The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-10-30

her goods were removed to it. and nicely ar
ranged. smile of satisfaction cleaned ON the
face of the widow, for she felt it was home-a
smile that was followed by sigh and a flood
/ of tears. as her eve fell upon Bens sea-chest
which stood close by the head Of her bed But
her necessities called for immediate action and
when it was known that Mary Fanham had
set up housekeeping, and was ready to take
in spinning" almost as cheap as they could get
it done in the house, many farmers wife whose
Hannah was " fixing to get married, or whose
Jemima could get more by keeping school, sent
her bundles of rolls or flax to the widows cot
tage--for Mary's grlish fame as a spinner had
not been forgotten and the low cheerful buzing
of her spindle seemed gradually to shut out
from her memory the haunting voice of the
sea.
Although she thus sought wool and flax "
like the wise women of Scripture neither her
children nor herself were cothedin purple or
scarlet although, sooth to say. the boys
clothes were patched sometimes until they re-
sembled Joseph's coat of many colors. But
they cared little for this--they had clean faces
| and light hearts, and were busy as ants in
| helping their mother on in truth, they often
looked not unlike those little insects, as they
went back and forth through the woods, with
| great bundles of white rolls upon their shout
| ders, or numberless skenS of yarn strung round
| their necks They were soon large enough to
ride horse and drive COWS for the neighboring
| farmers and though they received little money
for such services the pals of milk and flour
| and " shortening" that they brought home
| helped to exc out many an otherwise scanty
meal In the summer, they collected dry wood,
of which there was a plenty strewn through
the forest for the winter fire; and in the au-
| tumn, with their clothes-bags on their backs,
and bit of bread for dinner, made long nut
ting expeditions in the woods, the avails of
which found them all in shoes for the winter,
| and percbance Il yeSA flannel frock for little
Mary
True. to her resolution for o long time, the
widow lorDore even to mention the sea IN their
presence but, as time rolled over, her great sor-
row, the picture of her welded life, backed by
the great ocean, began to stand out in IA very
beautiful light
Then. for the first time since his death, she
opened before them their fathers chest, and re-
vealed to their eyes its treasures There was
his Sunday suit the blue roundabout with its
rows of white pearl buttons the wide panta-
looms, and the black bandanna, white canvass
orer-aits, little bags of various sizes sewed with
yellow twine and worked round the mouth
with great eyelet holes" money bags" the
mother called them, though if poor Ben ever
expected to have spare dollars enough to fill
them, he must have been a fellow of rare i'm
agination. There were bits of braid of various
designs and in the till dozens of needles with
their eyes filled up with rust, his thimblc and
palm" great balls and little balls of Irvine,
yellow papers bills and receipts, and, last of ALL
his Protection" And again and again the
| widow spelled out the description of his person
to her listening children, and dwelt fondly upon
his brown hair and hazel eyes.
| Art gives to more favored bereaved ones the
| lineaments of the beloved in lines and colors
that seem to breathe; but we trow that there
are few portraits gazed upon with deeper devo-
ton, or more heartfelt tenderness, than was that
bit of yellow paper, scrawled over by the care
less hand of a custom-house clerk.
She could not speak to them of their father
| without speaking also of the sea and with &c
many hundred miles between her and its moan
| ing voice, her heart grew lighter; so, during
/ the hong winter evenings she toId over agar
| the tales she had heard from her husband ant
his shipmates' Gps-stories of shipwreck an(
famine and death, intermingled with strang
accounts of strange lands, where oranges grow
as thick as apples, and monstrous birds an,
| snakes swallow little children alive.
| Poor woman! She was little skilled in tn,
| mysteries of the heart and did not once dream
that her words were quickening, in one of he
boys at least the very spirit Of adventure which
they were designed to quell. She did moi
| know what memories and restless dreams they
| awakened, nor how q voice of the distant sea
seemed ever calling him back to its bosom
| Shut in by thesgreen forest and mighty hills
what did it signify if Ben did spend every
leisure moment porting over some odd volume OF
voyages, or building boats to launch in the little
pond that lay behind their cottage close hidden
in the woods!
They would never 90 to sea, that was certain
Ben who had worked several summers with
Esquire Marsh, would be farmer he would
become landholdcr, and perhaps in time, a
Justice of the peace and the good woman made
bright pictures of his fields and orchards, his
well-flled barns, with sleek cattle lowing at the
bars, his house painted white like Esquire
Marsh's; and was she presumptuous If she
sometimes ventured to picture the Esquires
cherry checked daughter Sally az its mistress,
pattering round among the pans and pals or
taking up the stitches in n stocking for grand
mother Farnham
And Jim was to have tradc--to be a car
penter, and build houses, the handsomest of
which he was to live in himself They said
that Tom Densow, the widow Denslow's son ut
the -Four Corners" had gone to some city and
got rich by building houses; and why should
not her Jim, who was a thousand times smarter
than Tom Denslow, do the same Then little
Mary was to 20 to school the whole year round
instead Of few weeks in winter, and work a
sampler just like the one that hung in the min
ister's parlor, which his daughter had worked
when away at school Was the good woman
10 very unlike other mothers in dreaming thus?
And Ben, too, made pctures-pictures glow
ing with the bright tints of youth and hope,
but. alas widely different from those which
filed his mothers brain There was one which
haunted him morning and evening, by the road
side and in the church The swaying grain,
| the wind-waved grass, the burrows left by his
plough, but, most of all, the voice of the wind
! in grand old woods whispered of it, 1t was of
| the sea, the broad limitless sea, through whose
cleaning waters swept noble ship her can
vas gli.tering in tho sun, every rope OF her
| complicated rigging drawn to the exact tension
her athletic crew busy at their labor, or grouped
about the capstan listening to some "yarn
from the old sailor at the wheel, while a little
apart stood the captain, and that captain
was - HIMSELF
This was the picture he so often described to
pretty Ellen Cross, leaning over the little red
rate that gave access into her fathers dooryard,
or seated under the old-fashioned porch; and,
with the ready faith of young and loving
heart the fair girl saw it too. But there was
another a companion to this, in some respects,
not unlike the one his mothers fancy limned,
which she could not see for the bashful droop-
ing Of her eyes.
This was a pleasant house in not over
crowded street in some fourishing seaport. The
front windows looked out upon the blue water,
and far down the quiet bay, ran long piers piled
with merchandise, along which lay moored all
manner of water craft their interminable cord