She had so much to tell Cousin Eunice that it seemed really as if she
had taken the journey with them. She put on Jane's faded gingham
sunbonnet and gave her voice a queer nasal twang, and talked as some of
the women did up there in the wilderness, who thought a city "must be an
awfully crowdy place an' she jes' didn't see how people managed to live
in it. An' as fer the sea, give her dry land every time."
Then she talked the French-English patois of the emigrants from Canada,
and told of their funny attire, and their log huts, sometimes with only
one big room, with a stone chimney in the centre, and sawed logs for
seats.
"They did that in Salem nigh on to two hundred years ago," said Cousin
Eunice.
"How much people do learn by living," remarked the little girl sagely.
Then the olden round began. Being asked out to tea and inviting in
return, sewing bees, quilting parties when some girl was making an
outfit. And though the elders shook their heads at such a waste of time,
they went out to walk in the afternoon and stopped in the shops that
were making a show on Essex Street and Federal Street. There was Miss
Rust's pretty millinery parlor--it had a sofa in the front room and a
table with an embroidered cover that Cynthia had sent her. They talked
of new styles and colors, and were aghast at the thought that royalty
sometimes had as many as twenty hats and bonnets. She made pretty old
lady caps as well, and she did love to hear the young girls chatter. And
Molly Saunders was still baking gingerbread, that had delighted them as
school children, and no one made such good spruce and sassafras beer.
One evening at a dance she had a great surprise. Some one said, "Miss
Cynthia Leverett, Mr. Marsh."
A rather tall, ruddy, good-looking fellow, with laughing eyes and an
unmistakable sailor air, held her dainty hand and studied her face.
"Oh, you don't know me!" in the jolliest of tones. "And I should know
you if you had been cast ashore on a rocky island and I were looking at
you through a spyglass. You haven't changed in the main, only to grow
prettier. You were a poor pale little thing then."
"Oh, I can't think!" She flushed and smiled. Something in the hearty
voice won her.
"At Dame Wilby's school. And the bad boy who sat behind you--Tommy
Marsh."
"Oh! oh! And that day I sat on the floor!" She laughed gayly. She did
not mind it a bit now.
"Wasn't it funny? And the way you just sat still with the school in an
uproar. You standing up there and 'sassing' back the old dame! Such a
mite of a thing, too. My! but you were a plucky one!" in admiration.
"And you never came to school after that. I ought to get down on my
knees and beg your pardon for the sly pinches I gave you, and the times
I tweaked your curly hair. I've half a mind to do it."
"Oh, no!" and she made a funny gesture of alarm, and both laughed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account