"We walked to Tom Never's Head yesterday. It was one of those clear
silver days, a little cloudy and without much color. The
cranberries are ripe, and the moor was carpeted with them. When we
got to Tom Never's we sat on the edge of the bluff, and Mr. Cope
told me what he meant about the moor. It has its moods, he said. On
a quiet, cloudy morning, it is a Quaker lady. With the fog in, it
is a White Spirit. There are purple twilights when it
is--Cleopatra, and windy nights with the sun going down blood-red,
when it is--Medusa---- He says that the trouble with the average
picture is that it is just--paint. I am not sure that I understand
it all, but it is terribly interesting. And when he had talked a
lot about that, he talked of the history of the island. He said
that he should never be satisfied until somebody put a bronze
statue of an Indian right where we stood, with his back to the sea.
And when I said, 'Why with his back to it?' he said, 'Wasn't the
sea cruel to the red man? It brought a conquering race in ships.'
"I told him then about our Indians in Virginia, and that some of us
had a bit of red blood in our veins, and I told him that you and I
always used the old Indian war cry when we called to each other,
and he asked, 'Who is Randy?' and I said that you were an old
friend, and that we had spent much of our childhood together."
As a matter of fact, Cope had been much interested in her account of
young Paine. "Do you mean to say that he is still living on all that
land?"
"Yes."
"Master of his own domain. I can't see it. The way I like to live is
with a paint box, and a bag, and nothing to keep me from moving on."
"We aren't like that in the South."
"Do you like to stay in one place?"
"I never have. I have always been handed around."
"Would you like a home of your own?"
"Of course--after I am married."
"North, south, east or west?"
She put the question to him seriously. "Do you think it would make any
difference if you loved a man, where you lived?"
"Well, of course, there might be difficulties--on a desert island."
"Not if you loved him."
"My sister wouldn't agree with you."
"Why not?"
"She is very modern. She says that love has nothing to do with it. Not
romantic love. She says that when she marries she shall choose a man who
lives in New York, who likes to go to Europe, and who hates the tropics.
He must fancy pale gray walls and willow-green draperies, and he must
loathe Florentine furniture. He must like music and painting, and not
care much for books. He must adore French cooking, and have a prejudice
against heavy roasts. He must be a Republican and High Church. She is
sure that with such a man she would be happy. The dove of peace would
hover over the household, because she and her husband would have nothing
to quarrel about."
"Of course she doesn't mean it."
"She thinks she does."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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