Jane raised objections--the weather was cold and the child would take a
chill; grandmother was inconsiderate, and upset its stomach with
sweetstuff; it had not a tidy dress in which to be seen: but Jonas
overruled all her objections. He was a mild and yielding man, but on
this one point he was inflexible--his child should grow up to know,
love, and reverence his mother as sincerely as did he himself. And these
were delightful hours to the old woman, when she could have the infant
on her lap, croon to it, and talk to it all the delightful nonsense that
flows from the lips of a woman when caressing a child.
Moreover, when the boy was not there, Betty was knitting socks or
contriving pin-cases, or making little garments for him; and all the
small savings she could gather from the allowance made by her son, and
from the sale of some of her needlework, were devoted to the same
grandchild.
As the little fellow found his feet and was allowed to toddle, he often
wanted to "go to granny," not much to the approval of Mrs. Jane. And,
later, when he went to school, he found his way to her cottage before he
returned home so soon as his work hours in class were over. He very
early developed a love for the sea and ships.
This did not accord with Mrs. Jane's ideas; she came of a family that
had ever been on the land, and she disapproved of the sea. "But,"
remonstrated her husband, "he is my son, and I and my father and
grandfather were all of us sea-dogs, so that, naturally, my part in the
boy takes to the water."
And now an idea entered the head of Old Betty. She resolved on making a
ship for Peter. She provided herself with a stout piece of deal of
suitable size and shape, and proceeded to fashion it into the form of a
cutter, and to scoop out the interior. At this Peter assisted. After
school hours he was with his grandmother watching the process, giving
his opinion as to shape, and how the boat was to be rigged and
furnished. The aged woman had but an old knife, no proper carpentering
tools, consequently the progress made was slow. Moreover, she worked at
the ship only when Peter was by. The interest excited in the child by
the process was an attraction to her house, and it served to keep him
there. Further, when he was at home, he was being incessantly scolded by
his mother, and the preference he developed for granny's cottage caused
many a pang of jealousy in Jane's heart.
Peter was now nine years old, and remained the only child, when a sad
thing happened. One evening, when the little ship was rigged and almost
complete, after leaving his grandmother, Peter went down to the port.
There happened to be no one about, and in craning over the quay to look
into his father's boat, he overbalanced, fell in, and was drowned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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