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These Figures, of gentle, simple, sad, and merry, were drawn, (not in a Day,) upon the Walls of a House of Exile. —Will the great World care for them ? . y THE NEW PRIEST w CONCEPTION BAY. ' t AlXivov, atXivov, Inre, rb 6'ei vikHto- iEsCa. AOAMEM. (R.^^i^^n^l, VOLUME I. BOSTON: PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY M DCCC LVIII. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by Phillips, Sampson and Company, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. RIVERSIDE, CAMDRIDGE: STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY II. 0. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. usetts. One, to whom I owe all wttt u» wvvB ALL, WILL KE take THIS AT MY HAND, THE BEST I HAVE? August f 1857. CONTENTS. CHAP. I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. PAQI A STRANGE COUNTRY IN THE WATERS . . 9 A RARE INTRUDER 13 MRS. BARRE AND MISS DARE . . . .24 A PRETTY SCENE AND ITS BREAKING-UP . 83 A WALK AND THE END OP IT . . .46 A FEW MOMENTS OF TWO YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIVES 52 A WRITTEN ROCK AND SOMETHING MORE . 56 TRUE WORDS ARE SOMETIMES VERY HEAVY 66 SKIPPER GEORGE'S STORY .... 74 A MEETING 93 SOME GOSSIP AND SOME REAL LIFE . . 102 TWO MEET AGAIN 108 A SAD YOUNG HEART 117 A GREAT LOSS 122 A NEW MAN 135 TRACES OF THE LOST 142 SEARCHING STILL 158 WHICH WAY SUSPICION LEADS . . .167 THE DAY FOR REST 174 SUSPECTED PERSONS . . * . . 182 AN OFFICIAL EXAMINATION, FROM WHICH SOMETHING APPEARS . . . .192 AN OLD SMUGGLER ...... 206 !! viii CONTENTS. CHAP- PAQI ^ XXIII. AN INTERVIEW OF TWO WHO HAVE MET BE- FORE 217 XXIV. THE NEW PRIEST AT BAT-HARBOR . . . 230 XXV. A CALL Al A NUNNERY .... 244 XXVL THE MAGISTRATE DEALS WITH OTHER SUS- PICIOUS PERSONS 259 XXVII. MR. BANGS HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH THE HEAD OF THE MISSION . . . .270 XXVIII. ANOTHER RELIC POUND 282 XXIX. MR. BANGS A NEOPHYTE . . . .287 XXX. MRS. BARRE'S SAD WALK .... 303 ;» 1 •• V'! ; : ■ > -i'' 1, •-■ , ' '■ » : * < •■> I ' •iziA ■ ■i^'^^ THE NEW PRIEST J ^■■/:'.5?: •'.(;•» . ■ , * m. ^.!":^si\. .A^n :'i-^:^.X CONCEPTION BAY. 4.x CHAPTER I. A STRANGE COUNTRY IN THE WATERS. \F go the surges on the coast of Newfoundland, and down, again, into the sea. The huge island, in which the scene of our story lies, stands, with its sheer, beetling cliffs, out of the ocean, a monstrous mass of rock and gravel, almost without soil, like a strange thing from the bottom of the great deep, lifted up, sud- denly, into sunshine and storm, but belonging to the watery darkness out of which it has been reared. The eye, accustomed to richer and softer scenes, finds something of a strange and almost startling beauty in its bold, hard outlines, cut out on every side, against the sky. There came up with, or after it, but never yet got to open air, those mountain-sisters, that, holding their huge heads not far below the surface, make the ohoals or Banks of Newfoundland. There are great bays in the island's sides, and harbors in the shores of the great bays ; and in and out of thest washes the water that used, perhaps, 'to float all over; and on the banks and in these bays and harbors, the fish 10 ?H? 17 THE NEW PRIEST. t. * Houses for "heading," and " splitting," and salting fish, t Platform of poles and boughs, for drying fish. X Of the Anglican Church. / 11 THE NEW PRIEST. with its "house-flag" staff; and everywhere along the water, flakes and stages. One road went down the har- bor, winding with the winding shore, but going straight across when its companion, as at Beachy Cove, made a wide sweep into the sea. Along this pretty thorough- fare there dwelt much innocence and peace ; as over it there went the feet of many sturdy toilers, and thronging churchward-goers. \ \ -•:(• i'■^ 1 • i i ■ ■ ■ . , i i i "■ ' ■',V ; ■! " n ■■(..■ i , i ;!':(.*: A BABE INTRUDER. 13 mU "-fioljl :\>'^^irV f r.' • > Oii"> : '*ii'^' ;y^:!l- ••■''^ "f ,! ^'' dlM !( U? M -J. . ■Illv » U .-. CHAPTER IL A RARE INTRUDER. ^-*v"^' ' < 'I...* JHIRTT years ago, or longer, one bright day in August, the church missionary, the Reverend Ar- thur Wellon, was walking down the harbor, with strong step, and swinging his cane ; a stoutly-built Eng- lishman, of good height, not very handsome, but open, kindly, intelligent, and reverend-looking ; in dress just grave enough and just enough unlike other gentlemen to mark his office to those who would not know it from his face. He is the central person, though not the chief actor, in our story. He was a frank and kindly man ; straightforward, honest, and, in a rather homely way, a little humorous. He had seen something of the world, in living thirty years, and U) good purpose ; had a mind large enough (because it opened into his heart) to take in more things than the mere habits of his order or his social rank ; and while hejored, heartily, the faith and services of his church, he had that common sense without which the Reformers would never have got and kept our Common Prayer. He was a good scholar, too, as well as a good parish priest. This was the man then that had just left his house, (a comely white one, with two little wings,) and was walk 14 THE NEW PRIEST. ing down the harbor-road, breaking forth, now and then, when tlie way was clear, into a cheery snatch of sacred (or not profane) song. The first turn in the road brought him in sight of two persons walking in company in advance of him, — a gentle- man of about his own age, and looking like a clergyman, and a tall, large, strongly-moulded fisherman of some sixty years. The former seemed to be listening, rather than talking, while his companion spoke earnestly, as appeared from his homely gestures. On the hill-top, near Beachy Cove, (named from its strip of sand and shingle edging the shore,) they stood still; and the Minister, who was not far behind them, could scarcely help hearing what was said. The fisher- man still spoke ; his voice and manner having the gentle- ness and modesty almost of a child. One arm passed through a coil of small rope ; and in his hand he held, with a carefulness that never forsook him, a bright-col- ored seaweed. The gentleman listened to him as if he had the honeyed speech of Nestor. It was some story of the sea, apparently, that he was telling, or commenting upon. The Minister looked curiously toward the group, as they stood, not noticing him ; and then, after a momentary hesitation, went across a little open green, entered the enclosure of a plain, modest-looking house, about which creepers and shrubs and flowers, here and there, showed taste and will more than common. His dog, a noble great black fellow, " Epictetus," who had loitered some- where upon the road, came to his master, here, and waited at his side, as he stood before the door, after knocking. The parting words of the stranger, thanking his com- panion for his society in their walk, and of the stout fisher- \ A RARE INTRUDER. 15 man turning meekly back the thanks, came through the still air, across from where they stood. ,- f, " It was very good of 'ee, sir," said the latter, " to come along wi' me," and hear my poor talk. — I wish 'ee a very good mornin, sir, an' I '11 carry this bit of a thing to my maid,* please God. One o' the nighbors sen'd it. She makes a many bright things o* such." "When he had done speaking, his strong steps were heard as he went on his way, alone ; for the whole scene was as it had been for hours, still and quiet, as if, in going to their fishing, the people had left no life behind them. Tliere had been scarce a moving thing, (if the eye sought one,) save a light reek from a chimney, (a fairer thing, as it floated over the poor man's dwelling, than ducal or royal banner,) and a lone white summer-cloud, low over the earth ; where the wind, taking holiday elsewhere, left it to itself. Finding that Mrs. Barre, for whom he asked, had walked down the harbor, the Minister went forth again, toward the road. At the top of the hill, where he had stood with the fisherman, the stranger was still standing ; now gazing over the water, toward the hills in the far southwest ; a very striking and interesting looking person he was. It was impossible for the Minister to pass him without salu- tation, and the dog loitered, as if he was confident of some intercourse between them. The stranger returned Mr. Wellon's silent greeting, gracefully, and came forward to meet him. " This atmosphere becomes the scene extremely," said he, beginning a conversation. * Maid is pronounced myde; bay, bye; play, plye ; neighbor, wycftor, &c. 16 THE NEW PRIEST. The MiiiLstor turned and cast liis eyes over the land- senpe. The summer weather, na, at its best it is there, was beautiful. Tlie eye did not seek shade, as in other coun- tries ; and it seemed, ahnost, as if the air were so bright that shadows did not tali. Tlie waves came slowly break- ing on the beach, or in great cool dashes against the rocks. One little clump of trees, spruces and firs, tame captives from the woods, stood on the rising ground, not far otf. Rocks showed themselves on every side, breaking out through the soil, sometimes as ridges, sometimes in single masses ; and beyond the low woods which could be seen a mile or two inland, great, bald, rounded, strange-looking heads of mountain-rocks. " Yes, our rough country has its beauties," said Mr. Wellon. — " We've as good an ocean as anybody, and I think we could make a pretty good show of rocks." " There are some very handsome ones, certainly," said the stranger, going on with the conversation, when begun : " those over on the other side of the bay, for example, with their strong red, and green, and white, as if all the colors of grass, and foliage, and flowers, had been laid on a huge stone pallet before paintmg the earth with them." "Not many of them have ever been laid upon the land," said the parson smiling, " they seem all to have staid upon the pallet. You know an Indian tradition was, that this island was the heap of rubbish which the great Maker threw into the sea, when He had finished the neighboring continent." The stranger spoke like one familiar with these things, and fond of them : — " With sea and rock alone," said he, " especially such rocks, there is plenty of beauty ; but with woods beside, / ^'kio A RARK INTRUDER. 17 and sunshine nn'l shndow, and passing clouds, and twilight and niglit, it's inexhaustible : and (you remember) as you look along those cUlis on iIjo other shore, how many u httle bay turns in and is lost beliiud the great wall, like Virgil's ' £8t in secossu longo locus : omnia, nb ftlto, Frangitur, inque sinus scindit sese, tiiida, reductos.' They make the very heart yearn after them, as if it might And sweet peace in those far little retreats." There was a tone of reality, without the least affecta- tion, in what he said. The glow that came with a part of this speech, and the slight melancholy which touched the last part of the sentence, made it far more interesting to the hearer than it may have been to the reader. The speaker's manner was very taking, and the near view con- firmed the impression of him made at a little distance. His complexion was a clear and fresh one ; his eyes were blue and of full proportions, deeply-lighted, and having that quick, broad glance which is the outward faculty of genius. His features, indeed, were all handsome and ex- pressive, even his auburn hair. The Minister did not immediately speak. Afler a little pause, he said : — " You've a better eye than mine. I go about here, up hill and down, into the coves, and across the water, without thinking much more of the sea and the rocks, than as places for catching or drying cod." "I can't think that," the stranger answered. "Who can look at those great mountains yonder, without being startled, if he knows that one can float over their coun- terparts, off Wadham Islands, standing up thousands of feet in sea, as these do in air, and can look down their VOL. I. 2 18 THE NEW PRIEST. 1 great rugged sides, just as he can look up these ? — I don't think you're quite insensible," he added, smiling ; " and some of thedc days people will be coming long distances to see the scenery of Newfoundland." " You're no stranger to the country, sir, I see," said the Parson. " Do you know, at the first glance, I took you for a stray church-clergyman; only I couldn't ac- count for your having got beyond my house ? " The stranger, who was certainly both a very English and a very clerical-looking man, appeared slightly embar- rassed. " No, I am not," said he ; " but I ought to know some- thing of the country, for a good deal of my life was passed in it." The Parson, as if involuntarily, cast a more searching glance at the stranger. He hastened to apologize. "Pray, excuse me," said he; "I've been here long enough to know that black cassocks are not so plenty as * white-coats,' * or capehn, or cod ; and I jump at what looks like a parson. If you'll pardon my saying so, it's hard to take you for any thing else." The other colored again shghtly, but answered with the same readiness as before, "/ought rather to apologize for looking so much like one of you ; I am a parson, after my own sort. — I was walking, a few minutes ago," he added, changing the subject, " with a man that interested me strongly. Per- haps if I describe him, sir, you could tell me who he IS. » " I saw him," said Mr. Wellon, — " George Barbury, or Skipper George, as we call him." " I thought so I " said the other, with more emphasis * Young seals. A RARE INTRUDER. 19 than seemed to belong to an interest created by a few minutes' conversation. " You know soraetliing of our people, too ? " said the English clergyman. The other explained : — " I had heiird of him and his family before I came. — It was only in connection with another family that Tve reason to be interested in." If some suspicion of this intrusive (and very engag- ing) clergyman had made its way into the heart of the retired pastor, it would not have been strange ; but Mr. "Wellon's manner showed no jealousy or apprehension ; and, whether from heartiness of disposition, or owing to his isolation from the society of educated men, he seemed more socially inclined than some of his countrymen, and of his reverend brethren. " If you intend making any stay among us," he said, " I shall hope for the pleasure of seeing you in my house another time. You must give me a chance to make a churchman of you, you know, if you come to ' molest my ancient, solitary reign.* — At any rate," said he, correcting this abrupt and summary reference to conversion, "to make a friend of you, whatever else you may be." " Thank you," said the stranger clergyman, bowing ; " neighbors we are likely to be, I believe ; and if you feel as kindly when you know more of me," (this was emphasized slightly,) " it will give me great pleasure to cultivate the acquaintance ; — but I've been detaining you too long. You were going down : may I walk with you as far as our ways lie together? I am going to *the Backside,' wherever that is." " I know every sheep and goat track," answered thd Peterport Parson; "and I won't scruple to make you free of the place for the pleasure of your company." y^ 20 THE NEW PRIEST. This hospitable speech the stranger accepted cordially. " That fisherman," he continued as they went, " has a very touching way of telling a story, and draws a moral wonderfully." " Yes," said the fisherman's pastor, " and he's a true man." " He was giving me an account of the wreck of one James Emerson, which you, very likely, know all about : (I can't tell it as he told it me, but) ' the man was going to run his boat into a passage between a reef and the shore, where nothing could save him scarcely from de- struction ; all his worldly wealth was in her, and his son ; the people on land shouted and shrieked to him through the gale, that he'd be lost (and he knew the danger as well as they did) ; suddenly he changed his mind and went about, just grazing upon the very edge of ruin, and got safe off; — then, when all was plain sailing, ran his boat upon a rock, made a total wreck of her and all that was in her, and he and his son were barely rescued and brought to life.' After telUng that, with the simplest touches of language, this was his moral, in his own words : * 'Ee see, sir, 'e tempted God, agoun out o' the plain, right w'y; an* so, when 'e'd agpt back to the w'y, agen, an' thowt 'twas all easy, then God let un go down, and brought un up again, athout e'er a thing belonging to un but 'e's life and *e's son's.' — That moral was wonderfully drawn ! " "While he was speaking and Mr. Wellon listening, they had stopped in their walk. As they moved on again, the latter said : — " Skipper George puts things together that belong together, as principle and practice, like one that knows we must lay out our best wisdom on our life." A RARE INTRUDER. 21 in go thing loral they [tgain, jlong lows ^ His companion spoke again, earnestly : — " Few men would have drawn that moral, though all its wisdom is only seeing simply; indeed, most men would never have drawn any ; but undoubtedly. Skipper George's interpretation is the true one, ' God let him go dowHf and not for coming back, but for having gone astray. — He saved his life. It was not easy to draw that moral : it would have been easy to say that the man had better have kept on, while he was about it." "Yes," said Mr. Wellon, "that repentance, coming across, would throw common minds off the scent ; George Barbury isn't so easily turned aside." Tlie stranger continued, with the same earnestness as before. " It was the Fate of the old Drama ; and he followed it as unerringly as the Greek tragedist. It needs a clear eye to see how it comes continually into our lives." " tSkipper George would never think of any Fate but the Will of God," said his pastor, a little drily, on his behalf. " I mean no other," said his companion. The Fate of the Tragedists — seen and interpreted by a Christian — is Skipper George's moral. There might have been a more tragical illustration ; but the rule of interpretation is the same. Emerson's wreck was a special providence ; but who will try to wrench apart the link of iron that this downright reasoner has welded between it and the wilful- ness that went before ? The experience of paganism and the Revelation of God speak to the same purpose. Horace's ' Raro antecedentem scelestum, Deseruit — Poena,' and the Psalmist's words (in the English translation), £^vil shall hunt the wicked person, to overthrow him,* ^^■ 22 THE NEW PBIEST. come very near together. To see the illustration clearly, in a special case ; to assign the consequence, as in this case, to its true antecedent — ^not the near, but the remote — is rare wisdom I " " Oh ! yes," said Mr. Wellon, " only I keep to the old terms : * providences,* * special providence,* ' visitation,* and so on. It's good that Skipper George isn't a man to be jealous of, or your admiration might move me." The stranger smiled. As there was often to be noticed in his voice something like an habitual sadness, and as there lay sadness, or something very like it, in his eye, so his smile was not quite without it. Not answering, unless by the smile, he asked, " Is his daughter like him ? " " She's a marvel ; only, one who knows her does not marvel : every thing seems natural and easy to her. I ought to inquire whether you've any designs upon the family?" " Not of proselyting. Oh ! no : none of any sort what- ever. I had heard of them from one who did not like them, and now I'm correcting the impression." As they passed the church, in their walk, the stranger- clergyman bestowed upon it a sufficient degree of polite attention to satisfy all reasonable requirements (for a parson with his church is like a sailor with his ship) ; and they went on, talking together. Often, as the conversation grew animated, they stood still, and sometimes were interrupted by a passing col- loquy between the minister and members of his flock. They talked of many things and lands ; and the stranger's language made the readiest and most fitting dress for his thoughts. If he spoke of woods, — such as bristle this land, or overhang the sultry tropics, — his words seemed A RARE INTRUDER. 9ft to rustle with leaves, or to smell of the freshness of the forest, or to flicker in light, and fleck the earth with glow- ing shade. The waves swelled and sparkled in his speech, and there was such a wealth of illustration, that the figures with wliich he set off what was thought and spoken of seemed to light down in bright plumage to his hand continually, as he wanted them. Imagination, which is the power of embodying things of spirit, and spiritual- izing and giving life to material things, he was full of. The slight sadness, and a slight now-and-then withdrawal of manner, implied that he was not altogether taken up in what he spoke or heard. They passed, without remembering, the first and chief path leading to the Backside, and then, lower down, the second ; and, when they recalled the oversight, the Miilis- ter turned back with his companion and put him in the best way, and they parted with mutual pleasant words. Epictetus put himself forward for a share in this demon- stration, and was caressed in turn. " This old fellow is friendly," said his new acquaint- ance ; " perhaps we shall know one another better, some day." 24 THE NEW PRIEST. CHAPTER III. MRS. BAKRi: AND MISS FANNY DARE. )RS. BAREE, though she had heen here for a few weeks only, all the harbor knew and many- loved; partly from pity, for she was of liigh breeding and young and stricken, as all eyes saw ; partly fr