew of anything to take out the spots, but I didn't, though +I can take grease out o' most any material. We tried clear alcohol, and +saleratus-water, and hartshorn, and pouring water through, and heating +of it, and when we got through it was worse than when we started. She +felt dreadful bad about it, and at last she says, 'Judith, we won't work +over it any more, but if you 'll give me a day some time or 'nother, +we'll rip it up and make a quilt of it.' I see that quilt last time I +was in Miss Rebecca's north chamber. Miss Martha was her aunt; you never +saw her; she was dead and gone before your day. It was a silk old Cap'n +Peter Lorimer, her brother, who left 'em his money, brought home from +sea, and she had worn it for best and second best eleven year. It looked +as good as new, and she never would have ripped it up if she could have +matched it. I said it seemed to be a shame, but it was a curi's figure. +Cap'n Manning fetched her one to pay for it the next time he went to +Boston. She didn't want to take it, but he wouldn't take no for an +answer; he was free-handed, the cap'n was. I helped 'em make it 'long of +Mary Ann Simms the dressmaker,--she's dead and gone too,--the time it +was made. It was brown, and a beautiful-looking piece, but it wore +shiny, and she made a double-gown of it before she died." + +Mrs. Patton brought Kate and me some delicious old-fashioned cake with +much spice in it, and told us it was made by old Mrs. Chantrey Brandon's +receipt which she got in England, that it would keep a year, and she +always kept a loaf by her, now that she could afford it; she supposed we +knew Miss Katharine had named her in her will long before she was sick. +"It has put me beyond fear of want," said Mrs. Patton. "I won't deny +that I used to think it would go hard with me when I got so old I +couldn't earn my living. You see I never laid up but a little, and it's +hard for a woman who comes of respectable folks to be a pauper in her +last days; but your aunt, Miss Kate, she thought of it too, and I'm sure +I'm thankful to be so comfortable, and to stay in my house, which I +couldn't have done, like's not. Miss Rebecca Lorimer said to me after I +got news of the will, 'Why, Mis' Patton, you don't suppose your friends +would ever have let you want!' And I says, 'My friends are kind,--the +Lord bless 'em!--but I feel better to be able to do for myself than to +be beholden.'" + +After this long call we went down to the post-office, and coming home +stopped for a while in the old burying-ground, which we had noticed the +day before; and we sat for the first time on the great stone in the +wall, in the shade of a maple-tree, where we so often waited afterward +for the stage to come with the mail, or rested on our way home from a +walk. It was a comfortable perch; we used to read our letters there, I +remember. + +I must tell you a little about the Deephaven burying-ground, for its +interest was inexhaustible, and I do not know how much time we may have +spent in reading the long epitaphs on the grave-stones and trying to +puzzle out the inscriptions, which were often so old and worn that we +could only trace a letter here and there. It was a neglected corner of +the world, and there were straggling sumachs and acacias scattered about +the enclosure, while a row of fine old elms marked the boundary of two +sides. The grass was long and tangled, and most of the stones leaned one +way or the other, and some had fallen flat. There were a few handsome +old family monuments clustered in one corner, among which the one that +marked Miss Brandon's grave looked so new and fresh that it seemed +inappropriate. "It should have been dingy to begin with, like the rest," +said Kate one day; "but I think it will make itself look like its +neighbors as soon as possible." + +There were many stones which were sacred to the memory of men who had +been lost at sea, almost always giving the name of the departed ship, +which was so kept in remembrance; and one felt as much interest in the +ship Starlight, supposed to have foundered off the Cape of Good Hope, as +in the poor fellow who had the ill luck to be one of her crew. There +were dozens of such inscriptions, and there were other stones +perpetuating the fame of Honourable gentlemen who had been members of +His Majesty's Council, or surveyors of His Majesty's Woods, or King's +Officers of Customs for the town of Deephaven. Some of the epitaphs were +beautiful, showing that tenderness for the friends who had died, that +longing to do them justice, to fully acknowledge their virtues and +dearness, which is so touching, and so unmistakable even under the +stiff, quaint expressions and formal words which were thought suitable +to be chiselled on the stones, so soon to be looked at carelessly by +the tearless eyes of strangers. We often used to notice names, and learn +their history from the old people whom we knew, and in this way we heard +many stories which we never shall forget. It is wonderful, the romance +and tragedy and adventure which one may find in a quiet old-fashioned +country town, though to heartily enjoy the every-day life one must care +to study life and character, and must find pleasure in thought and +observation of simple things, and have an instinctive, delicious +interest in what to other eyes is unflavored dulness. + +To go back to Mrs. Patton; on our way home, after our first call upon +her, we stopped to speak to Mrs. Dockum, who mentioned that she had seen +us going in to the "Widow Jim's." + +"Willin' woman," said Mrs. Dockum, "always been respected; got an +uncommon facility o' speech. I never saw such a hand to talk, but then +she has something to say, which ain't the case with everybody. Good +neighbor, does according to her means always. Dreadful tough time of it +with her husband, shif'less and drunk all his time. Noticed that dent in +the side of her forehead, I s'pose? That's where he liked to have killed +her; slung a stone bottle at her." + +"_What!_" said Kate and I, very much shocked. + +"She don't like to have it inquired about; but she and I were sitting up +with 'Manda Damer one night, and she gave me the particulars. I knew he +did it, for she had a fit o' sickness afterward. Had sliced cucumbers +for breakfast that morning; he was very partial to them, and he wanted +some vinegar. Happened to be two bottles in the cellar-way; were just +alike, and one of 'em was vinegar and the other had sperrit in it at +haying-time. He takes up the wrong one and pours on quick, and out come +the hayseed and flies, and he give the bottle a sling, and it hit her +there where you see the scar; might put the end of your finger into the +dent. He said he meant to break the bottle ag'in the door, but it went +slant-wise, sort of. I don' know, I'm sure" (meditatively). "She said he +was good-natured; it was early in the mornin', and he hadn't had time to +get upset; but he had a high temper naturally, and so much drink hadn't +made it much better. She had good prospects when she married him. +Six-foot-two and red cheeks and straight as a Noroway pine; had a good +property from his father, and his mother come of a good family, but he +died in debt; drank like a fish. Yes, 'twas a shame, nice woman; good +consistent church-member; always been respected; useful among the sick." + + + + +_Deephaven Society_ + + +It was curious to notice, in this quaint little fishing-village by the +sea, how clearly the gradations of society were defined. The place +prided itself most upon having been long ago the residence of one +Governor Chantrey, who was a rich shipowner and East India merchant, and +whose fame and magnificence were almost fabulous. It was a never-ceasing +regret that his house should have burned down after he died, and there +is no doubt that if it were still standing it would rival any ruin of +the Old World. + +The elderly people, though laying claim to no slight degree of present +consequence, modestly ignored it, and spoke with pride of the grand way +in which life was carried on by their ancestors, the Deephaven families +of old times. I think Kate and I were assured at least a hundred times +that Governor Chantrey kept a valet, and his wife, Lady Chantrey, kept a +maid, and that the governor had an uncle in England who was a baronet; +and I believe this must have been why our friends felt so deep an +interest in the affairs of the English nobility: they no doubt felt +themselves entitled to seats near the throne itself. There were formerly +five families who kept their coaches in Deephaven; there were balls at +the governor's, and regal entertainments at other of the grand mansions; +there is not a really distinguished person in the country who will not +prove to have been directly or indirectly connected with Deephaven. We +were shown the cellar of the Chantrey house, and the terraces, and a few +clumps of lilacs, and the grand rows of elms. There are still two of the +governor's warehouses left, but his ruined wharves are fast +disappearing, and are almost deserted, except by small barefooted boys +who sit on the edges to fish for sea-perch when the tide comes in. There +is an imposing monument in the burying-ground to the great man and his +amiable consort. I am sure that if there were any surviving relatives of +the governor they would receive in Deephaven far more deference than is +consistent with the principles of a republican government; but the +family became extinct long since, and I have heard, though it is not a +subject that one may speak of lightly, that the sons were unworthy their +noble descent and came to inglorious ends. + +There were still remaining a few representatives of the old families, +who were treated with much reverence by the rest of the townspeople, +although they were, like the conies of Scripture, a feeble folk. + +Deephaven is utterly out of fashion. It never recovered from the effects +of the embargo of 1807, and a sand-bar has been steadily filling in the +mouth of the harbor. Though the fishing gives what occupation there is +for the inhabitants of the place, it is by no means sufficient to draw +recruits from abroad. But nobody in Deephaven cares for excitement, and +if some one once in a while has the low taste to prefer a more active +life, he is obliged to go elsewhere in search of it, and is spoken of +afterward with kind pity. I well remember the Widow Moses said to me, in +speaking of a certain misguided nephew of hers, "I never could see what +could 'a' sot him out to leave so many privileges and go way off to +Lynn, with all them children too. Why, they lived here no more than a +cable's length from the meetin'-house!" + +There were two schooners owned in town, and 'Bijah Mauley and Jo Sands +owned a trawl. There were some schooners and a small brig slowly going +to pieces by the wharves, and indeed all Deephaven looked more or less +out of repair. All along shore one might see dories and wherries and +whale-boats, which had been left to die a lingering death. There is +something piteous to me in the sight of an old boat. If one I had used +much and cared for were past its usefulness, I should say good by to it, +and have it towed out to sea and sunk; it never should be left to fall +to pieces above high-water mark. + +Even the commonest fishermen felt a satisfaction, and seemed to realize +their privilege, in being residents of Deephaven; but among the nobility +and gentry there lingered a fierce pride in their family and town +records, and a hardly concealed contempt and pity for people who were +obliged to live in other parts of the world. There were acknowledged to +be a few disadvantages,--such as living nearly a dozen miles from the +railway,--but, as Miss Honora Carew said, the tone of Deephaven society +had always been very high, and it was very nice that there had never +been any manufacturing element introduced. She could not feel too +grateful, herself, that there was no disagreeable foreign population. + +"But," said Kate one day, "wouldn't you like to have some pleasant new +people brought into town?" + +"Certainly, my dear," said Miss Honora, rather doubtfully; "I have +always been public-spirited; but then, we always have guests in summer, +and I am growing old. I should not care to enlarge my acquaintance to +any great extent." Miss Honora and Mrs. Dent had lived gay lives in +their younger days, and were interested and connected with the outside +world more than any of our Deephaven friends; but they were quite +contented to stay in their own house, with their books and letters and +knitting, and they carefully read Littell and "the new magazine," as +they called the Atlantic. + +The Carews were very intimate with the minister and his sister, and +there were one or two others who belonged to this set. There was Mr. +Joshua Dorsey, who wore his hair in a queue, was very deaf, and carried +a ponderous cane which had belonged to his venerated father,--a much +taller man than he. He was polite to Kate and me, but we never knew him +much. He went to play whist with the Carews every Monday evening, and +commonly went out fishing once a week. He had begun the practice of law, +but he had lost his hearing, and at the same time his lady-love had +inconsiderately fallen in love with somebody else; after which he +retired from active business life. He had a fine library, which he +invited us to examine. He had many new books, but they looked shockingly +overdressed, in their fresher bindings, beside the old brown volumes of +essays and sermons, and lighter works in many-volume editions. + +A prominent link in society was Widow Tully, who had been the +much-respected housekeeper of old Captain Manning for forty years. When +he died he left her the use of his house and family pew, besides an +annuity. The existence of Mr. Tully seemed to be a myth. During the +first of his widow's residence in town she had been much affected when +obliged to speak of him, and always represented herself as having seen +better days and as being highly connected. But she was apt to be +ungrammatical when excited, and there was a whispered tradition that +she used to keep a toll-bridge in a town in Connecticut; though the +mystery of her previous state of existence will probably never be +solved. She wore mourning for the captain which would have befitted his +widow, and patronized the townspeople conspicuously, while she herself +was treated with much condescension by the Carews and Lorimers. She +occupied, on the whole, much the same position that Mrs. Betty Barker +did in Cranford. And, indeed, Kate and I were often reminded of that +estimable town. We heard that Kate's aunt, Miss Brandon, had never been +appreciative of Mrs. Tully's merits, and that since her death the others +had received Mrs. Tully into their society rather more. + +It seemed as if all the clocks in Deephaven, and all the people with +them, had stopped years ago, and the people had been doing over and over +what they had been busy about during the last week of their unambitious +progress. Their clothes had lasted wonderfully well, and they had no +need to earn money when there was so little chance to spend it; indeed, +there were several families who seemed to have no more visible means of +support than a balloon. There were no young people whom we knew, though +a number used to come to church on Sunday from the inland farms, or "the +country," as we learned to say. There were children among the +fishermen's families at the shore, but a few years will see Deephaven +possessed by two classes instead of the time-honored three. + +As for our first Sunday at church, it must be in vain to ask you to +imagine our delight when we heard the tuning of a bass-viol in the +gallery just before service. We pressed each other's hands most +tenderly, looked up at the singers' seats, and then trusted ourselves to +look at each other. It was more than we had hoped for. There were also a +violin and sometimes a flute, and a choir of men and women singers, +though the congregation were expected to join in the psalm-singing. The +first hymn was + + "The Lord our God is full of might, + The winds obey his will," + +to the tune of St. Ann's. It was all so delightfully old-fashioned; our +pew was a square pew, and was by an open window looking seaward. We +also had a view of the entire congregation, and as we were somewhat +early, we watched the people come in, with great interest. The Deephaven +aristocracy came with stately step up the aisle; this was all the chance +there was for displaying their unquestioned dignity in public. + +Many of the people drove to church in wagons that were low and old and +creaky, with worn buffalo-robes over the seat, and some hay tucked +underneath for the sleepy, undecided old horse. Some of the younger +farmers and their wives had high, shiny wagons, with tall +horsewhips,--which they sometimes brought into church,--and they drove +up to the steps with a consciousness of being conspicuous and enviable. +They had a bashful look when they came in, and for a few minutes after +they took their seats they evidently felt that all eyes were fixed upon +them; but after a little while they were quite at their ease, and looked +critically at the new arrivals. + +The old folks interested us most. "Do you notice how many more old women +there are than old men?" whispered Kate to me. And we wondered if the +husbands and brothers had been drowned, and if it must not be sad to +look at the blue, sunshiny sea beyond the marshes, if the far-away white +sails reminded them of some ships that had never sailed home into +Deephaven harbor, or of fishing-boats that had never come back to land. + +The girls and young men adorned themselves in what they believed to be +the latest fashion, but the elderly women were usually relics of old +times in manner and dress. They wore to church thin, soft silk gowns +that must have been brought from over the seas years upon years before, +and wide collars fastened with mourning-pins holding a lock of hair. +They had big black bonnets, some of them with stiff capes, such as Kate +and I had not seen before since our childhood. They treasured large +rusty lace veils of scraggly pattern, and wore sometimes, on pleasant +Sundays, white China-crape shawls with attenuated fringes; and there +were two or three of these shawls in the congregation which had been +dyed black, and gave an aspect of meekness and general unworthiness to +the aged wearer, they clung and drooped about the figure in such a +hopeless way. We used to notice often the most interesting scarfs, +without which no Deephaven woman considered herself in full dress. +Sometimes there were red India scarfs in spite of its being hot weather; +but our favorite ones were long strips of silk, embroidered along the +edges and at the ends with dismal-colored floss in odd patterns. I think +there must have been a fashion once, in Deephaven, of working these +scarfs, and I should not be surprised to find that it was many years +before the fashion of working samplers came about. Our friends always +wore black mitts on warm Sundays, and many of them carried neat little +bags of various designs on their arms, containing a precisely folded +pocket-handkerchief, and a frugal lunch of caraway seeds or red and +white peppermints. I should like you to see, with your own eyes, Widow +Ware and Miss Exper'ence Hull, two old sisters whose personal appearance +we delighted in, and whom we saw feebly approaching down the street this +first Sunday morning under the shadow of the two last members of an +otherwise extinct race of parasols. + +There were two or three old men who sat near us. They were +sailors,--there is something unmistakable about a sailor,--and they had +a curiously ancient, uncanny look, as if they might have belonged to the +crew of the Mayflower, or even have cruised about with the Northmen in +the times of Harold Harfager and his comrades. They had been blown about +by so many winter winds, so browned by summer suns, and wet by salt +spray, that their hands and faces looked like leather, with a few deep +folds instead of wrinkles. They had pale blue eyes, very keen and quick; +their hair looked like the fine sea-weed which clings to the kelp-roots +and mussel-shells in little locks. These friends of ours sat solemnly at +the heads of their pews and looked unflinchingly at the minister, when +they were not dozing, and they sang with voices like the howl of the +wind, with an occasional deep note or two. + +Have you never seen faces that seemed old-fashioned? Many of the people +in Deephaven church looked as if they must be--if not supernaturally +old--exact copies of their remote ancestors. I wonder if it is not +possible that the features and expression may be almost perfectly +reproduced. These faces were not modern American faces, but belonged +rather to the days of the early settlement of the country, the old +colonial times. We often heard quaint words and expressions which we +never had known anywhere else but in old books. There was a great deal +of sea-lingo in use; indeed, we learned a great deal ourselves, +unconsciously, and used it afterward to the great amusement of our +friends; but there were also many peculiar provincialisms, and among the +people who lived on the lonely farms inland we often noticed words we +had seen in Chaucer, and studied out at school in our English literature +class. Everything in Deephaven was more or less influenced by the sea; +the minister spoke oftenest of Peter and his fishermen companions, and +prayed most earnestly every Sunday morning for those who go down to the +sea in ships. He made frequent allusions and drew numberless +illustrations of a similar kind for his sermons, and indeed I am in +doubt whether, if the Bible had been written wholly in inland countries, +it would have been much valued in Deephaven. + +The singing was very droll, for there was a majority of old voices, +which had seen their best days long before, and the bass-viol was +excessively noticeable, and apt to be a little ahead of the time the +singers kept, while the violin lingered after. Somewhere on the other +side of the church we heard an acute voice which rose high above all the +rest of the congregation, sharp as a needle, and slightly cracked, with +a limitless supply of breath. It rose and fell gallantly, and clung long +to the high notes of Dundee. It was like the wail of the banshee, which +sounds clear to the fated hearer above all other noises. We afterward +became acquainted with the owner of this voice, and were surprised to +find her a meek widow, who was like a thin black beetle in her pathetic +cypress veil and big black bonnet. She looked as if she had forgotten +who she was, and spoke with an apologetic whine; but we heard she had a +temper as high as her voice, and as much to be dreaded as the +equinoctial gale. + +Near the church was the parsonage, where Mr. Lorimer lived, and the old +Lorimer house not far beyond was occupied by Miss Rebecca Lorimer. Some +stranger might ask the question why the minister and his sister did not +live together, but you would have understood it at once after you had +lived for a little while in town. They were very fond of each other, and +the minister dined with Miss Rebecca on Sundays, and she passed the day +with him on Wednesdays, and they ruled their separate households with +decision and dignity. I think Mr. Lorimer's house showed no signs of +being without a mistress, any more than his sister's betrayed the want +of a master's care and authority. + +The Carews were very kind friends of ours, and had been Miss Brandon's +best friends. We heard that there had always been a coolness between +Miss Brandon and Miss Lorimer, and that, though they exchanged visits +and were always polite, there was a chill in the politeness, and one +would never have suspected them of admiring each other at all. We had +the whole history of the trouble, which dated back scores of years, from +Miss Honora Carew, but we always took pains to appear ignorant of the +feud, and I think Miss Lorimer was satisfied that it was best not to +refer to it, and to let bygones be bygones. It would not have been true +Deephaven courtesy to prejudice Kate against her grand-aunt, and Miss +Rebecca cherished her dislike in silence, which gave us a most grand +respect for her, since we knew she thought herself in the right; though +I think it never had come to an open quarrel between these majestic +aristocrats. + +Miss Honora Carew and Mr. Dick and their elder sister, Mrs. Dent, had a +charmingly sedate and quiet home in the old Carew house. Mrs. Dent was +ill a great deal while we were there, but she must have been a very +brilliant woman, and was not at all dull when we knew her. She had +outlived her husband and her children, and she had, several years before +our summer there, given up her own home, which was in the city, and had +come back to Deephaven. Miss Honora--dear Miss Honora!--had been one of +the brightest, happiest girls, and had lost none of her brightness and +happiness by growing old. She had lost none of her fondness for society, +though she was so contented in quiet Deephaven, and I think she enjoyed +Kate's and my stories of our pleasures as much as we did hers of old +times. We used to go to see her almost every day. "Mr. Dick," as they +called their brother, had once been a merchant in the East Indies, and +there were quantities of curiosities and most beautiful china which he +had brought and sent home, which gave the house a character of its own. +He had been very rich and had lost some of his money, and then he came +home and was still considered to possess princely wealth by his +neighbors. He had a great fondness for reading and study, which had not +been lost sight of during his business life, and he spent most of his +time in his library. He and Mr. Lorimer had their differences of opinion +about certain points of theology, and this made them much fonder of each +other's society, and gave them a great deal of pleasure; for after every +series of arguments, each was sure that he had vanquished the other, or +there were alternate victories and defeats which made life vastly +interesting and important. + +Miss Carew and Mrs. Dent had a great treasury of old brocades and laces +and ornaments, which they showed us one day, and told us stories of the +wearers, or, if they were their own, there were always some +reminiscences which they liked to talk over with each other and with us. +I never shall forget the first evening we took tea with them; it +impressed us very much, and yet nothing wonderful happened. Tea was +handed round by an old-fashioned maid, and afterward we sat talking in +the twilight, looking out at the garden. It was such a delight to have +tea served in this way. I wonder that the fashion has been almost +forgotten. Kate and I took much pleasure in choosing our tea-poys; hers +had a mandarin parading on the top, and mine a flight of birds and a +pagoda; and we often used them afterward, for Miss Honora asked us to +come to tea whenever we liked. "A stupid, common country town" some one +dared to call Deephaven in a letter once, and how bitterly we resented +it! That was a house where one might find the best society, and the most +charming manners and good-breeding, and if I were asked to tell you what +I mean by the word "lady," I should ask you to go, if it were possible, +to call upon Miss Honora Carew. + +After a while the elder sister said, "My dears, we always have prayers +at nine, for I have to go up stairs early nowadays." And then the +servants came in, and she read solemnly the King of glory Psalm, which I +have always liked best, and then Mr. Dick read the church prayers, the +form of prayer to be used in families. We stayed later to talk with Miss +Honora after we had said good night to Mrs. Dent. And we told each +other, as we went home in the moonlight down the quiet street, how much +we had enjoyed the evening, for somehow the house and the people had +nothing to do with the present, or the hurry of modern life. I have +never heard that psalm since without its bringing back that summer night +in Deephaven, the beautiful quaint old room, and Kate and I feeling so +young and worldly, by contrast, the flickering, shaded light of the +candles, the old book, and the voices that said Amen. + +There were several other fine old houses in Deephaven beside this and +the Brandon house, though that was rather the most imposing. There were +two or three which had not been kept in repair, and were deserted, and +of course they were said to be haunted, and we were told of their +ghosts, and why they walked, and when. From some of the local +superstitions Kate and I have vainly endeavored ever since to shake +ourselves free. There was a most heathenish fear of doing certain things +on Friday, and there were countless signs in which we still have +confidence. When the moon is very bright and other people grow +sentimental, we only remember that it is a fine night to catch hake. + + + + +_The Captains_ + + +I should consider my account of Deephaven society incomplete if I did +not tell you something of the ancient mariners, who may be found every +pleasant morning sunning themselves like turtles on one of the wharves. +Sometimes there was a considerable group of them, but the less constant +members of the club were older than the rest, and the epidemics of +rheumatism in town were sadly frequent. We found that it was etiquette +to call them each captain, but I think some of the Deephaven men took +the title by brevet upon arriving at a proper age. + +They sat close together because so many of them were deaf, and when we +were lucky enough to overhear the conversation, it seemed to concern +their adventures at sea, or the freight carried out by the Sea Duck, the +Ocean Rover, or some other Deephaven ship,--the particulars of the +voyage and its disasters and successes being as familiar as the +wanderings of the children of Israel to an old parson. There were +sometimes violent altercations when the captains differed as to the +tonnage of some craft that had been a prey to the winds and waves, +dry-rot, or barnacles fifty years before. The old fellows puffed away at +little black pipes with short stems, and otherwise consumed tobacco in +fabulous quantities. It is needless to say that they gave an immense +deal of attention to the weather. We used to wish we could join this +agreeable company, but we found that the appearance of an outsider +caused a disapproving silence, and that the meeting was evidently not to +be interfered with. Once we were impertinent enough to hide ourselves +for a while just round the corner of the warehouse, but we were afraid +or ashamed to try it again, though the conversation was inconceivably +edifying. Captain Isaac Horn, the eldest and wisest of all, was +discoursing upon some cloth he had purchased once in Bristol, which the +shopkeeper delayed sending until just as they were ready to weigh +anchor. + +"I happened to take a look at that cloth," said the captain, in a loud +droning voice, "and as quick as I got sight of it, I spoke onpleasant +of that swindling English fellow, and the crew, they stood back. I was +dreadful high-tempered in them days, mind ye; and I had the gig manned. +We was out in the stream, just ready to sail. 'T was no use waiting any +longer for the wind to change, and we was going north-about. I went +ashore, and when I walks into his shop ye never see a creatur' so +wilted. Ye see the miser'ble sculpin thought I'd never stop to open the +goods, an' it was a chance I did, mind ye! 'Lor,' says he, grinning and +turning the color of a biled lobster, 'I s'posed ye were a standing out +to sea by this time.' 'No,' says I, 'and I've got my men out here on the +quay a landing that cloth o' yourn, and if you don't send just what I +bought and paid for down there to go back in the gig within fifteen +minutes, I'll take ye by the collar and drop ye into the dock.' I was +twice the size of him, mind ye, and master strong. 'Don't ye like it?' +says he, edging round; 'I'll change it for ye, then.' Ter'ble perlite he +was. 'Like it?' says I, 'it looks as if it were built of dog's hair and +divil's wool, kicked together by spiders; and it's coarser than Irish +frieze; three threads to an _armful_,' says I." + +This was evidently one of the captain's favorite stories, for we heard +an approving grumble from the audience. + +In the course of a walk inland we made a new acquaintance, Captain Lant, +whom we had noticed at church, and who sometimes joined the company on +the wharf. We had been walking through the woods, and coming out to his +fields we went on to the house for some water. There was no one at home +but the captain, who told us cheerfully that he should be pleased to +serve us, though his women-folks had gone off to a funeral, the other +side of the P'int. He brought out a pitcherful of milk, and after we had +drunk some, we all sat down together in the shade. The captain brought +an old flag-bottomed chair from the woodhouse, and sat down facing Kate +and me, with an air of certainty that he was going to hear something new +and make some desirable new acquaintances, and also that he could tell +something it would be worth our while to hear. He looked more and more +like a well-to-do old English sparrow, and chippered faster and faster. + +"Queer ye should know I'm a sailor so quick; why, I've been a-farming +it this twenty years; have to go down to the shore and take a day's +fishing every hand's turn, though, to keep the old hulk clear of +barnacles. There! I do wish I lived nigher the shore, where I could see +the folks I know, and talk about what's been a-goin' on. You don't know +anything about it, you don't; but it's tryin' to a man to be called 'old +Cap'n Lant,' and, so to speak, be forgot when there's anything stirring, +and be called gran'ther by clumsy creatur's goin' on fifty and sixty, +who can't do no more work to-day than I can; an' then the women-folks +keeps a-tellin' me to be keerful and not fall, and as how I'm too old to +go out fishing; and when they want to be soft-spoken, they say as how +they don't see as I fail, and how wonderful I keep my hearin'. I never +did want to farm it, but 'she' always took it to heart when I was off on +a v'y'ge, and this farm and some consider'ble means beside come to her +from her brother, and they all sot to and give me no peace of mind till +I sold out my share of the Ann Eliza and come ashore for good. I did +keep an eighth of the Pactolus, and I was ship's husband for a long +spell, but she never was heard from on her last voyage to Singapore. I +was the lonesomest man, when I first come ashore, that ever you see. +Well, you are master hands to walk, if you come way up from the Brandon +house. I wish the women was at home. Know Miss Brandon? Why, yes; and I +remember all her brothers and sisters, and her father and mother. I can +see 'em now coming into meeting, proud as Lucifer and straight as a +mast, every one of 'em. Miss Katharine, she always had her butter from +this very farm. Some of the folks used to go down every Saturday, and my +wife, she's been in the house a hundred times, I s'pose. So you are +Hathaway Brandon's grand-daughter?" (to Kate); "why, he and I have been +out fishing together many's the time,--he and Chantrey, his next younger +brother. Henry, he was a disapp'intment; he went to furrin parts and +turned out a Catholic priest, I s'pose you've heard? I never was so set +ag'in Mr. Henry as some folks was. He was the pleasantest spoken of the +whole on 'em. You do look like the Brandons; you really favor 'em +consider'ble. Well, I'm pleased to see ye, I'm sure." + +We asked him many questions about the old people, and found he knew all +the family histories and told them with great satisfaction. We found he +had his pet stories, and it must have been gratifying to have an +entirely new and fresh audience. He was adroit in leading the +conversation around to a point where the stories would come in +appropriately, and we helped him as much as possible. In a small +neighborhood all the people know each other's stories and experiences by +heart, and I have no doubt the old captain had been snubbed many times +on beginning a favorite anecdote. There was a story which he told us +that first day, which he assured us was strictly true, and it is +certainly a remarkable instance of the influence of one mind upon +another at a distance. It seems to me worth preserving, at any rate; and +as we heard it from the old man, with his solemn voice and serious +expression and quaint gestures, it was singularly impressive. + +"When I was a youngster," said Captain Lant, "I was an orphan, and I was +bound out to old Mr. Peletiah Daw's folks, over on the Ridge Road. It +was in the time of the last war, and he had a nephew, Ben Dighton, a +dreadful high-strung, wild fellow, who had gone off on a privateer. The +old man, he set everything by Ben; he would disoblige his own boys any +day to please him. This was in his latter days, and he used to have +spells of wandering and being out of his head; and he used to call for +Ben and talk sort of foolish about him, till they would tell him to +stop. Ben never did a stroke of work for him, either, but he was a +handsome fellow, and had a way with him when he was good-natured. One +night old Peletiah had been very bad all day and was getting quieted +down, and it was after supper; we sat round in the kitchen, and he lay +in the bedroom opening out. There were some pitch-knots blazing, and the +light shone in on the bed, and all of a sudden something made me look up +and look in; and there was the old man setting up straight, with his +eyes shining at me like a cat's. 'Stop 'em!' says he; '_stop 'em!_' and +his two sons run in then to catch hold of him, for they thought he was +beginning with one of his wild spells; but he fell back on the bed and +began to cry like a baby. 'O, dear me,' says he, 'they've hung +him,--hung him right up to the yard-arm! O, they oughtn't to have done +it; cut him down quick! he didn't think; he means well, Ben does; he was +hasty. O my God, I can't bear to see him swing round by the neck! It's +poor Ben hung up to the yard-arm. Let me alone, I say!' Andrew and +Moses, they were holding him with all their might, and they were both +hearty men, but he 'most got away from them once or twice, and he +screeched and howled like a mad creatur', and then he would cry again +like a child. He was worn out after a while and lay back quiet, and said +over and over, 'Poor Ben!' and 'hung at the yard-arm'; and he told the +neighbors next day, but nobody noticed him much, and he seemed to forget +it as his mind come back. All that summer he was miser'ble, and towards +cold weather he failed right along, though he had been a master strong +man in his day, and his timbers held together well. Along late in the +fall he had taken to his bed, and one day there came to the house a +fellow named Sim Decker, a reckless fellow he was too, who had gone out +in the same ship with Ben. He pulled a long face when he came in, and +said he had brought bad news. They had been taken prisoner and carried +into port and put in jail, and Ben Dighton had got a fever there and +died. + +"'You lie!' says the old man from the bedroom, speaking as loud and +f'erce as ever you heard. 'They hung him to the yard-arm!' + +"'Don't mind him,' says Andrew; 'he's wandering-like, and he had a bad +dream along back in the spring; I s'posed he'd forgotten it.' But the +Decker fellow he turned pale, and kept talking crooked while he listened +to old Peletiah a-scolding to himself. He answered the questions the +women-folks asked him,--they took on a good deal,--but pretty soon he +got up and winked to me and Andrew, and we went out in the yard. He +began to swear, and then says he, 'When did the old man have his dream?' +Andrew couldn't remember, but I knew it was the night before he sold the +gray colt, and that was the 24th of April. + +"'Well,' says Sim Decker, 'on the twenty-third day of April Ben Dighton +was hung to the yard-arm, and I see 'em do it, Lord help him! I didn't +mean to tell the women, and I s'posed you'd never know, for I'm all the +one of the ship's company you're ever likely to see. We were taken +prisoner, and Ben was mad as fire, and they were scared of him and +chained him to the deck; and while he was sulking there, a little +parrot of a midshipman come up and grinned at him, and snapped his +fingers in his face; and Ben lifted his hands with the heavy irons and +sprung at him like a tiger, and the boy dropped dead as a stone; and +they put the bight of a rope round Ben's neck and slung him right up to +the yard-arm, and there he swung back and forth until as soon as we +dared one of us clim' up and cut the rope and let him go over the ship's +side; and they put us in irons for that, curse 'em! How did that old man +in there know, and he bedridden here, nigh upon three thousand miles +off?' says he. But I guess there wasn't any of us could tell him," said +Captain Lant in conclusion. "It's something I never could account for, +but it's true as truth. I've known more such cases; some folks laughs at +me for believing 'em,--'the cap'n's yarns,' they calls 'em,--but if +you'll notice, everybody's got some yarn of that kind they do believe, +if they won't believe yours. And there's a good deal happens in the +world that's myster'ous. Now there was Widder Oliver Pinkham, over to +the P'int, told me with her own lips that she--" But just here we saw +the captain's expression alter suddenly, and looked around to see a +wagon coming up the lane. We immediately said we must go home, for it +was growing late, but asked permission to come again and hear the Widow +Oliver Pinkham story. We stopped, however, to see "the women-folks," and +afterward became so intimate with them that we were invited to spend the +afternoon and take tea, which invitation we accepted with great pride. +We went out fishing, also, with the captain and "Danny," of whom I will +tell you presently. I often think of Captain Lant in the winter, for he +told Kate once that he "felt master old in winter to what he did in +summer." He likes reading, fortunately, and we had a letter from him, +not long ago, acknowledging the receipt of some books of travel by land +and water which we had luckily thought to send him. He gave the latitude +and longitude of Deephaven at the beginning of his letter, and signed +himself, "Respectfully yours with esteem, Jacob Lant (condemned as +unseaworthy)." + + + + +_Danny_ + + +Deephaven seemed more like one of the lazy little English seaside towns +than any other. It was not in the least American. There was no +excitement about anything; there were no manufactories; nobody seemed in +the least hurry. The only foreigners were a few stranded sailors. I do +not know when a house or a new building of any kind had been built; the +men were farmers, or went outward in boats, or inward in fish-wagons, or +sometimes mackerel and halibut fishing in schooners for the city +markets. Sometimes a schooner came to one of the wharves to load with +hay or firewood; but Deephaven used to be a town of note, rich and busy, +as its forsaken warehouses show. + +We knew almost all the fisher-people at the shore, even old Dinnett, who +lived an apparently desolate life by himself in a hut and was reputed to +have been a bloodthirsty pirate in his youth. He was consequently feared +by all the children, and for misdemeanors in his latter days avoided +generally. Kate talked with him awhile one day on the shore, and made +him come up with her for a bandage for his hand which she saw he had +hurt badly; and the next morning he brought us a "new" lobster +apiece,--fishermen mean that a thing is only not salted when they say it +is "fresh." We happened to be in the hall, and received him ourselves, +and gave him a great piece of tobacco and (unintentionally) the means of +drinking our health. "Bless your pretty hearts!" said he; "may ye be +happy, and live long, and get good husbands, and if they ain't good to +you may they die from you!" + +None of our friends were more interesting than the fishermen. The +fish-houses, which might be called the business centre of the town, were +at a little distance from the old warehouses, farther down the harbor +shore, and were ready to fall down in despair. There were some fishermen +who lived near by, but most of them were also farmers in a small way, +and lived in the village or farther inland. From our eastern windows we +could see the moorings, and we always liked to watch the boats go out or +come straying in, one after the other, ripping and skimming under the +square little sails; and we often went down to the fish-houses to see +what kind of a catch there had been. + +I should have imagined that the sea would become very commonplace to men +whose business was carried on in boats, and who had spent night after +night and day after day from their boyhood on the water; but that is a +mistake. They have an awe of the sea and of its mysteries, and of what +it hides away from us. They are childish in their wonder at any strange +creature which they find. If they have not seen the sea-serpent, they +believe, I am sure, that other people have, and when a great shark or +black-fish or sword-fish was taken and brought in shore, everybody went +to see it, and we talked about it, and how brave its conqueror was, and +what a fight there had been, for a long time afterward. + +I said that we liked to see the boats go out, but I must not give you +the impression that we saw them often, for they weighed anchor at an +early hour in the morning. I remember once there was a light fog over +the sea, lifting fast, as the sun was coming up, and the brownish sails +disappeared in the mist, while voices could still be heard for some +minutes after the men were hidden from sight. This gave one a curious +feeling, but afterward, when the sun had risen, everything looked much +the same as usual; the fog had gone, and the dories and even the larger +boats were distant specks on the sparkling sea. + +One afternoon we made a new acquaintance in this wise. We went down to +the shore to see if we could hire a conveyance to the lighthouse the +next morning. We often went out early in one of the fishing-boats, and +after we had stayed as long as we pleased, Mr. Kew would bring us home. +It was quiet enough that day, for not a single boat had come in, and +there were no men to be seen along-shore. There was a solemn company of +lobster-coops or cages which had been brought in to be mended. They +always amused Kate. She said they seemed to her like droll old women +telling each other secrets. These were scattered about in different +attitudes, and looked more confidential than usual. + +Just as we were going away we happened to see a man at work in one of +the sheds. He was the fisherman whom we knew least of all; an +odd-looking, silent sort of man, more sunburnt and weather-beaten than +any of the others. We had learned to know him by the bright red flannel +shirt he always wore, and besides, he was lame; some one told us he had +had a bad fall once, on board ship. Kate and I had always wished we +could find a chance to talk with him. He looked up at us pleasantly, and +when we nodded and smiled, he said "Good day" in a gruff, hearty voice, +and went on with his work, cleaning mackerel. + +"Do you mind our watching you?" asked Kate. + +"No, _ma'am_!" said the fisherman emphatically. So there we stood. + +Those fish-houses were curious places, so different from any other kind +of workshop. In this there was a seine, or part of one, festooned among +the cross-beams overhead, and there were snarled fishing-lines, and +barrows to carry fish in, like wheelbarrows without wheels; there were +the queer round lobster-nets, and "kits" of salt mackerel, tubs of bait, +and piles of clams; and some queer bones, and parts of remarkable fish, +and lobster-claws of surprising size fastened on the walls for ornament. +There was a pile of rubbish down at the end; I dare say it was all +useful, however,--there is such mystery about the business. + +Kate and I were never tired of hearing of the fish that come at +different times of the year, and go away again, like the birds; or of +the actions of the dog-fish, which the 'longshore-men hate so bitterly; +and then there are such curious legends and traditions, of which almost +all fishermen have a store. + +"I think mackerel are the prettiest fish that swim," said I presently. + +"So do I, miss," said the man, "not to say but I've seen more +fancy-looking fish down in southern waters, bright as any flower you +ever see; but a mackerel," holding up one admiringly, "why, they're so +clean-built and trig-looking! Put a cod alongside, and he looks as +lumbering as an old-fashioned Dutch brig aside a yacht. + +"Those are good-looking fish, but they an't made much account of," +continued our friend, as he pushed aside the mackerel and took another +tub. "They're hake, I s'pose you know. But I forgot,--I can't stop to +bother with them now." And he pulled forward a barrow full of small +fish, flat and hard, with pointed, bony heads. + +"Those are porgies, aren't they?" asked Kate. + +"Yes," said the man, "an' I'm going to sliver them for the trawls." + +We knew what the trawls were, and supposed that the porgies were to be +used for bait; and we soon found out what "slivering" meant, by seeing +him take them by the head and cut a slice from first one side and then +the other in such a way that the pieces looked not unlike smaller fish. + +"It seems to me," said I, "that fishermen always have sharper knives +than other people." + +"Yes, we do like a sharp knife in our trade; and then we are mostly +strong-handed." + +He was throwing the porgies' heads and backbones--all that was left of +them after slivering--in a heap, and now several cats walked in as if +they felt at home, and began a hearty lunch. "What a troop of pussies +there is round here," said I; "I wonder what will become of them in the +winter,--though, to be sure, the fishing goes on just the same." + +"The better part of them don't get through the cold weather," said +Danny. "Two or three of the old ones have been here for years, and are +as much belonging to Deephaven as the meetin'-house; but the rest of +them an't to be depended on. You'll miss the young ones by the dozen, +come spring. I don't know myself but they move inland in the fall of the +year; they're knowing enough, if that's all!" + +Kate and I stood in the wide doorway, arm in arm, looking sometimes at +the queer fisherman and the porgies, and sometimes out to sea. It was +low tide; the wind had risen a little, and the heavy salt air blew +toward us from the wet brown ledges in the rocky harbor. The sea was +bright blue, and the sun was shining. Two gulls were swinging lazily to +and fro; there was a flock of sand-pipers down by the water's edge, in a +great hurry, as usual. + +Presently the fisherman spoke again, beginning with an odd laugh: "I +_was_ scared last winter! Jack Scudder and me, we were up in the Cap'n +Manning storehouse hunting for a half-bar'l of salt the skipper said was +there. It was an awful blustering kind of day, with a thin icy rain +blowing from all points at once; sea roaring as if it wished it could +come ashore and put a stop to everything. Bad days at sea, them are; +rigging all froze up. As I was saying, we were hunting for a half-bar'l +of salt, and I laid hold of a bar'l that had something heavy in the +bottom, and tilted it up, and my eye! there was a stir and a scratch and +a squeal, and out went some kind of a creatur', and I jumped back, not +looking for anything live, but I see in a minute it was a cat; and +perhaps you think it is a big story, but there were eight more in there, +hived in together to keep warm. I car'd 'em up some new fish that night; +they seemed short of provisions. We hadn't been out fishing as much as +common, and they hadn't dared to be round the fish-houses much, for a +fellow who came in on a coaster had a dog, and he used to chase 'em. +Hard chance they had, and lots of 'em died, I guess; but there seem to +be some survivin' relatives, an' al'ays just so hungry! I used to feed +them some when I was ashore. I think likely you've heard that a cat will +fetch you bad luck; but I don't know's that made much difference to me. +I kind of like to keep on the right side of 'em, too; if ever I have a +bad dream there's sure to be a cat in it; but I was brought up to be +clever to dumb beasts, an' I guess it's my natur'. Except fish," said +Danny after a minute's thought; "but then it never seems like they had +feelin's like creatur's that live ashore." And we all laughed heartily +and felt well acquainted. + +"I s'pose you misses will laugh if I tell ye I kept a kitty once +myself." This was said rather shyly, and there was evidently a story, so +we were much interested, and Kate said, "Please tell us about it; was it +at sea?" + +"Yes, it was at sea; leastways, on a coaster. I got her in a sing'lar +kind of way: it was one afternoon we were lying alongside Charlestown +Bridge, and I heard a young cat screeching real pitiful; and after I +looked all round, I see her in the water clutching on to the pier of the +bridge, and some little divils of boys were heaving rocks down at her. I +got into the schooner's tag-boat quick, I tell ye, and pushed off for +her, 'n' she let go just as I got there, 'n' I guess you never saw a +more miser'ble-looking creatur' than I fished out of the water. Cold +weather it was. Her leg was hurt, and her eye, and I thought first I'd +drop her overboard again, and then I didn't, and I took her aboard the +schooner and put her by the stove. I thought she might as well die where +it was warm. She eat a little mite of chowder before night, but she was +very slim; but next morning, when I went to see if she was dead, she +fell to licking my finger, and she did purr away like a dolphin. One of +her eyes was out, where a stone had took her, and she never got any use +of it, but she used to look at you so clever with the other, and she got +well of her lame foot after a while. I got to be ter'ble fond of her. +She was just the knowingest thing you ever saw, and she used to sleep +alongside of me in my bunk, and like as not she would go on deck with me +when it was my watch. I was coasting then for a year and eight months, +and I kept her all the time. We used to be in harbor consider'ble, and +about eight o'clock in the forenoon I used to drop a line and catch her +a couple of cunners. Now, it is cur'us that she used to know when I was +fishing for her. She would pounce on them fish and carry them off and +growl, and she knew when I got a bite,--she'd watch the line; but when +we were mackereling she never give us any trouble. She would never lift +a paw to touch any of our fish. She didn't have the thieving ways common +to most cats. She used to set round on deck in fair weather, and when +the wind blew she al'ays kept herself below. Sometimes when we were in +port she would go ashore awhile, and fetch back a bird or a mouse, but +she wouldn't eat it till she come and showed it to me. She never wanted +to stop long ashore, though I never shut her up; I always give her her +liberty. I got a good deal of joking about her from the fellows, but she +was a sight of company. I don' know as I ever had anything like me as +much as she did. Not to say as I ever had much of any trouble with +anybody, ashore or afloat. I'm a still kind of fellow, for all I look so +rough. + +"But then, I han't had a home, what I call a home, since I was going on +nine year old." + +"How has that happened?" asked Kate. + +"Well, mother, she died, and I was bound out to a man in the tanning +trade, and I hated him, and I hated the trade; and when I was a little +bigger I ran away, and I've followed the sea ever since. I wasn't much +use to him, I guess; leastways, he never took the trouble to hunt me up. + +"About the best place I ever was in was a hospital. It was in foreign +parts. Ye see I'm crippled some? I fell from the topsail yard to the +deck, and I struck my shoulder, and broke my leg, and banged myself all +up. It was to a nuns' hospital where they took me. All of the nuns were +Catholics, and they wore big white things on their heads. I don't +suppose you ever saw any. Have you? Well, now, that's queer! When I was +first there I was scared of them; they were real ladies, and I wasn't +used to being in a house, any way. One of them, that took care of me +most of the time, why, she would even set up half the night with me, and +I couldn't begin to tell you how good-natured she was, an' she'd look +real sorry too. I used to be ugly, I ached so, along in the first of my +being there, but I spoke of it when I was coming away, and she said it +was all right. She used to feed me, that lady did; and there were some +days I couldn't lift my head, and she would rise it on her arm. She give +me a little mite of a book, when I come away. I'm not much of a hand at +reading, but I always kept it on account of her. She was so pleased when +I got so's to set up in a chair and look out of the window. She wasn't +much of a hand to talk English. I did feel bad to come away from there; +I 'most wished I could be sick a while longer. I never said much of +anything either, and I don't know but she thought it was queer, but I am +a dreadful clumsy man to say anything, and I got flustered. I don't +know's I mind telling you; I was 'most a-crying. I used to think I'd lay +by some money and ship for there and carry her something real pretty. +But I don't rank able-bodied seaman like I used, and it's as much as I +can do to get a berth on a coaster; I suppose I might go as cook. I +liked to have died with my hurt at that hospital, but when I was getting +well it made me think of when I was a mite of a chap to home before +mother died, to be laying there in a clean bed with somebody to do for +me. Guess you think I'm a good hand to spin long yarns; somehow it comes +easy to talk to-day." + +"What became of your cat?" asked Kate, after a pause, during which our +friend sliced away at the porgies. + +"I never rightfully knew; it was in Salem harbor, and a windy night. I +was on deck consider'ble, for the schooner pitched lively, and once or +twice she dragged her anchor. I never saw the kitty after she eat her +supper. I remember I gave her some milk,--I used to buy her a pint once +in a while for a treat; I don't know but she might have gone off on a +cake of ice, but it did seem as if she had too much sense for that. Most +likely she missed her footing, and fell overboard in the dark. She was +marked real pretty, black and white, and kep' herself just as clean! She +knew as well as could be when foul weather was coming; she would bother +round and act queer; but when the sun was out she would sit round on +deck as pleased as a queen. There! I feel bad sometimes when I think of +her, and I never went into Salem since without hoping that I should see +her. I don't know but if I was a-going to begin my life over again, I'd +settle down ashore and have a snug little house and farm it. But I guess +I shall do better at fishing. Give me a trig-built topsail schooner +painted up nice, with a stripe on her, and clean sails, and a fresh wind +with the sun a-shining, and I feel first-rate." + +"Do you believe that codfish swallow stones before a storm?" asked Kate. +I had been thinking about the lonely fisherman in a sentimental way, and +so irrelevant a question shocked me. "I saw he felt slightly embarrassed +at having talked about his affairs so much," Kate told me afterward, +"and I thought we should leave him feeling more at his ease if we talked +about fish for a while." And sure enough he did seem relieved, and gave +us his opinion about the codfish at once, adding that he never cared +much for cod any way; folks up country bought 'em a good deal, he heard. +Give him a haddock right out of the water for his dinner! + +"I never can remember," said Kate, "whether it is cod or haddock that +have a black stripe along their sides--" + +"O, those are haddock," said I; "they say that the Devil caught a +haddock once, and it slipped through his fingers and got scorched; so +all the haddock had the same mark afterward." + +"Well, now, how did you know that old story?" said Danny, laughing +heartily; "ye mustn't believe all the old stories ye hear, mind ye!" + +"O, no," said we. + +"Hullo! There's Jim Toggerson's boat close in shore. She sets low in +the water, so he's done well. He and Skipper Scudder have been out +deep-sea fishing since yesterday." + +Our friend pushed the porgies back into a corner, stuck his knife into a +beam, and we hurried down to the shore. Kate and I sat on the pebbles, +and he went out to the moorings in a dirty dory to help unload the fish. + +We afterward saw a great deal of Danny, as all the men called him. But +though Kate and I tried our best and used our utmost skill and tact to +make him tell us more about himself, he never did. But perhaps there was +nothing more to be told. + +The day we left Deephaven we went down to the shore to say good by to +him and to some other friends, and he said, "Goin', are ye? Well, I'm +sorry; ye've treated me first-rate; the Lord bless ye!" and then was so +much mortified at the way he had said farewell that he turned and fled +round the corner of the fish-house. + + + + +_Captain Sands_ + + +Old Captain Sands was one of the most prominent citizens of Deephaven, +and a very good friend of Kate's and mine. We often met him, and grew +much interested in him before we knew him well. He had a reputation in +town for being peculiar and somewhat visionary; but every one seemed to +like him, and at last one morning, when we happened to be on our way to +the wharves, we stopped at the door of an old warehouse which we had +never seen opened before. Captain Sands sat just inside, smoking his +pipe, and we said good morning, and asked him if he did not think there +was a fog coming in by and by. We had thought a little of going out to +the lighthouse. The cap'n rose slowly, and came out so that he could see +farther round to the east. "There's some scud coming in a'ready," said +he. "None to speak of yet, I don't know's you can see it,--yes, you're +right; there's a heavy bank of fog lyin' off, but it won't be in under +two or three hours yet, unless the wind backs round more and freshens +up. Weren't thinking of going out, were ye?" + +"A little," said Kate, "but we had nearly given it up. We are getting to +be very weather-wise, and we pride ourselves on being quick at seeing +fogs." At which the cap'n smiled and said we were consider'ble young to +know much about weather, but it looked well that we took some interest +in it; most young people were fools about weather, and would just as +soon set off to go anywhere right under the edge of a thunder-shower. +"Come in and set down, won't ye?" he added; "it ain't much of a place; +I've got a lot of old stuff stowed away here that the women-folks don't +want up to the house. I'm a great hand for keeping things." And he +looked round fondly at the contents of the wide low room. "I come down +here once in a while and let in the sun, and sometimes I want to hunt up +something or 'nother; kind of stow-away place, ye see." And then he +laughed apologetically, rubbing his hands together, and looking out to +sea again as if he wished to appear unconcerned; yet we saw that he +wondered if we thought it ridiculous for a man of his age to have +treasured up so much trumpery in that cobwebby place. There were some +whole oars and the sail of his boat and two or three killicks and +painters, not to forget a heap of worn-out oars and sails in one corner +and a sailor's hammock slung across the beam overhead, and there were +some sailor's chests and the capstan of a ship and innumerable boxes +which all seemed to be stuffed full, besides no end of things lying on +the floor and packed away on shelves and hanging to rusty big-headed +nails in the wall. I saw some great lumps of coral, and large, rough +shells, a great hornet's nest, and a monstrous lobster-shell. The cap'n +had cobbled and tied up some remarkable old chairs for the accommodation +of himself and his friends. + +"What a nice place!" said Kate in a frank, delighted way which could not +have failed to be gratifying. + +"Well, no," said the cap'n, with his slow smile, "it ain't what you'd +rightly call 'nice,' as I know of: it ain't never been cleared out all +at once since I began putting in. There's nothing that's worth anything, +either, to anybody but me. Wife, she's said to me a hundred times, 'Why +don't you overhaul them old things and burn 'em?' She's al'ays at me +about letting the property, as if it were a corner-lot in Broadway. +That's all women-folks know about business!" And here the captain caught +himself tripping, and looked uneasy for a minute. "I suppose I might +have let it for a fish-house, but it's most too far from the shore to be +handy--and--well--there are some things here that I set a good deal by." + +"Isn't that a sword-fish's sword in that piece of wood?" Kate asked +presently; and was answered that it was found broken off as we saw it, +in the hull of a wreck that went ashore on Blue P'int when the captain +was a young man, and he had sawed it out and kept it ever +since,--fifty-nine years. Of course we went closer to look at it, and we +both felt a great sympathy for this friend of ours, because we have the +same fashion of keeping worthless treasures, and we understood perfectly +how dear such things may be. + +"Do you mind if we look round a little?" I asked doubtfully, for I knew +how I should hate having strangers look over my own treasury. But +Captain Sands looked pleased at our interest, and said cheerfully that +we might overhaul as much as we chose. Kate discovered first an old +battered wooden figure-head of a ship,--a woman's head with long curly +hair falling over the shoulders. The paint was almost gone, and the dust +covered most of what was left: still there was a wonderful spirit and +grace, and a wild, weird beauty which attracted us exceedingly; but the +captain could only tell us that it had belonged to the wreck of a Danish +brig which had been driven on the reef where the lighthouse stands now, +and his father had found this on the long sands a day or two afterward. +"That was a dreadful storm," said the captain. "I've heard the old folks +tell about it; it was when I was only a year or two old. There were +three merchantmen wrecked within five miles of Deephaven. This one was +all stove to splinters, and they used to say she had treasure aboard. +When I was small I used to have a great idea of going out there to the +rocks at low water and trying to find some gold, but I never made out no +great." And he smiled indulgently at the thought of his youthful dream. + +"Kate," said I, "do you see what beauties these Turk's-head knots are?" +We had been taking a course of first lessons in knots from Danny, and +had followed by learning some charmingly intricate ones from Captain +Lant, the stranded mariner who lived on a farm two miles or so inland. +Kate came over to look at the Turk's-heads, which were at either end of +the rope handles of a little dark-blue chest. + +Captain Sands turned in his chair and nodded approval. "That's a neat +piece of work, and it was a first-rate seaman who did it; he's dead and +gone years ago, poor young fellow; an I-talian he was, who sailed on the +Ranger three or four long voyages. He fell from the mast-head on the +voyage home from Callao. Cap'n Manning and old Mr. Lorimer, they owned +the Ranger, and when she come into port and they got the news they took +it as much to heart as if he'd been some relation. He was smart as a +whip, and had a way with him, and the pleasantest kind of a voice; you +couldn't help liking him. They found out that he had a mother alive in +Port Mahon, and they sent his pay and some money he had in the bank at +Riverport out to her by a ship that was going to the Mediterranean. He +had some clothes in his chest, and they sold those and sent her the +money,--all but some trinkets they supposed he was keeping for her; I +rec'lect he used to speak consider'ble about his mother. I shipped one +v'y'ge with him before the mast, before I went out mate of the Daylight. +I happened to be in port the time the Ranger got in, an' I see this +chist lying round in Cap'n Manning's storehouse, and I offered to give +him what it was worth; but we was good friends, and he told me take it +if I wanted it, it was no use to him, and I've kept it ever since. + +"There are some of his traps in it now, I believe; ye can look." And we +took off some tangled cod-lines and opened the chest. There was only a +round wooden box in the till, and in some idle hour at sea the young +sailor had carved his initials and an anchor and the date on the cover. +We found some sail-needles and a palm in this "kit," as the sailors call +it, and a little string of buttons with some needles and yarn and thread +in a neat little bag, which perhaps his mother had made for him when he +started off on his first voyage. Besides these things there was only a +fanciful little broken buckle, green and gilt, which he might have +picked up in some foreign street, and his protection-paper carefully +folded, wherein he was certified as being a citizen of the United +States, with dark complexion and dark hair. + +"He was one of the pleasantest fellows that ever I shipped with," said +the captain, with a gruff tenderness in his voice. "Always willin' to do +his work himself, and like's not when the other fellows up the rigging +were cold, or ugly about something or 'nother, he'd say something that +would set them all laughing, and somehow it made you good-natured to see +him round. He was brought up a Catholic, I s'pose; anyway, he had some +beads, and sometimes they would joke him about 'em on board ship, but he +would blaze up in a minute, ugly as a tiger. I never saw him mad about +anything else, though he wouldn't stand it if anybody tried to crowd +him. He fell from the main-to'-gallant yard to the deck, and was dead +when they picked him up. They were off the Bermudas. I suppose he lost +his balance, but I never could see how; he was sure-footed, and as quick +as a cat. They said they saw him try to catch at the stay, but there was +a heavy sea running, and the ship rolled just so's to let him through +between the rigging, and he struck the deck like a stone. I don't +know's that chest has been opened these ten years,--I declare it carries +me back to look at those poor little traps of his. Well, it's the way of +the world; we think we're somebody, and we have our day, but it isn't +long afore we're forgotten." + +The captain reached over for the paper, and taking out a clumsy pair of +steel-bowed spectacles, read it through carefully. "I'll warrant he took +good care of this," said he. "He was an I-talian, and no more of an +American citizen than a Chinese; I wonder he hadn't called himself John +Jones, that's the name most of the foreigners used to take when they got +their papers. I remember once I was sick with a fever in Chelsea +Hospital, and one morning they came bringing in the mate of a Portugee +brig on a stretcher, and the surgeon asked what his name was. 'John +Jones,' says he. 'O, say something else,' says the surgeon; 'we've got +five John Joneses here a'ready, and it's getting to be no name at all.' +Sailors are great hands for false names; they have a trick of using them +when they have any money to leave ashore, for fear their shipmates will +go and draw it out. I suppose there are thousands of dollars unclaimed +in New York banks, where men have left it charged to their false names; +then they get lost at sea or something, and never go to get it, and +nobody knows whose it is. They're curious folks, take 'em altogether, +sailors is; specially these foreign fellows that wander about from ship +to ship. They're getting to be a dreadful low set, too, of late years. +It's the last thing I'd want a boy of mine to do,--ship before the mast +with one of these mixed crews. It's a dog's life, anyway, and the risks +and the chances against you are awful. It's a good while before you can +lay up anything, unless you are part owner. I saw all the p'ints a good +deal plainer after I quit followin' the sea myself, though I've always +been more or less into navigation until this last war come on. I know +when I was ship's husband of the Polly and Susan there was a young man +went out cap'n of her,--her last voyage, and she never was heard from. +He had a wife and two or three little children, and for all he was so +smart, they would have been about the same as beggars, if I hadn't +happened to have his life insured the day I was having the papers made +out for the ship. I happened to think of it. Five thousand dollars there +was, and I sent it to the widow along with his primage. She hadn't +expected nothing, or next to nothing, and she was pleased, I tell ye." + +"I think it was very kind in you to think of that, Captain Sands," said +Kate. And the old man said, flushing a little, "Well, I'm not so smart +as some of the men who started when I did, and some of 'em went ahead of +me, but some of 'em didn't, after all. I've tried to be honest, and to +do just about as nigh right as I could, and you know there's an old +sayin' that a cripple in the right road will beat a racer in the wrong." + + + + +_The Circus at Denby_ + + +Kate and I looked forward to a certain Saturday with as much eagerness +as if we had been little school-boys, for on that day we were to go to a +circus at Denby, a town perhaps eight miles inland. There had not been a +circus so near Deephaven for a long time, and nobody had dared to +believe the first rumor of it, until two dashing young men had deigned +to come themselves to put up the big posters on the end of 'Bijah +Mauley's barn. All the boys in town came as soon as possible to see +these amazing pictures, and some were wretched in their secret hearts at +the thought that they might not see the show itself. Tommy Dockum was +more interested than any one else, and mentioned the subject so +frequently one day when he went blackberrying with us, that we grew +enthusiastic, and told each other what fun it would be to go, for +everybody would be there, and it would be the greatest loss to us if we +were absent. I thought I had lost my childish fondness for circuses, but +it came back redoubled; and Kate may contradict me if she chooses, but I +am sure she never looked forward to the Easter Oratorio with half the +pleasure she did to this "caravan," as most of the people called it. + +We felt that it was a great pity that any of the boys and girls should +be left lamenting at home, and finding that there were some of our +acquaintances and Tommy's who saw no chance of going, we engaged Jo +Sands and Leander Dockum to carry them to Denby in two fish-wagons, with +boards laid across for the extra seats. We saw them join the straggling +train of carriages which had begun to go through the village from all +along shore, soon after daylight, and they started on their journey +shouting and carousing, with their pockets crammed with early apples and +other provisions. We thought it would have been fun enough to see the +people go by, for we had had no idea until then how many inhabitants +that country held. + +We had asked Mrs. Kew to go with us; but she was half an hour later than +she had promised, for, since there was no wind, she could not come +ashore in the sail-boat, and Mr. Kew had had to row her in in the dory. +We saw the boat at last nearly in shore, and drove down to meet it: even +the horse seemed to realize what a great day it was, and showed a +disposition to friskiness, evidently as surprising to himself as to us. + +Mrs. Kew was funnier that day than we had ever known her, which is +saying a great deal, and we should not have had half so good a time if +she had not been with us; although she lived in the lighthouse, and had +no chance to "see passing," which a woman prizes so highly in the +country, she had a wonderful memory for faces, and could tell us the +names of all Deephaveners and of most of the people we met outside its +limits. She looked impressed and solemn as she hurried up from the +water's edge, giving Mr. Kew some parting charges over her shoulder as +he pushed off the boat to go back; but after we had convinced her that +the delay had not troubled us, she seemed more cheerful. It was evident +that she felt the importance of the occasion, and that she was pleased +at our having chosen her for company. She threw back her veil entirely, +sat very straight, and took immense pains to bow to every acquaintance +whom she met. She wore her best Sunday clothes, and her manner was +formal for the first few minutes; it was evident that she felt we were +meeting under unusual circumstances, and that, although we had often met +before on the friendliest terms, our having asked her to make this +excursion in public required a different sort of behavior at her hands, +and a due amount of ceremony and propriety. But this state of things did +not last long, as she soon made a remark at which Kate and I laughed so +heartily in lighthouse-acquaintance fashion, that she unbent, and gave +her whole mind to enjoying herself. + +When we came by the store where the post-office was kept we saw a small +knot of people gathered round the door, and stopped to see what had +happened. There was a forlorn horse standing near, with his harness tied +up with fuzzy ends of rope, and the wagon was cobbled together with +pieces of board; the whole craft looked as if it might be wrecked with +the least jar. In the wagon were four or five stupid-looking boys and +girls, one of whom was crying softly. Their father was sick, some one +told us. "He was took faint, but he is coming to all right; they have +give him something to take: their name is Craper, and they live way over +beyond the Ridge, on Stone Hill. They were goin' over to Denby to the +circus, and the man was calc'lating to get doctored, but I d' know's he +can get so fur; he's powerful slim-looking to me." Kate and I went to +see if we could be of any use, and when we went into the store we saw +the man leaning back in his chair, looking ghastly pale, and as if he +were far gone in consumption. Kate spoke to him, and he said he was +better; he had felt bad all the way along, but he hadn't given up. He +was pitiful, poor fellow, with his evident attempt at dressing up. He +had the bushiest, dustiest red hair and whiskers, which made the pallor +of his face still more striking, and his illness had thinned and paled +his rough, clumsy hands. I thought what a hard piece of work it must +have been for him to start for the circus that morning, and how +kind-hearted he must be to have made such an effort for his children's +pleasure. As we went out they stared at us gloomily. The shadow of their +disappointment touched and chilled our pleasure. + +Somebody had turned the horse so that he was heading toward home, and by +his actions he showed that he was the only one of the party who was +glad. We were so sorry for the children; perhaps it had promised to be +the happiest day of their lives, and now they must go back to their +uninteresting home without having seen the great show. + +"I am so sorry you are disappointed," said Kate, as we were wondering +how the man who had followed us could ever climb into the wagon. + +"Heh?" said he, blankly, as if he did not know what her words meant. +"What fool has been a turning o' this horse?" he asked a man who was +looking on. + +"Why, which way be ye goin'?" + +"To the circus," said Mr. Craper, with decision, "where d'ye s'pose? +That's where I started for, anyways." And he climbed in and glanced +round to count the children, struck the horse with the willow switch, +and they started off briskly, while everybody laughed. Kate and I joined +Mrs. Kew, who had enjoyed the scene. + +"Well, there!" said she, "I wonder the folks in the old North +burying-ground ain't a-rising up to go to Denby to that caravan!" + +We reached Denby at noon; it was an uninteresting town which had grown +up around some mills. There was a great commotion in the streets, and it +was evident that we had lost much in not having seen the procession. +There was a great deal of business going on in the shops, and there were +two or three hand-organs at large, near one of which we stopped awhile +to listen, just after we had met Leander and given the horse into his +charge. Mrs. Kew finished her shopping as soon as possible, and we +hurried toward the great tents, where all the flags were flying. I think +I have not told you that we were to have the benefit of seeing a +menagerie in addition to the circus, and you may be sure we went +faithfully round to see everything that the cages held. + +I cannot truthfully say that it was a good show; it was somewhat dreary, +now that I think of it quietly and without excitement. The creatures +looked tired, and as if they had been on the road for a great many +years. The animals were all old, and there was a shabby great elephant +whose look of general discouragement went to my heart, for it seemed as +if he were miserably conscious of a misspent life. He stood dejected and +motionless at one side of the tent, and it was hard to believe that +there was a spark of vitality left in him. A great number of the people +had never seen an elephant before, and we heard a thin little old man, +who stood near us, say delightedly, "There's the old creatur', and no +mistake, Ann 'Liza. I wanted to see him most of anything. My sakes +alive, ain't he big!" + +And Ann 'Liza, who was stout and sleepy-looking, droned out, "Ye-es, +there's consider'ble of him; but he looks as if he ain't got no +animation." + +Kate and I turned away and laughed, while Mrs. Kew said confidentially, +as the couple moved away, "_She_ needn't be a reflectin' on the poor +beast. That's Mis Seth Tanner, and there isn't a woman in Deephaven nor +East Parish to be named the same day with her for laziness. I'm glad she +didn't catch sight of me; she'd have talked about nothing for a +fortnight." + +There was a picture of a huge snake in Deephaven, and I was just +wondering where he could be, or if there ever had been one, when we +heard a boy ask the same question of the man whose thankless task it was +to stir up the lions with a stick to make them roar. "The snake's dead," +he answered good-naturedly. "Didn't you have to dig an awful long grave +for him?" asked the boy; but the man said he reckoned they curled him up +some, and smiled as he turned to his lions, who looked as if they needed +a tonic. Everybody lingered longest before the monkeys, who seemed to be +the only lively creatures in the whole collection; and finally we made +our way into the other tent, and perched ourselves on a high seat, from +whence we had a capital view of the audience and the ring, and could see +the people come in. Mrs. Kew was on the lookout for acquaintances, and +her spirits as well as our own seemed to rise higher and higher. She was +on the alert, moving her head this way and that to catch sight of +people, giving us a running commentary in the mean time. It was very +pleasant to see a person so happy as Mrs. Kew was that day, and I dare +say in speaking of the occasion she would say the same thing of Kate and +me,--for it was such a good time! We bought some peanuts, without which +no circus seems complete, and we listened to the conversations which +were being carried on around us while we were waiting for the +performance to begin. There were two old farmers whom we had noticed +occasionally in Deephaven; one was telling the other, with great +confusion of pronouns, about a big pig which had lately been killed. +"John did feel dreadful disappointed at having to kill now," we heard +him say, "bein' as he had calc'lated to kill along near Thanksgivin' +time; there was goin' to be a new moon then, and he expected to get +seventy-five or a hundred pound more on to him. But he didn't seem to +gain, and me and 'Bijah both told him he'd be better to kill now, while +everything was favor'ble, and if he set out to wait something might +happen to him, and then I've always held that you can't get no hog only +just so fur, and for my part I don't like these great overgrown +creatur's. I like well enough to see a hog that'll weigh six hunderd, +just for the beauty on't, but for my eatin' give me one that'll just +rise three. 'Bijah's accurate, and he says he is goin' to weigh risin' +five hundred and fifty. I shall stop, as I go home, to John's wife's +brother's and see if they've got the particulars yet; John was goin' to +get the scales this morning. I guess likely consider'ble many'll gather +there to-morrow after meeting. John didn't calc'late to cut up till +Monday." + +"I guess likely I 'll stop in to-morrow," said the other man; "I like to +see a han'some hog. Chester White, you said? Consider them best, don't +ye?" But this question never was answered, for the greater part of the +circus company in gorgeous trappings came parading in. + +The circus was like all other circuses, except that it was shabbier than +most, and the performers seemed to have less heart in it than usual. +They did their best, and went through with their parts conscientiously, +but they looked as if they never had had a good time in their lives. The +audience was hilarious, and cheered and laughed at the tired clown until +he looked as if he thought his speeches might possibly be funny, after +all. We were so glad we had pleased the poor thing; and when he sang a +song our satisfaction was still greater, and so he sang it all over +again. Perhaps he had been associating with people who were used to +circuses. The afternoon was hot, and the boys with Japanese fans and +trays of lemonade did a remarkable business for so late in the season; +the brass band on the other side of the tent shrieked its very best, and +all the young men of the region had brought their girls, and some of +these countless pairs of country lovers we watched a great deal, as they +"kept company" with more or less depth of satisfaction in each other. We +had a grand chance to see the fashions, and there were many old people +and a great number of little children, and some families had evidently +locked their house door behind them, since they had brought both the dog +and the baby. + +"Doesn't it seem as if you were a child again?" Kate asked me. "I am +sure this is just the same as the first circus I ever saw. It grows more +and more familiar, and it puzzles me to think they should not have +altered in the least while I have changed so much, and have even had +time to grow up. You don't know how it is making me remember other +things of which I have not thought for years. I was seven years old when +I went that first time. Uncle Jack invited me. I had a new parasol, and +he laughed because I would hold it over my shoulder when the sun was in +my face. He took me into the side-shows and bought me everything I asked +for, on the way home, and we did not get home until twilight. The rest +of the family had dined at four o'clock and gone out for a long drive, +and it was such fun to have our dinner by ourselves. I sat at the head +of the table in mamma's place, and when Bridget came down and insisted +that I must go to bed, Uncle Jack came softly up stairs and sat by the +window, smoking and telling me stories. He ran and hid in the closet +when we heard mamma coming up, and when she found him out by the +cigar-smoke, and made believe scold him, I thought she was in earnest, +and begged him off. Yes; and I remember that Bridget sat in the next +room, making her new dress so she could wear it to church next day. I +thought it was a beautiful dress, and besought mamma to have one like +it. It was bright green with yellow spots all over it," said Kate. "Ah, +poor Uncle Jack! he was so good to me! We were always telling stories of +what we would do when I was grown up. He died in Canton the next year, +and I cried myself ill; but for a long time I thought he might not be +dead, after all, and might come home any day. He used to seem so old to +me, and he really was just out of college and not so old as I am now. +That day at the circus he had a pink rosebud in his buttonhole, and--ah! +when have I ever thought of this before!--a woman sat before us who had +a stiff little cape on her bonnet like a shelf, and I carefully put +peanuts round the edge of it, and when she moved her head they would +fall. I thought it was the best fun in the world, and I wished Uncle +Jack to ride the donkey; I was sure he could keep on, because his horse +had capered about with him one day on Beacon Street, and I thought him a +perfect rider, since nothing had happened to him then." + +"I remember," said Mrs. Kew, presently, "that just before I was married +'he' took me over to Wareham Corners to a caravan. My sister Hannah and +the young man who was keeping company with her went too. I haven't been +to one since till to-day, and it does carry me back same's it does you, +Miss Kate. It doesn't seem more than five years ago, and what would I +have thought if I had known 'he' and I were going to keep a lighthouse +and be contented there, what's more, and sometimes not get ashore for a +fortnight; settled, gray-headed old folks! We were gay enough in those +days. I know old Miss Sabrina Smith warned me that I'd better think +twice before I took up with Tom Kew, for he was a light-minded young +man. I speak o' that to him in the winter-time, when he sets reading the +almanac half asleep and I'm knitting, and the wind's a' howling and the +waves coming ashore on those rocks as if they wished they could put out +the light and blow down the lighthouse. We were reflected on a good deal +for going to that caravan; some of the old folks didn't think it was +improvin'--Well, I should think that man was a trying to break his +neck!" + +Coming out of the great tent was disagreeable enough, and we seemed to +have chosen the worst time, for the crowd pushed fiercely, though I +suppose nobody was in the least hurry, and we were all severely jammed, +while from somewhere underneath came the wails of a deserted dog. We had +not meant to see the side-shows, and went carelessly past two or three +tents; but when we came in sight of the picture of the Kentucky +giantess, we noticed that Mrs. Kew looked at it wistfully, and we +immediately asked if she cared anything about going to see the wonder, +whereupon she confessed that she never heard of such a thing as a +woman's weighing six hundred and fifty pounds, so we all three went in. +There were only two or three persons inside the tent, beside a little +boy who played the hand-organ. + +The Kentucky giantess sat in two chairs on a platform, and there was a +large cage of monkeys just beyond, toward which Kate and I went at once. +"Why, she isn't more than two thirds as big as the picture," said Mrs. +Kew, in a regretful whisper; "but I guess she's big enough; doesn't she +look discouraged, poor creatur'?" Kate and I felt ashamed of ourselves +for being there. No matter if she had consented to be carried round for +a show, it must have been horrible to be stared at and joked about day +after day; and we gravely looked at the monkeys, and in a few minutes +turned to see if Mrs. Kew were not ready to come away, when to our +surprise we saw that she was talking to the giantess with great +interest, and we went nearer. + +"I thought your face looked natural the minute I set foot inside the +door," said Mrs. Kew; "but you've--altered some since I saw you, and I +couldn't place you till I heard you speak. Why, you used to be spare; I +am amazed, Marilly! Where are your folks?" + +"I don't wonder you are surprised," said the giantess. "I was a good +ways from this when you knew me, wasn't I? But father he run through +with every cent he had before he died, and 'he' took to drink and it +killed him after a while, and then I begun to grow worse and worse, till +I couldn't do nothing to earn a dollar, and everybody was a coming to +see me, till at last I used to ask 'em ten cents apiece, and I scratched +along somehow till this man came round and heard of me, and he offered +me my keep and good pay to go along with him. He had another giantess +before me, but she had begun to fall away consider'ble, so he paid her +off and let her go. This other giantess was an awful expense to him, she +was such an eater; now I don't have no great of an appetite,"--this was +said plaintively,--"and he's raised my pay since I've been with him +because we did so well. I took up with his offer because I was nothing +but a drag and never will be. I'm as comfortable as I can be, but it's a +pretty hard business. My oldest boy is able to do for himself, but he's +married this last year, and his wife don't want me. I don't know's I +blame her either. It would be something like if I had a daughter now; +but there, I'm getting to like travelling first-rate; it gives anybody a +good deal to think of." + +"I was asking the folks about you when I was up home the early part of +the summer," said Mrs. Kew, "but all they knew was that you were living +out in New York State. Have you been living in Kentucky long? I saw it +on the picture outside." + +"No," said the giantess, "that was a picture the man bought cheap from +another show that broke up last year. It says six hundred and fifty +pounds, but I don't weigh more than four hundred. I haven't been weighed +for some time past. Between you and me I don't weigh so much as that, +but you mustn't mention it, for it would spoil my reputation, and might +hender my getting another engagement." And then the poor giantess lost +her professional look and tone as she said, "I believe I'd rather die +than grow any bigger. I do lose heart sometimes, and wish I was a smart +woman and could keep house. I'd be smarter than ever I was when I had +the chance; I tell you that! Is Tom along with you?" + +"No. I came with these young ladies, Miss Lancaster and Miss Denis, who +are stopping over to Deephaven for the summer." Kate and I turned as we +heard this introduction; we were standing close by, and I am proud to +say that I never saw Kate treat any one more politely than she did that +absurd, pitiful creature with the gilt crown and many bracelets. It was +not that she said much, but there was such an exquisite courtesy in her +manner, and an apparent unconsciousness of there being anything in the +least surprising or uncommon about the giantess. + +Just then a party of people came in, and Mrs. Kew said good by +reluctantly. "It has done me sights of good to see you," said our new +acquaintance; "I was feeling down-hearted just before you came in. I'm +pleased to see somebody that remembers me as I used to be." And they +shook hands in a way that meant a great deal, and when Kate and I said +good afternoon the giantess looked at us gratefully, and said, "I'm very +much obliged to you for coming in, young ladies." + +"Walk in! walk in!" the man was shouting as we came away. "Walk in and +see the wonder of the world, ladies and gentlemen,--the largest woman +ever seen in America,--the great Kentucky giantess!" + +"Wouldn't you have liked to stay longer?" Kate asked Mrs. Kew as we came +down the street. But she answered that it would be no satisfaction; the +people were coming in, and she would have no chance to talk. "I never +knew her very well; she is younger than I, and she used to go to meeting +where I did, but she lived five or six miles from our house. She's had a +hard time of it, according to her account," said Mrs. Kew. "She used to +be a dreadful flighty, high-tempered girl, but she's lost that now, I +can see by her eyes. I was running over in my mind to see if there was +anything I could do for her, but I don't know as there is. She said the +man who hired her was kind. I guess your treating her so polite did her +as much good as anything. She used to be real ambitious. I had it on my +tongue's end to ask her if she couldn't get a few days' leave and come +out to stop with me, but I thought just in time that she'd sink the dory +in a minute. There! seeing her has took away all the fun," said Mrs. Kew +ruefully; and we were all dismal for a while, but at last, after we were +fairly started for home, we began to be merry again. + +We passed the Craper family whom we had seen at the store in the +morning; the children looked as stupid as ever, but the father, I am +sorry to say, had been tempted to drink more whiskey than was good for +him. He had a bright flush on his cheeks, and he was flourishing his +whip, and hoarsely singing some meaningless tune. "Poor creature!" said +I, "I should think this day's pleasuring would kill him." "Now, wouldn't +you think so?" said Mrs. Kew, sympathizingly; "but the truth is, you +couldn't kill one of those Crapers if you pounded him in a mortar." + +We had a pleasant drive home, and we kept Mrs. Kew to supper, and +afterward went down to the shore to see her set sail for home. Mr. Kew +had come in some time before, and had been waiting for the moon to rise. +Mrs. Kew told us that she should have enough to think of for a year, she +had enjoyed the day so much; and we stood on the pebbles watching the +boat out of the harbor, and wishing ourselves on board, it was such a +beautiful evening. + + * * * * * + +We went to another show that summer, the memory of which will never +fade. It is somewhat impertinent to call it a show, and "public +entertainment" is equally inappropriate, though we certainly were +entertained. It had been raining for two or three days; the +Deephavenites spoke of it as "a spell of weather." Just after tea, one +Thursday evening, Kate and I went down to the post-office. When we +opened the great hall door, the salt air was delicious, but we found the +town apparently wet through and discouraged; and though it had almost +stopped raining just then, there was a Scotch mist, like a snow-storm +with the chill taken off, and the Chantrey elms dripped hurriedly, and +creaked occasionally in the east-wind. + +"There will not be a cap'n on the wharves for a week after this," said +I to Kate; "only think of the cases of rheumatism!" + +We stopped for a few minutes at the Carews', who were as much surprised +to see us as if we had been mermaids out of the sea, and begged us to +give ourselves something warm to drink, and to change our boots the +moment we got home. Then we went on to the post-office. Kate went in, +but stopped, as she came out with our letters, to read a written notice +securely fastened to the grocery door by four large carpet-tacks with +wide leathers round their necks. + +"Dear," said she, exultantly, "there's going to be a lecture to-night in +the church,--a free lecture on the Elements of True Manhood. Wouldn't +you like to go?" And we went. + +We were fifteen minutes later than the time appointed, and were sorry to +find that the audience was almost imperceptible. The dampness had +affected the antiquated lamps so that those on the walls and on the +front of the gallery were the dimmest lights I ever saw, and sent their +feeble rays through a small space the edges of which were clearly +defined. There were two rather more energetic lights on the table near +the pulpit, where the lecturer sat, and as we were in the rear of the +church, we could see the yellow fog between ourselves and him. There +were fourteen persons in the audience, and we were all huddled together +in a cowardly way in the pews nearest the door: three old men, four +women, and four children, besides ourselves and the sexton, a deaf +little old man with a wooden leg. + +The children whispered noisily, and soon, to our surprise, the lecturer +rose and began. He bowed, and treated us with beautiful deference, and +read his dreary lecture with enthusiasm. I wish I could say, for his +sake, that it was interesting; but I cannot tell a lie, and it was so +long! He went on and on, until it seemed as if I had been there ever +since I was a little girl. Kate and I did not dare to look at each +other, and in my desperation at feeling her quiver with laughter, I +moved to the other end of the pew, knocking over a big hymn-book on the +way, which attracted so much attention that I have seldom felt more +embarrassed in my life. Kate's great dog rose several times to shake +himself and yawn loudly, and then lie down again despairingly. + +You would have thought the man was addressing an enthusiastic Young +Men's Christian Association. He exhorted with fervor upon our duties as +citizens and as voters, and told us a great deal about George Washington +and Benjamin Franklin, whom he urged us to choose as our examples. He +waited for applause after each of his outbursts of eloquence, and +presently went on again, in no wise disconcerted at the silence, and as +if he were sure that he would fetch us next time. The rain began to fall +again heavily, and the wind wailed around the meeting-house. If the +lecture had been upon any other subject it would not have been so hard +for Kate and me to keep sober faces; but it was directed entirely toward +young men, and there was not a young man there. + +The children in front of us mildly scuffled with each other at one time, +until the one at the end of the pew dropped a marble, which struck the +floor and rolled with a frightful noise down the edge of the aisle where +there was no carpet. The congregation instinctively started up to look +after it, but we recollected ourselves and leaned back again in our +places, while the awed children, after keeping unnaturally quiet, fell +asleep, and tumbled against each other helplessly. After a time the man +sat down and wiped his forehead, looking well satisfied; and when we +were wondering whether we might with propriety come away, he rose again, +and said it was a free lecture, and he thanked us for our kind patronage +on that inclement night; but in other places which he had visited there +had been a contribution taken up for the cause. It would, perhaps, do no +harm,--would the sexton--But the sexton could not have heard the sound +of a cannon at that distance, and slumbered on. Neither Kate nor I had +any money, except a twenty-dollar bill in my purse, and some coppers in +the pocket of her water-proof cloak which she assured me she was +prepared to give; but we saw no signs of the sexton's waking, and as one +of the women kindly went forward to wake the children, we all rose and +came away. + +After we had made as much fun and laughed as long as we pleased that +night, we became suddenly conscious of the pitiful side of it all; and +being anxious that every one should have the highest opinion of +Deephaven, we sent Tom Dockum early in the morning with an anonymous +note to the lecturer, whom he found without much trouble; but afterward +we were disturbed at hearing that he was going to repeat his lecture +that evening,--the wind having gone round to the northwest,--and I have +no doubt there were a good many women able to be out, and that he +harvested enough ten-cent pieces to pay his expenses without our help; +though he had particularly told us it was for "the cause," the evening +before, and that ought to have been a consolation. + + + + +_Cunner-Fishing_ + + +One of the chief pleasures in Deephaven was our housekeeping. Going to +market was apt to use up a whole morning, especially if we went to the +fish-houses. We depended somewhat upon supplies from Boston, but +sometimes we used to chase a butcher who took a drive in his old +canvas-topped cart when he felt like it, and as for fish, there were +always enough to be caught, even if we could not buy any. Our +acquaintances would often ask if we had anything for dinner that day, +and would kindly suggest that somebody had been boiling lobsters, or +that a boat had just come in with some nice mackerel, or that somebody +over on the Ridge was calculating to kill a lamb, and we had better +speak for a quarter in good season. I am afraid we were looked upon as +being in danger of becoming epicures, which we certainly are not, and we +undoubtedly roused a great deal of interest because we used to eat +mushrooms, which grew in the suburbs of the town in wild luxuriance. + +One morning Maggie told us that there was nothing in the house for +dinner, and, taking an early start, we went at once down to the store to +ask if the butcher had been seen, but finding that he had gone out +deep-sea fishing for two days, and that when he came back he had planned +to kill a veal, we left word for a sufficient piece of the doomed animal +to be set apart for our family, and strolled down to the shore to see if +we could find some mackerel; but there was not a fisherman in sight, and +after going to all the fish-houses we concluded that we had better +provide for ourselves. We had not brought our own lines, but we knew +where Danny kept his, and after finding a basket of suitable size, and +taking some clams from Danny's bait-tub, we went over to the hull of an +old schooner which was going to pieces alongside one of the ruined +wharves. We looked down the hatchway into the hold, and could see the +flounders and sculpin swimming about lazily, and once in a while a +little pollock scooted down among them impertinently and then +disappeared. "There is that same big flounder that we saw day before +yesterday," said I. "I know him because one of his fins is half gone. I +don't believe he can get out, for the hole in the side of the schooner +isn't very wide, and it is higher up than flounders ever swim. Perhaps +he came in when he was young, and was too lazy to go out until he was so +large he couldn't. Flounders always look so lazy, and as if they thought +a great deal of themselves." + +"I hope they will think enough of themselves to keep away from my hook +this morning," said Kate, philosophically, "and the sculpin too. I am +going to fish for cunners alone, and keep my line short." And she +perched herself on the quarter, baited her hook carefully, and threw it +over, with a clam-shell to call attention. I went to the rail at the +side, and we were presently much encouraged by pulling up two small +cunners, and felt that our prospects for dinner were excellent. Then I +unhappily caught so large a sculpin that it was like pulling up an open +umbrella, and after I had thrown him into the hold to keep company with +the flounder, our usual good luck seemed to desert us. It was one of the +days when, in spite of twitching the line and using all the tricks we +could think of, the cunners would either eat our bait or keep away +altogether. Kate at last said we must starve unless we could catch the +big flounder, and asked me to drop my hook down the hatchway; but it +seemed almost too bad to destroy his innocent happiness. Just then we +heard the noise of oars, and to our delight saw Cap'n Sands in his dory +just beyond the next wharf. "Any luck?" said he. "S'pose ye don't care +anything about going out this morning?" + +"We are not amusing ourselves; we are trying to catch some fish for +dinner," said Kate. "Could you wait out by the red buoy while we get a +few more, and then should you be back by noon, or are you going for a +longer voyage, Captain Sands?" + +"I was going out to Black Rock for cunners myself," said the cap'n. "I +should be pleased to take ye, if ye'd like to go." So we wound up our +lines, and took our basket and clams and went round to meet the boat. I +felt like rowing, and took the oars while Kate was mending her sinker +and the cap'n was busy with a snarled line. + +"It's pretty hot," said he, presently, "but I see a breeze coming in, +and the clouds seem to be thickening; I guess we shall have it cooler +'long towards noon. It looked last night as if we were going to have +foul weather, but the scud seemed to blow off, and it was as pretty a +morning as ever I see. 'A growing moon chaws up the clouds,' my +gran'ther used to say. He was as knowing about the weather as anybody I +ever come across; 'most always hit it just about right. Some folks lay +all the weather to the moon, accordin' to where she quarters, and when +she's in perigee we're going to have this kind of weather, and when +she's in apogee she's got to do so and so for sartain; but gran'ther he +used to laugh at all them things. He said it never made no kind of +difference, and he went by the looks of the clouds and the feel of the +air, and he thought folks couldn't make no kind of rules that held good, +that had to do with the moon. Well, he did use to depend on the moon +some; everybody knows we aren't so likely to have foul weather in a +growing moon as we be when she's waning. But some folks I could name, +they can't do nothing without having the moon's opinion on it. When I +went my second voyage afore the mast we was in port ten days at Cadiz, +and the ship she needed salting dreadful. The mate kept telling the +captain how low the salt was in her, and we was going a long voyage from +there, but no, he wouldn't have her salted nohow, because it was the +wane of the moon. He was an amazing set kind of man, the cap'n was, and +would have his own way on sea or shore. The mate was his own brother, +and they used to fight like a cat and dog; they owned most of the ship +between 'em. I was slushing the mizzen-mast, and heard 'em a disputin' +about the salt. The cap'n was a first-rate seaman and died rich, but he +was dreadful notional. I know one time we were a lyin' out in the stream +all ready to weigh anchor, and everything was in trim, the men were up +in the rigging and a fresh breeze going out, just what we'd been waiting +for, and the word was passed to take in sail and make everything fast. +The men swore, and everybody said the cap'n had had some kind of a +warning. But that night it began to blow, and I tell you afore morning +we were glad enough we were in harbor. The old Victor she dragged her +anchor, and the fore-to'gallant sail and r'yal got loose somehow and was +blown out of the bolt-ropes. Most of the canvas and rigging was old, but +we had first-rate weather after that, and didn't bend near all the new +sail we had aboard, though the cap'n was most afraid we'd come short +when we left Boston. That was 'most sixty year ago," said the captain, +reflectively. "How time does slip away! You young folks haven't any +idea. She was a first-rate ship, the old Victor was, though I suppose +she wouldn't cut much of a dash now 'longside of some of the new +clippers. + +"There used to be some strange-looking crafts in those days; there was +the old brig Hannah. They used to say she would sail backwards as fast +as forwards, and she was so square in the bows, they used to call her +the sugar-box. She was master old, the Hannah was, and there wasn't a +port from here to New Orleans where she wasn't known; she used to carry +a master cargo for her size, more than some ships that ranked two +hundred and fifty ton, and she was put down for two hundred. She used to +make good voyages, the Hannah did, and then there was the Pactolus; she +was just about such another,--you would have laughed to see her. She +sailed out of this port for a good many years. Cap'n Wall he told me +that if he had her before the wind with a cargo of cotton, she would +make a middling good run, but load her deep with salt, and you might as +well try to sail a stick of oak timber with a handkerchief. She was a +stout-built ship: I shouldn't wonder if her timbers were afloat +somewhere yet; she was sold to some parties out in San Francisco. There! +everything's changed from what it was when I used to follow the sea. I +wonder sometimes if the sailors have as queer works aboard ship as they +used. Bless ye! Deephaven used to be a different place to what it is +now; there was hardly a day in the year that you didn't hear the +shipwrights' hammers, and there was always something going on at the +wharves. You would see the folks from up country comin' in with their +loads of oak knees and plank, and logs o' rock-maple for keels when +there was snow on the ground in winter-time, and the big sticks of +timber-pine for masts would come crawling along the road with their +three and four yoke of oxen all frosted up, the sleds creaking and the +snow growling and the men flapping their arms to keep warm, and +hallooing as if there wan't nothin' else goin' on in the world except to +get them masts to the ship-yard. Bless ye! two o' them teams together +would stretch from here 'most up to the Widow Jim's place,--no such +timber-pines nowadays." + +"I suppose the sailors are very jolly together sometimes," said Kate, +meditatively, with the least flicker of a smile at me. The captain did +not answer for a minute, as he was battling with an obstinate snarl in +his line; but when he had found the right loop he said, "I've had the +best times and the hardest times of my life at sea, that's certain! I +was just thinking it over when you spoke. I'll tell you some stories one +day or 'nother that'll please you. Land! you've no idea what tricks some +of those wild fellows will be up to. Now, saying they fetch home a cargo +of wines and they want a drink; they've got a trick so they can get it. +Saying it's champagne, they'll fetch up a basket, and how do you suppose +they'll get into it?" + +Of course we didn't know. + +"Well, every basket will be counted, and they're fastened up particular, +so they can tell in a minute if they've been tampered with; and neither +must you draw the corks if you could get the basket open. I suppose ye +may have seen champagne, how it's all wired and waxed. Now, they take a +clean tub, them fellows do, and just shake the basket and jounce it up +and down till they break the bottles and let the wine drain out; then +they take it down in the hold and put it back with the rest, and when +the cargo is delivered there's only one or two whole bottles in that +basket, and there's a dreadful fuss about its being stowed so foolish." +The captain told this with an air of great satisfaction, but we did not +show the least suspicion that he might have assisted at some such +festivity. + +"Then they have a way of breaking into a cask. It won't do to start the +bung, and it won't do to bore a hole where it can be seen, but they're +up to that: they slip back one of the end hoops and bore two holes +underneath it, one for the air to go in and one for the liquor to come +out, and after they get all out they want they put in some spigots and +cut them down close to the stave, knock back the hoop again, and there +ye are, all trig." + +"I never should have thought of it," said Kate, admiringly. + +"There isn't nothing," Cap'n Sands went on, "that'll hender some masters +from cheating the owners a little. Get them off in a foreign port, and +there's nobody to watch, and they most of them have a feeling that they +ain't getting full pay, and they'll charge things to the ship that she +never seen nor heard of. There were two shipmasters that sailed out of +Salem. I heard one of 'em tell the story. They had both come into port +from Liverpool nigh the same time, and one of 'em, he was dressed up in +a handsome suit of clothes, and the other looked kind of poverty-struck. +'Where did you get them clothes?' says he. 'Why, to Liverpool,' says the +other; 'you don't mean to say you come away without none, cheap as cloth +was there?' 'Why, yes,' says the other cap'n,--'I can't afford to wear +such clothes as those be, and I don't see how you can, either.' 'Charge +'em to the ship, bless ye; the owners expect it.' + +"So the next v'y'ge the poor cap'n he had a nice rig for himself made to +the best tailor's in Bristol, and charged it, say ten pounds, in the +ship's account; and when he came home the ship's husband he was looking +over the papers, and 'What's this?' says he, 'how come the ship to run +up a tailor's bill?' 'Why, them's mine,' says the cap'n, very meaching. +'I understood that there wouldn't be no objection made.' 'Well, you made +a mistake,' says the other, laughing; 'guess I'd better scratch this +out.' And it wasn't long before the cap'n met the one who had put him up +to doing it, and he give him a blowing up for getting him into such a +fix. 'Land sakes alive!' says he, 'were you fool enough to set it down +in the account? Why, I put mine in, so many bolts of Russia duck.'" + +Captain Sands seemed to enjoy this reminiscence, and to our +satisfaction, in a few minutes, after he had offered to take the oars, +he went on to tell us another story. + +"Why, as for cheating, there's plenty of that all over the world. The +first v'y'ge I went into Havana as master of the Deerhound, she had +never been in the port before and had to be measured and recorded, and +then pay her tonnage duties every time she went into port there +afterward, according to what she was registered on the custom-house +books. The inspector he come aboard, and he went below and looked round, +and he measured her between decks; but he never offered to set down any +figgers, and when we came back into the cabin, says he, 'Yes--yes--good +ship! you put one bloon front of this eye, _so!_' says he, 'an' I not +see with him; and you put one more doubloon front of other eye, and how +you think I see at all what figger you write?' So I took his book and I +set down her measurements and made her out twenty ton short, and he took +his doubloons and shoved 'em into his pocket. There, it isn't what you +call straight dealing, but everybody done it that dared, and you'd eat +up all the profits of a v'y'ge and the owners would just as soon you'd +try a little up-country air, if you paid all those dues according to +law. Tonnage was dreadful high and wharfage too, in some ports, and +they'd get your last cent some way or 'nother if ye weren't sharp. + +"Old Cap'n Carew, uncle to them ye see to meeting, did a smart thing in +the time of the embargo. Folks got tired of it, and it was dreadful hard +times; ships rotting at the wharves, and Deephaven never was quite the +same afterward, though the old place held out for a good while before +she let go as ye see her now. You'd 'a' had a hard grip on't when I was +a young man to make me believe it would ever be so dull here. Well, +Cap'n Carew he bought an old brig that was lying over by East Parish, +and he began fitting her up and loading her for the West Indies, and the +farmers they'd come in there by night from all round the country, to +sell salt-fish and lumber and potatoes, and glad enough they were, I +tell ye. The rigging was put in order, and it wasn't long before she was +ready to sail, and it was all kept mighty quiet. She lay up to an old +wharf in a cove where she wouldn't be much noticed, and they took care +not to paint her any or to attract any attention. + +"One day Cap'n Carew was over in Riverport dining out with some +gentlemen, and the revenue officer sat next to him, and by and by says +he, 'Why won't ye take a ride with me this afternoon? I've had warning +that there's a brig loading for the West Indies over beyond Deephaven +somewheres, and I'm going over to seize her.' And he laughed to himself +as if he expected fun, and something in his pocket beside. Well, the +first minute that Cap'n Carew dared, after dinner, he slipped out, and +he hired the swiftest horse in Riverport and rode for dear life, and +told the folks who were in the secret, and some who weren't, what was +the matter, and every soul turned to and helped finish loading her and +getting the rigging ready and the water aboard; but just as they were +leaving the cove--the wind was blowing just right--along came the +revenue officer with two or three men, and they come off in a boat and +boarded her as important as could be. + +"'Won't ye step into the cabin, gentlemen, and take a glass o' wine?' +says Cap'n Carew, very polite; and the wind came in fresher,--something +like a squall for a few minutes,--and the men had the sails spread +before you could say Jack Robi'son, and before those fellows knew what +they were about the old brig was a standing out to sea, and the folks on +the wharves cheered and yelled. The Cap'n gave the officers a good scare +and offered 'em a free passage to the West Indies, and finally they said +they wouldn't report at headquarters if he'd let 'em go ashore; so he +told the sailors to lower their boat about two miles off Deephaven, and +they pulled ashore meek enough. Cap'n Carew had a first-rate run, and +made a lot of money, so I have heard it said. Bless ye! every shipmaster +would have done just the same if he had dared, and everybody was glad +when they heard about it. Dreadful foolish piece of business that +embargo was! + +"Now I declare," said Captain Sands, after he had finished this +narrative, "here I'm a telling stories and you're doin' all the work. +You'll pull a boat ahead of anybody, if you keep on. Tom Kew was +a-praisin' up both of you to me the other day: says he, 'They don't put +on no airs, but I tell ye they can pull a boat well, and swim like +fish,' says he. There now, if you'll give me the oars I'll put the dory +just where I want her, and you can be getting your lines ready. I know a +place here where it's always toler'ble fishing, and I guess we'll get +something." + +Kate and I cracked our clams on the gunwale of the boat, and cut them +into nice little bits for bait with a piece of the shell, and by the +time the captain had thrown out the killick we were ready to begin, and +found the fishing much more exciting than it had been at the wharf. + +"I don't know as I ever see 'em bite faster," said the old sailor, +presently; "guess it's because they like the folks that's fishing. Well, +I'm pleased. I thought I'd let 'Bijah take some along to Denby in the +cart to-morrow if I got more than I could use at home. I didn't +calc'late on having such a lively crew aboard. I s'pose ye wouldn't care +about going out a little further by and by to see if we can't get two or +three haddock?" And we answered that we should like nothing better. + +It was growing cloudy, and was much cooler,--the perfection of a day for +fishing,--and we sat there diligently pulling in cunners, and talking a +little once in a while. The tide was nearly out, and Black Rock looked +almost large enough to be called an island. The sea was smooth and the +low waves broke lazily among the seaweed-covered ledges, while our boat +swayed about on the water, lifting and falling gently as the waves went +in shore. We were not a very long way from the lighthouse, and once we +could see Mrs. Kew's big white apron as she stood in the doorway for a +few minutes. There was no noise except the plash of the low-tide waves +and the occasional flutter of a fish in the bottom of the dory. Kate and +I always killed our fish at once by a rap on the head, for it certainly +saved the poor creatures much discomfort, and ourselves as well, and it +made it easier to take them off the hook than if they were flopping +about and making us aware of our cruelty. + +Suddenly the captain wound up his line and said he thought we'd better +be going in, and Kate and I looked at him with surprise. "It is only +half past ten," said I, looking at my watch. "Don't hurry in on our +account," added Kate, persuasively, for we were having a very good time. + +"I guess we won't mind about the haddock. I've got a feelin' we'd better +go ashore." And he looked up into the sky and turned to see the west. "I +knew there was something the matter; there's going to be a shower." And +we looked behind us to see a bank of heavy clouds coming over fast. "I +wish we had two pair of oars," said Captain Sands. "I'm afraid we shall +get caught." + +"You needn't mind us," said Kate. "We aren't in the least afraid of our +clothes, and we don't get cold when we're wet; we have made sure of +that." + +"Well, I'm glad to hear that," said the cap'n. "Women-folks are apt to +be dreadful scared of a wetting; but I'd just as lief not get wet +myself. I had a twinge of rheumatism yesterday. I guess we'll get +ashore fast enough. No. I feel well enough to-day, but you can row if +you want to, and I'll take the oars the last part of the way." + +When we reached the moorings the clouds were black, and the thunder +rattled and boomed over the sea, while heavy spatters of rain were +already falling. We did not go to the wharves, but stopped down the +shore at the fish-houses, the nearer place of shelter. "You just select +some of those cunners," said the captain, who was beginning to be a +little out of breath, "and then you can run right up and get under +cover, and I'll put a bit of old sail over the rest of the fish to keep +the fresh water off." By the time the boat touched the shore and we had +pulled it up on the pebbles, the rain had begun in good earnest. Luckily +there was a barrow lying near, and we loaded that in a hurry, and just +then the captain caught sight of a well-known red shirt in an open door, +and shouted, "Halloa, Danny! lend us a hand with these fish, for we're +nigh on to being shipwrecked." And then we ran up to the fish-house and +waited awhile, though we stood in the doorway watching the lightning, +and there were so many leaks in the roof that we might almost as well +have been out of doors. It was one of Danny's quietest days, and he +silently beheaded hake, only winking at us once very gravely at +something our other companion said. + +"There!" said Captain Sands, "folks may say what they have a mind to; I +didn't see that shower coming up, and I know as well as I want to that +my wife did, and impressed it on my mind. Our house sets high, and she +watches the sky and is al'ays a worrying when I go out fishing for fear +something's going to happen to me,' specially sence I've got to be along +in years." + +This was just what Kate and I wished to hear, for we had been told that +Captain Sands had most decided opinions on dreams and other mysteries, +and could tell some stories which were considered incredible by even a +Deephaven audience, to whom the marvellous was of every-day occurrence. + +"Then it has happened before?" asked Kate. "I wondered why you started +so suddenly to come in." + +"Happened!" said the captain. "Bless ye, yes! I'll tell you my views +about these p'ints one o' those days. I've thought a good deal about +'em by spells. Not that I can explain 'em, nor anybody else, but it's no +use to laugh at 'em as some folks do. Cap'n Lant--you know Cap'n +Lant?--he and I have talked it over consider'ble, and he says to me, +'Everybody's got some story of the kind they will believe in spite of +everything, and yet they won't believe yourn.'" + +The shower seemed to be over now, and we felt compelled to go home, as +the captain did not go on with his remarks. I hope he did not see +Danny's wink. Skipper Scudder, who was Danny's friend and partner, came +up just then and asked us if we knew what the sign was when the sun came +out through the rain. I said that I had always heard it would rain again +next day. "O no," said Skipper Scudder, "the Devil is whipping his +wife." + +After dinner Kate and I went for a walk through some pine woods which +were beautiful after the rain; the mosses and lichens which had been +dried up were all freshened and blooming out in the dampness. The smell +of the wet pitch-pines was unusually sweet, and we wandered about for an +hour or two there, to find some ferns we wanted, and then walked over +toward East Parish, and home by the long beach late in the afternoon. We +came as far as the boat-landing, meaning to go home through the lane, +but to our delight we saw Captain Sands sitting alone on an old +overturned whaleboat, whittling busily at a piece of dried kelp. "Good +evenin'," said our friend, cheerfully. And we explained that we had +taken a long walk and thought we would rest awhile before we went home +to supper. Kate perched herself on the boat, and I sat down on a ship's +knee which lay on the pebbles. + +"Didn't get any hurt from being out in the shower, I hope?" + +"No, indeed," laughed Kate, "and we had such a good time. I hope you +won't mind taking us out again some time." + +"Bless ye! no," said the captain. "My girl Lo'isa, she that's Mis +Winslow over to Riverport, used to go out with me a good deal, and it +seemed natural to have you aboard. I missed Lo'isa after she got +married, for she was al'ays ready to go anywhere 'long of father. She's +had slim health of late years. I tell 'em she's been too much shut up +out of the fresh air and sun. When she was young her mother never could +pr'vail on her to set in the house stiddy and sew, and she used to have +great misgivin's that Lo'isa never was going to be capable. How about +those fish you caught this morning? good, were they? Mis Sands had +dinner on the stocks when I got home, and she said she wouldn't fry any +'til supper-time; but I calc'lated to have 'em this noon. I like 'em +best right out o' the water. Little more and we should have got them +wet. That's one of my whims; I can't bear to let fish get rained on." + +"O Captain Sands!" said I, there being a convenient pause, "you were +speaking of your wife just now; did you ask her if she saw the shower?" + +"First thing she spoke of when I got into the house. 'There,' says she, +'I was afraid you wouldn't see the rain coming in time, and I had my +heart in my mouth when it began to thunder. I thought you'd get soaked +through, and be laid up for a fortnight,' says she. 'I guess a summer +shower won't hurt an old sailor like me,' says I." And the captain +reached for another piece of his kelp-stalk, and whittled away more +busily than ever. Kate took out her knife and also began to cut kelp, +and I threw pebbles in the hope of hitting a spider which sat +complacently on a stone not far away, and when he suddenly vanished +there was nothing for me to do but to whittle kelp also. + +"Do you suppose," said Kate, "that Mrs. Sands really made you know about +that shower?" + +The captain put on his most serious look, coughed slowly, and moved +himself a few inches nearer us, along the boat. I think he fully +understood the importance and solemnity of the subject. "It ain't for us +to say what we do know or don't, for there's nothing sartain, but I made +up my mind long ago that there's something about these p'ints that's +myster'ous. My wife and me will be sitting there to home and there won't +be no word between us for an hour, and then of a sudden we'll speak up +about the same thing. Now the way I view it, she either puts it into my +head or I into hers. I've spoke up lots of times about something, when I +didn't know what I was going to say when I began, and she'll say she was +just thinking of that. Like as not you have noticed it sometimes? There +was something my mind was dwellin' on yesterday, and she come right out +with it, and I'd a good deal rather she hadn't," said the captain, +ruefully. "I didn't want to rake it all over ag'in, I'm sure." And then +he recollected himself, and was silent, which his audience must confess +to have regretted for a moment. + +"I used to think a good deal about such things when I was younger, and +I'm free to say I took more stock in dreams and such like than I do now. +I rec'lect old Parson Lorimer--this Parson Lorimer's father who was +settled here first--spoke to me once about it, and said it was a +tempting of Providence, and that we hadn't no right to pry into secrets. +I know I had a dream-book then that I picked up in a shop in Bristol +once when I was there on the Ranger, and all the young folks were beset +to get sight of it. I see what fools it made of folks, bothering their +heads about such things, and I pretty much let them go: all this stuff +about spirit-rappings is enough to make a man crazy. You don't get no +good by it. I come across a paper once with a lot of letters in it from +sperits, and I cast my eye over 'em, and I says to myself, 'Well, I +always was given to understand that when we come to a futur' state we +was goin' to have more wisdom than we can get afore'; but them letters +hadn't any more sense to 'em, nor so much, as a man could write here +without schooling, and I should think that if the letters be all +straight, if the folks who wrote 'em had any kind of ambition they'd +want to be movin' back here again. But as for one person's having +something to do with another any distance off, why, that's another +thing; there ain't any nonsense about that. I know it's true jest as +well as I want to," said the cap'n, warming up. "I'll tell ye how I was +led to make up my mind about it. One time I waked a man up out of a +sound sleep looking at him, and it set me to thinking. First, there +wasn't any noise, and then ag'in there wasn't any touch so he could feel +it, and I says to myself, 'Why couldn't I ha' done it the width of two +rooms as well as one, and why couldn't I ha' done it with my back +turned?' It couldn't have been the looking so much as the thinking. And +then I car'd it further, and I says, 'Why ain't a mile as good as a +yard? and it's the thinking that does it,' says I, 'and we've got some +faculty or other that we don't know much about. We've got some way of +sending our thought like a bullet goes out of a gun and it hits. We +don't know nothing except what we see. And some folks is scared, and +some more thinks it is all nonsense and laughs. But there's something we +haven't got the hang of.' It makes me think o' them little black +polliwogs that turns into frogs in the fresh-water puddles in the ma'sh. +There's a time before their tails drop off and their legs have sprouted +out, when they don't get any use o' their legs, and I dare say they're +in their way consider'ble; but after they get to be frogs they find out +what they're for without no kind of trouble. I guess we shall turn these +fac'lties to account some time or 'nother. Seems to me, though, that we +might depend on 'em now more than we do." + +The captain was under full sail on what we had heard was his pet +subject, and it was a great satisfaction to listen to what he had to +say. It loses a great deal in being written, for the old sailor's voice +and gestures and thorough earnestness all carried no little persuasion. +And it was impossible not to be sure that he knew more than people +usually do about these mysteries in which he delighted. + +"Now, how can you account for this?" said he. "I remember not more than +ten years ago my son's wife was stopping at our house, and she had left +her child at home while she come away for a rest. And after she had been +there two or three days, one morning she was sitting in the kitchen +'long o' the folks, and all of a sudden she jumped out of her chair and +ran into the bedroom, and next minute she come out laughing, and looking +kind of scared. 'I could ha' taken my oath,' says she,'that I heard Katy +cryin' out mother,' says she, 'just as if she was hurt. I heard it so +plain that before I stopped to think it seemed as if she were right in +the next room. I'm afeard something has happened.' But the folks +laughed, and said she must ha' heard one of the lambs. 'No, it wasn't,' +says she, 'it was Katy.' And sure enough, just after dinner a young man +who lived neighbor to her come riding into the yard post-haste to get +her to go home, for the baby had pulled some hot water over on to +herself and was nigh scalded to death and cryin' for her mother every +minute. Now, who's going to explain that? It wasn't any common hearing +that heard that child's cryin' fifteen miles. And I can tell you another +thing that happened among my own folks. There was an own cousin of mine +married to a man by the name of John Hathorn. He was trading up to +Parsonsfield, and business run down, so he wound up there, and thought +he'd make a new start. He moved down to Denby, and while he was getting +under way, he left his family up to the old place, and at the time I +speak of, was going to move 'em down in about a fortnight. + +"One morning his wife was fidgeting round, and finally she came down +stairs with her bonnet and shawl on, and said somebody must put the +horse right into the wagon and take her down to Denby. 'Why, what for, +mother?' they says. 'Don't stop to talk,' says she; 'your father is +sick, and wants me. It's been a worrying me since before day, and I +can't stand it no longer.' And the short of the story is that she kept +hurrying 'em faster and faster, and then she got hold of the reins +herself, and when they got within five miles of the place the horse fell +dead, and she was nigh about crazy, and they took another horse at a +farm-house on the road. It was the spring of the year, and the going was +dreadful, and when they got to the house John Hathorn had just died, and +he had been calling for his wife up to 'most the last breath he drew. He +had been taken sick sudden the day before, but the folks knew it was bad +travelling, and that she was a feeble woman to come near thirty miles, +and they had no idee he was so bad off. I'm telling you the living +truth," said Captain Sands, with an emphatic shake of his head. "There's +more folks than me can tell about it, and if you were goin' to keel-haul +me next minute, and hang me to the yard-arm afterward, I couldn't say it +different. I was up to Parsonsfield to the funeral; it was just after I +quit following the sea. I never saw a woman so broke down as she was. +John was a nice man; stiddy and pleasant-spoken and straightforrard and +kind to his folks. He belonged to the Odd Fellows, and they all marched +to the funeral. There was a good deal of respect shown him, I tell ye. + +"There is another story I'd like to have ye hear, if it's so that you +ain't beat out hearing me talk. When I get going I slip along as easy as +a schooner wing-and-wing afore the wind. + +"This happened to my own father, but I never heard him say much about +it; never could get him to talk it over to any length, best I could do. +But gran'ther, his father, told me about it nigh upon fifty times, +first and last, and always the same way. Gran'ther lived to be old, and +there was ten or a dozen years after his wife died that he lived year +and year about with Uncle Tobias's folks and our folks. Uncle Tobias +lived over on the Ridge. I got home from my first v'y'ge as mate of the +Daylight just in time for his funeral. I was disapp'inted to find the +old man was gone. I'd fetched him some first-rate tobacco, for he was a +great hand to smoke, and I was calc'latin' on his being pleased: old +folks like to be thought of, and then he set more by me than by the +other boys. I know I used to be sorry for him when I was a little +fellow. My father's second wife she was a well-meaning woman, but an +awful driver with her work, and she was always making of him feel he +wasn't no use. I do' know as she meant to, either. He never said +nothing, and he was always just so pleasant, and he was fond of his +book, and used to set round reading, and tried to keep himself out of +the way just as much as he could. There was one winter when I was small +that I had the scarlet-fever, and was very slim for a long time +afterward, and I used to keep along o' gran'ther, and he would tell me +stories. He'd been a sailor,--it runs in our blood to foller the +sea,--and he'd been wrecked two or three times and been taken by the +Algerine pirates. You remind me to tell you some time about that; and I +wonder if you ever heard about old Citizen Leigh, that used to be about +here when I was a boy. He was taken by the Algerines once, same's +gran'ther, and they was dreadful f'erce just then, and they sent him +home to get the ransom money for the crew; but it was a monstrous price +they asked, and the owners wouldn't give it to him, and they s'posed +likely the men was dead by that time, any way. Old Citizen Leigh he went +crazy, and used to go about the streets with a bundle of papers in his +hands year in and year out. I've seen him a good many times. Gran'ther +used to tell me how he escaped. I'll remember it for ye some day if +you'll put me in mind. + +"I got to be mate when I was twenty, and I was as strong a fellow as you +could scare up, and darin'!--why, it makes my blood run cold when I +think of the reckless things I used to do. I was off at sea after I was +fifteen year old, and there wasn't anybody so glad to see me as +gran'ther when I came home. I expect he used to be lonesome after I +went off, but then his mind failed him quite a while before he died. +Father was clever to him, and he'd get him anything he spoke about; but +he wasn't a man to set round and talk, and he never took notice himself +when gran'ther was out of tobacco, so sometimes it would be a day or +two. I know better how he used to feel now that I'm getting to be along +in years myself, and likely to be some care to the folks before long. I +never could bear to see old folks neglected; nice old men and women who +have worked hard in their day and been useful and willin'. I've seen 'em +many a time when they couldn't help knowing that the folks would a +little rather they'd be in heaven, and a good respectable headstone put +up for 'em in the burying-ground. + +"Well, now, I'm sure I've forgot what I was going to tell you. O, yes; +about grandmother dreaming about father when he come home from sea. +Well, to go back to the first of it, gran'ther never was rugged; he had +ship-fever when he was a young man, and though he lived to be so old, he +never could work hard and never got forehanded; and Aunt Hannah Starbird +over at East Parish took my sister to fetch up, because she was named +for her, and Melinda and Tobias stayed at home with the old folks, and +my father went to live with an uncle over in Riverport, whom he was +named for. He was in the West India trade and was well-off, and he had +no children, so they expected he would do well by father. He was +dreadful high-tempered. I've heard say he had the worst temper that was +ever raised in Deephaven. + +"One day he set father to putting some cherries into a bar'l of rum, and +went off down to his wharf to see to the loading of a vessel, and afore +he come back father found he'd got hold of the wrong bar'l, and had +sp'ilt a bar'l of the best Holland gin; he tried to get the cherries +out, but that wasn't any use, and he was dreadful afraid of Uncle +Matthew, and he run away, and never was heard of from that time out. +They supposed he'd run away to sea, as he had a leaning that way, but +nobody ever knew for certain; and his mother she 'most mourned herself +to death. Gran'ther told me that it got so at last that if they could +only know for sure that he was dead it was all they would ask. But it +went on four years, and gran'ther got used to it some; though +grandmother never would give up. And one morning early, before day, she +waked him up, and says she, 'We're going to hear from Matthew. Get up +quick and go down to the store!' 'Nonsense,' says he. 'I've seen him,' +says grandmother, 'and he's coming home. He looks older, but just the +same other ways, and he's got long hair, like a horse's mane, all down +over his shoulders.' 'Well, let the dead rest,' says gran'ther; 'you've +thought about the boy till your head is turned.' 'I tell you I saw +Matthew himself,' says she, 'and I want you to go right down to see if +there isn't a letter.' And she kept at him till he saddled the horse, +and he got down to the store before it was opened in the morning, and he +had to wait round, and when the man came over to unlock it he was 'most +ashamed to tell what his errand was, for he had been so many times, and +everybody supposed the boy was dead. When he asked for a letter, the man +said there was none there, and asked if he was expecting any particular +one. He didn't get many letters, I s'pose; all his folks lived about +here, and people didn't write any to speak of in those days. Gran'ther +said he thought he wouldn't make such a fool of himself again, but he +didn't say anything, and he waited round awhile, talking to one and +another who came up, and by and by says the store-keeper, who was +reading a newspaper that had just come, 'Here's some news for you, +Sands, I do believe! There are three vessels come into Boston harbor +that have been out whaling and sealing in the South Seas for three or +four years, and your son Matthew's name is down on the list of the +crew.' 'I tell ye,' says gran'ther, 'I took that paper, and I got on my +horse and put for home, and your grandmother she hailed me, and she +said, "You've heard, haven't you?" before I told her a word.' + +"Gran'ther he got his breakfast and started right off for Boston, and +got there early the second day, and went right down on the wharves. +Somebody lent him a boat, and he went out to where there were two +sealers laying off riding at anchor, and he asked a sailor if Matthew +was aboard. 'Ay, ay,' says the sailor, 'he's down below.' And he sung +out for him, and when he come up out of the hold his hair was long, down +over his shoulders like a horse's mane, just as his mother saw it in the +dream. Gran'ther he didn't know what to say,--it scared him,--and he +asked how it happened; and father told how they'd been off sealing in +the South Seas, and he and another man had lived alone on an island for +months, and the whole crew had grown wild in their ways of living, being +off so long, and for one thing had gone without caps and let their hair +grow. The rest of the men had been ashore and got fixed up smart, but he +had been busy, and had put it off till that morning; he was just going +ashore then. Father was all struck up when he heard about the dream, and +said his mind had been dwellin' on his mother and going home, and he +come down to let her see him just as he was and she said it was the same +way he looked in the dream. He never would have his hair cut--father +wouldn't--and wore it in a queue. I remember seeing him with it when I +was a boy; but his second wife didn't like the looks of it, and she come +up behind him one day and cut it off with the scissors. He was terrible +worked up about it. I never see father so mad as he was that day. Now +this is just as true as the Bible," said Captain Sands. "I haven't put a +word to it, and gran'ther al'ays told a story just as it was. That woman +saw her son; but if you ask me what kind of eyesight it was, I can't +tell you, nor nobody else." + +Later that evening Kate and I drifted into a long talk about the +captain's stories and these mysterious powers of which we know so +little. It was somewhat chilly in the house, and we had kindled a fire +in the fireplace, which at first made a blaze which lighted the old room +royally, and then quieted down into red coals and lazy puffs of smoke. +We had carried the lights away, and sat with our feet on the fender, and +Kate's great dog was lying between us on the rug. I remember that +evening so well; we could see the stars through the window plainer and +plainer as the fire went down, and we could hear the noise of the sea. + +"Do you remember in the old myth of Demeter and Persephone," Kate asked +me, "where Demeter takes care of the child and gives it ambrosia and +hides it in fire, because she loves it and wishes to make it immortal, +and to give it eternal youth; and then the mother finds it out and cries +in terror to hinder her, and the goddess angrily throws the child down +and rushes away? And he had to share the common destiny of mankind, +though he always had some wonderful inscrutable grace and wisdom, +because a goddess had loved him and held him in her arms. I always +thought that part of the story beautiful where Demeter throws off her +disguise and is no longer an old woman, and the great house is filled +with brightness like lightning, and she rushes out through the halls +with her yellow hair waving over her shoulders, and the people would +give anything to bring her back again, and to undo their mistake. I knew +it almost all by heart once," said Kate, "and I am always finding a new +meaning in it. I was just thinking that it may be that we all have given +to us more or less of another nature, as the child had whom Demeter +wished to make like the gods. I believe old Captain Sands is right, and +we have these instincts which defy all our wisdom and for which we never +can frame any laws. We may laugh at them, but we are always meeting +them, and one cannot help knowing that it has been the same through all +history. They are powers which are imperfectly developed in this life, +but one cannot help the thought that the mystery of this world may be +the commonplace of the next." + +"I wonder," said I, "why it is that one hears so much more of such +things from simple country people. They believe in dreams, and they have +a kind of fetichism, and believe so heartily in supernatural causes. I +suppose nothing could shake Mrs. Patton's faith in warnings. There is no +end of absurdity in it, and yet there is one side of such lives for +which one cannot help having reverence; they live so much nearer to +nature than people who are in cities, and there is a soberness about +country people oftentimes that one cannot help noticing. I wonder if +they are unconsciously awed by the strength and purpose in the world +about them, and the mysterious creative power which is at work with them +on their familiar farms. In their simple life they take their instincts +for truths, and perhaps they are not always so far wrong as we imagine. +Because they are so instinctive and unreasoning they may have a more +complete sympathy with Nature, and may hear her voices when wiser ears +are deaf. They have much in common, after all, with the plants which +grow up out of the ground and the wild creatures which depend upon +their instincts wholly." + +"I think," said Kate, "that the more one lives out of doors the more +personality there seems to be in what we call inanimate things. The +strength of the hills and the voice of the waves are no longer only +grand poetical sentences, but an expression of something real, and more +and more one finds God himself in the world, and believes that we may +read the thoughts that He writes for us in the book of Nature." And +after this we were silent for a while, and in the mean time it grew very +late, and we watched the fire until there were only a few sparks left in +the ashes. The stars faded away and the moon came up out of the sea, and +we barred the great hall door and went up stairs to bed. The lighthouse +lamp burned steadily, and it was the only light that had not been blown +out in all Deephaven. + + + + +_Mrs. Bonny_ + + +I am sure that Kate Lancaster and I must have spent by far the greater +part of the summer out of doors. We often made long expeditions out into +the suburbs of Deephaven, sometimes being gone all day, and sometimes +taking a long afternoon stroll and coming home early in the evening +hungry as hunters and laden with treasure, whether we had been through +the pine woods inland or alongshore, whether we had met old friends or +made some desirable new acquaintances. We had a fashion of calling at +the farm-houses, and by the end of the season we knew as many people as +if we had lived in Deephaven all our days. We used to ask for a drink of +water; this was our unfailing introduction, and afterward there were +many interesting subjects which one could introduce, and we could always +give the latest news at the shore. It was amusing to see the curiosity +which we aroused. Many of the people came into Deephaven only on special +occasions, and I must confess that at first we were often naughty enough +to wait until we had been severely cross-questioned before we gave a +definite account of ourselves. Kate was very clever at making +unsatisfactory answers when she cared to do so. We did not understand, +for some time, with what a keen sense of enjoyment many of those people +made the acquaintance of an entirely new person who cordially gave the +full particulars about herself; but we soon learned to call this by +another name than impertinence. + +I think there were no points of interest in that region which we did not +visit with conscientious faithfulness. There were cliffs and +pebble-beaches, the long sands and the short sands; there were Black +Rock and Roaring Rock, High Point and East Point, and Spouting Rock; we +went to see where a ship had been driven ashore in the night, all hands +being lost and not a piece of her left larger than an axe-handle; we +visited the spot where a ship had come ashore in the fog, and had been +left high and dry on the edge of the marsh when the tide went out; we +saw where the brig Methuselah had been wrecked, and the shore had been +golden with her cargo of lemons and oranges, which one might carry away +by the wherryful. + +Inland there were not many noted localities, but we used to enjoy the +woods, and our explorations among the farms, immensely. To the westward +the land was better and the people well-to-do; but we went oftenest +toward the hills and among the poorer people. The land was uneven and +full of ledges, and the people worked hard for their living, at most +laying aside only a few dollars each year. Some of the more enterprising +young people went away to work in shops and factories; but the custom +was by no means universal, and the people had a hungry, discouraged +look. It is all very well to say that they knew nothing better, that it +was the only life of which they knew anything; there was too often a +look of disappointment in their faces, and sooner or later we heard or +guessed many stories: that this young man had wished for an education, +but there had been no money to spare for books or schooling; and that +one had meant to learn a trade, but there must be some one to help his +father with the farm-work, and there was no money to hire a man to work +in his place if he went away. The older people had a hard look, as if +they had always to be on the alert and must fight for their place in the +world. One could only forgive and pity their petty sharpness, which +showed itself in trifling bargains, when one understood how much a +single dollar seemed where dollars came so rarely. We used to pity the +young girls so much. It was plain that those who knew how much easier +and pleasanter our lives were could not help envying us. + +There was a high hill half a dozen miles from Deephaven which was known +in its region as "the mountain." It was the highest land anywhere near +us, and having been told that there was a fine view from the top, one +day we went there, with Tommy Dockum for escort. We overtook Mr. +Lorimer, the minister, on his way to make parochial calls upon some +members of his parish who lived far from church, and to our delight he +proposed to go with us instead. It was a great satisfaction to have him +for a guide, for he knew both the country and the people more intimately +than any one else. It was a long climb to the top of the hill, but not a +hard one. The sky was clear, and there was a fresh wind, though we had +left none at all at the sea-level. After lunch, Kate and I spread our +shawls over a fine cushion of mountain-cranberry, and had a long talk +with Mr. Lorimer about ancient and modern Deephaven. He always seemed as +much pleased with our enthusiasm for the town as if it had been a +personal favor and compliment to himself. I remember how far we could +see, that day, and how we looked toward the far-away blue mountains, and +then out over the ocean. Deephaven looked insignificant from that height +and distance, and indeed the country seemed to be mostly covered with +the pointed tops of pines and spruces, and there were long tracts of +maple and beech woods with their coloring of lighter, fresher green. + +"Suppose we go down, now," said Mr. Lorimer, long before Kate and I had +meant to propose such a thing; and our feeling was that of dismay. "I +should like to take you to make a call with me. Did you ever hear of old +Mrs. Bonny?" + +"No," said we, and cheerfully gathered our wraps and baskets; and when +Tommy finally came panting up the hill after we had begun to think that +our shoutings and whistling were useless, we sent him down to the +horses, and went down ourselves by another path. It led us a long +distance through a grove of young beeches; the last year's whitish +leaves lay thick on the ground, and the new leaves made so close a roof +overhead that the light was strangely purple, as if it had come through +a great church window of stained glass. After this we went through some +hemlock growth, where, on the lower branches, the pale green of the new +shoots and the dark green of the old made an exquisite contrast each to +the other. Finally we came out at Mrs. Bonny's. Mr. Lorimer had told us +something about her on the way down, saying in the first place that she +was one of the queerest characters he knew. Her husband used to be a +charcoal-burner and basket-maker, and she used to sell butter and +berries and eggs, and choke-pears preserved in molasses. She always came +down to Deephaven on a little black horse, with her goods in baskets and +bags which were fastened to the saddle in a mysterious way. She had the +reputation of not being a neat housekeeper, and none of the wise women +of the town would touch her butter especially, so it was always a joke +when she coaxed a new resident or a strange shipmaster into buying her +wares; but the old woman always managed to jog home without the freight +she had brought. "She must be very old, now," said Mr. Lorimer; "I have +not seen her in a long time. It cannot be possible that her horse is +still alive!" And we all laughed when we saw Mrs. Bonny's steed at a +little distance, for the shaggy old creature was covered with mud, +pine-needles, and dead leaves, with half the last year's burdock-burs in +all Deephaven snarled into his mane and tail and sprinkled over his fur, +which looked nearly as long as a buffalo's. He had hurt his leg, and his +kind mistress had tied it up with a piece of faded red calico and an end +of ragged rope. He gave us a civil neigh, and looked at us curiously. +Then an impertinent little yellow-and-white dog, with one ear standing +up straight and the other drooping over, began to bark with all his +might; but he retreated when he saw Kate's great dog, who was walking +solemnly by her side and did not deign to notice him. Just now Mrs. +Bonny appeared at the door of the house, shading her eyes with her hand, +to see who was coming. "Landy!" said she, "if it ain't old Parson +Lorimer! And who be these with ye?" + +"This is Miss Kate Lancaster of Boston, Miss Katharine Brandon's niece, +and her friend Miss Denis." + +"Pleased to see ye," said the old woman; "walk in and lay off your +things." And we followed her into the house. I wish you could have seen +her: she wore a man's coat, cut off so that it made an odd short jacket, +and a pair of men's boots much the worse for wear; also, some short +skirts, beside two or three aprons, the inner one being a dress-apron, +as she took off the outer ones and threw them into a corner; and on her +head was a tight cap, with strings to tie under her chin. I thought it +was a nightcap, and that she had forgotten to take it off, and dreaded +her mortification if she should suddenly become conscious of it; but I +need not have troubled myself, for while we were with her she pulled it +on and tied it tighter, as if she considered it ornamental. + +There were only two rooms in the house; we went into the kitchen, which +was occupied by a flock of hens and one turkey. The latter was evidently +undergoing a course of medical treatment behind the stove, and was +allowed to stay with us, while the hens were remorselessly hustled out +with a hemlock broom. They all congregated on the doorstep, apparently +wishing to hear everything that was said. + +"Ben up on the mountain?" asked our hostess. "Real sightly place. Goin' +to be a master lot o' rosbries; get any down to the shore sence I quit +comin'?" + +"O yes," said Mr. Lorimer, "but we miss seeing you." + +"I s'pose so," said Mrs. Bonny, smoothing her apron complacently; "but +I'm getting old, and I tell 'em I'm goin' to take my comfort; sence 'he' +died, I don't put myself out no great; I've got money enough to keep me +long's I live. Beckett's folks goes down often, and I sends by them for +what store stuff I want." + +"How are you now?" asked the minister; "I think I heard you were ill in +the spring." + +"Stirrin', I'm obliged to ye. I wasn't laid up long, and I was so's I +could get about most of the time. I've got the best bitters ye ever see, +good for the spring of the year. S'pose yer sister, Miss Lorimer, +wouldn't like some? she used to be weakly lookin'." But her brother +refused the offer, saying that she had not been so well for many years. + +"Do you often get out to church nowadays, Mrs. Bonny? I believe Mr. Reid +preaches in the school-house sometimes, down by the great ledge; doesn't +he?" + +"Well, yes, he does; but I don't know as I get much of any good. Parson +Reid, he's a worthy creatur', but he never seems to have nothin' to say +about foreordination and them p'ints. Old Parson Padelford was the man! +I used to set under his preachin' a good deal; I had an aunt living down +to East Parish. He'd get worked up, and he'd shut up the Bible and +preach the hair off your head, 'long at the end of the sermon. Couldn't +understand more nor a quarter part what he said," said Mrs. Bonny, +admiringly. "Well, we were a-speaking about the meeting over to the +ledge; I don't know's I like them people any to speak of. They had a +great revival over there in the fall, and one Sunday I thought's how I'd +go; and when I got there, who should be a-prayin' but old Ben Patey,--he +always lays out to get converted,--and he kep' it up diligent till I +couldn't stand it no longer; and by and by says he, 'I've been a +wanderer'; and I up and says, 'Yes, you have, I'll back ye up on that, +Ben; ye've wandered around my wood-lot and spoilt half the likely young +oaks and ashes I've got, a-stealing your basket-stuff.' And the folks +laughed out loud, and up he got and cleared. He's an awful old thief, +and he's no idea of being anything else. I wa'n't a-goin' to set there +and hear him makin' b'lieve to the Lord. If anybody's heart is in it, I +ain't a-goin' to hender 'em; I'm a professor, and I ain't ashamed of it, +week-days nor Sundays neither. I can't bear to see folks so pious to +meeting, and cheat yer eye-teeth out Monday morning. Well, there! we +ain't none of us perfect; even old Parson Moody was round-shouldered, +they say." + +"You were speaking of the Becketts just now," said Mr. Lorimer (after we +had stopped laughing, and Mrs. Bonny had settled her big steel-bowed +spectacles, and sat looking at him with an expression of extreme wisdom. +One might have ventured to call her "peart," I think). "How do they get +on? I am seldom in this region nowadays, since Mr. Reid has taken it +under his charge." + +"They get along, somehow or 'nother," replied Mrs. Bonny; "they've got +the best farm this side of the ledge, but they're dreadful lazy and +shiftless, them young folks. Old Mis' Hate-evil Beckett was tellin' me +the other day--she that was Samanthy Barnes, you know--that one of the +boys got fighting, the other side of the mountain, and come home with +his nose broke and a piece o' one ear bit off. I forget which ear it +was. Their mother is a real clever, willin' woman, and she takes it to +heart, but it's no use for her to say anything. Mis' Hate-evil Beckett, +says she, 'It does make my man feel dreadful to see his brother's folks +carry on so.' 'But there,' says I, 'Mis' Beckett, it's just such things +as we read of; Scriptur' is fulfilled: In the larter days there shall be +disobedient children.'" + +This application of the text was too much for us, but Mrs. Bonny looked +serious, and we did not like to laugh. Two or three of the exiled fowls +had crept slyly in, dodging underneath our chairs, and had perched +themselves behind the stove. They were long-legged, half-grown +creatures, and just at this minute one rash young rooster made a manful +attempt to crow. "Do tell!" said his mistress, who rose in great wrath, +"you needn't be so forth-putting, as I knows on!" After this we were +urged to stay and have some supper. Mrs. Bonny assured us she could pick +a likely young hen in no time, fry her with a bit of pork, and get us up +"a good meat tea"; but we had to disappoint her, as we had some distance +to walk to the house where we had left our horses, and a long drive +home. + +Kate asked if she would be kind enough to lend us a tumbler (for ours +was in the basket, which was given into Tommy's charge). We were +thirsty, and would like to go back to the spring and get some water. + +"Yes, dear," said Mrs. Bonny, "I've got a glass, if it's so's I can find +it." And she pulled a chair under the little cupboard over the +fireplace, mounted it, and opened the door. Several things fell out at +her, and after taking a careful survey she went in, head and shoulders, +until I thought that she would disappear altogether; but soon she came +back, and reaching in took out one treasure after another, putting them +on the mantel-piece or dropping them on the floor. There were some +bunches of dried herbs, a tin horn, a lump of tallow in a broken plate, +a newspaper, and an old boot, with a number of turkey-wings tied +together, several bottles, and a steel trap, and finally, such a +tumbler! which she produced with triumph, before stepping down. She +poured out of it on the table a mixture of old buttons and squash-seeds, +beside a lump of beeswax which she said she had lost, and now pocketed +with satisfaction. She wiped the tumbler on her apron and handed it to +Kate, but we were not so thirsty as we had been, though we thanked her +and went down to the spring, coming back as soon as possible, for we +could not lose a bit of the conversation. + +There was a beautiful view from the doorstep, and we stopped a minute +there. "Real sightly, ain't it?" said Mrs. Bonny. "But you ought to be +here and look across the woods some morning just at sun-up. Why, the sky +is all yaller and red, and them low lands topped with fog! Yes, it's +nice weather, good growin' weather, this week. Corn and all the rest of +the trade looks first-rate. I call it a forrard season. It's just such +weather as we read of, ain't it?" + +"I don't remember where, just at this moment," said Mr. Lorimer. + +"Why, in the almanac, bless ye!" said she, with a tone of pity in her +grum voice; could it be possible he didn't know,--the Deephaven +minister! + +We asked her to come and see us. She said she had always thought she'd +get a chance some time to see Miss Katharine Brandon's house. She should +be pleased to call, and she didn't know but she should be down to the +shore before very long. She was 'shamed to look so shif'less that day, +but she had some good clothes in a chist in the bedroom, and a boughten +bonnet with a good cypress veil, which she had when "he" died. She +calculated they would do, though they might be old-fashioned, some. She +seemed greatly pleased at Mr. Lorimer's having taken the trouble to come +to see her. All those people had a great reverence for "the minister." +We were urged to come again in "rosbry" time, which was near at hand, +and she gave us messages for some of her old customers and +acquaintances. "I believe some of those old creatur's will never die," +said she; "why, they're getting to be ter'ble old, ain't they, Mr. +Lorimer? There! ye've done me a sight of good, and I wish I could ha' +found the Bible, to hear ye read a Psalm." When Mr. Lorimer shook hands +with her, at leaving, she made him a most reverential courtesy. He was +the greatest man she knew; and once during the call, when he was +speaking of serious things in his simple, earnest way, she had so devout +a look, and seemed so interested, that Kate and I, and Mr. Lorimer +himself, caught a new, fresh meaning in the familiar words he spoke. + +Living there in the lonely clearing, deep in the woods and far from any +neighbor, she knew all the herbs and trees and the harmless wild +creatures who lived among them, by heart; and she had an amazing store +of tradition and superstition, which made her so entertaining to us that +we went to see her many times before we came away in the autumn. We went +with her to find some pitcher-plants, one day, and it was wonderful how +much she knew about the woods, what keen observation she had. There was +something so wild and unconventional about Mrs. Bonny that it was like +taking an afternoon walk with a good-natured Indian. We used to carry +her offerings of tobacco, for she was a great smoker, and advised us to +try it, if ever we should be troubled with nerves, or "narves," as she +pronounced the name of that affliction. + + + + +_In Shadow_ + + +Soon after we went to Deephaven we took a long drive one day with Mr. +Dockum, the kindest and silentest of men. He had the care of the Brandon +property, and had some business at that time connected with a large +tract of pasture-land perhaps ten miles from town. We had heard of the +coast-road which led to it, how rocky and how rough and wild it was, and +when Kate heard by chance that Mr. Dockum meant to go that way, she +asked if we might go with him. He said he would much rather take us than +"go sole alone," but he should be away until late and we must take our +dinner, which we did not mind doing at all. + +After we were three or four miles from Deephaven the country looked very +different. The shore was so rocky that there were almost no places where +a boat could put in, so there were no fishermen in the region, and the +farms were scattered wide apart; the land was so poor that even the +trees looked hungry. At the end of our drive we left the horse at a +lonely little farm-house close by the sea. Mr. Dockum was to walk a long +way inland through the woods with a man whom he had come to meet, and he +told us if we followed the shore westward a mile or two we should find +some very high rocks, for which he knew we had a great liking. It was a +delightful day to spend out of doors; there was an occasional whiff of +east-wind. Seeing us seemed to be a perfect godsend to the people whose +nearest neighbors lived far out of sight. We had a long talk with them +before we went for our walk. The house was close by the water by a +narrow cove, around which the rocks were low, but farther down the shore +the land rose more and more, and at last we stood at the edge of the +highest rocks of all and looked far down at the sea, dashing its white +spray high over the ledges that quiet day. What could it be in winter +when there was a storm and the great waves came thundering in? + +After we had explored the shore to our hearts' content and were tired, +we rested for a while in the shadow of some gnarled pitch-pines which +stood close together, as near the sea as they dared. They looked like a +band of outlaws; they were such wild-looking trees. They seemed very +old, and as if their savage fights with the winter winds had made them +hard-hearted. And yet the little wild-flowers and the thin green +grass-blades were growing fearlessly close around their feet; and there +were some comfortable birds'-nests in safe corners of their rough +branches. + +When we went back to the house at the cove we had to wait some time for +Mr. Dockum. We succeeded in making friends with the children, and gave +them some candy and the rest of our lunch, which luckily had been even +more abundant than usual. They looked thin and pitiful, but even in that +lonely place, where they so seldom saw a stranger or even a neighbor, +they showed that there was an evident effort to make them look like +other children, and they were neatly dressed, though there could be no +mistake about their being very poor. One forlorn little soul, with +honest gray eyes and a sweet, shy smile, showed us a string of beads +which she wore round her neck; there were perhaps two dozen of them, +blue and white, on a bit of twine, and they were the dearest things in +all her world. When we came away we were so glad that we could give the +man more than he asked us for taking care of the horse, and his thanks +touched us. + +"I hope ye may never know what it is to earn every dollar as hard as I +have. I never earned any money as easy as this before. I don't feel as +if I ought to take it. I've done the best I could," said the man, with +the tears coming into his eyes, and a huskiness in his voice. "I've done +the best I could, and I'm willin' and my woman is, but everything seems +to have been ag'in' us; we never seem to get forehanded. It looks +sometimes as if the Lord had forgot us, but my woman she never wants me +to say that; she says He ain't, and that we might be worse off,--but I +don' know. I haven't had my health; that's hendered me most. I'm a +boat-builder by trade, but the business's all run down; folks buys 'em +second-hand nowadays, and you can't make nothing. I can't stand it to +foller deep-sea fishing, and--well, you see what my land's wuth. But my +oldest boy, he's getting ahead. He pushed off this spring, and he works +in a box-shop to Boston; a cousin o' his mother's got him the chance. He +sent me ten dollars a spell ago and his mother a shawl. I don't see how +he done it, but he's smart!" + +This seemed to be the only bright spot in their lives, and we admired +the shawl and sat down in the house awhile with the mother, who seemed +kind and patient and tired, and to have great delight in talking about +what one should wear. Kate and I thought and spoke often of these people +afterward, and when one day we met the man in Deephaven we sent some +things to the children and his wife, and begged him to come to the house +whenever he came to town; but we never saw him again, and though we made +many plans for going again to the cove, we never did. At one time the +road was reported impassable, and we put off our second excursion for +this reason and others until just before we left Deephaven, late in +October. + +We knew the coast-road would be bad after the fall rains, and we found +that Leander, the eldest of the Dockum boys, had some errand that way, +so he went with us. We enjoyed the drive that morning in spite of the +rough road. The air was warm, and sweet with the smell of +bayberry-bushes and pitch-pines and the delicious saltness of the sea, +which was not far from us all the way. It was a perfect autumn day. +Sometimes we crossed pebble beaches, and then went farther inland, +through woods and up and down steep little hills; over shaky bridges +which crossed narrow salt creeks in the marsh-lands. There was a little +excitement about the drive, and an exhilaration in the air, and we +laughed at jokes forgotten the next minute, and sang, and were jolly +enough. Leander, who had never happened to see us in exactly this +hilarious state of mind before, seemed surprised and interested, and +became unusually talkative, telling us a great many edifying particulars +about the people whose houses we passed, and who owned every wood-lot +along the road. "Do you see that house over on the pi'nt?" he asked. "An +old fellow lives there that's part lost his mind. He had a son who was +drowned off Cod Rock fishing, much as twenty-five years ago, and he's +worn a deep path out to the end of the pi'nt where he goes out every +hand's turn o' the day to see if he can't see the boat coming in." And +Leander looked round to see if we were not amused, and seemed puzzled +because we didn't laugh. Happily, his next story was funny. + +We saw a sleepy little owl on the dead branch of a pine-tree; we saw a +rabbit cross the road and disappear in a clump of juniper, and squirrels +run up and down trees and along the stone-walls with acorns in their +mouths. We passed straggling thickets of the upland sumach, leafless, +and holding high their ungainly spikes of red berries; there were sturdy +barberry-bushes along the lonely wayside, their unpicked fruit hanging +in brilliant clusters. The blueberry-bushes made patches of dull red +along the hillsides. The ferns were whitish-gray and brown at the edges +of the woods, and the asters and golden-rods which had lately looked so +gay in the open fields stood now in faded, frost-bitten companies. There +were busy flocks of birds flitting from field to field, ready to start +on their journey southward. + +When we reached the house, to our surprise there was no one in sight and +the place looked deserted. We left the wagon, and while Leander went +toward the barn, which stood at a little distance, Kate and I went to +the house and knocked. I opened the door a little way and said "Hallo!" +but nobody answered. The people could not have moved away, for there +were some chairs standing outside the door, and as I looked in I saw the +bunches of herbs hanging up, and a trace of corn, and the furniture was +all there. It was a great disappointment, for we had counted upon seeing +the children again. Leander said there was nobody at the barn, and that +they must have gone to a funeral; he couldn't think of anything else. + +Just now we saw some people coming up the road, and we thought at first +that they were the man and his wife coming back; but they proved to be +strangers, and we eagerly asked what had become of the family. + +"They're dead, both on 'em. His wife she died about nine weeks ago last +Sunday, and he died day before yesterday. Funeral's going to be this +afternoon. Thought ye were some of her folks from up country, when we +were coming along," said the man. + +"Guess they won't come nigh," said the woman, scornfully; "'fraid +they'd have to help provide for the children. I was half-sister to him, +and I've got to take the two least ones." + +"Did you say he was going to be buried this afternoon?" asked Kate, +slowly. We were both more startled than I can tell. + +"Yes," said the man, who seemed much better-natured than his wife. She +appeared like a person whose only aim in life was to have things over +with. "Yes, we're going to bury at two o'clock. They had a master sight +of trouble, first and last." + +Leander had said nothing all this time. He had known the man, and had +expected to spend the day with him and to get him to go on two miles +farther to help bargain for a dory. He asked, in a disappointed way, +what had carried him off so sudden. + +"Drink," said the woman, relentlessly. "He ain't been good for nothing +sence his wife died: she was took with a fever along in the first of +August. _I_'d ha' got up from it!" + +"Now don't be hard on the dead, Marthy," said her husband. "I guess they +done the best they could. They weren't shif'less, you know; they never +had no health; 't was against wind and tide with 'em all the time." And +Kate asked, "Did you say he was your brother?" + +"Yes. I was half-sister to him," said the woman, promptly, with perfect +unconsciousness of Kate's meaning. + +"And what will become of those poor children?" + +"I've got the two youngest over to my place to take care on, and the two +next them has been put out to some folks over to the cove. I dare say +like's not they'll be sent back." + +"They're clever child'n, I guess," said the man, who spoke as if this +were the first time he had dared take their part. "Don't be ha'sh, +Marthy! Who knows but they may do for us when we get to be old?" And +then she turned and looked at him with utter contempt. "I can't stand it +to hear men-folks talking on what they don't know nothing about," said +she. "The ways of Providence is dreadful myster'ous," she went on with a +whine, instead of the sharp tone of voice which we had heard before. +"We've had a hard row, and we've just got our own children off our hands +and able to do for themselves, and now here are these to be fetched up." + +"But perhaps they'll be a help to you; they seem to be good little +things," said Kate. "I saw them in the summer, and they seemed to be +pleasant children, and it is dreadfully hard for them to be left alone. +It's not their fault, you know. We brought over something for them; will +you be kind enough to take the basket when you go home?" + +"Thank ye, I'm sure," said the aunt, relenting slightly. "You can speak +to my man about it, and he'll give it to somebody that's going by. I've +got to walk in the procession. They'll be obliged, I'm sure. I s'pose +you're the young ladies that come here right after the Fourth o' July, +ain't you? I should be pleased to have you call and see the child'n if +you're over this way again. I heard 'em talk about you last time I was +over. Won't ye step into the house and see him? He looks real natural," +she added. But we said, "No, thank you." + +Leander told us he believed he wouldn't bother about the dory that day, +and he should be there at the house whenever we were ready. He evidently +considered it a piece of good luck that he had happened to arrive in +time for the funeral. We spoke to the man about the things we had +brought for the children, which seemed to delight him, poor soul, and we +felt sure he would be kind to them. His wife shouted to him from a +window of the house that he'd better not loiter round, or they wouldn't +be half ready when the folks began to come, and we said good by to him +and went away. + +It was a beautiful morning, and we walked slowly along the shore to the +high rocks and the pitch-pine trees which we had seen before; the air +was deliciously fresh, and one could take long deep breaths of it. The +tide was coming in, and the spray dashed higher and higher. We climbed +about the rocks and went down in some of the deep cold clefts into which +the sun could seldom shine. We gathered some wild-flowers; bits of +pimpernel and one or two sprigs of fringed gentian which had bloomed +late in a sheltered place, and a pale little bouquet of asters. We sat +for a long time looking off to sea, and we could talk or think of almost +nothing beside what we had seen and heard at the farm-house. We said how +much we should like to go to that funeral, and we even made up our minds +to go back in season, but we gave up the idea: we had no right there, +and it would seem as if we were merely curious, and we were afraid our +presence would make the people ill at ease, the minister especially. It +would be an intrusion. + +We spoke of the children, and tried to think what could be done for +them: we were afraid they would be told so many times that it was lucky +they did not have to go to the poor-house, and yet we could not help +pitying the hard-worked, discouraged woman whom we had seen, in spite of +her bitterness. Poor soul! she looked like a person to whom nobody had +ever been very kind, and for whom life had no pleasures: its sunshine +had never been warm enough to thaw the ice at her heart. + +We remembered how we knocked at the door and called loudly, but there +had been no answer, and we wondered how we should have felt if we had +gone farther into the room and had found the dead man in his coffin, all +alone in the house. We thought of our first visit, and what he had said +to us, and we wished we had come again sooner, for we might have helped +them so much more if we had only known. + +"What a pitiful ending it is," said Kate. "Do you realize that the +family is broken up, and the children are to be half strangers to each +other? Did you not notice that they seemed very fond of each other when +we saw them in the summer? There was not half the roughness and apparent +carelessness of one another which one so often sees in the country. +Theirs was such a little world; one can understand how, when the man's +wife died, he was bewildered and discouraged, utterly at a loss. The +thoughts of winter, and of the little children, and of the struggles he +had already come through against poverty and disappointment were +terrible thoughts; and like a boat adrift at sea, the waves of his +misery brought him in against the rocks, and his simple life was +wrecked." + +"I suppose his grandest hopes and wishes would have been realized in a +good farm and a thousand or two dollars in safe keeping," said I. "Do +you remember that merry little song in 'As You Like It'? + + 'Who doth ambition shun + And loves to live i' the sun, + Seeking the food he eats, + And pleased with what he gets'; +and + 'Here shall he see + No enemy + But winter and rough weather.' + +That is all he lived for, his literal daily bread. I suppose what would +be prosperity to him would be miserably insufficient for some other +people. I wonder how we can help being conscious, in the midst of our +comforts and pleasures, of the lives which are being starved to death in +more ways than one." + +"I suppose one thinks more about these things as one grows older," said +Kate, thoughtfully. "How seldom life in this world seems to be a +success! Among rich or poor only here and there one touches +satisfaction, though the one who seems to have made an utter failure may +really be the greatest conqueror. And, Helen, I find that I understand +better and better how unsatisfactory, how purposeless and disastrous, +any life must be which is not a Christian life! It is like being always +in the dark, and wandering one knows not where, if one is not learning +more and more what it is to have a friendship with God." + +By the middle of the afternoon the sky had grown cloudy, and a wind +seemed to be coming in off the sea, and we unwillingly decided that we +must go home. We supposed that the funeral would be all over with, but +found we had been mistaken when we reached the cove. We seated ourselves +on a rock near the water; just beside us was the old boat, with its +killick and painter stretched ashore, where its owner had left it. + +There were several men standing around the door of the house, looking +solemn and important, and by and by one of them came over to us, and we +found out a little more of the sad story. We liked this man, there was +so much pity in his face and voice. "He was a real willin', honest man, +Andrew was," said our new friend, "but he used to be sickly, and seemed +to have no luck, though for a year or two he got along some better. When +his wife died he was sore afflicted, and couldn't get over it, and he +didn't know what to do or what was going to become of 'em with winter +comin' on, and--well--I may's well tell ye; he took to drink and it +killed him right off. I come over two or three times and made some +gruel and fixed him up's well's I could, and the little gals done the +best they could, but he faded right out, and didn't know anything the +last time I see him, and he died Sunday mornin', when the tide begun to +ebb. I always set a good deal by Andrew; we used to play together down +to the great cove; that's where he was raised, and my folks lived there +too. I've got one o' the little gals. I always knowed him and his wife." + +Just now we heard the people in the house singing "China," the Deephaven +funeral hymn, and the tune suited well that day, with its wailing rise +and fall; it was strangely plaintive. Then the funeral exercises were +over, and the man with whom we had just been speaking led to the door a +horse and rickety wagon, from which the seat had been taken, and when +the coffin had been put in he led the horse down the road a little way, +and we watched the mourners come out of the house two by two. We heard +some one scold in a whisper because the wagon was twice as far off as it +need have been. They evidently had a rigid funeral etiquette, and felt +it important that everything should be carried out according to rule. We +saw a forlorn-looking kitten, with a bit of faded braid round its neck, +run across the road in terror and presently appear again on the +stone-wall, where she sat looking at the people. We saw the dead man's +eldest son, of whom he had told us in the summer with such pride. He had +shown his respect for his father as best he could, by a black band on +his hat and a pair of black cotton gloves a world too large for him. He +looked so sad, and cried bitterly as he stood alone at the head of the +people. His aunt was next, with a handkerchief at her eyes, fully equal +to the proprieties of the occasion, though I fear her grief was not so +heartfelt as her husband's, who dried his eyes on his coat-sleeve again +and again. There were perhaps twenty of the mourners, and there was much +whispering among those who walked last. The minister and some others +fell into line, and the procession went slowly down the slope; a strange +shadow had fallen over everything. It was like a November day, for the +air felt cold and bleak. There were some great sea-fowl high in the air, +fighting their way toward the sea against the wind, and giving now and +then a wild, far-off ringing cry. We could hear the dull sound of the +sea, and at a little distance from the land the waves were leaping high, +and breaking in white foam over the isolated ledges. + +The rest of the people began to walk or drive away, but Kate and I stood +watching the funeral as it crept along the narrow, crooked road. We had +never seen what the people called "walking funerals" until we came to +Deephaven, and there was something piteous about this; the mourners +looked so few, and we could hear the rattle of the wagon-wheels. "He's +gone, ain't he?" said some one near us. That was it,--_gone_. + +Before the people had entered the house, there had been, I am sure, an +indifferent, business-like look, but when they came out, all that was +changed; their faces were awed by the presence of death, and the +indifference had given place to uncertainty. Their neighbor was +immeasurably their superior now. Living, he had been a failure by their +own low standards; but now, if he could come back, he would know +secrets, and be wise beyond anything they could imagine, and who could +know the riches of which he might have come into possession? + +To Kate and me there came a sudden consciousness of the mystery and +inevitableness of death; it was not fear, thank God! but a thought of +how certain it was that some day it would be a mystery to us no longer. +And there was a thought, too, of the limitation of this present life; we +were waiting there, in company with the people, the great sea, and the +rocks and fields themselves, on this side the boundary. We knew just +then how close to this familiar, every-day world might be the other, +which at times before had seemed so far away, out of reach of even our +thoughts, beyond the distant stars. + +We stayed awhile longer, until the little black funeral had crawled out +of sight; until we had seen the last funeral guest go away and the door +had been shut and fastened with a queer old padlock and some links of +rusty chain. The door fitted loosely, and the man gave it a vindictive +shake, as if he thought that the poor house had somehow been to blame, +and that after a long desperate struggle for life under its roof and +among the stony fields the family must go away defeated. It is not +likely that any one else will ever go to live there. The man to whom the +farm was mortgaged will add the few forlorn acres to his pasture-land, +and the thistles which the man who is dead had fought so many years will +march in next summer and take unmolested possession. + +I think to-day of that fireless, empty, forsaken house, where the winter +sun shines in and creeps slowly along the floor; the bitter cold is in +and around the house, and the snow has sifted in at every crack; outside +it is untrodden by any living creature's footstep. The wind blows and +rushes and shakes the loose window-sashes in their frames, while the +padlock knocks--knocks against the door. + + + + +_Miss Chauncey_ + + +The Deephaven people used to say sometimes complacently, that certain +things or certain people were "as dull as East Parish." Kate and I grew +curious to see that part of the world which was considered duller than +Deephaven itself; and as upon inquiry we found that it was not out of +reach, one day we went there. + +It was like Deephaven, only on a smaller scale. The village--though it +is a question whether that is not an exaggerated term to apply--had +evidently seen better days. It was on the bank of a river, and perhaps +half a mile from the sea. There were a few old buildings there, some +with mossy roofs and a great deal of yellow lichen on the sides of the +walls next the sea; a few newer houses, belonging to fishermen; some +dilapidated fish-houses; and a row of fish-flakes. Every house seemed to +have a lane of its own, and all faced different ways except two +fish-houses, which stood amiably side by side. There was a church, which +we had been told was the oldest in the region. Through the windows we +saw the high pulpit and sounding-board, and finally found the keys at a +house near by; so we went in and looked around at our leisure. A rusty +foot-stove stood in one of the old square pews, and in the gallery there +was a majestic bass-viol with all its strings snapped but the largest, +which gave out a doleful sound when we touched it. + +After we left the church we walked along the road a little way, and came +in sight of a fine old house which had apparently fallen into ruin years +before. The front entrance was a fine specimen of old-fashioned +workmanship, with its columns and carvings, and the fence had been a +grand affair in its day, though now it could scarcely stand alone. The +long range of out-buildings were falling piece by piece; one shed had +been blown down entirely by a late high wind. The large windows had many +panes of glass, and the great chimneys were built of the bright red +bricks which used to be brought from over-seas in the days of the +colonies. We noticed the gnarled lilacs in the yard, the wrinkled +cinnamon-roses, and a flourishing company of French pinks, or "bouncing +Bets," as Kate called them. + +"Suppose we go in," said I; "the door is open a little way. There surely +must be some stories about its being haunted. We will ask Miss Honora." +And we climbed over the boards which were put up like pasture-bars +across the wide front gateway. + +"We shall certainly meet a ghost," said Kate. + +Just as we stood on the steps the door was pulled wide open; we started +back, and, well-grown young women as we are, we have confessed since +that our first impulse was to run away. On the threshold there stood a +stately old woman who looked surprised at first sight of us, then +quickly recovered herself and stood waiting for us to speak. She was +dressed in a rusty black satin gown, with scant, short skirt and huge +sleeves; on her head was a great black bonnet with a high crown and a +close brim, which came far out over her face. "What is your pleasure?" +said she; and we felt like two awkward children. Kate partially +recovered her wits, and asked which was the nearer way to Deephaven. + +"There is but one road, past the church and over the hill. It cannot be +missed." And she bowed gravely, when we thanked her and begged her +pardon, we hardly knew why, and came away. + +We looked back to see her still standing in the doorway. "Who in the +world can she be?" said Kate. And we wondered and puzzled and talked +over "the ghost" until we saw Miss Honora Carew, who told us that it was +Miss Sally Chauncey. + +"Indeed, I know her, poor old soul!" said Miss Honora; "she has such a +sad history. She is the last survivor of one of the most aristocratic +old colonial families. The Chaunceys were of great renown until early in +the present century, and then their fortunes changed. They had always +been rich and well-educated, and I suppose nobody ever had a gayer, +happier time than Miss Sally did in her girlhood, for they entertained a +great deal of company and lived in fine style; but her father was +unfortunate in business, and at last was utterly ruined at the time of +the embargo; then he became partially insane, and died after many years +of poverty. I have often heard a tradition that a sailor to whom he had +broken a promise had cursed him, and that none of the family had died +in their beds or had any good luck since. The East Parish people seem to +believe in it, and it is certainly strange what terrible sorrow has come +to the Chaunceys. One of Miss Sally's brothers, a fine young officer in +the navy who was at home on leave, asked her one day if she could get on +without him, and she said yes, thinking he meant to go back to sea; but +in a few minutes she heard the noise of a pistol in his room, and +hurried in to find him lying dead on the floor. Then there was another +brother who was insane, and who became so violent that he was chained +for years in one of the upper chambers, a dangerous prisoner. I have +heard his horrid cries myself, when I was a young girl," said Miss +Honora, with a shiver. + +"Miss Sally is insane, and has been for many years, and this seems to me +the saddest part of the story. When she first lost her reason she was +sent to a hospital, for there was no one who could take care of her. The +mania was so acute that no one had the slightest thought that she would +recover or even live long. Her guardian sold the furniture and pictures +and china, almost everything but clothing, to pay the bills at the +hospital, until the house was fairly empty; and then one spring day, I +remember it well, she came home in her right mind, and, without a +thought of what was awaiting her, ran eagerly into her home. It was a +terrible shock, and she never has recovered from it, though after a long +illness her insanity took a mild form, and she has always been perfectly +harmless. She has been alone many years, and no one can persuade her to +leave the old house, where she seems to be contented, and does not +realize her troubles; though she lives mostly in the past, and has +little idea of the present, except in her house affairs, which seem +pitiful to me, for I remember the housekeeping of the Chaunceys when I +was a child. I have always been to see her, and she usually knows me, +though I have been but seldom of late years. She is several years older +than I. The town makes her an allowance every year, and she has some +friends who take care that she does not suffer, though her wants are +few. She is an elegant woman still, and some day, if you like, I will +give you something to carry to her, and a message, if I can think of +one, and you must go to make her a call. I hope she will happen to be +talkative, for I am sure you would enjoy her. For many years she did not +like to see strangers, but some one has told me lately that she seems to +be pleased if people go to see her." + +You may be sure it was not many days before Kate and I claimed the +basket and the message, and went again to East Parish. We boldly lifted +the great brass knocker, and were dismayed because nobody answered. +While we waited, a girl came up the walk and said that Miss Sally lived +up stairs, and she would speak to her if we liked. "Sometimes she don't +have sense enough to know what the knocker means," we were told. There +was evidently no romance about Miss Sally to our new acquaintance. + +"Do you think," said I, "that we might go in and look around the lower +rooms? Perhaps she will refuse to see us." + +"Yes, indeed," said the girl; "only run the minute I speak; you'll have +time enough, for she walks slow and is a little deaf." + +So we went into the great hall with its wide staircase and handsome +cornices and panelling, and then into the large parlor on the right, and +through it to a smaller room looking out on the garden, which sloped +down to the river. Both rooms had fine carved mantels, with Dutch-tiled +fireplaces, and in the cornices we saw the fastenings where pictures had +hung,--old portraits, perhaps. And what had become of them? The girl did +not know: the house had been the same ever since she could remember, +only it would all fall through into the cellar soon. But the old lady +was proud as Lucifer, and wouldn't hear of moving out. + +The floor in the room toward the river was so broken that it was not +safe, and we came back through the hall and opened the door at the foot +of the stairs. "Guess you won't want to stop long there," said the girl. +Three old hens and a rooster marched toward us with great solemnity when +we looked in. The cobwebs hung in the room, as they often do in old +barns, in long, gray festoons; the lilacs outside grew close against the +two windows where the shutters were not drawn, and the light in the room +was greenish and dim. + +Then we took our places on the threshold, and the girl went up stairs +and announced us to Miss Sally, and in a few minutes we heard her come +along the hall. + +"Sophia," said she, "where are the gentry waiting?" And just then she +came in sight round the turn of the staircase. She wore the same great +black bonnet and satin gown, and looked more old-fashioned and ghostly +than before. She was not tall, but very erect, in spite of her great +age, and her eyes seemed to "look through you" in an uncanny way. She +slowly descended the stairs and came toward us with a courteous +greeting, and when we had introduced ourselves as Miss Carew's friends +she gave us each her hand in a most cordial way and said she was pleased +to see us. She bowed us into the parlor and brought us two rickety, +straight-backed chairs, which, with an old table, were all the furniture +there was in the room. "Sit ye down," said she, herself taking a place +in the window-seat. I have seen few more elegant women than Miss +Chauncey. Thoroughly at her ease, she had the manner of a lady of the +olden times, using the quaint fashion of speech which she had been +taught in her girlhood. The long words and ceremonious phrases suited +her extremely well. Her hands were delicately shaped, and she folded +them in her lap, as no doubt she had learned to do at boarding-school so +many years before. She asked Kate and me if we knew any young ladies at +that school in Boston, saying that most of her intimate friends had left +when she did, but some of the younger ones were there still. + +She asked for the Carews and Mr. Lorimer, and when Kate told her that +she was Miss Brandon's niece, and asked if she had not known her, she +said, "Certainly, my dear; we were intimate friends at one time, but I +have seen her little of late." + +"Do you not know that she is dead?" asked Kate. + +"Ah, they say every one is 'dead,' nowadays. I do not comprehend the +silly idea!" said the old lady, impatiently. "It is an excuse, I +suppose. She could come to see me if she chose, but she was always a +ceremonious body, and I go abroad but seldom now; so perhaps she waits +my visit. I will not speak uncourteously, and you must remember me to +her kindly." + +Then she asked us about other old people in Deephaven, and about +families in Boston whom she had known in her early days. I think every +one of whom she spoke was dead, but we assured her that they were all +well and prosperous, and we hoped we told the truth. She asked about the +love-affairs of men and women who had died old and gray-headed within +our remembrance; and finally she said we must pardon her for these +tiresome questions, but it was so rarely she saw any one direct from +Boston, of whom she could inquire concerning these old friends and +relatives of her family. + +Something happened after this which touched us both inexpressibly: she +sat for some time watching Kate with a bewildered look, which at last +faded away, a smile coming in its place. "I think you are like my +mother," she said; "did any one ever say to you that you are like my +mother? Will you let me see your forehead? Yes; and your hair is only a +little darker." Kate had risen when Miss Chauncey did, and they stood +side by side. There was a tone in the old lady's voice which brought the +tears to my eyes. She stood there some minutes looking at Kate. I wonder +what her thoughts were. There was a kinship, it seemed to me, not of +blood, only that they both were of the same stamp and rank: Miss +Chauncey of the old generation and Kate Lancaster of the new. Miss +Chauncey turned to me, saying, "Look up at the portrait and you will see +the likeness too, I think." But when she turned and saw the bare +wainscoting of the room, she looked puzzled, and the bright flash which +had lighted up her face was gone in an instant, and she sat down again +in the window-seat; but we were glad that she had forgotten. Presently +she said, "Pardon me, but I forget your question." + +Miss Carew had told us to ask her about her school-days, as she nearly +always spoke of that time to her; and, to our delight, Miss Sally told +us a long story about her friends and about her "coming-out party," when +boat-loads of gay young guests came down from Riverport, and all the +gentry from Deephaven. The band from the fort played for the dancing, +the garden was lighted, the card-tables were in this room, and a grand +supper was served. She also remembered what some of her friends wore, +and her own dress was a silver-gray brocade with rosebuds of three +colors. She told us how she watched the boats go off up river in the +middle of the summer night; how sweet the music sounded; how bright the +moonlight was; how she wished we had been there at her party. + +"I can't believe I am an old woman. It seems only yesterday," said she, +thoughtfully. And then she lost the idea, and talked about Kate's +great-grandmother, whom she had known, and asked us how she had been +this summer. + +She asked us if we would like to go up stairs where she had a fire, and +we eagerly accepted, though we were not in the least cold. Ah, what a +sorry place it was! She had gathered together some few pieces of her old +furniture, which half filled one fine room, and here she lived. There +was a tall, handsome chest of drawers, which I should have liked much to +ransack. Miss Carew had told us that Miss Chauncey had large claims +against the government, dating back sixty or seventy years, but nobody +could ever find the papers; and I felt sure that they must be hidden +away in some secret drawer. The brass handles and trimmings were +blackened, and the wood looked like ebony. I wanted to climb up and look +into the upper part of this antique piece of furniture, and it seemed to +me I could at once put my hand on a package of "papers relating to the +embargo." + +On a stand near the window was an old Bible, fairly worn out with +constant use. Miss Chauncey was religious; in fact, it was the only +subject about which she was perfectly sane. We saw almost nothing of her +insanity that day, though afterward she was different. There were days +when her mind seemed clear; but sometimes she was silent, and often she +would confuse Kate with Miss Brandon, and talk to her of long-forgotten +plans and people. She would rarely speak of anything more than a minute +or two, and then would drift into an entirely foreign subject. + +She urged us that afternoon to stay to luncheon with her; she said she +could not offer us dinner, but she would give us tea and biscuit, and no +doubt we should find something in Miss Carew's basket, as she was always +kind in remembering her fancies. Miss Honora had told us to decline, if +she asked us to stay; but I should have liked to see her sit at the head +of her table, and to be a guest at such a lunch-party. + +Poor creature! it was a blessed thing that her shattered reason made her +unconscious of the change in her fortunes, and incapable of comparing +the end of her life with its beginning. To herself she was still Miss +Chauncey, a gentlewoman of high family, possessed of unusual worldly +advantages. The remembrance of her cruel trials and sorrows had faded +from her mind. She had no idea of the poverty of her surroundings when +she paced back and forth, with stately steps, on the ruined terraces of +her garden; the ranks of lilies and the conserve-roses were still in +bloom for her, and the box-borders were as trimly kept as ever; and when +she pointed out to us the distant steeples of Riverport, it was plain to +see that it was still the Riverport of her girlhood. If the boat-landing +at the foot of the garden had long ago dropped into the river and gone +out with the tide; if the maids and men who used to do her bidding were +all out of hearing; if there had been no dinner company that day and no +guests were expected for the evening,--what did it matter? The twilight +had closed around her gradually, and she was alone in her house, but she +did not heed the ruin of it or the absence of her friends. On the +morrow, life would again go on. + +We always used to ask her to read the Bible to us, after Mr. Lorimer had +told us how grand and beautiful it was to listen to her. I shall never +hear some of the Psalms or some chapters of Isaiah again without being +reminded of her; and I remember just now, as I write, one summer +afternoon when Kate and I had lingered later than usual, and we sat in +the upper room looking out on the river and the shore beyond, where the +light had begun to grow golden as the day drew near sunset. Miss Sally +had opened the great book at random and read slowly, "In my Father's +house are many mansions"; and then, looking off for a moment at a leaf +which had drifted into the window-recess, she repeated it: "In my +Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told +you." Then she went on slowly to the end of the chapter, and with her +hands clasped together on the Bible she fell into a reverie, and the +tears came into our eyes as we watched her look of perfect content. +Through all her clouded years the promises of God had been her only +certainty. + +Miss Chauncey died early in the winter after we left Deephaven, and one +day when I was visiting Kate in Boston Mr. Lorimer came to see us, and +told us about her. + +It seems that after much persuasion she was induced to go to spend the +winter with a neighbor, her house having become uninhabitable, and she +was, beside, too feeble to live alone. But her fondness for her old home +was too strong, and one day she stole away from the people who took care +of her, and crept in through the cellar, where she had to wade through +half-frozen water, and then went up stairs, where she seated herself at +a front window and called joyfully to the people who went by, asking +them to come in to see her, as she had got home again. After this she +was very ill, and one day, when she was half delirious, they missed her, +and found her at last sitting on her hall stairway, which she was too +feeble to climb. She lived but a short time afterwards, and in her last +days her mind seemed perfectly clear. She said over and over again how +good God had always been to her, and she was gentle, and unwilling to be +a trouble to those who had the care of her. + +Mr. Lorimer spoke of her simple goodness, and told us that though she +had no other sense of time, and hardly knew if it were summer or winter, +she was always sure when Sunday came, and always came to church when he +preached at East Parish, her greatest pleasure seeming to be to give +money, if there was a contribution. "She may be a lesson to us," added +the old minister, reverently; "for, though bewildered in mind, bereft of +riches and friends and all that makes this world dear to many of us, she +was still steadfast in her simple faith, and was never heard to complain +of any of the burdens which God had given her." + + + + +_Last Days in Deephaven_ + + +When the summer was ended it was no sorrow to us, for we were even more +fond of Deephaven in the glorious autumn weather than we had ever been +before. Mr. Lancaster was abroad longer than he had intended to be at +first, and it was late in the season before we left. We were both ready +to postpone going back to town as late as possible; but at last it was +time for my friend to re-establish the Boston housekeeping, and to take +up the city life again. I must admit we half dreaded it: we were +surprised to find how little we cared for it, and how well one can get +on without many things which are thought indispensable. + +For the last fortnight we were in the house a good deal, because the +weather was wet and dreary. At one time there was a magnificent storm, +and we went every day along the shore in the wind and rain for a mile or +two to see the furious great breakers come plunging in against the +rocks. I never had seen such a wild, stormy sea as that; the rage of it +was awful, and the whole harbor was white with foam. The wind had blown +northeast steadily for days, and it seemed to me that the sea never +could be quiet and smooth and blue again, with soft white clouds sailing +over it in the sky. It was a treacherous sea; it was wicked; it had all +the trembling land in its power, if it only dared to send its great +waves far ashore. All night long the breakers roared, and the wind +howled in the chimneys, and in the morning we always looked fearfully +across the surf and the tossing gray water to see if the lighthouse were +standing firm on its rock. It was so slender a thing to hold its own in +such a wide and monstrous sea. But the sun came out at last, and not +many days afterward we went out with Danny and Skipper Scudder to say +good by to Mrs. Kew. I have been some voyages at sea, but I never was so +danced about in a little boat as I was that day. There was nothing to +fear with so careful a crew, and we only enjoyed the roughness as we +went out and in, though it took much manoeuvring to land us at the +island. + +It was very sad work to us--saying good by to our friends, and we tried +to make believe that we should spend the next summer in Deephaven, and +we meant at any rate to go down for a visit. We were glad when the +people said they should miss us, and that they hoped we should not +forget them and the old place. It touched us to find that they cared so +much for us, and we said over and over again how happy we had been, and +that it was such a satisfactory summer. Kate laughingly proposed one +evening, as we sat talking by the fire and were particularly contented, +that we should copy the Ladies of Llangollen, and remove ourselves from +society and its distractions. + +"I have thought often, lately," said my friend, "what a good time they +must have had, and I feel a sympathy and friendliness for them which I +never felt before. We could have guests when we chose, as we have had +this summer, and we could study and grow very wise, and what could be +pleasanter? But I wonder if we should grow very lazy if we stayed here +all the year round; village life is not stimulating, and there would not +be much to do in winter,--though I do not believe that need be true; one +may be busy and useful in any place." + +"I suppose if we really belonged in Deephaven we should think it a hard +fate, and not enjoy it half so much as we have this summer," said I. +"Our idea of happiness would be making long visits in Boston; and we +should be heart-broken when we had to come away and leave our +lunch-parties, and symphony concerts, and calls, and fairs, the +reading-club and the childrens' hospital. We should think the people +uncongenial and behind the times, and that the Ridge road was stupid and +the long sands desolate; while we remembered what delightful walks we +had taken out Beacon Street to the three roads, and over the Cambridge +Bridge. Perhaps we should even be ashamed of the dear old church for +being so out of fashion. We should have the blues dreadfully, and think +there was no society here, and wonder why we had to live in such a +town." + +"What a gloomy picture!" said Kate, laughing. "Do you know that I have +understood something lately better than I ever did before,--it is that +success and happiness are not things of chance with us, but of choice. I +can see how we might so easily have had a dull summer here. Of course +it is our own fault if the events of our lives are hindrances; it is we +who make them bad or good. Sometimes it is a conscious choice, but +oftener unconscious. I suppose we educate ourselves for taking the best +of life or the worst, do not you?" + +"Dear old Deephaven!" said Kate, gently, after we had been silent a +little while. "It makes me think of one of its own old ladies, with its +clinging to the old fashions and its respect for what used to be +respectable when it was young. I cannot make fun of what was once dear +to somebody, and which realized somebody's ideas of beauty or fitness. I +don't dispute the usefulness of a new, bustling, manufacturing town with +its progressive ideas; but there is a simple dignity in a town like +Deephaven, as if it tried to be loyal to the traditions of its +ancestors. It quietly accepts its altered circumstances, if it has seen +better days, and has no harsh feelings toward the places which have +drawn away its business, but it lives on, making its old houses and +boats and clothes last as long as possible." + +"I think one cannot help," said I, "having a different affection for an +old place like Deephaven from that which one may have for a newer town. +Here--though there are no exciting historical associations and none of +the veneration which one has for the very old cities and towns +abroad--it is impossible not to remember how many people have walked the +streets and lived in the houses. I was thinking to-day how many girls +might have grown up in this house, and that their places have been ours; +we have inherited their pleasures, and perhaps have carried on work +which they began. We sit in somebody's favorite chair and look out of +the windows at the sea, and have our wishes and our hopes and plans just +as they did before us. Something of them still lingers where their lives +were spent. We are often reminded of our friends who have died; why are +we not reminded as surely of strangers in such a house as this,--finding +some trace of the lives which were lived among the sights we see and the +things we handle, as the incense of many masses lingers in some old +cathedral, and one catches the spirit of longing and prayer where so +many heavy hearts have brought their burdens and have gone away +comforted?" + +"When I first came here," said Kate, "it used to seem very sad to me to +find Aunt Katharine's little trinkets lying about the house. I have +often thought of what you have just said. I heard Mrs. Patton say the +other day that there is no pocket in a shroud, and of course it is +better that we should carry nothing out of this world. Yet I can't help +wishing that it were possible to keep some of my worldly goods always. +There are one or two books of mine and some little things which I have +had a long time, and of which I have grown very fond. It makes me so +sorry to think of their being neglected and lost. I cannot believe I +shall forget these earthly treasures when I am in heaven, and I wonder +if I shall not miss them. Isn't it strange to think of not reading one's +Bible any more? I suppose this is a very low view of heaven, don't you?" +And we both smiled. + +"I think the next dwellers in this house ought to find a decided +atmosphere of contentment," said I. "Have you ever thought that it took +us some time to make it your house instead of Miss Brandon's? It used to +seem to me that it was still under her management, that she was its +mistress; but now it belongs to you, and if I were ever to come back +without you I should find you here." + + * * * * * + +It is bewildering to know that this is the last chapter, and that it +must not be long. I remember so many of our pleasures of which I have +hardly said a word. There were our guests, of whom I have told you +nothing, and of whom there was so much to say. Of course we asked my +Aunt Mary to visit us, and Miss Margaret Tennant, and many of our +girlfriends. All the people we know who have yachts made the port of +Deephaven if they were cruising in the neighboring waters. Once a most +cheerful party of Kate's cousins and some other young people whom we +knew very well came to visit us in this way, and the yacht was kept in +the harbor a week or more, while we were all as gay as bobolinks and +went frisking about the country, and kept late hours in the sober old +Brandon house. My Aunt Mary, who was with us, and Kate's aunt, Mrs. +Thorniford, who knew the Carews, and was commander of the yacht-party, +tried to keep us in order, and to make us ornaments to Deephaven society +instead of reproaches and stumbling-blocks. Kate's younger brothers were +with us, waiting until it was time for them to go back to college, and +I think there never had been such picnics in Deephaven before, and I +fear there never will be again. + +We are fond of reading, and we meant to do a great deal of it, as every +one does who goes away for the summer; but I must confess that our grand +plans were not well carried out. Our German dictionaries were on the +table in the west parlor until the sight of them mortified us, and +finally, to avoid their silent reproach, I put them in the closet, with +the excuse that it would be as easy to get them there, and they would be +out of the way. We used to have the magazines sent us from town; you +would have smiled at the box of books which we carried to Deephaven, and +indeed we sent two or three times for others; but I do not remember that +we ever carried out that course of study which we had planned with so +much interest. We were out of doors so much that there was often little +time for anything else. + +Kate said one day that she did not care, in reading, to be always making +new acquaintances, but to be seeing more of old ones; and I think it is +a very wise idea. We each have our pet books; Kate carries with her a +much-worn copy of "Mr. Rutherford's Children," which has been her +delight ever since she can remember. Sibyl and Chryssa are dear old +friends, though I suppose now it is not merely what Kate reads, but what +she associates with the story. I am not often separated from Jean +Ingelow's "Stories told to a Child," that charmingly wise and pleasant +little book. It is always new, like Kate's favorite. It is very hard to +make a list of the books one likes best, but I remember that we had "The +Village on the Cliff," and "Henry Esmond," and "Tom Brown at Rugby," +with his more serious ancestor, "Sir Thomas Browne." I am sure we had +"Fenelon," for we always have that; and there was "Pet Marjorie," and +"Rab," and "Annals of a Parish," and "The Life of the Reverend Sydney +Smith"; beside Miss Tytler's "Days of Yore," and "The Holy and Profane +State," by Thomas Fuller, from which Kate gets so much entertainment and +profit. We read Mr. Emerson's essays together, out of doors, and some +stories which had been our dear friends at school, like "Leslie +Goldthwaite." There was a very good library in the house, and we both +like old books, so we enjoyed that. And we used to read the Spectator, +and many old-fashioned stories and essays and sermons, with much more +pleasure because they had such quaint old brown leather bindings. You +will not doubt that we had some cherished volumes of poetry, or that we +used to read them aloud to each other when we sat in our favorite corner +of the rocks at the shore, or were in the pine woods of an afternoon. + +We used to go out to tea, and do a great deal of social visiting, which +was very pleasant. Dinner-parties were not in fashion, though it was a +great attention to be asked to spend the day, which courtesy we used to +delight in extending to our friends; and we entertained company in that +way often. When we first went out we were somewhat interesting on +account of our clothes, which were of later pattern than had been +adopted generally in Deephaven. We used to take great pleasure in +arraying ourselves on high days and holidays, since when we went +wandering on shore, or out sailing or rowing, we did not always dress as +befitted our position in the town. Fish-scales and blackberry-briers so +soon disfigure one's clothes. + +We became in the course of time learned in all manner of 'longshore +lore, and even profitably employed ourselves one morning in going +clam-digging with old Ben Horn, a most fascinating ancient mariner. We +both grew so well and brown and strong, and Kate and I did not get tired +of each other at all, which I think was wonderful, for few friendships +would bear such a test. We were together always, and alone together a +great deal; and we became wonderfully well acquainted. We are such good +friends that we often were silent for a long time, when mere +acquaintances would have felt compelled to talk and try to entertain +each other. + +Before we left the leaves had fallen off all the trees except the oaks, +which make in cold weather one of the dreariest sounds one ever hears: a +shivering rustle, which makes one pity the tree and imagine it +shelterless and forlorn. The sea had looked rough and cold for many +days, and the old house itself had grown chilly,--all the world seemed +waiting for the snow to come. There was nobody loitering on the wharves, +and when we went down the street we walked fast, arm in arm, to keep +warm. The houses were shut up as close as possible, and the old sailors +did not seem cheery any longer; they looked forlorn, and it was not a +pleasant prospect to be so long weather-bound in port. If they ventured +out, they put on ancient great-coats, with huge flaps to the pockets and +large horn buttons, and they looked contemptuously at the vane, which +always pointed to the north or east. It felt like winter, and the +captains rolled more than ever as they walked, as if they were on deck +in a heavy sea. The rheumatism claimed many victims, and there was one +day, it must be confessed, when a biting, icy fog was blown in-shore, +that Kate and I were willing to admit that we could be as comfortable in +town, and it was almost time for sealskin jackets. + +In the front yards we saw the flower-beds black with frost, except a few +brave pansies which had kept green and had bloomed under the tall +china-aster stalks, and one day we picked some of these little flowers +to put between the leaves of a book and take away with us. I think we +loved Deephaven all the more in those last days, with a bit of +compassion in our tenderness for the dear old town which had so little +to amuse it. So long a winter was coming, but we thought with a sigh how +pleasant it would be in the spring. + +You would have smiled at the treasures we brought away with us. We had +become so fond of even our fishing-lines; and this very day you may see +in Kate's room two great bunches of Deephaven cat-o'-nine-tails. They +were much in our way on the journey home, but we clung affectionately to +these last sheaves of our harvest. + +The morning we came away our friends were all looking out from door or +window to see us go by, and after we had passed the last house and there +was no need to smile any longer, we were very dismal. The sun was +shining again bright and warm as if the Indian summer were beginning, +and we wished that it had been a rainy day. + +The thought of Deephaven will always bring to us our long quiet summer +days, and reading aloud on the rocks by the sea, the fresh salt air, and +the glory of the sunsets; the wail of the Sunday psalm-singing at +church, the yellow lichen that grew over the trees, the houses, and the +stone-walls; our boating and wanderings ashore; our importance as +members of society, and how kind every one was to us both. By and by +the Deephaven warehouses will fall and be used for firewood by the +fisher-people, and the wharves will be worn away by the tides. The few +old gentlefolks who still linger will be dead then; and I wonder if some +day Kate Lancaster and I will go down to Deephaven for the sake of old +times, and read the epitaphs in the burying-ground, look out to sea, and +talk quietly about the girls who were so happy there one summer long +before. I should like to walk along the beach at sunset, and watch the +color of the marshes and the sea change as the light of the sky goes +out. It would make the old days come back vividly. We should see the +roofs and chimneys of the village, and the great Chantrey elms look +black against the sky. A little later the marsh fog would show faintly +white, and we should feel it deliciously cold and wet against our hands +and faces; when we looked up there would be a star; the crickets would +chirp loudly; perhaps some late sea-birds would fly inland. Turning, we +should see the lighthouse lamp shine out over the water, and the great +sea would move and speak to us lazily in its idle, high-tide sleep. + + + + + + +SELECTED STORIES AND SKETCHES + + + + +Contents + +AN AUTUMN HOLIDAY + +FROM A MOURNFUL VILLAGER + +AN OCTOBER RIDE + +TOM'S HUSBAND + +MISS DEBBY'S NEIGHBORS + + + + +_An Autumn Holiday_ + + +I had started early in the afternoon for a long walk; it was just the +weather for walking, and I went across the fields with a delighted +heart. The wind came straight in from the sea, and the sky was bright +blue; there was a little tinge of red still lingering on the maples, and +my dress brushed over the late golden-rods, while my old dog, who seemed +to have taken a new lease of youth, jumped about wildly and raced after +the little birds that flew up out of the long brown grass--the constant +little chickadees, that would soon sing before the coming of snow. But +this day brought no thought of winter; it was one of the October days +when to breathe the air is like drinking wine, and every touch of the +wind against one's face is a caress: like a quick, sweet kiss, that wind +is. You have a sense of companionship; it is a day that loves you. + +I went strolling along, with this dear idle day for company; it was a +pleasure to be alive, and to go through the dry grass, and to spring +over the stone walls and the shaky pasture fences. I stopped by each of +the stray apple-trees that came in my way, to make friends with it, or +to ask after its health, if it were an old friend. These old apple-trees +make very charming bits of the world in October; the leaves cling to +them later than to the other trees, and the turf keeps short and green +underneath; and in this grass, which was frosty in the morning, and has +not quite dried yet, you can find some cold little cider apples, with +one side knurly, and one shiny bright red or yellow cheek. They are wet +with dew, these little apples, and a black ant runs anxiously over them +when you turn them round and round to see where the best place is to +bite. There will almost always be a bird's nest in the tree, and it is +most likely to be a robin's nest. The prehistoric robins must have been +cave dwellers, for they still make their nests as much like cellars as +they can, though they follow the new fashion and build them aloft. One +always has a thought of spring at the sight of a robin's nest. It is so +little while ago that it was spring, and we were so glad to have the +birds come back, and the life of the new year was just showing itself; +we were looking forward to so much growth and to the realization and +perfection of so many things. I think the sadness of autumn, or the +pathos of it, is like that of elderly people. We have seen how the +flowers looked when they bloomed and have eaten the fruit when it was +ripe; the questions have had their answer, the days we waited for have +come and gone. Everything has stopped growing. And so the children have +grown to be men and women, their lives have been lived, the autumn has +come. We have seen what our lives would be like when we were older; +success or disappointment, it is all over at any rate. Yet it only makes +one sad to think it is autumn with the flowers or with one's own life, +when one forgets that always and always there will be the spring again. + +I am very fond of walking between the roads. One grows so familiar with +the highways themselves. But once leap the fence and there are a hundred +roads that you can take, each with its own scenery and entertainment. +Every walk of this kind proves itself a tour of exploration and +discovery, and the fields of my own town, which I think I know so well, +are always new fields. I find new ways to go, new sights to see, new +friends among the things that grow, and new treasures and pleasures +every summer; and later, when the frosts have come and the swamps have +frozen, I can go everywhere I like all over my world. + +That afternoon I found something I had never seen before--a little grave +alone in a wide pasture which had once been a field. The nearest house +was at least two miles away, but by hunting for it I found a very old +cellar, where the child's home used to be, not very far off, along the +slope. It must have been a great many years ago that the house had stood +there; and the small slate head-stone was worn away by the rain and +wind, so there was nothing to be read, if indeed there had ever been any +letters on it. It had looked many a storm in the face, and many a red +sunset. I suppose the woods near by had grown and been cut, and grown +again, since it was put there. There was an old sweet-brier bush growing +on the short little grave, and in the grass underneath I found a +ground-sparrow's nest. It was like a little neighborhood, and I have +felt ever since as if I belonged to it; and I wondered then if one of +the young ground-sparrows was not always sent to take the nest when the +old ones were done with it, so they came back in the spring year after +year to live there, and there were always the stone and the sweet-brier +bush and the birds to remember the child. It was such a lonely place in +that wide field under the great sky, and yet it was so comfortable too; +but the sight of the little grave at first touched me strangely, and I +tried to picture to myself the procession that came out from the house +the day of the funeral, and I thought of the mother in the evening after +all the people had gone home, and how she missed the baby, and kept +seeing the new grave out here in the twilight as she went about her +work. I suppose the family moved away, and so all the rest were buried +elsewhere. + +I often think of this place, and I link it in my thoughts with something +I saw once in the water when I was out at sea: a little boat that some +child had lost, that had drifted down the river and out to sea; too long +a voyage, for it was a sad little wreck, with even its white sail of a +hand-breadth half under water, and its twine rigging trailing astern. It +was a silly little boat, and no loss, except to its owner, to whom it +had seemed as brave and proud a thing as any ship of the line to you and +me. It was a shipwreck of his small hopes, I suppose, and I can see it +now, the toy of the great winds and waves, as it floated on its way, +while I sailed on mine, out of sight of land. + +The little grave is forgotten by everybody but me, I think: the mother +must have found the child again in heaven a very long time ago: but in +the winter I shall wonder if the snow has covered it well, and next year +I shall go to see the sweet-brier bush when it is in bloom. God knows +what use that life was, the grave is such a short one, and nobody knows +whose little child it was; but perhaps a thousand people in the world +to-day are better because it brought a little love into the world that +was not there before. + +I sat so long here in the sun that the dog, after running after all the +birds, and even chasing crickets, and going through a great piece of +affectation in barking before an empty woodchuck's hole to kill time, +came to sit patiently in front of me, as if he wished to ask when I +would go on. I had never been in this part of the pasture before. It was +at one side of the way I usually took, so presently I went on to find a +favorite track of mine, half a mile to the right, along the bank of a +brook. There had been heavy rains the week before, and I found more +water than usual running, and the brook was apparently in a great hurry. +It was very quiet along the shore of it; the frogs had long ago gone +into winter-quarters, and there was not one to splash into the water +when he saw me coming. I did not see a musk-rat either, though I knew +where their holes were by the piles of fresh-water mussel shells that +they had untidily thrown out at their front door. I thought it might be +well to hunt for mussels myself, and crack them in search of pearls, but +it was too serene and beautiful a day. I was not willing to disturb the +comfort of even a shell-fish. It was one of the days when one does not +think of being tired: the scent of the dry everlasting flowers, and the +freshness of the wind, and the cawing of the crows, all come to me as I +think of it, and I remember that I went a long way before I began to +think of going home again. I knew I could not be far from a cross-road, +and when I climbed a low hill I saw a house which I was glad to make the +end of my walk--for a time, at any rate. It was some time since I had +seen the old woman who lived there, and I liked her dearly, and was sure +of a welcome. I went down through the pasture lane, and just then I saw +my father drive away up the road, just too far for me to make him hear +when I called. That seemed too bad at first, until I remembered that he +would come back again over the same road after a while, and in the mean +time I could make my call. The house was low and long and unpainted, +with a great many frost-bitten flowers about it. Some hollyhocks were +bowed down despairingly, and the morning-glory vines were more miserable +still. Some of the smaller plants had been covered to keep them from +freezing, and were braving out a few more days, but no shelter would +avail them much longer. And already nobody minded whether the gate was +shut or not, and part of the great flock of hens were marching proudly +about among the wilted posies, which they had stretched their necks +wistfully through the fence for all summer. I heard the noise of +spinning in the house, and my dog scurried off after the cat as I went +in the door. I saw Miss Polly Marsh and her sister, Mrs. Snow, stepping +back and forward together spinning yarn at a pair of big wheels. The +wheels made such a noise with their whir and creak, and my friends were +talking so fast as they twisted and turned the yarn, that they did not +hear my footstep, and I stood in the doorway watching them, it was such +a quaint and pretty sight. They went together like a pair of horses, and +kept step with each other to and fro. They were about the same size, and +were cheerful old bodies, looking a good deal alike, with their checked +handkerchiefs over their smooth gray hair, their dark gowns made short +in the skirts, and their broad little feet in gray stockings and low +leather shoes without heels. They stood straight, and though they were +quick at their work they moved stiffly; they were talking busily about +some one. + +"I could tell by the way the doctor looked that he didn't think there +was much of anything the matter with her," said Miss Polly Marsh. "'You +needn't tell me,' says I, the other day, when I see him at Miss +Martin's. 'She'd be up and about this minute if she only had a mite o' +resolution;' and says he, 'Aunt Polly, you're as near right as usual;'" +and the old lady stopped to laugh a little. "I told him that wa'n't +saying much," said she, with an evident consciousness of the underlying +compliment and the doctor's good opinion. "I never knew one of that +tribe that hadn't a queer streak and wasn't shif'less; but they're +tougher than ellum roots;" and she gave the wheel an emphatic turn, +while Mrs. Snow reached for more rolls of wool, and happened to see me. + +"Wherever did you come from?" said they, in great surprise. "Why, you +wasn't anywhere in sight when I was out speaking to the doctor," said +Mrs. Snow. "Oh, come over horseback, I suppose. Well, now, we're pleased +to see ye." + +"No," said I, "I walked across the fields. It was too pleasant to stay +in the house, and I haven't had a long walk for some time before." I +begged them not to stop spinning, but they insisted that they should not +have turned the wheels a half-dozen times more, even if I had not come, +and they pushed them back to the wall before they came to sit down to +talk with me over their knitting--for neither of them were ever known to +be idle. Mrs. Snow was only there for a visit; she was a widow, and +lived during most of the year with her son; and Aunt Polly was at home +but seldom herself, as she was a famous nurse, and was often in demand +all through that part of the country. I had known her all my days. +Everybody was fond of the good soul, and she had been one of the most +useful women in the world. One of my pleasantest memories is of a long +but not very painful illness one winter, when she came to take care of +me. There was no end either to her stories or her kindness. I was +delighted to find her at home that afternoon, and Mrs. Snow also. + +Aunt Polly brought me some of her gingerbread, which she knew I liked, +and a stout little pitcher of milk, and we sat there together for a +while, gossiping and enjoying ourselves. I told all the village news +that I could think of, and I was just tired enough to know it, and to be +contented to sit still for a while in the comfortable three-cornered +chair by the little front window. The October sunshine lay along the +clean kitchen floor, and Aunt Polly darted from her chair occasionally +to catch stray little wisps of wool which the breeze through the door +blew along from the wheels. There was a gay string of red peppers +hanging over the very high mantel-shelf, and the wood-work in the room +had never been painted, and had grown dark brown with age and smoke and +scouring. The clock ticked solemnly, as if it were a judge giving the +laws of time, and felt itself to be the only thing that did not waste +it. There was a bouquet of asparagus and some late sprigs of larkspur +and white petunias on the table underneath, and a Leavitt's Almanac lay +on the county paper, which was itself lying on the big Bible, of which +Aunt Polly made a point of reading two chapters every day in course. I +remember her saying, despairingly, one night, half to herself, "I don' +know but I may skip the Chronicles next time," but I have never to this +day believed that she did. They asked me at once to come into the best +room, but I liked the old kitchen best. "Who was it that you were +talking about as I came in?" said I. "You said you didn't believe there +was much the matter with her." And Aunt Polly clicked her +knitting-needles faster, and told me that it was Mary Susan Ash, over by +Little Creek. + +"They're dreadful nervous, all them Ashes," said Mrs. Snow. "You know +young Joe Adams's wife, over our way, is a sister to her, and she's +forever a-doctorin'. Poor fellow! _he's_ got a drag. I'm real sorry for +Joe; but, land sakes alive! he might 'a known better. They said she had +an old green bandbox with a gingham cover, that was stowed full o' +vials, that she moved with the rest of her things when she was married, +besides some she car'd in her hands. I guess she ain't in no more hurry +to go than any of the rest of us. I've lost every mite of patience with +her. I was over there last week one day, and she'd had a call from the +new supply--you know Adams's folks is Methodists--and he was took in by +her. She made out she'd got the consumption, and she told how many +complaints she had, and what a sight o' medicine she took, and she +groaned and sighed, and her voice was so weak you couldn't more than +just hear it. I stepped right into the bedroom after he'd been prayin' +with her, and was taking leave. You'd thought, by what he said, she was +going right off then. She was coughing dreadful hard, and I knew she +hadn't no more cough than I had. So says I, 'What's the matter, Adaline? +I'll get ye a drink of water. Something in your throat, I s'pose. I hope +you won't go and get cold, and have a cough.' She looked as if she could +'a bit me, but I was just as pleasant 's could be. Land! to see her +laying there, I suppose the poor young fellow thought she was all gone. +He meant well. I wish he had seen her eating apple-dumplings for dinner. +She felt better 'long in the first o' the afternoon before he come. I +says to her, right before him, that I guessed them dumplings did her +good, but she never made no answer. She will have these dyin' spells. I +don't know's she can help it, but she needn't act as if it was a credit +to anybody to be sick and laid up. Poor Joe, he come over for me last +week another day, and said she'd been havin' spasms, and asked me if +there wa'n't something I could think of. 'Yes,' says I; 'you just take a +pail o' stone-cold water, and throw it square into her face; that'll +bring her out of it;' and he looked at me a minute, and then he burst +out a-laughing--he couldn't help it. He's too good to her; that's the +trouble." + +"You never said that to her about the dumplings?" said Aunt Polly, +admiringly. "Well, _I_ shouldn't ha' dared;" and she rocked and knitted +away faster than ever, while we all laughed. "Now with Mary Susan it's +different. I suppose she does have the neurology, and she's a poor +broken-down creature. I do feel for her more than I do for Adaline. She +was always a willing girl, and she worked herself to death, and she +can't help these notions, nor being an Ash neither." + +"I'm the last one to be hard on anybody that's sick, and in trouble," +said Mrs. Snow. + +"Bless you, she set up with Ad'line herself three nights in one week, to +my knowledge. It's more'n I would do," said Aunt Polly, as if there were +danger that I should think Mrs. Snow's kind heart to be made of flint. + +"It ain't what I call watching," said she, apologetically. "We both doze +off, and then when the folks come in in the morning she'll tell what a +sufferin' night she's had. She likes to have it said she has to have +watchers." + +"It's strange what a queer streak there is running through the whole of +'em," said Aunt Polly, presently. "It always was so, far back's you can +follow 'em. Did you ever hear about that great-uncle of theirs that +lived over to the other side o' Denby, over to what they call the Denby +Meadows? We had a cousin o' my father's that kept house for him (he was +a single man), and I spent most of a summer and fall with her once when +I was growing up. She seemed to want company: it was a lonesome sort of +a place." + +"There! I don't know when I have thought to' that," said Mrs. Snow, +looking much amused. "What stories you did use to tell, after you come +home, about the way he used to act! Dear sakes! she used to keep us +laughing till we was tired. Do tell her about him, Polly; she'll like to +hear." + +"Well, I've forgot a good deal about it: you see it was much as fifty +years ago. I wasn't more than seventeen or eighteen years old. He was a +very respectable man, old Mr. Dan'el Gunn was, and a cap'n in the +militia in his day. Cap'n Gunn, they always called him. He was well off, +but he got sun-struck, and never was just right in his mind afterward. +When he was getting over his sickness after the stroke he was very +wandering, and at last he seemed to get it into his head that he was his +own sister Patience that died some five or six years before: she was +single too, and she always lived with him. They said when he got so's to +sit up in his arm-chair of an afternoon, when he was getting better, he +fought 'em dreadfully because they fetched him his own clothes to put +on; he said they was brother Dan'el's clothes. So, sure enough, they +got out an old double gown, and let him put it on, and he was as +peaceable as could be. The doctor told 'em to humor him, but they +thought it was a fancy he took, and he would forget it; but the next day +he made 'em get the double gown again, and a cap too, and there he used +to set up alongside of his bed as prim as a dish. When he got round +again so he could set up all day, they thought he wanted the dress; but +no; he seemed to be himself, and had on his own clothes just as usual in +the morning; but when he took his nap after dinner and waked up again, +he was in a dreadful frame o' mind, and had the trousers and coat off in +no time, and said he was Patience. He used to fuss with some +knitting-work he got hold of somehow; he was good-natured as could be, +and sometimes he would make 'em fetch him the cat, because Patience used +to have a cat that set in her lap while she knit. I wasn't there then, +you know, but they used to tell me about it. Folks used to call him Miss +Dan'el Gunn. + +"He'd been that way some time when I went over. I'd heard about his +notions, and I was scared of him at first, but I found out there wasn't +no need. Don't you know I was sort o' 'fraid to go, 'Lizabeth, when +Cousin Statiry sent for me after she went home from that visit she made +here? She'd told us about him, but sometimes, 'long at the first of it, +he used to be cross. He never was after I went there. He was a clever, +kind-hearted man, if ever there was one," said Aunt Polly, with +decision. "He used to go down to the corner to the store sometimes in +the morning, and he would see to business. And before he got feeble +sometimes he would work out on the farm all the morning, stiddy as any +of the men; but after he come in to dinner he would take off his coat, +if he had it on, and fall asleep in his arm-chair, or on a l'unge there +was in his bedroom, and when he waked up he would be sort of bewildered +for a while, and then he'd step round quick's he could, and get his +dress out o' the clothes-press, and the cap, and put 'em on right over +the rest of his clothes. He was always small-featured and smooth-shaved, +and I don' know as, to come in sudden, you would have thought he was a +man, except his hair stood up short and straight all on the top of his +head, as men-folks had a fashion o' combing their hair then, and I must +say he did make a dreadful ordinary-looking woman. The neighbors got +used to his ways, and, land! I never thought nothing of it after the +first week or two. + +"His sister's clothes that he wore first was too small for him, and so +my cousin Statiry, that kep' his house, she made him a linsey-woolsey +dress with a considerable short skirt, and he was dreadful pleased with +it, she said, because the other one never would button over good, and +showed his wais'coat, and she and I used to make him caps; he used to +wear the kind all the old women did then, with a big crown, and close +round the face. I've got some laid away up-stairs now that was my +mother's--she wore caps very young, mother did. His nephew that lived +with him carried on the farm, and managed the business, but he always +treated the cap'n as if he was head of everything there. Everybody +pitied the cap'n; folks respected him; but you couldn't help laughing, +to save ye. We used to try to keep him in, afternoons, but we couldn't +always." + +"Tell her about that day he went to meeting," said Mrs. Snow. + +"Why, one of us always used to stay to home with him; we took turns; and +somehow or 'nother he never offered to go, though by spells he would be +constant to meeting in the morning. Why, bless you, you never'd think +anything ailed him a good deal of the time, if you saw him before noon, +though sometimes he would be freaky, and hide himself in the barn, or go +over in the woods, but we always kept an eye on him. But this Sunday +there was going to be a great occasion. Old Parson Croden was going to +preach; he was thought more of than anybody in this region: you've heard +tell of him a good many times, I s'pose. He was getting to be old, and +didn't preach much. He had a colleague, they set so much by him in his +parish, and I didn't know's I'd ever get another chance to hear him, so +I didn't want to stay to home, and neither did Cousin Statiry; and Jacob +Gunn, old Mr. Gunn's nephew, he said it might be the last time ever he'd +hear Parson Croden, and he set in the seats anyway; so we talked it all +over, and we got a young boy to come and set 'long of the cap'n till we +got back. He hadn't offered to go anywhere of an afternoon for a long +time. I s'pose he thought women ought to be stayers at home according +to Scripture. + +"Parson Ridley--his wife was a niece to old Dr. Croden--and the old +doctor they was up in the pulpit, and the choir was singing the first +hymn--it was a fuguing tune, and they was doing their best: seems to me +it was 'Canterbury New.' Yes, it was; I remember I thought how splendid +it sounded, and Jacob Gunn he was a-leading off; and I happened to look +down the aisle, and who should I see but the poor old cap'n in his cap +and gown parading right into meeting before all the folks! There! I +wanted to go through the floor. Everybody 'most had seen him at home, +but, my goodness! to have him come into meeting!" + +"What did you do?" said I. + +"Why, nothing," said Miss Polly; "there was nothing _to_ do. I thought I +should faint away; but I called Cousin Statiry's 'tention, and she +looked dreadful put to it for a minute; and then says she, 'Open the +door for him; I guess he won't make no trouble,' and, poor soul, he +didn't. But to see him come up the aisle! He'd fixed himself nice as he +could, poor creatur; he'd raked out Miss Patience's old Navarino bonnet +with green ribbons and a willow feather, and set it on right over his +cap, and he had her bead bag on his arm, and her turkey-tail fan that +he'd got out of the best room; and he come with little short steps up to +the pew: and I s'posed he'd set by the door; but no, he made to go by +us, up into the corner where she used to set, and took her place, and +spread his dress out nice, and got his handkerchief out o' his bag, +just's he'd seen her do. He took off his bonnet all of a sudden, as if +he'd forgot it, and put it under the seat, like he did his hat--that was +the only thing he did that any woman wouldn't have done--and the crown +of his cap was bent some. I thought die I should. The pew was one of +them up aside the pulpit, a square one, you know, right at the end of +the right-hand aisle, so I could see the length of it and out of the +door, and there stood that poor boy we'd left to keep the cap'n company, +looking as pale as ashes. We found he'd tried every way to keep the old +gentleman at home, but he said he got f'erce as could be, so he didn't +dare to say no more, and Cap'n Gunn drove him back twice to the house, +and that's why he got in so late. I didn't know but it was the boy that +had set him on to go to meeting when I see him walk in, and I could 'a +wrung his neck; but I guess I misjudged him; he was called a stiddy boy. +He married a daughter of Ichabod Pinkham's over to Oak Plains, and I saw +a son of his when I was taking care of Miss West last spring through +that lung fever--looked like his father. I wish I'd thought to tell him +about that Sunday. I heard he was waiting on that pretty Becket girl, +the orphan one that lives with Nathan Becket. Her father and mother was +both lost at sea, but she's got property." + +"What did they say in church when the captain came in, Aunt Polly?" said +I. + +"Well, a good many of them laughed--they couldn't help it, to save them; +but the cap'n he was some hard o' hearin', so he never noticed it, and +he set there in the corner and fanned him, as pleased and satisfied as +could be. The singers they had the worst time, but they had just come to +the end of a verse, and they played on the instruments a good while in +between, but I could see 'em shake, and I s'pose the tune did stray a +little, though they went through it well. And after the first fun of it +was over, most of the folks felt bad. You see, the cap'n had been very +much looked up to, and it was his misfortune, and he set there quiet, +listening to the preaching. I see some tears in some o' the old folks' +eyes: they hated to see him so broke in his mind, you know. There was +more than usual of 'em out that day; they knew how bad he'd feel if he +realized it. A good Christian man he was, and dreadful precise, I've +heard 'em say." + +"Did he ever go again?" said I. + +"I seem to forget," said Aunt Polly. "I dare say. I wasn't there but +from the last of June into November, and when I went over again it +wasn't for three years, and the cap'n had been dead some time. His mind +failed him more and more along at the last. But I'll tell you what he +did do, and it was the week after that very Sunday, too. He heard it +given out from the pulpit that the Female Missionary Society would meet +with Mis' William Sands the Thursday night o' that week--the sewing +society, you know; and he looked round to us real knowing; and Cousin +Statiry, says she to me, under her bonnet, 'You don't s'pose he'll want +to go?' and I like to have laughed right out. But sure enough he did, +and what do you suppose but he made us fix over a handsome black watered +silk for him to wear, that had been his sister's best dress. He said +he'd outgrown it dreadful quick. Cousin Statiry she wished to heaven +she'd thought to put it away, for Jacob had given it to her, and she was +meaning to make it over for herself; but it didn't do to cross the cap'n +and Jacob Gunn gave Statiry another one--the best he could get, but it +wasn't near so good a piece, she thought. He set everything by Statiry, +and so did the cap'n, and well they might. + +"We hoped he'd forget all about it the next day; but he didn't; and I +always thought well of those ladies, they treated him so handsome, and +tried to make him enjoy himself. He did eat a great supper; they kep' +a-piling up his plate with everything. I couldn't help wondering if some +of 'em would have put themselves out much if it had been some poor +flighty old woman. The cap'n he was as polite as could be, and when +Jacob come to walk home with him he kissed 'em all round and asked 'em +to meet at his house. But the greatest was--land! I don't know when I've +thought so much about those times--one afternoon he was setting at home +in the keeping-room, and Statiry was there, and Deacon Abel Pinkham +stopped in to see Jacob Gunn about building some fence, and he found +he'd gone to mill, so he waited a while, talking friendly, as they +expected Jacob might be home; and the cap'n was as pleased as could be, +and he urged the deacon to stop to tea. And when he went away, says he +to Statiry, in a dreadful knowing way, 'Which of us do you consider the +deacon come to see?' You see, the deacon was a widower. Bless you! when +I first come home I used to set everybody laughing, but I forget most of +the things now. There was one day, though"-- + +"Here comes your father," said Mrs. Snow. "Now we mustn't let him go by +or you'll have to walk 'way home." And Aunt Polly hurried out to speak +to him, while I took my great bunch of golden-rod, which already drooped +a little, and followed her, with Mrs. Snow, who confided to me that the +captain's nephew Jacob had offered to Polly that summer she was over +there, and she never could see why she didn't have him: only love goes +where it is sent, and Polly wasn't one to marry for what she could get +if she didn't like the man. There was plenty that would have said yes, +and thank you too, sir, to Jacob Gunn. + +That was a pleasant afternoon. I reached home when it was growing dark +and chilly, and the early autumn sunset had almost faded in the west. It +was a much longer way home around by the road than by the way I had come +across the fields. + + + + +_From a Mournful Villager_ + + +Lately I have been thinking, with much sorrow, of the approaching +extinction of front yards, and of the type of New England village +character and civilization with which they are associated. Formerly, +because I lived in an old-fashioned New England village, it would have +been hard for me to imagine that there were parts of the country where +the Front yard, as I knew it, was not in fashion, and that Grounds +(however small) had taken its place. No matter how large a piece of land +lay in front of a house in old times, it was still a front yard, in +spite of noble dimension and the skill of practiced gardeners. + +There are still a good many examples of the old manner of out-of-door +life and customs, as well as a good deal of the old-fashioned provincial +society, left in the eastern parts of the New England States; but put +side by side with the society that is American rather than provincial, +one discovers it to be in a small minority. The representative United +States citizen will be, or already is, a Westerner, and his instincts +and ways of looking at things have certain characteristics of their own +which are steadily growing more noticeable. + +For many years New England was simply a bit of Old England transplanted. +We all can remember elderly people whose ideas were wholly under the +influence of their English ancestry. It is hardly more than a hundred +years since we were English colonies, and not independent United States, +and the customs and ideas of the mother country were followed from force +of habit. Now one begins to see a difference; the old traditions have +had time to almost die out even in the most conservative and least +changed towns, and a new element has come in. The true characteristics +of American society, as I have said, are showing themselves more and +more distinctly to the westward of New England, and come back to it in a +tide that steadily sweeps away the old traditions. It rises over the +heads of the prim and stately idols before which our grandfathers and +grandmothers bowed down and worshiped, and which we ourselves were at +least taught to walk softly by as they toppled on their thrones. + +One cannot help wondering what a lady of the old school will be like a +hundred years from now! But at any rate she will not be in heart and +thought and fashion of good breeding as truly an Englishwoman as if she +had never stepped out of Great Britain. If one of our own elderly ladies +were suddenly dropped into the midst of provincial English society, she +would be quite at home; but west of her own Hudson River she is lucky if +she does not find herself behind the times, and almost a stranger and a +foreigner. + +And yet from the first there was a little difference, and the colonies +were New England and not Old. In some ways more radical, yet in some +ways more conservative, than the people across the water, they showed a +new sort of flower when they came into bloom in this new climate and +soil. In the old days there had not been time for the family ties to be +broken and forgotten. Instead of the unknown English men and women who +are our sixth and seventh cousins now, they had first and second cousins +then; but there was little communication between one country and the +other, and the mutual interest in every-day affairs had to fade out +quickly. A traveler was a curiosity, and here, even between the villages +themselves, there was far less intercourse than we can believe possible. +People stayed on their own ground; their horizons were of small +circumference, and their whole interest and thought were spent upon +their own land, their own neighbors, their own affairs, while they not +only were contented with this state of things but encouraged it. One has +only to look at the high-walled pews of the old churches, at the high +fences of the town gardens, and at even the strong fortifications around +some family lots in the burying-grounds, to be sure of this. The +interviewer was not besought and encouraged in those days,--he was +defied. In that quarter, at least, they had the advantage of us. Their +interest was as real and heartfelt in each other's affairs as ours, let +us hope; but they never allowed idle curiosity to show itself in the +world's market-place, shameless and unblushing. + +There is so much to be said in favor of our own day, and the men and +women of our own time, that a plea for a recognition of the quaintness +and pleasantness of village life in the old days cannot seem unwelcome, +or without deference to all that has come with the later years of ease +and comfort, or of discovery in the realms of mind or matter. We are +beginning to cling to the elderly people who are so different from +ourselves, and for this reason: we are paying them instinctively the +honor that is due from us to our elders and betters; they have that +grand prestige and dignity that only comes with age; they are like old +wines, perhaps no better than many others when they were young, but now +after many years they have come to be worth nobody knows how many +dollars a dozen, and the connoisseurs make treasures of the few bottles +of that vintage which are left. + +It was a restricted and narrowly limited life in the old days. Religion, +or rather sectarianism, was apt to be simply a matter of inheritance, +and there was far more bigotry in every cause and question,--a fiercer +partisanship; and because there were fewer channels of activity, and +those undivided into specialties, there was a whole-souled concentration +of energy that was as efficient as it was sometimes narrow and +short-sighted. People were more contented in the sphere of life to which +it had pleased God to call them, and they do not seem to have been so +often sorely tempted by the devil with a sight of the kingdoms of the +world and the glory of them. We are more likely to busy ourselves with +finding things to do than in doing with our might the work that is in +our hands already. The disappearance of many of the village front yards +may come to be typical of the altered position of woman, and mark a +stronghold on her way from the much talked-of slavery and subjection to +a coveted equality. She used to be shut off from the wide acres of the +farm, and had no voice in the world's politics; she must stay in the +house, or only hold sway out of doors in this prim corner of land where +she was queen. No wonder that women clung to their rights in their +flower-gardens then, and no wonder that they have grown a little +careless of them now, and that lawn mowers find so ready a sale. The +whole world is their front yard nowadays! + + * * * * * + +There might be written a history of front yards in New England which +would be very interesting to read. It would end in a treatise upon +landscape gardening and its possibilities, and wild flights of +imagination about the culture of plants under glass, the application of +artificial heat in forcing, and the curious mingling and development of +plant life, but it would begin in the simple time of the early +colonists. It must have been hard when, after being familiar with the +gardens and parks of England and Holland, they found themselves +restricted to front yards by way of pleasure grounds. Perhaps they +thought such things were wrong, and that having a pleasant place to walk +about in out of doors would encourage idle and lawless ways in the +young; at any rate, for several years it was more necessary to raise +corn and potatoes to keep themselves from starving than to lay out +alleys and plant flowers and box borders among the rocks and stumps. +There is a great pathos in the fact that in so stern and hard a life +there was time or place for any gardens at all. I can picture to myself +the little slips and cuttings that had been brought over in the ship, +and more carefully guarded than any of the household goods; I can see +the women look at them tearfully when they came into bloom, because +nothing else could be a better reminder of their old home. What fears +there must have been lest the first winter's cold might kill them, and +with what love and care they must have been tended! I know a rose-bush, +and a little while ago I knew an apple-tree, that were brought over by +the first settlers; the rose still blooms, and until it was cut down the +old tree bore apples. It is strange to think that civilized New England +is no older than the little red roses that bloom in June on that slope +above the river in Kittery. Those earliest gardens were very pathetic in +the contrast of their extent and their power of suggestion and +association. Every seed that came up was thanked for its kindness, and +every flower that bloomed was the child of a beloved ancestry. + +It would be interesting to watch the growth of the gardens as life +became easier and more comfortable in the colonies. As the settlements +grew into villages and towns, and the Indians were less dreadful, and +the houses were better and more home-like, the busy people began to find +a little time now and then when they could enjoy themselves soberly. +Beside the fruits of the earth they could have some flowers and a sprig +of sage and southernwood and tansy, or lavender that had come from +Surrey and could be dried to be put among the linen as it used to be +strewn through the chests and cupboards in the old country. + +I like to think of the changes as they came slowly; that after a while +tender plants could be kept through the winter, because the houses were +better built and warmer, and were no longer rough shelters which were +only meant to serve until there could be something better. Perhaps the +parlor, or best room, and a special separate garden for the flowers were +two luxuries of the same date, and they made a noticeable change in the +manner of living,--the best room being a formal recognition of the +claims of society, and the front yard an appeal for the existence of +something that gave pleasure,--beside the merely useful and wholly +necessary things of life. When it was thought worth while to put a fence +around the flower-garden the respectability of art itself was +established and made secure. Whether the house was a fine one, and its +inclosure spacious, or whether it was a small house with only a narrow +bit of ground in front, this yard was kept with care, and it was +different from the rest of the land altogether. The children were not +often allowed to play there, and the family did not use the front door +except upon occasions of more or less ceremony. I think that many of the +old front yards could tell stories of the lovers who found it hard to +part under the stars, and lingered over the gate; and who does not +remember the solemn group of men who gather there at funerals, and stand +with their heads uncovered as the mourners go out and come in, two by +two. I have always felt rich in the possession of an ancient York +tradition of an old fellow who demanded, as he lay dying, that the grass +in his front yard should be cut at once; it was no use to have it +trodden down and spoilt by the folks at the funeral. I always hoped it +was good hay weather; but he must have been certain of that when he +spoke. Let us hope he did not confuse this world with the next, being so +close upon the borders of it! It was not man-like to think of the front +yard, since it was the special domain of the women,--the men of the +family respected but ignored it,--they had to be teased in the spring +to dig the flower beds, but it was the busiest time of the year; one +should remember that. + +I think many people are sorry, without knowing why, to see the fences +pulled down; and the disappearance of plain white palings causes almost +as deep regret as that of the handsome ornamental fences and their high +posts with urns or great white balls on top. A stone coping does not +make up for the loss of them; it always looks a good deal like a lot in +a cemetery, for one thing; and then in a small town the grass is not +smooth, and looks uneven where the flower-beds were not properly +smoothed down. The stray cows trample about where they never went +before; the bushes and little trees that were once protected grow ragged +and scraggly and out at elbows, and a few forlorn flowers come up of +themselves, and try hard to grow and to bloom. The ungainly red tubs +that are perched on little posts have plants in them, but the poor +posies look as if they would rather be in the ground, and as if they are +held too near the fire of the sun. If everything must be neglected and +forlorn so much the more reason there should be a fence, if but to hide +it. Americans are too fond of being stared at; they apparently feel as +if it were one's duty to one's neighbor. Even if there is nothing really +worth looking at about a house, it is still exposed to the gaze of the +passers-by. Foreigners are far more sensible than we, and the +out-of-door home life among them is something we might well try to copy. +They often have their meals served out of doors, and one can enjoy an +afternoon nap in a hammock, or can take one's work out into the shady +garden with great satisfaction, unwatched; and even a little piece of +ground can be made, if shut in and kept for the use and pleasure of the +family alone, a most charming unroofed and trellised summer ante-room to +the house. In a large, crowded town it would be selfish to conceal the +rare bits of garden, where the sight of anything green is a godsend; but +where there is the whole wide country of fields and woods within easy +reach I think there should be high walls around our gardens, and that we +lose a great deal in not making them entirely separate from the highway; +as much as we should lose in making the walls of our parlors and +dining-rooms of glass, and building the house as close to the street as +possible. + +But to go back to the little front yards: we are sorry to miss them and +their tangle or orderliness of roses and larkspur and honeysuckle, +Canterbury bells and London pride, lilacs and peonies. These may all +bloom better than ever in the new beds that are cut in the turf; but +with the side fences that used to come from the corners of the house to +the front fence, other barriers, as I have said here over and over, have +been taken away, and the old-fashioned village life is becoming extinct. +People do not know what they lose when they make way with the reserve, +the separateness, the sanctity of the front yard of their grandmothers. +It is like writing down the family secrets for any one to read; it is +like having everybody call you by your first name and sitting in any pew +in church, and like having your house in the middle of a road, to take +away the fence which, slight as it may be, is a fortification round your +home. More things than one may come in without being asked. We Americans +had better build more fences than take any away from our lives. There +should be gates for charity to go out and in, and kindness and sympathy +too, but his life and his house are together each man's stronghold and +castle, to be kept and defended. + +I was much amused once at thinking that the fine old solid paneled doors +were being unhinged faster than ever nowadays, since so many front gates +have disappeared, and the click of the latch can no longer give notice +of the approach of a guest. Now the knocker sounds or the bell rings +without note or warning, and the village housekeeper cannot see who is +coming in until they have already reached the door. Once the guests +could be seen on their way up the walk. It must be a satisfaction to +look through the clear spots of the figured ground-glass in the new +doors, and I believe if there is a covering inside few doors will be +found unprovided with a peephole. It was better to hear the gate open +and shut, and if it caught and dragged as front gates are very apt to do +you could have time always for a good look out of the window at the +approaching friend. + +There are few of us who cannot remember a front-yard garden which seemed +to us a very paradise in childhood. It was like a miracle when the +yellow and white daffies came into bloom in the spring, and there was a +time when tiger-lilies and the taller rose-bushes were taller than we +were, and we could not look over their heads as we do now. There were +always a good many lady's-delights that grew under the bushes, and came +up anywhere in the chinks of the walk of the door-step, and there was a +little green sprig called ambrosia that was a famous stray-away. Outside +the fence one was not unlikely to see a company of French pinks, which +were forbidden standing-room inside as if they were tiresome poor +relations of the other flowers. I always felt a sympathy for French +pinks,--they have a fresh, sweet look, as if they resigned themselves to +their lot in life and made the best of it, and remembered that they had +the sunshine and rain, and could see what was going on in the world, if +they were outlaws. + +I like to remember being sent on errands, and being asked to wait while +the mistress of the house picked some flowers to send back to my mother. +They were almost always prim, flat bouquets in those days; the larger +flowers were picked first and stood at the back and looked over the +heads of those that were shorter of stem and stature, and the givers +always sent a message that they had not stopped to arrange them. I +remember that I had even then a great dislike to lemon verbena, and that +I would have waited patiently outside a gate all the afternoon if I knew +that some one would kindly give me a sprig of lavender in the evening. +And lilies did not seem to me overdressed, but it was easy for me to +believe that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like a great +yellow marigold, or even the dear little single ones that were yellow +and brown, and bloomed until the snow came. + +I wish that I had lived for a little while in those days when lilacs +were a new fashion, and it was a great distinction to have some growing +in a front yard. It always seems as if lilacs and poplars belonged to +the same generation with a certain kind of New English gentlemen and +ladies, who were ascetic and severe in some of their fashions, while in +others they were more given to pleasuring and mild revelry than either +their ancestors or the people who have lived in their houses since. +Fifty years ago there seems to have been a last tidal wave of Puritanism +which swept over the country, and drowned for a time the sober feasting +and dancing which before had been considered no impropriety in the +larger villages. Whist-playing was clung to only by the most worldly +citizens, and, as for dancing, it was made a sin in itself and a +reproach, as if every step was taken willfully in seven-leagued boots +toward a place which is to be the final destination of all the wicked. + +A single poplar may have a severe and uncharitable look, but a row of +them suggests the antique and pleasing pomp and ceremony of their early +days, before the sideboard cupboards were only used to keep the boxes of +strings and nails and the duster; and the best decanters were put on a +high shelf, while the plain ones were used for vinegar in the kitchen +closet. There is far less social visiting from house to house than there +used to be. People in the smaller towns have more acquaintances who live +at a distance than was the case before the days of railroads, and there +are more guests who come from a distance, which has something to do with +making tea-parties and the entertainment of one's neighbors less +frequent than in former times. But most of the New England towns have +changed their characters in the last twenty years, since the +manufactories have come in and brought together large numbers either of +foreigners or of a different class of people from those who used to make +the most of the population. A certain class of families is rapidly +becoming extinct. There will be found in the older villages very few +persons left who belong to this class, which was once far more important +and powerful; the oldest churches are apt to be most thinly attended +simply because a different sort of ideas, even of heavenly things, +attract the newer residents. I suppose that elderly people have said, +ever since the time of Shem, Ham, and Japhet's wives in the ark, that +society is nothing to what it used to be, and we may expect to be always +told what unworthy successors we are of our grandmothers. But the fact +remains that a certain element of American society is fast dying out, +giving place to the new; and with all our glory and pride in modern +progress and success we cling to the old associations regretfully. There +is nothing to take the place of the pleasure we have in going to see our +old friends in the parlors which have changed little since our +childhood. No matter how advanced in years we seem to ourselves we are +children still to the gracious hostess. Thank Heaven for the friends +who have always known us! They may think us unreliable and young still; +they may not understand that we have become busy and more or less +important people to ourselves and to the world,--we are pretty sure to +be without honor in our own country, but they will never forget us, and +we belong to each other and always shall. + +I have received many kindnesses at my friends' hands, but I do not know +that I have ever felt myself to be a more fortunate or honored guest +than I used years ago, when I sometimes went to call upon an elderly +friend of my mother who lived in most pleasant and stately fashion. I +used to put on my very best manner, and I have no doubt that my thoughts +were well ordered, and my conversation as proper as I knew how to make +it. I can remember that I used to sit on a tall ottoman, with nothing to +lean against, and my feet were off soundings, I was so high above the +floor. We used to discuss the weather, and I said that I went to school +(sometimes), or that it was then vacation, as the case might be, and we +tried to make ourselves agreeable to each other. Presently my lady would +take her keys out of her pocket, and sometimes a maid would come to +serve me, or else she herself would bring me a silver tray with some +pound-cakes baked in hearts and rounds, and a small glass of wine, and I +proudly felt that I was a guest, though I was such a little thing an +attention was being paid me, and a thrill of satisfaction used to go +over me for my consequence and importance. A handful of sugar-plums +would have seemed nothing beside this entertainment. I used to be +careful not to crumble the cake, and I used to eat it with my gloves on, +and a pleasant fragrance would cling for some time afterward to the ends +of the short Lisle-thread fingers. I have no doubt that my manners as I +took leave were almost as distinguished as those of my hostess, though I +might have been wild and shy all the rest of the week. It was not many +years ago that I went to my old friend's funeral--and saw them carry her +down the long, wide walk, between the tall box borders which were her +pride; and all the air was heavy and sweet with the perfume of the early +summer blossoms; the white lilacs and the flowering currants were still +in bloom, and the rows of her dear Dutch tulips stood dismayed in their +flaunting colors and watched her go away. + +My sketch of the already out-of-date or fast vanishing village fashions +perhaps should be ended here, but I cannot resist a wish to add another +bit of autobiography of which I have been again and again reminded in +writing these pages. The front yard I knew best belonged to my +grandfather's house. My grandmother was a proud and solemn woman, and +she hated my mischief, and rightly thought my elder sister a much better +child than I. I used to be afraid of her when I was in the house, but I +shook off even her authority and forgot I was under anybody's rule when +I was out of doors. I was first cousin to a caterpillar if they called +me to come in, and I was own sister to a giddy-minded bobolink when I +ran away across the fields, as I used to do very often. But when I was a +very little child indeed my world was bounded by the fences that were +around my home; there were wide green yards and tall elm-trees to shade +them; there was a long line of barns and sheds, and one of these had a +large room in its upper story, with an old ship's foresail spread over +the floor, and made a capital play-room in wet weather. Here fruit was +spread in the fall, and there were some old chests and pieces of +furniture that had been discarded; it was like the garret, only much +pleasanter. The children in the village now cannot possibly be so happy +as I was then. I used to mount the fence next the street and watch the +people go in and out of the quaint-roofed village shops that stood in a +row on the other side, and looked as if they belonged to a Dutch or old +English town. They were burnt down long ago, but they were charmingly +picturesque; the upper stories sometimes projected over the lower, and +the chimneys were sometimes clustered together and built of bright red +bricks. + +And I was too happy when I could smuggle myself into the front yard, +with its four lilac bushes and its white fences to shut it in from the +rest of the world, beside other railings that went from the porch down +each side of the brick walk, which was laid in a pattern, and had H.C., +1818, cut deeply into one of the bricks near the door-step. The H.C. +was for Henry Currier, the mason, who had signed this choice bit of work +as if it were a picture, and he had been dead so many years that I used +to think of his initials as if the corner brick were a little +grave-stone for him. The knocker used to be so bright that it shone at +you, and caught your eye bewilderingly, as you came in from the street +on a sunshiny day. There were very few flowers, for my grandmother was +old and feeble when I knew her, and could not take care of them; but I +remember that there were blush roses, and white roses, and cinnamon +roses all in a tangle in one corner, and I used to pick the crumpled +petals of those to make myself a delicious coddle with ground cinnamon +and damp brown sugar. In the spring I used to find the first green grass +there, for it was warm and sunny, and I used to pick the little French +pinks when they dared show their heads in the cracks of the flag-stones +that were laid around the house. There were small shoots of lilac, too, +and their leaves were brown and had a faint, sweet fragrance, and a +little later the dandelions came into bloom; the largest ones I knew +grew there, and they have always been to this day my favorite flowers. + +I had my trials and sorrows in this paradise, however; I lost a cent +there one day which I never have found yet! And one morning, there +suddenly appeared in one corner a beautiful, dark-blue _fleur-de-lis_, +and I joyfully broke its neck and carried it into the house, but +everybody had seen it, and wondered that I could not have left it alone. +Besides this, it befell me later to sin more gravely still; my +grandmother had kept some plants through the winter on a three-cornered +stand built like a flight of steps, and when the warm spring weather +came this was put out of doors. She had a cherished tea-rose bush, and +what should I find but a bud on it; it was opened just enough to give a +hint of its color. I was very pleased; I snapped it off at once, for I +had heard so many times that it was hard to make roses bloom; and I ran +in through the hall and up the stairs, where I met my grandmother on the +square landing. She sat down in the window-seat, and I showed her +proudly what was crumpled in my warm little fist. I can see it now!--it +had no stem at all, and for many days afterward I was bowed down with a +sense of my guilt and shame, for I was made to understand it was an +awful thing to have blighted and broken a treasured flower like that. + +It must have been the very next winter that my grandmother died. She had +a long illness which I do not remember much about; but the night she +died might have been yesterday night, it is all so fresh and clear in +my mind. I did not live with her in the old house then, but in a new +house close by, across the yard. All the family were at the great house, +and I could see that lights were carried hurriedly from one room to +another. A servant came to fetch me, but I would not go with her; my +grandmother was dying, whatever that might be, and she was taking leave +of every one--she was ceremonious even then. I did not dare to go with +the rest; I had an intense curiosity to see what dying might be like, +but I was afraid to be there with her, and I was also afraid to stay at +home alone. I was only five years old. It was in December, and the sky +seemed to grow darker and darker, and I went out at last to sit on a +door-step and cry softly to myself, and while I was there some one came +to another door next the street, and rang the bell loudly again and +again. I suppose I was afraid to answer the summons--indeed, I do not +know that I thought of it; all the world had been still before, and the +bell sounded loud and awful through the empty house. It seemed as if the +messenger from an unknown world had come to the wrong house to call my +poor grandmother away; and that loud ringing is curiously linked in my +mind with the knocking at the gate in "Macbeth." I never can think of +one without the other, though there was no fierce Lady Macbeth to bid me +not be lost so poorly in my thoughts; for when they all came back awed +and tearful, and found me waiting in the cold, alone, and afraid more of +this world than the next, they were very good to me. But as for the +funeral, it gave me vast entertainment; it was the first grand public +occasion in which I had taken any share. + + + + +_An October Ride_ + + +It was a fine afternoon, just warm enough and just cool enough, and I +started off alone on horseback, though I do not know why I should say +alone when I find my horse such good company. She is called Sheila, and +she not only gratifies one's sense of beauty, but is very interesting in +her character, while her usefulness in this world is beyond question. I +grow more fond of her every week; we have had so many capital good times +together, and I am certain that she is as much pleased as I when we +start out for a run. + +I do not say to every one that I always pronounce her name in German +fashion because she occasionally shies, but that is the truth. I do not +mind her shying, or a certain mysterious and apparently unprovoked jump, +with which she sometimes indulges herself, and no one else rides her, so +I think she does no harm, but I do not like the principle of allowing +her to be wicked, unrebuked and unhindered, and some day I shall give my +mind to admonishing this four-footed Princess of Thule, who seems at +present to consider herself at the top of royalty in this kingdom or any +other. I believe I should not like her half so well if she were tamer +and entirely and stupidly reliable; I glory in her good spirits and I +think she has a right to be proud and willful if she chooses. I am proud +myself of her quick eye and ear, her sure foot, and her slender, +handsome chestnut head. I look at her points of high breeding with +admiration, and I thank her heartily for all the pleasure she has given +me, and for what I am sure is a steadfast friendship between us,--and a +mutual understanding that rarely knows a disappointment or a mistake. +She is careful when I come home late through the shadowy, twilighted +woods, and I can hardly see my way; she forgets then all her little +tricks and capers, and is as steady as a clock with her tramp, tramp, +over the rough, dark country roads. I feel as if I had suddenly grown a +pair of wings when she fairly flies over the ground and the wind +whistles in my ears. There never was a time when she could not go a +little faster, but she is willing to go step by step through the close +woods, pushing her way through the branches, and stopping considerately +when a bough that will not bend tries to pull me off the saddle. And she +never goes away and leaves me when I dismount to get some flowers or a +drink of spring water, though sometimes she thinks what fun it would be. +I cannot speak of all her virtues for I have not learned them yet. We +are still new friends, for I have only ridden her two years and I feel +all the fascination of the first meeting every time I go out with her, +she is so unexpected in her ways; so amusing, so sensible, so brave, and +in every way so delightful a horse. + +It was in October, and it was a fine day to look at, though some of the +great clouds that sailed through the sky were a little too heavy-looking +to promise good weather on the morrow, and over in the west (where the +wind was coming from) they were packed close together and looked gray +and wet. It might be cold and cloudy later, but that would not hinder my +ride; it is a capital way to keep warm, to come along a smooth bit of +road on the run, and I should have time at any rate to go the way I +wished, so Sheila trotted quickly through the gate and out of the +village. There was a flicker of color left on the oaks and maples, and +though it was not Indian-summer weather it was first cousin to it. I +took off my cap to let the wind blow through my hair; I had half a mind +to go down to the sea, but it was too late for that; there was no moon +to light me home. Sheila took the strip of smooth turf just at the side +of the road for her own highway, she tossed her head again and again +until I had my hand full of her thin, silky mane, and she gave quick +pulls at her bit and hurried little jumps ahead as if she expected me +already to pull the reins tight and steady her for a hard gallop. I +patted her and whistled at her, I was so glad to see her again and to be +out riding, and I gave her part of her reward to begin with, because I +knew she would earn it, and then we were on better terms than ever. She +has such a pretty way of turning her head to take the square lump of +sugar, and she never bit my fingers or dropped the sugar in her life. + +Down in the lower part of the town on the edge of York, there is a long +tract of woodland, covering what is called the Rocky Hills; rough, high +land, that stretches along from beyond Agamenticus, near the sea, to the +upper part of Eliot, near the Piscataqua River. Standing on +Agamenticus, the woods seem to cover nearly the whole of the country as +far as one can see, and there is hardly a clearing to break this long +reach of forest of which I speak; there must be twenty miles of it in an +almost unbroken line. The roads cross it here and there, and one can +sometimes see small and lonely farms hiding away in the heart of it. The +trees are for the most part young growth of oak or pine, though I could +show you yet many a noble company of great pines that once would have +been marked with the king's arrow, and many a royal old oak which has +been overlooked in the search for ships' knees and plank for the navy +yard, and piles for the always shaky, up-hill and down, pleasant old +Portsmouth bridge. The part of these woods which I know best lies on +either side the already old new road to York on the Rocky Hills, and +here I often ride, or even take perilous rough drives through the +cart-paths, the wood roads which are busy thoroughfares in the winter, +and are silent and shady, narrowed by green branches and carpeted with +slender brakes, and seldom traveled over, except by me, all summer long. + +It was a great surprise, or a succession of surprises, one summer, when +I found that every one of the old uneven tracks led to or at least led +by what had once been a clearing, and in old days must have been the +secluded home of some of the earliest adventurous farmers of this +region. It must have taken great courage, I think, to strike the first +blow of one's axe here in the woods, and it must have been a brave +certainty of one's perseverance that looked forward to the smooth field +which was to succeed the unfruitful wilderness. The farms were far +enough apart to be very lonely, and I suppose at first the cry of fierce +wild creatures in the forest was an every-day sound, and the Indians +stole like snakes through the bushes and crept from tree to tree about +the houses watching, begging, and plundering, over and over again. There +are some of these farms still occupied, where the land seems to have +become thoroughly civilized, but most of them were deserted long ago; +the people gave up the fight with such a persistent willfulness and +wildness of nature and went away to the village, or to find more +tractable soil and kindlier neighborhoods. + +I do not know why it is these silent, forgotten places are so +delightful to me; there is one which I always call my farm, and it was a +long time after I knew it well before I could find out to whom it had +once belonged. In some strange way the place has become a part of my +world and to belong to my thoughts and my life. + +I suppose every one can say, "I have a little kingdom where I give +laws." Each of us has truly a kingdom in thought, and a certain +spiritual possession. There are some gardens of mine where somebody +plants the seeds and pulls the weeds for me every year without my ever +taking a bit of trouble. I have trees and fields and woods and seas and +houses, I own a great deal of the world to think and plan and dream +about. The picture belongs most to the man who loves it best and sees +entirely its meaning. We can always have just as much as we can take of +things, and we can lay up as much treasure as we please in the higher +world of thought that can never be spoiled or hindered by moth or rust, +as lower and meaner wealth can be. + + * * * * * + +As for this farm of mine, I found it one day when I was coming through +the woods on horseback trying to strike a shorter way out into the main +road. I was pushing through some thick underbrush, and looking ahead I +noticed a good deal of clear sky as if there were an open place just +beyond, and presently I found myself on the edge of a clearing. There +was a straggling orchard of old apple-trees, the grass about them was +close and short like the wide door-yard of an old farm-house and into +this cleared space the little pines were growing on every side. The old +pines stood a little way back watching their children march in upon +their inheritance, as if they were ready to interfere and protect and +defend, if any trouble came. I could see that it would not be many +years, if they were left alone, before the green grass would be covered, +and the old apple-trees would grow mossy and die for lack of room and +sunlight in the midst of the young woods. It was a perfect acre of turf, +only here and there I could already see a cushion of juniper, or a tuft +of sweet fern or bayberry. I walked the horse about slowly, picking a +hard little yellow apple here and there from the boughs over my head, +and at last I found a cellar all grown over with grass, with not even a +bit of a crumbling brick to be seen in the hollow of it. No doubt there +were some underground. It was a very large cellar, twice as large as any +I had ever found before in any of these deserted places, in the woods or +out. And that told me at once that there had been a large house above +it, an unusual house for those old days; the family was either a large +one, or it had made for itself more than a merely sufficient covering +and shelter, with no inch of unnecessary room. I knew I was on very high +land, but the trees were so tall and close that I could not see beyond +them. The wind blew over pleasantly and it was a curiously protected and +hidden place, sheltered and quiet, with its one small crop of cider +apples dropping ungathered to the ground, and unharvested there, except +by hurrying black ants and sticky, witless little snails. + +I suppose my feeling toward this place was like that about a ruin, only +this seemed older than a ruin. I could not hear my horse's foot-falls, +and an apple startled me when it fell with a soft thud, and I watched it +roll a foot or two and then stop, as if it knew it never would have +anything more to do in the world. I remembered the Enchanted Palace and +the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, and it seemed as if I were on the way +to it, and this was a corner of that palace garden. The horse listened +and stood still, without a bit of restlessness, and when we heard the +far cry of a bird she looked round at me, as if she wished me to notice +that we were not alone in the world, after all. It was strange, to be +sure, that people had lived there, and had had a home where they were +busy, and where the fortunes of life had found them; that they had +followed out the law of existence in its succession of growth and +flourishing and failure and decay, within that steadily narrowing circle +of trees. + +The relationship of untamed nature to what is tamed and cultivated is a +very curious and subtle thing to me; I do not know if every one feels it +so intensely. In the darkness of an early autumn evening I sometimes +find myself whistling a queer tune that chimes in with the crickets' +piping and the cries of the little creatures around me in the garden. I +have no thought of the rest of the world. I wonder what I am; there is a +strange self-consciousness, but I am only a part of one great existence +which is called nature. The life in me is a bit of all life, and where I +am happiest is where I find that which is next of kin to me, in friends, +or trees, or hills, or seas, or beside a flower, when I turn back more +than once to look into its face. + +The world goes on year after year. We can use its forces, and shape and +mould them, and perfect this thing or that, but we cannot make new +forces; we only use the tools we find to carve the wood we find. There +is nothing new; we discover and combine and use. Here is the wild +fruit,--the same fruit at heart as that with which the gardener wins his +prize. The world is the same world. You find a diamond, but the diamond +was there a thousand years ago; you did not make it by finding it. We +grow spiritually, until we grasp some new great truth of God; but it was +always true, and waited for us until we came. What is there new and +strange in the world except ourselves! Our thoughts are our own; God +gives our life to us moment by moment, but He gives it to be our own. + + "Ye on your harps must lean to hear + A secret chord that mine will bear." + +As I looked about me that day I saw the difference that men had made +slowly fading out of sight. It was like a dam in a river; when it is +once swept away the river goes on the same as before. The old patient, +sublime forces were there at work in their appointed way, but perhaps by +and by, when the apple-trees are gone and the cellar is only a rough +hollow in the woods, some one will again set aside these forces that +have worked unhindered, and will bring this corner of the world into a +new use and shape. What if we could stop or change forever the working +of these powers! But Nature repossesses herself surely of what we boldly +claim. The pyramids stand yet, it happens, but where are all those +cities that used also to stand in old Egypt, proud and strong, and +dating back beyond men's memories or traditions,--turned into sand again +and dust that is like all the rest of the desert, and blows about in the +wind? Yet there cannot be such a thing as life that is lost. The tree +falls and decays, in the dampness of the woods, and is part of the earth +under foot, but another tree is growing out of it; perhaps it is part of +its own life that is springing again from the part of it that died. God +must always be putting again to some use the life that is withdrawn; it +must live, because it is Life. There can be no confusion to God in this +wonderful world, the new birth of the immortal, the new forms of the +life that is from everlasting to everlasting, or the new way in which it +comes. But it is only God who can plan and order it all,--who is a +father to his children, and cares for the least of us. I thought of his +unbroken promises; the people who lived and died in that lonely place +knew Him, and the chain of events was fitted to their thoughts and +lives, for their development and education. The world was made for them, +and God keeps them yet; somewhere in his kingdom they are in their +places,--they are not lost; while the trees they left grow older, and +the young trees spring up, and the fields they cleared are being covered +over and turned into wild land again. + + * * * * * + +I had visited this farm of mine many times since that first day, but +since the last time I had been there I had found out, luckily, something +about its last tenant. An old lady whom I knew in the village had told +me that when she was a child she remembered another very old woman, who +used to live here all alone, far from any neighbors, and that one +afternoon she had come with her mother to see her. She remembered the +house very well; it was larger and better than most houses in the +region. Its owner was the last of her family; but why she lived alone, +or what became of her at last, or of her money or her goods, or who were +her relatives in the town, my friend did not know. She was a thrifty, +well-to-do old soul, a famous weaver and spinner, and she used to come +to the meeting-house at the Old Fields every Sunday, and sit by herself +in a square pew. Since I knew this, the last owner of my farm has become +very real to me, and I thought of her that day a great deal, and could +almost see her as she sat alone on her door-step in the twilight of a +summer evening, when the thrushes were calling in the woods; or going +down the hills to church, dressed in quaint fashion, with a little +sadness in her face as she thought of her lost companions and how she +did not use to go to church alone. And I pictured her funeral to myself, +and watched her carried away at last by the narrow road that wound +among the trees; and there was nobody left in the house after the +neighbors from the nearest farms had put it to rights, and had looked +over her treasures to their hearts' content. She must have been a +fearless woman, and one could not stay in such a place as this, year in +and year out, through the long days of summer and the long nights of +winter, unless she found herself good company. + +I do not think I could find a worse avenue than that which leads to my +farm, I think sometimes there must have been an easier way out which I +have yet failed to discover, but it has its advantages, for the trees +are beautiful and stand close together, and I do not know such green +brakes anywhere as those which grow in the shadiest places. I came into +a well-trodden track after a while, which led into a small granite +quarry, and then I could go faster, and at last I reached a pasture wall +which was quickly left behind and I was only a little way from the main +road. There were a few young cattle scattered about in the pasture, and +some of them which were lying down got up in a hurry and stared at me +suspiciously as I rode along. It was very uneven ground, and I passed +some stiff, straight mullein stalks which stood apart together in a +hollow as if they wished to be alone. They always remind me of the rigid +old Scotch Covenanters, who used to gather themselves together in +companies, against the law, to worship God in some secret hollow of the +bleak hill-side. Even the smallest and youngest of the mulleins was a +Covenanter at heart; they had all put by their yellow flowers, and they +will stand there, gray and unbending, through the fall rains and winter +snows, to keep their places and praise God in their own fashion, and +they take great credit to themselves for doing it, I have no doubt, and +think it is far better to be a stern and respectable mullein than a +straying, idle clematis, that clings and wanders, and cannot bear wet +weather. I saw members of the congregation scattered through the pasture +and felt like telling them to hurry, for the long sermon had already +begun! But one ancient worthy, very late on his way to the meeting, +happened to stand in our way, and Sheila bit his dry head off, which was +a great pity. + +After I was once on the high road it was not long before I found myself +in another part of the town altogether. It is great fun to ride about +the country; one rouses a great deal of interest; there seems to be +something exciting in the sight of a girl on horseback, and people who +pass you in wagons turn to look after you, though they never would take +the trouble if you were only walking. The country horses shy if you go +by them fast, and sometimes you stop to apologize. The boys will leave +anything to come and throw a stone at your horse. I think Sheila would +like to bite a boy, though sometimes she goes through her best paces +when she hears them hooting, as if she thought they were admiring her, +which I never allow myself to doubt. It is considered a much greater +compliment if you make a call on horseback than if you came afoot, but +carriage people are nothing in the country to what they are in the city. + +I was on a good road and Sheila was trotting steadily, and I did not +look at the western sky behind me until I suddenly noticed that the air +had grown colder and the sun had been for a long time behind a cloud; +then I found there was going to be a shower, in a very little while, +too. I was in a thinly settled part of the town, and at first I could +not think of any shelter, until I remembered that not very far distant +there was an old house, with a long, sloping roof, which had formerly +been the parsonage of the north parish; there had once been a church +near by, to which most of the people came who lived in this upper part +of the town. It had been for many years the house of an old minister, of +widespread fame in his day; I had always heard of him from the elderly +people, and I had often thought I should like to go into his house, and +had looked at it with great interest, but until within a year or two +there had been people living there. I had even listened with pleasure to +a story of its being haunted, and this was a capital chance to take a +look at the old place, so I hurried toward it. + +As I went in at the broken gate it seemed to me as if the house might +have been shut up and left to itself fifty years before, when the +minister died, so soon the grass grows up after men's footsteps have +worn it down, and the traces are lost of the daily touch and care of +their hands. The home lot was evidently part of a pasture, and the sheep +had nibbled close to the door-step, while tags of their long, spring +wool, washed clean by summer rains, were caught in the rose-bushes near +by. + +It had been a very good house in its day, and had a dignity of its own, +holding its gray head high, as if it knew itself to be not merely a +farm-house, but a Parsonage. The roof looked as if the next winter's +weight of snow might break it in, and the window panes had been loosened +so much in their shaking frames that many of them had fallen out on the +north side of the house, and were lying on the long grass underneath, +blurred and thin but still unbroken. That was the last letter of the +house's death warrant, for now the rain could get in, and the crumbling +timbers must loose their hold of each other quickly. I had found a dry +corner of the old shed for the horse and left her there, looking most +ruefully over her shoulder after me as I hurried away, for the rain had +already begun to spatter down in earnest. I was not sorry when I found +that somebody had broken a pane of glass in the sidelight of the front +door, near the latch, and I was very pleased when I found that by +reaching through I could unfasten a great bolt and let myself in, as +perhaps some tramp in search of shelter had done before me. However, I +gave the blackened brass knocker a ceremonious rap or two, and I could +have told by the sound of it, if in no other way, that there was nobody +at home. I looked up to see a robin's nest on the cornice overhead, and +I had to push away the lilacs and a withered hop vine which were both +trying to cover up the door. + +It gives one a strange feeling, I think, to go into an empty house so +old as this. It was so still there that the noise my footsteps made +startled me, and the floor creaked and cracked as if some one followed +me about. There was hardly a straw left or a bit of string or paper, but +the rooms were much worn, the bricks in the fire-places were burnt out, +rough and crumbling, and the doors were all worn smooth and round at the +edges. The best rooms were wainscoted, but up-stairs there was a long, +unfinished room with a little square window at each end, under the +sloping roof, and as I listened there to the rain I remembered that I +had once heard an old man say wistfully, that he had slept in just such +a "linter" chamber as this when he was a boy, and that he never could +sleep anywhere now so well as he used there while the rain fell on the +roof just over his bed. + +Down-stairs I found a room which I knew must have been the study. It was +handsomely wainscoted, and the finish of it was even better than that of +the parlor. It must have been a most comfortable place, and I fear the +old parson was luxurious in his tastes and less ascetic, perhaps, than +the more puritanical members of his congregation approved. There was a +great fire-place with a broad hearth-stone, where I think he may have +made a mug of flip sometimes, and there were several curious, narrow, +little cupboards built into the wall at either side, and over the +fire-place itself two doors opened and there were shelves inside, +broader at the top as the chimney sloped back. I saw some writing on one +of these doors and went nearer to read it. There was a date at the top, +some time in 1802, and his reverence had had a good quill pen and ink +which bravely stood the test of time; he must have been a tall man to +have written so high. I thought it might be some record of a great storm +or other notable event in his house or parish, but I was amused to find +that he had written there on the unpainted wood some valuable recipes +for the medical treatment of horses. "It is Useful for a Sprain--and For +a Cough, Take of Elecampane"--and so on. I hope he was not a hunting +parson, but one could hardly expect to find any reference to the early +fathers or federal head-ship in Adam on the cupboard door. I thought of +the stories I had heard of the old minister and felt very well +acquainted with him, though his books had been taken down and his fire +was out, and he himself had gone away. I was glad to think what a good, +faithful man he was, who spoke comfortable words to his people and lived +pleasantly with them in this quiet country place so many years. There +are old people living who have told me that nobody preaches nowadays as +he used to preach, and that he used to lift his hat to everybody; that +he liked a good dinner, and always was kind to the poor. + +I thought as I stood in the study, how many times he must have looked +out of the small-paned western windows across the fields, and how in his +later days he must have had a treasure of memories of the people who had +gone out of that room the better for his advice and consolation, the +people whom he had helped and taught and ruled. I could not imagine +that he ever angrily took his parishioners to task for their errors of +doctrine; indeed, it was not of his active youth and middle age that I +thought at all, but of the last of his life, when he sat here in the +sunshine of a winter afternoon, and the fire flickered and snapped on +the hearth, and he sat before it in his arm-chair with a brown old book +which he laid on his knee while he thought and dozed, and roused himself +presently to greet somebody who came in, a little awed at first, to talk +with him. It was a great thing to be a country minister in those old +days, and to be such a minister as he was; truly the priest and ruler of +his people. The times have changed, and the temporal power certainly is +taken away. The divine right of ministers is almost as little believed +in as that of kings, by many people; it is not possible for the +influence to be so great, the office and the man are both looked at with +less reverence. It is a pity that it should be so, but the conservative +people who like old-fashioned ways cannot tell where to place all the +blame. And it is very odd to think that these iconoclastic and +unpleasant new times of ours will, a little later, be called old times, +and that the children, when they are elderly people, will sigh to have +them back again. + +I was very glad to see the old house, and I told myself a great many +stories there, as one cannot help doing in such a place. There must have +been so many things happen in so many long lives which were lived there; +people have come into the world and gone out of it again from those +square rooms with their little windows, and I believe if there are +ghosts who walk about in daylight I was only half deaf to their voices, +and heard much of what they tried to tell me that day. The rooms which +had looked empty at first were filled again with the old clergymen, who +met together with important looks and complacent dignity, and eager talk +about some minor point in theology that is yet unsettled; the awkward, +smiling couples, who came to be married; the mistress of the house, who +must have been a stately person in her day; the little children who, +under all their shyness, remembered the sugar-plums in the old parson's +pockets,--all these, and even the tall cane that must have stood in the +entry, were visible to my mind's eye. And I even heard a sermon from the +old preacher who died so long ago, on the beauty of a life well spent. + +The rain fell steadily and there was no prospect of its stopping, though +I could see that the clouds were thinner and that it was only a shower. +In the kitchen I found an old chair which I pulled into the study, which +seemed more cheerful than the rest of the house, and then I remembered +that there were some bits of board in the kitchen also, and the thought +struck me that it would be good fun to make a fire in the old +fire-place. Everything seemed right about the chimney. I even went up +into the garret to look at it there, for I had no wish to set the +parsonage on fire, and I brought down a pile of old corn husks for +kindlings which I found on the garret floor. I built my fire carefully, +with two bricks for andirons, and when I lit it it blazed up gayly, I +poked it and it crackled, and though I was very well contented there +alone I wished for some friend to keep me company, it was selfish to +have so much pleasure with no one to share it. The rain came faster than +ever against the windows, and the room would have been dark if it had +not been for my fire, which threw out a magnificent yellow light over +the old brown wood-work. I leaned back and watched the dry sticks fall +apart in red coals and thought I might have to spend the night there, +for if it were a storm and not a shower I was several miles from home, +and a late October rain is not like a warm one in June to fall upon +one's shoulders. I could hear the house leaking when it rained less +heavily, and the soot dropped down the chimney and great drops of water +came down, too, and spluttered in the fire. I thought what a merry thing +it would be if a party of young people ever had to take refuge there, +and I could almost see their faces and hear them laugh, though until +that minute they had been strangers to me. + +But the shower was over at last, and my fire was out, and the last pale +shining of the sun came into the windows, and I looked out to see the +distant fields and woods all clear again in the late afternoon light. I +must hurry to get home before dark, so I raked up the ashes and left my +chair beside the fire-place, and shut and fastened the front door after +me, and went out to see what had become of my horse, shaking the dust +and cobwebs off my dress as I crossed the wet grass to the shed. The +rain had come through the broken roof and poor Sheila looked anxious and +hungry as if she thought I might have meant to leave her there till +morning in that dismal place. I offered her my apologies, but she made +even a shorter turn than usual when I had mounted, and we scurried off +down the road, spattering ourselves as we went. I hope the ghosts who +live in the parsonage watched me with friendly eyes, and I looked back +myself, to see a thin blue whiff of smoke still coming up from the great +chimney. I wondered who it was that had made the first fire there,--but +I think I shall have made the last. + + + + +_Tom's Husband_ + + +I shall not dwell long upon the circumstances that led to the marriage +of my hero and heroine; though their courtship was, to them, the only +one that has ever noticeably approached the ideal, it had many aspects +in which it was entirely commonplace in other people's eyes. While the +world in general smiles at lovers with kindly approval and sympathy, it +refuses to be aware of the unprecedented delight which is amazing to the +lovers themselves. + +But, as has been true in many other cases, when they were at last +married, the most ideal of situations was found to have been changed to +the most practical. Instead of having shared their original duties, and, +as school-boys would say, going halves, they discovered that the cares +of life had been doubled. This led to some distressing moments for both +our friends; they understood suddenly that instead of dwelling in heaven +they were still upon earth, and had made themselves slaves to new laws +and limitations. Instead of being freer and happier than ever before, +they had assumed new responsibilities; they had established a new +household, and must fulfill in some way or another the obligations of +it. They looked back with affection to their engagement; they had been +longing to have each other to themselves, apart from the world, but it +seemed that they never felt so keenly that they were still units in +modern society. Since Adam and Eve were in Paradise, before the devil +joined them, nobody has had a chance to imitate that unlucky couple. In +some respects they told the truth when, twenty times a day, they said +that life had never been so pleasant before; but there were mental +reservations on either side which might have subjected them to the +accusation of lying. Somehow, there was a little feeling of +disappointment, and they caught themselves wondering--though they would +have died sooner than confess it--whether they were quite so happy as +they had expected. The truth was, they were much happier than people +usually are, for they had an uncommon capacity for enjoyment. For a +little while they were like a sail-boat that is beating and has to drift +a few minutes before it can catch the wind and start off on the other +tack. And they had the same feeling, too, that any one is likely to have +who has been long pursuing some object of his ambition or desire. +Whether it is a coin, or a picture, or a stray volume of some old +edition of Shakespeare, or whether it is an office under government or a +lover, when fairly in one's grasp there is a loss of the eagerness that +was felt in pursuit. Satisfaction, even after one has dined well, is not +so interesting and eager a feeling as hunger. + +My hero and heroine were reasonably well established to begin with: they +each had some money, though Mr. Wilson had most. His father had at one +time been a rich man, but with the decline, a few years before, of +manufacturing interests, he had become, mostly through the fault of +others, somewhat involved; and at the time of his death his affairs were +in such a condition that it was still a question whether a very large +sum or a moderately large one would represent his estate. Mrs. Wilson, +Tom's step-mother, was somewhat of an invalid; she suffered severely at +times with asthma, but she was almost entirely relieved by living in +another part of the country. While her husband lived, she had accepted +her illness as inevitable, and rarely left home; but during the last few +years she had lived in Philadelphia with her own people, making short +and wheezing visits only from time to time, and had not undergone a +voluntary period of suffering since the occasion of Tom's marriage, +which she had entirely approved. She had a sufficient property of her +own, and she and Tom were independent of each other in that way. Her +only other stepchild was a daughter, who had married a navy officer, and +had at this time gone out to spend three years (or less) with her +husband, who had been ordered to Japan. + +It is not unfrequently noticed that in many marriages one of the persons +who choose each other as partners for life is said to have thrown +himself or herself away, and the relatives and friends look on with +dismal forebodings and ill-concealed submission. In this case it was the +wife who might have done so much better, according to public opinion. +She did not think so herself, luckily, either before marriage or +afterward, and I do not think it occurred to her to picture to herself +the sort of career which would have been her alternative. She had been +an only child, and had usually taken her own way. Some one once said +that it was a great pity that she had not been obliged to work for her +living, for she had inherited a most uncommon business talent, and, +without being disreputably keen at a bargain, her insight into the +practical working of affairs was very clear and far-reaching. Her +father, who had also been a manufacturer, like Tom's, had often said it +had been a mistake that she was a girl instead of a boy. Such executive +ability as hers is often wasted in the more contracted sphere of women, +and is apt to be more a disadvantage than a help. She was too +independent and self-reliant for a wife; it would seem at first thought +that she needed a wife herself more than she did a husband. Most men +like best the women whose natures cling and appeal to theirs for +protection. But Tom Wilson, while he did not wish to be protected +himself, liked these very qualities in his wife which would have +displeased some other men; to tell the truth, he was very much in love +with his wife just as she was. He was a successful collector of almost +everything but money, and during a great part of his life he had been an +invalid, and he had grown, as he laughingly confessed, very +old-womanish. He had been badly lamed, when a boy, by being caught in +some machinery in his father's mill, near which he was idling one +afternoon, and though he had almost entirely outgrown the effect of his +injury, it had not been until after many years. He had been in college, +but his eyes had given out there, and he had been obliged to leave in +the middle of his junior year, though he had kept up a pleasant +intercourse with the members of his class, with whom he had been a great +favorite. He was a good deal of an idler in the world. I do not think +his ambition, except in the case of securing Mary Dunn for his wife, had +ever been distinct; he seemed to make the most he could of each day as +it came, without making all his days' works tend toward some grand +result, and go toward the upbuilding of some grand plan and purpose. He +consequently gave no promise of being either distinguished or great. +When his eyes would allow, he was an indefatigable reader; and although +he would have said that he read only for amusement, yet he amused +himself with books that were well worth the time he spent over them. + +The house where he lived nominally belonged to his step-mother, but she +had taken for granted that Tom would bring his wife home to it, and +assured him that it should be to all intents and purposes his. Tom was +deeply attached to the old place, which was altogether the pleasantest +in town. He had kept bachelor's hall there most of the time since his +father's death, and he had taken great pleasure, before his marriage, in +refitting it to some extent, though it was already comfortable and +furnished in remarkably good taste. People said of him that if it had +not been for his illnesses, and if he had been a poor boy, he probably +would have made something of himself. As it was, he was not very well +known by the towns-people, being somewhat reserved, and not taking much +interest in their every-day subjects of conversation. Nobody liked him +so well as they liked his wife, yet there was no reason why he should be +disliked enough to have much said about him. + +After our friends had been married for some time, and had outlived the +first strangeness of the new order of things, and had done their duty to +their neighbors with so much apparent willingness and generosity that +even Tom himself was liked a great deal better than he ever had been +before, they were sitting together one stormy evening in the library, +before the fire. Mrs. Wilson had been reading Tom the letters which had +come to him by the night's mail. There was a long one from his sister in +Nagasaki, which had been written with a good deal of ill-disguised +reproach. She complained of the smallness of the income of her share in +her father's estate, and said that she had been assured by American +friends that the smaller mills were starting up everywhere, and +beginning to do well again. Since so much of their money was invested in +the factory, she had been surprised and sorry to find by Tom's last +letters that he had seemed to have no idea of putting in a proper person +as superintendent, and going to work again. Four per cent. on her other +property, which she had been told she must soon expect instead of eight, +would make a great difference to her. A navy captain in a foreign port +was obliged to entertain a great deal, and Tom must know that it cost +them much more to live than it did him, and ought to think of their +interests. She hoped he would talk over what was best to be done with +their mother (who had been made executor, with Tom, of his father's +will). + +Tom laughed a little, but looked disturbed. His wife had said something +to the same effect, and his mother had spoken once or twice in her +letters of the prospect of starting the mill again. He was not a bit of +a business man, and he did not feel certain, with the theories which he +had arrived at of the state of the country, that it was safe yet to +spend the money which would have to be spent in putting the mill in +order. "They think that the minute it is going again we shall be making +money hand over hand, just as father did when we were children," he +said. "It is going to cost us no end of money before we can make +anything. Before father died he meant to put in a good deal of new +machinery, I remember. I don't know anything about the business myself, +and I would have sold out long ago if I had had an offer that came +anywhere near the value. The larger mills are the only ones that are +good for anything now, and we should have to bring a crowd of French +Canadians here; the day is past for the people who live in this part of +the country to go into the factory again. Even the Irish all go West +when they come into the country, and don't come to places like this any +more." + +"But there are a good many of the old work-people down in the village," +said Mrs. Wilson. "Jack Towne asked me the other day if you weren't +going to start up in the spring." + +Tom moved uneasily in his chair. "I'll put you in for superintendent, if +you like," he said, half angrily, whereupon Mary threw the newspaper at +him; but by the time he had thrown it back he was in good humor again. + +"Do you know, Tom," she said, with amazing seriousness, "that I believe +I should like nothing in the world so much as to be the head of a large +business? I hate keeping house,--I always did; and I never did so much +of it in all my life put together as I have since I have been married. I +suppose it isn't womanly to say so, but if I could escape from the whole +thing I believe I should be perfectly happy. If you get rich when the +mill is going again, I shall beg for a housekeeper, and shirk +everything. I give you fair warning. I don't believe I keep this house +half so well as you did before I came here." + +Tom's eyes twinkled. "I am going to have that glory,--I don't think you +do, Polly; but you can't say that I have not been forbearing. I +certainly have not told you more than twice how we used to have things +cooked. I'm not going to be your kitchen-colonel." + +"Of course it seemed the proper thing to do," said his wife, +meditatively; "but I think we should have been even happier than we have +if I had been spared it. I have had some days of wretchedness that I +shudder to think of. I never know what to have for breakfast; and I +ought not to say it, but I don't mind the sight of dust. I look upon +housekeeping as my life's great discipline;" and at this pathetic +confession they both laughed heartily. + +"I've a great mind to take it off your hands," said Tom. "I always +rather liked it, to tell the truth, and I ought to be a better +housekeeper,--I have been at it for five years; though housekeeping for +one is different from what it is for two, and one of them a woman. You +see you have brought a different element into my family. Luckily, the +servants are pretty well drilled. I do think you upset them a good deal +at first!" + +Mary Wilson smiled as if she only half heard what he was saying. She +drummed with her foot on the floor and looked intently at the fire, and +presently gave it a vigorous poking. "Well?" said Tom, after he had +waited patiently as long as he could. + +"Tom! I'm going to propose something to you. I wish you would really do +as you said, and take all the home affairs under your care, and let me +start the mill. I am certain I could manage it. Of course I should get +people who understood the thing to teach me. I believe I was made for +it; I should like it above all things. And this is what I will do: I +will bear the cost of starting it, myself,--I think I have money enough, +or can get it; and if I have not put affairs in the right trim at the +end of a year I will stop, and you may make some other arrangement. If I +have, you and your mother and sister can pay me back." + +"So I am going to be the wife, and you the husband," said Tom, a little +indignantly; "at least, that is what people will say. It's a regular +Darby and Joan affair, and you think you can do more work in a day than +I can do in three. Do you know that you must go to town to buy cotton? +And do you know there are a thousand things about it that you don't +know?" + +"And never will?" said Mary, with perfect good humor. "Why, Tom, I can +learn as well as you, and a good deal better, for I like business, and +you don't. You forget that I was always father's right-hand man after I +was a dozen years old, and that you have let me invest my money and some +of your own, and I haven't made a blunder yet." + +Tom thought that his wife had never looked so handsome or so happy. "I +don't care, I should rather like the fun of knowing what people will +say. It is a new departure, at any rate. Women think they can do +everything better than men in these days, but I'm the first man, +apparently, who has wished he were a woman." + +"Of course people will laugh," said Mary, "but they will say that it's +just like me, and think I am fortunate to have married a man who will +let me do as I choose. I don't see why it isn't sensible: you will be +living exactly as you were before you married, as to home affairs; and +since it was a good thing for you to know something about housekeeping +then, I can't imagine why you shouldn't go on with it now, since it +makes me miserable, and I am wasting a fine business talent while I do +it. What do we care for people's talking about it?" + +"It seems to me that it is something like women's smoking: it isn't +wicked, but it isn't the custom of the country. And I don't like the +idea of your going among business men. Of course I should be above going +with you, and having people think I must be an idiot; they would say +that you married a manufacturing interest, and I was thrown in. I can +foresee that my pride is going to be humbled to the dust in every way," +Tom declared in mournful tones, and began to shake with laughter. "It is +one of your lovely castles in the air, dear Polly, but an old brick mill +needs a better foundation than the clouds. No, I'll look around, and get +an honest, experienced man for agent. I suppose it's the best thing we +can do, for the machinery ought not to lie still any longer; but I mean +to sell the factory as soon as I can. I devoutly wish it would take +fire, for the insurance would be the best price we are likely to get. +That is a famous letter from Alice! I am afraid the captain has been +growling over his pay, or they have been giving too many little dinners +on board ship. If we were rid of the mill, you and I might go out there +this winter. It would be capital fun." + +Mary smiled again in an absent-minded way. Tom had an uneasy feeling +that he had not heard the end of it yet, but nothing more was said for a +day or two. When Mrs. Tom Wilson announced, with no apparent thought of +being contradicted, that she had entirely made up her mind, and she +meant to see those men who had been overseers of the different +departments, who still lived in the village, and have the mill put in +order at once, Tom looked disturbed, but made no opposition; and soon +after breakfast his wife formally presented him with a handful of keys, +and told him there was some lamb in the house for dinner; and presently +he heard the wheels of her little phaeton rattling off down the road. I +should be untruthful if I tried to persuade any one that he was not +provoked; he thought she would at least have waited for his formal +permission, and at first he meant to take another horse, and chase her, +and bring her back in disgrace, and put a stop to the whole thing. But +something assured him that she knew what she was about, and he +determined to let her have her own way. If she failed, it might do no +harm, and this was the only ungallant thought he gave her. He was sure +that she would do nothing unladylike, or be unmindful of his dignity; +and he believed it would be looked upon as one of her odd, independent +freaks, which always had won respect in the end, however much they had +been laughed at in the beginning. "Susan," said he, as that estimable +person went by the door with the dust-pan, "you may tell Catherine to +come to me for orders about the house, and you may do so yourself. I am +going to take charge again, as I did before I was married. It is no +trouble to me, and Mrs. Wilson dislikes it. Besides, she is going into +business, and will have a great deal else to think of." + +"Yes, sir; very well, sir," said Susan, who was suddenly moved to ask so +many questions that she was utterly silent. But her master looked very +happy; there was evidently no disapproval of his wife; and she went on +up the stairs, and began to sweep them down, knocking the dust-brush +about excitedly, as if she were trying to kill a descending colony of +insects. + +Tom went out to the stable and mounted his horse, which had been waiting +for him to take his customary after-breakfast ride to the post-office, +and he galloped down the road in quest of the phaeton. He saw Mary +talking with Jack Towne, who had been an overseer and a valued workman +of his father's. He was looking much surprised and pleased. + +"I wasn't caring so much about getting work, myself," he explained; +"I've got what will carry me and my wife through; but it'll be better +for the young folks about here to work near home. My nephews are wanting +something to do; they were going to Lynn next week. I don't say but I +should like to be to work in the old place again. I've sort of missed +it, since we shut down." + +"I'm sorry I was so long in overtaking you," said Tom, politely, to his +wife. "Well, Jack, did Mrs. Wilson tell you she's going to start the +mill? You must give her all the help you can." + +"'Deed I will," said Mr. Towne, gallantly, without a bit of +astonishment. + +"I don't know much about the business yet," said Mrs. Wilson, who had +been a little overcome at Jack Towne's lingo of the different rooms and +machinery, and who felt an overpowering sense of having a great deal +before her in the next few weeks. "By the time the mill is ready, I will +be ready, too," she said, taking heart a little; and Tom, who was quick +to understand her moods, could not help laughing, as he rode alongside. +"We want a new barrel of flour, Tom, dear," she said, by way of +punishment for his untimely mirth. + +If she lost courage in the long delay, or was disheartened at the steady +call for funds, she made no sign; and after a while the mill started up, +and her cares were lightened, so that she told Tom that before next pay +day she would like to go to Boston for a few days, and go to the +theatre, and have a frolic and a rest. She really looked pale and thin, +and she said she never worked so hard in all her life; but nobody knew +how happy she was, and she was so glad she had married Tom, for some men +would have laughed at it. + +"I laughed at it," said Tom, meekly. "All is, if I don't cry by and by, +because I am a beggar, I shall be lucky." But Mary looked fearlessly +serene, and said that there was no danger at present. + +It would have been ridiculous to expect a dividend the first year, +though the Nagasaki people were pacified with difficulty. All the +business letters came to Tom's address, and everybody who was not +directly concerned thought that he was the motive power of the +reawakened enterprise. Sometimes business people came to the mill, and +were amazed at having to confer with Mrs. Wilson, but they soon had to +respect her talents and her success. She was helped by the old clerk, +who had been promptly recalled and reinstated, and she certainly did +capitally well. She was laughed at, as she had expected to be, and +people said they should think Tom would be ashamed of himself; but it +soon appeared that he was not to blame, and what reproach was offered +was on the score of his wife's oddity. There was nothing about the mill +that she did not understand before very long, and at the end of the +second year she declared a small dividend with great pride and triumph. +And she was congratulated on her success, and every one thought of her +project in a different way from the way they had thought of it in the +beginning. She had singularly good fortune: at the end of the third year +she was making money for herself and her friends faster than most people +were, and approving letters began to come from Nagasaki. The Ashtons had +been ordered to stay in that region, and it was evident that they were +continually being obliged to entertain more instead of less. Their +children were growing fast, too, and constantly becoming more expensive. +The captain and his wife had already begun to congratulate themselves +secretly that their two sons would in all probability come into +possession, one day, of their uncle Tom's handsome property. + +For a good while Tom enjoyed life, and went on his quiet way serenely. +He was anxious at first, for he thought that Mary was going to make +ducks and drakes of his money and her own. And then he did not exactly +like the looks of the thing, either; he feared that his wife was growing +successful as a business person at the risk of losing her womanliness. +But as time went on, and he found there was no fear of that, he +accepted the situation philosophically. He gave up his collection of +engravings, having become more interested in one of coins and medals, +which took up most of his leisure time. He often went to the city in +pursuit of such treasures, and gained much renown in certain quarters as +a numismatologist of great skill and experience. But at last his house +(which had almost kept itself, and had given him little to do beside +ordering the dinners, while faithful old Catherine and her niece Susan +were his aids) suddenly became a great care to him. Catherine, who had +been the main-stay of the family for many years, died after a short +illness, and Susan must needs choose that time, of all others, for being +married to one of the second hands in the mill. There followed a long +and dismal season of experimenting, and for a time there was a +procession of incapable creatures going in at one kitchen door and out +of the other. His wife would not have liked to say so, but it seemed to +her that Tom was growing fussy about the house affairs, and took more +notice of those minor details than he used. She wished more than once, +when she was tired, that he would not talk so much about the +housekeeping; he seemed sometimes to have no other thought. + +In the early days of Mrs. Wilson's business life, she had made it a rule +to consult her husband on every subject of importance; but it had +speedily proved to be a formality. Tom tried manfully to show a deep +interest which he did not feel, and his wife gave up, little by little, +telling him much about her affairs. She said that she liked to drop +business when she came home in the evening; and at last she fell into +the habit of taking a nap on the library sofa, while Tom, who could not +use his eyes much by lamp-light, sat smoking or in utter idleness before +the fire. When they were first married his wife had made it a rule that +she should always read him the evening papers, and afterward they had +always gone on with some book of history or philosophy, in which they +were both interested. These evenings of their early married life had +been charming to both of them, and from time to time one would say to +the other that they ought to take up again the habit of reading +together. Mary was so unaffectedly tired in the evening that Tom never +liked to propose a walk; for, though he was not a man of peculiarly +social nature, he had always been accustomed to pay an occasional +evening visit to his neighbors in the village. And though he had little +interest in the business world, and still less knowledge of it, after a +while he wished that his wife would have more to say about what she was +planning and doing, or how things were getting on. He thought that her +chief aid, old Mr. Jackson, was far more in her thoughts than he. She +was forever quoting Jackson's opinions. He did not like to find that she +took it for granted that he was not interested in the welfare of his own +property; it made him feel like a sort of pensioner and dependent, +though, when they had guests at the house, which was by no means seldom, +there was nothing in her manner that would imply that she thought +herself in any way the head of the family. It was hard work to find +fault with his wife in any way, though, to give him his due, he rarely +tried. + + * * * * * + +But, this being a wholly unnatural state of things, the reader must +expect to hear of its change at last, and the first blow from the enemy +was dealt by an old woman, who lived near by, and who called to Tom one +morning, as he was driving down to the village in a great hurry (to post +a letter, which ordered his agent to secure a long-wished-for ancient +copper coin, at any price), to ask him if they had made yeast that week, +and if she could borrow a cupful, as her own had met with some +misfortune. Tom was instantly in a rage, and he mentally condemned her +to some undeserved fate, but told her aloud to go and see the cook. This +slight delay, besides being killing to his dignity, caused him to lose +the mail, and in the end his much-desired copper coin. It was a hard day +for him, altogether; it was Wednesday, and the first days of the week +having been stormy the washing was very late. And Mary came home to +dinner provokingly good-natured. She had met an old school-mate and her +husband driving home from the mountains, and had first taken them over +her factory, to their great amusement and delight, and then had brought +them home to dinner. Tom greeted them cordially, and manifested his +usual graceful hospitality; but the minute he saw his wife alone he said +in a plaintive tone of rebuke, "I should think you might have remembered +that the servants are unusually busy to-day. I do wish you would take a +little interest in things at home. The women have been washing, and I'm +sure I don't know what sort of a dinner we can give your friends. I wish +you had thought to bring home some steak. I have been busy myself, and +couldn't go down to the village. I thought we would only have a lunch." + +Mary was hungry, but she said nothing, except that it would be all +right,--she didn't mind; and perhaps they could have some canned soup. + +She often went to town to buy or look at cotton, or to see some +improvement in machinery, and she brought home beautiful bits of +furniture and new pictures for the house, and showed a touching +thoughtfulness in remembering Tom's fancies; but somehow he had an +uneasy suspicion that she could get along pretty well without him when +it came to the deeper wishes and hopes of her life, and that her most +important concerns were all matters in which he had no share. He seemed +to himself to have merged his life in his wife's; he lost his interest +in things outside the house and grounds; he felt himself fast growing +rusty and behind the times, and to have somehow missed a good deal in +life; he had a suspicion that he was a failure. One day the thought +rushed over him that his had been almost exactly the experience of most +women, and he wondered if it really was any more disappointing and +ignominious to him than it was to women themselves. "Some of them may be +contented with it," he said to himself, soberly. "People think women are +designed for such careers by nature, but I don't know why I ever made +such a fool of myself." + +Having once seen his situation in life from such a standpoint, he felt +it day by day to be more degrading, and he wondered what he should do +about it; and once, drawn by a new, strange sympathy, he went to the +little family burying ground. It was one of the mild, dim days that come +sometimes in early November, when the pale sunlight is like the pathetic +smile of a sad face, and he sat for a long time on the limp, +frost-bitten grass beside his mother's grave. + +But when he went home in the twilight his step-mother, who just then was +making them a little visit, mentioned that she had been looking through +some boxes of hers that had been packed long before and stowed away in +the garret. "Everything looks very nice up there," she said, in her +wheezing voice (which, worse than usual that day, always made him +nervous); and added, without any intentional slight to his feelings, "I +do think you have always been a most excellent housekeeper." + +"I'm tired of such nonsense!" he exclaimed, with surprising indignation. +"Mary, I wish you to arrange your affairs so that you can leave them for +six months at least. I am going to spend this winter in Europe." + +"Why, Tom, dear!" said his wife, appealingly. "I couldn't leave my +business any way in the"-- + +But she caught sight of a look on his usually placid countenance that +was something more than decision, and refrained from saying anything +more. + +And three weeks from that day they sailed. + + + + +_Miss Debby's Neighbors_ + + +There is a class of elderly New England women which is fast dying +out:--those good souls who have sprung from a soil full of the true New +England instincts; who were used to the old-fashioned ways, and whose +minds were stored with quaint country lore and tradition. The fashions +of the newer generations do not reach them; they are quite unconscious +of the western spirit and enterprise, and belong to the old days, and to +a fast-disappearing order of things. + +But a shrewder person does not exist than the spokeswoman of the +following reminiscences, whose simple history can be quickly told, since +she spent her early life on a lonely farm, leaving it only once for any +length of time,--one winter when she learned her trade of tailoress. She +afterward sewed for her neighbors, and enjoyed a famous reputation for +her skill; but year by year, as she grew older, there was less to do, +and at last, to use her own expression, "Everybody got into the way of +buying cheap, ready-made-up clothes, just to save 'em a little trouble," +and she found herself out of business, or nearly so. After her mother's +death, and that of her favorite younger brother Jonas, she left the farm +and came to a little house in the village, where she lived most +comfortably the rest of her life, having a small property which she used +most sensibly. She was always ready to render any special service with +her needle, and was a most welcome guest in any household, and a most +efficient helper. To be in the same room with her for a while was sure +to be profitable, and as she grew older she was delighted to recall the +people and events of her earlier life, always filling her descriptions +with wise reflections and much quaint humor. She always insisted, not +without truth, that the railroads were making everybody look and act of +a piece, and that the young folks were more alike than people of her own +day. It is impossible to give the delightfulness of her talk in any +written words, as well as many of its peculiarities, for her way of +going round Robin Hood's barn between the beginning of her story and its +end can hardly be followed at all, and certainly not in her own dear +loitering footsteps. + +On an idle day her most devoted listener thought there was nothing +better worth doing than to watch this good soul at work. A book was held +open for the looks of the thing, but presently it was allowed to flutter +its leaves and close, for Miss Debby began without any apparent +provocation:-- + +"They may say whatever they have a mind to, but they can't persuade me +that there's no such thing as special providences," and she twitched her +strong linen thread so angrily through the carpet she was sewing, that +it snapped and the big needle flew into the air. It had to be found +before any further remarks could be made, and the listener also knelt +down to search for it. After a while it was discovered clinging to Miss +Debby's own dress, and after reharnessing it she went to work again at +her long seam. It was always significant of a succession of Miss Debby's +opinions when she quoted and berated certain imaginary persons whom she +designated as "They," who stood for the opposite side of the question, +and who merited usually her deepest scorn and fullest antagonism. Her +remarks to these offending parties were always prefaced with "I tell +'em," and to the listener's mind "they" always stood rebuked, but not +convinced, in spiritual form it may be, but most intense reality; a +little group as solemn as Miss Debby herself. Once the listener ventured +to ask who "they" were, in her early childhood, but she was only +answered by a frown. Miss Debby knew as well as any one the difference +between figurative language and a lie. Sometimes they said what was +right and proper, and were treated accordingly; but very seldom, and on +this occasion it seemed that they had ventured to trifle with sacred +things. + +"I suppose you're too young to remember John Ashby's grandmother? A good +woman she was, and she had a dreadful time with her family. They never +could keep the peace, and there was always as many as two of them who +didn't speak with each other. It seems to come down from generation to +generation like a--_curse!_" And Miss Debby spoke the last word as if +she had meant it partly for her thread, which had again knotted and +caught, and she snatched the offered scissors without a word, but said +peaceably, after a minute or two, that the thread wasn't what it used +to be. The next needleful proved more successful, and the listener asked +if the Ashbys were getting on comfortably at present. + +"They always behave as if they thought they needed nothing," was the +response. "Not that I mean that they are any ways contented, but they +never will give in that other folks holds a candle to 'em. There's one +kind of pride that I do hate,--when folks is satisfied with their selves +and don't see no need of improvement. I believe in self-respect, but I +believe in respecting other folks's rights as much as your own; but it +takes an Ashby to ride right over you. I tell 'em it's the spirit of the +tyrants of old, and it's the kind of pride that goes before a fall. John +Ashby's grandmother was a clever little woman as ever stepped. She came +from over Hardwick way, and I think she kep' 'em kind of decent-behaved +as long as she was round; but she got wore out a doin' of it, an' went +down to her grave in a quick consumption. My mother set up with her the +night she died. It was in May, towards the latter part, and an awful +rainy night. It was the storm that always comes in apple-blossom time. I +remember well that mother come crying home in the morning and told us +Mis' Ashby was dead. She brought Marilly with her, that was about my own +age, and was taken away within six months afterwards. She pined herself +to death for her mother, and when she caught the scarlet fever she went +as quick as cherry-bloom when it's just ready to fall and a wind strikes +it. She wa'n't like the rest of 'em. She took after her mother's folks +altogether. + +"You know our farm was right next to theirs,--the one Asa Hopper owns +now, but he's let it all run out,--and so, as we lived some ways from +the stores, we had to be neighborly, for we depended on each other for a +good many things. Families in lonesome places get out of one supply and +another, and have to borrow until they get a chance to send to the +village; or sometimes in a busy season some of the folks would have to +leave work and be gone half a day. Land, you don't know nothing about +old times, and the life that used to go on about here. You can't step +into a house anywheres now that there ain't the county map and they +don't fetch out the photograph book; and in every district you'll find +all the folks has got the same chromo picture hung up, and all sorts of +luxuries and makeshifts o' splendor that would have made the folks I +was fetched up by stare their eyes out o' their heads. It was all we +could do to keep along then; and if anybody was called rich, it was only +because he had a great sight of land,--and then it was drudge, drudge +the harder to pay the taxes. There was hardly any ready money; and I +recollect well that old Tommy Simms was reputed wealthy, and it was told +over fifty times a year that he'd got a solid four thousand dollars in +the bank. He strutted round like a turkey-cock, and thought he ought to +have his first say about everything that was going. + +"I was talking about the Ashbys, wasn't I? I do' know's I ever told you +about the fight they had after their father died about the old house. +Joseph was married to a girl he met in camp-meeting time, who had a +little property--two or three hundred dollars--from an old great uncle +that she'd been keeping house for; and I don't know what other plans she +may have had for spending of her means, but she laid most of it out in a +husband; for Joseph never cared any great about her that I could see, +though he always treated her well enough. She was a poor ignorant sort +of thing, seven years older than he was; but she had a pleasant kind of +a face, and seemed like an overgrown girl of six or eight years old. I +remember just after they was married Joseph was taken down with a quinsy +sore throat,--being always subject to them,--and mother was over in the +forenoon, and she was one that was always giving right hand and left, +and she told Susan Ellen--that was his wife--to step over in the +afternoon and she would give her some blackberry preserve for him; she +had some that was nice and it was very healing. So along about half-past +one o'clock, just as we had got the kitchen cleared, and mother and I +had got out the big wheels to spin a few rolls,--we always liked to spin +together, and mother was always good company;--my brother Jonas--that +was the youngest of us--looked out of the window, and says he: 'Here +comes Joe Ashby's wife with a six-quart pail.' + +"Mother she began to shake all over with a laugh she tried to swallow +down, but I didn't know what it was all about, and in come poor Susan +Ellen and lit on the edge of the first chair and set the pail down +beside of her. We tried to make her feel welcome, and spoke about +everything we could contrive, seein' as it was the first time she'd +been over; and she seemed grateful and did the best she could, and lost +her strangeness with mother right away, for mother was the best hand to +make folks feel to home with her that I ever come across. There ain't +many like her now, nor never was, I tell 'em. But there wa'n't nothing +said about the six-quart pail, and there it set on the floor, until +Susan Ellen said she must be going and mentioned that there was +something said about a remedy for Joseph's throat. 'Oh, yes,' says +mother, and she brought out the little stone jar she kept the preserve +in, and there wa'n't more than the half of it full. Susan Ellen took up +the cover off the pail, and I walked off into the bedroom, for I thought +I should laugh, certain. Mother put in a big spoonful, and another, and +I heard 'em drop, and she went on with one or two more, and then she +give up. 'I'd give you the jar and welcome,' she says, 'but I ain't very +well off for preserves, and I was kind of counting on this for tea in +case my brother's folks are over.' Susan Ellen thanked her, and said +Joseph would be obliged, and back she went acrost the pasture. I can see +that big tin pail now a-shining in the sun. + +"The old man was alive then, and he took a great spite against poor +Susan Ellen, though he never would if he hadn't been set on by John; and +whether he was mad because Joseph had stepped in to so much good money +or what, I don't know,--but he twitted him about her, and at last he and +the old man between 'em was too much to bear, and Joe fitted up a couple +o' rooms for himself in a building he'd put up for a kind of work-shop. +He used to carpenter by spells, and he clapboarded it and made it as +comfortable as he could, and he ordered John out of it for good and all; +but he and Susan Ellen both treated the old sir the best they knew how, +and Joseph kept right on with his farm work same as ever, and meant to +lay up a little more money to join with his wife's, and push off as soon +as he could for the sake of peace, though if there was anybody set by +the farm it was Joseph. He was to blame for some things,--I never saw an +Ashby that wasn't,--and I dare say he was aggravating. They were +clearing a piece of woodland that winter, and the old man was laid up in +the house with the rheumatism, off and on, and that made him fractious, +and he and John connived together, till one day Joseph and Susan Ellen +had taken the sleigh and gone to Freeport Four Corners to get some flour +and one thing and another, and to have the horse shod beside, so they +was likely to be gone two or three hours. John Jacobs was going by with +his oxen, and John Ashby and the old man hailed him, and said they'd +give him a dollar if he'd help 'em, and they hitched the two yoke, his +and their'n, to Joseph's house. There wa'n't any foundation to speak of, +the sills set right on the ground, and he'd banked it up with a few old +boards and some pine spills and sand and stuff, just to keep the cold +out. There wa'n't but a little snow, and the roads was smooth and icy, +and they slipped it along as if it had been a hand-sled, and got it down +the road a half a mile or so to the fork of the roads, and left it +settin' there right on the heater-piece. Jacobs told afterward that he +kind of disliked to do it, but he thought as long as their minds were +set, he might as well have the dollar as anybody. He said when the house +give a slew on a sideling piece in the road, he heard some of the +crockery-ware smash down, and a branch of an oak they passed by caught +hold of the stove-pipe that come out through one of the walls, and give +that a wrench, but he guessed there wa'n't no great damage. Joseph may +have given 'em some provocation before he went away in the morning,--I +don't know _but_ he did, and I don't know _as_ he did,--but +at any rate when he was coming home late in the afternoon he caught +sight of his house (some of our folks was right behind, and they saw +him), and he stood right up in the sleigh and shook his fist, he was so +mad; but afterwards he bu'st out laughin'. It did look kind of curi's; +it wa'n't bigger than a front entry, and it set up so pert right there +on the heater-piece, as if he was calc'latin' to farm it. The folks said +Susan Ellen covered up her face in her shawl and began to cry. I s'pose +the pore thing was discouraged. Joseph was awful mad,--he was kind of +laughing and cryin' together. Our folks stopped and asked him if there +was anything they could do, and he said no; but Susan Ellen went in to +view how things were, and they made up a fire, and then Joe took the +horse home, and I guess they had it hot and heavy. Nobody supposed +they'd ever make up 'less there was a funeral in the family to bring 'em +together, the fight had gone so far,--but 'long in the winter old Mr. +Ashby, the boys' father, was taken down with a spell o' sickness, and +there wa'n't anybody they could get to come and look after the house. +The doctor hunted, and they all hunted, but there didn't seem to be +anybody--'twa'n't so thick settled as now, and there was no spare +help--so John had to eat humble pie, and go and ask Susan Ellen if she +wouldn't come back and let by-gones be by-gones. She was as good-natured +a creatur' as ever stepped, and did the best she knew, and she spoke up +as pleasant as could be, and said she'd go right off that afternoon and +help 'em through. + +"The old Ashby had been a hard drinker in his day and he was all broke +down. Nobody ever saw him that he couldn't walk straight, but he got a +crooked disposition out of it, if nothing else. I s'pose there never was +a man loved sperit better. They said one year he was over to Cyrus +Barker's to help with the haying, and there was a jug o' New England rum +over by the spring with some gingerbread and cheese and stuff; and he +went over about every half an hour to take something, and along about +half-past ten he got the jug middling low, so he went to fill it up with +a little water, and lost holt of it and it sunk, and they said he drunk +the spring dry three times! + +"Joe and Susan Ellen stayed there at the old place well into the summer, +and then after planting they moved down to the Four Corners where they +had bought a nice little place. Joe did well there,--he carried on the +carpenter trade, and got smoothed down considerable, being amongst +folks. John he married a Pecker girl, and got his match too; she was the +only living soul he ever was afraid of. They lived on there a spell +and--why, they must have lived there all of fifteen or twenty years, now +I come to think of it, for the time they moved was after the railroad +was built. 'Twas along in the winter and his wife she got a notion to +buy a place down to the Falls below the Corners after the mills got +started and have John work in the spinning-room while she took boarders. +She said 'twa'n't no use staying on the farm, they couldn't make a +living off from it now they'd cut the growth. Joe's folks and she never +could get along, and they said she was dreadfully riled up hearing how +much Joe was getting in the machine shop. + +"They needn't tell me about special providences being all moonshine," +said Miss Debby for the second time, "if here wa'n't a plain one, I'll +never say one word more about it. You see, that very time Joe Ashby got +a splinter in his eye and they were afraid he was going to lose his +sight, and he got a notion that he wanted to go back to farming. He +always set everything by the old place, and he had a boy growing up that +neither took to his book nor to mill work, and he wanted to farm it too. +So Joe got hold of John one day when he come in with some wood, and +asked him why he wouldn't take his place for a year or two, if he wanted +to get to the village, and let him go out to the old place. My brother +Jonas was standin' right by and heard 'em and said he never heard nobody +speak civiller. But John swore and said he wa'n't going to be caught in +no such a trap as that. His father left him the place and he was going +to do as he'd a mind to. There'd be'n trouble about the property, for +old Mr. Ashby had given Joe some money he had in the bank. Joe had got +to be well off, he could have bought most any farm about here, but he +wanted the old place 'count of his attachment. He set everything by his +mother, spite of her being dead so long. John hadn't done very well +spite of his being so sharp, but he let out the best of the farm on +shares, and bought a mis'able sham-built little house down close by the +mills,--and then some idea or other got into his head to fit that up to +let and move it to one side of the lot, and haul down the old house from +the farm to live in themselves. There wa'n't no time to lose, else the +snow would be gone; so he got a gang o' men up there and put shoes +underneath the sills, and then they assembled all the oxen they could +call in, and started. Mother was living then, though she'd got to be +very feeble, and when they come for our yoke she wouldn't have Jonas let +'em go. She said the old house ought to stay in its place. Everybody had +been telling John Ashby that the road was too hilly, and besides the +house was too old to move, they'd rack it all to pieces dragging it so +fur; but he wouldn't listen to no reason. + +"I never saw mother so stirred up as she was that day, and when she see +the old thing a moving she burst right out crying. We could see one end +of it looking over the slope of the hill in the pasture between it and +our house. There was two windows that looked our way, and I know Mis' +Ashby used to hang a piece o' something white out o' one of 'em when she +wanted mother to step over for anything. They set a good deal by each +other, and Mis' Ashby was a lame woman. I shouldn't ha' thought John +would had 'em haul the house right over the little gardin she thought so +much of, and broke down the laylocks and flowering currant she set +everything by. I remember when she died I wasn't more'n seven or eight +year old, it was all in full bloom and mother she broke off a branch and +laid into the coffin. I do' know as I've ever seen any since or set in a +room and had the sweetness of it blow in at the windows without +remembering that day,--'twas the first funeral I ever went to, and that +may be some reason. Well, the old house started off and mother watched +it as long as she could see it. She was sort o' feeble herself then, as +I said, and we went on with the work,--'twas a Saturday, and we was +baking and churning and getting things to rights generally. Jonas had +been over in the swamp getting out some wood he'd cut earlier in the +winter--and along in the afternoon he come in and said he s'posed I +wouldn't want to ride down to the Corners so late, and I said I did feel +just like it, so we started off. We went the Birch Ridge road, because +he wanted to see somebody over that way,--and when we was going home by +the straight road, Jonas laughed and said we hadn't seen anything of +John Ashby's moving, and he guessed he'd got stuck somewhere. He was +glad he hadn't nothing to do with it. We drove along pretty quick, for +we were some belated, and we didn't like to leave mother all alone after +it come dark. All of a sudden Jonas stood up in the sleigh, and says he, +'I don't believe but the cars is off the track;' and I looked and there +did seem to be something the matter with 'em. They hadn't been running +more than a couple o' years then, and we was prepared for anything. + +"Jonas he whipped up the horse and we got there pretty quick, and I'll +be bound if the Ashby house hadn't got stuck fast right on the track, +and stir it one way or another they couldn't. They'd been there since +quarter-past one, pulling and hauling,--and the men was all hoarse with +yelling, and the cars had come from both ways and met there,--one each +side of the crossing,--and the passengers was walking about, scolding +and swearing,--and somebody'd gone and lit up a gre't bonfire. You never +see such a sight in all your life! I happened to look up at the old +house, and there were them two top windows that used to look over to our +place, and they had caught the shine of the firelight, and made the poor +old thing look as if it was scared to death. The men was banging at it +with axes and crowbars, and it was dreadful distressing. You pitied it +as if it was a live creatur'. It come from such a quiet place, and +always looked kind of comfortable, though so much war had gone on +amongst the Ashbys. I tell you it was a judgment on John, for they got +it shoved back after a while, and then wouldn't touch it again,--not one +of the men,--nor let their oxen. The plastering was all stove, and the +outside walls all wrenched apart,--and John never did anything more +about it; but let it set there all summer, till it burnt down, and there +was an end, one night in September. They supposed some traveling folks +slept in it and set it afire, or else some boys did it for fun. I was +glad it was out of the way. One day, I know, I was coming by with +mother, and she said it made her feel bad to see the little strips of +leather by the fore door, where Mis' Ashby had nailed up a rosebush +once. There! there ain't an Ashby alive now of the old stock, except +young John. Joe's son went off to sea, and I believe he was lost +somewhere in the China seas, or else he died of a fever; I seem to +forget. He was called a smart boy, but he never could seem to settle +down to anything. Sometimes I wonder folks is as good as they be, when I +consider what comes to 'em from their folks before 'em, and how they're +misshaped by nature. Them Ashbys never was like other folks, and yet +some good streak or other there was in every one of 'em. You can't +expect much from such hindered creator's,--it's just like beratin' a +black and white cat for being a poor mouser. It ain't her fault that the +mice see her quicker than they can a gray one. If you get one of them +masterful dispositions put with a good strong will towards the right, +that's what makes the best of men; but all them Ashbys cared about was +to grasp and get, and be cap'ns. They liked to see other folks put down, +just as if it was going to set them up. And they didn't know nothing. +They make me think of some o' them old marauders that used to hive up +into their castles, in old times, and then go out a-over-setting and +plundering. And I tell you that same sperit was in 'em. They was born a +couple o' hundred years too late. Kind of left-over folks, as it were." +And Miss Debby indulged in a quiet chuckle as she bent over her work. +"John he got captured by his wife,--she carried too many guns for him. I +believe he died very poor and her own son wouldn't support her, so she +died over in Freeport poor-house. And Joe got along better; his wife was +clever but rather slack, and it took her a good while to see through +things. She married again pretty quick after he died. She had as much as +seven or eight thousand dollars, and she was taken just as she stood by +a roving preacher that was holding meetings here in the winter time. He +sold out her place here, and they went up country somewheres that he +come from. Her boy was lost before that, so there was nothing to hinder +her. There, don't you think I'm always a-fault-finding! When I get hold +of the real thing in folks, I stick to 'em,--but there's an awful sight +of poor material walking about that ain't worth the ground it steps on. +But when I look back a little ways, I can't blame some of 'em; though it +does often seem as if people might do better if they only set to work +and tried. I must say I always do feel pleased when I think how mad John +was,--this John's father,--when he couldn't do just as he'd a mind to +with the pore old house. I couldn't help thinking of Joe's mansion, that +he and his father hauled down to the heater piece in the fork of the +roads. Sometimes I wonder where them Ashbys all went to. They'd mistake +one place for the other in the next world, for 'twould make heaven out +o' hell, because they could be disagreeing with somebody, and--well, I +don't know,--I'm sure they kep' a good row going while they was in this +world. Only with mother;--somehow she could get along with anybody, and +not always give 'em their way either." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Deephaven and Selected Stories & +Sketches, by Sarah Orne Jewett + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEEPHAVE AND OTHERS *** + +***** This file should be named 15985.txt or 15985.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/9/8/15985/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Louise Pryor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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