THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 a 
 
 BY 
 
 SARAH p. MCLEAN GREENE 
 
 AUTHOR OF "CAPE COD FOLKS" ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS 
 1892
 
 Copyright, 1892, by HARPER & BROTHERS. 
 
 All rights reserved.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. THE MEETIN'," i 
 
 II. " SETTIN' ON THE LOG," 17 
 
 III. " GETTIN' A NAIL PUT IN THE Hoss's SHU," . 26 
 
 t 
 
 TV. LOVE, LOVE, 43 
 
 V. COLUMBUS AND THE EGG, AND LOT'S WIFE, . 57 
 VI. THIS GREATER LOVE, . . . . -67 
 
 VII. "SETTIN' ON THE FENCE" THE SHIFTY 
 
 SPECTRE, ....... 79 
 
 VIII." VESTY 's MARRIED," 83 
 
 IX. THE TALE OF CAPTAIN LEEZUR'S SLY COURT 
 SHIP, 98 
 
 X. A CALL FROM NOTELY'S YACHT, .... 104 
 
 XI. ANOTHER NAIL, . . . . . . .117 
 
 XII. THE MASTER REVELLER, 133 
 
 XIII. CAPTAIN LEEZUR RELATES HOW Mis' GARRI 
 SON ATE CROW, 139 
 
 XIV. " TAR-A-TA ! " OF THE TRUMPET, . . . 144 
 
 XV. THE BROTHERS 158 
 
 XVI. THE POPLAR LEAVES TREMBLE, ... 167 
 
 1765293
 
 iv CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XVII. GOIN' TO THE DAGARRIER'S, . . . .175 
 
 XVIII. UNCLE BENNY SAILS AWAY TO GALILEE, . 192 
 
 XIX. THE BASIN 199 
 
 XX. SOCIAL DIVERSIONS AT THE " POST-OFFICE," . 210 
 
 XXI. BROKEN WINDOWS 220 
 
 XXII. " NEIGHBORIN'," 228 
 
 XXIII. THE " FLAG-RAISIN'," OR THE " OCCASION," . 239 
 
 XXIV. THE STORY OF THE SACRED Cow, . . . 250 
 
 X4CV. IN THE LANE, 263 
 
 XXVI. JUST THE SCHOOL-HOUSE, .... 266
 
 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 THE MEETIN' 
 
 Now is it to be rain or a storm of wind at the 
 Basin? 
 
 I love that foam out on the sea; those boulders, 
 black and .wet along the shore, they are a rest to 
 me; the clouds chase one another; in this dim north 
 country the wind is cool and strong, though it is 
 now midsummer; at sunset you shall see such color! 
 
 From a little, low, storm-beaten building comes 
 the sound of a fog-horn. That is the gift of Mel- 
 chias Tibbitts, deceased, to the Basin school-house. 
 Yonder is his schooner, the "Martha B. Fuller," 
 long stranded, leaning seaward, down there in the 
 cove. 
 
 It is Sunday afternoon ; the fog-horn that Melchias 
 Tibbitts gave it serves as bell ; the battered school- 
 house as church; and for Sunday raiment? some 
 little reverent, aspiring compromise of an unwonted 
 white collar, stretched stiff and holy and uncomfort 
 able about the stalwart neck above a blue flannel 
 shirt, or a new pair of rubber boots the trousers 
 i
 
 2 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 much tucked in worn with an air of conscious, 
 deprecating pride. 
 
 But the women will be fine. God only knows 
 how! but be sure, in some pitiful, sweet way they 
 will be fine. 
 
 There are many panes of glass out of the win 
 dows, the panels of the doors are out; so better 
 they can see the clouds pass: it is beautiful. 
 
 Oh, naught have I either, nor wisdom, nor fine 
 speech only a little knowledge of shipwreck out 
 yonder, and mirth, and tears, and love. The win 
 dows and panels of my life are no strong plate, 
 polished and glittering to all beholders; they are 
 stained and broken through. Let me come in and 
 sit with ye. 
 
 
 
 "We should like to open our meetin' with singin'," 
 said Superintendent Skates; "will one of the Point 
 ers lead us in singin' ?" 
 
 The Pointers were the aristocrats of this region, 
 living twelve miles away at the Point, in the midst 
 of two grocery stores and a millinery establishment; 
 there were two of them here for a Sunday drive and 
 pastime. They were silent. 
 
 "I see, "said Elder Skates patiently, "that a few 
 of the Crooked Rivers have drove down to-day, too. 
 Will one of the Crooked Rivers lead us in singin' ?" 
 
 Lower down in the scale than the Pointers were 
 they of Crooked River, but still far above the 
 Basins; those present were not singers, they were 
 silent.
 
 THE MEET-IN 3 
 
 " Then will one of the Capers lead us in singin' ? " 
 very meekly and patiently persisted Elder Skates. 
 
 Nearer, and of low degree, were they of the Cape, 
 but still above the Basins. They were silent. 
 
 "I know, " said Elder Skates, his subdued tone 
 buoyant now with an undertone of hope, " that one 
 of the Basins will lead us in singin' ! " 
 
 For the Basins had reached those cheerful depths 
 where there is no social or artistic status to main 
 tain ; so low as to be expected to do, or attempt to 
 do, whatever might be asked of them, even though 
 failure plunged them, if possible, in deeper depths 
 of abasement. There was nothing beneath them 
 except the Artichokes; and it was seldom, very 
 seldom, air Artichoke was present. 
 
 But the Basins, though so low, were modest. 
 
 "Can't one of the Basins start, 'He will carry 
 you through '?" said the enduring Brother Skates; 
 " where is Vesty ? " 
 
 " She 's a-helpin' Elvine with her baby, " came now 
 a prompt and ready reply: "she said she'd come 
 along for social meetin', after you'd had Sunday- 
 school, ef she could." 
 
 " How is Elvine's baby ? " spoke up another voice. 
 
 "Wai', he 's poored away dreadful, but Aunt Lo- 
 wize says he 's turned to git along all right now, 
 and when Aunt Lowize gives hopes, it 's good hopes, 
 she 's nachally so spleeny. " 
 
 "Sure enough. Wai', I've raised six, and nary 
 sick day, 'less it was a cat-bile or some sech little 
 meachin' thing. I tell you there ain't no doctor's
 
 4 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 ructions like nine-tenths milk to two-tenths molasses, 
 and sot 'em on the ground, and let 'em root." 
 
 At this simple and domestic throwing off of all 
 social reserve, voices hitherto silent began to arise, 
 numerous and cheerful. 
 
 " Is there any more rusticators come to board this 
 summer?" 
 
 " There 's only four by and large," replied a male 
 voice sadly. "These here liquor laws 't Washin'- 
 ton 's put onto nor'eastern Maine are a-killin' on 
 us for a fash'nable summer resort. When folks 
 finds out 't they've got to go to a doctor and swear 
 't there 's somethin' the matter with their insides, 
 in order to git a little tod o' whiskey aboard, they 
 turns and p'ints her direc' for Bar Harbor and Sara- 
 togy Springs; an' they not only p'ints her, they 
 h'ists double-reef sails and sends her clippin' ! " 
 
 " Lunette 's got two," came from the other side of 
 the house. 
 
 " What do they pay ? " 
 
 " Five dollars a week." 
 
 "Pshaw! what ructions! Three dollars a week 
 had ought to pay the board of the fanciest human 
 creetur 't God ever created yit. But some folks 
 wants the 'arth, and'll take it too, if they can git 
 it." 
 
 "Wai', I don' know; they're kind o' meachy, and 
 alias souzlin' theirselves in hot water; it don't cost 
 nothin', but it gives yer house a ridick'lous name. 
 Then they told Lunette they wanted their lobsters 
 br'iled alive. 'Thar,' says she, 'I sot my foot down.
 
 THE MEETIN 5 
 
 I told 'em I wa'n't goin" to have no half-cooked 
 lobsters hoppin' around in torments over my house. 
 I calk' late to put my lobsters in the pot, and put 
 the cover on and know where they be,' says she." 
 
 "I took a rusticator once 't was dietin' for dys- 
 pepsy that *s a state o' the stomick, ye know, kind 
 o' between hay and grass and if I didn't get tired 
 o' makin* toast and droppin' eggs! " 
 
 " I never could see no fun in bein' a rusticator 
 anyway, down there by the sea-wall on a hot day, 
 settin' up agin' a spruce tree admirin' the lan'- 
 scape, with ants an' pitch ekally a-meanderin' 
 over ye." 
 
 " Lunette's man-boarder there, the husban', he 's 
 editor of a noos-sheet, and gits a thousand dollars 
 a year 'tain't believable, but it 's what they say 
 an' he thinks he knows it all. He got Fluke to 
 take him out in his boat; he began to direc' Fluke 
 how to do this, an' how to do that, and squallin' and 
 flyin' at him. Fluke sailed back with him and sot 
 him ashore. 'When I take a hen in a boat, I'll 
 take a hen,' says he." 
 
 "Did ye hear about Fluke's tradin' cows?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 Meanwhile Brother Skates had been standing lis 
 tening, patient, interested, but now recovered him 
 self, blushing, in his new rubber boots. 
 
 "Can't one of the Basins start 'He will carry you 
 through* ? " he entreated. 
 
 "I'd like to," said one sister, the string of her 
 tongue having been unloosed in secular flights;
 
 6 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "I've got all the dispersition in the world, Brother 
 Skates, but 1 don't know the tune." 
 
 " It 's better to start her with only jest a good dis 
 persition and no tune to speak of," said Brother 
 Skates with gentle reproof, " than not to start her at 
 all." 
 
 Thus encouraged the song burst forth, with tune 
 enough and to spare. 
 
 It was this I heard I, a happy adopted dweller, 
 from the lowest handle-end of the Basin, while driv 
 ing over through the woods with Captain Pharo 
 Kobbe and his young third wife and children. 
 
 "Come, git up," said Captain Pharo, at the sound, 
 applying the lap of the reins to the horse; "ye've 
 never got us anywheres yet in time to hear 'Amen' ! 
 Thar 's no need o' yershyin' at them spiles, ye darned 
 old fool! Ye hauled 'em thar yourself, yesterday. 
 Poo! poo! Hohum! Wai wal nevermind 
 
 ' My days are as the grass, Or as ' 
 
 Git up!" 
 
 As we alighted at the school -house, we listened 
 through the open panel with comfort to the final but 
 vociferous refrain of "He will carry you through," 
 and entered in time to take our seats for the class. 
 
 Elder Skates stood with a lesson paper in his 
 hand, from which he asked questions with painful 
 literalness and adherence to the text. 
 
 The audience, having no lesson paper or previous 
 preparation of the sort, and not daring to enter into
 
 THE MEETIN' 7 
 
 these themes with that originality of thought and 
 expression displayed in their former conversation, 
 answered only now and then, with the pale air of 
 hitting at a broad guess. 
 
 " Is sin the cause of sorrow? " said Elder Skates. 
 
 No reply. 
 
 "Is sin the cause of sorrow?" he repeated faith 
 fully. 
 
 At this point, one of a row of small boys on the 
 back seat, no more capable of appreciating this crit 
 ical period of the Sunday-school than the broad-faced 
 sculpin fish which he resembled, took an alder-leaf 
 from his pocket and, lifting it to his mouth, popped 
 it, with an explosion so successful and loud that it 
 startled even himself. 
 
 His guardian (aunt), who sat directly in front of 
 him, though deaf, heard some echo of this note; and 
 seeing the sudden glances directed their way, she 
 turned and, observing the look of frozen horror and 
 surprise upon his features, said severely, "You stop 
 that sithing " (sighing). 
 
 Delighted at this full and unexpected escape from 
 guilt and its consequences, the sculpin embraced 
 his fellow-sculpins with such ecstasy that he fell off 
 from his seat, upon the floor. 
 
 His aunt, turning again, and having no doubt as 
 to his position this time, lifted him and restored 
 him to his place with a determination so pronounced 
 that the act in itself was clearly audible. 
 
 " You set your spanker-beam down there now, and 
 keep still ! " she said.
 
 8 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 Elder Skates took advantage of this providential 
 disturbance to slide on to the next question: 
 
 " How can we escape trouble ? " 
 
 No reply. 
 
 "How can we escape trouble?" he meekly and 
 patiently repeated. 
 
 "Good Lord, Skates! "said Captain Pharo, and 
 put his hand in his pocket for his pipe, but be 
 thought himself, and withdrew it, with a deep sigh. 
 
 Elder Skates had looked at him with hope, but 
 now again mechanically reiterated: 
 
 " How can we escape trouble ? " 
 
 "We can't! we can't no way in this world! " said 
 Captain Pharo. "Where in h 11 did you scrape 
 up them questions, Skates? Escape trouble? Be 
 you a married man, Skates? I'd always reckoned 
 ye was! Poo! poo! Hohum! Wai wal never 
 mind 
 
 morn - ing flow'r, The blight ' " 
 
 He bethought himself again of his surroundings, 
 spat far out of the window as a melancholy resource, 
 and was silent. 
 
 Elder Skates, alarmed and staggered, looked 
 softly down his list of questions for something 
 vaguely impersonal, widely abstract, and now lit 
 upon it with a smile. 
 
 "What is the meaning of 'Alphy and Omegy'?" 
 he said and waited, weary but safe. 
 
 But at the second repetition of this inscrutable
 
 THE MEETIN 9 
 
 conundrum, a lank and tall girl of some fifteen sum 
 mers, arose and said, not without something of the 
 sublime air becoming a solitary intelligence: "It's 
 the great and only Pot-entate. " 
 
 Elder Skates showed no sign of having been hit 
 to death, but gazed vaguely at each one of his audi 
 ence in turn, and then turned with dazed approval 
 to the girl. 
 
 "Very good. Very good indeed, " said he. "How 
 true that is! Let us try and act upon it during the 
 week, according to our lights. Providence nor 
 nothin' else preventin', we will have our Sunday- 
 school here as usual next Sunday, and I hope we 
 shall all try and keep up religion. Is there any 
 body willing to have the 'five-cent supper' this 
 week, in order to raise funds for a united burying- 
 ground? We have been long at work on this good 
 cause, but, I'm sorry to say, interest seems to be flag- 
 gin'. Is there anybody willin' to have the five-cent 
 supper this week ?" 
 
 " I can, I suppose," said the woman who had been 
 willing to sing without tune. "But I can't give 
 beans no longer. I can give beet greens and duck." 
 
 "I don't think it was any wonder we was gettin' 
 discouraged," said another now resuscitated voice. 
 " Zely had the last one, and Fluke for devilment 
 gets a lot of the Artichokes over early ter help the 
 cause. Wai, you might know there wa'n't no 
 beans left for the Capers and Basins, and Zely was 
 dreadful mortified, for there was several Crooked 
 Rivers."
 
 10 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "Cap'n Nason Teel says," continued that indi 
 vidual's wife, "that the treasury 's fell behind; he 
 says there ain't nothin' made in five-cent suppers, 
 Artichokes or no Artichokes in beans and corn- 
 beef; he says we've got to give somethin' that don't 
 cost nothin'. Beet greens and duck don't cost noth 
 in', and if that 's agreeable, I'm willin'." 
 
 "All the same, beet greens and duck is very good 
 eatin', I think," proposed Elder Skates, and receiv 
 ing no dissenting voice, continued: 
 
 " Providence nor nothin' else preventing there 
 will be a five-cent supper at Cap'n Nason Teel's, on 
 Wednesday evenin'. Beet greens and duck. I will 
 now close the Sunday-school, trusting we shall do all 
 we can during the week to help the cause of the bury- 
 ing-ground and of religion. As soon as Brother Bird- 
 s'll arrives, we can begin social meetin'." 
 
 "It 's natch'all he should be late; somebody said 
 't he was havin' pickled shad for dinner." 
 
 "Here he comes now, beatin' to wind'ard," said 
 Captain Pharo from the window. "He'll make it! 
 The wind 's pilin' in through this 'ere school-house 
 on a clean sea-rake. I move 't we tack over to 
 south'ard of her." 
 
 This nautical advice was being followed with 
 some confusion ; I did not see Vesty when she came 
 in, but when the majority of us had tacked to south 
 'ard, I, electing still to remain at the nor'east, saw 
 her, not far in front of me, and knew it was she. 
 
 The wind was blowing the little scolding locks 
 of dusky brown hair in her neck; her shoulders were
 
 THE MEETIN II 
 
 broad to set against either wind or trouble; she was 
 still and seemed to make stillness, and yet her breast 
 was heaving under hard self-control, her cheeks were 
 burning, her eyes downcast. 
 
 I looked. Nestled among those safe to the south- 
 'ard was a young man with very wide and beautiful 
 blue eyes, that spoke for him without other utter 
 ance whatever he would. Of medium height and 
 build, yet one only thought, somehow, how strong 
 he was; clad meanfy as the rest, even to the rubber 
 storm-bonnet held in his tanned black hand, it was 
 yet plain enough that he was rich, powerful, and at 
 ease. 
 
 His wide eyes were on Vesty, and shot appealing 
 mirth at her-. 
 
 She never once glanced at him, her full young 
 breast heaving. 
 
 " Can't some of the brothers fix this scuttle over 
 my head?" said Elder Birds'll nervously, addressing 
 the group of true and tried seamen, anchored cosily 
 to south'ard. 
 
 One, Elder Cossey, arose, a Tartar, not much 
 beloved, but prominent in these matters. In his en 
 deavors he mounted the desk and disappeared, wrest 
 ling with the scuttle, all except his lower limbs and 
 expansive boots. 
 
 "My Lord!" muttered one who had been long 
 groaning under a Cossey mortgage ; " ef I could only 
 h'ist the rest of ye up there, and shet ye up! " 
 
 " I sh'd like to give him jest one jab with my hat 
 pin," added a sister sufferer, under her breath.
 
 12 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "The scuttle is now closed," said Elder Birds'll 
 gravely, as Elder Cossey descended, " and the social 
 meetin' is now open." 
 
 Here the blow of silence again fell deeply. 
 
 The wide blue eyes gave Vesty a look, like the 
 flying ripple on a deep lake. 
 
 She did not turn, but that ripple seemed to light 
 upon her own sweet lips; they quivered with the 
 temptation to laugh, the little f scolding locks ca 
 ressed her burning ears and tickled her neck, but 
 she sat very still. I fancied there were tears of dis 
 tress, almost, in her eyes. I wanted her to lift her 
 eyes just once, that I might see what they were 
 like. 
 
 "Hohum!" began Elder Cossey, with wholly de 
 vout intentions " we thank Thee that another week 
 has been wheeled along through the sand, about a foot 
 deep between here and the woods, and over them rot 
 ten spiles on the way to the Point, and them four or 
 five jaggedest boulders at the fork o' the woods I 
 wish there needn't be quite so much zigzagging and 
 shuffling in their seats by them 't have come in bare 
 foot afore the Throne o' Grace," said Elder Cossey, 
 suddenly opening his eyes, and indicating the row of 
 sculpins with distinct disfavor. 
 
 "Yes," he continued, "we've been a-straddlin' 
 along through troublements and trialments and af- 
 flickaments, hanging out our phiols down by the 
 cold streams o' Babylon, and not gittin' nothin' in 
 'em, hohum! " 
 
 Vibrating thus mysteriously, and free and uncon-
 
 THE MEETIN 13 
 
 fined, between exhortation and prayer, Elder Cossey 
 finally merged into a recital of his own weakness 
 and vileness as a miserable sinner. 
 
 And here a strange thing happened. A brother 
 who had been noticing the winks and smiles cast 
 broadly about, and thinking in all human justice 
 that Elder Cossey was getting more than his share, 
 got up and declared with emotion, that he'd " heered 
 some say how folks was all'as talkin' about their 
 sins for effex, and didn't mean nothin' by it, but I 
 can say this much, thar ain't no talkin' for effex 
 about Brother Cossey; he has been, and is, every 
 bit jest as honest mean as what he 's been a-tellin' 
 on! " 
 
 Elder Skates arose, trembling. " Vesty,"said he, 
 with unnatural quickness of tone; "will you start 
 'Rifted Rock'?" 
 
 The blue, handsome eyes were on her mercilessly 
 she was suffocating besides with a wild desire to 
 laugh, her breath coming short and quick. She 
 gave one agonized look at Brother Skates, and then 
 lifted her eyes to the window. 
 
 The clouds were sad and grand; there was a bird 
 flying to them. 
 
 She fixed her eyes there, and her voice flowed out 
 of her: 
 
 " ' Softly through the storm of life, 
 Clear above the whirlwind's cry, 
 O'er the waves of sorrow, steals 
 The voice of Jesus, " It is I." ' 
 
 The music in her throat had trembled at first like
 
 14 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 the bird's flight, winging as it soared, but now all 
 that was over; her uplifted face was holy, grave: 
 
 " ' In the Rifted Rock I'm resting.' " 
 
 Elder Cossey forgot his wrath in mysterious deep 
 movings of compunction. Fluke, who had entered, 
 was soft, reverent, his fingers twitching for his 
 violin. Even so, I thought, as I listened, it may 
 be will sound to us some voice from the other shore, 
 when we put out on the dark river. 
 
 " Vesty," said a mite of a girl, coming up to her 
 after meeting, " Evelin wants to know if you can set 
 up with Clarindy to-night. She 's been took again." 
 
 "Yes," said Vesty, the still look on her face, "I'll 
 come." 
 
 "Vesty," said Elder Skates, "when can you haul 
 over the organ and swipe her out? She 's full o' 
 chalk." 
 
 "I'll try and do it to-morrow." Vesty looked at 
 Elder Skates and smiled, showing her wholesome 
 white teeth. 
 
 "Vesty," said Mrs. Nason Teel; "I want ye to set 
 right down here, now I've got ye, and give me that 
 resute for Mounting Dew pudding." 
 
 The blue eyes at the door gave Vesty an imper 
 ative, quick glance. 
 
 But she sat down by Mrs. Nason Teel ; she sat 
 there purposely until all the people were dispersed 
 and the winding lanes were still outside. 
 
 Then she went her own way alone, something like 
 tears veiled under those long, quiet lashes.
 
 THE MEETIN 15 
 
 She saw first a muscular hand on the fence and 
 dared not look up, until Notely Garrison had vaulted 
 over at a bound and stood before her, his glad eyes 
 flashing, his storm hat in his hand. 
 
 Then her look was wild reproach. 
 
 "Vesty!" he cried. "Is this the way, after all 
 we have been to one another ? Have you forgotten 
 how we were like sister and brother, you and I ? how 
 Doctor Spearmint led us to school together?" he 
 laughed eagerly. " How " 
 
 "I haven't forgotten, Note. But it can't be the 
 same again, as man and woman, with what you are, 
 and what I am." 
 
 "Better! O Vesty!" he stood quite on a level 
 with her now; she was glad of that. She was a tall 
 girl, taller than he when they parted. "O Vesty! " 
 he drank in her beauty with an awe that uplifted her 
 in his frank, bright gaze " God was happy when He 
 made you! " 
 
 But the girl's eyes only searched his with a Basin 
 gravity, for faith. 
 
 A fatal step, searching in Notely 's eyes! A beau 
 tiful pallor crept over her face, flushing into joy. 
 She ran her hand through his rough, light hair in the 
 old way. 
 
 " It has not changed you, being at the schools so 
 long, as I thought it would," she said wistfully, 
 stroking his hair with mature gentleness, though he 
 was older than she. "Why, Note; you look just as 
 brown, and hearty, and masterful as ever! " 
 
 "Oh, but it wasn't book-schools I went to, you
 
 1 6 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 know. It was rowing and foot-ball and taking six 
 bars on the running leap, and swinging from the 
 feet with the head downward, and all that. I can 
 do it all." 
 
 He looked away from her with mischief in his 
 eyes, and hummed a line through his fine Greek 
 nose, as Captain Pharo might. 
 
 "I don't doubt it, but you were high in the col 
 lege too for Lunette saw it in a paper: so high 
 it was spoken of! " 
 
 "I just asked them to do that, Vesty. People 
 can't refuse me, you know. I get whatever I ask 
 for." 
 
 He turned to her with a sort of childish pathos on 
 his strong, handsome face. 
 
 She bit her lip for joy and pride in him, even his 
 strange, gay ways. 
 
 "Come, Vesta!" he said, with an air of natural 
 and graceful proprietorship; "a stolen meeting is 
 nonsense between you and me. I shall see you 
 home."
 
 SETTIN' ON THE LOG 17 
 
 II 
 
 "SETTIN' ON THE LOG" 
 
 His face invited me, the skin drawn over it 
 rather tightly, resembling a death's-head, yet beam 
 ing with immortal joy. 
 
 He was sitting on a log; his little granddaughter, 
 on the other side of him, was as cheerfully diverted 
 in falling off of it. He was picking his teeth with 
 some mysterious talisman of a bone, selected from 
 the forepaw of a deer, and gazing at the heavens as 
 at a fond familiar brother. 
 
 "Won't you set down a spa-11," he said, and the 
 way he said spell suggested pleasing epochs of rest. 
 
 " Leezur's my name; and neow I'll tell ye how ye 
 can all'as remember it; it's jest like all them great 
 discoveries, it's dreadful easy when it's once been 
 thought on. Leezur leezure see? Leezure means 
 takin' things moderate, ye know, kind o' settin' 
 areound in the shank o* the evenin' Leezur lee 
 zure see! " 
 
 Oh, how he beamed ! The systems of Newton and 
 Copernicus seemed dwarfed in comparison. I sat 
 down on the log; the little girl, gazing at me in as 
 tonishment, fell off. 
 
 " What's the marter, Dilly ? " said her grandfather,
 
 1 8 VESTY OF TH BASINS 
 
 in the same slow, mellow, jubilant tone with which 
 he had propounded his discovery, and not with 
 drawing his fond smile from the heavens; " 's the 
 log tew reoundin' for ye to set stiddy on ? " 
 
 A rattling brown structure rose before us, sur 
 rounded by a somewhat firm staging; a skeleton 
 roof, with a few shingles in one corner, twisted all 
 ways by -the wind. It told its own tale, of an inter 
 rupted vocation. 
 
 "I expect to git afoul of her agin to-morrer," 
 continued Captain Leezur;"ef Pharo got my nails, 
 when he went up to the Point to-day. Some neow 
 'sall'as dreadful oneasy when they gits to shinglin'; 
 wants to drive the last shingle deown 'fore the first 
 one's weather-shaped. Have ye ever noticed how 
 some's all'as shiftin' a chaw o' tobakker? Neow 
 when I takes a chaw I wants ter let her lay off one 
 side, and compeound with her own feelin's when she 
 gits ready to melt away. Forced-to-go never gits 
 far, ye know. 
 
 "Some "s that way," he resumed; "and some 's 
 sarssy. '.' 
 
 I looked up incredulously, but his fostering, ab 
 stracted smile was as serene as ever. 
 
 "Vesty, neow, stood down there in the lane this 
 mornin', and sarssed me for a good ten minits; 
 sarssed me abeout not havin' no nails, and sarssed 
 me abeout settin' on the log a spall; stood there 
 and sarssed and charffed." 
 
 " She is some relative some grandniece of yours, 
 Captain Leezur ? "
 
 SETTIN ON THE LOG' 19 
 
 " No, oh no. Vesty and me 's only jest mates; but 
 we charff and sarss each other 'tell the ceows come 
 home." 
 
 I thought of the tall girl with the holy eyelids 
 and the brave resistance against mirth, and in spite 
 of my predilection for Captain Leezur, his words 
 seemed to me like sacrilege. 
 
 "I saw her, Sunday," I said. 
 
 "Wai, thar' neow! Vesty 's jest as pious lookin', 
 Sundays, as Pharo's tew-seated kerridge. I tell 
 her, I'm dreadful glad for her sake that there ain't 
 but one Sunday tew a week, she couldn't hold out 
 no longer. Still, she's vary partickeler, Vesty is, 
 and she 's good for taking keer o' folks. Elder 
 Birds'll says 't ef Vesty Kirtland ain't come under 
 'tonin' grace, then 'tonin' grace is mighty skeerce 
 to the Basin. " 
 
 "She is beautiful," I said. 
 
 "Oh, I don't know 'beout that. Vesty 's a little 
 more hullsome lookin' sometimes 'long in the win 
 ter, when she gits bleached out and poored away a 
 bit." 
 
 " People seem to depend on her a great deal." 
 
 " Sartin they dew. Wai, Vesty 's gittin' on. She 
 's nineteen year old. She can row a boat, or dew 
 a washin', or help in a deliverunce case, and she 's 
 r'al handy and comfortin' in death-damps." 
 
 "All that! Vesty and nineteen!" I think I 
 sighed. 
 
 "Ye mustn't let her k/le herself reound ye," said 
 Captain Leezur.
 
 20 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 I looked up in dismay. Had he not seen my 
 weakness of body, and my birth-scarred face? 
 
 No, apparently he had not; his benign blessed face 
 uplifted, and his voice so glad: 
 
 "Ye know how 'tis with women folks; they don't 
 give no warnin', but first ye know they're kilin' 
 themselves all reound and reound yer h'art-strings. 
 They don't know what it 's for and ye don't know 
 what it 's for; but take a young man like you, and 
 ef ye ain't keerful, Vesty'll jest as sartin git in a 
 kile on you as the world." 
 
 "How about that strong-looking young man?" I 
 said. "Very easy, swaggers gracefully with the 
 blue eyes." 
 
 " Neow I know jest who you mean! You mean 
 Note Garrison. Sartin, Vesty 's done herself reound 
 him from childhood to old age, as ye might say. 
 I don't know whether he c'd ever unkile himself 
 or not, but I shouldn't want to bet on no man's 
 charnces with a woman like Vesty all weound 
 areound and reound him that way. Some says 't he 
 wouldn't look at a Basin when it comes to marryin'. 
 But thar' ! Note all'as kerries sail enough ter sink 
 the boat but what he says, he'll stick to." 
 
 " He is rich, then ?" 
 
 ''Wai, yes. They own teown prop'ty some- 
 whars, and they own all the Neck here, and lays 
 areound on her through the summer. Why, Note's 
 father he 's dead neow he and I uster stand deown 
 on the mud flats when we was boys, a-diggin' clarms
 
 "SETTIN" ON THE LOG" 21 
 
 tergether, barefoot; 'tell he cruised off somewhar's 
 and made his fortin'. 
 
 "I might 'a' done jest the same thing," reflected 
 Captain Leezur aloud, with a pensiveness that still 
 had nothing of unavailing regret in it, " ef I'd been 
 a mind tew; and had a monniment put up over me 
 like one o' these here No. 10 Mornin' Glory coal 
 stoves." 
 
 I too mused, deeply, sadly. 
 
 O placid, unconscious sarcasm! innocent as flow 
 ers: wise end, truly, of all earthly ambition! Plow 
 much more distinguished, after all, Captain Leezur, 
 the spireless grave waiting down there in the little 
 home lot by the sea. Since five-cent suppers do 
 not enrich the donor, and the treasury of the 
 United Burying Ground is permanently low. 
 
 " Never mind, Dilly ! crawl up agin. What ef ye 
 did tunk onto yer little head; little gals' skulls is 
 yieldin' and sof." 
 
 "What is the weather going to be, Captain 
 Leezur?" I said, following his gaze skyward. 
 
 "Wai, I put on my new felts," said he, indicating 
 without any false assumption of modesty those 
 chaste sepulchres enclosing his feet "hopin* 
 'twould fetch a rain! said I didn't care ef I did spot 
 my new felts ef 'twould only fetch a rain! One 
 thing," he continued, scanning the dilatory sky 
 with a look that was keen without being severe; 
 "she'll rain arfter the moon fulls, ef she don't 
 afore."
 
 22 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 I reluctantly made some sign of going, but was 
 restrained. "Wait a spall," he said; and ran 
 his hand anticipatively into his pocket. He 
 brought to light some lozenges that had evidently 
 just been recovered from blushing intimacy with 
 his " plug" of tobacco. 
 
 " Narvine lozenges," he explained; "they're 
 dreadful moderatin' to the dispersition; quiet ye; 
 take some. 
 
 " They come high," he confided to me, with the idea 
 of enhancing, not begrudging the gift, as we sucked 
 them luxuriously; "cent apiece, dollar a hunderd. 
 Never mind, Dilly; here 's one o' Granpy's narvine 
 lozenges; p'r'aps it'll help ye to set stiddier. " 
 
 So, with a glad view to moderating my disposition, 
 I sat with Captain Leezur and the little girl on the 
 log, and ate soiled nervine lozenges, tinctured origi 
 nally with such primal medicaments as catnip and 
 thoroughwort ; and whether from that source or not, 
 yet peace did descend upon me like a river. 
 
 As I finally rose to go 
 
 "D'ye ever have the toothache?" said Captain 
 Leezur kindly; "ef ye do, come right straight 
 deown to me, and ef she 's home you shall have 
 her" and he exhibited beamingly that talismanic 
 little bone cleft from the forepaw of a deer. 
 "Ye pick yer teeth with 'er and ye're sartin never 
 to have the toothache, but ef you've got a toothache, 
 she'll cure ye. 
 
 "Mine 's been lent a great deal," he continued 
 proudly. " She 's been as far as 'Tit Menan Light,
 
 SETTIN ON THE LOG 23 
 
 and one woman over to Sheep Island kep' her a week 
 once. She 's been sent for sometimes right in the 
 middle o' the night! When there ain't nobody else 
 a-usin' of her, I takes the charnce to pick away with 
 her a little myself. But ef you ever feel the tooth 
 ache comin' on, come to me direc' and ef she 's 
 home, you shall have her." 
 
 I thanked him with a swelling heart. We shook 
 hands affectionately, and I went on up the lane. 
 
 I turned the corner by the school-house. Away 
 back there among the spruce trees, I saw moving 
 figures, red, green, blue, and heard low voices and 
 laughter. 
 
 Then I remembered how I had heard the orphan 
 "help" of my hostess, Miss Pray, make a request 
 that she might go "gumming" with the other girls 
 that afternoon. 
 
 It was a long perspective to limp through alone, 
 with all those bright, merry eyes peering from be 
 hind the spruce trees. But I had not labored over 
 half the way, when I saw one, the tallest one, 
 coming toward me. 
 
 Vesty. 
 
 "Won't you have some?" she said. "Strangers 
 don't know how good it is; it is very good for you 
 a little." Yes, she was chewing the gum a 
 little herself; but that wild pure resin from the 
 trees, and with, oh, such teeth! such lips! a breath 
 like the fragrant shades she had issued from. 
 
 She poured some of her spicy gleanings into my 
 hand.
 
 24 VF.STY OF THE BASINS 
 
 And now I could see her closely. 
 
 I do not know how she would have looked at other 
 men, strong men; but at me she looked as the girl 
 mother who bore me, untimely and in terror, might 
 have done, had she been now in the flesh, mutely 
 protective against all the world, without repugnance, 
 infinitely tender. 
 
 " I am coming up to sit with you and Miss Pray, 
 some evening," she said. Her warm brown fingers 
 touched mine. She did not blush; she had her Sun 
 day face holy, grave. 
 
 "Come! God bless you, child!" I said, and 
 limped on, strong against the world. 
 
 I sat by the fireplace that evening; not a night 
 in all the year in this sweet north country but you 
 shall find the fire welcome. 
 
 Miss Fray's fireplace stretched wide between door 
 and door. Opposite it were the windows; you saw 
 the water, the moon shone in. 
 
 Miss Pray did her own farming and was sleepy, 
 yet sat by me with that religious awe of me as be 
 fitting one who had elected to pay seven dollars a 
 week for board ! I surprised a look of baffled wonder 
 and curiosity on her face now and then, as well as of 
 remorse at allowing me to attach such a mysterious 
 value to my existence. 
 
 She did not know that her fire in itself was 
 priceless. 
 
 It burned there part of a lobster trap, washed 
 ashore, three buoys, a section of a hen-coop, a bot 
 tomless chopping tray, a drift-wood stump with ten
 
 SETTIN ON THE LOG 25 
 
 fantastic roots sending up blue and green flame, a 
 portion of the wheel of an outworn cart, some lob 
 ster shells, the eyes glowing, some mussel shells, 
 light green, and seaweed over all, shining, hissing, 
 lisping. 
 
 Miss Pray snored gently. I put some of the 
 spruce gum Vesty had given me into my mouth; 
 well, yes, by birth I have very eminent right to 
 aristocratic proclivities. 
 
 But the spruce woods came again before me with 
 their balm, and her face. I dwelt upon it fondly, 
 without that pang of hope which most men must en 
 dure, and smiled to think of Captain Leezur's dis 
 may if he should know how Vesty had already 
 coiled herself around my heart-strings!
 
 26 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 ITT 
 " GETTIN' A NAIL PUT IN THE HOSS'S SHU " 
 
 THEY never noticed my physical misfortune except 
 in this way: they invited me everywhere; to mill, to 
 have the horse shod, all voyages by sea or land; my 
 visiting and excursion list was a marvel of repletion. 
 
 Captain Pharo came down my soul's brother 
 with more of "a hitch and a go," than usual in his 
 gait. 
 
 " My woman read in some fool-journal some- 
 wheres, lately," he explained, "about pourin' kero 
 sene on yer corns and then takin* a match to her and 
 lightin' of her off. 
 
 "Wai', I supposed she was a-dressin' my corns 
 down in jest the old usual way, last Sunday mornin', 
 when by clam! ye don't want to splice onto too 
 young a shipmate, major." (This last was a 
 divinely Basin thought, treating me as a subject of 
 the wars.) 
 
 "I've married all states but widders," said Cap 
 tain Pharo, with a blase a\r of conjugal experience; 
 "but my advice above all things is," he murmured, 
 lifting his maimed foot, "don't splice onto too young 
 a shipmate. They're all'as a-tryin' some new 
 ructions on ye. Now Vesty, even as stiddy as she 
 is, she 's all'as gittin' the women folks crazy over
 
 GETTIN A NAIL PUT IN THE HOSS S SHU 27 
 
 some new patron for a apern, or some new resute for 
 pudd'n' and pie. So," he added, "ef you sh'd come 
 to me, intendin' to splice, all the advice 't I c'd 
 give 'ud be, I don't know widders; poo! poo! 
 hohum ! Wai, wal 
 
 ' My days are as the grass, Or as ' 
 
 try widders." 
 
 As I stood speechless with conflicting emotions, 
 he lit his pipe and continued, more hopefully: 
 
 "I've got to go up to the Point to git a nail put 
 in the hoss's shu, so I come down to ask you to go 
 up to the house and jine us." 
 
 Now I already knew that the Basin way of proceed 
 ing to get a nail put in the horse's shoe meant a day 
 of widely excursive incident and pleasure, in which 
 the main or stated object was cast far from our poeti 
 cal vision. I accepted. 
 
 " My woman invited Miss Lester to go with us. 
 The old double-decker rides easier for havin' con- 
 sid'rable ballast, ye know and Miss Lester tips her 
 at nigh onto about two hunderd ; she 's a widder too, 
 ain't she, by the way? but she 's clost onto sixty- 
 seven; hain't no thoughts o' splicin', in course. 
 Miss Lester 's a vary sensible woman. But I thought 
 cruisin' 'round with her kind o' frien'ly on the back 
 seat, ye might git a sort of a token or a consute in 
 general o' what widders is." 
 
 " True," said I gratefully,with flattered meditation. 
 
 "It 's a scand'lous windy kentry to keep anything
 
 28 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 on the clo's-line," said the captain, as we walked 
 on together, sadly gathering up one of his stockings 
 and a still more inseparable companion of his earthly 
 pilgrimage from the path. 
 
 "What 's the time, major? "said he, as he led me 
 into the kitchen, " or do you take her by the sun ? I 
 had Leezur up here a couple o' days to mend my 
 clock. 'Pharo, ' says he, 'thar 's too much friction in 
 her.' So, by clam! he took out most of her insides 
 and laid 'em by, and poured some ile over what they 
 was left, and thar' she stands! She couldn't tick 
 to save her void and 'tarnal emptiness. 'Forced- 
 to-go never gits far," says Leezur, he says 'ye 
 know.' ' 
 
 Captain Pharo and I, standing by the wood-box, 
 nudged each other with delight over this conceit. 
 
 " 'Forced-to-go never gets far, you know,' " said I. 
 
 " 'Forced-to-go, ' " began Captain Pharo, but was 
 rudely haled away by Mrs. Pharo Kobbe, to dress. 
 
 That was another thing; apparently they could 
 never get me to the house early enough, pleased that 
 I should witness all their preparations. They led 
 me to the sofa, and Mrs. Kobbe came and combed 
 out her hair pretty, long, woman's hair in the 
 looking-glass, over me; and then Captain Pharo 
 came and parted his hair down the back and brushed 
 it out rakishly both sides, over me. Usually I saw 
 the children dressed; they were at school. It was 
 too tender a thought for explanation, this way of 
 taking me with brotherly fondness to the family 
 bosom.
 
 GETTIN A NAIL PUT IN THE HOSS S SHU 29 
 
 " How do you like Cap'n Pharo's new blouse?" 
 said his wife. 
 
 In truth I hardly knew how to express my emo 
 tions; while he sniffed with affected disdain of 
 his own brightness and beauty, I was so dim-looking, 
 in comparison, sitting there! 
 
 "When I took up the old carpet this spring, I 
 found sech a bright piece under the bed, that I jest 
 took and made cap'n a blouse of her and wal, thar! 
 what do you think ? " 
 
 I looked at him again. The hair of my soul's 
 brother had ceased from the top of his head, but the 
 long and scanty lower growth was brushed out several 
 proud inches beyond his ears. He was not tall, and 
 he was covered with sections of bloom; but as he 
 turned he displayed one complete flower embracing 
 his whole back, a tropical efflorescence, brilliant 
 with many hues. 
 
 " She is beautiful," I murmured; " what sort of a 
 flower is she?" 
 
 "Oh, I don' know," said Captain Pharo, with 
 the same affected indifference to his charms, but 
 there was yes, there was something jaunty in his 
 gait now as he walked toward the barn; "they're 
 rather skeerce in this kentry, I expect; some d d 
 arniky blossom or other! Poo! poo! 
 
 I - I 
 
 &&i - i -- 1 - i i - - <& f, - 
 
 'Or as the morning flowV.The blighting wind sweeps o'er, she with-' 
 
 Come, wife, time ye was ready! " 
 
 I was not unprepared, on climbing to my seat in
 
 30 . VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 the carriage, to have to contest the occupancy of the 
 cushions with a hen, who was accustomed to appro 
 priate them for her maternal aspirations. I was in 
 the midst of the battle, when Mrs.Kobbe coolly seized 
 her and plunged her entire into a barrel of rain 
 water. She walked away, shaking her feathers, with 
 an angry malediction of noise. 
 
 " Ef they're good eggs, we'll take 'em to Uncle 
 Coffin Demmin' and Aunt Salomy," said Mrs. Kobbe. 
 
 She brought a bucket of fresh water, benevolently 
 to test them, but left the enterprise half completed, 
 reminded at the same time of a jug of buttermilk she 
 had meant to put up. 
 
 She went into the house, and Captain Pharo, ab 
 sorbed in lighting his pipe, and stepping about 
 fussily and impatiently, had the misfortune to put 
 a foot into two piles of eggs of contrasting qualities. 
 
 "By clam!" said he, white with dismay. " Ho- 
 hum! oh dear! Wai, wal 
 
 i : r ~i *^j 
 
 'My days are as ' 
 
 Guess, while she 's in the house, I'll go down to 
 the herrin'-shed and git some lobsters to take 'em; 
 they're very fond on 'em." He gave me an ap 
 pealing, absolutely helpless smile of apology, and the 
 arnica blossom faded rapidly from my vision. 
 
 Left in guardianship of the horse, I climbed again 
 to my seat and covered myself with the star bed- 
 quilt, which served as an only too beautiful car 
 riage robe. Thus I, glowing behind that gorgeous.
 
 GETTIN' A NAIL PUT IN THE HOSS'S SHU " 31 
 
 ever-radiating star, was taken by Mrs. Kobbe, I 
 doubt not, for the culprit, as she finally emerged 
 from the house and the captain was discovered 
 innocently returning along the highway with the 
 lobsters. 
 
 Let this literal history record of me that I said no 
 word; nay, I was even happy in shielding my soul's 
 brother. 
 
 " Now," said Mrs. Kobbe, as we set forth, "Miss 
 Lester said not to come to her house for her, but 
 wherever we saw the circle-basket settin' outside the 
 door, there she'd be." 
 
 "I wish she'd made some different 'pointment," 
 said the captain, with a sigh. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Why ! don't it strike ye, woman, 't they 's nothin' 
 ondefinite 'n pokin' around over the 'nhabited 'arth, 
 lookin' for the Widder Lester's circle-basket ? I was 
 hopin' widders was more definite, but it seems they're 
 jest like all the rest on ye: poo! poo! hohum jest 
 like all the rest on ye. " 
 
 "We've got to find her, cap'n; she sets sech store 
 by talkin' along o' major." 
 
 "Major!" sniffed the captain; "she ain't worthy 
 to ontie the major's shoe-lockets; they ain't none 
 on 'em worthy, maids, widders none on "em!" 
 
 I knew to what he referred, what gratitude was 
 moving in his breast. 
 
 "Wai, thar now, Cap'n Pharo Kobbe! ain't Vesty 
 Kirtland worthy?" 
 
 "Vesty! "said the captain, undismayed "Vesty
 
 32 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 's an amazin' gal, but she ain't nowheres along o' 
 major! " 
 
 "Wai, I must say! I wonder whatever put you 
 in such a takin' to major." 
 
 He did not say. 
 
 We travelled vaguely, gazing from house to house, 
 and then the road over again, without discovering 
 any sign of the basket. 
 
 "By clam! it 's almost enough to make an infidel 
 of a man," said the captain, furiously relighting his 
 pipe. 
 
 " Cap'n Pharo Kobbe, you're all'as layin' every 
 thing either to women or religion." 
 
 " Don't mention on 'em in the same breath," said 
 the captain; "don't. They hadn't never orter be 
 classed together! " 
 
 Fortunately at this juncture we saw Mrs. Lester 
 afar off at a fork of the roads standing and wav 
 ing her arms to us, and we hastened to join her, 
 but imagine the captain's feelings when from the 
 circle-basket she took out a large, plump blue 
 berry pie, or "turnover," for each of us, with a face 
 all beaming with unconscious joy and good-will. 
 
 " How do you feel now, eatin' Miss Lester's turn 
 over, after what you've been and said?" said his 
 wife. 
 
 "What'd I say?" said the captain boldly, im 
 mersed in the joys of his blueberry pie; for a prim 
 itive, a generic appetite attaches to this region: one 
 is always hungry; no sooner has one eaten than he 
 is wholesomely hungry again.
 
 " GETTIN' A NAIL PUT IN THE HOSS s SHU 33 
 
 "Do you want me to tell what you said, Cap'n 
 Pharo Kobbe?" 
 
 "Poo! poo!" said the captain, wiping his mouth 
 with a flourish. 
 
 ^_-^_-^ ^~^ '^' i'~' i~~il~li : "^ ^ ^L"~ 
 
 ' Or as the morning flovv'r, The blighting wind sweeps o'er, she ' " 
 
 "You'd ought to join a concert," said his wife, at 
 the stinging height of sarcasm, for the captain's sing 
 ing was generally regarded as a sacred subject. 
 
 But there was one calm spirit aboard, my compan 
 ion, Mrs. Lester. Ah me! if I might but drive 
 with her again! Her weight was such, settling the 
 springs that side, that I, slender and uplifted, and 
 tossed by the roughness of the road, had continually 
 to cling to the side bars, in order to give a proper 
 air of coolness to our relationship. 
 
 But when it came to the pie I had to give up the 
 contest, and ate it reclining, literally, upon her 
 bosom. 
 
 "I'm glad I didn't wear my dead-lustre silk," said 
 she tenderly; " it might 'a' got spotted. I'm all'as 
 a great hand to spot when I'm eatin' blueberry pie. " 
 
 Blessed soul! it was not she; it was my arm that 
 was scattering the contents of the pie. 
 
 "You know I board 'Blind Rodgers, ' " she went 
 on, still deeper to bury my regret and confusion. I 
 had heard of him; his sightless, gentle ambition it 
 was to live without making "spots." 
 
 "Wai, we had blueberry pie for dinner yesterday 
 and I wonder if them rich parents in New York 't 
 3
 
 34 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 left him with me jest because he was blind, and 
 hain't for years took no notice of him 'cept to send 
 his board I wonder if they could 'a' done what he 
 done? I made it with a lot o' sweet, rich juice, 
 and I thought to myself, 'I know Blind Rodgers'll 
 slop a little on the table-cloth to-day,' and I put on 
 a clean table-cloth, jest hopin' he would. But 
 where I set, with seein' eyes, there was two or three 
 great spots on the cloth; and he et his pie, but on 
 his place at table, when he got up, ye wouldn't 'a' 
 known anybody'd been settin' there, it was so clean 
 and white! " 
 
 Some tears coursed down her cheeks at the pure 
 recollection we, who have seeing eyes, make so 
 many spots! I felt the tears coming to my own eyes, 
 for we were as close in sympathy as in other respects. 
 
 Meanwhile the ancient horse was taking quite an 
 unusual pace over the road. 
 
 "Another sail on ahead there somewhere," said 
 Captain Pharo; "hoss is chasin' another hoss. It 's 
 Mis' Garrison's imported coachman, takin' home 
 some meal, 'cross kentry. He' 11 turn in to'ds the Neck 
 by 'n' by. Poo! poo! Mis' Garrison wanted Fluke to 
 coach for her; he was so strong an' harnsome; an' she 
 was tellin' him what she wanted him to do, curchy 
 here, and curchy there. 'Mis' Garrison, ' says Fluke, 
 'I'll drive ye 'round wherever ye wants me to, but I'll 
 be d d if I'll curchy to ye!' So she fetched alonp, 
 an imported one." 
 
 Whatever the obsequious conduct of this individ 
 ual toward Mrs. Garrison, his manners to us were
 
 " GETTIN' A NAIL PUT IN THE HOSS s SHU ' 35 
 
 insolent to a degree. Having once turned to look 
 at us, he composed his hat on one side, grinned, 
 whistled, and would neither turn again nor give us 
 room to pass, nor drive out of a walk, on our ac 
 count. 
 
 "Either fly yer sails, or cl'ar the ship's channel 
 there," cried Captain Pharo at last, snorting with 
 indignation. 
 
 The wicked imported coachman continued the 
 same. 
 
 It was now that our horse, who had been meanwhile 
 going through what quiet mental processes we knew 
 not, solved the apparent difficulty of the situation 
 by a judicious selection of expedients. He lifted 
 the bag of meal bodily from the coachman's wagon 
 with his teeth, and, depositing it silently upon the 
 ground by the roadside, paused of his own accord 
 and gravely waited for us to do the rest. 
 
 The coachman was pursuing his way, unconscious, 
 insolent, whistling. 
 
 "She'll take it out o' yer wages; she 's dreadful 
 close," chuckled Captain Pharo, as we tucked 
 the bag of meal away on the carriage floor. " See 
 when ye'll scoff in my sails, and block up the ship's 
 channel ag'in! Now then; touch and go is a good 
 pilot," and we struck off on a divergent road at a 
 rattling pace. 
 
 But these adventures had exhausted so much time, 
 when we arrived at Crooked River it was high tide, 
 and the bridge was already elevated for the passage 
 of a schooner approaching in the distance.
 
 36 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "See, now, what ye done, don't ye?" said Cap 
 tain Pharo I must say it with mean reproach, 
 to his wife; "we've got to wait here an hour an* a 
 half." 
 
 "Wai, thar, Cap'n Pharo Kobbe, seems to me I 
 wouldn't say nothin' 'g'inst Providence nor nobody 
 else, for once, ef I'd jest got two dollars' worth o' 
 meal, jest for pickin' it up off' n the road." 
 
 Touched by this view of the case, the captain sang 
 with great cheerfulness that his days were as the 
 grass or as the morning flower when an inspiration 
 struck him. 
 
 "I don' know," said he, "why we hadn't just as 
 well turn here and go up Artichoke road, and git 
 baited at Coffin's, 'slid er stoppin' to see 'em on 
 the way home. I'm feelin' sharp as a meat-axe 
 ag'in." 
 
 " I don' know whether the rest of ye are hungry or 
 not," said plump little Mrs. Kobbe; "but I'm gittin' 
 as long-waisted as a knittin'-needle." 
 
 The language of vivid hyperbole being exhausted, 
 Mrs. Lester and I expressed ourselves simply to the 
 same effect. We turned, heedful no longer of the 
 tides, and travelled delightfully along the Artichoke 
 road until we reached a brown dwelling that I knew 
 could be none other than theirs Uncle Coffin's and 
 Aunt Salomy's; they were in their sunny yard, and 
 before I knew them, I loved them. 
 
 " Dodrabbit ye!" cried Uncle Coffin Demmin, 
 springing out at us in hospitable ecstasy, Salomy 
 beside him; "git out! git out quick! The sight on
 
 "GETTIN* A NAIL PUT IN THE HOSS'S SHU" 37 
 
 ye makes me sick, in there. Git out, I say!" he 
 roared. 
 
 "No-o; guess not, Coffin," said Captain Pharo, 
 with gloomy observance of formalities; "guess I 
 ca-arnt; goin' up to the Point to git a nail put in 
 my hoss's shu-u." 
 
 But Uncle Coffin was already leading the horse 
 and carriage on to the barn floor. 
 
 " Dodrabbit ye!" he exclaimed, "git out, or I'll 
 shnte ye out." 
 
 At this invitation we began to descend with cheer 
 ful alacrity. 
 
 As the horse walked into an evidently familiar 
 stall, Uncle Coffin seized Captain Pharo and whirled 
 him about with admiring affection. 
 
 " Dodrabbit ye, Pharo! " he cried, struck with the 
 new jacket; "ye've been to Boston! " 
 
 " I hain't ; hain't been nigh her for forty year, " 
 said Captain Pharo, but he was unconscionably 
 pleased. 
 
 "Dodrabbit ye, Pharo! ye've been a-junketin' 
 around to Bar Harbor; that 's whar' ye been." 
 
 "I hain't, Coffin; honest I hain't been nigh her," 
 chuckled Captain Pharo. 
 
 " Dodrabbit ye, Pharo ! " said Uncle Coffin, seizing 
 the hat from his head and regarding its bespattered 
 surface with delight ; " ye've been a-whitewashin' ! " 
 
 This Captain Pharo proudly did not deny. " Dod 
 rabbit ye, Pharo!" said our fond host, giving him 
 another whirl, " yer hair 's pretty plumb 'fore, but 
 she 's raked devilish well aft. Ye can't make no
 
 38 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 stand fer yerself! Ye're hungry, Pharo; ye're 
 wastin' ; come along! " 
 
 Uncle Coffin seized me on the way, but in voice 
 less appreciation of my physical meanness he sup 
 ported me with one hand, while he affectionately 
 mauled and whirled me with the other. 
 
 " Dodrabbit ye! you young spark, you! what' ye 
 been all this time?" he cried though I had never 
 gazed upon his face before! 
 
 His rough touch was a galvanic battery of human 
 kindness. It thrilled and electrified me. No; he 
 had not even seen my pitiful presence. I do not know 
 where the people of the world get their manners; 
 but these Artichokes got theirs, rough-coated though 
 they were, straight from the blue above. 
 
 "Say! whar' ye been all this time? That 's what 
 I want to know," sending a thrill of close human 
 fellowship down my back. "Didn't ye reckon as 
 Salomy and me 'ud miss ye, dodrabbitye! you young 
 lawn-tennis shu's, you!" 
 
 I glanced down at my feet. They were covered 
 with a thick crust of buttermilk and meal. I re 
 membered now to have experienced a pleasant sen 
 sation of coolness at my feet at one time, being too 
 closely wedged in with Mrs. Lester and the meal, 
 however, to investigate. 
 
 We found, on searching the carriage, that the jug 
 had capsized, and one of the lobsters had extracted 
 the cork, which he still grasped tightly in his claw. 
 
 " Look at that, Coffin, "said Captain Pharo sadly; 
 " even our lobsters is dry! "
 
 GETTIN A NAIL PUT IN THE HOSS S SHU " 39 
 
 "Wai, I'm cert'nly glad now," said Mrs. Lester, 
 surveying the bottom of her gown, " 't I didn't wear 
 my dead-lustre silk." 
 
 "Why so, Mis' Lester; why so?" said Uncle Cof 
 fin, performing a waltz with the small remaining 
 contents of the buttermilk jug. " Ef it 's a beauty in 
 her to have her lustre dead, why wouldn't she be 
 still harnsomer to have her lustre dedder! " 
 
 He drew me aside at this, and for some moments 
 we stood helplessly doubled over with laughter. 
 For the climate serves one the same in regard to 
 jokes as in food. One is never satiated with them, 
 and there are no morbid, worn distinctions of taste 
 an old one, an exceedingly mild one, have all the con 
 vulsive power of the keenest flash from less healthy 
 and rubicund intellects. 
 
 When we had recovered ourselves sufficiently to 
 walk, we went into the house, arm in arm. There 
 Uncle Coffin seized Captain Pharo again and threw 
 him delightedly several feet off into a chair. 
 
 "Ye're weary, Pharo, dodrabbit ye! Set thar'. 
 Repose. Repose. Wait 'tell the flapjacks is ready. 
 They're fryin'. Smell 'em?" 
 
 We perceived their odor, and that of the wild 
 strawberries and coffee which Mrs. Lester had taken 
 from her circle-basket. 
 
 "Why, father," said Aunt Salomy, as we sat at 
 table, giving me a glance indicative of a beaming 
 conversance with elegant conventionalities; "ye 
 shouldn't set the surrup cup right atop o' the loaf o' 
 bread.'
 
 40 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 " Never mind whar' she sets, mother," said Uncle 
 Coffin gayly, "so long as she 's squar' amidships." 
 
 He would pour out the treacle for us all for that 
 it was sweeter, sweeter than any refined juices I ever 
 tasted. No denials, no protestations would avail to 
 stay the utter generosity of his hand. 
 
 The griddle-cakes were of the apparent size of the 
 moon when she is full in the heavens. 
 
 "Come, Pharo, brace up. Eat something dod- 
 rabbit ye! Ye're poorin' away every minute ye're 
 settin' there; ye hain't hauled yerself over but two 
 yit." 
 
 "By clam! Coffin, sure as I'm a livin' man, I've 
 hauled myself over fourteen," said Captain Pharo 
 seriously. 
 
 "Come, come, major; ye're fadin' away to a 
 shadder. Ye hain't hauled yerself over nothin' 
 yet." 
 
 "Oh, I have," I rejoined, with urgent truth and 
 unction. "I can't, honestly I can't, haul myself 
 over anything more." 
 
 In spite of some suggestive winks directed on my 
 behalf, not then understood, I remained innocently 
 with Mrs. Lester and Aunt Salomy while they were 
 doing the dishes. But presently through the open 
 window where I sat I felt a bean take me sharply 
 in the nape of the neck, and, turning, I discovered 
 Captain Pharo outside. He winked at me. I 
 naively winked back again. He coughed low and 
 meaningly; I smiled and nodded. 
 
 He disappeared, and ere long I felt one of my
 
 GETTIN A NAIL PUT IN THE HOSS S SHU 41 
 
 ears tingling from the blow of another bean. It 
 was Uncle Coffin this time; his wink was almost 
 savage with excess of meaning. I returned it ami 
 ably. He coughed low and hopelessly, and disap 
 peared. 
 
 But soon after he came walking nonchalantly into 
 the room. 
 
 " Dodrabbit ye, major!" said he, punching me 
 with a vigorous hand, " don't ye take no interest in a 
 man's stock ? Come along out and look at the stock. " 
 
 At that I rose and followed him. Captain Pharo 
 was waiting for us. They did not speak, but they 
 led the way straight as the flight of an arrow to the 
 barn, walked undeviatingly across the floor, lifted 
 me solemnly ahead of them up the ladder to the hay 
 mow, stumbled across it to the farthest and darkest 
 corner, dived down into it and brought up an ancient 
 pea-jacket, unrolled it, and produced from the 
 pocket a bottle, labelled with what I at once knew 
 to be Uncle Coffin's own design: 
 
 "RAT PISON To TOUCH HER is DETH." 
 
 " Drink ! " said Uncle Coffin. 
 
 All his former levity was gone. He had the look 
 of bestowing, and Captain Pharo of witnessing be 
 stowed, upon another, a boon inestimable, priceless, 
 rare. 
 
 A temperate familiarity with the use of the cup 
 informed me at once of the nature of this liquid. It 
 was whiskey of a very vile quality. 
 
 But even had it contained something akin to the
 
 42 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 dark sequel on its label, I could not have refused it 
 from Uncle Coffin's hand. 
 
 Slightly I drank. Captain Pharo drank. Uncle 
 Coffin drank. 
 
 The bottle was replaced, and we as solemnly 
 descended. 
 
 I had never been unwarily affected, even by a 
 much larger quantity of the pure article; perhaps 
 by way of compensation an electric spark from Uncle 
 Coffin's own personality had entered into this com 
 pound. More likely still, it was the radiant atmo 
 sphere. 
 
 But I remembered standing out leaning against 
 the pig-pen, with Captain Pharo and Uncle Coffin, 
 of nudging and being nudged by them into frequent 
 excess of laughter over some fondly rambling anec 
 dote or confiding witticism, until Captain Pharo, 
 " taking the cun," decided to put off until some other 
 day going to the Point to get a nail put in the 
 horse's shoe. 
 
 I remembered well might I, for they were in my 
 own too the honest tears in the eyes of Uncle 
 Coffin and Aunt Salomy as we parted; of being 
 tucked in again under the Star, with new accessions 
 to our store, of dried smelts and summer savory, 
 and three newly born kittens in a bag, which I was 
 instructed to hold so as to give them air without al 
 lowing them to escape. Yes, and of the dying splen 
 dor of the sun, the ineffable colors painting sea and 
 sky; and of knowing that if I had not already be 
 come a Basin, I should inevitably have joined the 
 Artichokes.
 
 LOVE, I,OVE 43 
 
 IV 
 LOVE, LOVE 
 
 AT Garrison's Neck was the old Garrison " shanty " 
 Notely's ideal; well preserved; built onto it a 
 spacious dwelling, with stables attached, after Mrs. 
 Garrison's idea. 
 
 Notely's shanty was a mixture of elegant easy- 
 chairs and drying oil-skin raiment, black tobacco 
 pipes, books, musical instruments, fishing-tackle, 
 mirth and evening firelight; all the gravitation of 
 the premises was toward it the Garrison guests 
 yearned for it. 
 
 His mother was with him now. 
 
 "You will drive down to the boat with me and 
 meet them, Notely?" 
 
 Notely whistled with respectful concern, but his 
 eyes were as happy as the dawn. 
 
 " Oh, well, ah h I'll have to ask you to let Tom 
 drive you down to-day, mother. I've an engage 
 ment to sail over to Reef Island." 
 
 Mrs. Garrison did not condescend to look an 
 noyed. She smiled, sweet and high. 
 
 " Considering the social position of Mrs. Langham 
 and her daughter, and their wealth, Notely, you 
 might postpone even Jhat engagement. Possibly
 
 44 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 you could arrange to play with the fisher girl some 
 other day." 
 
 When Notely was puzzled or provoked he felt for 
 the pipe in his pocket, just like old Captain Pharo, 
 laughed, and came straight again. 
 
 "Why, mother! you were a Basin girl yourself 
 the 'Beauty of the Basins,' " he said, with soft pride 
 he knew no better and smiled as though he saw 
 another face. 
 
 "Are you foolish?" said his mother, giving way 
 sharply. 
 
 When one has come from such degree, has sought 
 above all earthly good, and earned, a social emi 
 nence such as Mrs. Garrison had attained, it will 
 leave some unbending lines on lip and brow; the 
 eyes will not melt easily, although it wrings one's 
 heart to find that one's only child is, after all, an 
 ingrained Basin; yet their features were the same, 
 only Notely's were simple, expressive Basin eyes 
 hers had become elevated. 
 
 "You! who have /';/ you such success, if you only 
 would! " she cried. 
 
 "'Success,' I'm afraid, mother," said Notely, with 
 one of those sighs that was like a wayward note on 
 his violin; "it 's a diviner thing, however, you 
 know, to have in you the capacity for failure." 
 
 "You are as remarkable a mixture of barbarism 
 and sentiment as your shanty," sneered Mrs. Garri 
 son, looking about. " Do you speak in the Basin 
 'meetings' ?" 
 
 "No," said Notely. "! ought to. Think of
 
 LOVE, LOVE 45 
 
 what I have had, and their deprivations. But 
 there 's always something comes up so d d 
 funny!" 
 
 Mrs. Garrison smiled sympathetically now. "O 
 Notely, think of the Langhams, and Grace even 
 willing to show her preference for you, decorously, 
 of course, but we all know." 
 
 Notely grabbed his pipe hard and shook his head. 
 
 "Why?" said his mother again, sharply. "I am 
 sure Miss Langham is nearly as boisterous and in as 
 rude health as the fisher girl. I have even known 
 her to make important endearing lapses in grammar." 
 
 Notely was silent. 
 
 "Do you think, after a life-struggle to earn a place 
 in society, Ft is filial and generous on your part, for 
 the sake of a fisher sweetheart, to be willing to sink 
 your family back again into skins and Gothicism?" 
 
 "Yes," said the young man, a hurricane in his 
 blue eyes, which his strong hands gripped back. 
 
 "Very well; if you so elect, go back then, and be 
 a common fisherman; but you shall have no counte 
 nance of mine." 
 
 "Shouldn't wonder if it would be a good thing. 
 With the health I have, give me leisure and plenty 
 of money, and I'm always certain to break the traces 
 and make a run. Common fisherman it is." But 
 he stood out bravely at the same time in an extrav 
 agant new yachting costume, for he was going by 
 appointment to meet his sweetheart. 
 
 "You might help her up, mother socially, that is; 
 she needs no other help."
 
 46 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "Never!" 
 
 Notely lifted his cap to his mother the reproach 
 in his eyes was as dog-like as if he had not just 
 graduated from the schools and walked away. 
 
 She looked after him, a scornful sweet smile curv 
 ing her lips. As the apple of her eye she loved him; 
 it is necessary but hard to be elevated. 
 
 Notely put up sail and skirted the shore with his 
 boat till he came to the waters of the Basin. Then 
 he looked out eagerly, but Vesty was not on the 
 banks waiting. 
 
 "Was there ever a Basin known to be on time?" 
 he muttered, smiling and flushing too. He was al 
 ways jealous of her. 
 
 He made fast his boat and sprang with light steps 
 over the sea-wall. 
 
 Here was a good sign; so the Basins held. No 
 sign so propitious to a love affair as meeting with 
 one of God's innocent ones a " natural. " And here 
 was Dr. Spearmint (Uncle Benny) leading the chil 
 dren to school the very little ones. They clung to 
 him, and one he carried. 
 
 And he was singing, in a sweet, high voice: 
 
 " We all have our trials here below, 
 Sail away to Galilee! 
 
 There's a tree I see in Paradise, 
 Sail away to Galilee! 
 
 Sail away to Galilee, 
 Sail away to Galilee, 
 Put on your long white robe of peace, 
 And sail away to Galilee! "
 
 LOVE, LOVE 47 
 
 "Hello! Uncle Benny 'Dr. Spearmint'" he 
 liked that best. " Well, how are you ? how are you ? 
 and have you seen Vesty this morning?" 
 
 " Fluke and Gurd 's keepin' company with her this 
 mornin'," said Dr. Spearmint, in a voice softer than 
 a woman's. " I jest stopped to sing a little with 
 'em on the way. I look dreadful," he added, rather 
 ostentatiously fingering a light blue necktie. 
 
 " Oh, no, doctor ; fine as usual, " exclaimed Notely, 
 anger in his soul, but with heart-broken eyes. 
 
 "I suppose," said the soft, sweet voice, "there 's 
 a great deal o' passin' in New York, ain't there?" 
 
 "What, doctor?" 
 
 "A great deal o' passin' there, ain't there?" 
 
 "Oh, sights of it! Oh, my, yes! passing along 
 the streets all the time." 
 
 " Some there 's worth four or five thousand dollars, 
 ain't they?" said the sweet, incredulous voice. 
 
 " God bless you ! yes, doctor ! the more 's the pity, " 
 said Notely, with strange earnestness. " And how 's 
 fruiting? " 
 
 " Dangleberries are quite plenty, thank you, " the 
 voice replied. When he had left the little ones at 
 school he would go off and gather berries; but he 
 would call for them without fail and lead them 
 home. The little, tired, restless souls always 
 found him out there in the sweet air and sunshine, 
 waiting. Notely remembered ; so he and Vesty had 
 been led. 
 
 He passed, singing, out of sight with the chil 
 dren :
 
 48 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 " Sail away to Galilee, 
 
 Sail away to Galilee, 
 Put on your long white robe of peace, 
 
 And sail away to Galilee! " 
 
 Notely felt a homesick pang. Vesty was his 
 home; he walked on toward her threshold. Vesty's 
 father had taken a new wife, and Vesty was almost 
 always seen now with a baby in her arms. 
 
 So she was sitting as Notely drew near; and 
 Fluke and Gordon were there, with a pretence of 
 fingering their violins. They looked up, as if ex 
 pecting him. 
 
 "Why did you not come, Vesty?" said her lover. 
 "You promised me." 
 
 "I've got something to say about that," said 
 Fluke. " I sot Vesty down on that doorhold, and I 
 threatened to shute heref she moved off 'n it. When 
 she was tellin' Gurd' that you was 'round again 
 wantin' to keep company with her jest the same, 
 says I, 'We'll see about that.' Vesty hain't got no 
 brothers, nor no mother, to look after her, and so 
 Gurd' and me, which is twin brothers to each other, 
 is also goin' to be brothers to her, and see that there 
 ain't no harm done to Vesty." 
 
 "Well, then, Fluke, you are the best friends that 
 either of us have," said Notely calmly. 
 
 "Why didn't ye let her alone in peace?" blurted 
 out Fluke. "She was keepin' company contented 
 enough along o' Gurd', ef you'd only left her alone. 
 What'd ye come back a-makin' love to her for?" 
 
 "Because she is going to be my wife," said Note-
 
 LOVE, LOVE 49 
 
 ly. " We always kept company together, since 
 we were that high! Belle Birds'll was Gurdon's 
 company. Vesty was my company." His voice 
 trembled. This was simple Basin parlance and 
 unanswerable. 
 
 " Ye mean it ? " 
 
 "If you want to fight, Fluke, come out and fight." 
 Notely's eyes cut him. 
 
 "All the same," said he, "ef you sh'd happen to 
 change your mind by 'n' by, as fash'nable fellers 
 in women's light-colored clo's does sometimes, 
 there 's a-goin' to be shutin'." 
 
 Notely grabbed his pipe, and his laugh rang out. 
 
 "Come," he said, "you know me! you know me! 
 Confound the pretty clothes! I only put them on 
 so as to try and have Vesty like me! " 
 
 "Wai* now, Vesty, make your choice. You'd 
 ruther keep company along o' Note than Gurd', had 
 ye? " But he could not restrain the severe contempt 
 in his voice in making the comparison. 
 
 Vesty had been soothing her face in the baby's 
 frowzled hair. 
 
 " I told you ," she said. But she glanced up at 
 Gurdon, and her face was piteous, his had turned so 
 white. 
 
 "Come, Gurd'! What d'ye care? Goon, Vesty, 
 ef ye want to. Gurd 'n' me' 11 tote the baby till El- 
 vine gits back." He took the infant and began to 
 toss it, to compensate it for Vesty's withdrawal. 
 His thick black hair fell over his forehead, his nose 
 was fine and straight. Gurdon came forward obedi- 
 4
 
 50 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 ently to assist him. He had the same great bulk, 
 and even handsomer features, only that his hair was 
 smooth and parted. 
 
 Vesty and her lover passed on together. Her 
 heart was leaping with joy and pride of him; still, 
 she saw Gurdon's look. 
 
 "You have been so long at that great college, 
 Notely." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Why must some one always be hurt ? " 
 
 "We go to school, but the schools can't teach us 
 anything, Vesty. 
 
 " ' Oh, sail away to Galilee, 
 Sail away to Galilee ! ' ' 
 
 he hummed airily, gayly. "What was it you 'told 
 them' back there, Vesty?" 
 
 Where now was Vesty's Sunday face ? You would 
 look far to find it. 
 
 " I told them you were a dude," said she. 
 
 "Did you, indeed! Girls who lead the singing 
 in Sunday-school are not telling many very particu 
 lar fibs this morning, are they? But you shall own 
 up before night." 
 
 O Vesty! the call of the " whistlers" down in 
 the meadow by the sea-wall "love! love! love!" 
 No other note; it is that, too, breathing in the swift 
 sails and bounding the sea! 
 
 "You sail your boat as well as ever, Captain 
 Notely." 
 
 " And why not wife ? "
 
 LOVE, LOVE 51 
 
 These were the appellations of the old days, taken 
 from their elders "cap'n" and "wife." 
 
 Vesty did not think he would have dared that. 
 Her dark eye chastised him. But he was not look 
 ing impudent; he was resolute and pale. 
 
 Vesty shivered. With all her earnest, sad experi 
 ence of life, with her true love for Notely, she was 
 yet in no haste to be bound. Wild, too, at heart; 
 or else somehow the sea wind and the swift sails had 
 freed her. 
 
 "Don't say that again. Come, catch the fish for 
 our dinner, Note." 
 
 "I'm only a humble Basin, Miss Kirtland. I 
 didn't think to fetch no bait." 
 
 Vesty took a parcel of six small herrings from her 
 pocket, laughing. 
 
 "Yes, our women are smart," sighed Notely. 
 
 "Shall you catch, or will I?" 
 
 "You," said Notely, tossing out the anchor. 
 
 He watched her, strong and beautiful, her lips 
 pursed with the feline pursuit of prey, as she baited 
 her hook and threw out the line, quite oblivious 
 now, apparently, of him. 
 
 He saw her thrill with excitement as the line stif 
 fened and she began to haul in, hand over hand ; it 
 was a big cod too. Vesty always had the luck. 
 There was glory in her cheeks when she brought the 
 struggling, flopping fish over into the' boat. 
 
 "Vesty," said Note mischievously, drawing near, 
 "how would you feel to be caught like that on the 
 end of somebody's line struggling, flopping?"
 
 52 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 His sentimental tone gave way in spite of himself. 
 She turned and gave him a smart box on the ear. 
 
 "Very well, Miss Vesty Kirtland, very well. But 
 there 's a marriage ceremony and a binding to 'love, 
 honor and obey,' after which young women don't 
 box their husbands' ears aha ! at least, mine 
 won't." 
 
 " Notely Garrison," said Vesty, with Basinly and 
 womanly indignation, "I never fished for you in all 
 my life never! " 
 
 "Instinctive, darling; not your fault. Uncon 
 scious cerebration ; do you understand ? " 
 
 She did, a little, and she grievously disapproved 
 of him. 
 
 "Kiss me, dearest," he pleaded. "You kissed 
 me once, when I first came home." 
 
 "All the m-more reason why you ought not to ask 
 me now. I w-wish you'd get your m-mind on some 
 thing besides me.", 
 
 Notely walked away, pulled up the anchor, and 
 set sail again. Vesty composed herself at the end 
 of the boat. 
 
 "Sweet-tempered child! "said he, regarding her 
 from the helm. 
 
 She dipped her hand in the water and smoothed 
 her stray locks; they curled up again. She was dis 
 tressed, and Notely's mirthful eyes gave her no rest. 
 
 " My mind is still on you, Vesty and will be for 
 ever and aye, sweetheart." 
 
 With that he turned kindly and looked away, and 
 Vesty bound up her hair.
 
 LOVE, LOVE 53 
 
 Presently: "The tapestries are beautiful to-day, 
 Note," she said. 
 
 They were sailing through the shallows near Reef 
 Island, and they looked down through the green 
 water. Gold, bronze and yellow, and dark velvet 
 green, the tracings of broad sea-leaf and trailing 
 vine on that floor. 
 
 " There isn't another house in any land tapestried 
 like ours, Vesty. Say, wouldn't that be a charming 
 place, after all, to rest, when " 
 
 "You're getting aground, Note!" 
 
 " Thank you ! How fortunate that you are 
 aboard! I know how to steer a boat a little, of 
 course, but nothing like " 
 
 Vesty laughed, dazzled by this sarcasm. " But 
 you didn't think of the bread or the salt or the pork 
 for the chowder," said she triumphantly. 
 
 "Ah, I see you have them. You always think of 
 those things. You were always my little woman, 
 you know. You are my home." 
 
 As the boat touched the ledge she sprang out be 
 fore him. By the time he had fastened his boat 
 and clambered over the ledges with the kettle which 
 he had brought from the crane in his shanty, Vesty 
 had a fire of drift-wood burning. 
 
 She prepared the chowder, while he whittled out 
 some forks of wood and gathered firm pieces of kelp 
 for dishes. 
 
 They ate, with only the voice of the gulls, scream 
 ing, flying in disturbed, beautiful flight over the 
 wide, lone island.
 
 54 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "Now for the gulls' eggs," said Vesty, rising, no 
 dishes to put away. 
 
 "What a carnivorous little wild-cat it is for one 
 so necessary to the sick and afflicted! " 
 
 "Didn't you come to hunt gulls' eggs, Note?" 
 
 " You know that that is my sole aim and ambi 
 tion in life. Come! " 
 
 Over ledges and salt marshes, at the feet of the 
 thin, storm-broken trees, they found them, nestled 
 there, three, four, eight in a nest, the birds flying, 
 circling overhead. Vesty gathered them in her 
 apron, eager, searching from tree to tree. Her hair 
 came down. She looked up at Note, apologetic, 
 humble, so eager she hardly minded. 
 
 "Hold my apron, Note." 
 
 This he did obediently. 
 
 With downcast eyes and a blush on her cheeks 
 that would have exonerated Eve, she wound up her 
 hair again, and restored her own hold on her apron. 
 
 "I did not kiss you then, Vesty." 
 
 "Well, of course." 
 
 " I'm good, but my mind is still on you." 
 
 Over ledges and salt marshes, and the thin, storm- 
 broken trees, and out there on the water there 's a 
 strange color growing. Even the Basins seldom fail 
 to start, at least, for home by sunset. 
 
 So a little white sail puts out on the crimson sea. 
 The breeze is dying out, the waters lap, subside. 
 Notely takes down the sail and rows. 
 
 The sea fades to softer colors, hushed, wondrous, 
 near the dim shore.
 
 LOVE, LOVE 55 
 
 " It isn't ever known, in any place in all the 
 world, that angels no, I know but look, Note! 
 they almost might." 
 
 "Only here at the Basin, Vesty; when that very 
 last light fades. I saw two flying up flying back 
 again just now. How many did you see?" 
 
 She turned her happy, awesome eyes on him, but 
 his keen face, in that light, was as simple and pa 
 thetic as her own. 
 
 "But my mind is on you, Vesty. Now, before we 
 touch the shore, when will you marry me?" 
 
 "I've been thinking. O Note, perhaps it isn't 
 my place to marry you; perhaps I wouldn't do you 
 any good- to marry you, Note. They say you were 
 first in your class, off there, and there are so many 
 things for you, and your mother, and friends, will 
 help you so much more if I don't." 
 
 "I may as well tell you the truth, Vesty. I'm 
 not that strong person that I look" the angels that 
 he saw, flying up, will forgive that sly smile on the 
 boy's mouth " I couldn't go away and leave you, 
 and go into that false,, feverish struggle out there, 
 and live anything more than the wreck of a life, at 
 least. I'm affected." 
 
 " Where is it that you have such trouble, Note ? " 
 
 " It 's my heart, Vesty Kirtland. I must have a 
 Basin for my wife, calm, strong, sweet; one who can 
 see the 'angels' now and then just you, in fact." 
 
 He handed her out of the boat and walked home 
 with her. At the edge of the alders they stood. 
 They could see the light in her father's house.
 
 56 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 " When, Vesty ? " he repeated. 
 
 " O Note, I love you ! " she sobbed ; " but I must 
 have a little time to think. Every girl has that." 
 
 " Very well. You must keep your mind on me, 
 however." 
 
 " Hark ! hear the poplars tremble. You know 
 what always makes them sigh and shiver that way, 
 Note?" 
 
 "I've forgotten." 
 
 " They made the cross for Christ out of the pop 
 lars; they never got over it see them shiver! 
 hush!" 
 
 "O my beautiful one!" He took her hands. 
 "What was it you 'told them' back there this morn 
 ing, Vesty, before we started ? " 
 
 " You are cruel ! ONote!" 
 
 He drew her to him. Her lips would not tell. 
 Her Basin eyes, that he was gazing mercilessly into, 
 betrayed her. 
 
 "Good child! sweet child! with my strong right 
 arm, and a willingness for all toil and patience and 
 endeavor, and all my soul's love, I thee endow." 
 He kissed her solemnly. 
 
 "Love, love, love," chanted in ecstasy a thrush 
 from the dim recesses of the wood.
 
 COLUMBUS AND THE EGG, AND LOT'S WIFE 57 
 
 COLUMBUS AND THE EGG, AND LOT'S WIFE 
 
 "I OFTEN thinks o' Columbus and the egg. All 
 them big folks in Spain was settin* areound, ye 
 know, ta'ntin' of him, and sayin' as how an egg 
 couldn't be made to sot. 
 
 " So Columbus, he took one up and give her a 
 tunk, pretty solid, deown onto the table. 'There!' 
 says he; 'you stay sot,' says he, 'and keep moderate 
 a spall,' says he. 'Forced-to-go never gits far,' 
 says he. 
 
 " Then there was Lot's wife. 
 
 " I don't remember jest the partickelers, nor what 
 she was turnin' areound to look for; whether she 
 was goin' to a sewin'-circle and lookin' back to see 
 what Lot was dewin' to home, or whether she was 
 jest strokin' deown her polonaise a little, the way 
 women does; but anyway, she was one o' this 'ere 
 kind that needed moderatin'. 
 
 "So she got turned into a pillar o' salt, and there 
 she sot. But I've heerd lately that she 's got up and 
 went?" 
 
 " I don't know," I murmured. 
 
 "Yes; Nason was tellin' me how 't, the last time
 
 58 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 he went cruisin', he met a man 't 'd jest come from 
 Jaffy, 't told him how 't Lot's wife had got up and 
 went. 
 
 "Wai, I was glad to hear on't. Moderation 's a 
 virtu', even in all things. She must 'a' sot there 
 some three or four hunderd pretty consid'rable num 
 ber o' years, 's it was. Don't want to ride a free 
 hoss to death, ye know. I wish 't this critter that 's 
 visitin' up to Garrison's Neck could be got sot a 
 spall. She fa'rly w'ars me out." 
 
 Captain Leezur blinked at the sun, however, all 
 heavenly placid and unworn. 
 
 "I happened to meet her in the lane," I said. 
 " She had not seen me before. She screamed." 
 
 "Thar'! that 's jest her! Wai, neow, I hope ye 
 didn't mind. Sech folks don't do no harm 'reound 
 on the 'arth, no more'n lady-bugs, 'nd r'a'ly, they 
 dew help to parss away the time. 
 
 "Neow this Langham girl, she driv up here with 
 Note t'other day, to git some lobsters. 
 
 "'O Mr. Garrison,' says she, 'see that darlin' 
 old aberigin/le a-settin' out thar' on that log, ' says 
 she. 'Dew drive up; I want ter talk to him,' says 
 she. 
 
 " Wai, I put in a chaw o' tobackker, and tucked 
 her up comf'table one side, and there I sot, with 
 my head straight for'ards, not lettin' on as I'd 
 heered a word; t'wouldn't dew, ye know. 
 
 "So she came up with a yaller lace parasol, 
 abeout twelve foot in c'cumf'rence, sorter makin' 
 m& think of a tud under a harrer ; though, I sh'd have
 
 COLUMBUS AND THE EGG, AND LOT'S WIFE 59 
 
 to say it afore the meetin'-house, she was dreadful 
 purty-lookin', an' blamed ef she didn't know it. 
 
 "Wai, I see she'd made up her mind to kile her 
 self 'reound me, ef she could. She kept a-arskin' 
 questions, and everything she arsked I arnswered of 
 her back dreadful moderate, and every time I arn 
 swered of her back she'd give a little larff, endin' 
 up on 'sol la ce do,' sorter highsteriky; so't I was 
 kind o' feelin' areound in my pocket t' find her a 
 narvine lozenger. 
 
 "And then I thought I wouldn't. All they want 
 is the least little excuse and they'll begin to kile. 
 When ye're in deoubt, ye know, stand well to lee 
 ward." 
 
 I looked at my friend with new gratitude, for the 
 perils he had passed. 
 
 " She said she thought the folks to the Basin was 
 so full of yewmer and pathers, 'don't yew?' says 
 she. 
 
 "Wai, I told her I didn't know ars to that. 
 'Yewmer 's that 'ar' 'fliction 't Job had, ain't it ? ' says 
 I, 'and pathers thar' ye've kind o' got me,' says I, 
 "less maybe it 's some fancy New York way o' reel- 
 in' off pertaters, ' says I. 
 
 ; ''Oh, dear!' says she, kind o' highsteriky ag'in, 
 and Note driv off with her, she a-wavin' her hand 
 to me: but I set straight for'ards, not lettin' on to 
 take no notice of her. 'No, no, young woman,' 
 thinks I to myself, 'ye don't git in no kile on me!' ' 
 
 The nervine lozenge which my friend had cau 
 tiously refrained from giving Miss Langham he now
 
 60 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 bestowed upon me. I accepted it, for I was in sore 
 need of it. 
 
 I could not refrain from asking him, however, if 
 he had offered Miss Langham his deer-bone tooth 
 pick. 
 
 "No," said he, "she's lent neow, anyway. John 
 Seabright 's got her over to Herrinport. I don't say 
 but what if that 'ar' Langham girl sh'd have a r'al 
 bad spall o' toothache come on, but what I'd let her 
 take her, but I'd jest as soon she didn't know nothin* 
 'beout it. I'd ruther not make no openin' for a 
 kile." 
 
 We sucked our nervine lozenges with mutual 
 earnestness. 
 
 "You are getting on finely with the barn," I said, 
 noticing several new rows of shingles on the roof. 
 
 " Yes, I sh'd be afoul of her ag'in to-day, only 
 't Nason come over yisterday and borrowed my 
 lardder. I'm expectin' of him back with her along 
 in the shank o' the evenin'. Preachin' ain't so 
 bad," continued my friend, contemplatively, as the 
 school-teacher passed by; "but I'd ruther be put to 
 bone labor 'n school teachin'. Ye've all'as got to be 
 thar', no marter heow many other 'ngagements " 
 
 " Leezur! " called the soft voice of a Basin matron 
 from the door. " Leezur, have ye fished the bucket 
 out o' the well ?" 
 
 "Jest baitin' my hook, mother," said my friend, 
 his face breaking into the broadest human beam I 
 ever saw. 
 
 He rose, and we walked toward the well. Now
 
 COLUMBUS AND THE EGG, AND LOT'S WIFE 6 1 
 
 first I noticed his gait; every step was a smiling 
 protest against further advancement, which, how 
 ever, was made not unwillingly. 
 
 I observed, too, an illustration of this same smile 
 in his rear, made by an unconscious and loving wife, 
 in a singular disposition of patches: three on his 
 blouse fortuitously representing eyes and nose, and 
 a long horizontal one, lower down, combining with 
 these in an undesigned but felicitous grin. 
 
 My friend disclosed this smiling posterior to full 
 view, stretching himself face downward on the earth, 
 and burying his head, with the grappling pole, in 
 the well. 
 
 "This 'ere job," his voice came to me with res 
 onant jubilance, " requires a vary moderate disper- 
 sition: 'specially arfter the women folks has been 
 a-grapplin' for her, and rilin' the water, and jabbin' 
 of her furder in. But ef we considers ourselves to 
 be as we be heirs of etarnity 
 
 " Thought I'd got ye that time! But neow don't 
 be too easy abeout gittin' caught, down there ! 
 Priceless gems holds themselves skeerce, ye know." 
 
 In which sarcastic but ever reasonable and moder 
 ate conversation with that coy bucket I left my 
 friend, and continued on my way with my basket, 
 under Miss Fray's commission to purchase "dangle- 
 berries " at the home of Dr. Spearmint. 
 
 I heard as I approached: 
 
 " Oh the road is winding, the road is dark, 
 But sail away to Galilee! 
 Sail away to Galilee! "
 
 62 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 There was a company as usual gathered at Dr. 
 Spearmint's weather-beaten hut: the door wide open, 
 one could see his bed neatly made by his own hands 
 within, his mother's picture against the wall, a sweet, 
 intelligent face like his, only that in his there was 
 some light gone out forever for this world. 
 
 Notely was there with Miss Langham, to hear Dr. 
 Spearmint sing, and to purchase berries, and to be en 
 tertained a little in this way in the growing evening. 
 
 Miss Langham did not scream on seeing me 
 now. She smiled upon me with manifest kindness 
 and condescension. She had beautiful bright brown 
 eyes, and the " style " of town life pervaded her very 
 atmosphere. 
 
 " Doctor," said Notely, " Miss Langham has heard 
 about you, and, ahem! considering what she has 
 heard, she is perfectly willing to make the first ad 
 vances." 
 
 Dr. Spearmint bowed, stammering before such 
 new bewitchment and beauty. 
 
 "I look dreadful," he said, fingering his blue 
 necktie. 
 
 "Oh, dear, no, doctor! " rippled out Miss Lang- 
 ham's voice, in willing accompaniment of the joke; 
 " I'm sure you are perfectly charming! " 
 
 " Miss Langham is from New York," said Notely. 
 
 "There 's a great deal o' passin' there, ain't 
 there? "said Dr. Spearmint in his soft voice, turn 
 ing to her. 
 
 " What ? " said she to Notely. " Oh, my ! oh, how 
 funny! oh dear, yes, doctor; you've no idea!"
 
 COLUMBUS AND THE EGG, AND LOT'S WIFE 63 
 
 " Some there 's worth " 
 
 Notely, laughing, pressed with his muscular brown 
 hand a note into Dr. Spearmint's hand that would 
 do more for his next winter's comfort than many 
 weeks of dangleberrying. 
 
 "Miss Langham would like to have her fortune 
 told, doctor," he said. 
 
 She pulled off her glove with a laughing grace. 
 As Dr. Spearmint took her slender jewelled hand in 
 his he trembled with vanity and happiness. He 
 brushed a joyful tear from his eye, and began: 
 
 "I see a bew-tiful future here," he said. 
 
 "Oh, my!" said Miss Langham, looking up at 
 him, her mirthful eyes full of incredulous rapture. 
 
 "Yes, I see a tall man, quite a tall man." 
 
 Dr. Spearmint himself was quite a tall man. 
 
 " Dear me! " exclaimed Miss Langham. 
 
 " He has curly brown hair and a a smooth face," 
 said Dr. Spearmint, delighted in his delight. Ht 
 had curly brown hair and a smooth face. 
 
 "He has blue eyes" he glanced, a little trou 
 bled, at Notely's big sparkling orbs "mild blue 
 eyes," he corrected the statement, in such a soft 
 voice! 
 
 "Indeed they must be mild" cried Miss Langham. 
 
 Dr. Spearmint coughed considerably, and blushed. 
 
 "He he wears a blue necktie," he said, the mild 
 blue eyes falling. 
 
 "O Dr. Spearmint! I believe why, it must be 
 you ! " cried the merry girl, with a laugh as gay as 
 rushing brooks.
 
 64 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 The boys and girls in the audience laughed loudly 
 at this not unexpected climax. 
 
 Dr. Spearmint, much embarrassed, went inside to 
 put away his money, but was seen to steal sly 
 glances, and a rearrangement of the blue neck-rib 
 bon in his little cracked mirror. 
 
 " Dew come again ! " he said faintly, as they were 
 going. 
 
 "Why, certainly, as the understanding is now, 
 Miss Langham will expect to call often, I suppose," 
 said Notely. 
 
 "Oh, dear me! yes," cried Grace Langham. 
 
 "Are we ahem!" Dr. Spearmint could not lift 
 those mild blue eyes "are we engaged?" his 
 sweet voice sinking, almost inaudible. 
 
 "Oh, positively, doctor! Why, of course! Oh, 
 dear me! good-by, poor dear. Oh, how pathetically 
 amusing!" said she, walking with Notely toward 
 the carriage. 
 
 A tall girl had come up, and stood in the shadow, 
 in the doorway. 
 
 Notely, catching a glimpse of her in passing, 
 lifted his cap, his face burning, his eyes glowing, 
 with a look of intense love and of possession. 
 
 Grace Langham turned, with a woman's instinct. 
 
 Vesty, standing there, dim and tall, in her lace- 
 less, fashionless gown, met her glance with a long, 
 serious look that contained nothing either of alarm 
 or suspicion. 
 
 "I know," murmured Grace. "I've heard the 
 name of 'Vesty ' that is Vesty."
 
 COLUMBUS AND THE EGG, AND LOT'S WIFE 65 
 
 "That is Vesty," said her companion. 
 
 "And you love her, I believe," said Grace Lang- 
 ham to her own breast, but sighed aloud; a gentle, 
 bewitching sigh that divined deeper of Notely's 
 mood than further laughter would have done then. 
 
 As they passed out of sight, riches and gay things 
 and the last light of day seemed to go with them. 
 
 The mirth the children were having, congratulat 
 ing Dr. Spearmint on his engagement, sounded crude. 
 
 " Nature has done so much for me, you know," he 
 said, with his weak, throbbing vanity, his hand ner 
 vously on the blue tie. 
 
 Vesty went over to him and put both hands on his 
 head. 
 
 The children hushed. 
 
 " Here are the pennies for my berries, Uncle Ben 
 ny," she said quietly. "I've taken just a quart." 
 
 "Yes, yes ; all right, Vesty. I'm ahem ! en 
 gaged, Vesty. Such a bew-tiful " 
 
 Vesty held her hands on his head. " Uncle Ben 
 ny " (she would never, even to please him, call him 
 Dr. Spearmint), "you must not think of that. She 
 did not mean that. Besides, you have promised to 
 be always a friend to me, don't you remember? 
 and to lead the children home from school. You 
 know your mother expects " they glanced up to 
 gether at the picture "that you will do what Jesus 
 told you about doing that about leading the little 
 children home from school. What if one of them 
 should get lost, or hurt? O Uncle Benny! " 
 
 "Oh, my!" he gasped. "I didn't think, Vesty," 
 5
 
 66 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 tears streaming down his pale but now placid and 
 restored face. 
 
 Vesty smiled, standing there. A light crossed her 
 face; she began to sing: 
 
 " The road is winding, the road is dark, 
 Sail away to Galilee ! " 
 
 Her voice seemed to me, in that dim hour, to take 
 up Uncle Benny and bear him away, with his great 
 hurt, to the breast of his mother, in heaven, to be 
 healed. 
 
 He joined her in the chorus, and then they sang 
 together, she modulating sweetly her full, rich tones 
 to his. Her voice made heavenly rapture of Uncle 
 Benny's song: 
 
 ' There 's a tree I see in Paradise 
 
 Sail away to Galilee. 
 It 's the beautiful, waiting Tree of Life 
 
 Sail away to Galilee, 
 
 Sail away to Galilee, 
 Put on your long white robe of peace, 
 
 And sail away to Galilee."
 
 THIS GREATER LOVE 67 
 
 VI 
 
 THIS GREATER LOVE 
 
 "How can I approach the girl ?" thought Mrs. 
 Garrison. " If I should send word for Vesta Kirtland 
 to come here and see me, Notely would be sure to 
 hear of it; he would wonder; ask questions. If I go 
 down and see her it will provoke endless comment 
 and wonder among those people. I never visit them. 
 There is no other way. Notely takes the Lang- 
 hams for the day in his boat to-morrow. I will be 
 driven to the Basin. I will ask Vesta indifferently, 
 by the way, to go with me in those woods where I 
 played in childhood, too timid now to walk there 
 alone. They will say, as well as they can express 
 it, that sentiment must be getting fashionable ! 
 Never mind. I shall see and talk with the girl. 
 We will see." 
 
 Mrs. Garrison alighted from her carriage before 
 she reached Vesty's door. 
 
 "Wait here, " she said to her coachman. Vesty 
 saw her approach. Off there in the bay, sublimely 
 guarding and making a gateway to its waters, were 
 two little green mountain peaks of islands, just a 
 narrow surge of the waters flowing between; the 
 "Lions," the "Twin Brothers," they were called.
 
 68 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 One does not look off daily, from one's very in 
 fancy, on such a view for nothing. Mrs. Garrison 
 saw the "lion" in Vesty's quick-divining eyes, and 
 was glad. 
 
 "Anything but heart-break and slow consumption. 
 Of battle I am not afraid," she said to herself. 
 
 " I took a fancy to leave my carriage and walk a 
 bit among those old trees. I used to know them 
 well. Will you go with me, child?" 
 
 "Certainly, Mrs. Garrison. " Vesty handed the 
 baby which she was tending to its mother, and walked 
 away with the fine lady. 
 
 "Vesta Kirtland," said Mrs. Garrison, as they en 
 tered the shadow of the woods, "your face tells me 
 plainly that you know I have some object in asking 
 you to walk with me here. I have. 
 
 " I am proud, cold, indifferent regarding you peo 
 ple here; I have not noticed you, hardly even by 
 recognition, if we chanced to meet in the lanes; 
 yes, I know. I bring no personal claims. But" 
 she was going to say, "you are fond of Notely," but 
 she looked at the girl, and a proud, sarcastic smile 
 curved her lips instead "my son, Notely Garrison, 
 adores you, I believe? I do not know whether you 
 care for him; I presume not so ardently; but if you 
 were even a little fond of him, for the sake of child 
 hood days when he made you his little playmate 
 you would try to do the best for his good now would 
 you not, child?" 
 
 Vesty showed so few symptoms of slow consump 
 tion, and the lions in the gateway of her soul
 
 THIS GREATER LOVE 69 
 
 glowed so ominously, that Mrs. Garrison concluded 
 to be brief. She turned her face away a little; the 
 operation was unpleasant, and she took out the 
 knife, only in speech. 
 
 " Notely has quixotic ideas in many ways: if he 
 had given any ground for a foolish confidence in his 
 boyhood he would hold to it now, against all his 
 life's advancement, filial duty yes, even against 
 personal inclination, for that matter." 
 
 Mrs. Garrison was a resolved surgeon. " Do you 
 know what Notely's prospects are in life socially, 
 politically, financially? But he must take the tide 
 as it serves. To turn now is to lose all. He has 
 many friends. He is beloved by a rich, beautiful, 
 accomplished girl, influential in that sphere where 
 her family have for so long moved. I seem cruel, 
 child." 
 
 " Call me by my name. Call me Vesty Kirtland. 
 I hate you! With my whole heart and soul I hate 
 you! " 
 
 So the bold lions at the gate, desperately guard 
 ing sea-depths of pain behind. 
 
 " Really, Vesta Kirtland! if things were different 
 I would rather be mother-in-law to you than to 
 Grace Langham. You are a pupil worthy of my 
 metal ! You are fire, I see. Bravo! " 
 
 Vesty stood with her head on her arm, resting 
 against a tree, holding herself. 
 
 " I do not know that there is anything more to say. 
 Notely will never seek his own release. But, if you 
 loved him tmly "
 
 70 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "I do!" 
 
 Flaming scorn and a smile as defiant as Mrs. 
 Garrison's own. 
 
 " Do you ? " said the surgeon. " Then release 
 him." 
 
 "You told a lie. Notely does not want to be re 
 leased. He loves me, not Grace Langham. You 
 know how it is with men. If I should go to your 
 house and say to him, 'Come with me; come down 
 to my father's house, since there is no other way, 
 and help troll, and haul the traps, and make the 
 nets, and be with me,' he would come! " 
 
 "Yes," said the lady, pale, " he would go. There 
 fore, as I said, do you save him." 
 
 "What makes that life so much better, out there, 
 than ours, that I should give him up to it, and break 
 my heart and his? Are you one that they make?" 
 
 "All people do not regard me with such disfavor. " 
 She looked at the girl almost wistfully. "Life is 
 hard, Vesta, >and exacting, spite of all that we can 
 do; and the world is hard and exacting, supercil 
 ious, ready to pick at a flaw you do not know." 
 
 "Well, I think Notely will be happier here with 
 me." 
 
 Yet one could see the girl's pale resolve, only she 
 was turning the knife a little on the heartless sur 
 geon. It cut sharply. 
 
 " For a month or two, Vesta, yes." 
 
 "And then?" 
 
 " One who has been accustomed to champagne 
 from an ice-cooler will not be satisfied forever with
 
 THIS GREATER LOVE 71 
 
 sucking warm spring water in the sun, however 
 wholesome." 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 "He will grow very tired. He will not speak, 
 but he will regret." 
 
 "Ah! he will think what he has given up; and it 
 is so much, all in all ; yes, it is too much! " 
 
 Mrs. Garrison turned, startled at the girl's voice. 
 The lions held the gateway, sad and gloomy. Into 
 those heaving depths behind she should not enter. 
 
 " You have not told me anything. I only got you 
 to say it over. I had thought it all out for myself. 
 I do not mean, any more, that Notely shall marry 
 me." 
 
 Mrs. Garrison gave her a wild glance of gratitude, 
 of sorrow. In that instant her heart yearned in 
 tensely over the long-limbed girl, standing so sor 
 rowful and proud, and cut by Fate. 
 
 "How will you manage?" she cried impulsively. 
 " He is so fond of you ! " 
 
 " I can manage. Promise me one thing?" 
 
 "Anything I have." 
 
 Vesty smiled. " Promise me, if Notely should be 
 sick, in danger, I mean, or hurt, unfortunate, it might 
 be you would let me know, and let me come and 
 care for him, just while he needed care. I want 
 you to promise me! " 
 
 Her voice took the sharp tone, her eyes the fren 
 zy, of a bird guarding its young. 
 
 "Ah, Vesta Kirtland, you did love him! Oh, I 
 promise."
 
 72 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 " If you did not, there 's such a feeling toward 
 him, different from the others, I can't tell ; if you 
 did not, and I should ever know, it would be like I 
 had some little child of my own yes, like I had 
 some poor little baby of my own, crying for me, and 
 I did not come I did not come! " 
 
 Vesty turned. The tide had run so high those 
 wild ocean guards were covered by the surge. 
 
 She led the way to the outskirts of the wood and 
 stood aside for Mrs. Garrison to pass. The woman 
 would have drawn near her; she waved her hand, 
 standing aside from her. Mrs. Garrison hesitated. 
 The sight of Dan Kirtland's low, brown cottage, the 
 squalid babies in the doorway, the fishing-nets, 
 Vesty's last week's cotton gown swinging on the 
 line, some humiliating, harsh memories of her own, 
 spurred her on, with a sigh. 
 
 "She is fire, thank God! It will be all right," 
 she said. 
 
 Vesty drew back into the woods. 
 
 She pressed her forehead hard against the rough 
 bark of a tree. To " fall down there, and to be 
 found and taken home and put away beside her own 
 mother in the little home lot by the sea-wall not 
 to have to stand up wearily any more, and walk 
 back, dazed and sick, into the light " so she yearned 
 " what was there to stand up for ? " 
 
 A pitiful little wail, and "Lowizy's" weary voice 
 trying to sing reached her. 
 
 Clouds drifted over the sky. The poplars shiv 
 ered; no voice of the thrush now chanting from the
 
 THIS GREATER LOVE 73 
 
 wood depths; but the poplars, that Christ's cross was 
 made from, what soft voice is this of theirs falling? 
 "Love, love, love" this too? sighing with strange 
 rapture. 
 
 Vesty pulled her thick hair down over the bruised 
 place on her forehead. She went out of the woods, 
 toward her father's poor house and the wailing and 
 the feeble singing. 
 
 "Vesty! Vesty! " one of the school-children came 
 running toward her. " Lowizy said you was up here. 
 I came to look for you. Here 's a note Jane Pray 
 sent." 
 
 DEAR VESTY: You told me last meetun you was 
 comern up to sett with me and my border some 
 evening. Come tonyte. hees a poor erflickted cree- 
 tur, seems to me. hees lamer 'an ever an smaller 
 'an ever this week, an' the burth-scalds on his face 
 shows more, seems to me. Ef that he was payin' 
 3 dollars a week, I should feel easier, bring your 
 soing an' sett a good long spale. 
 yours truly, 
 
 JANE PRAY. 
 
 Vesty came, just as the firelight grew welcome 
 and tender. She put aside her hat and shawl, un 
 rolled her parcel of sewing- work, and sat down by 
 the little lamp at one end of the room with Miss 
 Pray. 
 
 She took in my presence naturally, with no obtru 
 sive kindness; she was at a necessitous task put 
 ting a broad gray patch, the best available from the
 
 74 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 resources at home, on Jimmy Kirtland's brown 
 jacket, doing it deftly with her supple hands. 
 
 "You'll be doing that for some boys of your own 
 by and by," said Miss Pray, intending to have a 
 cheerful evening. 
 
 Vesty grew sweet and pale; she shook her head. 
 Her dark eye-sockets had a look, I thought, as 
 though she had been ill and fasting. I mused in 
 the firelight. 
 
 " And what if that should not be your fate indeed, 
 Vesta Kirtland: not bearing, and toil, and pain, and 
 all the heart-breaking vicissitudes of woman's life, 
 but some peculiar station? 
 
 "So tall and gracious, to go robed costly, to ride 
 splendidly accoutred and attended, to condescend 
 almost to #//, to give gracious downward smiles. 
 
 "What if they knew the power of wealth and alien 
 rank, for that matter, I held in that miserable, lean, 
 little paw of mine! You should outshine Grace 
 Langham as the sun, Vesty. Some time, if she were 
 wronged and sorrowful, could I point her, delicate 
 ly, with all forbearance and worship of my own, that 
 way?" 
 
 " Be you rebellious ? " Unsuccessful in her cheer 
 ful attempts with Vesty, Jane Pray had turned to 
 me. 
 
 But Vesty resented her companion's question, al 
 most involuntarily turning to me with a quick and 
 awful pity. 
 
 (No; I had been lost, dreaming: not that way, 
 surely; not though her heart were moved with the
 
 THIS GREATER LOVE 75 
 
 purest pity angels could bestow; not thou, Vesty, 
 above all, sweet one, beautiful one! to a union so 
 unfit and repelling.) 
 
 But I had to bring my thoughts back from a long 
 way to answer Miss Fray's question. 
 
 "No, "I said. "I settled that with God long 
 ago. It is all right between us." 
 
 Miss Pray, confused by Vesty's look, blushed 
 painfully. 
 
 "Thank you for asking me about it," I said 
 gently. 
 
 At that Miss Pray rose. "Come; le's play 
 words," she said. 
 
 So the. girl and the woman folded their sewing, 
 and Miss Pray brought from some hitherto unknown 
 recreative source a little box of cardboard letters, 
 and we sat at the table together. 
 
 Miss Pray and Vesty thoughtfully selected some 
 letters and shook them together and handed them 
 each to me to make into words. I gave them each 
 a word. 
 
 The letters I gave Miss Pray composed a sim 
 ple and striking feature of the Basin vocabulary, 
 " w-h-a-1-e. " 
 
 Those I gave Vesty I studied to make a little 
 more difficult, " c-o-n-t-i-n-u-e. " 
 
 Miss Pray gave me three letters. It happened as 
 I dropped them on the table that they fell of them 
 selves into complete literary sequence, " c-o-w. " But 
 Vesty handed me eleven shuffled letters, a ladylike 
 aspiration, and looked at me with a little appealing
 
 76 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 blush the Basin school is so brief, so limited in its 
 curriculum. 
 
 Miss Pray put on her glasses and studied wearily 
 and long on her letters, placing them every way. 
 I saw that she had them now at last, "w-h-a-1-e," 
 but was regarding them as blankly as ever. 
 
 "Pray do not move them again," I cried hope 
 fully, finding the game more exciting than I had 
 anticipated. "You have it, 'w-h-a-1-e,' whale 
 see ? " 
 
 Miss Pray looked shocked and dubious. I saw at 
 once that she was suffering under the sorrowful men 
 tal conviction that I had spelled the word wrongly: 
 but that she was resolved not again to wound my 
 feelings. She turned to assist Vesty. 
 
 "That," she said at length, struck by some sug 
 gestive combination, "might be 'continnu,' Vesty, 
 ef it had more 'n's and no 'e'." 
 
 "Oh," said Vesty, pleased and enlightened. 
 "But major knows," she added promptly, "about 
 the spelling." 
 
 "I have your word, you see, Vesty," I said. 
 "'S-e-p-p-e-r-a-t-i-o-n. ' ' 
 
 I had it spread out proudly on the table. She 
 looked at me and blushed again. I smiled, only as 
 1 would at a priceless child. 
 
 "You are cute at guessing major," said Miss Pray 
 admiringly; but I saw that she held me deficient 
 in the classical prearrangement of words, and that 
 the game had lost interest to her on that account. 
 So we laid it by.
 
 THIS GREATER LOVE 77 
 
 When Vesty rose to go home, "I will go with 
 you," I said, wrapping my sad little presence in an 
 overcoat. 
 
 Miss Pray looked as she had when she asked me 
 if I was rebellious. 
 
 But Vesty said quickly: "I wish you would. I 
 am so afraid in the dark ! " 
 
 Afraid in the dark! Not she; but this was some 
 ointment for that unconscious thrust Miss Pray had 
 given. 
 
 I walked home with her. Coming back, there 
 was ever a slight crackling in the bushes and 
 stealthy breathing behind me. It was the lad, Jim 
 my Kirtland, sent by Vesty surreptitiously to see 
 that I arrived safely at Miss Pray's. 
 
 I regarded sacredly this innocent device, but, ar 
 rived in the house, I heard Jimmy outside pleading 
 cautiously to Miss Pray through the window that he 
 was afraid to go back alone. 
 
 Miss Pray tried to arouse one of her two orphans 
 her help: for answer they screamed aloud, sink 
 ing back into a sleep deep with snores of utter 
 repose. 
 
 "Sh! sh!" she said. "I'll go home with you, 
 Jimmy." 
 
 I had not taken off my great-coat. I went out of 
 my room and followed them, unseen. In sight of 
 the Kirtland home-light Jimmy ran in, glad. Miss 
 Pray turned to face the darkness alone; she went a 
 few paces, stopped, hesitated, and began to weep 
 softly.
 
 78 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "I am here to walk home with you, Miss Pray," I 
 said. "Come; I can see very well in the dark." 
 
 " Thank God ! " said she, and came toward me 
 with a little bound; for it seemed that it did not 
 make any difference to her in this emergency that 
 I did not know how to spell.
 
 SETTIN' ON THE FENCE 79 
 
 VII 
 " SETTIN' ON THE FENCE "THE SHIFTY SPECTRE 
 
 "ADMIRAL 'S I SUMS-IT-UP," collector of road- 
 taxes, a title cheerfully accorded him through the 
 genial courtesy of the Basin, came down from the 
 Point. 
 
 In the distance we could hear him approaching 
 as usual, the passionless monotone of his voice grow 
 ing ever nearer and more distinct, as he flapped me 
 thodically first one rein, then the other, over the un 
 hurried action of his horse, sagely admonishing him 
 to "G'long! ye old fool! Git up! ye old skate!" 
 
 His mortal conversation, too, though cutting and 
 profound, was, in the deepest sense, without rancor 
 or emotion. 
 
 " 'S I sums it up," said he, " yer road down 
 through the woods 's gittin' more ridick'lous 'n 
 ever. " 
 
 "Poo! poo! Wouldn't be afraid to bet ye she 
 ain't," said Captain Pharo Kobbe,with glowing pipe. 
 
 "Ye seem to boast yerselves 't ye don't belong to 
 nothin' down here," continued the admiral; "but 
 ye does. Ye belongs to a shyer town. Ye orter 
 have some pride. 'S I sums it up, be you goin' to 
 pay yer rates, or work 'em out mendin' yer roads? "
 
 8o VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 " I've noticed pretty darned well 't I don't belong 
 to no town, only when it comes to votin' some on ye 
 into offis' up there and payi.n' taxes," said one of the 
 Basin group Captain Dan Kirtland, Vesty's father. 
 " I ain't a-goin' to pay no rates, nor work 'em out on 
 no roads neither. When I goes I goes by boat, 'n' I 
 didn't see, when I was out pollockin' this mornin', 
 but what the water 's jest as. smooth as she ever 
 was! " 
 
 A low murmur of sympathetic laughter ran 
 through the group. 
 
 " I goes by boat when I goes," said Captain Lee- 
 zur benignantly. "She ts smoother, sartin she is. 
 But some, ye know, 's never sartisfied. Some neow 's 
 all'as shiftin" a chaw o' tobackker " 
 
 " Comparin' of the road with the water," said Cap 
 tain Rafe, father of Fluke and Gurdon, " I permits 
 it to ye all that thar' ain't that steadiness about 
 the land that thar' is about the water. Thar 's a 
 kindo' aweavinessand onsartainty about the land." 
 
 " 'S I sums it up," said the imperturbable collector, 
 grave pipe of expired ashes in mouth, " thar 's some 
 bottom to the water, but it 's purty nigh fell out o' 
 yer roads down here. Ye're a disgrace to a shyer 
 town." 
 
 Loud and unoffended laughter from the group. 
 
 " I permits 't thar 's some advantages about the 
 land," continued Captain Rafe. " I wants ter go out 
 and shute me a mess o' coots once in a while, and 
 ketch me a mess o' brook-trout, but as for tinkerin' 
 over the roads why, that artis' that was down here
 
 "SETTIN' ON THE FENCE" 81 
 
 three months las' summer, paintin' a couple o' Lee- 
 zur's sheep eatin' rock-weed off'n a nubble, said 
 't our roads was picturusque. You don't suppose 
 I'm goin' around a-shorin' up and sp'ilin' the pictur 
 usque, do ye? " 
 
 Inextinguishable laughter from the group. At this 
 juncture Captain Shamgar came up with his cows. 
 
 "Ain't ye drivin' yer cows home ruther early, 
 Shamgar? Sun 's a-p'intin" 'bout tew in the arter- 
 noon." 
 
 " Wai, yes, but I got through cuttin' weir-stays, 
 and thought 's the cows was over there, I'd take 
 'em along home with me. Save goin' back arter 
 'em by 'n* by, ye know." 
 
 Captain Shamgar disposed himself on the fence, 
 and the cows fell to browsing in the lane. 
 
 "Got your road-tax ready for the adm'r'l, Sham- 
 gar?" 
 
 " Sartin, sartin," said that individual, firmly and 
 permanently buttressing his cowhide boots between 
 the rails; " charge 'er to the town pump, and take 'er 
 out o' the handle! " 
 
 Uproarious laughter. 
 
 "You'd orter see the roads in Californy," said a 
 dark spectre with shifty eyes on the outskirts of the 
 group. 
 
 " Gold, ain't they, Pershal ? " 
 
 "No, no," said the spectre modestly; "jest com 
 mon silver-leavin's. Arfter they've made silver 
 dollars they scrape up all the cornder pieces and 
 leavin's, and heave 'em out into the road. They 
 6
 
 82 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 wears down smooth in a little while and shine? 
 Wai " 
 
 "Speakin' o' coots," firmly interposed Captain 
 Dan Kirtland, "onct when I was cruisin* to Boston, 
 I seen a lot o' coots hangin' up thar' in the market 
 't looked as though they'd been hangin' thar' ever 
 senct before Adam cut his eye-teeth. 'How long be 
 you goin* to keep them coots ?' says I. 'Coots!' says 
 he; 'them 's converse-back ducks. ' 'Converse-back 
 ducks!' says I; 'them 's coots,' says I, 'and they're 
 gittin' to be old coots too, ' says I. 'You come from 
 Maine, I guess, don't ye?' says he. 'Never mind 
 whether I come from Maine or whether I come from 
 Jaffy, ' says I, 'I come from sech a quarter of this 
 'arth aswhar' coots is jest coots,' says I." 
 
 "Ye'd orter see the coots in Californy," wailed 
 the voice of the shifty spectre on the outskirts. 
 
 "Kind o' resemblin' cows in size, ain't they, 
 Pershal ? " 
 
 "No, no; the biggest I ever seen was the size o' 
 Shamgar's torn-turkey; but plenty? Wai " 
 
 " Speakin' o' Jaffy," said Captain Leezur; " some 
 body was tellin' me 't they'd heered how 't Lot's 
 wife she that was turned into a pillar o' salt, ye 
 know " 
 
 "Ye'd orter see the hunks o' salt in Californy! " 
 moaned triumphantly the spectre. 
 
 "Had got up and went!" joyfully concluded Cap 
 tain Leezur. 
 
 "Wai, now, speakin' o' trout (I permits that they 
 have termenj us trout in Californy," wisely subjoined
 
 "SETTIN* ON THE FENCE" 83 
 
 Captain Rafe)," larst Sunday I was start in' for Shad- 
 der Brook with my pole and line, and I met this noos- 
 paper man's wife, 't's boardin' up to Lunette's. She 
 was chopped down so small tow'ds the waist line, 
 looked as ef, ef she sh'd happen to get ketched in 
 a nor'wester, she'd go clean in tew. Didn't bear no 
 more resemblance to your Vesty, Dan, than a hour 
 glass on the shelf does to the nateral strompin' fig- 
 ger o' womankind (I permits the women has splen 
 did riggers in Californy). 
 
 "'Wai,' says she to me, and sighs. 'I wish 't 
 there was a chapel to this place,' says she. 'I 
 know,' says I; 'I've all'as said, ef they'd start 'er 
 up I'd contribbit to 'er 's fur as my purse 'u'd al 
 low. ' ' 
 
 Exhaustive laughter for some cause from the 
 group. 
 
 " 'Do you think it 's right to go a-fishin' Sunday?' 
 says she. 'No, marm, ' says I, 'not big fish, but lit 
 tle treouts?' says I; 'won't you jest think it over, 
 marm? ' says I. And while she was thinkin* I kind 
 o' shied and sidled off, an' got away outer the ship's 
 channel." 
 
 "Wai, thar' neow," said Captain Leezur, beaming 
 with fond sympathy at the heavens, " sech folks 
 dew help to parss away the time, amazin'." 
 
 " 'S I sums it up," said the impassively listening 
 collector, "ef ye don't pass away some o' yer time 
 on yer roads down here, ye' 11 break some o' yer 
 d d necks." 
 
 Renewed unresentful laughter from the group.
 
 84 VESTV OF THE BASINS 
 
 " Grarsshoppers, neow," said Captain Leezur, se 
 riously and reflectively, "makes better treoutin' 
 bait 'n angle-worms (I know 't we don't have no 
 sech grarsshoppers nor angle-worms neither as they 
 dew in Californy). 
 
 " Nason was over t'other day, helpin' me shingle 
 my barn. 'Twas a dreadful warm day, and we was 
 takin' our noonin' arfter dinner, settin' thar' on the 
 log, 'nd there was a lot o' these 'ere little green 
 grarsshoppers hoppin' areound in the grarss: so 
 arfter a spall, we speared up some on 'em and " 
 
 ;< 'S I sums it up, ef ye want to stay here and 
 ketch the last fish 't God ever made, 'ste'd o' bracin' 
 up and mendin' yer roads and takin' yer part in a 
 shyer town, ye must do so. " 
 
 "Sho!" said Captain Leezur, regarding him with 
 wistful compassion ; " I hain't seen as fish was gittin' 
 skeerce. " 
 
 By winks and insinuations of niggardliness, 
 through Captain Rafe, father of Fluke, he was 
 moved to take a nervine lozenge out of his pocket 
 and display it temptingly before the sapient, im 
 movable countenance of the collector. The latter, 
 cold pipe in mouth, solemnly shook his head. 
 
 "They dew come kind o' high, I know," said 
 Captain Leezur, "but I'm all'as willin* to sheer 'em 
 with a friend. I ain't one o' that kind that 's all'as 
 peerin' anxiously into the futur'." 
 
 " The furderest time 't I ever looked into the fu 
 tur'," said Captain Dan Kirtland, "was once when 
 I was a boy 'bout nineteen, and my father told me
 
 "SETTIN" ON THE FENCE" 85 
 
 not to take the colt out. He was a stallion colt (I 
 know 't we don't have no sech colts here as they do 
 in Californy), jest three years and two months old, 
 and sperrited oh, no; I guess he wa'n't sperrited 
 none! Wai, my father was gone one day, and I 
 tackled him up and off I went. Might 'a' fetched 
 up all right, but 't happened jest as I was passin' 
 by them smoke-houses to Herrinport, some boys 't 
 was playin' with a beef's blawder had hove her up 
 onto the roof, and she bounded down right atween 
 that stallion's ears and eyes. In jest about one sec 
 ond I looked so far into the futur' that I run my 
 nose two inches into the 'arth, and she 's been broke 
 ever since." 
 
 "Never mind, Kirtland, she 's all thar'. The 
 furderest time 't I ever looked ahead," said the voice 
 of Shamgar, "was once in war time. Flour fifteen 
 dollars a barrel, seven girls and five boys (I know 
 't we don't raise no sech families here as they do 
 in Californy), everything high. All to once the 
 thought come to me, 'Mebbe herrin'll be high tew.' 
 And sure enough herrin' was high!" 
 
 " The furderest time 't I ever looked ahead " 
 
 deliciously began Captain Leezur. 
 
 "G'long! ye old fool! Git up! ye old skate!" 
 Admiral 'S I Sums-it-up was turning his horse 
 about. 
 
 " I believe you and me 's got a bet on, ain't we, 
 adm'r'l?" said Captain Pharo. 
 
 "I told 'em 'twas wastin' waggin ile to come 
 down here to c'lect. G'long! ye old fool! Git
 
 86 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 up! ye old skate! 'S I sums it up, bet ye, goin' 
 'tween here and the Point I could scrape twenty- 
 five pound o' mud off 'n yer kerridge time ye gits 
 thar', Kobbe. G'long! ye old fool! Git up! ye 
 old skate! " 
 
 His unbaffled monotone grew gradually faint in 
 the distance. 
 
 " Roads foall porridge up there a piece, I reckon," 
 chuckled Captain Pharo; "but as long as Crooked 
 River runs, I don't calk'late to lose no bet. Poo! 
 poo! 
 
 3= r- 
 
 "Jest give me time," beamed Captain Leezur, 
 sounding mellifluously, " 'n' I can row any Pointer 
 ashore in an argyment 't ever was born yit. I takes a 
 moderate little spall to dew it in. Forced-to-go " 
 
 "Ye be a lazy, yarn-reelin' set, all on ye," said 
 Captain Rafe, grinning with affection and delight on 
 the group. "I'm going to have ye all posted and 
 put on the teown! " 
 
 Murmurs of rich and deep laughter. 
 
 A tall, dark form, shifty-eyed, had been insensibly 
 moving and disintegrating me from the group. I 
 found myself drifting strangely ever farther and 
 farther away. I was sitting beside him on a rock 
 in the covert of the woods, the sun setting over the 
 bay, and all was still save his voice. 
 
 "I went to Californy minding" (mining), said he. 
 "She ain't nothin' so wonderful of a State as you
 
 "SETTIN' ON THE FENCE*' 87 
 
 might think: she ain't no bigger 'n Maine 'n* New 
 York and Alabamy, 'n' Afriky 'n' Bar Harbor all put 
 into one! " 
 
 "Great heavens!" said I, scratching my feeble 
 little cane into the earth, " is she that?" 
 
 Of all that had been denied him in the recent 
 general conversation, of colossal hunks of salt, of 
 grasshoppers "no larger than Dorking hens," of 
 fishes, women, horses fabulous, I listened, rapt with 
 wonder and admiration. 
 
 The sun went down, the moon arose, and still I 
 listened. I was not weary, I was not hungry; I 
 was absorbed in sincere and awful attention. But 
 the world is callous and cold, and I shall not repeat 
 those tales. 
 
 The world is callous and cold; but, as the shifty 
 spectre at last pointed me, unwilling, homeward, he 
 murmured, with tears in his eyes: "I never found 
 sech an intellergent listener as you be not in the 
 whole length and breadth of Californy."
 
 88 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 VIII 
 
 "VESTY 'S MARRIED" 
 
 "VESTY 's married Gurd! Vesty 's gone and got 
 married to Gurd! " said the children, big and joyful 
 with news, on their way to school. 
 
 Yes, that was what she had done! I leaned heav 
 ily for a moment where I stood. That was Vesty! 
 
 Oh, child-madness! Sweet, lost child! Oh, pity 
 of the world! and I crawling on with such a hurt; 
 I did not think that should have wrung me so. 
 
 I was getting near her door; not anywhere else 
 could I have gone. She would be at the Rafes' cot 
 tage now so easily do the Basin brides move, 
 without wedding journey or trousseau. 
 
 The wash-tubs and cooking-stove stood at one end 
 of the long, low-raftered room, the cabinet organ 
 and violins at the other. Captain Rafe and the 
 boys were out, hauling their sea-traps, and Vesty 
 had been doing the washing that they were wont to 
 do for themselves; the mother, like her own, being 
 dead. 
 
 The room was nice as I had never seen it before, 
 and Vesty was putting some pitiful little ornaments 
 to rights at the cabinet-organ end. 
 
 She turned to me with so strange and febrile a
 
 U VESTY *S MARRIED " 89 
 
 look, yet with so wild and startled a welcome in her 
 eyes. 
 
 "Hush!" I said. "You wanted me, child; I am 
 here." 
 
 I saw that she had turned to lean against the 
 organ, and that she was shaken with sobs. 
 
 " What have you done, Vesty ? Wicked and false 
 beyond any woman I know you ! " 
 
 " Have you seen him ? " she sobbed. 
 
 " No, I have not seen Notely. You were married 
 only last night." 
 
 " I wrote to him. There was only one way to 
 save Notely from marrying me only one way." 
 
 "You might have waited." 
 
 " Notely would never have waited. Notely meant 
 to marry me." 
 
 "You should have married him, and not been 
 false." 
 
 " I would rather be false than ruin Notely." 
 
 "You thought that it would ruin him? You had 
 some assistance in that belief ; his lady mother came 
 to see you ; the property is hers. If he transgresses, 
 no property, no wealthy Grace Langham, no easy 
 glory at the bar or in the state. What were those to 
 your love, Vesty ? " 
 
 She looked up, dim, and shook her head. 
 
 "You have done a wilful, blind, impetuous thing. 
 You were piqued, proud, angry, and so you gave 
 yourself, body and soul, to this mad leap." 
 
 " I don't care for my body (sob) or soul (sob) 
 if Notely isn't sick."
 
 90 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 " There is One who is above Notely, to punish as 
 well as to pity, Vesty. " 
 
 " God" very softly " oh, yes! " The bewildered, 
 grief-tormented eyes looked faith into mine. " I 
 didn't mean that. I asked Him. I could only find 
 one way. He won't let Notely come to harm, but 
 help him to make the best of himself." 
 
 " Your lover is a brave man. He would not have 
 been selfish toward you as this great hulk, Gurdon. 
 He knew you intelligently. He would have lifted, 
 considered, cared for you." 
 
 Vesty held herself aloft, pale. " Gurdon is good. 
 If any one ever asked Gurd for anything he always 
 gave it to them." 
 
 I leaned my head on my hand, my heart leaping. 
 
 Vesty came near me. " Tell me that you do not 
 think it is a great mistake such a great a lost 
 mistake; for Notely's sake, tell me! I looked so 
 for you to come. I wanted you." 
 
 To have touched one thread of her dark hair, 
 bowed there before me! I did not touch her. 
 
 "Ah, the mistake!" I said; "ah, the pity of it! 
 You do not tell me how you have suffered, Vesty; 
 how your own heart has been torn. " 
 
 She took my hand, and, turning her head, pushed 
 it gently away from her, as some blind instrument 
 of torture. 
 
 " The last time I heard you sing, Vesty, you put 
 your hands on Uncle Benny's poor, confused head 
 and soothed and guided him. Who was there to help 
 or guide you, motherless child, confused and lost?"
 
 VESTY S MARRIED 9! 
 
 " Could you have seen the way ? " How she en 
 treated me! 
 
 " No one sees the way. But a broken heart and 
 a life misguided and lost though it be given" 
 
 She looked up, dim, again. 
 
 " You will make them happy here," I added. Ah, 
 that she understood! She looked about the room 
 with a sad, brave pride, and rose and stood again, a 
 striking picture there. 
 
 "They did need me," she said; "he needed me 
 more than Notely. And I shall get time, besides, 
 to go over to father's and help with the children." 
 
 I nodded. "Oh, it is bravely done," I said. 
 "We shall get on." For she was worn from her 
 long mental struggle, and nearly wild in those dark- 
 circled eyes. "There will be no more feathers in 
 Captain Rafe's cake. Did I tell you? He and the 
 boys invited me here to tea. They had been dress 
 ing birds and baking in the same morning. The 
 plum cake was full of feathers, Vesty." 
 
 She laughed, and looked at me with shocked grat 
 itude because I had made her laugh. 
 
 " Not chopped or sugared feathers, Vesty, but 
 whole winged feathers of the natural flavor." 
 
 " Oh ! " she said, " shouldn't you think they needed 
 me?" 
 
 "Infinitely." 
 
 " Wait. Won't you come come and see me often ? 
 Come evenings and hear the boys play they can 
 play! and tell me" her hands trembled "tell me 
 about Notely!" Her soul bare in her uplifted eyes.
 
 92 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 Only to one as a wraith, a shadow, out of the ordi 
 nary pale of humanity, could she have looked like 
 that! 
 
 "Always, whatever I hear or know," I answered 
 her. "Gurdonwill not be jealous of me. " I smiled 
 at her. 
 
 She smiled back in her dim way. " Jealous? " she 
 said. "What! after we are married ?" 
 
 "Ay, surely! The Basins are true to each other 
 then always." 
 
 " That is the way," she said. 
 
 "That is the way," I said, and left her. 
 
 When Notely Garrison received" the letter that 
 Vesty had written him he read at the end : " When 
 you get this I shall be married; " and the " for love 
 of you, Notely, God knows that! You must make 
 the most of all He gives you." Notely seemed to see 
 her eyes. 
 
 Then he lost them and went down into a mental 
 gulf. He locked himself in his room, to be ever 
 alone; thoughts came to him that he could not bear: 
 he rose and filled a glass twice with brandy and 
 drained it. He ran his hand through the tumbled 
 light hair that Vesty had so loved, and reeled out of 
 the room with a laugh on his lips and a flush on 
 his face. 
 
 " Mother, I have lost my girl ! " 
 
 "O Notely! however mistaken I have been, what 
 have I loved, whom have I loved in all this world 
 but you, my child? Do not break my heart! "
 
 VESTY S MARRIED 93 
 
 " No, no, mother ! " said Notely, going and standing 
 beside her; " I am your natural natural protector." 
 
 As he stood thus, looking out with his drunken 
 yet bright and tender eyes, the child of her breast 
 whom she had robbed, she laid her head on his 
 shoulder and began to cry. "Why, mother!" he 
 said, almost sobered for the instant. Never had 
 this son seen this mother weep. He led her to a 
 lounge. 
 
 "I think," he said, struggling for thought very 
 seriously; he racked his stormy, fuddled brain for 
 what would most please her. " Now, when shall we 
 have a wedding, mother? Grace Grace Langham." 
 
 "O Notely!" She tried to detain him with her 
 hand. 
 
 "Fll go go ask her," he said. He passed out 
 with an easy exaggeration of his usual lordly air, 
 debonair and high, and at the same time genial. 
 
 Grace was alone in the arbor, in her favorite ham 
 mock, with a book, when Notely came up. 
 
 The look she gave him was full of amusement and 
 anger and disgust. 
 
 These qualities somehow attracted him now. He 
 was a gentleman; he tried to hold himself very erect 
 against the trellis, and put the question delicately. 
 
 " Light light light of my soul ! " he said. 
 
 Grace threw down her book and screamed. Then 
 she put her hands over her face and fell to crying. 
 
 Notely took out his handkerchief and wiped his 
 own eyes with the choicest deliberation of sympathy. 
 
 "All all seem to be weeping to-day," he said.
 
 94 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "Oh, you wretch! you brute! you brute!" cried 
 Grace. 
 
 Notely, though much flattered, continued diplo 
 matically mopping his eyes. 
 
 At length he desisted; and Grace, looking out and 
 seeing his keen, handsome profile staring out so des 
 olately, came down from the hammock. 
 
 She shivered a little; drunken men were horrid, 
 even dangerous. But Notely! She came up hero 
 ically and put her hand on his sleeve. 
 
 " There is one condition, Notely, on which I can 
 consider your proposal." 
 
 "Name," said Notely, with touching legal preci 
 sion, "condition on which you'll marry me." 
 
 " You must never, never drink like this again. I 
 did not know that you ever did this. Oh, how it 
 has hurt me!" The lace fell back from her white 
 arms, there was a perfume of flowers about her; 
 bright brown eyes are lovelier when suffused with 
 tears. 
 
 "Thanks!" said Notely, meaning to come up 
 to the full measure of the occasion. "I'm not 
 not worthy. No no no previous engagement, 
 how'ver." 
 
 But he was so gentle, she took his arm and led him 
 in. Mrs. Langham, who always spoiled him, en 
 tering stately in silk and gems, engaged him in a 
 game of cribbage, humoring gravely all his startling 
 and original vagaries in the game. 
 
 "What does it mean?" cried Grace to Mrs. Garri 
 son,
 
 VESTY S MARRIED 95 
 
 "It was an accident, not an excess, my child," 
 said the mother, smiling proudly. "It should never 
 be mentioned in connection with my son; it is no 
 part of him." 
 
 Mrs. Garrison was strangely assured in her own 
 heart that Vesty Kirtland would never tell the son 
 of his mother's visit to her. She did not mean that 
 Grace Langham should ever know the full cause 
 that had unsettled him. 
 
 "We must be very tender with him, keep near to 
 him," she said, "or, when he recovers, he may do 
 himself harm, with remorse, and the fear of losing 
 your love, Grace." 
 
 They were very tender with him. And by good 
 chance, too, the post brought a famed "Review," 
 copying entire the brilliant fellow's essay on 
 "American Politics," with the editor's comment of 
 "masterly." 
 
 " See ! " screamed Grace ; " it says 'masterly. ' ' 
 
 "Of course it 's mast mast masterly," said 
 Notely, his beautiful eyes burning. 
 
 They drove with him, the stout coachman perched 
 for safety on the seat beside him. At evening he 
 tried to catch Grace in the arbor and kiss her. She 
 screamed and escaped. 
 
 "Come, dearest! " said his mother. She left the 
 door wide between his sleeping-room and hers, and 
 laid the triumphant review at his hand for his wak 
 ing in the morning. 
 
 But on the morrow he was neither remorseful nor 
 subdued, though his eyes were hollow. He smoked
 
 96 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 a great deal, and sang melancholy, unembarrassed 
 snatches of song, after the manner of Captain Pharo, 
 and made love to Grace, who was beautiful. 
 
 At evening he tucked his violin under his arm. 
 "I am going down to call on the new Basin bride," 
 he said, with airy, cheerful contempt for that class. 
 
 His mother paled. He went up to her and kissed 
 her. "Do not fear, mother," he whispered. 
 
 The boys welcomed him somewhat eagerly. He had 
 been their teacher on the violin, as well as the origi 
 nal donor of those beloved instruments. And they 
 had thought he might not come to that house again. 
 
 "I've a new tune.for you, boys," he said. Vesty 
 came in. He rose and bowed, taking her hand. " I 
 congratulate the new bride!" He would not look 
 at her pallor or her great beseeching eyes. 
 
 " I've this to show you, boys, that I've been prac 
 tising to-day." He had not touched the strings for 
 forty-eight hours! There was a covert smile, sad, 
 playful, not malicious, on his face as his hands 
 touched them now. 
 
 Where he had been "practising" indeed! From 
 what source he had got that music that he played for 
 them now! He would never play the like again. 
 
 "Bah! " said he, at the close, with his old cheerful 
 manner; " it is too sad ! When one is possessed only 
 for minor strains better cease fiddling. Do you 
 want me to break this, or throw it into the fire when 
 I get home, Gurdon? Then take her, lad! She 's a 
 fine one, finer than yours. Take her in all good 
 faith. Come!"
 
 VESTY S MARRIED 97 
 
 Gurdon reached out his hand, hesitating, voice 
 less pity in his honest eyes. 
 
 Notely sat and listened to the others; applauded 
 in the old way. "You are beyond my teaching, 
 lads," he said and they played exquisitely. "You 
 excel your master now. Well, well, my mellow old 
 fiddle is better here with you." But he would never 
 once look at Vesty, so pale and beseeching. 
 
 As he passed out Vesty started impulsively, then 
 looked at her husband. 
 
 "Go and speak to him, Vesty," said Gurdon. 
 " Maybe he wanted to speak with you a moment." 
 
 Vesty stepped out into the dark, and she called, 
 almost in a breathless voice: " Notely! " 
 
 " Ah ! " He came back. 
 
 She held out her hands to him. " Forgive me, 
 Notely! I meant it for your I meant " 
 
 He took her hands firmly in his and pressed his 
 lips down to hers. " My wife! " he said, slowly and 
 solemnly; "my wife!" and dropped her hands and 
 left her. 
 
 She stepped back through the doorway, sobbing. 
 
 " Was he angry with you, Vesty ? " her husband 
 said. 
 
 "No! no!" 
 
 " Did he say as he was still fond of you, or any 
 thing like that?" said the bold brother Fluke. 
 
 "Nay! nay!" said Gurdon. " Vesty 's married 
 now: nor Vesty nor he would ever have word like 
 that." 
 
 7
 
 98 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 IX 
 THE TALE OF CAPTAIN LEEZUR'S SLY COURTSHIP 
 
 IT has not been a seven months, surely, since I 
 heard the roar of those waters down in the Basin's 
 Greater Bay ! 
 
 Captain Leezur has not been housed through icy 
 snow-fall and winter blast! nay, he has been ever 
 there, as when I left him sitting on the log, beaming, 
 tranquil heir of eternity. 
 
 "Ilein' my saw, ye see, "said he, springing up and 
 grasping my hand ; " ef I remembers right, I was set- 
 tin' here ilein' my saw, when ye come and bid me 
 good-by ? " 
 
 "You were." 
 
 "And here I be, right in the same place, ilein' of 
 'er ag'in!" he cried, struck with joyful surprise at 
 such a phenomena of coincidence. " Set deown ! 
 why, sartin ye must! I carn't let ye go." 
 
 Oh, the taste, sweeter than ancient wine, of that 
 nervine lozenge once more! The time was weary 
 while I was away. Now that I am back again, it 
 seems as nothing. 
 
 "Some neow 's all'as runnin' their saw right 
 through everything no marter heow hard she wrars- 
 tles and complains ag'in' it. But when mine gives
 
 CAPTAIN LEEZUR S SLY COURTSHIP 99 
 
 the first squeak, I sets right deown with 'er and ex 
 amines of 'er, and then I takes a swab-cloth and I 
 swabs her. Forced-to-go 'specially ef she ain't 
 iled never gits far, ye know." 
 
 O delicious sound of uncorrupted philosophy 
 once more! 
 
 Mrs. Leezur came out to welcome me, and sat on 
 the doorstep near. She was chopping salt codfish in 
 a tray for dinner. When her knife struck a bone, 
 she put on her glasses, and after deliberate and 
 kindly research extracted it. 
 
 " Did ye hear anything from Jaffy ? " said the mel 
 low, glad voice of Captain Leezur. 
 
 ''I'm inclined to think what you heard was true, 
 captain. It seems to be confirmed from every 
 source; she is gone." 
 
 " Thar' neow ! I told 'em 't you'd make inquiries. 
 I could see, says I, when I was talkin' to him 
 'beout it, 't he'd got waked up to more 'n common 
 interest in the subjec'. Wai, I'm glad on 't; she'd 
 sot there so long neow didn't ye hit a bone then, 
 mother? Seounded kind o' as though ye struck a 
 bone, but mebbe 'twas only the bottom o' the 
 tray." 
 
 "We've been threatenin' to clean dooryard," said 
 Mrs. Leezur, looking about on a scene that demanded 
 no more particular explanation. 
 
 " Thar' 's three times," said Captain Leezur, " that 
 I've had them bresh 'n' things all hove up into piles, 
 'n' every time the wind 's raked in and swep' 'em 
 areound all over the farmimunt ag'in."
 
 100 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "Perhaps, father," said Mrs. Leezur, in a mildly 
 suggestive tone, as far from sarcasm as heaven is 
 from earth; "perhaps, if 't when you'd got 'em up 
 in piles, you'd keeried of 'em off, they wouldn't 'a' 
 got swep' areound ag'in." 
 
 "Wai, I don* know 's they would, mother; but 
 it 's been a dreadful busy time o' year, ye know," 
 said Captain Leezur, mellifluously. " Didn't ye 
 strike a bone then, mother? Seounded 's though ye 
 run afoul of a bone, but mebbe, arfter all, 'twas only 
 the bottom o' the tray." 
 
 "I like the yard," I said. "I wouldn't like to 
 miss those things." 
 
 "I guess you're kind o' like that artis' that was 
 here, 't was so keeried away with the picturusque. 
 He run afeoul o' a couple o' old sheep o' mine 
 up on the headlan's somewheres, an' spent a 'tarnal 
 three months a-paintin' of 'em deown onto some 
 canvarss. I told 'im, says I, 'Thar'!' says I, 'I'm 
 glad to see them sheep put somewheres 't they'll 
 stay,' says I. 'It'll be the first time in existence 't 
 they hain't broke fence, ' says I. 'I'm r'a'ly obleeged 
 to ye. I hain't seen the livin' presence o' them 
 sheep senct I don't know when,' says I. 'I've been 
 a-threatenin' these tew years t' go and hunt em up, 
 but the glimpst I've had o' 'em in this 'ere pictur'll 
 dew jest as well,' says I; 'fur 's I can see, they look 
 promisin', an' gettin' better points 'n ever for light 
 weight jumpers,' says I Sartin ye hit a bone 
 
 then, mother! Thar'! I told ye so. Heave 'er 
 eout. I knowed 't you'd fotch 'er, mother. Did I
 
 CAPTAIN LEEZUR'S SLY COURTSHIP 101 
 
 ever tell ye," said Captain Leezur to me, " heow sly 
 I was when I went a-courtin' ? " 
 
 "No," said I. Mother Leezur's face was modest, 
 yet all beautifully alight. 
 
 "Wai neow," said Captain Leezur seriously, "my 
 experience has been, there ain't nothin' so onpleas- 
 ant, when ye're eatin' picked-up codfish, 's to feel 
 the rufe o' yer mouth all runnin* in afeoul along o' 
 a mess o' bones. 
 
 " So 't when it got at an age and a time 't I was 
 goin* courtin', I was jest as sly abeout it as could 
 be, 'nd I never let on nothin' o' what port in per- 
 tick'lar I was steerin' for. 
 
 " So 't I was up settin' a spall with Tryphosy 
 Rogers she 't was; 'nd says she, 'Neow what shall 
 I get for tea, Leezur? ' (The gals all made a great 
 deal on me in them days.) 'They ain't nothin' I 
 likes so well,' says I, 'as a mess o' codfish mixed up 
 along o' eggs and thickenin'. ' Wai, she flew 'reound 
 'nd got supper, 'nd we sot deown together and I 
 swan! ef that 'ar mess o' codfish 't Tryphosy heaped 
 onto my plate wa'n't worse tangled up with bones 
 'n the maze o' human destiny. 
 
 "Wai, I knew 't Tryphosy had bo's enough; 'nd 
 all ain't so pertick'lar abeout codfish, ye know, as 
 some be. So 't I didn't trouble 'er to get up no 
 more teas for me. 
 
 " 'Nd still I kep' sly: they hadn't nobody the 
 least idee o' what port I was steerin' for. I tried 
 four or five jest in the same way, but they hadn't 
 moderation enough o' dispersition, ye see, to set
 
 102 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 deown beforehand and have a calm previous wrarst- 
 lin' o' the spirit along o' them codfish bones. 
 
 " Wai, Leony Rogers she 't was cousin to Try- 
 phosy she was called the harndsomest gal in them 
 parts, 'nd I had considerable hopes. So 't when she 
 asts me, 'Neow what'll ye have for tea, Leezur?' 
 'They ain't nothin' I likes so well,' says I, ' 's a 
 mess o' codfish mixed up along o' eggs and thick- 
 enin'.' 
 
 "Wai, we sot deown together, 'nd she was sopurty 
 I stowed away a mouthful, hardly thinkin' 'nd I 
 run one o' these here main off-shutes from the back 
 bone of a ten-pound cod, abeout tew inches up into 
 the shrouds 'n' riggin' o' my left-hand upper jaw. 
 
 " I was in sech a desp'rit agerny to git home that 
 night I got onto Leony's father's old white mar', 't 
 was feedin' along by the road, an' puttin' of 'er 
 deown the hill, I'm dumed ef she didn't stumble and 
 hove me clean over her bows " 
 
 "Father!" 
 
 "Wai, mother?" 
 
 "Ye swore, father!" 
 
 " Wai, thar* ! mebbe I did, mother. But ye know 
 when I jined the church forty year ago, there was a 
 kind o' takkit agreement atween Parson Roe 'n' me 't 
 I could sweer when I was tellin' that pertick'lar story. 
 
 " Wai, the rute o' the matter was, 't as soon 's I 
 was healed up inter some shape ag'in, I went and 
 see Phoeby Hamlin she 't was." 
 
 No need for personal explanation. Captain Lee 
 zur 's tone! Mother Leezur 's softly shrouded eyes!
 
 CAPTAIN LEEZUR S SLY COURTSHIP 103 
 
 "'What'll ye have for tea, Leezur?' says she. 
 'They ain't nothin' I likes so well,' says I, "s a 
 mess o' codfish mixed up along o' eggs and thick- 
 enin'.' Wai, Phoeby, she went eout, and she was 
 gone a long time looked kind o' 's though I was 
 gittin' into port. 
 
 " 'Nd thar I sot and sot; 'nd every minute 't I 
 sot there I was gittin' surer somehow 't I was sight- 
 in' land. By 'n' by, Phoeby, she comes in, and 
 we sot deown together, 'nd I kep' takin' one help 
 arfter another; for arfter what I'd been through 1 
 was goin' to make sure whether I'd got inter safe 
 harbor or not. But deown she all went, slick as 
 ile, an" nary bone nor sign o' bone anywheres. 
 
 "'Phoeby,' says I, 'ye've wrarstled, and ye've 
 conquered!' 'What on 'arth d'ye mean, Leezur?' 
 says she. For figgeral language, ye know, requires 
 a very moderate dispersition; and women, even the 
 moderatest on 'em, haves tew quick perceptions for 
 t' be entertained long with figgeral language."
 
 104 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 A CALL FROM NOTELY'S YACHT 
 
 "WHY did you never come? I sent for you." 
 
 " I was afraid, Vesty, that new burden of mother 
 hood, which you carried, might take some physical 
 mark or blight from a presence like mine. But he is 
 beautiful ! " 
 
 He lay upon her arm, and he was beautiful, full 
 fed from her breasts, formed large and fair, his hair 
 already waved as by a court barber ! Her eyes rested 
 on him. Would all the weak and miserable of the 
 world be well-nigh forgotten now? She raised them 
 to me again Basin eyes all the weak and miser 
 able of the world were dearer. 
 
 "He looks that proud way," she laughed, "when 
 the boys play him to sleep; they played him to sleep 
 again before they went to their traps this morning. 
 They used to play me to sleep, before baby came. 
 I used to think of so many things. I wanted to see 
 you." 
 
 Things cannot ever be thought out, after all, 
 Vesty; but if the boys can play one to sleep well, 
 that is best." 
 
 She took my hand; the tenderness in her eyes cov 
 ered their pity. I felt no sting. " I feel safe when
 
 A CALL FROM NOTELY S YACHT 105 
 
 you will come sometimes/' she said; "you are so 
 strong so strong! " She touched my hand admon- 
 ishingly; it was as though she lifted me. 
 
 "I misjudged your husband, Vesty; rather, I did 
 not know him. He is a good lad, this Gurdon." 
 
 "Oh, he is!" A dream swept over her face, as 
 dreams will; the mad birds whistling " love" down 
 by the sea-wall, the gay waters flashing Notely 
 Garrison. 
 
 "And so the father plays him to sleep? Many a 
 duke would give half his possessions for a boy like 
 that!" 
 
 She buried her face rapturously beside him for a 
 moment, then turned to me calmly: 
 
 "What do you know of Notely?" she said. 
 
 " Only what rumor knows, what may have been 
 told you. His wife found no enduring attractions 
 in this locality, you know: they have built a sum 
 mer place at Bar Harbor; his wife and his mother 
 and Mrs. Langham, it is said, are all devoted to his 
 happiness. He has a fine yacht now, and is some 
 times seen skipping by off shore. He is gifted in 
 address and with the pen. His name is seen often. " 
 
 Vesty listened hungrily. 
 
 " Have you seen him ? Is he happy ? " 
 
 " I saw him only as he was passing me, with some 
 of his companions; they had come ashore to see the 
 old Garrison place. He looked very happy." 
 
 "Then I am glad!" said Vesty of the Basins, 
 clasping her hands. I looked at her; if he was 
 happy she was utterly glad.
 
 lod VESTY OP THE BASINS 
 
 "He will be a great man," she said: "he is al 
 ready famous, that is to be great. " 
 
 " As Christ went down the Lonesome Road," 
 
 sang Uncle Benny, who was voluntary housekeeper 
 at Vesty's during some hours of the day, while the 
 father and boys were away at the fishing: 
 
 " As Christ went down the Lonesome Road 
 Sail away to Galilee. 
 
 He left the Crown and He took the Cross! 
 Sail away to Galilee. 
 Sail away to Galilee 
 
 Oh, He left the Crown and He took the Cross- 
 Sail away to Galilee! " 
 
 He came forward to take the baby, who had awak 
 ened before he began to sing. The Basin matrons 
 ran in very much, but there was no " Vesty " to enter 
 and take the continued care, in this case, until the 
 young mother should be strong again. 
 
 "You can sweep up, major, " said Uncle Benny, 
 cheerfully pointing me to the broom. 
 
 " Sail away to Galilee, 
 Sail away to Galilee " 
 
 he sang, walking so proudly with the infant that 
 his gait was most innocently jaunty and affected. 
 
 Vesty laughed and shook her head at me, but I 
 had the broom and was hobbling about at work with 
 it, pleased to find that Uncle Benny had rather neg 
 lected this humble office for the more important one 
 of minding the baby. 
 
 He next set me to washing the dishes and turning 
 the churn; he would not trust me with the child,
 
 A CALL FROM NOTELY S YACHT 107 
 
 and wisely. That he held in his own strong arms, 
 but he sat down beside me after my work was done 
 and gently commiserated me. 
 
 " Nature has not done so much for you as she has 
 for some, you know," he said. 
 
 "No, indeed," I murmured. 
 
 At that he took off his blue necktie and held it 
 toward me, with a tear of pity in his eye. 
 
 I took it and tied it simply around my neck above 
 the collar. 
 
 "It improves you some," he said, but his look 
 only too plainly indicated that there was still much 
 to be desired. 
 
 We were sitting thus on the doorstep, Uncle Benny 
 with the baby, and I peeling the potatoes, with his 
 blue ribbon tied around my neck, when I heard a 
 half-familiar little scream and laugh, and, looking 
 up, beheld a fashionable company. 
 
 "We hailed Gurdon, off Reef Island, and he said 
 we might come and see the son and heir hurrah! " 
 
 Notely spoke in his gay voice, but the look he 
 gave Vesty's child Vesty's sweet self in that form 
 leaped with a passionate pain. 
 
 There was a small, brilliant-looking woman beside 
 him, with eye-glasses. "O you divine infant!" she 
 exclaimed, regarding the child. "Where is the Ma 
 donna?" 
 
 Now, I was purposely gathering up the potato peel 
 ings very slowly from the doorway, so that the " Ma 
 donna" might have time to take down a certain blue 
 sack from the bedpost at hand, and put it on, and
 
 108 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 give those little finger-touches to the hair that wom 
 en covet; so I stumbled over the peelings and got 
 mixed up with them, until even Uncle Benny felt 
 called upon to apologize for me. 
 
 " He looks some better," he said dubiously, touch 
 ing his neck: "but, "he continued, in a very soft 
 and confidential tone, " Nature has not done so much 
 for him as she has for some, you know." 
 
 All the party had the air of having just had a very 
 merry luncheon on board the yacht. 
 
 By the side of Notely's bride was one of the hand 
 somest young athletes, almost as handsome as Fluke 
 and Gurdon Rafe. 
 
 " What-th what-th the admithion ? " he whispered 
 to Grace, plunging his hand in among the coin in 
 his pockets; " ith ith there any more of the thame 
 kind inthide?" 
 
 " Hush ! " said she quickly, for she knew that I had 
 heard. She lifted a hand impulsively toward his 
 mouth: he caught her hand and looked as though he 
 would have held it; she drew it away, blushing 
 sweetly, and sighed, as she had sighed at Notely. 
 
 Vesty saw that, as they entered ; saw Notely enter 
 with his easy, unobservant swagger, lest the unex 
 pected visit of this fashionable company should em 
 barrass her. He walked across the room, humming 
 an air, to his old violin. 
 
 He touched a strain or two. " Do you remember, 
 Vesty," he said airily, drawing nearer, "this? and 
 this? You have such a beautiful little boy, Vesty! 
 I am so glad! so glad! And this? do you remem-
 
 A CALL FROM NOTELY'S YACHT 109 
 
 ber ? " He played as though he could play away the 
 pallor from that tender face upon the pillows; the 
 pitiful, fine little blue sack added to it. I had left 
 the dust-pan loaded with its spoils, the ragged handle, 
 as I now perceived, not quite hidden behind the 
 door: it caught on to the skirts of the brilliant lady 
 with the eye-glasses, and went trailing loudly after 
 her along the floor. As I stooped down to detach 
 it, sheltered behind those fine draperies, IgaveVesty 
 such a side glance that a smile and color came over 
 her face in spite of herself. 
 
 "Such power of attraction!" said Notely, turning 
 to the lady his laughing eyes, with that unconscious 
 pathos which a lovely woman never failed to dis 
 cover in them; "even the dust-pans" he swept the 
 strings of the violin " even the dust-pans become 
 attached to you." 
 
 "On the contrary," said she, giving him a sharp 
 glance which he relished from her very bright though 
 near-sighted eyes; "it is not often that I have be 
 come attached to anything so useful." 
 
 He laughed with mettlesome good-nature. 
 
 The bride, with her attendant brave, had gone up 
 to Uncle Benny and the baby. 
 
 "Let me take him," she said, holding up her 
 beautiful arms. 
 
 Uncle Benny smiled at her, half remembering her 
 it was an old joke, his becoming engaged to every 
 pretty woman he met but shook his head. 
 
 " It 's a particular trust," he said, in his very soft, 
 sweet voice; "from Jesus Christ and mother. What
 
 110 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 if somebody should drop him, or hurt him? I have 
 to be very careful, for it 's a trust. 
 
 " ' There 's a tree I see in Paradise ' " 
 he suddenly broke into the song again in a loud and 
 perfectly unembarrassed tone: 
 
 " ' Sail away to Galilee. 
 It 's the beautiful, waiting Tree of Life 
 Sail away to Galilee. 
 Sail away to Galilee.' " 
 
 " Good gwaciouth ! " said the young man, fumbling 
 the coin in his pockets and listening in a dazed state 
 of appreciation at the unexpected resources of this 
 menagerie. 
 
 "Doctor!" cried Notely and that address de 
 lighted Uncle Benny " Dr. Spearmint, let me make 
 you acquainted with Mrs. Forrester" some wailing 
 strains from the violin "she could get a divorce 
 from her present consort, I suppose ahem! if there 
 were encouragement enough from some one suffi 
 ciently endowed by nature." 
 
 "It is better to be simple than to be wicked," in 
 stantly retorted the bright little woman, regarding 
 Uncle Benny humorously and not without compas 
 sion. 
 
 But Uncle Benny was not to be disturbed again ; 
 he had his cue. 
 
 "Oh, thank you! " he murmured; "but I couldn't 
 think of it, anyway. I've got so many trusts. 
 There 's Vesty's baby, and there 's the little children 
 I take to school every day and go to fetch them.
 
 A CALL FROM NOTELY S YACHT III 
 
 I'm very careful, because they're trusts, you see;" 
 and he marched on gladly with the baby, singing. 
 
 " You ought to be ashamed, all of you! " said Mrs. 
 Forrester; and sat down by Vesty with friendly ad 
 vice and prattle about her own babies. 
 
 Notely dreamed away on his violin: that made 
 it easy for the rest. His bride and the handsome 
 young man flirted with ardor, yet quite transpar 
 ently: there was a smile wholly devoid of bitterness 
 on Notely's lips. 
 
 "Grace!" cried the sharp little woman at last; 
 " we've some superfluous shawls on board the yacht 
 that would make such charming rugs for Mrs. Rafe's 
 baby. If Mrs. Rafe could send one of her servants 
 down to the shore to call a man from the boat." 
 
 "I'd thend thend the one with the body," said 
 the young man, still afflicted with wonder at Uncle 
 Benny and myself, and indicating Uncle Benny the 
 more hopefully. 
 
 " I prefer the one with the mind," said Mrs. For 
 rester gravely, snapping a glance at him that was 
 not without meaning. "Why, when you have been 
 drinking too much wine, Cousin Jack, can you not go 
 and sit down in a corner and amuse yourself inno 
 cently by yourself as Mr. Garrison does?" 
 
 At that Notely looked up and shot at her a long, 
 gay challenge without words: his eyes in themselves 
 seemed to fascinate her, as they did most people; 
 she brightened with a caressing, artistic sense of 
 pleasure in them. 
 
 "Well, I like that!" said her cousin, having by
 
 112 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 this time framed a rejoinder to her question. " Grace 
 and I haven't thpooned anything like you and Note 
 did, thailing down, only you're so deuced thly about 
 it!" 
 
 "You are disgusting," said she, too lofty and se 
 rene to be annoyed. 
 
 I had my hat and was slipping out on my errand 
 to the boat. Vesty, with evident distress, was about 
 to explain: I put my finger to my lips with another 
 side glance of such meaning that she kept still and 
 even smiled again. 
 
 I called a man and brought him to the house for 
 Mrs. Forrester's directions. He soon returned with 
 the rugs, which Vesty accepted for her baby as well 
 as she could; Uncle Benny all the time singing glee 
 fully. 
 
 The party moved to go; in passing through the 
 door Mrs. Forrester dropped her handkerchief. I 
 picked it up and handed it to her. 
 
 "Thank you, my poor fellow," she said; "you 
 have the manners of a prince! "and put a coin in 
 my hand a piece of silver. I took the money. 
 
 Vesty was still, after they were gone, her hands 
 over her face. I knew well what thoughts she was 
 thinking. 
 
 "Do not go," she said to me, and her voice was 
 like the low cry of her own child; "you are smiling 
 still." She looked at me with strained eyes. 
 
 "Well, perhaps because I am glad Mrs. Garrison 
 would not adopt you and take you away from the 
 Basin ; perhaps because I am glad no handsome rake
 
 A CALL FROM NOTELY S YACHT 113 
 
 will ever ogle you as our lisping young man did 
 Mrs. Notely Garrison." 
 
 "It meant nothing between them all," said Vesty, 
 her hand over her eyes; "you know that better than 
 I. It is only the way they do." 
 
 "It meant nothing! It is only the way they 
 do." 
 
 I put away the violin Notely's fingers had so lately 
 touched. The tears stole down Vesty's cheeks and 
 trembled on her lips. 
 
 "He does not care," she said; "that is the worst! 
 He does not care as he did once." 
 
 " For what, Vesty ? " 
 
 " For anything but having a good time and mak 
 ing fun with people, and all that. He used to talk 
 with me oh, so high and noble, about things!" 
 Her eyes flashed, then darkened again with pain. 
 
 " Ay, I know he has seen the model and been 
 pierced with it. He can never forget; he will come 
 back." 
 
 "The model?" 
 
 " You know once there was a Master who was de 
 termined all his people should paint him a picture 
 after a great model he had set before them. It 
 seemed not to be an attractive model; it seemed full 
 of pain and loss; the world looked to be full of 
 other designs more desirable. 
 
 " So that there were hardly any but that wandered 
 from it, to paint pictures of their own; there was 
 hardly, if ever, a great or a true and patient artist 
 for they are the same thing. 
 8
 
 114 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "Some found the colors at hand so brilliant, and 
 were so possessed with the beauty of dreams of their 
 own, that the}' spent long years in painting for them 
 selves splendid houses in bewitching landscapes, 
 red passion roses, and heaps of glittering gold, that 
 looked like treasures, but were nothing. 
 
 "Some painted dark, sad glimpses of eaith and 
 sea and sky that were called beautiful, the skill in 
 them was so perfect. Looking at them, one saw 
 only the drear night drawing on. 
 
 " But there were some who had no great dreams of 
 their own to work out, or if they had they turned 
 from them with obedience above all: and many, 
 many, broken-hearted from their failure in their own 
 designs, who turned now to follow the Master's model. 
 And it was strange, but as they regarded it intently 
 and faithfully there grew to be in it for them a 
 beauty ever more and more surpassing all earthly 
 dreams. 
 
 "They were dim of sight and trembling of hand; 
 often they mixed the colors wrong, they spilled 
 them, they made great blotches and mistakes; but 
 they washed them out with tears and went to work 
 again, yearning pitifully after the model ; in hope 
 or despair, living or dying, their fingers still moved 
 at the task as they kept looking there. 
 
 " And always the Master knew. This was the 
 strangest of all, that some of the dimmest, wavering 
 outlines, some of the saddest blotted details, were 
 the beautifullest in his eyes, because he read just 
 the depth of the endeavor underneath; until, in this
 
 A CALL FROM NOTELY'S YACHT 115 
 
 light, as he lifted it up, some poor, weary, tearful, 
 bungled work shone fairer than the sun! " 
 
 Keeping faithful watch of the clock, Uncle Benny 
 at the appointed hour had given up the baby to 
 Vesty, to go and bring the children home from 
 school. We heard him in the distance still singing 
 joyfully his " Sail away to Galilee! " 
 
 "There is a faithful artist," I said, and smiled; 
 "would God I had come up to him, with his unceas 
 ing watch over the little ones! And Blind Rodgers 
 too, who never complains, and who will not trouble 
 anybody, but keeps his life so spotless." 
 
 Vesty lay very still. " Do you think Notely was 
 painting a picture of his own?" she said. " Do you 
 think I was proud because he could paint such pict 
 ures of his own, and wanted him to? You said he 
 had been pierced with it" she was talking to her 
 self now "he will come back." 
 
 " He will come back." 
 
 ''Who are you?" she said, her Basin eyes turned 
 clear and full upon me. "You let them call you 
 my servant ! " 
 
 "Not because I was afflicted with humility, but 
 because I was proud and happy to be that. And be 
 cause it was a good joke: you do not mind my en 
 joying a good joke, I hope? Then you do not know 
 how happy it made me ; I have had so much done 
 for me, and have been so little useful." 
 
 Vesty was not satisfied. Her clear, impersonal 
 gaze held me with a look fearless of its compassion, 
 single and direct.
 
 Il6 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 " I wish you would not leave the Basin," she said. 
 " I am never I am never happy when you are away. " 
 
 " God bless you, my little girl ! " I said, and hob 
 bled away to finish the housework, but my heart 
 seemed to take on a pair of pure white wings, like 
 dove's wings. I forgot withal that I was lame.
 
 ANOTHER NAIL 
 
 XI 
 
 ANOTHER NAIL 
 
 "CHIPADEES sing pretty," said Captain Pharo, 
 drawing a match along the leg of his trousers and 
 lighting his pipe, as we stood amid the song of birds 
 in the lane "but robins is noisy creeturs, always 
 at the same old tune poo! poo! hohum! Wai, 
 wal 
 
 - I , i ~T I j, f f 5 *- 
 ~ g^J ^ ^ i= 
 
 " 'My days are as the grass, Or as '" 
 
 he paused there, having his pipe well going. 
 
 "Yes," said I, gulping down some unworthy emo 
 tions of my own; "yes, indeed." 
 
 " Come down to see ef ye wouldn't like t' go up t' 
 the Point with us, t' git a nail put in the hoss's 
 shu-u? " 
 
 "Oh, yes, thank you! by all means," I replied. 
 
 " My woman heered poo ! poo ! 
 
 " ' Or as the morn - ing flow'r, ' 
 
 she heered 't there was goin' to be a show up thar' 
 to-night some play-actor folks. 'Ten Nights in a 
 Ba-ar Room ' " the captain took the pipe out of his 
 mouth and yawned with affected unconcern. " I've
 
 Il8 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 heered o* worse names for a show; but ye know what 
 women-folks is when there 's any play-actin' around. 
 They're jest like sheep next to a turnip patch." 
 
 "Are they?" 
 
 "Oh, by clam! ye don't knownothin' 'bout female 
 grass yit, major nothin'. Bars can't shet 'em out." 
 I followed his sad gaze to the west, and we sighed 
 in unison. 
 
 " By the way, how 's your show stock gittin' along, 
 major?" 
 
 " My show stock ? " 
 
 "Why, sartin; we thinks all the more on ye, ef 
 that c'd be, for havin' some business. Ye see, the 
 way my woman found it out, she runs over to Lu 
 nette's every mail day and helps her sort the mail, 
 'nd she said all the letters 't come directed to 'Mr. 
 Paul Henry' had a mess o* wax run onto the fold of 
 every envelope with a pictur' stamped inter it o' a 
 couple o' the cur'osest-lookin' creeturs; said 'twas 
 jest the head an' necks of 'em an' they looked 
 to be retchin' up ter eat out o' the same soup 
 plate; said 't must be your stock to the circus; for 
 business folks often has their business picturs put on 
 outside their envelopes, ye know, and jedgin' by the 
 cur'osity of 'em, she thought they must be doin' 
 pretty well by ye." 
 
 "Oh, they are, captain," I sighed; "yes, they're 
 doing pretty well by me." 
 
 "Wai now, ef you've got a comf'tably good thing, 
 major, be content with it; 'tain't easy to git onto a 
 new job nowadays. Ain't there some pertick'lar
 
 ANOTHER NAIL lIQ 
 
 spear o' grass ye'd like t' have set on the back seat 
 with ye?" he continued cheerfully. "She rides 
 easier for havin' consid'rable ballast, ye know." 
 
 " I don't know of any. Mrs. Lester is away at her 
 daughter-in-law's." 
 
 "Hain't ye never thought poo! poo! hohum! 
 wal, wal 
 
 =#- 
 
 ' The blighting wind sweeps o'er, she ' 
 
 hain't ye never thought o' Miss Pray?" 
 " In what way, captain ? " 
 " Wal, as a poo ! poo ! 
 
 " ' She ' 
 
 as a pertick'lar spear, ye know?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " In course human nature turns natchally to pink 
 and white clover, like Vesty; but I tell ye, major, 
 when it comes to a honest jedgment o' grass thar' 's 
 lots o' comfort arter all to be took out o' old red 
 timothy. Old red timothy goes to shutin' right 
 up straight an' minds her own business. She ain't 
 a-tryin' so many o' these d d ructions on ye. My 
 foot 's some better," said he, lifting the maimed 
 member; "but she ain't yit what she use ter be. It 
 'u'd make a home for ye, 'ithout payin* no board, 
 an' ef ye got red o' payin' yer board ye wouldn't 
 mind ef she didn't treat ye quite so well for that 's 
 the way 'ith all female grass, clover 'n' all, when
 
 l2d VESfY OF THE BASINS 
 
 they once gits spliced onto ye. But 'ith what ye 
 gits from yer show ye c'd buy a boss, an' when the 
 wind 's in the nor'-east ye c'd tack away from home 
 on some arrant see? But don't arsk her, 'less ye 
 means ter stand by it, major, for the women-folks 
 has got to settin' onaccountable store by ye, ye kind 
 o' humors of 'em so." 
 
 I limped down the lane to invite Miss Pray on our 
 excursion, with light feet. Was it the air again, or 
 was it the new consciousness that I was developing 
 into a beloved and coveted beau? 
 
 I stepped into the cottage through the low win 
 dow, as I often did. At the same moment the cover 
 of the wood-box flew up, and I beheld the rosy, good- 
 natured visage of Miss Fray's orphan girl looking 
 out: she put her finger on her lip. 
 
 "Sh!" 
 
 "What is it?" I said. 
 
 She pointed upward. I saw on the long spike 
 which held the horseshoe over the door a pail of 
 water so delicately hung that whoever first entered 
 there must receive its contents in one fell unmiti 
 gated deluge upon the crown. 
 
 "Sh! It 's Wesley's" (her fellow-orphan) " it 's 
 Wesley's birthday. I ain't got no present to give 
 him, so I'm going to souze him with cold water: he 's 
 bringin' in some wood there 's steps! Sh! " 
 
 She ducked into the wood-box, which had subter 
 ranean channels of escape, with anticipated delight, 
 and put down the cover, leaving me alone in the 
 room with the approaching victim and in the unen-
 
 ANOTHER NAIL 121 
 
 viable position of appearing to be the sole perpetra 
 tor of this malign deed. 
 
 I had the merest time to master this idea, when the 
 door swung in upon its hinges, and not Wesley, but 
 Miss Pray herself, stood before me, a mad and a 
 blighted object. 
 
 I gazed at her, horror-struck, and was endeavor 
 ing to speak, when Wesley, staggering in behind her 
 with his arms full of wood, came to my relief. " O 
 Miss Pray, 'twan't major, honest 'twan't, nor 
 'twan't me, Miss Pray: 'twas that Belle O'Neill, 
 an' she 's mos' got to the graves by this time. I 
 seed her runnin', through the windy. O Lord! 
 O Miss Pray! how wet you looks when you're as 
 wet as you be now, Miss Pray! " 
 
 "Indeed it was not meant for you," I cried. 
 "Belle meant it for a birthday jest on Wesley." 
 
 "Oh, I wish it had b'en, Miss Pray," gasped poor 
 Wesley, with ill-timed sympathy; "I'm so much 
 more used to bein' wet 'n you be." 
 
 It was doubtful toward which Miss Pray was wax 
 ing most warm the recusant Belle O'Neill, or the 
 stupid, open-mouthed Wesley when I stepped in at 
 this juncture and entreated her with the Kobbes' in 
 vitation. 
 
 "I'll go," said she, with evident satisfaction 
 gleaming even through her dripping state, " 's soon 
 's I've changed my clo's and whipped Belle 
 O'Neill." 
 
 During the former process I volunteered, as one 
 whom she would trust, to watch for Belle, and lure
 
 122 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 her, if possible, to the house. I repeatedly saw that 
 damsel's head peering out from behind the grave 
 stones of Miss Fray's ancestors, down by the sea 
 wall, and making signals to me to know if advance 
 were safe. 
 
 And every time, prostituting sublime justice to a 
 weak sense of compassion, I waved her back to her 
 fastness until after we should be gone. 
 
 "Shall I tell her 't you'll whip her after you git 
 back, Miss Pray?" said Wesley, with deep relish. 
 
 " No," said Miss Pray, who had now appeared, re 
 splendent in holiday attire. "Do you want her to 
 run away, and leave me without help ? Air as keep 
 your mouth shet that 's the safest commands for 
 you; all 'as keep your mouth shet." 
 
 Wesley closed that wide organ, with a look of 
 wondering surprise. 
 
 Miss Pray was lean and resplendent, not gray and 
 comfortable like my friend Mrs. Lester. There was 
 no blueberry " turnover" to devour. As we passed 
 over the jolting road I clung desperately to the car 
 riage bars. 
 
 But it appeared that the captain had an abnormal 
 design, before entering the Point, of descending into 
 a shallow branch of Crooked River, there to wash 
 the mud of past happy epochs from the carriage. 
 
 "Wai, Cap'n Pharo Kobbe," said his young wife, 
 stultified with amaze at this proceeding, "I should 
 like to know what 's took you! " 
 
 " Adm'r'l bet, spell ago, 't he could scrape twenty- 
 five pound o' mud off 'n my two-seated kerridge next
 
 ANOTHER NAIL 1 23 
 
 time I driv her to the Point. Jest keep yer eyes up 
 the road," said Captain Pharo, standing, diligently 
 and furtively swashing, with his unconscious boots 
 submerged in water, "t* see that thar' ain't nobody 
 lookin'." 
 
 "What 's he goin' to give ye, if ye win the bet, 
 cap'n?" said his lively wife. 
 
 The captain cast me a dark and fleeting wink 
 over his shoulder. "Poo! poo!" he sang: "hohum! 
 
 "'My days are as the grass, Or as ' 
 
 anybody in sight, major?" 
 
 " No; the road is all clear." 
 
 " What 's he goin' to give ye, Cap'n Pharo Kobbe, 
 if ye win the bet?" 
 
 ==r==F=^^==t=?== F ==j=^ 
 ' i ^=z^ "J ^ = 
 
 '"Or as the morn - ing flow'r, The blight 1 " 
 
 "Ye needn't keep on singin', Captain Pharo 
 Kobbe; for the sake o' the company, I shan't ask 
 ye nothin' more." 
 
 Saddened by this blight, his evil and surreptitious 
 deed being accomplished, Captain Pharo backed out 
 of the stream. 
 
 But the triumphant smile returned to his counte 
 nance as he advanced on the Point and found Ad 
 miral 'S I Sums-it-up sitting within the porch of the 
 grocery with other of his townsmen. 
 
 "Adm'r'l," said Captain Pharo, "I want ye to 
 step down here and scrape twenty-five pound o' mud 
 off' n my two-seated kerridge. "
 
 124 VESfY OF tHE BASINS 
 
 The admiral regarded us fixedly for some mo 
 ments, fireless pipe in expressionless mouth, and 
 then rose and descended to us. The women had 
 already contemptuously left our company and gone 
 about their shopping. 
 
 "Come along, Kobbe!" said the admiral, "and 
 bring" he glanced with calm, meaningless vision 
 at me "bring all the rest on ye." 
 
 He led us under the loud sign of a tin shop, where, 
 after sedate speculation in the matter of purchasing 
 a tea-kettle with a consuming leak in the bottom, he 
 cleared his throat. " 'S I sums it up," said he to the 
 proprietor, without further utterance; that individual 
 looked doubtfully at me. 
 
 "Oh, he 's all right," said Captain Pharo; "he 's 
 a cousin o' mine in the show business." 
 
 This introduction proving more than satisfactory, 
 we were ushered into a small room apart and the 
 door locked behind us: but missing Uncle Coffin's 
 inspiration in this case, and remembering the qual 
 ity of the liquid, I made a smart show of drinking, 
 without in the least diminishing the contents of the 
 bottle. 
 
 Not so, however, good Captain Pharo: from this 
 time on his conduct waxed sunny and genial, as 
 well as irresponsible of the grave duties which had 
 hitherto afflicted him. 
 
 "Thar" 's a lot o' winter cabbage, 't was sp'ilin' 
 down in mysuller, 't I put in onto the kerridge floor, 
 major," said he; " ef ye're mind ter sell 'em out for 
 what ye can git, to harves, ye're welcome. Sell 'em
 
 ANOTHER NAIL 125 
 
 out to hulls, by clam ! " he called after me. " I ain't 
 so mean 't I carn't help a young man along a little." 
 
 I returned to the carriage and arranged my fading 
 cabbages as attractively as possible, offset by the 
 glories of the star bed-quilt; and whether it was be 
 cause the news had already spread that I was in the 
 show business, or by reason of some of those occult 
 charms at which Captain Pharo had hinted, I was 
 soon surrounded by a lively group of women. 
 
 "Here 's one 't ain't worth but two cents," said 
 one fair creature, holding up a specimen of my 
 stock, whose appearance beside her own fresh beauty 
 caused me to writhe for shame. " I shan't give a 
 mite more for her." 
 
 "O madam, is she worth that?" I denied im 
 pulsively. 
 
 The woman, speechless, dropped the cabbage to 
 the earth. 
 
 " Here 's a nickel, anyway, for your bein' so hon 
 est," she exclaimed, soon afterward. 
 
 I took it with a bow. And here sordid consider 
 ations ceased, as they had begun: my pious emo 
 tions toward the sex conquered, and I became not 
 the base purveyor but the elegant distributor of cab 
 bages, right and left, only with murmured apologies 
 for gifts so unworthy. 
 
 I was now evidently classified as belonging high 
 in the spectacular drama; when the horse, having 
 finished the meal of cracked corn he had been enjoy 
 ing by the roadside, with the reins thrown slack 
 over his neck, suddenly lifted his head with an air
 
 126 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 of arriving at some instant conclusion and started 
 merrily down the road. 
 
 Too lame to jump from a moving vehicle, my first 
 emotions of dismay gradually disappeared, however, 
 as I found that our passage was not disturbed even by 
 the most untoward outward events. For a base-ball 
 from the bat of some players in an adjoining field hit 
 the noble animal full in the flank without occasioning 
 any alarm to his gait or divergence from .his re 
 solved purpose. 
 
 He turned down the Artichoke road and went 
 straight to Uncle Coffin's. " I've come to take you 
 and Aunt Salomy to the show," I said, lifted out 
 and knocked hither and thither by my friend in his 
 tender ecstasy. 
 
 " Cruisin' out on the high seas without no rudder, 
 you you young spark, you!" he cried delightedly. 
 "You're 'most too full o' the devil t' exist! " he ex 
 claimed at last, holding me out at arm's-length ad 
 miringly. 
 
 Proud now of my wickedness as I had for 
 merly been of my charms, I steered my friends to 
 the Point by the conventional means of the rudder. 
 Captain Pharo, who had been so congenially occu 
 pied that he had not even missed me, heaped enco 
 miums upon me, and receiving Uncle Coffin almost 
 with tears of joy in his eyes, led him away to the 
 tin shop. 
 
 I secured more cracked corn for the horse and shed- 
 room, where I tied him with retrospective security. 
 There being no restaurant, I obtained some biscuits
 
 ANOTHER NAIL 127 
 
 and cheese, and with these and six tickets for the 
 very front row, Aunt Salomy and Mrs. Kobbe and 
 Miss Pray and I stole early into the hall and sat us 
 down to rest. 
 
 There were already figures as for a rehearsal be 
 hind the curtain; indeed, that thin structure revealed 
 angry silhouettes, and loud voices reached us. 
 
 "Sh!" came from that source: "or them fools 
 down there, eatin' crackers an' cheese, '11 hear ye." 
 
 "I don't care if the whole town hears me, "replied 
 a passionate female voice. "You said I could have 
 twenty dollars, and now you won't give it to me. I 
 won't play to-night till I do have it hear that! " 
 
 "Sh! or I'll shake ye! Don't make a fool o' 
 yourself, Maud. Wait till I get to-night's re 
 ceipts " 
 
 "I won't! I'd like to see you shake me; ha! 
 ha!" 
 
 Here the angry figures became plastic and tilted 
 at each other menacingly; the woman seized some 
 thing and threw it; there was a crash. 
 
 Aunt Salomy choked placidly over her cracker 
 crumbs. Mrs. Kobbe gazed with faithful interest. 
 
 Soon the very tall and hard-looking young man 
 who had sold me the tickets came down from behind 
 the curtain, with a hang-dog air, and his handker 
 chief bound about his head, and returned to the 
 office at the door. 
 
 Almost at the same moment Captain Pharo and 
 Uncle Coffin walked fearlessly up the aisle, their 
 familiar hats on their heads, their pipes in harmo-
 
 128 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 nious glowing action, and sat down beside us with 
 beams of recognition. 
 
 The hard young man, who appeared to be pecu 
 niary manager as well as leading star of the show, 
 came to us. " No smoking here! " he said, severely. 
 
 "No smokin' ! " replied Captain Pharo. "Ye'd 
 orter put it on yer plackards then! D'ye s'pose I'd 
 come to yer show ef I'd known that? Come along, 
 Coffin! I'm goin' ter hang out outside, by clam! 
 
 " ' My days are as the grass, Or as ' " 
 
 "No singing, either, sir, on the part of the audi 
 ence. This company is from Boston, sir." 
 
 "Is she?" said Captain Pharo, with blighting sar 
 casm, new-lighting his pipe preparatory to leaving 
 the hall; " I thought she was from Jaffy ! " 
 
 " Dodrabbit ye, Pharo! " said Uncle Coffin, wirily 
 folding his powerful arms; "keep yer seat, Pharo, 
 and keep yer pipe. Ef any man from Boston, or 
 any other man, wants ter take the pipe outer my 
 mouth, or outer Pharo Kobbe's mouth, let 'im come 
 on an' try it! " 
 
 At this opportunity, I silently pressed a coin of 
 such meaning into the manager's hand that he skipped 
 gracefully past us to the stage, where he proceeded 
 to explain while the ribs of court-plaster with which 
 he had endeavored to conceal his wounds kept con 
 stantly falling upon the floor that, owing to the un 
 avoidable illness of some of the actors, he should be 
 obliged to give us a choice variety entertainment in 
 stead of the play advertised.
 
 ANOTHER NAIL 129 
 
 Captain Pharo and Uncle Coffin, not yet compre 
 hending this idea, and smoking triumphantly with 
 their hats on, listened to several ranting recitations 
 from the wife who had so inopportunely defaced 
 her husband's visage; but when, after a brief recess, 
 she again appeared with a stage bow, Captain Pharo 
 looked blankly at Uncle Coffin. 
 
 " Where 's the ba-ar, Coffin ? " 
 
 "I kind o' suspicion they've giv' it up, Pharo; 
 goin' to have recitationers 'nstead. " 
 
 " Curfew shall not ring to-night! " yelled the wom 
 an on the stage, with a leap of several feet perpen 
 dicularly. 
 
 "By clam!" cried poor Captain Pharo, rising; "I 
 don' know what she is, but she is goin' to ring, and 
 she 's goin' to ring loud too, by clam! I come here 
 to see 'Ten Nights in a Ba-ar Room,' I didn't come 
 here t' see contortionersand recitationers. Give us 
 any more o' yer 
 
 Here, an onion, thrown from the rear of the room 
 by some sympathetic partner in Captain Pharo's 
 woes, came whizzing over our heads and just missed 
 the woman, by good aim; she retreated without the 
 formality of her usual sweeping bow. The manager 
 began hastily to get together his stage setting for 
 the play. A table and a bottle were first produced; 
 Captain Pharo and Uncle Coffin began to nudge each 
 other with choice anticipation of the advancing 
 drama, when another onion, thrown with unerring 
 vision, took the bottle and shattered it, with its con 
 tents, upon the stage floor, directly under our faces. 
 9
 
 130 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 Captain Pharo leaned forward and sniffed; so did 
 Uncle Coffin. 
 
 "Water! Coffin, by clam! "said Captain Pharo, 
 rising. " Plackards said 'twas goin' to be are'listic 
 play and here, by clam! I've rode twelve miles over 
 a hubbly road an' waited 'round here all day, jest t' 
 hear a spear o' female grass screech, an' see a pint 
 bottle o' water busted! Come along! I'm goin' 
 home." 
 
 How futile indeed are the poor effects of the stage 
 compared with the ever new and varied drama of life 
 itself! 
 
 As Miss Pray and I came in sight of her cottage, 
 at this now uncanny hour of the night, we saw that 
 the house was all alight, and Belle O'Neill stood in 
 the doorway, loudly and gleefully ringing the din 
 ner-bell. 
 
 " O Miss Pray, there was a dead pig washed 
 ashore to-day, right down on your clam-bottoms 
 such a beautiful one! jest as fat! and me and 
 Wesley brought it up and roasted it, and we've been 
 expectin' you, an' expectin' you, an' tryin' to keep 
 it hot " 
 
 "A dead pig! " hissed Miss Pray. " Do you want 
 to murder us? Do you want to drown me in the 
 morning and p'ison me at night, Belle O'Neill? 
 For heaven's sake, have you et any of it?" 
 
 The appearance of the dish testified only too 
 plainly that she and Wesley had dined. 
 
 "You're p'isoned! " shrieked Miss Pray: "be you 
 prepared, Belle O'Neill ? Fat pig! He was prob-
 
 ANOTHER NAIL 131 
 
 'bly bloated with p'ison! Oh, dear! oh, mercy! 
 you're prob'bly dyin' this very minit. " 
 
 Belle O'Neill began to howl, Wesley to weep dis 
 mally with low moans, his fists in his eyes. 
 
 I had a medicine which I administered to the two, 
 in case the exigency were as fearful as Miss Pray 
 predicted, which I strongly doubted. From this, as 
 Belle O'Neill recovered, she turned to Miss Pray 
 with the confessional fearlessness of one who has 
 been at the grave's brink. 
 
 "And, oh, Miss Pray! the brindle cow 's calved 
 and hid it in the woods! " 
 
 " So you've been down by the sea-wall, hunting 
 up things to p'ison the only friend you ever had on 
 earth with, and left the brindle cow and her calf to 
 die in the woods?" 
 
 But Belle O'Neill had reached that plane of de 
 spondency where the si ings and arrows of outrageous 
 fortune could no longer sting her. 
 
 " I meant it for the best, Miss Pray," she said, as 
 we all started, with the lantern, for the woods. 
 
 Never had I engaged in a scene of such eerie fas 
 cinations; especially as, when we discovered the 
 cow with her calf, and endeavored to set the latter 
 on its feet and lead it, the cow shook her horns at 
 us with such an aggressive lunge, I fled without apol 
 ogy behind a tree, where Miss Pray and Wesley, 
 dropping the lantern, pursued me with entreaties for 
 protection! 
 
 But Belle O'Neill, seemingly conscious that she 
 had to redeem herself by some heroic act or die,
 
 132 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 picked up the lantern and continued leading the calf, 
 at which the cow singled her out with respect and 
 obediently followed her: so that we who had wit 
 nessed her disgrace now followed meekly, afar off, 
 her triumphal procession homeward. 
 
 "That girl has done nobly," I said. 
 
 "Belle O'Neill," said Miss Pray, before we finally 
 sought that repose which is the guerdon of all nobly 
 sustained adventure, "the drownin' and the p'isonin' 
 is both forgot, and next time the jew'lry pedler 
 comes along you shall have a breas'pin that is, if 
 you're livin', Belle O'Neill." 
 
 "Oh, Belle will live," I cried; "the danger is 
 over. " 
 
 "Whether I lives or whether I dies," said Belle 
 O'Neill, calm now on heights above us all, "I meant 
 that roast pig for the best, Miss Pray." 
 
 But before I could get to sleep that night I gave 
 myself up to folly; I rolled in inextinguishable fits 
 of laughter. My gray heraldry, my ancient coat of 
 arms, innocently maligned as they had been, stared 
 down reproachfully at me through the night. I 
 feebly wiped my weeping eyes and rolled and 
 laughed the more, and slept at last such a sleep as 
 only the foolish and blessed of mortality know.
 
 THE MASTER REVELLER 133 
 
 XII 
 
 THE MASTER REVELLER 
 
 "NOTELV! You will be leading Fluke to go 
 wrong, Notely. He takes no interest at home or in 
 the fishing since you and those pleasure-men you 
 have with you have been keeping open house at the 
 Neck. When he comes home he has been wild and 
 drinking, and is moody. It is a week since you have 
 been away from your home and wife with your yacht 
 anchored here off shore, hunting and cruising, and 
 such times at the old Garrison place at night it is 
 the talk!" 
 
 Notely laughed and rose. Vesty had been stand 
 ing looking down at him earnestly, where he sat in 
 her doorway: she held her baby asleep on one strong 
 arm, its face against her neck. 
 
 Notely turned his own face away a little, jingling 
 the free coin in his pockets. " Why, I have been 
 making money on my own account, Mrs. Gurdon 
 Rafe," he cried gayly, "since I opened the quarry. 
 And no man, nor no woman either, now says to me, 
 Do this or do that, go here or go there. From all 
 accounts, moreover, my wife and mother are enjoy 
 ing themselves extremely well as ever during my 
 absence. As for Fluke Rafe, he is a good fellow, 
 but he was always wild as a hawk."
 
 134 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "O Notely! if you would only help such men, 
 as you might, instead of being as wild as a hawk 
 with them! " 
 
 "It takes a hawk to catch a hawk, my dear: all 
 the ministers will tell you that." 
 
 " Is that what you are doing it for?" 
 
 "Well, no; since you are a Basin, and only truth 
 avails, there has been hitherto no deep moral design 
 in my merry orgies at the Neck. But to-night, 
 Vesty, is my grand affair; to be hallowed by the 
 presence of all the Basins: my feast and ball to 
 them, you know my oldest and best friends. And 
 you why, Vesty," he went on, in another tone, 
 " you remember we had always a dance a week at 
 the Basin, and you and I led them off together. 
 Come, then, for the sake of old times and the feel 
 ing of the rest, though you may enjoy it yourself no 
 more." 
 
 He spoke with reckless meaning, and his eyes, that 
 had such fatal power of expression in them, looked 
 deep into hers. She paled; the baby threw up a 
 sleeping hand against her face. 
 
 "There is another thing, Notely," she said. 
 " Gurdon does not like it that you come here for an 
 hour or more every day to sit and talk alone with 
 me while they are at the fishing. He is not much 
 to suspect, and he was always fond of you and 
 trusted you; but it is not doing right by Gurdon." 
 
 Her eyes looked infinitely sorrowful into his; 
 blushes, like pain, dyed her cheeks. 
 
 "O Vesty, my pure one! then tell me that you
 
 THE MASTER REVELLER 135 
 
 love me still love me as you used to do and I'll 
 go away content, and not come any more. Touch 
 my head as you used to do; kiss me once more, with 
 those words, and " 
 
 The baby's white, sleeping palm pressed hard 
 against the mother's burning cheek. 
 
 " Such words must not be any more, Notely. Go 
 away and be the good, powerful man God meant you 
 to be, and I shall love you more than I ever did in 
 my life." 
 
 " Saint Vesta! I have lost you! " said Notely: his 
 voice shook with passion; the thin, strong hand that 
 he put up, as if shading his eyes, hid wild and angry 
 tears. 
 
 " I have been faithfully engaged in the career to 
 which you so tenderly and considerately dedicated 
 me," he went on. " What will you have ? I worked 
 last winter like a dog; nothing is easy won, I think: 
 but there is no young man in this State who has 
 been so flattered with public notice as I. I am mak 
 ing my own money no young man more shrewdly, 
 they say. What will you have? I have growing 
 fame, prosperity, an accomplished society woman 
 for my wife. Was not that what you wished for 
 me ? " His words stung. 
 
 Vesty had her dim look ; she had turned cold ; her 
 speech groped pitifully. " But I think I saw I 
 think I understood a little, after all because I 
 loved you what are you doing it for, Notely?" 
 
 "Ah, there, indeed! what for? I have lost my 
 object, you know, Saint Vesta. For fame and frolic
 
 136 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 and the devil, I suppose since we are talking face 
 to face with an immortal Basin and to fill up the 
 time generally." 
 
 " I am glad that I did what I did," cried the poor 
 girl, her tongue touched with sudden fire, as if from 
 outside herself; "you loved me a little, but you did 
 not love me much! " 
 
 "Ah!" he caught his breath, his deep eyes thrilled 
 her. 
 
 " If you had loved me much such a man as to be 
 true to me through hard work and time and sorrow 
 and all then you could not have borne to be any 
 less a man, Notely Garrison, though you lost me, or 
 whatever you lost. But if anything could turn you 
 from that, then time and trial and all would have 
 turned you, sooner or later, to be unkind and un 
 true to me. I know it. Before God, I know it! 
 You loved me a little, but you did not love me 
 much ! 
 
 "I am glad, for your sake and for my own," she 
 said; " I am glad that I did not marry you." 
 
 Then, as the fire flamed out, tears of despair 
 rushed to her eyes, because he looked as though she 
 had hurt him so his face more like a beautiful 
 cameo than ever, pure and sharp; he who was so de 
 bonair and generous with them all, genial toward 
 them always, and familiar with the simplest and 
 poorest. She longed impulsively to take him to her 
 heart, to give him with yearning tenderness the one 
 caress he had pleaded for: but, still seeing dimly 
 where he was blind, she would not.
 
 THE MASTER REVELLER 137 
 
 Notely watched that struggle, saw the impulse 
 fade upon her face into a white resolve; watched 
 her keenly meanwhile with tumultuous hope. 
 
 " Vesty, once when we were little more than chil 
 dren, we were playing on Ladle Rock and I fell. 
 You did not leave me, frightened; insensible as I 
 was, you bathed my face and stayed by me. When 
 I came to myself my head was in your lap. You 
 had on a brown cotton frock, made in an old-woman 
 ish grave fashion, and you were looking down at 
 me. From that moment all my life changed who 
 can explain it? I was a child in my feeling toward 
 you no longer, with childish thoughts. I loved you 
 loved you as I love you now but you have robbed 
 me of my life." 
 
 "No," she said. That sad fire from outside her 
 self came back to her. " You have only been denied 
 one pleasure the more that you wanted, and that 
 would not have been so dear to you long if you had 
 not lost it. Life is above that, you used to tell me, 
 but you have forgotten." 
 
 "Rather, I have grown wiser," he said, but for 
 the instant he set his clear, fine face away from her. 
 " It is a distorted notion that our existence here is 
 for cold denial, from however pure an imagination. 
 It is better to run with life, to follow joyfully the 
 great trend of nature." 
 
 He looked at her: her staid, unreproachful eyes, 
 her calm and holy face, smote him. 
 
 "My pleasure-friends, as you call them, say that 
 the Basins are simple. That is a superficial obser-
 
 138 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 vation;" he laughed with despair, and proceeded to 
 fill his pipe. " The Basins are like a rock." 
 
 "Notely," said she very slowly then, "your face 
 is dear to me as this little one upon my breast; it 
 eats into my heart. "" 
 
 All life's sorrow looked through her, and a faith, a 
 purpose, stronger than life. Notely cast his misery 
 from him with a sigh ; the game was over. 
 
 "Saint Vesta," said he simply, "I have lost you; 
 that is the sad fact, and I accept it. Still, since you 
 care for me some, I shall be a little merry. Come 
 to my ball Gurdon promised me you would both 
 come. "
 
 HOW MIS' GARRISON ATE CROW 139 
 
 XIII 
 
 CAPTAIN LEEZUR RELATES HOW MIS' GARRISON 
 ATE CROW 
 
 "Ix 's said," said Captain Leezur, who sat on the 
 log fondly applying his deer-bone toothpick, which 
 had been restored to him for a season, " 't ye keep 
 yer mouth shet, and ye won't eat no crow." 
 
 His smile embraced the heavens, as the source of 
 such philosophy, with transcendent admiration. 
 
 ''That 's figgeral language, ye know. Have a nar- 
 vine lozenge. I all'asenj'ys 'em with a friend more'n 
 what I dew meltin' on 'em deown alone." 
 
 We sucked deliciously. 
 
 " Afore I got my dispersition moderated deown 
 inter the shape she is neow, I was dreadful kind o' 
 sly and ongodly abeout cuttin' up tricks," he con 
 tinued, his countenance now conveying only the 
 tranquillity of one restored and forgiven. 
 
 " Mis' Garrison, Notely's mother, she was all'as 
 puttin' on airs tew the Basins, 's if they was beneath 
 her; and when they'd first begun to live over there 
 to the Neck, she sent a man deown t' me, 't said 
 Mis' Garrison had 'ordered ' a pair o' partridge 
 
 on me. 
 
 U I 
 
 What ? ' says I to the man.
 
 140 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "Mis' Garrison said t' order a couple o' par 
 tridge on ye,' says he, 'an* she wants 'em at tew 
 o'clock.' 
 
 "'All right,' says I; 'yew go home an' tell her 't 
 she shall have that 'ere order filled eout complete,' 
 says I. 
 
 " So I went eout and gunned one partridge and 
 one old crow, 't had been ha'ntin* my corn patch 
 ever senct-I could remember, so 't he was jest as 
 familiar tew me as the repair on the slack o* my 
 britches, and I dressed 'em both, dreadful tasty an' 
 slick they was jest 'beout the same size dressed 
 an' rigged 'em eout esthetiky with some strips o' 
 pink caliker; and 'long at the 'p'inted time the man 
 he come deown arter 'em. 
 
 "'Yew tell Mis' Garrison,' says I, "t birds is so 
 thick 'reound my premmuses this year I couldn't 
 think o' chargin' nothin' for 'em, 'specially to an 
 old Basin like her!' 
 
 " For in them days, 'fore I got moderated, I didn't 
 mind p'intin' hints at nobody, or weoundin* their 
 feelin's, 'specially ef it jibed along in with playin' 
 some ongodly trick on 'em." 
 
 The joy of a ransomed soul played across Captain 
 Leezur's features. 
 
 " Wai, Notely was areound a day or tew arter- 
 wards Notely an' me was great mates 'nd says I, 
 'Heow'd yer mother like them birds I sent up tew 
 'er?' says I. 'Why, one on 'em was r'al good, 
 Uncle Leezur, ' says he, 'and one on 'em ' " Captain 
 Leezur glanced cautiously toward the house-door
 
 HOW MIS* GARRISON ATE CROW 141 
 
 before he continued '"one on 'em was tough as 
 the devil's kite-string; tough as a d d old crow!' 
 says he. 
 
 "Wai, I made it up to Note in more ways 'n one, 
 for him and me was great mates; but I never let on 
 'beout that pertickaler mess o' birds. Keep yer 
 mouth shet, ye know, and ye won't eat no crow 
 that is, 'less somebody 's been play in' some ongodly 
 trick on ye." 
 
 Captain Leezur never laughed aloud: his smile 
 simply widened and broadened until it became a 
 scintillating sun, without the disgrace of cachin- 
 nation. 
 
 " Neow there 's all'as a meanin' in figgeral lan 
 guage," he continued, "an' when Mis' Garrison got 
 set ag'inst Note and Vesty's marryin', jest 'cause 
 Vesty was poor an' a Basin, an' setter work ter break 
 it off by fair means or by feoul, she got her meouth 
 open for a good-sized ondigestible mess o' crow. 
 
 "In figgeral language; for I don't reck'lect jest 
 the exac' date when she did r'a'ly eat crow; 'twas 
 a, good many years ago, 'n' I wouldn't have her 
 near of it neow for nothin'. I'm natch'ally ashamed 
 o them ongodly tricks neow 'nd besides, it'u'd lay 
 narder on her stommick 'n a high-school grammar." 
 
 e: I won't tell her," I said. "I'm hardly ac 
 quainted with her, anyway." 
 
 "I'd give all I've got, every mite, ef it c'd help 
 save Note," said Captain Leezur, a tear trickling 
 down his sun-face. " All things is good ef we use 
 'em in moderation; but we've got ter use modera-
 
 142 VESTV OF THE BASINS 
 
 tion, in eatin' an' drinkin', an' lobster sallid yes, 
 an' even in passnips. Nothin' '11 dew but the same 
 old rewl, even in passnips. 
 
 "I heered voices deown to the shore last night," 
 he continued, with a sort of yearning confidence 
 toward me, so that I bent my ear nearer, with some 
 of his own sorrow. " I reckoned one on 'em was 
 Notely's voice, talkin' and larfin' as hilar'ous as cf 
 'twas sun-up. So I went deown there, and there was 
 Note and one o' them fellers with him, each on 'em 
 with a stiff tod o' whiskey aboard, a-pullin' there for 
 dear life, an' the dory anchored fast as fast could 
 be to the staple! 
 
 "They was lookin' for lan'marks and pullin' and 
 sheoutin' and larfin' 'twas kinder moonlight, ye 
 know and one on 'em says, 'Seems ter me 't takes 
 a cussed long time t' git to the Neck to-night,' says 
 he. I sot there an' watched 'em; knew 'twouldn't 
 do 'em no harm t' pull, knew 'twas doin' 'em good 
 an* steadyin' of 'em. By an' by, I ups an' says, 
 'Ship ahoy! ' 
 
 "'Hello!' says Note. 
 
 " 'Why don't ye weigh anchor? ' says I. 
 
 "Wai, when that idee come deown atop of 'em, ye 
 never see a couple sobered so quick as they was. 
 They giv' three cheers, an' nothin' 'd dew but I must 
 git into the dory an" go up to the Neck with 'em. 
 
 "Wai, I had my objec' ; an' when they took me 
 in t' treat me, the rest o' Note's company was settin' 
 'reound there, an' I ups an' says, 'Jest one glass, 
 an' zl yew takes any more I won't tetch even that,'
 
 HOW MIS GARRISON ATE CROW 143 
 
 says I. 'Yew've had enough tew much,' says I. 
 'Moderation in all things,' says I, 'even as low 
 deown as passnips. ' 
 
 " They all giv' me another three cheers; but they 
 didn't drink no more. An' nothin' 'd dew but I 
 must set deown, an' then nothin' 'd dew but I must 
 give 'em my views on moderation! " 
 
 Captain Leezur did swallow a little hard with the 
 effort not to appear too highly flattered! 
 
 " So I sot there an' giv' 'em my views on modera 
 tion. I must say for 'em, they appeared dreadful 
 interested; they sot kind o' leanin' forrards, with 
 their meouths not more 'n harf 'n' sartin not more 
 'n a quarter ways shet; an' when I'd got through, 
 they giv' me another reousin' three cheers ag'in. 
 
 " They told me all abeout Lot's wife, tew," said 
 Captain Leezur, with grateful seriousness; "they've 
 been great travellers, ye know; all abeout the ap 
 pearance o' that location where she sot, an' heow it 
 looked arfter she'd got up an' went, an' the aspec's 
 o' Jaffy, an' all them interestin' partickalers, more'n 
 what I ever heered from anybody afore." 
 
 I looked at Captain Leezur to see if no suspicion 
 of earthly treachery was on his sun-blessed visage. 
 None. 
 
 I lifted my hat with a nameless reverence too deep 
 for words, and left him, still smiling upward.
 
 144 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 XIV 
 
 "TAR-A-TA!" OF THE TRUMPET 
 
 FLUKE played, with the dense black hair tossing 
 above his handsome eyes, but Gurdon with a calm 
 brow, though he too loved the music and dancing. 
 
 "Go and have a turn with Vesty yourself," said 
 Fluke; "we'll keep up fiddling, change about, with 
 the organ." 
 
 For Notely, studying every heart-throb of the 
 Basins, had had a little parlor organ brought in for 
 the night and put up in place of his piano; at it sat 
 Mrs. Judah Kobbe, cousin and guest of the Pharo 
 Kobbes, playing with such lively spirit and abandon 
 that the very lamps danced upon the organ-brackets 
 in untripping time with the feet of the dancers on 
 the floor. 
 
 I had already detected in the tone of society 
 toward Mr. and Mrs. Judah Kobbe that they were 
 awesome cosmopolites from some source. I now 
 learned that they were from a crowded mart called 
 Machias. Captain Pharo also told me mysteriously, 
 in the pauses of his pipe," 't they was 1'arneder 'n any 
 fish 't swims;" so I gazed at them with wonder from 
 a distance, but did not much dream that it would be 
 for me to speak with them.
 
 "TAR-A-TA!" OF THE TRUMPET 145 
 
 All along the edges of the floor were strewn chil 
 dren and babies, comfortably wrapped and laid to 
 sleep; the habit of the Basins, who had no servants 
 at home wherewith to leave them. 
 
 Notely Garrison had led the dance with Vesty; 
 now she sat rocking her baby, near Gurdon, who 
 turned to them with a smile and swept a softer strain 
 now and then, as when he played them to sleep at 
 home. 
 
 "Introduce me to the 'mezzo-tint' study yonder, 
 the mediaeval picture over there, rocking her infant, 
 back of the fiddlers." 
 
 Notely slightly turned from his fellow-reveller, 
 flushing. 
 
 " There are pretty girls enough here for you to 
 dance with, Sid ; she would not like it. They are such 
 simple people they would not understand. She is 
 married, you see." 
 
 "You danced with her." 
 
 " Oh, I am an old friend." 
 
 " Tar-a-ta! tar-a-ta! " went Captain Judah's trum 
 pet, and I looked up to see what new event its 
 blast denoted. For Captain Judah was a stage 
 driver, and having brought his horn along as a sig 
 nal compliment to the occasion, he was now con 
 ducting the first stages of the ball with those loud 
 flourishes and elegant social convenances which only 
 those sophisticated by extreme culture are supposed 
 to understand. 
 
 "Tar-a-ta! tar-a-ta! " 
 
 I saw that Vesty and Gurdon had risen to dance 
 
 10
 
 146 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 together. Vesty wrapped and laid her sleeping baby 
 among the others, and Gurdon stepped out to per 
 form first that solitary jig or shuffle which is de 
 manded of every householder among the Basins, 
 before he can lead his partner to the dance. 
 
 Notelyand the young man he had called "Sid" 
 watched him shaking his long legs, his heavy, noble 
 face perfectly sincere and unembarrassed; for was it 
 not the ancient, honorable custom of the Basins? 
 
 "Stolid cart-horse, by Jove!" sneered Sid, casting 
 a glowing glance at Vesty, " for such a Venus! " 
 
 Notely did not like the tone. "There 's some 
 stolid granite in my quarry," he snarled softly ; "but 
 it 's everlasting good granite, all the same, Sid." 
 
 "You've been knocked over, I see," said the irre 
 pressible Sid, smiling intelligently at him. "Well, 
 I'm off for the jig." 
 
 "Tar-a-ta! tar-a-ta!" 
 
 The trumpet punctually announced the appearance 
 of so much colorless linen and broadcloth on the 
 floor; but the Basins, who were fine, gazed at his se 
 vere costume with tender pity. 
 
 "Sid," appreciating this, dared not laugh: he en 
 deavored to redeem this lack of beauty by a display 
 of his white bediamonded hand on his watch-guard, 
 as he entreated a partner for the dance, but he was 
 not held for much; that was evident. 
 
 Now and then in the reel he touched Vesty's hand, 
 or swung with her, and he stared at her consistently 
 and immoderately throughout; but always for him 
 the holy lids were low over her eyes.
 
 "TAR-A-TA!" OF THE TRUMPET 147 
 
 My heart exulted something like the next blast of 
 the trumpet; I turned to look. Vesty was safe. 
 
 "Tar-a-ta! tar-a-ta! " 
 
 But Captain Pharo needed no stirring strain to 
 his consciousness as he walked, with scarcely per 
 ceptible limp, to the middle of the floor. 
 
 That flowered jacket, the arnica bloom glowing 
 like sunrise on the back! Those new trousers, of 
 "middling" sacks, "Brand No. i" proudly dis 
 tinct upon the right leg! 
 
 "Give me sea-room here, give me sea-room," said 
 the hero; "and jest wait till I git my spavins 
 warmed up a little! " 
 
 A wide, clear swath was cut from the billows that 
 surrounded Captain Pharo. 
 
 "Now then," said he, pulling his pipe from his 
 pocket, and drawing a match in the usual informal 
 way; "Poo! poo! hohum! 
 
 " ' My days are as the grass, Or as ' 
 
 strike up somethin' lively over there, Gurd. Give 
 us 'The Wracker's Darter,' by clam! " 
 
 Gurdon, who had returned to relieve Fluke at 
 the violin, good-naturedly struck up "The Wrecker's 
 Daughter." 
 
 "Can't ye put a little sperrit into 'er, Gurd? Is 
 this 'ere a fun'al ? That 's it! Now then 'Touch 
 and go is a good pilot. ' ' 
 
 With these words, Captain Pharo sprang with ox- 
 like levity from the floor, and amid the giddy swift-
 
 148 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 ness of the music I was occasionally conscious of 
 hearing his mailed heels flow together with a clash 
 that made the rafters ring. He descended at last 
 ominously, but when the reverberations died away I 
 looked, and saw that he was whole. 
 
 Notely came over and shook hands with him, laid 
 an arm proudly on his proud shoulder, and led him 
 away to the "mess" room, where his stewards were 
 busy. 
 
 " Dodrabbit ye, Pharo! " cried a voice from the 
 fondest of the Artichokes, seizing him with an ex 
 ultant pride which he affected to hide under deroga 
 tory language; "was that you I seen in there jest 
 now, stompin' the frescoes off'n the ceilin'?" 
 
 "Altogether most entertaining jig that has been 
 danced this evening, " said one of Notely 's broadcloth 
 guests, very superciliously. 
 
 "Oh, I hain't danced none yit," said Captain 
 Pharo, too confident to show contempt; "only 
 warmin' my spavins; " and he heartlessly turned the 
 complete flower in view for the further annihilation 
 of the gentleman in black. 
 
 " Ef I c'd 'a' got on my scuffs," said Captain 
 Leezur, his sun-visage showing against the crimson 
 back of an easy-chair, " I don't know but what I 
 sh'd been 'most tempted ter jine the darnce myself. 
 But no; I couldn't pervail with 'em so long sence 
 I've wrarstled with 'em so I come right 'long in 
 my felts." 
 
 " No, ye can't dance 'The Wracker's Darter,' that 
 is, not as she orter be danced, in felts," said Captain
 
 "TAR-A-TA!" OF THE TRUMPET 149 
 
 Pharo; "she 's a tune 't wants the emphasis brought 
 right down onto her; felts won't do it, nor scurfs 
 neither." 
 
 "That off foot o' mine kind o' b'longs to the 
 church, anyway," said Captain Leezur sweetly; 
 " has for years; don't pain me much as I knows on, 
 but she ain't seound: if t'other one starts off kind o' 
 skittish she 's sartin to hold back " 
 
 " Ye'd orter be thankful 't ye only has to contend 
 with natch'al diserbilities," interposed Captain 
 Pharo, " 'n 1 don't have any o' these d d ructions 
 played on ye." 
 
 "Oh, by the way, what are 'ructions'?" inquired 
 the guest of supercilious temperament. 
 
 "Le* me see," said Captain Pharo; "you're the 
 one 't Note said was from Washin'ton, ain't ye? 
 Wash in' ton, D. C. ? " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 "P'litical centre o 1 the United States of Amer- 
 iky?" 
 
 "Why, yes." 
 
 "An' you don't know what ructions be! " 
 
 Loud laughter greeted this sally; only the man 
 who had been in California sat moody, his basilisk 
 eye fixed upon me. 
 
 "Then I'll tell ye what ructions be," proceeded 
 Captain Pharo, breathing stertorously through his 
 pipe; "it's repealin' all our optional acts, for one 
 thing! We can't institoot an optional act down 
 here, but what you go an' repeal it! " 
 
 "Oh, stuff! " said the high and hot-headed young
 
 150 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 man, quite taken off his level by the laughter round 
 him; "I don't either!" 
 
 " I say ye do! " said Captain Pharo, waxing more 
 and more wroth; "ye sets some feller t' work there, 
 't never see salt water, t' make our laws for us; 
 'lows us to ketch all the spawn lobsters and puts in 
 junctions onter the little ones: like takin' people 
 when they gits to be sixteen or twenty year old, 'n' 
 choppin' their heads off yer race is goin' to multi 
 ply almighty fast, ain't it?" 
 
 " I hadn't observed any lack of increase in your 
 amiable race, sir." 
 
 "Ye hadn't, hadn't yer?" said Captain Pharo, in 
 the voice of a smouldering volcano, laying a fresh 
 match to his pipe. 
 
 "Moderation," liquidly pealed in the voice of 
 Captain Leezur " moderation 's the rewl " 
 
 " 'N' I'll tell ye of another optional act o' ourn 
 't ye repeals; but ye can tell 'em 't we git it jest the 
 same though it 's racktified 'tell it 's p'ison. " 
 
 "Ye can't all'as git it, even racktified," said 
 Shamgar: " onct when the boat wa'n't in for a couple 
 o' weeks, I got kind o' desp'rit over a pain in my 
 chist; hadn't nothin' but two bottles o' 'Lightnin' 
 External Rheumatiz Cure,' so I took 'em straight. 
 They said 't for a spell thar' I was the howlin'est case 
 o' drunk they ever see." 
 
 "The wu'st case o' 'nebr'ancy this State 's ever 
 known," said Captain Dan Kirtland, "was a man up 
 to Callis jail, 't had been 'bleedged to take a spree
 
 "TAR-A-TA!" OF THE TRUMPET 151 
 
 on 'lemon extract;' he sot fire t' everything he could 
 lay his hand to." 
 
 " Look a' that, will ye ? " said Captain Pharo to the 
 haughty Washington ian; "yit you don't know noth- 
 in* 'bout ructions. You can repeal every optional 
 act 't a man makes, but you ain't got no idee o' 
 ructions " 
 
 Captain Pharo's voice had now reached such a 
 pathetic and eloquent pitch that Captain Judah left 
 his trumpet in the ball-room and joined us, in time 
 to mingle with the cheers that were still further dis 
 comfiting the high and hot-headed young man. 
 
 "What you talkin' about?" retorted the latter 
 through his dazzling white teeth. "I'm not in 
 politics." 
 
 " Why didn't ye say so, then ? " said Captain Pharo 
 calmly, "and not keep me standin' here wastin' my 
 breath on ye?" 
 
 "Moderation," sweetly chimed in the voice of 
 Captain Leezur "moderation in all things, even as 
 low down as passnips. " 
 
 The man who had been in California had been 
 constantly drawing near me, but Captain Judah, an 
 ticipating him, was already at my side. 
 
 "You're a stranger," said he: "perhaps you never 
 heard any of Angie Fay Angie Fay Kobbe's 
 poetry ? " 
 
 He had a rosy face: in spite of former long sea- 
 wear, not blowzed, but delicately tinted; he snuffled 
 when he talked in a way which I could only define
 
 152 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 as classical ; and it was admitted that his nosegay 
 vest and blue coat, as far as tender refinement went, 
 far surpassed anything in the room. 
 
 " That 's Angie Fay Kobbe, my wife, at the organ. 
 Ten years ago, when I was still cruising, I found 
 and rescued her from a southern cyclone! " 
 
 I murmured astonishment, though in truth some 
 thing of a cyclonic atmosphere still hovered about 
 Mrs. Kobbe, not only in her method of performance 
 on the organ, but in her sparkling features, young 
 and beautiful, her wide-flowing curled hair. 
 
 " How old does she seem to you to be, sir ? " 
 
 "She looks to me," I said, with honesty, "to be 
 eighteen or twenty twenty-five at the most. " 
 
 "Sir, she is forty! " said Captain Judah proudly. 
 Angie Fay shot him a bewitching glance through 
 the open door. 
 
 " She is not only a skilled performer on the keys, 
 as you see, but she is a wide-idead thinker. If it 
 would not detain you, sir, against previous inclina 
 tion to the ball-room, I should like to read you some 
 of her poetry. " 
 
 Glances too oppressed by awe to contain envy 
 were cast upon me by my former companions from 
 afar; even the man who had been in California was 
 retreating in baffled dismay. 
 
 "This first," said Captain Judah, drawing a roll 
 from his pocket, "though brief, has been called by 
 many wide-idead thinkers a 'rounded globe of 
 pathos: ' men, strong men, have wept over it. It 
 has had a yard built around it; in other words, it
 
 "TAR-A-TA!" OF THE TRUMPET 153 
 
 has been framed, and hung in many a bereaved 
 household ; let me read : 
 
 " ' Farewell, my husband dear, farewell ! 
 Adieu ! farewell to you. 
 And you, my children dear, adieu ! 
 Farewell ! farewell to thee ! 
 Adieu ! farewell ! adieu ! ' 
 
 "Were you looking for your handkerchief, sir?" 
 "Yes," said I, accidentally swallowing whole a 
 nervine lozenge which Captain Leezur had given me. 
 "This," said Captain Judah, with an expressive 
 smile, as he opened another roll, " if you will excuse 
 the egotism, refers to an experience of my own. I 
 was once, when master of a whaler, nearly killed in 
 a conflict with a whale; in fact, I am accustomed 
 to speak of it paradoxically or shall I say hyper- 
 bolically as 'The time when I was killed!' My 
 account of it made a great impression upon Angie ; 
 but I will read: 
 
 " ' Upon the deep and foaming brine, 
 
 My Judah's blood was spilled. 
 The anguished tears gush from my eyes. 
 
 Judah, wast thou killed ? 
 
 " ' Had I beheld that awful scene, 
 
 1 should have turned me pale, 
 My eyes were mercifully hence, 
 
 When Judah killed the whale. ' 
 
 " It was I, so to speak, that was killed," said Cap 
 tain Judah, with his peculiar smile; "the whale es 
 caped. But for the sake of symphony, Angie has
 
 154 VESTY OF THE 
 
 used that poetic license, familiar, as you know, to 
 wide-idead thinkers. Or let me read you this - " 
 
 Dimmer and dimmer grew the faces of my former 
 jovial company; but I had one friend, stout, even 
 for this emergency. 
 
 I heard a voice coming 
 
 41 ' Or as the morn - ing flow'r, The blight ' 
 
 Judah! Judah! Judah! drop 'er, I say, an' come 
 along!" Captain Pharo winked. 
 
 "On some other occasion, sir," said Captain 
 Judah, returning the roll to his pocket with cheerful 
 haste, "I shall be happy." 
 
 Almost before I was aware that I was liberated, 
 the shifty spectre, whose basilisk eye had not re 
 leased me, stood at my side. 
 
 "You oughter have seen," he began, "the time 't 
 I was killed in Californy - " 
 
 J U 
 
 '"The blighting wind sweeps o'er, she with-' 
 
 Major! major! major! drop 'er, I say, an' come 
 along, by clam! " 
 
 There was naught to do, in Captain Pharo's ex 
 alted frame of mind, but to follow the commanding 
 flower; but when that had become once more con 
 genially distracted I returned to the ball-room to 
 observe there. 
 
 The dancers were at rest, and Angie Fay too, the 
 stewards serving them with refreshments; but Fluke
 
 "TAR-A-TA!" OF THE TRUMPET 155 
 
 and Gurdon were playing softly together on their 
 violins, Fluke with waved hair on his forehead, 
 Gurdon with still brow. Vesty had taken up her 
 sleeping child and was holding him. The Basins 
 loved sad music, low, mournful lullabys on the wind; 
 they listened. 
 
 I listened so deeply, so strangely, it was like the 
 awaking from a dream when I heard Notely and his 
 guests inviting the dancers again to the floor. 
 
 "Good-night, major," Vesty whispered kindly, 
 coming to me. She had her shawl wrapped over 
 herself and her infant, and was departing quietly 
 with her father-in-law, Captain Rafe. 
 
 " I I didn't get one eye-beam from her the whole 
 evenin* no, by Jove! Note," said "Sid," watching 
 that gently retreating figure; "not one! And she 
 just now leaned over and showered a whole peck of 
 'em on that poor little " 
 
 "Hush! " said Notely. 
 
 I witnessed with some sadness how Captain Pharo 
 and Captain Judah were walking the room, arm-in 
 arm, Captain Judah reading from some of Angie 
 Fay's most affecting strains, and Captain Pharo 
 willingly melted to tears thereat. 
 
 "Read that ag'in, Judah," I heard Captain Pharo 
 snivel, as they were passing me. 
 
 Then I heard the melodramatic snuffle of that 
 "Adieu! farewell! adieu!" 
 
 Still farther down the room sobs were echoed back 
 to me from Captain Pharo's bursting heart. 
 
 So that I was gratified, at the next round, to hear
 
 156 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 Captain Pharo declare that he felt the necessity of 
 going home at once to have a copy of the verses 
 made and "a ya-ard built around 'em, Judah. " 
 
 Most of the Basins had gone; there were still 
 some of the prettiest girls upon the floor, not with 
 proper Basin escort, but with Notely's broadcloth 
 guests, who were whispering sweet words of adula 
 tion to tingling, unaccustomed ears. 
 
 " Come ! " Gurdon whispered to Fluke ; " we should 
 give up playing at this hour, and take those girls 
 home." 
 
 Fluke shook his head. "Go home, you, "he said: 
 " one fiddle is enough ! If we want a merry time, 
 don't bother." 
 
 Gurdon stayed patiently, but with a brow waxing 
 determined. The flattered girls, the broadcloth 
 guests cast unwelcome glances at him. 
 
 " Go home, Gurd ! " said Fluke, at last. " You 
 spoil it all with a face like that. Go on, and don't 
 mind us, or you and I shall quarrel." 
 
 " Not till those girls are ready to be taken home," 
 said Gurdon. 
 
 Fluke threw down his fiddle with an oath. " I 
 said that you and I should quarrel." 
 
 "I would not strike my twin-brother for all the 
 false men and foolish girls in Christendom! " said 
 Gurdon, standing before Fluke's threat, with folded 
 arms, and such a look at him that Fluke came to 
 himself, wincing. 
 
 " We may as well go home," he said sulkily. 
 
 The young men of the world watched this scene
 
 "TAR-A-TA!" OF THE TRUMPET 157 
 
 with amusement not untempered with choler, while 
 they proceeded elaborately to assist the pretty Basins, 
 who were wrapping themselves in their thin shawls. 
 
 " I fancy we are not to be trusted to escort these 
 young ladies home?" said " Sid," with an elegant 
 sarcastic inclination toward Gurdon. 
 
 "No," said poor Gurdon stonily. For he had 
 played for them with a gracious heart all the even 
 ing, and it was hard to be hated. But he marshalled 
 his flock away without flinching.
 
 158 VESTV OF THE BASINS 
 
 XV 
 THE BROTHERS 
 
 " THERE 's got to be a new deal to me in this world 
 pretty soon," said Wesley, "or I shall kick." 
 
 I found him among the clam flats, leaning his 
 spent and hopeless being on his rake. 
 
 " What is it, Wesley ? " 
 
 "Belle O'Neill got me to help her set a trap to 
 ketch a mink and a fox; she said we should git two 
 dollars apiece; and we caught we caught Miss 
 Fray's tom-cat! " 
 
 Wesley rubbed his grimy hand across his eyes. 
 
 " She scolded awful and told us to go down to the 
 clam flats and not to come home till we'd got two 
 bushels o' clams for the hens. Fast as I get a roller 
 full and go over and emp'y 'em on the bank the 
 crows come 'n' eat 'em up look a' there! " 
 
 I saw. 
 
 "Wesley, your load does seem greater than you 
 can bear." He wore trousers of a style prevalent 
 among the Basins, of meal sacks; only his were not 
 shaped at all there was simply a sack for each leg, 
 tied with gathering strings at the ankles. His 
 jacket was as much too small for his stout little 
 person as his trousers were voluminous; and Miss
 
 THE BROTHERS 159 
 
 Pray, who was artistic by freaks, had made it with 
 an impertinent little tail like a bird's tail. 
 
 Wesley was not only afflicted, he was ludicrous in 
 the face of high heaven. 
 
 "There 's got to be a new deal," blubbered he, 
 with his fist in his eyes, "or I shall kick." 
 
 "Could you kick in those trousers, Wesley?" I 
 said. 
 
 He regarded me curiously, then replied with evi 
 dent faith: "I could, nights." 
 
 "Ah! I'm so lame that I couldn't even kick 
 much, nights, Wesley." 
 
 His countenance changed from its self-pity; he 
 removed the fist from his eyes. "I've always won 
 dered," he said, " 't you didn't kick more." 
 
 "Where is Belle O'Neill?" 
 
 " I told 'er 't she'd got me to set the trap, 'nd she 
 orter, 't least, keep the crows off'n the clams; but 
 she went over to Lunette's and borrowed the book, 'n* 
 she's settin' there in the graves, where Miss Pray 
 can't see her, readin' it." 
 
 I sighed to think how early, among his other 
 trials, Wesley was learning the frailties of the lov 
 able sex. 
 
 " I will go up and keep the crows off of the clams 
 for you, Wesley." 
 
 "I think," said Wesley innocently, his face ex 
 pressing a kindlier gratitude than his words con 
 veyed, " 't you could scare 'em off first-rate! " 
 
 While I reclined on the green bank, not far from 
 the clams, a solemn and fearful reprehension to the
 
 l6o VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 crows, I heard Belle O'Neill's voice reading to her 
 self aloud among the graves. The Basins possessed 
 but one secular volume, which they were accustomed 
 to lend from house to house, and which was desig 
 nated without confusion as "the book." 
 
 Belle O'Neill, peeping out from the graves, saw 
 me, and came forward, blushing timidly. Wesley 
 rose from the clam flats and hissed at her for her 
 treachery, but she was very fair, and I received her 
 kindly. 
 
 "Major Henry," said she, "will you show me 
 what this means, please?" 
 
 She sat down close to me for nobody minded 
 me and put her finger on the place. 
 
 Now " the book," though jointly purchased by the 
 Basins from a travelling salesman, as a highly illumi 
 nated volume, promising much of a lively nature, 
 had turned out to be to an altogether unexpected de 
 gree serious and didactic. 
 
 I followed Belle O'Neill's finger. 
 
 " Impressive Lesson. 
 Perishableness! " 
 
 "What does it mean?" said the girl, with pale, 
 inquiring lips. 
 
 Now as I loved the courtly valor of my race, I 
 laughed.
 
 THE BROTHERS l6l 
 
 "You do not understand those long words, Belle. 
 It means, in those peculiar words, something about 
 a Jack-o'-lantern." 
 
 "Oh," said Belle, gazing at it with sudden re 
 freshment, " I guess it 's the only funny one in the 
 book! They're usually so solemn." 
 
 We turned to the next page: 
 
 " Important Lesson. 
 
 Discontent. 
 
 The Bachelor's Button that wanted to be a sun 
 flower: the scow that wanted to be a schooner." 
 
 "Why," said Belle, with her finger on the cut of 
 the angry and resentful bachelor's button that was 
 throwing down its petals because it could not be a 
 sunflower "why did it want to be a sunflower?" 
 
 "I can't imagine," I said. 
 
 "Wouldn't you just as soon be a bachelor's button 
 as a sunflower?" 
 
 "Well, I don't know," I murmured; but while I 
 affected still to be pondering this subject doubtfully, 
 Wesley came up from the clam flats. 
 
 He pointed to the cut on the opposite page: 
 
 " Warning Lesson. 
 Slothfulness. " 
 
 A plump and evidently highly contented maiden 
 was here represented as lolling on a sofa. 
 
 'T means lazy. She looks jest like Belle 
 O'Neill, don't she?" said Wesley, grinning mali 
 ciously.
 
 1 62 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "Who" flamed up Belle O'Neill "put straws 
 into the cow's teats, an' let the milk run, while he 
 laid out on the grass an' slep', and Miss Pray found 
 it out and flailed him with the broomstick?" 
 
 Wesley's grin froze on his features; he returned 
 wearily to his rake. 
 
 " Comforting Lesson. 
 
 A saint walking among the saved, on Revival 
 Terrace. " 
 
 But the saint, though tall and bearded, wore a ball 
 dress such as the unchastened belles of society sport 
 upon earth, a profuse skirt, with flashing train; and 
 he was walking quite alone. 
 
 "Where are the 'saved' ?" said Belle, with ghastly 
 hope. 
 
 "They are just around the corner," said I cheer 
 fully; " where that suggestion of clouds is see! " 
 
 " N-no, but I guess they are. Ain't he the look- 
 in'est thing you ever saw?" 
 
 "Quite the lookin'est! " 
 
 Belle giggled. I bore her out in it sympatheti 
 cally. 
 
 Wesley, who observed how we were at least keep 
 ing the crows off of the clams, smiled upon us with 
 feeble indulgence. 
 
 But as we read on, Belle did come to a lesson of 
 such useful terror that she decided to take her rake 
 and assist Wesley among the flats. 
 
 I approved her, and lay back, smiling, in the 
 sun.
 
 THE BROTHERS 163 
 
 I heard Wesley's little old voice pipe up, consid 
 erately: "You'll scare 'em jest as well if you do go 
 to sleep, major." 
 
 I kept on smiling. The sun seemed a lake of 
 glory and I a boatman, fair and free, sailing vast 
 distances upon it with just one stroke of my wand- 
 oar and here I began to scare the crows uncon 
 sciously. 
 
 The air of the Basin anon exhilarated one, anon 
 soothed one into wondrous, deep, peace-drunken 
 slumber. 
 
 When I awoke Vesty stood over me, calling me. 
 
 There was a purple, dark sky now but little after 
 mid-day flowing with red at the edges like a sun 
 set; the wind was blowing strong. It was dark, yet 
 all was distinct about me. I sprang to my feet with 
 a sort of solemn exultation and bared my head. 
 
 "Wake, major, wake!" Vesty cried to me. She 
 drew me and pointed out to sea. " Notely's boat 
 it was trying to make home it is on the reefs." 
 
 I saw it then by a flash of that unearthly light, the 
 wind descending like the last of days. I hastened 
 with Vesty to the low beach, where the people were 
 moving strangely, looking out on the sea with its 
 swift-crested breakers. 
 
 From the yacht, beating helpless on the ledges, 
 Notely and the few who had sailed with him that 
 morning were putting out the life-boat; but Captain 
 Rafe kept running his weather-stained hand down 
 his white face, his head shaking. 
 
 " Bare chance t' save half of 'em in the gale
 
 164 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 they'll swamp her: nay, nay, they'll never get her 
 home with that freight; and it 's no sea it 's a her- 
 ricane, above and below. I see the sky in broad 
 day like that but once before, and then " 
 
 His voice was hushed, the boat was off, was lost; 
 then once again we saw her; we felt the gale rush 
 ing; when we could see again, there were a few 
 struggling in the waves, a few climbing back upon 
 the sinking masts of the vessel, with wild signals. 
 
 The little Basin boats were old and frail; only 
 Gurdon had lately been building a new fishing-boat. 
 While we were looking off he had been hauling it 
 down the steep bank by the cottage. 
 
 Now when we saw him Vesty ran to him and put 
 the child in his arms and clung to him. I saw a 
 great light come over his face. 
 
 "Gurd, "said his father sternly, the old stained 
 hand still stroking his white face, "ye have strength 
 and skill above the most but look at yon! Put up 
 your boat, lad ; it 's no use. Moreover, there are five 
 men yonder on the masts your boat, tested in an 
 ordinar' sea, holds but five alone! " 
 
 "Will ye go out jest to give them another chance 
 to wrack themselves, and ye put yerself by to 
 drown?" said another, with a trembling, half-fero 
 cious laugh. " Look to yer wife and child. Don't 
 be a fool ! " 
 
 " There 's not one o' ye," cried Gurdon, " but if ye 
 had a boat fit 'u'd do all ye could, an' men sinkin' 
 and a-wavin' ye like that let me off! There 's no 
 other way "
 
 THE BROTHERS 165 
 
 His voice broke. He looked at his wife and 
 child, a look the woman understood for all eternity. 
 
 Vesty stood like marble; her shawl had escaped 
 from her own throat, but was warm about the child 
 that Gurdon had placed back on her breast. 
 
 As we waited, watching, transfixed, Fluke came 
 running breathless from the woods where he had 
 been as gnide with the party of Notely's pleasure- 
 seekers who had stayed behind that morning. 
 
 Captain Rafe ran to him, with the hand still 
 stroking his pallid face: "That was Gurdon out 
 there, making so near the sinking boat he would 
 go only five " 
 
 But Fluke heard never a word. He saw; his face 
 flushed with a kind of mad joy; he tossed his hair 
 back, and leaping into the waves, swam to his own 
 frail little fishing-boat that was tossing at anchor. 
 
 His voice leaped back to us above the tumult of 
 the wind: " Gurd and me'll come home together! " 
 
 There was a lull in the gale; the five were put off 
 from the sinking craft in Gurdon's boat. 
 
 And the men were standing with ropes on the 
 shore; but I only saw, as the tempest moaned, to 
 swell again, one figure on a bending mast, between 
 sea and sky, and one in a frail shell toiling toward 
 him. 
 
 The tempest fell and smote. Then did nothing 
 seem to me fated underneath those awful heavens, but 
 grand and free; freest, mightiest of all that figure 
 imprisoned between storm and cloud, overwhelmed, 
 buried -triumphant, imperishable! Then did the
 
 1 66 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 dead that I had known come forth and walk upon the 
 waves before me: and I beheld that they were not 
 dead, but glorious and strong that, rather, I was 
 dead. 
 
 Then all seemed black about me. I would have 
 clutched at somewhat, but I felt a cold hand grasp 
 mine in appealing agony. They brought in with 
 ropes through the breakers the five men who had 
 neared the shore in the young sailor's new fishing- 
 boat. 
 
 But the "Twin Brothers," the sublime figure on 
 the mast, the toiling figure in the boat, had ''gone 
 home together! "
 
 THE POPLAR LEAVES TREMBLE 167 
 
 XVI 
 THE POPLAR LEAVES TREMBLE 
 
 IT was Vesty's hand that had wrung mine. Cap 
 tain Rafe, after he lost his sons, hardly spoke 
 without drawing his own trembling hand along his 
 piteous face. 
 
 " Notely fell from the mast and was stunted; they 
 put him in the boat: else he wouldn't 'a' come and 
 left my Gurd, I b'lieve. " Tears rolled down his 
 cheeks. 
 
 Vesty spoke to me so softly, as if her head were 
 turned, or she were wandering in a dream. " When 
 Gurdon had anything that anybody needed, and they 
 asked him for it, he always gave it them. So they 
 asked him for his life and he gave that! " 
 
 Notely, on recovering consciousness, had been 
 carried to his house at the Neck: by the next morn 
 ing they had his mother with him; he was in a fever. 
 
 Would Vesty remember now the promise she had 
 asked of Mrs. Garrison? 
 
 At all events, the sick man babbled deliriously of 
 past days, had fallen from the rock once more, and 
 would have Vesty to nurse him: "where," asking 
 ever, " is Vesty?"
 
 l68 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 Mrs. Garrison herself went to her, pleading his 
 pain and danger. Vesty came. 
 
 " Hello! we're saved! the Vesty! " cried Notely, 
 whose fever had been plunging him in cold sea- 
 waves, his voice a feeble echo of its old gay tone, as 
 he put up his hand to her. 
 
 So ashy and sunken was his face, Vesty took him 
 on her arm as she would her child; he fell asleep. 
 
 "Vesty stops the pain no one lifts me like Vesty 
 sing, Vesty! "from pathetic lips and wandering 
 blue eyes that would die if one recalled them to their 
 sorrow. 
 
 "Only stay," said Mrs. Garrison. "His life 
 hangs upon it. Surely you are not afraid to have 
 your child with me? " 
 
 Her heart was full of tenderness for the girl. " I 
 would die rather than anything should happen to 
 your child, Vesty," she cried, with a sincere impulse. 
 
 Vesty lifted those Basin eyes. 
 
 " Oh, he is not old enough yet to understand my 
 worldliness," said Mrs. Garrison, with bitter lips. 
 
 For, from entrusting the child at first to her ser 
 vants, while Vesty was in the sick-room, Mrs. Gar 
 rison had grown to have a jealous care for him 
 herself. He had taken an occasion, and he had 
 conquered her. 
 
 When she pleased him he dimpled and gave her, 
 on appeal, an ostentatious kiss, composed wholly of 
 noise and vanity. When she first displeased him he 
 had tried conclusions with her by unhesitatingly ad 
 ministering a slap on the face.
 
 THE POPLAR LEAVES TREMBLE 169 
 
 Mrs. Garrison, the select and haughty, tingling 
 from this direct Basin blow, watched the flame die out 
 of the baby's eyes, in aston-ishment, not in anger. 
 The blow felt good to her. Vesty treated her, 
 though unconsciously, from such a height. 
 
 "My darling," she said sorrowfully, lifting the 
 child in her arms, " would you hurt me, when I love 
 you so ? " 
 
 A bit of sugar sealed the reconciliation: while he 
 devoured it little Gurdon leaned his head in tender 
 remorse upon Mrs. Garrison's neck. She had hand 
 some eyes for him, full only of love and longing 
 and he saw strange tears in them. He never treated 
 her again to corporeal punishment; while she, on 
 her part, indulged him fully. 
 
 The attachment was so marked between them that 
 he would, when he was well and had dined, very 
 cheerfully leave Vesty for her society, to Vesty 's 
 secret chagrin and Mrs. Garrison's beating heart of 
 joy. 
 
 " Do you mean to say that you will take the child 
 back again back to that squalid home yes, for 
 such it is, Vesty that you will deprive him of all 
 that might be, and give him up to a fisherman's 
 wretched life and dreary fate?" 
 
 "Will you make a better man of him in the world 
 than his father was? " said Vesty simply. 
 
 "You know that I worship Gurdon Rafe's mem 
 ory," cried Mrs. Garrison, with adroit heat. "What 
 do you think would please him best for his wife and 
 child misery and cold with an old man who could
 
 170 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 have a better home among his own kin, had he not 
 to make the effort to support you or happiness and 
 warmth and love, and a great sphere of usefulness, 
 happiness, and education for his child?" 
 
 "You see," said Vesty, on the plain Basin path, 
 " in trying to get those things we might miss the 
 only the greatest thing, that Gurdon had. I'd 
 rather my boy should learn to have that, and miss all 
 the others." 
 
 "O my dear! you shall teach your child, you 
 shall be always with him. I have some things to 
 remember and regret, Vesty. I promise you sol 
 emnly and I do not break my word I will not in 
 terfere. You shall teach and guide your child as 
 you will." 
 
 Notely was awake and calling. 
 
 "Go to him," said Mrs. Garrison, excitement in 
 hereyes; "he will explain to you, my child." There 
 was a tenderness, a hope, a voluptuousness of sweet 
 earthly things in her manner toward the poor girl 
 now, which all her life Vesty had missed. 
 
 Heart and flesh were weary, and Notely, who had 
 been the light of her life once, looked up at her with 
 that weight of sorrow, so much darker and heavier 
 than her own; so much heavier because it was dark. 
 
 " Help me to bear it! " he said. 
 
 She understood all; she laid her head beside him, 
 sobbing. 
 
 "Vesty, you know the doctors say that I shall 
 live; but now that I am sane again, I do not know 
 why I should wish to live."
 
 THE POPLAR LEAVES TREMBLE 171 
 
 She put her hand on his. Alas! in spite of reck 
 less wandering and tragedy, and forsaken faith and 
 duty, the touch only thrilled him with his own 
 dreams as of old. 
 
 " Listen, Vesty ! just as you used to be my little 
 woman and reason with me. Ugh! how weak I am! 
 I'm not worth saving. It is of little consequence, 
 truly; but, such as it is, it all lies with you. Some 
 time, Vesty I am speaking of what must be some 
 time, dearest; and remember, it is often done in the 
 world, among those who are highest and richest and 
 socially recognized well, it is a familiar thing: as 
 soon as it can be well arranged and that soon, now 
 my wife and I shall be divorced. We have both 
 wished it, we are unhappy together, it is a wrong 
 for us co live together. She has been untrue enough 
 to me, as I to her, but let that pass; such things are 
 not for your ears to hear, only you need have no 
 qualms. Grace will be more congenially wedded 
 within two months after we are parted. 
 
 "And then Vesty? Well, will you not speak to 
 me? Is it to be life and honor, with your love at 
 last, or despair and death? You were promised to 
 me once. In spite of all, you cannot hold your 
 self your own; you are mine; the wife God meant 
 for me. O Vesty! let us blot out the confused past 
 with all its mistakes! It is killing me will kill 
 me body and soul if you leave me now. Let me 
 find my lost home at last: let me rest a little while 
 before I die! " 
 
 His weak and gasping breath warned her; she
 
 172 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 stilled his hands, the low lids hiding the anguish in 
 her eyes. 
 
 So there was a way out of it all, easy, luxu 
 rious, convenient for the passions! And there was 
 a straight Basin way, a high promise before God 
 and man, that, to the Basin sense, there was no tak 
 ing back : Vesty could not see upon any other road ; 
 she shuddered. 
 
 But Notely's wasted, broken life clinging to her! 
 
 " That was never done among the Basins, Notely. 
 When we are married we promise, and we hold to it 
 till death. It would never seem to me that I was 
 your wife, but wicked and false to you and her 
 always that. I would rather die! " 
 
 " My Vesty, the Basin is a little, little part of the 
 world, and ignorant of life. I tell you what is right. 
 You used to have faith in me so much that, if you 
 would, you might still believe in me and my cease 
 less love for you. Do you think that I will ever 
 leave you here? My mother wants you and the 
 child: we will be happy together at last, with such 
 quiet or such pleasures as you will. My quarries 
 are turning out wealth for me it is for you and 
 Gurdon's child. Think of Gurdon's little boy! " 
 
 As he spoke, Vesty seemed to see again a paleface 
 with a great light upon it, turning without question 
 to its stern duty. 
 
 " Notely, Gurdon gave me up, and the baby that 
 he worshipped; though I clung to him, he put us by, 
 because, though it was hard, it was right it was the 
 only way. I think it is often so between those two,
 
 THE POPLAR LEAVES TREMBLE 173 
 
 the right and what we want. I think that love, 
 somehow, in this world seems to be putting by 
 putting by what we want." 
 
 Vesty struggled again in her dim way. 
 
 "Why need it be?" cried Notely sharply. He 
 raised himself on the pillows as if stung; a deep 
 crimson rushed to his cheeks. 
 
 "It is," said Vesty sadly, quietly " it is. What 
 we want putting by. Do you think I did not care 
 for you ? " 
 
 His haggard face turned to her. 
 
 ''Will not always care for you? But you will 
 never be a great man till you can put by what you 
 want, when-they stand against each other, for what 
 is right, though it be hard. Then one would not 
 only admire and love you; they would trust you to 
 death's door, though all the way was hard." 
 
 Notely had no answer for the tongue-loosed Basin. 
 Besides, her words had comforted him, her tears fell 
 on him. 
 
 " I do not think," she said, with a look and voice 
 of such tenderness, as though it were her farewell, 
 " that it was all to us, that I should marry you, or 
 you should marry me until we could live brave and 
 true, though we lost one another, and follow the 
 only way we saw, though it was hard. I do not be 
 lieve we should have been happy without that after 
 a little while. 
 
 " I could not love you if you left your wife and 
 married me. I should never trust you. I would 
 rather we should both die. Go back to her and win
 
 174 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 her with your own love and kindness, and be true to 
 her, and I shall never lose my love for you." 
 
 "Do you know what love is?" said Notely, with 
 clinched teeth, tears springing from between the 
 wasted fingers pressed against his eyes. " Do you 
 know what it is to suffer? " 
 
 She gave him no flaming retort. She put her head 
 beside him. 
 
 The past came back to him, and her poor, bur 
 dened, self-sacrificing life. Wild sobs shook his 
 heart. "All lost! all lost! " he moaned. 
 
 "No, only not found yet," she said, looking at 
 him through her tears; "all waiting." 
 
 It was such a simple Basin path, knowing so few 
 things, but unswerving. 
 
 " Not here, I know," she said, " for nothing is for 
 long or without loss and sorrow here. There is 
 always somebody sick or hurt; and the poplar trees, 
 that the cross was made from, are always trembling 
 and sighing: but some time Christ will lay his hand 
 upon them, and they will be still and blessed again."
 
 COIN TO THE DAGARRIER S 175 
 
 XVII 
 COIN* TO THE DAGARRIER'S 
 
 " EVER sence the accident," said Captain Pharo, 
 with a gloom not wholly impersonal, "my woman 's 
 been d'tarmined to haul me over to a dagarrier's to 
 have my pictur' took. 
 
 " I told 'er that there wa'n't no danger in the old 
 'Lizy Rodgers, ' sech weather as I go out in. 'But 
 ye carn't never tell,' says she; 'and asides,' says 
 she, 'ye're a kind o' baldin' off an' dryin' away, more 
 or less, every year,' says she, 'an' I want yer pictur' 
 took afore ' 
 
 " Gol darn it all ! " said Captain Pharo, making an 
 unsuccessful attempt to light his pipe, and kicking 
 out his left leg testily. 
 
 "'Afore ye gits to lookin" any meachiner, ' says 
 she. 
 
 "'When I dies, ' says I, 'th' inscription on my 
 monniment won't be by no drowndin', ' says I; 'it'll 
 be jest plain, " Pestered ter death," ' says I. 
 
 "Wai, 't that she began a-boohooin', so in course 
 I told 'er, says I, 'I s'pose I c'n go and have my 
 dagarrier took ef you're so set on it,' says I. 
 
 " For with regards t' female grass, major, my ex- 
 per'ence has all'as made me think o' that man in
 
 176 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 Scriptur' 't was told to do somethin'. 'No, by 
 clam!' says he, 'I ain't a-goin' to,' and hadn't more 
 'n got the words outer his mouth afore somehow he 
 found himself a-shutin' straight outer the front door 
 to go to executin' of it. 
 
 "When I thinks o' that tex' an' I ponders on it 
 more 'n what I does on mos' any other tex' in Scrip 
 tur' I says to myself, 'Thar* 's Pharo Kobbe 
 thar' 's my dagarrier, 'ithout no needs o* goin' no- 
 wheres to have it took." 
 
 "I should think it would be very nice, " .1 said, 
 " to have somebody wanting your picture. I am not 
 pressed with entreaties for mine." 
 
 Captain Pharo sighed kindly; his pipe was going. 
 
 "Poo! poo! hohum! Never mind; never mind. 
 
 " ' My days are as the grass, Or as ' 
 
 I s'pose ye hain't never worked yerself up to the 
 p'int o' propoundin* nothin' yit to Miss Pray, have 
 ye?" 
 "No." 
 
 ^=^~n~7]~j m 
 
 "'Or as the morning flow'r, ' 
 
 "Why don't ye, major?" 
 
 " When I think of how much better off she is with 
 seven dollars a week for my board than she would 
 be taking me as a husband, for nothing " 
 
 " Oh, pshaw! major, pshaw! " said Captain Pharo, 
 with deep returning gloom; "seven dollars a week 
 ain't nothin' to the pleasure she'd take, arfter she'd
 
 COIN TO THE DAGARRIER S 177 
 
 once got spliced onto ye, in houndin' on ye, an' 
 pesterin' ye, an' swipin' the 'arth with ye." 
 
 Conscious that he had rather over-reached himself 
 in presenting this picture of marital joys to my 
 horizon, Captain Pharo resumed the subject with 
 sprightliness. 
 
 "In course the first preliminary essence o' all 
 these 'ere ructions 'ith female grass is, 't ye've got 
 to go a-co'tin'." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And in goin' a-co'tin', ye've got to ile yer ha'r 
 out some, an' put essence on yer han'kercher, an' 
 w'ar a smile continnooal, an' keep a-arskin' 'em ef 
 tobakker smoke sickens on 'em, an' all sech o' these 
 ere s'ciety flourishes an' gew-gaws 's that." 
 
 "Yes," said I, attentively. 
 
 "I'd ort ter know," said Captain Pharo, alone 
 with me in the lane, assuming a gay and confident 
 air, " f'r I've been engaged in co'tin' three times, an' 
 ain't had nary false nibble, but landed my fish every 
 time." 
 
 " I know you have." 
 
 " Now ef you don't feel rickless enough, major, 
 and kind o' wanter see how it 's done, you ask Miss 
 Pray t' sail along with us up to Millport, whar I've 
 got to go to have my condum' pictur' took." 
 
 The recollection of personal grievances again be 
 clouded Captain Pharo; he was silent. 
 
 "And what?" I said. 
 
 "Wai," said my soul's companion, with the fire 
 all gone from his manner, "I'll kinder han' 'er into 
 12
 
 178 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 the boat, an' shake my han'kercher at 'er an' smile, 
 when Mis' Kobbe ain't lookin', an* the rest o' these 
 ere s'ciety ructions, jest t' show ye how." 
 
 I appreciated the motives, the sacrifice even, of 
 this conduct as anticipated toward Miss Pray, whose 
 society, as far as his own peculiar taste went, Cap 
 tain Pharo always rather tolerated than affected. 
 
 Still, it was with doubtful emotions, on the whole, 
 that I wended my steps with Miss Pray toward the 
 enterprise. 
 
 The scow " Eliza Rodgers" was waiting for us at 
 anchor among the captain's flats. We went first to 
 the house. 
 
 There it became at once evident to me that, rather 
 than preparing himself with oil and incense for the 
 occasion, Captain Pharo had been undergoing severe 
 and strict manipulations at the hands of his wife. 
 He had on the flowered jacket, but as proof against 
 the sea air until he should be photographed, Mrs. 
 Kobbe had applied paste to the locks of hair flayed 
 out formidably each side of his head beyond his ears. 
 
 Altogether, I could not but divine that during my 
 absence his flesh had been growing more and more 
 laggard to the enterprise, his spirit testy and un 
 reconciled. 
 
 ' 'F I can't find my pipe I shan't go," said he, 
 with secret source of sustainment; "stay t' home 
 'nless I c'n find my pipe, that 's sartin as jedgment." 
 
 Now I knew from the way the captain's hand re 
 posed in his pocket that his treasure was safely hid 
 den there that he was dallying with us. Knowing,
 
 COIN TO THE DAGARRIER S 179 
 
 too, that he could not escape by such means, but 
 was only weakly delaying his fate, I took occasion 
 to whisper in his ear, as I affected to join in the 
 search : 
 
 "Take her out, captain, and light her up. Let 's 
 go through with it. Remember you promised to 
 show me how to act." 
 
 "Hello! why, here she is a-layin' right on the 
 sofy," said he, in a tone of forlorn acquiescence 
 that could never have recommended him to the foot 
 lights, especially as this remark antedated, by some 
 anxious breathings on my part, the sheepish and 
 bungling withdrawal of his pipe from his pocket. 
 
 "Captain Pharo Kobbe, " said his wife, regarding 
 him, " ain't you a smart one! " 
 
 The captain's manner certainly did not justify 
 this taunt. As he led us, with an exaggerated limp, 
 toward the beach, I looked in vain for any of those 
 light and elegant attentions toward Miss Pray at 
 which he had hinted. But when we arrived in view of 
 the " Eliza Rodgers " and saw that the tide had so far 
 receded that we must pick our way gingerly thither 
 over the mud flats, by stepping on the sparsely scat 
 tered stones, Captain Pharo looked at me and took a 
 stand. 
 
 "Miss Pray," said he, " 'f it 's agreeable to you, 
 I'll hist ye up an' carry on ye over." 
 
 "Cap'n Pharo Kobbe," said his wife, as if it were 
 suddenly and startlingly a subject of physics, "what 
 ever is the matter with you ? " 
 
 " Carn't I be p'lite ef I want to ? " roared the cap-
 
 l8o VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 tain; but as he surveyed his contemplated burden, 
 who was a good many inches taller than he, and by 
 all odds sprightlier, he paled. 
 
 " Ef 't you could get anything, Cap'n Kobbe," 
 said his wife, " I sh'd think you had." 
 
 This unblessed dark reminder of a causeless 
 deprivation settled it. Captain Pharo seized Miss 
 Pray, blushing with alarm and amaze at such sudden 
 retributive lightning on the part of her long-delayed 
 charms, and bore her out into the mud. 
 
 But he had labored but a few steps with her, giv 
 ing vent meanwhile to audible, involuntary groans, 
 before it became evident to her, or to them both, 
 that his grasp was failing, his feet sinking. She 
 threw up a hand and partly dislodged his pipe; it 
 was instantly a question of dropping his pipe or 
 Miss Pray; the captain dropped Miss Pray. 
 
 Both women were now angry with him; between 
 all that sea and sky Captain Pharo appeared not to 
 have a friend save his pipe and me. 
 
 Miss Pray indignantly picked the rest of her steps 
 alone. " Ye'll have to do the rest o' yer co'tin' in 
 yer own way," murmured the captain to me, darkly 
 and vaguely, as he stepped into the boat: "but my 
 'dvice to ye is, drop it! drop it right whar 'tis! " 
 
 "Oh, that is all right," I tried to assure him. " I 
 I hadn't hardly begun, you know." 
 
 We scoured the bottom successfully with the 
 "Eliza Rodgers, " but as we got into deep water 
 there fell a perfect calm. 
 
 " 'T 'd be bad enough," said Captain Pharo, set
 
 COIN' TO THE DAGARRIER'S 181 
 
 against the world, and tugging wrathfully at the 
 oars, "t' go on sech idjit contractions as these 'ith 
 a breeze t' set sail to, but when 't comes to pullin' 
 over thar' twenty mile, with the sea as flat as a floor, 
 
 t' have yer darn fool pictur' took " He laid 
 
 down the oars with an undoubted air of permanency, 
 and lit his pipe. 
 
 Mrs. Kobbe pressed her handkerchief to her eyes. 
 " Cap'n Pharo Kobbe, them 't knew you afore ever. I 
 was born say as 't you was the best master of a vessel 
 't ever sailed, and everybody knows 't you can sail 
 this coast in the dark, an' though though you did 
 act queer a little while ago, I don't don't like to 
 have you call yourself a da darn fool." 
 
 Captain Pharo glanced at me with suicidal despair. 
 
 Mrs. Kobbe and Miss Pray took out their knit 
 ting, with the implicit Basin superstition of "knit 
 ting up a breeze." They as seriously advised me to 
 "scratch the mast and whistle," which, agreeably, 
 I began to do. 
 
 Thus occupied, I saw a sudden light break over 
 the captain's face, as sighting something on the 
 waves. 
 
 " Fattest coot I've seen this year, by clam! " said 
 he, seizing his gun from the bottom of the scow and 
 firing. He fired again, and then rowed eagerly up 
 to it. It was a little wandering wooden buoy bob 
 bing bird-like on the waters. 
 
 We did not look at him. Mrs. Kobbe and Miss 
 Pray knitted; I scratched the mast with painful dili 
 gence.
 
 1 82 VESTY OF THE HASINS 
 
 A breeze arose. The captain silently hoisted 
 sail; at length he lit his pipe again, and returned, 
 in a measured degree, to life. 
 
 As we sailed thus at last with the wind into Mill- 
 port it seemed that the "Eliza Rodgers"and we 
 were accosted as natural objects of marvel and de 
 light by the loafers on the wharf. 
 
 "What po-ort?" bawled a merry fellow, speaking 
 to us through his hands. 
 
 "Why, don't ye see?" said a companion, pointing 
 to Captain Pharo, who was taking down sail, with 
 the complete flower turned shoreward; "they're 
 Orientiles! " 
 
 A loud burst of laughter arose. Personal allu 
 sions equally glove-fitting were made to Mrs. Kobbe, 
 to Miss Pray, to me, and to the " Eliza Rodgers. " 
 
 "Say! come to have your pictures took?" bawled 
 the first merry fellow, as the height of sarcasm and 
 quintessence of a joke. 
 
 "Look a' here, major," almost wept poor Captain 
 Pharo, "how in thunder 'd they find that out?" 
 
 "Never mind," said I; "we're going up to the 
 hotel, and we'll have a better dinner than they ever 
 dreamed of. " 
 
 " Afore I'm took to the dagarrier's? " 
 
 "Yes, indeed." 
 
 " See here, wife! " said Captain Pharo, completely 
 broken down for we were all suffering, as usual, 
 from the generic emptiness and craving of our nat 
 ures for food "major says 't we're goin' up to git 
 baited, afore I'm took to the dagarrier's."
 
 COIN' TO THE DAGARRIER'S 183 
 
 " I wish 't you could have your picture took jest 
 as you look now, Captain Pharo Kobbe! " exclaimed 
 his wife kindly and admiringly. 
 
 At the inn the most conspicuous object in the re 
 ception-room was a sink of water, with basins for 
 ablutions. 
 
 Captain Pharo waited, visibly holding the leash 
 on his impatience, for a "runner" or travelling 
 salesman to complete his bath, when he plunged in 
 gleefully, face and hands. Mrs. Kobbe drew him 
 away with dismay. The paste that had endured the 
 whole sea voyage he had now ruthlessly washed from 
 one side of his head, the locks on the other side still 
 standing out ebullient. 
 
 " 'M sorry, wife," said the captain. But the cap 
 tain, smelling the smoke from the kitchen, was not 
 the forlorn companion of our treacherous voyage. 
 "I reckon she'll stan' out ag'in, mebbe," said he, 
 " soon 's she 's dry." But he winked at me with dar 
 ing inconsequence. 
 
 In vain Mrs. Kobbe tried to flay out those locks 
 to their former attitude with the hotel brush and 
 comb, which the runner had finally abandoned. 
 
 "Poo! poo! woman, never mind," said the cap 
 tain; "one side 's fa'r to wind'ard, anyhow. I can 
 have a profiler took, jest showin' one side on me, ye 
 know." 
 
 "I didn't want a profiler," lamented Mrs. Kobbe; 
 " I wanted a full-facer." 
 
 "Wai, wal, woman, I hain't washed my face off, 
 have I?" said the captain cheerfully, resurrecting
 
 184 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 his pipe. " Put up them thar 1 public belayin' pins," 
 he added, referring to the hotel brush and comb, 
 "and don't le's worry 'bout nothin' more, 'long as 
 we're goin' to be baited." 
 
 The "runner" meanwhile was looking at us with 
 the pale, scientific interest of one who covets curiosi 
 ties which he yet dare not approach too intimately. 
 
 "Do you smoke before eating, sir? "said he to 
 the captain, at the same time standing off a little 
 way from the elephant. 
 
 "Poo! poo!" said Captain Pharo, turning the 
 whole flower indifferently to his questioner, and 
 drawing a match with a slight, genteel uplifting of 
 the leg; "I smoke, as the 'postle says, on all 'cca- 
 sions t' all men, in season an' outer season, an' 
 'specially when I'm a darn min' ter. " 
 
 The runner, withered, vanquished by horse and 
 foot, thereafter regarded us silently. 
 
 At the table I made haste first of all to catch the 
 eye of our waiter, who was also the proprietor of 
 the little inn. I pressed a wordless plea into his 
 hand. "We are eccentric," I murmured in explana 
 tion, "and you must look well to our wants." 
 
 He winked at me as though we had been life-long 
 cronies. "Eccentric all ye wan' ter," said he, "the 
 more on 'er the better." 
 
 I pointed to the captain, who, the table-cloth be 
 fore him, sat rigid with hunger. 
 
 " The ladies will consider the bill of fare," I said. 
 " and request that Captain Kobbe may be first 
 served. "
 
 COIN' TO THE DAGARRIER'S 185 
 
 " Which'll ye have boil' salmon, corn' beef, beef 
 steak, veal stew, liver an' bacon ?" quickly bawled 
 the proprietor into the captain's ear. 
 
 "Sartin, sartin, fetch 'em along," said the com 
 pliant and nervy captain, "and don't stand thar' 
 no'ratin' about 'em 'ceptin' liver," he added. "I 
 hain't got so low down yit 's to eat liver." 
 
 The runner, sitting with a few guests at another 
 table, served by the proprietor's daughter, gazed at 
 us with fixed vision, not even having taken up his 
 knife and fork, for that pale, scientific interest which 
 absorbed him. 
 
 "I know that squar's are fash'nable," said the 
 captain, taking up the napkin by his plate on the 
 point of his knife and giving it an airy toss into the 
 middle of the table; "but I'd ruther have the sea- 
 room. Is your mess all fillers to-day, or have ye 
 got some wrappers ? " 
 
 "Wrappers? Oh, certainly doughnuts, mince 
 pie, apple pie, an' rhubub pie." 
 
 " Sartin, sartin; fetch 'em along. I'll try a double 
 decker o' rhubub I'm ruther partial to 'er. Fetch 
 'em all in: all'as survey yer country, ye know, afore 
 ye lays yer turnpike. F'r all these favors, O Lord, 
 make us duly thankful. Touch-and-go is a good 
 pilot," mumbled the captain in a religious mono 
 tone, and began. 
 
 From this time on our table fairly scintillated 
 with mirth and good cheer, in the midst of which, 
 his first hunger appeased, the captain's resonant 
 tones were frequently heard pealing through the
 
 1 86 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 dining-room, singing, as if particularly, it seemed, 
 to the edification of the pale runner, that " His days 
 were as the grass, or as the morning flower." 
 
 I observed how Mrs. Kobbe and Miss Pray now 
 and then warily conveyed a " doughnut " from the 
 table to their pockets, with an air of dark declension 
 from the moral laws. Having filled their own re 
 ceptacles, they whispered me an entreaty to do the 
 same, as we might be late with the tide and hungry 
 on our way home. I complied in this, as in every 
 case, gallantly; but in my very first essay was de 
 tected by the proprietor with a large edible of this 
 description half-way to my trousers' pocket. He 
 winked unconsciously and obligingly turned his 
 back. Captain Pharo, however, oblivious to sense 
 of guilt, approved my action in clear words: "Tuck 
 in the cheese too, major," said he; " it'll do for the 
 mouse-trap." 
 
 I was equally unfortunate when, some time after, 
 in settling for our dinner I drew out first, instead of 
 my purse, the very same fried cake which had for 
 merly betrayed me; and, to add to my discomfiture, 
 Miss Pray and Mrs. Kobbe, who had six of these 
 stolen products each in their capacious pockets, re 
 tired into a corner, innocently giggling. 
 
 But an unexpected formidable dilemma arose 
 when Captain Pharo, braced up to such a degree by 
 his dinner and his pipe, declared that " He didn't 
 know as he should be took to any dagarrier's, after 
 all ! Tide and wind both serve f 'r a fa'r sail home," 
 said he, "and I'm a-goin'."
 
 COIN' TO THE DAGARRIER'S 187 
 
 "Not till we've been to a tobacconist's/' said I, 
 " anyway." 
 
 I purchased a quantity of smoking tobacco. With 
 this parcel peeping enticingly from my pocket, and 
 with persuasive argument that I could never again 
 leave the Basin without his likeness, as aid to Mrs. 
 Kobbe's tears, we at last seduced him up the stairs 
 of the studio to the long-anticipated ordeal. 
 
 Now if young Mrs. Kobbe had had the discretion 
 to keep silence! But "I wish, pa," said she, made 
 bodeful by the agonized and even villanous aspect 
 of the captain's usually stoical features, " 't you 
 could look just as you did when major said he was 
 goin' to take us up to dinner! " 
 
 "Good Lord! woman, how can I tell howl looked 
 then? I didn't see myself, did I?" 
 
 " You looked so so happy! " moaned Mrs. Kobbe, 
 " and your face was all break breaking out into a 
 smile, and you didn't have that suf sufferin' kinder 
 look 't you've got now." 
 
 "I think, myself, sir," said the bland photogra 
 pher "ah! let me arrange your hair a little, just 
 this side or this? which side? ah! so that a 
 little less severe expression we all have our trials, 
 I know, but 
 
 "I hain't!" said the captain ferociously. "I 
 hain't got a darn thing t' worry me. 'F my woman 
 wants me ter have to git a boat an' row out for the 
 'Lizy Rodgers' on high tide, an' not git home till 
 sun-up, I don't care. What ye screwin' my head 
 into hey ? "
 
 1 88 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "Merely a head-rest, sir; merely an assistance 
 toward composing the ah features." 
 
 "I can compose my feetur's without any darn 
 nihilism machine back on me," said the captain; 
 which he straightway did in a manner that froze the 
 operator's veins. 
 
 " Has nothing pleasant occurred to you recently, 
 sir. No ah ? " 
 
 "O Cap'n Kobbe," exclaimed his wife, with 
 desperate fated mirth, "think o' how you shot the 
 buoy this mornin' 'stead of a coot! " 
 
 The photographer, observing Mrs. Kobbe's face 
 rather than his victim's, and seizing this as proba 
 bly the opportune moment, transferred the captain's 
 features to his camera, 
 
 We waited for the result. After some time our 
 artist approached us with mincing steps and a hand 
 thrust in his breast-pocket as if for possible re 
 course to defence. 
 
 In the type before us, even the gloom and wrath 
 of the captain's countenance were lost sight of in 
 the final skittish and disastrous arrangement, through 
 the day's perils, of his hair. 
 
 "Ye see now what ye've done, don't ye?" said 
 the captain to his wife. 
 
 Mrs. Kobbe came over and stood beside me. 
 
 ' 'T looks 'like somethin' 't the cat brought in, 
 don't it?" said she, still gazing, pale with curi 
 osity. 
 
 " I don't know," I said, not knowing what to say; 
 " does she bring in a great variety? "
 
 COIN' TO THE DAGARRIER'S 189 
 
 "Awful!" said Mrs. Kobbe. Having said which, 
 she put up her piteous little hands to her face and 
 began weeping as if her heart would break. 
 
 The captain, like the man that he was, took a 
 strong new tack. 
 
 "Never mind, darlin'," said he; "ye've got me, 
 'n' that 's better to ye 'n all the dagarriers. We'll 
 stompede the blasted thing, 'n' we'll go 'n' have a 
 nice sail home. 
 
 " Ef I ever sees or hears or knows," he added to 
 the photographer, " anywheres on the face o' this 
 'ere wide an' at the same time narrer 'arth, o' any 
 o' these here dagarrier-ructions 't you've played 
 off on n>e this day, bein' otherwise 'n destriyed, I 
 sh'll take the first fa'r wind up here, an' if thar' ain't 
 no wind I sh'll paddle, an' my settlemunt 'ith you'll 
 be a final one. Good-arternoon. " 
 
 The captain and his wife strolled down to the 
 beach, arm in arm, Miss Pray and I following, for 
 lorn and forgotten, behind. We saw the captain 
 tenderly pin the shawl about his wife's neck before 
 he left us on the windy wharf, to go out without a 
 murmur to bring in the " Eliza Rodgers. " 
 
 "How shall we get major down the .slip?" I 
 heard Mrs. Kobbe whisper anxiously to Miss Pray. 
 
 The "slip" was an inclined plane of boards, of 
 some thirty feet in length, ending in the water; it 
 was without steps or railing, smooth, green with 
 sea-water and slime, and it was, at the present state 
 of the tide, the only way of boarding the "Eliza 
 Rodgers."
 
 190 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 The captain now stood in the boat below, holding 
 her to the slip. 
 
 Mrs. Kobbe and Miss Pray, leaving me with an 
 encouraging smile, both sat themselves down, and 
 by the simplest means of descent slid safely and 
 swiftly down the incline, amid ringing cheers and 
 acclamation from the wharf. 
 
 " Come on, major! " called the captain. " Touch- 
 and-go " 
 
 And I! Where now are my faithful henchmen, 
 the men of mighty stature who do my bidding, the 
 liveried giants who open the door of my carriage? 
 The breeze blew in my face, and the " Eliza Rod- 
 gers" waited below, and I heard the rough audience 
 from the wharf shouting that I should be up to that 
 much! 
 
 Ay, and far more. 
 
 I sat me down with a smile: that strange and 
 swift period of passage is still fresh in my memory; 
 how the wind, aided by some slimy intervening ob 
 jects, turned me completely about, so that I bounded 
 at last with affectionate violence, back foremost, 
 into the enfolding arms of my friends below ; 
 cheered, too, from the wharf, especially as, not hav 
 ing been able to make so judicious an arrangement 
 of my earthly vestments as Mrs. Kobbe and Miss Pray 
 had done, I was now a startlingly marked object of 
 ridicule. 
 
 Little cared we. That adventure down the slip, 
 ignominious though it was, had put fire into my 
 heart. I entered eagerly into the captain's scheme
 
 COIN TO THE DAGARRIER S IQI 
 
 of hauling and rifling the Millport lobster-traps, in 
 the convenient fog which, as if sent by heaven, hid 
 us for a little space from the land. The blood of 
 ancestral pirates and robbers bounded hilariously 
 once more in my long-easeful, sluggish veins. 
 
 The floor of our boat was covered with bright sea- 
 spoils, the fog lifted, the wind blew fair and strong. 
 Hungry eternally, we munched our stolen fried cakes 
 with delight. 
 
 The sun set in a spendthrift glory of state and 
 color, the water was as if translated to celestial 
 climes, languidly the fair moon arose. 
 
 And I forever Vesty's face, in some dream of 
 youth and happiness, outlying my estate; pictured, 
 apart from me, yet new-creating me with joy. Afar 
 off in earth-meadows, the love-note of the thrush 
 not for me, yet passing dear and sweet. That slen 
 der, languorous moon pointed me to humble village 
 spires and grass-grown paths, pale lovers whispering 
 at a rustic gate. I, poor sprite, stooped down and 
 loved and blessed them, though I sped away to sail 
 forever and forever on the seas!
 
 192 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 XVIII 
 UNCLE BENNY SAILS AWAY TO GALILEE 
 
 SAY the philosophers how, to the properly sane 
 mind, there is no sorrow. But Vesty, only a Basin, 
 fighting Christ's war against the flesh Vesty had 
 sorrow. 
 
 " It was," she confessed to me alone, I being as a 
 ghost or confessor " it was like pulling my heart 
 out, to have Notely go away so. It was like taking 
 little Gurd away- but it was the only way." 
 
 "He has gone back to his wife?" 
 
 "Yes." Vesty shivered. I had chanced to meet 
 her in the lane, and the wind was chill. 
 
 "And what are you going to do, Vesty?" 
 
 "I am going where they want me to help." She 
 held the thin, frayed shawl at her neck, the rosy 
 child wrapped as usual on her arm: "there is al 
 ways some one wanting me to help, and little Gurd is 
 not so much care now but I can get along with it." 
 
 "You go out as general drudge or charwoman!" 
 I felt my nostrils quiver and a bitter harshness in 
 my voice. 
 
 Vesty looked at me with surprise. "I go to 
 help," she said, "just as you helped me, with Uncle 
 Benny, when I was sick."
 
 UNCLE BENNY SAILS AWAY TO GALILEE 193 
 
 "Oh, I could do" the child knew not with what 
 a glance I studied her face " what it is hard to let 
 you do, Vesty." 
 
 A gentle pallor at that, as though I had been 
 strong and seemly in her sight; the Basin eyes fixed 
 on me as if with a community of experience and 
 sorrow. 
 
 "Shall you go away from the Basin this winter, as 
 you did before?" 
 
 " I think so ; " for myself, I could not look at her. 
 "You see, I have my 'show,' that I must attend to 
 a little in the winter: and here, exposed to the hard 
 climate, if I were taken ill, or should be in want, 
 there is no one who would care for me, you know." 
 
 "You should never want or suffer, "cried Vesty of 
 the Basins, " while I have two hands to work with! " 
 
 "Perhaps then," I murmured gravely, with sphinx 
 face, " I might stay. I have to ask so much, Vesty, 
 you see. All my life seems to be asking, not giv 
 ing." 
 
 " I don't know who you are! " said she, with puz 
 zled brow, the utter frankness of Basin speech escap 
 ing her unawares. "What I thought first, when I 
 saw you I never mind that now. And you are poor 
 and all alone, and you never make anything of 
 yourself but somehow I always think you are pre 
 tending; somehow I think you are stronger than 
 us all." 
 
 "You are a little arch-flatterer," I said; "and the 
 Basin, out of its goodness of heart, has made me 
 vain, that is all. It won't do. I need to sweep 
 13
 
 194 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 some more floors and peel some more potatoes." 
 She would not smile; she shook her puzzled head at 
 me. "And, Vesty," I said, "where are you going 
 now ? " 
 
 "Why, to Uncle Benny's! Didn't you know?" 
 exclaimed the girl eagerly, with whom the realities 
 of life were always pressing, stern. "He stood out 
 in the water, that day, helping get the men in, and 
 he was around that evening, singing, without any 
 dry clothes or fire; nobody thought, then. And you 
 know he 's had a cough ever since, and now he 's 
 sick." 
 
 A thought smote me. "He won't lead the chil 
 dren to school any more, then ? " 
 
 Vesty's lip quivered. "Come, "she said; "he 
 has asked for you." 
 
 At sight of Vesty with her child and me, Uncle 
 Benny, to whom the shadows were coming as to the 
 truly sane, without grief or surprise, touched his un- 
 ribboned throat with feeble apology. 
 
 " I look dreadful," he murmured. That was not 
 troubling him! He had a secret beyond all that, 
 I saw. 
 
 "There 's been ten in to call to-day," he exulted 
 sweetly, with folded hands of satisfaction, death's 
 bloom high in his cheeks; "ten! ahem! to call." 
 
 Vesty looked at me with her sad smile. "It is 
 because we love you, Uncle Benny," she said, "and 
 you took take such care of the children. Who?" 
 she asked, for his mind was on it. 
 
 " Mother," said Uncle Benny, since he was sane
 
 UNCLE BENNY SAILS AWAY TO GALILEE 195 
 
 now, "and" he mentioned a number of the living 
 Basins, and went on, in the same tone " and Fluke 
 and Gurd." 
 
 Vesty looked at him with touching sorrow and 
 despair, being troubled and not sane. 
 
 "They played," he said, his hands moving with 
 the recollection of the melody; " they played won 
 derful but sometimes it was an organ! " 
 
 " Good ! " I said, Vesty stood so pale. " We are 
 getting health, I see. We are on the straight road 
 now." 
 
 Uncle Benny, hearing my voice, beckoned me. 
 
 "All the things in the drawer! " he said, "because 
 you were 'flicted." His eyes shone lovingly and 
 compassionately on me. " All for you. But go and 
 see ! " 
 
 Enough surely to relieve all physical defects! 
 The worn and treasured blue necktie, for one thing; 
 a little pocket hand-glass, a pin-cushion devoted to 
 the tender ingathering of strayed and crooked pins, 
 some sprays of mint and lavender among the rest. 
 
 I felt his eyes beaming proudly on me treasures 
 beautiful from long habit, now yielded in a spirit so 
 complete and lofty ! I brushed the back of my hand 
 along my eyes, in the Basin way. 
 
 " You mustn't feel bad," said Uncle Benny, as I 
 came back to him: " nature didn't do much for you, 
 but it 's going to be all right. I had a talk with 
 mother." 
 
 " I am glad of that, Uncle Benny." 
 
 "Oh, yes! it 's going to be all right." So full of
 
 196 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 secrets! he spoke excitedly, with discreetly covered 
 joy; "you needn't feel bad." 
 
 He lay back, lest he should say too much. And 
 so, as he, wise, covered up his sublime knowledge 
 among us, unwise, with smiling lips, he sank into a 
 sleep. 
 
 Uncle Benny, dying, slept with a smile on his 
 lips; and little Gurd, homeless, fatherless, laid in 
 this poor habitation or in that, humbly and roughly, 
 slept in beautiful health with a smile on his lips; 
 and we, unwise, watched dolefully. 
 
 "You must not stay," said Vesty. "You are not 
 used to lose your rest. I am so used to watching, 
 and I am not afraid. Lunette said she would come 
 to help me before morning." 
 
 Starless, moonless darkness showed through the 
 low window, and the candle was burning dimly on 
 the table. 
 
 "I shall stay," I said. I had a student's knowl 
 edge of death. " He will wake soon, and then it 
 will be morning." 
 
 But Vesty's dear face turned to me with the sor 
 row of dying. 
 
 I was not used to lose my rest. I dozed faintly, 
 with faithfully sleepless lids. In that east of heavy 
 blackness the candle made a strange sun. The 
 world, elsewhere so far from heaven, here at the 
 Basin ascended to it by a common stairway, and lit 
 tle children and the pure of heart climbed upward 
 without dread. 
 
 " May I go? " I said, watching them.
 
 UNCLE BENNY SAILS AWAY TO GALILEE 197 
 
 " If a child leads thee," said a voice. 
 
 So I looked to a little child, to take my hand, 
 and I saw my mother's face waiting from above, 
 and the beams of glory narrowed ; it was the candle 
 burning dimly on the table. 
 
 "Notely! " I heard a voice calling. 
 
 I started up. 
 
 "Notely! " called Uncle Benny, very sweetly and 
 tremulously from the bed. "Where is he? I led 
 him to school." 
 
 Vesty had gone to the door, and leaned her head 
 there, as if to press back the unbearable anguish 
 and pathos sweeping over her like a flood. 
 
 "Notely! Little Note! He was the handsomest 
 of them all, but sometimes he ran away. Notely! 
 Little Note! come home with Uncle Benny now; 
 come home ! " 
 
 "He will come," I said, going to him: "he will 
 come home." 
 
 "Vesty! Where is she? I led her to school." 
 
 She tottered toward him and pressed her warm 
 hands upon his, cold. 
 
 "And you," he said, trying to turn to me, lov 
 ingly, faintly, "you are one of them. I will bring 
 you home. Sing, Vesty; sing 'Sail away ' ' 
 
 " ' As Christ went down the Lonesome Road ' " 
 
 Vesty 's voice broke. 
 
 "Sing, little one," said Uncle Benny, covering 
 his glad secrets again with a sort of heavenly du 
 plicity; " it 's all right sing."
 
 198 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 " ' He left the crown and He took the cross- 
 Sail away to Galilee! 
 
 He left the crown and He took the cross- 
 Sail away to Galilee, 
 Sail away to Galilee! 
 
 " ' There 's a tree I see in Paradise ' " 
 
 "Sing, Vesty!" 
 
 " ' It 's the beautiful waiting Tree of Life- 
 Sail away to Galilee ! 
 It 's the beautiful ' " 
 
 Uncle Benny hushed her with an awed motion of 
 the hand, and a look upward of unspeakable recog 
 nition he, without doubt, seeing now, beyond us 
 blind.
 
 THE BASIN 199 
 
 XIX 
 THE BASIN 
 
 "WHAT I thought first when I saw you- I never 
 mind that now." 
 
 Vesty's words: and "You shall never want or 
 surfer while I have hands to work with." So it 
 seems that, at the Basin, even one poor and afflicted 
 may have good hope to be sustained! 
 
 There was a woman once, beautiful and high, 
 who, spurning me, would have married me for my 
 wealth and name. 
 
 But pity is sweet and true. I am not ashamed of 
 pity. Some time if all things failed her should 
 I even say, " Vesty, could you marry me, for pity 
 for pity, Vesty ? " For it was the thought of the 
 Basins that compassion was greater than love, in 
 some way the diviner side of love. 
 
 Then should I turn on her and say, sly as Captain 
 Leezur alas! so much slyer: "My lady! My 
 
 Lady of M ; there are none, even among the 
 
 rich and high, who can condescend to you ; wide 
 lands have you, you and your little son, possessions 
 and palaces; and others you shall build where you 
 will, only come and be pitiful where you move: the
 
 200 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 world needs not these, but love and pity like thine, 
 
 Vesty of the Basins! " 
 
 But the time was not yet to plead my cause for 
 pity. I shall know if ever that time comes. I have 
 never mistaken Vesty. I wait. 
 
 " For pity " for it is not in the power of gold or 
 rank to exalt her. I cannot exalt her. 
 
 It is sweet to bear about with one the secret of a 
 strange country. But, ah me! I love the Basin. 
 
 1 love the ragged shawl that Vesty holds at her 
 throat. Nowhere else will the winter come so 
 dreary and beautiful, with wild hearth fires. And 
 Fate, bidding me hope, may crush me. As God 
 wills. I wajt. 
 
 It is but late summer now. There is a meeting. 
 
 " It 's been a very busy time o' year," said Elder 
 Skates, with timid, inoffensive apology ; " and 
 we've ruther neglected religion lately. But I hope 
 we've gathered here to the old school-house once 
 more this Sunday afternoon, with a dispersition and 
 a willin' and firm determination that as for us we 
 will not let 'er drop." 
 
 Vesty had a native sense of the humorous, but the 
 holy lids were down; only the mouth trembled a 
 little. Captain Pharo and Captain Shamgar were 
 finishing a game of croquet with the one set of those 
 implements which the Basin possessed, dedicated for 
 Sundays, and to the school-house yard, as being 
 dimly understood to be a sort of Sabbatical pas 
 time. Their voices pealed in with unconscious vigor 
 through the open windows:
 
 THE BASIN 201 
 
 " Did ye shove her through the wire, Pharo ? " 
 
 "Yis, by clam! and I'm a-comin' for ye, Sham- 
 gar, an' the next crack I git on that thar rollin' 
 cruiser o' yourn, she'll wish she'd 'a' died las' week ! " 
 
 The Basin conception of the game not being 
 based on a spirit of emulation so much as on the 
 cheerful clash of immediate vivid strokes, Captain 
 Shamgar laughed loudly. 
 
 "We are now open for remarks," intimated Elder 
 Skates feebly, afflicted but firm in his rubber boots. 
 
 After a season of respectful silence within the 
 school-house there was a sepulchral whisper from 
 one elderly female to another on the back seats: 
 
 " Did ye know 't Elvine had plucked her geese ? " 
 
 "Sartin. She plucked 'em too clost, and they was 
 around fryin' in the sun scand'lous; but I don't sur 
 mise as she knew no better." 
 
 " In course not. Ye know Miss Lester's boardin* 
 some folks 't Gov'ment sent down t' inspect the 
 lighthouse. It's a young man, an' he brought his 
 wife, an' after he'd finished his job they liked it so 
 well they're jest stayin' on, cruisin' 'round an' play- 
 in' tricks on each other. So, ef you'll believe me, 
 what does that Gov'ment young man do one day but 
 go an' bring home a passel o' snakes " 
 
 The voice, to the eager ears of the listeners, ven 
 tured more and more upon audibility 
 
 " An' he fixed 'em in a box in the woodshed, with 
 a string to the cover, an' then stepped into the kin- 
 dlin'-closet, holdin' the string, ter wait till the wom 
 en came out, ter pull it an' then see what the ver-
 
 202 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 dick would be! Wai, what think you but his wife 
 she suspicioned of 'im, an' she was around thar hid- 
 in', an' jest as soon as he stepped into the closet, 
 afore he could pull the string, she flounced up an' 
 fastened the door on the outside. An' she kep' 'im 
 in there till he'd say: 'Wife, wife, there's lots o' 
 green in my eye; but I'll make my supper on hum 
 ble pie. I'll dump them snakes in the pond, dear 
 wife; an' ef you'll only let me out I'll be good all 
 my life." 
 
 "Wai, thar now!" said an admiring voice; "I 
 should think she must be r'al gifted. Did he say 
 it?" 
 
 " Yes, he got it out, somewheres along in the 
 shank o' the evenin*. But Miss Lester says it's jest 
 as good as bein' to the front seat in a show, the 
 whole livin', endurin' time." 
 
 " Gov'ment pays their board, in course ? " 
 
 " Sartin, and well it c'n be some use now an' then, 
 settin' 'round there, not knowin' nothin' in this 
 world what to do with its surplice." 
 
 A sharp peal rang through the window. 
 
 "Thar, Pharo! Ef ye want to find yerself, ye'd 
 better start on down t' the south eend o' the Basin, 
 'n' negotiate around to leeward o' Leezur's bresh- 
 heap; that's the d'rection yer ball was a-startin' 
 for, las' time I seen 'er! " 
 
 "Poo! poo! " said Captain Pharo, drawing a Sun 
 day "parlor" match explosively along his boot-leg; 
 "jest hold on thar, Shamgar. Jest hold on till I 
 git my old chimley here a-goin' ag'in "
 
 THE BASIN 203 
 
 " The meetin' is open and patiently waitin' for 
 remarks," said Brother Skates, poising himself wear 
 ily but ever enduringly on one boot. 
 
 After an appreciative silence within, the whisper 
 finally arose once more: " But he paid her off pretty 
 well." 
 
 "Dew tell!" 
 
 "She took 'n' hid his pipe one day, and her clo's 
 was hangin' out on the line she wears the mos* 
 beautiful, 'labberotest-trimmed clo's you ever see 
 so what does he do but go an' git a padlock an' 
 padlocked them clo's onto the line. 'When you git 
 me my pipe, ' says he, Til unlock your wardrobe, ' 
 says he." 
 
 "Wai, I never! Ain't them ructions! " 
 
 " Did the peddler come around to your house this 
 month ? " 
 
 " He did so. I bought a pictur' 't was named 
 'Logan.' It's a fancy skitch, I guess, 'but I'm 
 goin' to have that pictur', Cap'n Nason Teel,' says 
 I, 'ef 't takes every egg the hens is ekil to from now 
 t' deer-stalkin',' says I. It jest completely drored 
 me somehow; it had sech a feelin' look." 
 
 " Did Nason let ye buy it ? " 
 
 "Yis, he did; but he was dreadful sneakish an' 
 j'ilous. 'It's jest a fancy skitch,' says he; " 'tain't 
 nothin' 't ever slammed around in shoes,' says he." 
 
 "I bought a pair o' black stockings," said the 
 voice of a young matron. " I remember 'cause I 
 wore 'em the very day that Johnny swallowed six 
 buttons and smut! wal " A picture too dark
 
 204 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 for the imagination was relieved by the hum of a 
 discussion now bravely finding voice on the male 
 side of the house. 
 
 " There's some difference in the price of a hoss 
 afore blueberryin' and after blueberryin', I can tell 
 
 ye." 
 
 "All the difference 'twixt black an' white. Wai, 
 thar's mos' things I can do without, but when you 
 find me without a hoss you'll find me done 'ith 
 trouble altogether an* stretched out ca'm an* laid 
 on the cooler." 
 
 " Skates's raisin' a pretty good colt thar, 'ceptin' 
 't she's a leetle twisty in her off hin' leg. What do 
 you consider on her worth, Skates?" 
 
 " I refused two hunderd dollars for 'er last week," 
 said Brother Skates, in a clearly round, secular tone 
 of voice. 
 
 "Now look a-here, Skates; that stock o" yourn's 
 good workin'-stock, but they're tirrible hard feed 
 ers. Ef you've been offered two hunderd dollars for 
 that colt don't you wait 'tell after blueberryin'." 
 
 "Mebbe you think," said Brother Skates, now 
 firmly established on both boots, " 't I'm as green 
 as a yaller cucumber! " 
 
 " Look out thar, Shamgar ! " rang through the 
 windows. "Give me sea-room here! give me sea- 
 room!" we saw and heard the preparatory swing 
 ing of Captain Pharo's mallet "cl'ar the way thar, 
 Shamgar; for by the everlastin' clam, I'm a-goin' to 
 give ye a clip that'll send ye t' the west shore o' 
 Machias! "
 
 THE BASIN 205 
 
 A mighty concussion followed. 
 Elder Skates, as if reminded by these thunders of 
 his duty, blushed deeply with shame and penitence. 
 " Vesty," he pleaded tremulously, "will you start 
 'Carried by the Angels' ? " 
 Vesty went to the little organ. 
 Now we forgot all the rest, all that was rude and 
 incongruous, forgot how mean the school-house was, 
 how few protective boards left upon it. Captain 
 Pharo and Captain Shamgar dropped their mallets 
 at the first sound of Vesty's voice, and came in on 
 tiptoe, with changed faces, reverent. 
 
 For there was the Basin sorrow in Vesty's voice, 
 enough to subdue greater discords, and the Basin 
 hope in it, implicit, wonderful, thrilled to tearful 
 vision by a word: 
 
 " Carried by the angels," 
 she sang. 
 
 " Carried by the angels. 
 
 Carried by the angels to the skies. 
 
 Carried by the angels, 
 
 Carried by the angels, 
 
 " Gathered with the lost in Paradise." 
 
 Coat-sleeves began to do duty across moist eyes; 
 seeing we all being simple Basins winged white 
 forms in the still air outside the battered school- 
 house, bearing worn, earth-weary forms away 
 
 " Gathered with the lost in Paradise." 
 
 It was not so hard to speak now. 
 " I've got my finger on a tex' here," said a white- 
 haired, weather-beaten Basin, rising; " 4 In His love
 
 206 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 and in His pity He redeemed us.' Now thar was a 
 time when I didn't want nobody to say a word to me 
 about pity no sir! Love I wanted and admirin' 
 I wanted, but no pity; that thar set me broilin'. 
 But now I'd e'en a'most ruther have pity than 
 love; 'nd I thank God most o' all that, in my pride 
 and in my stren'th, and not wantin' no help an' 
 gittin' mad at the thought of it all'as He pitied 
 me, an" He pitied me cl'ar through to the end. 
 
 " For I tell ye, thar can be love and admirin', that 
 flashes up in the pan mighty strong at first, an' goes 
 out, an' nary mite o' pity in it. But thar' ain't no 
 pity 'ithout love; and it's a love 't ain't no fine-spun 
 thread, but a ten-inch hawser; a love 't stands by 
 ye when thar' 's a trackless path afore and a lost trail 
 ahind; when ye're scuddin' afore the squall, an' the 
 seas come thunderin' down on ye; when yer boat 's 
 in splinters, and ye're a-bitin* the sand. Yis, an' 
 when yer cruisin' 's all done at las', an' ye're jest a 
 poor old hulk around in the way, driftin' in an' out 
 'ith the tides, 't calls out to ye, as ef ye was some 
 body, 'Ship ahoy! What port?' 
 
 "An' ye says, kind o' hopin', but not darin' noth- 
 in', 'The port as they calls Heaven.' 
 
 "An" 't shouts back to ye, strong across the wave, 
 'What are ye doubtin', man? That 's a port sure! 
 and home 's thar, and folks 's thar, and the little 
 children ye lost is thar. D'ye want a pilot? ' 
 
 "'Ay, ay, sir! ay, ay, sir!' 
 
 The deep voice sank in tears, then broke out 
 again:
 
 THE BASIN 207 
 
 "Git under the lee o' the wrack! 
 
 "For days an' nights once, in a storm 't I shall 
 never forgit, we pulled under the lee o' a wracked 
 vessel, 'n' no other way could we 'a' been saved. 
 
 "An' it was so, 't, in this sea o' life, all open ter 
 the winds o' sorrer an' temptation, Christ come 
 down, an' He giv' up joy an' a safe harbor, 'n' all 
 that, jest ter be made a wrack on, so 't we might 
 git under His lee, an' foller safe. 
 
 "It 's the great Breakwater o' the seas; don't ye 
 fear but it 's a safe one! 
 
 "Young man, I know 't ye think o' somethin' 
 more'n this, an' vary diffur'nt from this, a-startin' 
 out each one in his clipper-bark, gay an' hunky 
 in every strand, 'ith a steady follerin' breeze, an' 
 everythin' set from skysail pole to the water's edge. 
 
 "All right! ye are the lad for me; ye can pull 
 side an* feather stroke; ye can cl'ar a tops'l reef- 
 tackle when the sail is full, ye are the lad for me. 
 Steer bold; only steer true, by night an' day. I 
 wish 't ye might no' meet wi' fogs an' icebergs an' 
 collisions an' gales 
 
 "An ' yit, I wish it not. The sea an' the storm 
 is jest to teach us t' git under the lee o' the great 
 wrack o' Love an' Pity, 't made hisself lost for us; 
 ay, an' so to make a wrack o' our own happiness 
 for the poor an' weak, 't's out a-tossin' shelterless, 
 to lead 'em to the true Breakwater. That 's life, 
 that 's the sea, that 's the lesson. Till we pass on, 
 up the roads, into the harbor 
 
 The old mariner's voice failed him; he sat down.
 
 208 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "Vesty, "said Elder Skates, and cleared his throat 
 huskily; "Vesty, will you start 'The Tempests broke 
 on Thee'?" 
 
 Vesty 's voice: 
 
 " ' O Christ, it broke on Thee! 
 Thy open bosom was my ward, 
 It braved the storm for me. 
 Thy form was scarred, Thy visage marred, 
 O Christ, it broke on Thee!' " 
 
 Great preachers have I heard dry-eyed, and skilled 
 plaintive music enough ; but now I looked out 
 through the broken Basin windows, on the clear 
 Basin sky, through a mist. 
 
 "Vesty," said Elder Skates, "let 's keep right 
 along into 'Beautiful Valley o' Eden'!" 
 
 " ' How often amid the wild billows, 
 
 I dream of thy rest, sweet rest, 
 
 Sweet rest.' " 
 
 sang Vesty, with eyes darkly circled and sunken, 
 and the beautiful, strong hand, labor-worn, and the 
 thin old shawl fallen back from her shoulders. 
 
 There was a different tone now in the parting 
 salutations of the Basins. 
 
 "I'm a-comin' up to help ye paper," said one 
 woman to another; "ye got sick last year, and I'm 
 a-comin', whether ye want me to or not." 
 
 "Oh, I want ye bad enough, Mar'ette. " 
 
 But I knew what a struggle had been gone through 
 with when I heard Miss Pray say: 
 
 " Car' Ann, if ye want to borry my ice-cream 
 freezer I ain't a-usin' it for to-morrer."
 
 THE BASIN 209 
 
 Miss Pray alone of the Basins had acquired the 
 monumental honor of possessing an ice-cream freezer, 
 esteemed by others with a no less sacred jealousy 
 than by herself; but she had hitherto refused all 
 intimations tending toward social interchange and 
 fellowship in the matter. 
 
 " Vesty's kind o' poorin' away," said one matron, 
 looking wistfully after the girl. 
 
 "No wonder, with that great boy, and all she 
 does. Aunt Low-ize tried to hold him, jest while 
 Vesty was singin', an' she had to take him out and 
 walk twict around Blueberry Hill t' keep him still; 
 he's one o' this 'ere all-alive, jumpin' kind. I sh'd 
 think he'd kill her." 
 
 I overtook Vesty in the lane; she was gathering 
 flowers in Sunday pastime for the baby. 
 
 She turned to look at me with quiet gladness, 
 kindness. 
 
 "I love to hear Captain Seabale. He doesn't 
 come very often," said she, "but he makes me cry." 
 
 "I believe he made me cry," I answered. I 
 watched her shaking a handful of flowers over the 
 laughing boy. " How far do you think pity could 
 ever go, Vesty ? " 
 
 " Why ? " there was that high, grave study of me 
 in her eyes, that haunting thought that I was sly! 
 But for all her pains, too simple was she! No dis 
 covery; only the beautiful Basin unconsciousness. 
 " Christ never said where to stop, did He?" 
 14
 
 210 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 XX 
 
 SOCIAL DIVERSIONS AT THE " POST-OFFICE " 
 
 LEAFLESS and brown are the trees, but the Basin 
 has diviner glories than at midsummer, in colors 
 unspeakable of sea and sky, of wild-sailing cloud, 
 of sunset and of moon. 
 
 There come great news of Notely. In pursuance 
 of which, " Did ye ever notice," said Captain Lee- 
 zur, sitting on the log in the late sunshine, am- 
 brosially sucking a nervine lozenge; "did ye ever 
 notice, major, how 't all the great folks, or them 't 's 
 risin' tew be great how 't they all comes from a 
 squantum place like this? " 
 
 "Yes," I said, "I've heard it as a remarkable fact. " 
 
 " I don't mean t' say 't everybody in a squantum 
 place is beound and destined tew be great or die! " 
 said Captain Leezur, with whole-souled disparage 
 ment of such a thought: "no, no; they can't carry 
 it on us so fur as that. 'Forced-to-go, ' ye know." 
 
 "No, indeed!" I consented. 
 
 I accepted a nervine lozenge, and we braced our 
 selves firmly on the log, placid, but set, against all 
 resistance, not to be great! 
 
 "What is this rewmer abeout Notely, major? I 
 heered how 't you took a lot o' noos-sheets."
 
 SOCIAL DIVERSIONS AT THE POST-OFFICE 211 
 
 "It is fine. He is making for himself a name in 
 your politics, and at the same time there 's the old 
 fire in him, flashing out over conventions; one can 
 almost hear him laugh. He rings out, clear, amid 
 any false notes; it is a grand satire; sometimes the 
 dry bones quake." 
 
 "Lord sakes!" said Captain Leezur, turning on 
 me with deep-smitten dismay; "I heered how't he 
 was bein' successful! " 
 
 " His financial speculations seem touched with 
 magic, they say; he is courted, feared, praised, ma 
 ligned; he laughs and rings out, the true note! His 
 health is not strong, never since that fall. There; 
 you have all I know, Captain Leezur." 
 
 Captain Leezur meditated. " There be times I 
 sh'd never want this said except between you an* 
 me, major when I'm glad 't Notely Garrison didn't 
 marry Vesty, after all! Notely V me was great 
 mates, all'as. But I'll tell ye this, when Notely 
 got everythin' he wanted he'd carry sail enough to 
 sink the boat, all'as; couldn't never jump rough 
 enough or fast enough on a high sea; kept the rest 
 on us bailin' water: that was Note, when he had all 
 the wind he wanted; that was Note, all'as but I 
 all'as loved him better 'n them 't was more keerful 
 sailors." 
 
 The sun saw itself globed in a tear that fell on 
 Captain Leezur's felts. 
 
 "Moderation in all things, ye know," he added, 
 beaming, not to distress me; "even in passnips. " 
 
 I mused with him in silent sympathy. "Oiling
 
 212 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 the saw again, I see," I said at last glancing with 
 reverent admiration of such benign industry at the 
 oil-can. 
 
 "No," said Captain Leezur kindly; "I wa'n't. 
 I was a-goin' deown, by V by, to the cove, to ca'm 
 the water deown, 'n' see ef I c'd spear up a few 
 fleounders; but I ain't in no hurry. I'd jest as soon 
 set areound on the int'rust o' my money! " 
 
 This was a joke insatiable between us, always 
 bubbling over, always enough of it left for next 
 time. At its utterance Captain Leezur's counte 
 nance was accustomed to break up entirely, while I 
 laughed with an appreciation that never fainted or 
 palled. 
 
 We felt that there was never aught sparkling 
 enough to be said after it, but parted in succulent 
 silence, Captain Leezur with his oil-can, going 
 down to compose the waters, while I pursued my 
 less omnipotent way to the Basin "post-office." 
 
 " Ef there 's anything trying," said Lunette, though 
 with the peculiarly official air she always wore on 
 post days, "it is dressin* sand-peeps. But thar! 
 Tyson come home with a harf-bushel, an' what are 
 ye goin' to do? Onct a year, Ty says, he wants ter 
 jest stuff himself to the collar-bone on sand-peep 
 pie, an' then he don't want to see nary one, nor 
 hear 'em mentioned in his sight not for another 
 year. " 
 
 It might have troubled the casual observer at first 
 to discover, in the variety of Lunette's official ca 
 pacity, which was post-office and which was sand-
 
 SOCIAL DIVERSIONS AT THE " POST-OFFICE ' 213 
 
 peeps, so agreeably and informally did these two 
 elements combine in her surroundings. 
 
 "Mis' Pharo Kobbe!" she called. 
 
 That lady, thus summarily summoned, sprang for 
 ward from a cloud of witnesses, as choice and flat 
 tered assistant. 
 
 " Won't you take them letters 't Major Henry's 
 jest brought in, and deface the stamps on 'em ? Turn 
 the ink enter them pictur's o* George Washin'ton so 
 't his own mother's son wouldn't know him. I 
 don't calk 'late to have no stamps 't 's sent out from 
 the Basin post-office washed out an' used over ag'in. 
 The defacement they gets here is for everlastin' an' 
 for aye." 
 
 I watched helplessly a full discharge of this com 
 mand on the part of Mrs. Pharo Kobbe, and pro 
 ceeded to pluck one of the sand-peeps meanwhile, 
 along with the rest, waiting the arrival of the post 
 bag. 
 
 "Some o' the rusticators 't was here in the sum 
 mer," continued Lunette, sneezing over a culinary 
 preparation of pepper, " though 't we ought to have 
 two mails a week! Ef I was so dyin" crazy for 
 news 's that, I'd go an' live to Machias! " 
 
 " That does seem dissipated and unreasonable, 
 certainly," I assented, interested in the endeavor to 
 extract the minutest pin-feathers from the tail of 
 the sand-peep. 
 
 " Ef they was all like Major Henry, I told 'em, 
 the post-office 'ud be easy runnin', an* I don't care 
 if I do say it afore his face. I'd say it afore the
 
 214 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 meet'n-house ef there was one. The very first time 
 't Major Henry ever stepped inter this post-office 
 he come up to me an' handed me a five-dollar bill, 
 'n' says he: 
 
 "'Mardam, could you kin'ly put my mail t' one 
 side, me not all'as bein' convienent to be here at 
 its openin', maybe; an' all the mail that ain't called 
 for at its openin' bein' thrun up onter the top pan 
 try shelf,' says he, "nd everybody 't comes in look- 
 in' it over t' see ef they've got anything, is a most 
 beautiful compliment to human natur',' says he, 
 'an' one that I wish I could interduce everywhere; 
 but me not bein' vary tall,' he says, 'an' kind o' 
 near-sighted, I'm afeered as I might git somethin' 
 't didn't belong to me. Have ye got anythin' like 
 a dror, or anythin' 't ye could lock up? ' says he. 
 
 "'No,' says I, 'I hain't, but I'll tell ye what I 
 can do. I can put 'em inter th' old Gran'mother 
 Tyson soup-turreen, 't I don't believe the led of it 's 
 been lifted this ten year; they'll be as safe as ef 
 they was buried an' in their graves,' says I. An' 
 so I thought, but ye know how things is all'as sartin 
 to happen. 
 
 " What, in the name o' ructions, did Ty do but 
 come home that afternoon with a bag o' ches'nits, 
 which he knows I won't have in the pantry on ac 
 count o' breedin' worms; but me bein' over to Mis' 
 Kobbe's, what does he do, manlike, but dump them 
 letters inter the churn, an' go an' sneak his ches' 
 nits inter th' old Granm'er Tyson soup-turreen. 
 
 "Wai, I all'as churn my butter Friday mornin',
 
 SOCIAL DIVERSIONS AT THE POST-OFFICE 215 
 
 come hail, come wind: so I gits up an' 'twas kind 
 o' dark yit an' in I pours the pail o* cream an' 
 begins to churn, an' thinks I, 'This spatters onac- 
 countable this mornin',' an' took off the cover to see 
 what the ructions was! 
 
 "Wai, the verdick of it was, after I'd laid into 
 Ty, I went down to major with the five-dollar bill 
 an' another atop of it, all I had in this livin' world 
 'An' ef that 's any objec', major,' says I, a-wipin' of 
 my eyes, 'it 's all I c'n do.' 
 
 "Wall, what think you, but major laughs, an' 
 wouldn't tetch ary cent of it, but took 'is letters, 
 an' says he, 'They've ackired a peculiar richness,' 
 says he, 'an' I'd orter be up there mail-openin' an' 
 not make a lady so much trouble,' says he. That 's 
 the kind o' poppolation 's I, for one, sh'd like to fill 
 up the Basin with!" said Lunette, flourishing her 
 rolling-pin. 
 
 A murmur of approval ran through the room. 
 
 Blushing, embarrassed, but swollen with pride, I 
 picked up another sand-peep to pluck. 
 
 At that instant "Snipe," the household and post- 
 office dog, ran across the floor with high-careering 
 head, holding a huge envelope in his teeth. 
 
 " Stop him ! stop him ! " cries arose : " it 's Elvine's 
 registered letter, 't 's goin' to Boston for a tea- 
 set ! " 
 
 A rush followed Snipe into the bedroom, the door 
 of which stood open; the evil dog ran under the bed 
 and into the farthest corner, where, with his jaws 
 formed into the semblance of a menace and a mock-
 
 2l6 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 ing laugh, he assumed an attack upon that potential 
 tea-set. 
 
 Lunette rushed in after him. Now the bed, in 
 default, for some unknown though doubtless wise 
 Basin reasons, of other stanchions, was set up on 
 four chairs, one at each corner, and as Lunette 
 rushed under it, she displaced the outermost chair; 
 whereat the bed at that source collapsed with a crash, 
 imprisoning both her and the dog. 
 
 "I've been a-threatenin' to have that bed fixed," 
 said Tyson, with politic zeal, as his wife and dog 
 were delivered. 
 
 Lunette with voiceless indignation seized one of 
 a buttress of birch-switches behind the door, and 
 began applying it to the consciously ruined Snipe, 
 at the arising of whose howls the post-carrier drove 
 up, and, entering, threw the bag, in loud token cf 
 his arrival, upon the floor. 
 
 Snipe, of all places, ran and entrenched himself be 
 hind my feeble legs ! Whereat, " Don't whip him any 
 more," I pleaded, being already flattered, in one 
 way and another, as high as mortal could sustain. 
 
 Lunette turned unwillingly to the post. The post- 
 driver stood about seven feet in his boots, with a 
 handsome face, all mud-bespattered. Many voices 
 beset him familiarly. 
 
 "Say, Will, did ye bring down my molasses?" 
 "Say, Will, did ye match that ribbin f'r me?" 
 "Say, Will," etc., etc. 
 
 "You bet I did, every time! " he answered jovial 
 ly, showing his white teeth. Interest in the post
 
 SOCIAL DIVERSIONS AT THE POST-OFFICE " 217 
 
 was comparatively moribund; a general parcel-dis 
 tributing and hand-shaking followed until we were 
 startled by a cry from Lunette: 
 
 "Look a' this, Will Hunson!" said she; "look 
 a' this, will ye? A whole pot o' strawberry jam 
 soaked right plumb inter the middle o' the United 
 States Governmunt! " 
 
 It was only too true. The pile of letters and 
 papers which she had emptied onto the moulding 
 table were red and glowing as the summer rose. 
 
 Will hung his dismayed head. 
 
 "Be them ructions, or ain't they?" coldly de 
 manded Lunette, pointing to the awful pile. 
 
 "I didn't mean to," said Will. 
 
 " Didn't mean to ! " cried Lunette. " Didn't mean 
 to, lived in a lean-to!" 
 
 Blasted by terror and sarcasm, we all hung our 
 heads. Snipe grovelled in still farther behind my 
 legs. 
 
 "There 's got to be something done!" cried Lu 
 nette. " Folks 's got to learn 't the United States 
 Governmunt is a awful an' a solemn an* a turrible 
 thing. What ef it sh'd be told 't we hadn't no 
 more respec' for her down here to the Basin 'n to 
 soak her through with strawberry jam an' molarsses! 
 These here ructions have been a-goin' on too long 
 with the Basin post-office. I'm a-goin' to fill out a 
 blank an' send it to Washin'ton! " 
 
 Snipe howled. Lively apprehension, none the less 
 poignant for being vague, sat on every pale brow. 
 
 "Here," continued Lunette, " 's major's business
 
 2l8 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 letters, looks as though they'd been a-settin' in the 
 dentist's chair, havin' all the old stumps extracted 
 for a whole set of uppers and unders! " 
 
 Lunette's comparison, though tragic, was not 
 inapt. 
 
 "Here" blind terror yielded to curiosity on 
 many features " here is Jennie Cossey's letter from 
 her beau, down to New London, with a cardboard 
 dagarrier in it. Yes," said Lunette, manipulating' 
 the envelope curiously and holding it to the light; 
 " I knew 't the next thing he'd be sendin' his pic- 
 tur'. How 'd you feel, Will Hunson, ef you was 
 stan'in' in his shoes an' had gone an' combed yer 
 hair 'tell yer arm ached, an' stuck the end o' yer 
 hankercher outer yer pocket, an' had yer pictur' 
 took, an" then sot down an' wrote a lot o' sweetness 
 to wrop around it an' when she took it out have it 
 look like Injuns a-yellin' on the warpath! " 
 
 "Say, Lunette," said honest Will, his handsome 
 face redder than any of the lively imageries she had 
 called up to terrorize his conscience; "I got that 
 front hair fascinater ye wanted, an' I sold the spruce 
 gum for two dollars for ye. Look a' here! " 
 
 "Will Hunson, don't ye ride no more strawberry 
 jam an' molarsses down here in the middle o' the 
 United States Governmunt ag'in, will ye?" said 
 Lunette, determined to fall gently. 
 
 But it appeared then that no blank was to be filled 
 out and sent to Washington! 
 
 With a sharp yelp of joy Snipe sprang from be-
 
 SOCIAL DIVERSIONS AT THE POST-OFFICE 219 
 
 hind the impregnable covert of my legs, and rushed 
 out into the free and gladsome elements. 
 
 I gathered up my portion of matter from the illu 
 minated heap of "government," beside the sand- 
 peep pie on the table, and with a fond smile at 
 Lunette I also departed.
 
 22O VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 XXI 
 
 BROKEN WINDOWS 
 
 ALWAYS now on the evening of post day, after I 
 had read my newspapers, came the worn shawl and 
 the dark, weary eyes Vesty, to sit awhile with 
 Miss Pray. 
 
 " Is there any news of Notely, Major Henry ? " 
 
 Now and then I made her put the question, but 
 oftener I was kind and volunteered any information 
 on this subject that I had been able to glean; and 
 at the news of joy or success for him, how her eyes 
 glowed J Basin pure and great, wi-th no thought for 
 the shadow of her own lot Vesty of the Basins. 
 
 "Is there any news of Notely, Major Henry?" 
 
 She was pinning the shawl at her throat after a 
 short call, before going out; and she gave me her 
 direct, reproachful look, as though I had been teas 
 ing her. 
 
 But I was not teasing her; my heart yearned over 
 her where she stood, facing the dark. 
 
 "I will tell you what I have read," I said, "as I 
 walk home with you. You are 'helping' them at 
 your own father's again now ? " 
 
 She bowed her head. Her dark eyes filled me 
 with a kind of frenzy to make rest and comfort 
 about her; and I had hard news for her!
 
 BROKEN WINDOWS 221 
 
 " In my papers of the past week the beginning of 
 what concerned Notely Garrison was a medley. 
 'Reformer,' 'The old never-heeded cry of a St. John 
 in the wilderness,' and again, from the other side, 
 'Fanatic,' 'Visionary,' 'Throwing out his by no 
 means boundless wealth like water for the sake of 
 chimeras, ideally noble enough, but still vain chim 
 eras!' And the news at the week's end, 'Young 
 Garrison stricken: a shock. Overwork, over-excite 
 ment, and the result of an accident suffered not long 
 since. Recovery very doubtful. ' ' 
 
 "I want to go to him," said Vesty. I heard her 
 breath coming painfully and quick. 
 
 " I knew that. I have already made arrangements 
 for you to leave early in the morning." 
 
 "Just to see him. I promised him. Notely! 
 Notely! I can't bear it just as though it was lit 
 tle Gurd." 
 
 "You shall see him by to-morrow night. I have 
 sent a messenger to make special arrangements for 
 conveyance, in case you should desire this." 
 
 "Major Henry, I forgot. I cannot; I have no 
 money." 
 
 "Ah, but you can and must. It is arranged." 
 
 " And I do not know the way. I was never from 
 the Basin." 
 
 " I am going with you. In my country high la 
 dies travel with a servant, thus. Get what rest you 
 can and be ready at four. They will take good 
 care of little Gurd while you are gone." 
 
 "Some time," said Vesty, on the morrow, "when
 
 222 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 Gurd is a little older, and I can take him away some 
 where where I can earn wages, I can pay you, Major 
 Henry. They want me now his mother wants me, 
 somehow, I know." 
 
 "You are safe to think that." 
 
 "My clothes are not like theirs," said Vesty 
 quietly, when we came at night more and more into 
 the throngs of civilized life. "Do you mind? I 
 knew that I should not be dressed like them." 
 
 " In my country high ladies wear what they 
 will." 
 
 She gave a low, perplexed laugh, looking at me 
 with curious sorrow for my hallucinations. 
 
 "But I am only Vesty." 
 
 " Surely.- But you remind me so of a great 
 lady." 
 
 At least Vesty travelled as a princess might. I 
 brought her the long and devious journey swiftly, 
 with as little fatigue as possible: but it was late at 
 night when we mounted the steps of the Garrison 
 town residence; the house was all alight. 
 
 Mrs. Garrison brushed past the servant at the 
 door. 
 
 " Vesty Rafe! I knew it was you. I knew you 
 would come, somehow, child." She drew her in, 
 and fell on her neck, weeping. 
 
 "He is dying?" murmured Vesty then, with cold 
 lips. 
 
 " He has not spoken since the shock. He does 
 not know us; but it may be he will know you! 
 Come!"
 
 BROKEN WINDOWS 223 
 
 Servants from the doorways of the wide, rich hall 
 were staring strangely at Vesty and at me. Vesty 
 turned to me now, to consider me. 
 
 I gave her the warning look. " I came to show 
 Vesty the way," I said in simple Basin speech. " I 
 will go to my hotel. I will call." 
 
 The girl's sad eyes looked reproach at me, but 
 she obeyed me. 
 
 "Wait, "she said then; "I want to speak with 
 Major Henry." She came to me in the door. 
 
 "When will you come back?" she murmured, 
 low. 
 
 " I will call in the morning." 
 
 "You will come?" A strange abandoned distress 
 was in her eyes, as of a child lost in crowded city 
 ways. 
 
 "Vesty!" 
 
 She turned, chidden, but with a sort of wilful 
 content. 
 
 My heart bounded as I limped down the steps. I 
 smiled to myself, safe in the dark, sardonically. 
 Make what you will of it, with other men she was 
 strong, womanly, serene; with me, she had the sweet 
 grace to show weakness. 
 
 The carriage bounded over the paving-stones and 
 stopped at my hotel. The driver lifted his hat ob 
 sequiously. I, with sardonic smile, entered the ho 
 tel, where I was not unknown. No doubt was made 
 as to the character of my apartments. 
 
 I rested sumptuously, but could not sleep. 
 
 " How was he now, who lay stricken yonder ?
 
 224 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 Had he known her, or would those rare blue eyes be 
 lifted to her too, unrecognizing, and so break her 
 heart ? " 
 
 Eyes once seen, to haunt one, the handsomest in 
 form and color and expression that I had ever seen 
 in human head. 
 
 Now I saw them again, as I had first seen them 
 at the meeting in the Basin school-house; the firm, 
 brown hand grasping the sailor's bonnet; eyes om 
 nipotent with health and joy, casting their mischiev 
 ous, beautiful glances over toward Vesty she, pa 
 tient, struggling, with her holy look! 
 
 And the Basin wind blew in through the cracked 
 windows, and a bird flew upward: 
 
 " Softly through the storm of life, 
 Clear above the whirlwind's cry " 
 
 It all resolved itself into that at last; the human 
 voice crying upward, shivering, like the bird's flight; 
 but with sure aim now! 
 
 I saw how it was at the first look at Vesty's face, 
 when I called the next morning. 
 
 Notely, waking once, had not known her among 
 the group of doctors and attendants; only stared at 
 her as one of them, kindly, vaguely. 
 
 But, for the most part, he slept in weary bliss. 
 Once, later, they thought her face had awakened 
 some old memory. 
 
 "The school-house is growing dark," he mur 
 mured, in indistinct, half-recovered speech, then fell 
 off again into his soundless slumbers.
 
 BROKEN WINDOWS 225 
 
 The doctors knew. I knew. The mother read 
 no hope. 
 
 "He has so much to leave," she sobbed, turning 
 ever to Vesty, who, numb with sorrow, yet tried to 
 comfort her. 
 
 So much to leave! but who knows ever to how 
 much going! Not so Mrs. Garrison. The bright 
 way ended at this pass, in blank darkness. 
 
 And Notely slept on, wearied, heedless; soft, lux 
 urious trappings of life all about him; his recon 
 ciled young wife; his hope now of an heir for his 
 name and fortune; the work he had struggled at last 
 so unrestingly to do; and the dear, lost love of his 
 youth, Vesty, bending over him. 
 
 Leaving them, not able to be heedful, so deep- 
 wrapped in unknown dreams. Waking once more 
 and turning from them vaguely (ah, the sublime, 
 unconscious contempt of death!) ; turning from them 
 vaguely, as though in some far Basin the dawn were 
 breaking! 
 
 "Uncle Benny," said he, holding out his wasted 
 hand, "the school-house is very dark I'll go home 
 now." 
 
 So Vesty's heart was broken in her, and to me 
 she came, as to a father, or more as to a friendly, 
 favoring ghost. 
 
 "Take me back to the Basin! " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 She sat in a kind of patient apathy, numb, her 
 heart faithful with the dead. 
 15
 
 226 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "How little Gurd will call for you when he sees 
 you again! " I spoke; but to waken her was to bring 
 such a torrent of tears, choking, she entreated me 
 not. 
 
 But, "It is well, I believe," I said to her; "there 
 is life enough! Be sure he does not lack for life. 
 What! do you think we have found the best of it, 
 and all of it, here? I imagine God has enough! It 
 is not because His bread fails Him that any go hun 
 gry, or because He lacks for gold that any are poor, 
 but only for His purpose we must guess and when 
 the poor, shattered school-house grows dark the light 
 breaks elsewhere," 
 
 Vestyhad not slept for two nights; the sweet face 
 was haggard. 
 
 Again passing among crowds of restless, hurrying 
 life, faces cold and strange, or often staring curi 
 ously, the haunted look of one lost came again into 
 her eyes. 
 
 " I must go and take care of Gurd," she said, " as 
 well as I can, while I live. O God! I hope he 
 never may get lost, out in the world." 
 
 "No; how could he, in God's world?" 
 
 "When we get back to the Basin then you will be 
 tired of staying there in the bleak and cold. You 
 will never wait for me to pay you; you will laugh 
 at me, and you will go back to the world." 
 
 "Vesty!" 
 
 Wearily she turned her heavy eyes on me a ghost ; 
 there was the forced, unconscious cry in them of 
 the child, or even of the woman.
 
 BROKEN WINDOWS 227 
 
 Sacredly I shielded their glance, and ghostly; it 
 was as though I had not seen. 
 
 "You mistake my courage. There is no winter," 
 I said, smiling, "strong enough to drive me from 
 the Basin."
 
 228 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 XXII 
 
 " NEIGHBORIN'" 
 
 VESTY never said "Stay!" but that unconscious 
 look in her eyes made a sort of forlorn fireplace of 
 hope to me, desolate, open to all the winds. As 
 God wills. I wait. 
 
 I went often to Captain Leezur; the nervine loz 
 enges were potent. 
 
 "We all'as dew neighbor a great deal in winter," 
 said he approvingly, stretching those dear felts be 
 fore the blaze. 
 
 " Is that a piece of the log we used to sit on ? " I 
 inquired mournfully. 
 
 "Wai, neow! I r'a'ly believe ye feel a kind o' 
 heart-leanin' to'ds her, don't ye?" 
 
 "How can I help it?" 
 
 "Sartin! sartin!" said he, delighted; "we're jest 
 like twin-brothers. But neow don't you werry one 
 mite. She 's done a good werk an' she 's returnin' 
 to Natur's God. I've got another one 't I'm goin' 
 to roll deown, first hint o' spring. I don't calk'late 
 ever to be feound, like them wise an' foolish virgins, 
 without no log to set on." 
 
 "Thar 's somethin' abeout a log," continued Cap-
 
 NEIGHBORIN 22Q 
 
 tain Leezur; "when ye go inter the heouse in warm 
 weather, an' sets deown in a cheer, the women kind 
 o' looks at ye as though you was sick or drefflelazy: 
 but when ye're eout settin' on a log ye feels as though 
 God was on yewr side, an' man nor woman wa'n't able 
 to afflict ye. They 's a depth an' a ca'm to the feel- 
 in' of it, 't them 't sets on fringe an' damarsk sofys 
 don't know nothin' abeout." 
 
 "You must have required a great deal of oil in 
 sawing up the old log, captain," I said. 
 
 The captain gave the restful sigh of battles over 
 past. 
 
 " Mebbe you think 't the drippin's o' one skunk 
 did it," said he; "but they didn't. Did ye ever 
 think," he resumed, "o' what a wonderful thing ile 
 is, an' what 'd we dew without 'er? heow the 
 wringin' machine 'ud seound when ye was turnin' 
 on 'er for yer wife, Monday mornin's?" 
 
 " No," said I sadly. 
 
 "Then ag'in, it 's ile in yer natur' keeps ye ca'm 
 an* c'llected, an' it 's ile in yer dispersition 1'arns ye 
 t* say, 'Moderation 's the rewl, even inpassnips.' ' 
 
 Lubricated with a sense of peace and blessing, I 
 arose. 
 
 "Ye're jest like me," gurgled Captain Leezur; 
 "ye don't feel easy in a cheer! Ye wanter be eout 
 on the old log, don't ye?" 
 
 "Yes," said I. "This isn't quite like." 
 
 "We're nateral twin-brothers! " he exclaimed, fol 
 lowing me to the door. There he looked cautiously 
 backward.
 
 230 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 " Dew you remember what I said to ye once," said 
 he, "on the subject o' kile?" 
 
 "Ahem! female affection?" I inquired gently. 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Some calL it that," said my twin-brother, beam 
 ing on me, "and some calls it kile. Wai, neow, ef 
 a sartin person shows a dispersition to kile, let 'em! 
 Let 'em," said Captain Leezur, irradiating my thin 
 being with the glory of his countenance; "let 
 'em." 
 
 "Ah," said I, and shook my head again sadly, " I 
 think more and more we will have to go our pilgrim 
 age without that, my friend." 
 
 "Neow you look a' here," said Captain Leezur. 
 " I ain't a-sayin' nothin', that they will or that they 
 won't, but if they dew, let 'em. Did ye ever think 
 o' what a heap o' wisdom there is in a poor old 
 bean-pole? 
 
 " Mornin' glory comes up an' looks at it. Bean 
 pole stands up stiff, without no feelin's: don't look 
 at 'er, nor bend over an' kiss 'er, nor nothin'. 
 Mornin' glory don't git skeered, an' she peouts out 
 a lot o' leaves an* tenderls an' begins to kile. Bean 
 pole takes a chaw o' terbakker an* looks off t'other 
 eend o* the field t* see what the pertater crop 's goin' 
 to be. Mornin' glory peouts out more leaves an' 
 blossoms, an' keeps a-kilin'. By 'n' by thar ain't 
 no poor old God-forsaken bean-pole standin* there 
 it 's all one mess o' kile an mornin' glory! 
 
 "I tell ye, major, we need once in a while for t' 
 1'arn a lesson from natur'. I ain't a-goin' to press
 
 NEIGHBORIN 23! 
 
 ye to stay longer, for I know ye wanter go neigh- 
 borin' ! " 
 
 Dazzled, I turned away from the refulgent keen 
 ness of his wink. 
 
 But I did not take the direction that wink had in 
 dicated. I had an invitation, not from Vesty, but 
 from the two most ancient of the Basins to tea, and 
 I stopped in, a solitary and thoughtful bean-pole, 
 at Captain Pharo's on the way. 
 
 The music-box was playing. I was glad to hear 
 that; a tune in undertone, like waves slowly, softly 
 breaking. 
 
 " She used ter play fifteen different tunes when we 
 first had her," said Captain Pharo pensively; "but 
 she got to squeakin', an* so we had Leezur up to ile 
 'er, an' ever sence she 's played one tune fifteen 
 times! Poo! poo! hohum! Wai, wal 
 
 : . ~~ -i ^~- i i - 
 
 'My days are as the frass ' 
 
 Shouldn't care so much, though, ef 'twas only 'The 
 Wracker's Darter. ' 
 
 "I've threatened a good many times to overhaul 
 her myself, but I ain't no knowledge o' instermental 
 music, and I s'pose I might spend a week on 'er, 
 and not combine 'er insides up to playin' no 'Wrack 
 er's Darter, ' ajter all. Hohum! 
 
 *Or as the morn ing flow'r. 
 
 At each successive pause the organs of the music- 
 box wheezed, struggled, almost faintly let go of life,
 
 232 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 then began again the undertone, of waves softly 
 breaking. 
 
 "I like it," I said. "I like it wonderfully." 
 
 Captain Pharo gave me a keen look and went to 
 the door and winked. I was no longer supine under 
 such invitations. I rose and followed him. "Look 
 a' here, major," said he, when we were alone. He 
 coughed. "My foot 's 'most well." 
 
 "I am glad of it, captain." 
 
 "Look a' here, major," said he, desperately, 
 "what makes you so took up with that 'ere monot 
 onous tune in thar? I'm afeered I may 'a' misled 
 ye, times past, with regards to female grass." He 
 coughed again and lit his pipe. I waited. 
 
 " 'Specially, " he groaned, "some things I may 
 h've said with regards to red and white clover." 
 
 Still I waited. 
 
 " Look a' here, major, when anybody sets down 
 'n* admires to sech a monotonous tune as that in 
 thar, thar's somethin' the matter with "em." 
 
 Still I would not speak. Tears almost were in 
 his eyes. 
 
 " Now I may h've said some things on partickaler 
 pesterin' 'casions in times past, but in general my 
 verdick hohum! is fav'rable to female grass; 
 'specially hohum! hohum! wal, wal, ye knows 
 my meanin', major 'specially with regards to red 
 and white clover: hohum! how 'sVesty?" 
 
 The captain gave a sigh that would have excul 
 pated him from the gravest of crimes, and looked 
 steadfastly toward the west.
 
 NEIGHBORIN 233 
 
 "I haven't seen her to-day." 
 
 "Ye'll think it over, won't ye, major?" said he, 
 still with that far withdrawn vision. 
 
 "Well, yes; I'll think it over." 
 
 I had proceeded but a little way when he called 
 me back. 
 
 " I had it on my mind to tell ye," said he, "when 
 I heered 't ye'd been 'nvited down t' Aunt Goze- 
 man's and Aunt Electry's t' tea; ef they give ye 
 some o' their green melon an' ginger persarves, do 
 ye manage to bestow 'em somewhar's without eatin' 
 of 'em, somehow. They're amazin' proud an'ch'ice 
 of 'em, an' ye don't want to hurt their feelin's, but 
 ye'd better shove 'em right outer the sasser inter yer 
 britches pocket 'n eat 'em leastways that 's the 
 way they 'fected me." 
 
 Visions of a past mortal suffering flitted across 
 Captain Pharo's face. 
 
 "I'll try," I said. 
 
 " Ef thar 's melon an' ginger persarves settin' by 
 yer plate, d'ye ask them two old women, in some 
 kind of genteel s'ciety ructions sort o' a way, ter go 
 outer the room an' git ye somethin', an' soon 's 
 they've gone d'ye jump up an' thring a shawl over 
 that darn' parrot o' theirn 't stands there noticin* 
 an' swearin', an' chuck 'em in over behind the wood- 
 box or somewhar's, but don't eat 'em." 
 
 "All right," I said, as he shook my hand with 
 suggestive earnestness once more in parting. 
 
 The sisters, by mutual adoption, not by birth, 
 lived together in the " Laury Gleeson;"the sign
 
 234 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 of a wrecked schooner nailed up over their shanty 
 door. 
 
 " And why not ? We be all a-sailin', been't we ? " 
 said Aunt Electry, who was ninety years old, light 
 ing her pipe; "only I wish 't some 't 's sailin' soli 
 tary had mates 't 's fit for 'em how is Vesty ? " 
 
 "I don't know," I began, afflicted with a sort of 
 lightness of head. I wanted to take out Uncle 
 Benny's pocket-mirror that I carried with me now. 
 Was I beautiful, and tall, and fair? What had hap 
 pened me! 
 
 " Lectry 's a great girl for straight-for'ard lang- 
 widge," said Miss Gozeman kindly, pitying my con 
 fusion; she was only eighty and did not smoke. 
 
 They led me out more nimbly, almost, than I 
 could follow, to show me the " stock " some forlorn, 
 fantastic stumps of trees, long dead, all whitewashed 
 with tender art! the pet coon, the tame crow, the 
 wicked goat. 
 
 There was another treasure ; who, as we came in 
 and sat down to tea, eyed me from his cage with 
 grudging and disfavor: it was the parrot; and I 
 presume injunctions were upon him to keep still, but 
 I did not know. 
 
 "Does he talk?" I inquired kindly. 
 
 He snapped viciously at the cage. 
 
 "A friend 't had him on shipboard gave him to us 
 long ago," explained Miss Gozeman, with gentle 
 evasion; "we ain't ever been able to break him of 
 it." What the habit was of which they had not been 
 able to break him I sadly inferred.
 
 NEIGHBORIN 235 
 
 There was a munificent dish of the green melon 
 and ginger preserves by my plate. I was chatting 
 with my friends, and at the same time meditat 
 ing what to do, when the tame crow, who had 
 slyly entered the house behind us and 'stolen Miss 
 Gozeman's spectacles, was now discovered through 
 the window hastening to hide them in the chip- 
 pile. 
 
 My entertainers trotted nimbly out after him. I 
 rose, and, lifting the cover of the stove, dashed in 
 the contents of my saucer when I was startled by a 
 shrill voice and a mocking laugh., 
 
 "Oh, I see ye! I'll tell!" 
 
 I had forgotten to cover the parrot. 
 
 "You are no gentleman if you do!" I retorted, 
 forgetting with whom or what I was talking. 
 
 " Shut up! " said the parrot, and laughed. " I see 
 ye, d n ye! I'll tell! " 
 
 At all events I turned, with the intention of going 
 out to assist the ladies in their search for the spec 
 tacles, when the scene through the window held me 
 for a moment spellbound. 
 
 The crow, having accomplished his mischievous 
 device, was perched near by, gravely regarding the 
 search of the two estimable and time-honored 
 women, who were peering with their faces near the 
 earth, and their backs turned unconsciously; when 
 the cherished goat, creeping maliciously up, made a 
 rush at them from the rear, and pitched them both 
 into the chip heap. 
 
 This unspeakably base proceeding had the result,
 
 236 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 however, of discovering to them the glasses, with 
 which they soon after entered, smiling. 
 
 " Bill often hides our glasses," said Aunt Electry. 
 
 " Does the goat often bunt you over?" I inquired, 
 with dismay. 
 
 "Shut up!" said the parrot, at the sound of my 
 voice. "Oh, I see ye! I'll tell!" 
 
 My kind friends gave him a sharp glance, but con- 
 siderately did not look at me. They saw my emp 
 tied preserve plate, however, and concluding that I 
 had taken advantage of their absence the more 
 greedily to gorge myself on its contents, they gener 
 ously piled it full again of what they imagined to be 
 the same coveted substance. 
 
 Seeing this, the parrot shrieked with fiendish joy. 
 
 " Indeed it is excellent " I began. 
 
 "Oh, stow your gab!" sneered the parrot, in a 
 suddenly gruff bass voice. 
 
 Aunt Electry rose and stamped her foot at him. 
 
 " He only knows what he 's been taught long ago 
 by a friend," said Aunt Gozeman reassuringly; 
 "he can't tell anything new, right out! " 
 
 All the crime they imputed to me then was glut 
 tony in the matter of preserves! Very well; I pre 
 ferred that. 
 
 "They were really so delightful," I began, with 
 the natural reaction from my qualms. 
 
 " Oh, wur-r-r! " interrupted that horrible grating 
 voice, and then laughed high and loud. 
 
 The sisters in affliction rose and bore the cage out
 
 NEIGHBORIN 237 
 
 into the shed. But I heard oaths and cackles of 
 malicious intention fired at me through the door. 
 
 "Sing 'We be a-sailin', 1 sister," said Aunt Elec- 
 try, when we had retired again to the fireside. 
 
 Miss Gozeman obediently began, in a soft, timid 
 tremulo. 
 
 "We are eout on the ocean saiTmg," came in 
 mocking, strident accents from the wood-shed ; " Oh, 
 h 11! give us a rest!" But dear Aunt Gozeman 
 sang right on, smiling pitifully: 
 
 " ' To our home beyond the tide.' " 
 
 Ah, what tides! what tides had been in these two 
 lives! Arid stranded here for a little, how they 
 cherished with a great heart of compassion the dead 
 trees that bore them no fruit, loving and pitying the 
 wicked parrot that mocked at them, the crow that 
 stole from them, the goat that upset them. 
 
 My own notions of charity seemed so little and 
 mean in comparison. 
 
 "Ask me again," I pleaded; "I have been so sel 
 dom invited to tea. I have enjoyed it." 
 
 Even the fate of the green melon and ginger pre 
 serves lay hard on my awakened conscience. But I 
 made up for that. Not for this winter nor any win 
 ter, so long as they live, should Aunt Electry or 
 Aunt Gozeman want either for preserves or less 
 brilliant condiments. 
 
 Indeed, I play at making home and occupation, 
 and they of the Basin are to me as my sheep through
 
 238 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 this wild, strange winter; and I as their sly shepherd 
 sly, like Captain Leezur. 
 
 All except Vesty. To her child I can make gifts, 
 unknown, through my stanch friend, Lunette, even 
 of food and clothing, but not to her. The old frayed 
 shawl is grander than any ermine, and the goddess' 
 chest is erect and broad; the winter will not kill her 
 but I have gazed sadly in the mirror, and I go 
 often to Captain Leezur.
 
 THE FLAG-RAISIN , OR THE OCCASION 239 
 
 XXIII 
 
 THE " FLAG-RAISIN'," OR " THE OCCASION " 
 
 "!F there 's any fun going on," frankly admits 
 Mrs. Kobbe, "you'll all'as find me up an' dressed!" 
 Perhaps I sympathize more truly with her kind- 
 hearted spouse, who says with a deep sigh: "We 
 mustn't be tackiturn jest because the wind's off the 
 snow-banks." 
 
 So I go to the flag-raising. 
 
 " The Crooked Rivers and Capers have had their 
 flag up these three weeks, " said Lunette; "and I 
 heard how the Artichokes had h'isted theirn yester 
 day. When the Artichokes have got their flag up, 
 seems as though the Basins had better bethinkin' o' 
 what time it is in the mornin'! " 
 
 "What is the flag to be raised for?" I inquired, 
 with unsuspecting innocence. 
 
 There was an afflicted silence; still they loved 
 me. Lunette alone answered at last, turning to Ty 
 son, not to me. 
 
 "I should think it 's enough to have a flag-raisin* 
 without a-askin' what it 's for! " said she. "What 
 does trees grow for? What does anything in natur' 
 act the way it does for ? "
 
 240 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 I, ever safe anchored behind Lunette's champion 
 ship, looked out securely at the derelict Tyson, to 
 see if he could answer. He could not, but was 
 abashed. Still I so far appropriated the hint, wisely 
 and delicately delivered, that I made no further in 
 quiries, only giving myself unhesitatingly to the joy 
 of preparation. 
 
 The flag was to be raised over the school-house, 
 and instead of wending our way dissonantly thither, 
 as was our habit in attending the meetings, we were 
 to go in procession! 
 
 A curious awe attached to this idea, in which I 
 fully shared, as, being formed in line, I tried to limp 
 martially behind the valiant Lunette. 
 
 " Halt, by clam! " said our general. 
 
 " What is it?" came in whispers along the line. 
 
 "Jakie Teel " (one of the sculpins) " "s got his 
 trousers on hind side afore! " 
 
 " Flory dressed him by candlelight this mornin', 
 so 't she could get time to make three loaves o' 
 angel-cake for the flag-raisin'." 
 
 The victim of this mysterious adventure was led 
 away by his mother for reaccoutrement, while we as 
 a regiment waited patiently for his return to warlike 
 rank and file. 
 
 "If these condummit ructions are over," said our 
 general for the wind was blowing cold " forwards 
 ag'in, by clam! " and we marched upon the school- 
 house; but we encountered so many difficulties, of 
 wayward ropes, in hoisting our ensign, that Captain 
 Pharo declared, rubbing his chilled hands:
 
 THE FLAG-RAISIN , OR THE OCCASION 241 
 
 ; 'T we'd omit the usual cheerin' 'tell we'd been 
 in and thawed out ef they was any thaw to us 
 leastways baited." 
 
 Vesty was there with the rest, munching a slice of 
 angel-cake fit food for her! I smiled kindly upon 
 her, but did not forget that I was an indifferent bean 
 pole. 
 
 " Major! " cried the Basin, toward the close of the 
 repast, with its mouth sweet and full " Major, a 
 speech! a speech! " 
 
 Now I had a heart given to the Basin, with a 
 simple thought or two, and I requisitioned the best 
 of my forces for the " Occasion," conscious of my 
 morning glory there oh, she of the skies! munch 
 ing angel's food. 
 
 Whatever I had said or done, moreover, the Basin 
 would have applauded; yet such cheers as I heard 
 now left no doubt upon my too-willing and plastic 
 sense of a phenomenal and hitherto unsuspected 
 ability. 
 
 "Vesty," said Elder Skates, starting to his feet, 
 ''will you start start start anything?" 
 
 "We always do sing 
 
 " ' In the prison cells I set, 
 
 Thinking, mother dear, of you,' 
 
 to flag-raisin'," said the ever well-informed and offi 
 cious Lunette. 
 
 "Somehow," said Captain Pharo, shrugging his 
 shoulders, " thar 's too much of a sea-rake blowin* 
 acrost the back o' my neck t' sing 'Prison Cells;' 
 16
 
 242 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 'tain't clost enough for it here. What d'ye say to 
 'Hold the Fort'?" 
 
 What they said was unanimous. Even Captain 
 Leezur knew it, and the sculpins, of terrible voice. It 
 was sung with such complete personal abandonment 
 to strong oral gifts that, at the second verse, the re 
 maining quota of plastering upon the school-house 
 roof became loosened and fell with a crash upon the 
 head of that very unfortunate sculpin who under other 
 blighting circumstances had been forced to undergo 
 temporary absence from our ranks in the morning. 
 
 He uttered a mature sea-oath, and was again 
 marched violently from our presence by his mother; 
 but I was happy to see that he returned soon after 
 ward and renewed his portion of the song with a gusto 
 which the added quality of defiance now rendered 
 deafening, while through all our din sounded true 
 the flute of Vesty's sweet voice. 
 
 "We mustn't forgit the occasion, I s'pose," said 
 Captain Pharo, our general, at length. "Poo! poo! 
 hohum! I s'pose it 's about time we was thinkin' o' 
 goin' out to cheer the flag. Forwards, by clam! 
 Poo! poo! hohum! Wai, wal 
 
 days are as the grass 
 
 "Sh!" said Mrs. Kobbe, deftly getting audience 
 at his ear. 
 
 "Ladies an' gentlemen an' childern," said Cap 
 tain Pharo, taking his place beside the flag; "we've 
 h'isted of 'er, an' here she blows" he put his hand
 
 THE " FLAG-RAISIN, OR THE OCCASION 243 
 
 in his pocket for his pipe, and drew from his vest a 
 match. 
 
 Mrs. Kobbe coughed loudly, and even shook her 
 head at him: he put them back. 
 
 "We have h'isted on 'er, " he continued, "an' here 
 she blows! " 
 
 Mrs. Kobbe's cough of deeper warning and high- 
 mounting blushes on his account nerved him. 
 
 "We've h'isted of 'er," he shouted with desperate 
 defiance, "and thar she blows, don't she, by clam! 
 on the full, the free, the glorious, an' the everlast- 
 in' h'ist! " 
 
 A sturdy round of applause was not wanting, but 
 on this point Mrs. Kobbe was visibly sceptical: she 
 received her lord with sniffs of disdain. 
 
 4 The full, the free, the glorious, an' the ever- 
 lastin' h'ist'!" said she. "Where was you eddi- 
 cated, Cap'n Pharo Kobbe?" 
 
 "It don't make but darn little difference whar 
 ye've been eddicated," replied Captain Pharo, 
 "when ye're tryin' to make a speech, an' one o' 
 them devil-fish boys goes around behind ye an' snaps 
 a live lobster onto the slack o' yer britches! " 
 
 Giggles from a school of sculpins safe hidden 
 somewhere lent further aggravation to the dilemma. 
 
 "Jakie Teel an* Pharie Kobbe, Junior, '11 come 
 to judgment," cried Mrs. Kobbe, in a loud voice, 
 " 'specially Pharie Kobbe as soon 's ever he gits 
 home," whereat giggling from that miscreant quar 
 ter ceased, and she relieved her lord of his painful 
 embarrassment.
 
 244 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 But at this point a new and surprising develop 
 ment arose. The Basin horses attached to some 
 wholesale herring-boxes, extemporized as sleighs, 
 were driven to the scene. Captain Pharo, with 
 heart-whole joy at the sight, lit his pipe and de 
 clared, with now beaming countenance: 
 
 " It has been arranged, to crown this happy 'ca- 
 sion, for all our unmarried Basins over sixteen year 
 o' age, not forgettin' widders under forty, to have a 
 sleigh ride. Elder Skates'll reel off the names, ac- 
 cordin' to which you can pile yerselves in accord- 
 in'ly, two 'n' two, side by side, thus 'n' so, male 
 an' female, created He them! " 
 
 Flushed with inspiration, Captain Pharo glanced 
 triumphantly at his wife, who, at this more than 
 Pentateuchal illustration, refused to sneer. 
 
 So absorbed was I in watching the gleeful em 
 barkation, and so little dreamed I of being consid 
 ered in a case like this, it had not even occurred to 
 me that I too was an unmarried Basin widely over 
 sixteen years of age, and yet a little under forty, 
 when 
 
 To the choicest seat in the very largest herring- 
 box, the back of which was stylishly bedizened by 
 the splendors of the star bedquilt, I heard my own 
 name called: 
 
 " Major Paul Henry and the Widder Raf e ' " 
 
 Who and where was the Widow Rafe ? Lo ! Vesty 
 stepped out. To be sure the formal, the flag-rais 
 ing, the " Occasion " name of Vesty! 
 
 I led her to her place, but, as for me, I sat down,
 
 THE " FLAG-RAISIN'," OR " THE OCCASION " 245 
 
 lost to mortal woes, silent and dazed, among the 
 stars. 
 
 " Didn't you want to sit with me ? " said Vesty, her 
 face rather grave. 
 
 " Oh, why do you ask that ? " 
 
 "You looked, when they called our names, as 
 though you didn't want to." 
 
 Now I tried to dwell upon the words of Captain 
 Leezur, but, however callous I succeeded in appear 
 ing on the outside, at heart I was a happy, happy 
 bean-pole. 
 
 "I was stunned," I said. "Besides, you see, I 
 did not expect to be invited." 
 
 "Why not, Major Henry?" 
 
 Oh, the beautiful Basin! the beautiful Basin! I 
 tried to speak, but could not. 
 
 "You never seemed before," said she, a sea-shell 
 color glowing in her cheeks, "to feel above us! " 
 
 She felt humbled, and my poor brain was too 
 dizzy and incredulous to frame fitting words. I 
 swallowed hard; that was a Basin prerogative, and 
 by exerting it a direct Basin inspiration seemed to 
 come to me. 
 
 " Feel above you ! O Vesty! " 
 
 At that the sea-shell color went away down low, 
 even to her lips, but no further illumination came to 
 me. 
 
 Past ghostly hill and moor and still-gleaming 
 flood we flew. "I am happy," I could say at last, 
 " as I ought not to be. In all scenes and places 
 where I may ever be I shall remember this, Vesty."
 
 246 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 She shivered a little. Ah! the sad old shawl! I 
 clinched my hands. 
 
 Past hill and moor and still-gleaming flood: the 
 light of day changed to one unfathomed, possible, 
 as of sweet, unspoken dreams becoming blessed at 
 nightfall. 
 
 Then all at once, round and full above a distant 
 hill-top, rose the hoyden moon, and the Basins sa 
 luted her with shouts of natural delight, all save 
 Vesty and I, who were silent. 
 
 Now, I saw, was the hour when each Basin put his 
 arm about his girl. I could not have touched my 
 girl, not under all the rollicking moonbeams that 
 ever fired the heart of youth and man. Farther she 
 seemed to me than that far white hill-top, glittering 
 and high. 
 
 Yet it pierced me that it was a gloomy ride for 
 her. "It was good and kind of them," I said, "to 
 place a poor old fellow like me here beside you; 
 but you should have one of those rosy, handsome 
 lads with you; you so young, though we forget it. 
 Your life is yet to live." 
 
 At the reproach in her eyes a look of anger, -too, 
 but for its wild and dark distress my heart had 
 almost leaped to my lips. 
 
 But too merry the rollickers, who had fallen be 
 hind- us, driving on the homeward road; there had 
 been several laughing, reckless adventures of over 
 turned herring-boxes in the snow-drifts; now the 
 pole attached to one of these had broken; the fright 
 ened horses had cleared themselves and were veering
 
 THE " FLAG-RAISIN'," OR " THE OCCASION " 247 
 
 madly on the narrow road, with the swirfging cross 
 bar, toward that side of the sled where my girl sat, 
 unconscious of the danger, still and pale. 
 
 I sprang, fell in a heap, but rose again somehow; 
 and now at last I put up my arm. It was not with 
 out strength in this case more than mortal strong 
 still, in the end, I fell. 
 
 When I came to myself we were still flying through 
 the wild, swift-changing scene, homeward bound; 
 one of my hands was numb, and my wrist bandaged, 
 and my head was on Vesty's shoulder! We were 
 in right Basin fashion now, only by needs it was 
 Vesty's arm that was about me. 
 
 "Am I dead, Vesty?" said I, half believing it in 
 my bliss; besides, I had ever a great appreciation of 
 the Irish humor. 
 
 "Oh, don't, major; don't!" said Vesty; "you 
 saved me from getting terribly hurt, they say 
 or " 
 
 " Ugh! " I groaned. 
 
 "Your poor arm! " said she. "Oh, the pain! " 
 
 " Nothing pains me," said I. 
 
 "Your arm wasn't broken, major; but it 's terri 
 bly bruised and sprained." 
 
 "And my neck, Vesty you are sure that was not 
 broken?" 
 
 She sighed, but since I was bent, she followed my 
 humor. 
 
 "Never fear," said this demure young woman; 
 " that 's too proud ever to get a twist."
 
 248 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 Here was a dilemma that I should be develop 
 ing into a wit and Vesty into a coquette! 
 
 "Well," said I, "I must try and straighten myself 
 up again," and with that endeavor the pain did cut 
 me so cruelly I fainted, quite without any maiden 
 affectation, back again on to Vesty's arm. 
 
 " Try and think," said she, when I could hear her 
 voice, " that I am some old woman, just trying to 
 take care of you somebody not disagreeable to you, 
 and keep still till we get home." 
 
 "Very well," said I, tormenting myself with the 
 thought that she was acting under some compelling 
 sense of obligation; and that should never be. 
 
 So I answered briefly all at once; and no sooner 
 had I spoken than I endured a gnawing conscious 
 ness that I was the hatefullest thing that had escaped 
 extermination that night. I kept still, however; the 
 pain was something to dread. 
 
 At least I had my beautiful mother's hair, thick 
 and curling; that was all Vesty could see now 
 there on her shoulder. I comforted myself with 
 that thought as a child. I was weak, and I let 
 some tears roll down my face that Vesty could not 
 see. 
 
 When the strong fellows took me out of the sleigh 
 and bore me very gently up to the door they stopped 
 there for a moment, while I wondered; and if any 
 bitter sense of their physical supremacy pierced me 
 at that moment it ceased forever, as with a precon 
 certed signal from the foremost they lifted the caps 
 from their heads and cheered my name, thrice and
 
 THE FLAG-RAISIN , OR THE OCCASION 249 
 
 again, and again, with ringing cheers and Vesty 
 standing by! 
 
 The old Basin flag almost as dilapidated as I 
 had heard nothing like it; but when they dressed 
 the swollen arm pain sent me off into oblivion again. 
 Vesty's was the last face I saw bending over me: 
 
 " Do you " timidly " do you want me to come 
 to-morrow, and see how you are ? " 
 
 "Oh, if you will thank you! Still, I am all 
 right I shall be all right, never fear." 
 
 She lingered still a moment, but spoke calmly: 
 
 "If you don't care anything about me why did you 
 risk your life to save me from getting hurt ? " 
 
 A demon possessed me. Pity I could have en 
 dured, but if she were stung on by that inflicted 
 sense of gratitude? 
 
 "Why did you risk your life to save me?" 
 
 "Oh, it was pity, child," I answered her; the 
 surging bitterness within made it almost a sneer 
 "natural human pity: it is strong in all my race." 
 
 She looked at me with a beautiful sorrow, and as 
 though she called me proudly, to a better contempt 
 of myself. 
 
 "I wish you had a mother," said she then, and 
 flushed, the holy eyelids low, pinning the old shawl 
 "as it is, I don't know what to say."
 
 250 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 XXIV 
 
 THE STORY OF THE SACRED COW 
 
 VESTY came next day at evening, but she took 
 pains to be found in company with almost the entire 
 Basin. 
 
 I was so much better that I was able to be about 
 and receive my guests; at sight of Uncle Coffin even 
 the maimed hand seemed to tingle healthily. He 
 marched me to a chair with an ostentation of vio 
 lence, that really treated me, however, with the soft 
 est gentleness, and sat me down. 
 
 " Dodrabbit ye! " he cried, standing off and regard 
 ing me. "What ye been a-doin' of, you young 
 smashin', slashin', cavortin'-all-around young spark, 
 you ! " 
 
 "Well, "said I, naturally feeling rakish after this, 
 " I will tell you. Miss Pray had a brood of chick 
 ens come off unseasonably to-day, who desired par 
 ticularly and above all things, having taken a gen 
 eral outlook on life, not to live. Under Miss Fray's 
 directions I have been amusing myself with trying 
 to defeat that purpose. I have watched for any 
 signs of hope in their world-disgusted eyes, dipped 
 their unwilling beaks in food, put chips upon their
 
 THE STORY OF THE SACRED COW 251 
 
 backs to help them maintain an earthly equilibrium 
 so little desired by them, however, that oftener 
 they have toppled over and turned their infantile 
 legs entreatingly upward; but I have conquered; 
 they live." 
 
 "Wai, neow, " said Captain Leezur, my chiefest 
 admirer, " ef you ain't a case to describe anything 
 in natur' ! Ef I had you areound I shouldn't never 
 want no dagarrier of a sick chicken, for you'd call 
 'em right up afore me! " 
 
 I murmured my low thanks, blushing as usual 
 under flattery. 
 
 Vesty was talking brilliantly with some of the 
 company, quite away from me. She had a bright, 
 disdainful look, when I chanced to glance that way, 
 new to her, but quite befitting ah me! ah me! 
 some lady one might dream of, of high, disdainful 
 quality. 
 
 "Ain't he a case neow to describe anything in 
 natur'?" joyfully reiterated Captain Leezur to Uncle 
 Coffin. 
 
 Uncle Coffin, with his hands on his knees, shook 
 his head at me, finding no words quite to the mark. 
 
 " Dodrabbit ye! "said he; "you sly young dog, 
 you! " 
 
 "That 's what I tell him! " rippled the deep-gurg 
 ling brook of Captain Leezur's voice; "we're jest 
 like nateral twin-brothers. Only," he added ten 
 derly and gravely, "he ain't nigh so ongodly as I 
 use' ter be." 
 " "Ongodly! Why, dodrabbit ye, Leezur!" said
 
 252 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 this native Artichoke, "ye never done an ongodly 
 thing in yer life 'cept, maybe," he added, "to cuss 
 a little when ye was fishin' for the bucket." 
 
 ' 'Specially," said Captain Leezur intelligently, 
 " when the women folks has been thar afore ye, 
 r'ilin' the water and jabbin' of her furder deown. " 
 
 Uncle Coffin gave me an irresistible but a loving 
 and true, not a malicious, wink. 
 
 "Speakin' o' women folks, Leezur," said he, "is 
 there any news from Lot's wife? " 
 
 Captain Leezur cleared the mellow symphonies of 
 those organs through which he intoned his speech; 
 and was about to reply, fully and sweetly, when 
 Captain Pharo made his appearance at the door. 
 
 Uncle Coffin sprang from his chair, and with a 
 grave face, which only later broke out into those 
 beams of affection which were storming his bosom, 
 shook him violently by the collar, dragged him 
 across the floor, and set him in a chair by the fire 
 place with a loud, conclusive thump. 
 
 " Dodrabbit ye, man!" said he, "I hain't heered 
 your voice since I was a baby." 
 
 Captain Pharo, with a countenance full of delight 
 and sympathy, pulled his ruffled jacket down nearer 
 to the waist line, and lit his pipe. 
 
 "Dodrabbit ye, Pharo!" continued Uncle Coffin, 
 and turned from his pet to me with another wink, 
 "what are yer days like now? They ain't like the 
 grass, are they? I b'lieve they are, jest like the 
 same old grass, or like the morning flower, the 
 blighting wind sweeps o'er. She withers in an'
 
 THE STORY OF THE SACRED COW 253 
 
 why don't ye never finish on 'er out, Pharo? Why 
 don't ye never ring the last note on 'er eh?" 
 
 "Because, Coffin," said Captain Pharo, with a 
 smile of deep meaning, "because thar 's so many 
 things that when they're onct finished they 're com 
 pletely done for in this world; eat a meal o' vittles 
 and thar 's the end on't; smoke a pipe an' she runs 
 dead; I like t' have one thing left over. I like to 
 feel, Coffin, by clam! 't thar 's somethin' 't thar 
 ain't go'n' to be no end on! " 
 
 Uncle Coffin had been studying him attentively, 
 with his hands on his knees. 
 
 " Kobbe, " said he, "you're a ph/losoffarer. " 
 
 Captain Pharo wiggled uneasily. 
 
 "I don't say hippopotamar nor rhinosossarer," 
 said Uncle Coffin; "I say philosoffarer. " 
 
 Captain Pharo drew a strange breath of relief. 
 
 " Mebbe we're a little alike in that respec'," Cap 
 tain Leezur assured him deliciously; " 'cept 't he 
 ain't nigh so ongodly as I use' ter be." 
 
 "I don' know," said Captain Pharo. "I have 
 worked sometimes, Sundays poo! poo! hohum! 
 but not 'less 'twas somethin' 'mportant, gettin' in 
 hay or somethin' like that. And I have poo! poo! 
 hohum! Wai, wal hauled out my lobster car some 
 times Sundays waitin' for the smack hohum! " 
 
 " Pharo," said Uncle Coffin, holding up his finger, 
 "no more! I know ye. Thar ain't an ongodly bone 
 in yer body 'cept maybe when ye've lost yer pipe 
 an' cussed a little." 
 
 "An' the women folks wants to haul ye over some-
 
 254 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 whar's on a flat sea to have yer gol darn pictur' 
 took!" said Captain Pharo, with poignant recollec 
 tion of a still unquiet grief. 
 
 " Kobbe," said Uncle Coffin, " no more! " 
 
 " ' I know not why I love her, 
 
 The fair an' beau'chus she; 
 She bro't the cuss upon me, 
 
 Und'neath the apple-tree: 
 But she asked me for my jack knife, 
 
 And halved 'er squar' with me, 
 Sence all'as lovely woman 
 
 Gives the biggest half to thee.' " 
 
 "Judah's wife writ that," exclaimed Captain 
 Pharo, with a generic awe of poetry as poetry. 
 
 "She did," said Uncle Coffin, with eyes apprecia 
 tive of the muse fixed gravely on the fire, " she did." 
 
 There was a daughter of Eve who was treating me 
 very severely. 
 
 Instead of the old encouraging smile and gleam 
 of merry recognition or sympathy in her eyes, there 
 was now an averted gaze, bent very brightly, it 
 seemed, on every one but me; in that direction 
 alone, a studied coldness, a haughty carriage of tl.e 
 head. What could I expect? but it broke my 
 heart. 
 
 I subscribed silently to the mood of Belle O'Neill, 
 whose mind was subject to vagaries, and who in 
 the midst of the gay company was playing weird, 
 plaintive " revival " tunes upon the mouth-harp, en 
 thusiastically absorbed in her art. 
 
 Her mistress, Miss Pray, who notably for some
 
 THE STORY OF THE SACRED COW 255 
 
 time had been receiving the attentions of Pershal, 
 the man who had been in California, had withdrawn 
 with him, with tacit understanding of apologies, to 
 the kitchen, where they were carrying on their court 
 ing, as all good Basins should, undisturbed. 
 
 The young people were playing a game of forfeits. 
 I heard Vesty's penalty pronounced; it was, to go 
 and put her hand upon " the handsomest man in the 
 room." 
 
 She began to move, with her lovely, erect head 
 and brilliant, averted smile, toward the fireplace. 
 Surely she would not put any ignominy or mockery 
 upon me ah, no! I knew in my heart. But she 
 came nearer, and I gazed, spellbound; and then she 
 bowed her beautiful head with a tender, laughing 
 smile, and laid her hand on Captain Leezur's shoul 
 der. 
 
 " Here! " she said. 
 
 Oh, how he laughed! Robins by the brook, and 
 sun-sparkles. 
 
 "That 's right, Vesty!" he exclaimed; "that 's 
 right, darlin'. Come and kile yourself areound 
 them 't 's got some feelin's! " 
 
 He winked at Captain Pharo and Uncle Coffin. 
 
 The sweet girl blushed disdainfully for some 
 one and, with a lingering touch on the dear man's 
 shoulder, went away. 
 
 "I've all'as been kiled over a good deal," ex 
 plained Captain Leezur gently, with a smile the 
 subtlety of which he sought in a measure to hide. 
 
 "And we mustn't forgit," he added, "that thar 's
 
 256 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 a time for all things under the sun. Thar 's a time 
 to be a bean-pole and thar 's a time to kile. " 
 
 He winked at me; fearing that I had not under 
 stood, he winked still broader; then, moving his 
 back toward his two companions, he directed full 
 upon me a wink so vast and expressive that I en 
 deavored at once to signify my enlightenment by 
 replying in kind; but, unpractised as I was in the 
 art, I could only infer what the unlovely aspect of 
 my features must have been from the look of sor 
 rowful disgust which immediately thereafter over 
 spread Vesty's own. 
 
 But it transpired that that look of disgust was not 
 for me. It was for Belle O'Neill, who, moved by 
 another inspiration, had thoughtfully abandoned her 
 mouth-harp to creep through the surreptitious chan 
 nel of the wood-box and learn how Miss Pray and 
 Pershal were progressing in their courting. 
 
 She returned with a face of excitement. 
 
 "Be they j'indin' hands, or anything like that?" 
 we asked. 
 
 "No," said Belle O'Neill: "he told 'er winter 
 pears was the pears for him, an' she giv' him a slap 
 an' started down suller to get a dish o' fruit, an' he 
 told 'er when she come back he was goin' ter tell 
 her a story 't he hadn't never told or dreamed o' 
 tellin' to anybody but her; he said he'd all'as kep' 
 it to himself, 'cause folks 't hadn't been inCaliforny 
 was ign'runt an' env'ous, an' wouldn't believe noth- 
 in' 't was told 'em, but he guessed she loved him
 
 THE STORY OF THE SACRED COW 257 
 
 well enough to b'lieve it; an' he said the name of it 
 was 'The Story o' the Sacred Cow!' " 
 
 On uttering these words with a countenance of 
 feverish eagerness and expectation, Belle O'Neill 
 unhesitatingly turned and crept back through the 
 passage. 
 
 Not long afterward I found myself lifted bodily 
 over into the wood-box, and guided by the silent 
 wake of Captain Pharo's pipe before, and entreated 
 gently by Uncle Coffin from behind, I crawled to the 
 little store-room adjoining the kitchen. 
 
 The door was slightly ajar; and with whatever 
 shame I have only to record that I stood with delec 
 tation by this door and waited for the Man-Who-had- 
 Been-in-California to tell " The Story of the Sacred 
 Cow." 
 
 " Arter all, Jane," said he, plunging his knife into 
 a choice pear, "you'd orter seen the winter fruit we 
 use' ter have in Californy! " 
 
 Miss Fray's face fell. We heard Captain Pharo 
 groan silently; moreover, his pipe had gone out, 
 and he dared not relight it. 
 
 " I thought you was goin' to tell a new one 
 about the Sacred Cow ? " said Miss Pray. 
 
 "So I will, Jane," said Pershal ; "but the fact is, 
 it 's sech a true, sech a solemn an' myster'ous thing, 
 that I fa'rly dread to tackle it! " 
 
 Belle O'Neill would have gasped, had she dared. 
 She kicked the calf of my lame leg convulsively 
 instead. 
 
 17
 
 258 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 " Thar 's been a great many stories," continued 
 Pershal, " about sacred cows. Folks has claimed t' 
 seen 'em. Circuses has claimed t' had 'em: but the 
 fact, an' the solemn fact, is, thar wa'n't never but 
 one Sacred Cow, and that was raised on my farm in 
 Californy. 
 
 " She was white, and nothin' monst'ous, jest about 
 the size of an ordinary cow " Captain Pharo drew 
 an inaudible sigh of relief "it was the intellex of 
 her and the sacredness; wal, the go-to-meet'n-ness 
 of her, as ye might say, that was so monst'ous an' 
 so strange that I trem'le to call itupag'in; but I've 
 promised, an' I will." 
 
 Belle O'Neill, pale in the darkness, stifled an 
 other gasp. 
 
 "She wa'n't nothin' byordinar' as a calf; run an' 
 gambil around with the other calves, bunt every- 
 thin', an' shake her heels out with the sinfullest. 
 It was when she got to be a cow, and a old cow, 
 that these here ructions o' sacredness, as ye might 
 say, begun to develop themselves in her. 
 
 "First I knew, she wouldn't eat nothin': we 
 warmed her mess an' we salted it; no, nothin' 'u'd 
 do. We tried all manner o' gimcracks an' fussin' 
 with her. Firtally says Jim my man says he: 'Per 
 haps she's the Sacred Cow,' says he, laffin', an' went 
 in an' got a hymn-book an' sot it up afore her, and " 
 Belle 'ONeill shivered "what does the old cow 
 do but pitch in and eat her mess regalar! Minit we 
 took that hymn-book away or shet it up, she'd stop 
 eatin'."
 
 THE STORY OF THE SACRED COW 259 
 
 Captain Pharo and Uncle Coffin nudged each other 
 in voiceless agony. I felt, but could not see, the 
 calm irradiance of Captain Leezur's look. 
 
 " Then another singalar thing begun to be noticed. 
 All them 't drunk the milk from her was took an' 
 possessed to jine the church! I use' ter send out 
 peddlin' carts o' milk for my ranch was the biggest 
 in that section it use' ter be all mixed together 
 in course, an' the smallest elemunt o' that old cow's 
 milk in it made it jest the same asef 'twas all hern. 
 Sometimes I thought ser'ously whether I hadn't 
 ought to take her and, go around an' start seasons o' 
 special interest with her all over the kentry; and 
 then thinks I no, I'll stay here and I'll let 'em 
 build new churches. So they kep' a-goin' up three 
 new Baptis', four new Methodis', in a month's time. " 
 
 Captain Leezur w.as softly but strenuously suck 
 ing a nervine lozenge. I heard Captain Pharo 
 crunching one down stormily, at the same time one 
 was pressed into my hand. "They come high," 
 whispered the beloved voice; "cent apiece, dollar a 
 hunderd, but " 
 
 "But the strangest and singalarest of it all, I 
 didn't find out till 'long toward the last. I was 
 a-milkin' on her one day, an' I spilled the milk ac 
 cidental, an' I said a word that I hadn't ort'er said. 
 When she heered that she up an' kicked me, an' I 
 give her tail a yank, an' she began to sing " 
 
 Belle O'Neill clutched me by the neck. 
 
 " I don' say that she sung as Vesty doos. I don' 
 say that she pernounced the words jest regalar; but
 
 260 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 as fur as tune goes, she hit the tune right squar' in 
 the bull's eye every time. She sung: 
 
 " ' From Greenlan's icy mountings, 
 
 From Injy's coral stran', 
 Whar Aferk's sunny fountings 
 Roll down their goldin' san'; ' " 
 
 And when she got as fur as that" Pershall showed 
 evidences of lively distress " she keeled right over 
 an' died. 
 
 "You've heered o' the tewn 't the old cow died 
 on? Wai, that 's whar it all started, Jane; right 
 thar. That was the very cow and the very event. 
 It was my old cow that died." 
 
 " Give me sea-room here, by clam ! " muttered Cap 
 tain Pharo, shooting his arms about. 
 
 " Ef I b'lieved in gho's, I sh'd say 't your but'ry 
 was harnted, Jane," came from the kitchen the sol 
 emn and shifty voice of the Man-Who-had-Been-in- 
 California: " le's step around by the outside way to 
 the door whar the folks is. Jest look at the stars, 
 Jane," he continued, when they were safe out. " See 
 anythin' o' my old cow up in the Milky Way ? Down 
 in the southern latitude, whar I was, the Milky Way 
 use' ter be so plain some nights 't ye could see " 
 
 We lost it in the distance, as we returned, by the 
 honorable and legitimate highway now offered us, to 
 the guest-room. " I never keered so much about 
 money in the bank," said Uncle Coffin, giving me a 
 nudge; "all 't I ever as't for was luck! " 
 
 But I yearned in secret to know the developments 
 of the Milky Way; especially as the length of time
 
 THE STORY OF THE SACRED COW 26 1 
 
 absorbed by Pershal and Miss Pray in walking be 
 tween the two doors advised me with an only too 
 tragic hint of the marvel and interest I had lost. 
 
 I could not wonder that Vesty was now loftier 
 toward me than ever. Uncle Coffin, Captain Pharo, 
 Captain Leezur and I kept close together as a sort 
 of brazen and disgraceful community. Uncle Coffin, 
 having to retrace his steps to Artichoke, was the 
 first to leave the party. 
 
 "I can't tell ye, Miss Pray," said he, "how much 
 I've enjiyed the evenin' no, honest, I can't tell 
 ye! " he winked at Captain Pharo, who choked and 
 had to resort to song " but I und'stand thar 's a 
 happy event comin', an' I wish ye jiy; ye know 
 I do!" 
 
 As he disappeared down the road he indulged in a 
 continued, loud, and exact imitation of Admiral 'S I 
 Sums-it-up (who was also a justice of the peace, and 
 who married people) : 
 
 "G'long, ye old fool! Git up, ye old skate! " 
 
 At which we all, including Pershal and Miss 
 Pray, laughed inordinately, gazing out into the 
 sweet Basin night; and indeed I was even ready to 
 avow with my life that it was a joke of the extrem- 
 est savor. Even had all Uncle Coffin's sins been 
 known, he would have been forgiven. 
 
 Captain Leezur put on Vesty 's shawl for her: 
 
 "Sence I'm the han'somest man in the room," he 
 gurgled. 
 
 "So you are!" The tender, girlish light of her 
 great eyes was on him; no kind look for me.
 
 262 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 " Vesty ! " Captain Leezur whispered, but a whisper 
 that could not be dark and secret to save itself; I 
 heard: "why don't ye speak to major? Ye ain't 
 spoke tew words tew him the hull endurin' evenin'." 
 
 She darted a dark flash at him too. 
 
 "Vesty! Vesty!" said the beloved old man, in 
 that whisper that so thoroughly deceived him " I 
 know 't I set ye up to this bean-pole business. But 
 it won't dew for both on ye to be bean-poles. One 
 or the other on ye 's got to kile. Neow, Vesty, ye 
 know 't major 's got some misfortin's in his looks 't 
 makes him beound to be preoud; ye wouldn't have 
 him other ways. Ye see, Vesty, he don't know 't " 
 
 She stopped him with a haughty look. 
 
 "An* in course," said he, "I don't know, neither. 
 But it dews make me feel dreadful t' think I've 
 started sech a rank bean-pole farm as this, when 
 I've all'as told ye, my little gal, 't we'd ort'er use 
 moderation"^Captain Leezur wiped his blessed shin 
 ing eyes "moderation in all things, even in pass- 
 nips I have said an' neow I change it to bean 
 poles." 
 
 Vesty's mouth quivered; her eyes looked fit to en 
 fold the whole sinful world for his sake. 
 
 "Good-night, major!" she said coldly; but she 
 had spoken. And, beautiful and tall, she passed 
 out of sight. 
 
 As Captain Leezur turned to me, in spite of the 
 dark duplicity of his conduct toward me, my heart 
 gushed out to him unawares. I grasped his hand 
 silently.
 
 IN THE LANE 263 
 
 XXV 
 
 IN THE LANE 
 
 I MET her on the morrow in the lane. She would 
 have passed me with a mere morning salutation, 
 but I spoke to her. " I will tell the story at least," 
 I thought, "before I go away." 
 
 " Vesty,"said I timidly. Even the handsomest of 
 the Basins were timid in putting the question; and 
 I, so miserable, and believing it not to be a question 
 at all, but only a confession, was choking. 
 
 "Yes, sir," said Vesty, with reassuring meekness, 
 but there was something wicked about her mouth 
 and eyes. O Vesty, had you been of the world I 
 fear you would have been a sad one! 
 
 "What did you mean," said I, starting in wise 
 Basin fashion, at a millennium distance from the in 
 tended point, " what did you mean, the other night, 
 when you said that you wished I had a mother? " 
 
 "Oh, because we all need them, for comfort and 
 then, sometimes for correction." 
 
 " And which did you think that I needed one for ? " 
 
 Vesty turned her sheathed eyes away toward the 
 safe west with a smile that gave me no other answer. 
 
 " It is lifting to be a glorious day," I said.
 
 264 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 "If you want to talk about the weather," rippled 
 the girl's voice, quite gently, "why don't you go 
 and sit on the log with Captain Leezur? He rolled 
 down another this morning." 
 
 "I am going," I sighed. "What do you think 
 he would tell me about the weather?" 
 
 "What we all say: 'The wind's canting in from 
 the west, and you'll see this fog hop.' " 
 
 " It is what I say, and shall say forever, in such 
 a case. 'The wind's canting in from the west, and 
 you'll see this fog hop.' " 
 
 "You only pretend to be a Basin! " 
 
 " God forgive you ! No; I don't pretend. I shall 
 never get over it. I shall be one forever and ever, 
 wherever I go, Vesty. " 
 
 She looked down and paled. "Are you going 
 away, major ? " 
 
 "Yes." Then said I, looking at her, " How far 
 do you think pity could lead one, Vesty you, so 
 pitiful and kind? Do you think that it could even 
 lead you to marry me? To take little Gurd and go 
 away with me and help me to live for pity?" 
 
 "No! oh, no!" she gasped. 
 
 "Then," said I, grasping hard on my cane with 
 my feeble hand, "as God wills! " 
 
 " Because," said Vesty, "I'm not so unselfish as 
 that. I can't marry you for that reason because 
 I love you ! " 
 
 The red of the Basin sunset, that would be by and 
 by unsurpassed, glowed in her cheeks. 
 
 As for me forever a Basin I dashed my hand
 
 IN THE LANE 265 
 
 across my eyes. A Voice above land and sea tolled 
 toward me in that moment, through her voice, in 
 gathering waves that covered all the pitiful acci 
 dent and despair of a maimed, halting, birth-marked 
 universe : 
 
 " And the crooked places shall be made straight; 
 and the rough places plain. Then shall the lame 
 man leap as an hart." . . .
 
 266 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 XXVI 
 
 JUST THE SCHOOL-HOUSE 
 
 WAVES, slowly, softly breaking, not on the Basin 
 shore: though ever, in remotest lands, we dream 
 of that. 
 
 We hold it mystic more and more, for love of it! 
 ay, we have it mingled in our thoughts with that 
 one safe and sweet possession, the Land unspoken, 
 the Basin whose colors dawn at eventide! 
 
 And we never count: "Such an one was lost," 
 and, " Such an one was living, when we knew." For 
 there, there are none lost. They live again! 
 
 I suggested once that we should build a house fit 
 ting those grand sea-cliffs, sometimes to occupy it. 
 
 But Vesty, ever wise, was silent, troubled, and I 
 read her thought. 
 
 No, we should introduce no discordant element 
 there, of liveries and servants, and riches and seclu- 
 sive walls, of mine and thine. 
 
 "Mine is thine if thou needest it," was ever the 
 Basin code: "even my life!" Before such a spirit 
 the admission of worldly wealth and rank were 
 tawdry. 
 
 But Vesty communicates with them (dear to me
 
 JUST THE SCHOOL-HOUSE 267 
 
 when they arrive are the stamps unutterably erased 
 by Lunette's faithful art) : and we know that they 
 are happier for us, and by us comforted. 
 
 And do I never blush for Vesty in her new posi 
 tion? Ay, a thousand times, for pride and joy! 
 Her manners are from a high source indeed ; you will 
 not find me any that are higher. 
 
 Full are her hands of charity and mercy, given, 
 as the great Founder of our nobilities gave, without 
 stooping, of condescension. Saint Vesta! who gives 
 a glory to my name it never had before the high 
 and noble lady of my house! 
 
 And love makes, as fully as may be in this world, 
 security about her steps, which yet it would not 
 hamper. 
 
 Driven in her state carriage, robed in velvet and 
 sable, she is royal; yet not so queenly, not so 
 matchless, as when walking, pitiful, lonely, and 
 strong against misfortune, by the Basin shores, with 
 her child upheld upon her arm, and the old shawl. 
 
 One evening I found her by the window, gazing 
 out wistfully where the wind was tossing the rain, 
 which ceased now and then in strange intermittent 
 gusts, still wild of the tempest. 
 
 She looked up at me with a smile, trustful, but 
 earnest and pathetic. 
 
 " I want to go out in the storm," she said. 
 
 "Then go, child," I answered her. "Your pos 
 sessions are wide, and, as we of the Basin say, you 
 are not made of sugar, to melt; neither," I added, 
 "are you like Lot's wife."
 
 268 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 She showed her fine teeth over that old tender and 
 beloved reminiscence, but the wistful look, and sad, 
 was still in her eyes. 
 
 "And I would like to put on the old shawl 
 again, just this once," she said. 
 
 "Oh," said I, "that is another thing. That is 
 priceless, and I have it, as you know, locked among 
 my treasures. Still, this once, yes." And I brought 
 it to her. 
 
 Still smiling at me, as pleading for her fancy, she 
 held it at her throat as of old. 
 
 I made haste to resume my reading with seeming 
 preoccupation apart, for I thought she wished to go 
 alone. 
 
 "Aren't you coming? "said she, wistfully again, 
 and paled and turned to me. 
 
 The look in her eyes she wanted me! Oh, how 
 my heart leaped a trick taught it at the Basin, 
 which now it will never get over. 
 
 But, sly as Captain Leezur, I hid my delight in 
 the folds of my great overcoat. 
 
 Long we walked together. " What inspired you 
 to this? This is best of all," I said. 
 
 " Why ? " said Vesty, glowing and beautiful. 
 
 "Because now I see again that you are 'Vesty.' 
 
 And my Lady of M was a possible dream always. 
 
 But Vesty seemed unattainable. 
 
 "That rose color,"! added, looking at her cheeks, 
 " I never saw anywhere except at certain sunsets 
 you know where." 
 
 For we of the Basin however wilfully inclined
 
 JUST THE SCHOOL-HOUSE 269 
 
 sometimes, as Captain Pharo at heart bow down to 
 our wives, and make love to them, long, long after 
 we are married: quite, indeed, until death do us 
 part, as all true Basins should. 
 
 " Paul ! " said Vesty. Now " Paul " was really my 
 name, with considerable before and after it, but 
 never mind all that. 
 
 " Paul ! " 
 
 " Well ? " I said 
 
 Confused with the rose-color blushes: "I forgot," 
 she murmured, "what I was going to say." 
 
 No, she had not forgotten it! Her face was elo 
 quent; only she cannot talk with that fluency with 
 which she Can look beautiful and sigh. Especially 
 when she would express anything of deep feeling, 
 she has a way of brushing a speck of dust from my 
 right shoulder, and letting her hand rest there a mo 
 ment, that tells me worlds, but would not go for 
 much, I admit, on a smart female rostrum. 
 
 But " Paul ! " that voice creeps to me at all times, 
 for counsel, for sympathy; comes impulsively, that 
 is the best of it comes ever impulsively. 1 do not 
 know why I am so blessed among my fellows! Just 
 as the lad comes to me he, too, of the highest 
 breeding. I never saw a look of wonder or shrink 
 ing on his face; and once, in an llness that he had 
 he clung to me, cried for me, even above his mother. 
 
 I gave my heart to him then. When a sick child, 
 with a mother like Vesty, turns and clings to one 
 well, it is like to set one up. 
 
 He quotes me, refers to me, defends me, apes all
 
 270 VESTY OF THE BASINS 
 
 my mannerisms, and struts with them proudly as 
 clear legal type and documentary evidence. 
 
 He has my name, Gurdon "Paul," with the rest: he 
 is my heir. Handsome, stalwart, as our race has 
 notably been; loving, generous, fearless, all that 
 the world can give him will be his besides; tutors, 
 splendors, wide, luxurious travel, the entrance to 
 glittering courts only, God grant that he may find 
 just the Basin at last! the true, the pitiful, the pure 
 of heart: that he may come up to the stature of his 
 father, who knew but one plain path, and that the 
 royal one; who, in the battle with fear and death, 
 was greater than the storm. 
 
 So, often in rich and high cathedrals with Vesty 
 by my side, the organ has but to peal forth plain 
 tively, and those stately, emblematic windows fade 
 away to others, broken, swaying in the wind, and 
 the roar of the tides comes in, and high above the 
 great clouds pass wondrously. 
 
 And I think how the Christ, painted in purple and 
 crimson glories in these walls, and before whose 
 image the hosts bow down, was a poor Basin of the 
 Basins, in His birth and in His death ; who had never 
 a sure pillow, and who minded all woes save His 
 own. 
 
 And above the written scroll of the preacher I 
 hear the old prophetic voice, how " not many wise 
 men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many 
 noble, are called." . . . 
 
 Vesty walks this new way with me, that was not 
 of her knowledge or choosing, with a patience in any
 
 JUST THE SCHOOL-HOUSE 271 
 
 tedious form or imposed convention, far surpassing 
 mine. 
 
 Then I tell her that I am only an adopted Basin, 
 and have missed so many of the first important years 
 of good breeding; when I was taught to be only 
 moody, if I would, and solitary and selfish. 
 
 Then she turns the rose-color, and her eyes shine 
 on me; and if I have been patient with some vapid 
 visitor, uttering weary commonplaces (longing, oh 
 how infinitely, all the while in my heart, for Cap 
 tain Leezur and the log!) she comes to me after 
 ward, and leans over me with a caress and says, 
 "That 's a dear Basin!" 
 
 Thus I observe always my lady's rank, and am 
 happy when she exalts me to it. 
 
 Sometimes in dark hours, when gigantic shadows, 
 
 unexplained, oppress heart and soul lo! the 
 
 "Boys" play softly to us once again upon instru 
 ments above our art, with a touch that thrills above 
 these masters. 
 
 We recognize that life is not a draught, either of 
 joy or misery, but a sweet, stern task set us, in a 
 failing tenement; and half between smiles and tears 
 we dream how, to that darkening school-house, when 
 the shadows grow heartbroken and weary, some lov 
 ing Basin, only great because of the faith that was 
 in him, shall come to lead us home. 
 
 THE END
 
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