Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1877-09-06
Her Own Pilot.
BY wN. ". MERRILL.

IL all happened at SwampScott Net
very promising scene for romance you
mag say. Bur on this great stage, the
world. there are many exits and entrances
and il all the men aud women were not iD
some sense players. very pretty audiences
nigh be gat herrd Tor the private aud VI.
ten unconscious theatrlcalS at even such
quiet little seaside town Swampscott.
IL Is not Loug Branch nor Newport, 70 be
sure, nor even Nahant-it you take
Nahauter's opinion Of it. But more beau-
tiiul drlves Il IS not easy to find than the
Ocean road 10 Lynn and beyond. or out To
quaint ola Marbiehead-whe lire has so
recently drvasted what time and storm,
aud the march OF social Improvement had
spared. The rocky bluffs are crowned
with dark forests, where one may lie on
the moss-uattressed rock aud hear the
restless spirits oil the pines sing their
.Eolian melodies To the accompaniment Of
the fAr.seundug sea, amidst solitude A.
dense as when the iuian chieitains brought
their families hither to cure fish and play
ut vacation. There are three fine beaches
Tor bathing, and the shore-lne is broken
and diversified by rocks, trees and lawns.
The summer houses are handsome and vet
homelike, and the small fishing fleet aud
cottages add 10 the plCturesqueuesS OF the
scene. To the left the open sea stretches
away TO the horizon, while the enCircling
harb0r and distant light houses complete
a picture which makes the barren stretch
"a OF beach scattered aloug our coast,
with their great human hives OF hotels
seem like huge bur!esques upon pleasure
resOr.s.
Well. down 10 Swampscott, one sultry
July day, came pretty Grace Chandler, her
h.a ,ir.H H,.y;fl he. h. nI.
ina 'ainlng.' Her good aunt always saved
a cosey lIttle room, with a sea-view win
dow latticed with creeping vines, for
"Gracie." Entertaining angels uuawares,
the dear old soul declared, was well
enough in its way, but she perferred TO be
sure OF her angel and she laid claimed to
the courageous girl who met the disaster
TO her father fortunes by seeking "A place
she didn't call ii accepting a situation"
in the public schools. The II sh School
lads Who had shed their roundasouts, and
come to that deliciously-t age
when boys just begin to feel that there is
a difference in girls, declared that the an
Client maidens aud crusty Old fogies OF the
School Committee kept Grace in the prim
ary departments out of pure spite to them.
But those OF Us who have Come to forty
years could tell By one look at the sub
ject OF the lads admiration, that unless
''object teaching" In that most Intricate OF
all studies woman nature-were the pur-
pose OF the school, Miss Gracie's place
certainly was not in the upper grade.
or course l am not going 10 try aud tell
you how the young woman looked. What
the wise de Maistre said about pictures
that the best part of them Is that which
defies descriptions even more true of
women. She was twenty; slendei, but
normally healthml-with one of those
1.-THE, delicateiy outlined. trim figures that
reconcile one TO the "pull-back," and con-
vince even the most skeptical beholder
that some women are superior to the
dreadful test OF bathing suit.-What
more need be said, except that Grace had
the easyl glldiding step that tells OF the
gymnasiuT; that she could sit horse. or
pull an oar, or shoot an arrow. like a girl
10 the latest English novel; and that she
had one Of those faces and compleXions Of
ten seen in the old New Euglaud towns,
limiting plainly OF DR.. Holmes double sash
plate glass protection In winter and out
door life and laxury in the summer, for
four or five generations back. She had
large, clear, steady eves-''grey as glass"
as oid Chaucer described the type for all
time-illuninaiing lace that at once
pqued interest, and excited admiration.
~ oiSSCi iIau "DuEo rs c'Ou illluk oi
being sill. or rude 10 his grand mother,
or disrespeclful to the mother-in-law he
hopes to win. a. oil trying any nonsense
with the owner OF that face, whose calm
eyes take his measure as swiftly and ac-
curately as fashionable woman will inven-
tory the wardrobe Of her rival. Grace
was not phenomenal, but a typical high
type of girl. She never read Emerson,
nor pretended to dote on poets, a couplet
OF whose verses she could not quote. She
spelled her culture with an r. and didn't
prate about 1t At that. The thinks that
she needed to use she knew thoroughly,
but did not omit to pack away great
many useful odds and ends If information,
and pretty Accomplishments of various
sorts, for fear Of being called"superHciaL"
She read the books that she liked. just as
she ate the food that agreed With her, and
could play game Of whist without chat
tering, q game Of crOQuet without losing
her temper, darn a stocking without ver-
bal or mental accompaniment at the ma.
ture of the work, and in general could do
girls work in the way sensible mother
had trained her.
Now, of course there would be no sufa.
cient excuse for bringing forward at
Swampscott sin sammer. when the days
are long" such . paragon Of a girl as
Grace Chandler, unless the inevitable
Young Man were forthcoming also. His
name was John-prossic John Wheeler.
There was nothing remarkable about John
there rarely Ii about any you ng men ex
cept the valsdictorisns at college, and they
are commonly not heard of afterwards.
He was q manly, fresh, pure-hearted.
clean handed, bright-witted young fellow
OF twenty-tbree, year out Of college.
Tho fairy gOd-mOther who smiled above
hls cradle endowed him with good princi-