Dialect literature, Canadian; Fishing villages -- Fiction; Newfoundland and Labrador -- Fiction; Sea stories; Short stories
“Nobody knows nothin’ about a woman,” said Tumm; “least of all, the
woman. An’, anyhow,” he resumed, “’Lizabeth All didn’t care. Why, God
save you, sir!” he burst out, “she loved the shoulders an’ soul o’ Slow
Jim Tool too much t’ care. ’Tis a woman’s way; an’ a woman’s true love
so passes the knowledge o’ men that faith in God is a lesson in A B C
beside it. Well,” he continued, “sailin’ the _Give an’ Take_ that fall,
I was cotched in the early freeze-up, an’ us put the winter in at Jump
Harbor, with a hold full o’ fish an’ every married man o’ the crew in a
righteous rage. An’ as for ’Lizabeth, why, when us cleared the
school-room, when ol’ Bill Bump fiddled up with the accordion ‘’Money
Musk’ an’ ‘_Pop_ Goes the Weasel,’ when he sung out, ‘Balance!’ an’
‘H’ist her, lad!’ when the jackets was throwed aside an’ the boots was
cast off, why, ’Lizabeth All jus’ fair _clinged_ t’ that there big,
gray-eyed, pink-an’-white Slow Jim Tool! ’Twas a pretty sight t’ watch
her, sir, plump an’ winsome an’ yellow-haired, float like a sea-gull
over the school-room floor—t’ see her blushes an’ smiles an’ eyes o’
love. It done me good. I ’lowed I wished I was young again—an’ big an’
slow an’ kind an’ curly-headed. But lookin’ about, sir, it seemed t’ me,
as best I could understand, that a regiment o’ little devils was
stickin’ red-hot fish-forks into the vitals o’ Archibald Shott; an’ then
I ’lowed, somehow, that maybe I was jus’ as well off as I was. I got a
look in his eyes, sir, afore the night was done; an’ it jus’ seemed t’
me that the Lord had give me a peep into hell.
“’Twas more’n Archibald Shott could carry. ‘Tumm,’ says he, nex’ day, ‘I
’low I’ll move.’
“‘Where to?’ says I.
“‘’Low I’ll jack my house down t’ the ice,’ says he, ‘an’ haul she over
t’ Deep Cove. I’ve growed tired,’ says he, ‘o’ fishin’ Jump Harbor.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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