The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-11-18

1
Meta clapped her hands in glee.
"Thc very placew said she.
Lillian pointed disconsolately at the
great hotels on the heights beyond.
"What of them?" said Meta. "We
shall not interfere with their customers.
We are appealing to an entirely different
class-the people who abominate bands
and Germans-the people who come
here for rest and quiet. Why, there
must be fourteen or fifteen rooms in this
delicious old cubby-hole. And such a
view of the sea! Count the light
houses! Look at the signal service
buildings! Lii, I already see ourselves
shovcling gold pieces into our pockets!'
II wish I could be as hopeful as you"
said Lillian, softly.
So the brave little brigade went to
work on the wave.washed beach Of
Watch Hill.
Miss Daggett proved herself not only
an adept at repairing old furniture, but
she went v~aliantly out with hammer and
nails and mcnded the fence, put in new
pancs of glass, whitewashed the ceilings
and. with the aid of a young Rhode ISL
land carpenter, actually put up a row OF
cow-sheds and lighthouses in the rear.
Rosa Nixon reduced the kitchen de-
partment to working order, and drove
sharp bargains for a supply of provisions
from Westerly to Stonington.
"It isn't the kickshaws that trouble
me" said Rosa. II San make ice-cream
equal to Madame Habenstein herself,
and nobody can beat me on %jellies. But
the gardens here are so late: And city
boarders want green peas and straWber-
ries and all that sort of thing just the
same as if Watch Hill lay on the edge of
the tropics. People are so unreasona'
ble!"
In the course of their business affairs,
Meta had made the acquaintance of the
editor of a New Haven newspaper.
"My dear sir" said she, with charm
ing frankness, "I'm going to advertise
in your paper. Nothing can be done
nowadays without advertising. Now.
don't you want to give us a puf2 The
least bit of one will dow
II am always ready to commend
genius" said Mr.. Fordyce, g~aliantly.
I'm fact I was going to speak of cngagg-
ing three connecting rooms-with a view
oil the ocean, of course--for Mrs. For
dyce and the three little ones and their
nurse. Just write your notice, and we'll
try and edge it in"
"You are so kindw cried Meta, who
felt just a trife disappointed when Mrs.
Fordyce and the children were men
toned, though why she did not know:
"Business is business" said the edi-
tor. serenely.
But when Lillian read the notice she
opened her tlue eyes wide.
"Why, Nctta," said she, 'you give
the impression that Sea Cottage is full
of boarders."
"Wcll, what them? said saucy Meta.
"No one wants to be first at a place like
this"
Almost the earliest arrival was the
ne'er.do-we!l cousin from Kansas, with
his wife and son He had settled down
into a portly, middlc-aged merchant,
and his appearance lent a solid sort of
responsibility to the place.
Never believe what you hear" said
he to Meta. Il was rather wild as a
lad, but l am soberer than twenty judges
Ask my wife. And l came here
because nv boys like the sea. Never
expected to find a relation on the prem
do you call those six-f ooters 6oys?"
said Meta, laughing.
Sea Cottage throve under its vigorous
new administration.
Clara Daggett kept everything in ap-
ple.pi u order. Rose Nixon worked like
a bee in the kitchen, aided by little Fanny
Hoyt, and a barefooted son of the soil,
who dug clans. caught blue-ish, turned
the ice.cream freezer and ran errands.
Everything else was done by Meta
and Lillian (Carstairs & Hand they called
themselves on the billy, and we'll done,
also.
And early in the morning before any
of the boarders were up, they ran down
tc the fringy edge of the sea and had
their "dip"-the delicious tonic that
gave them strength and courage for their
days work.
s'It's better han drudging at old Bob
binet's, isn't it, Lil?" said Meta.
ooh, a thousand times better!"
In the second week the editor arrived,
with a dashing young woman, a colored
nurse and a swarm of little ones.
"There she u.s." said he, as Meta came
to greet them. miss Carstairs, let me
introduce my stepmother, and little
brothers and sisters.,'
Metals cheeks famed; her eyes
sparkled.
"They are very welcome to Sea cot
tage," she said, gracefully.
And Mrs. Fordyce afterward complain
ingly remarked that eff Miss Carstairs
had been a duchess, she could scarcely
have assumed more gracious airs. Not
but that the house was we'll kept and
the table really excellent. But, after
all, the young woman was only a board
ing-house keeper"
And her amazement may be imagined,
when, at the end of the season, her step
son calmly announced his engagement to
Miss Carstairs.
81 do like a woman hat has some
pluck and 90 in her." said he. "She
suits me exactly, and I mean to do my
best to suit her."
Miss Daggett, it presently TRANSFERRED,
had been plighting herself to n of the
tall Kansas ''boys."
"He says the West will be the very
climate for me-" said he. "And you
mind, Lily dear-will you?-but Rosa
Nixon has promised to marry the young
man who keeps the books for the Triton
hotel. I do think the air of Watch Hill