Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-06-21
ItGI< AGAIN.,

BACK AGAIN.
The sea lashes the coast with its
short and mountainous waves. Little
white clouds pass very quickly across
the great blue sky, swept on by the
wind, like birds; and the village, in
the wrinkle of the little valley sloping
toward the ocean, warns itself in the
~un.
At the very entrance to it stood the
house Of Martin Levesque, all alone by
the edge of the road. A humble fish
Hrman's dwelling it was, with walls of
.ay. and a matched roof plumed with
lis flowers. 1t had garden not big
-er than pocket handkerchief, in
which some onions, cabbages, parsnips
and chcrvil were growing. A hedge
divided It from the road.
The man was always fishing. and his
wife, seated by the door, was busy re-
pairing the meshes OF great brown
net, spread against the wall like an
immense cobweb. A girl Of fourteen,
seated in a chair proppcd back so that
she could lean back against the fence,
was occupied in mcnding underwear,
already Uyerdarned and patched. An
other girl, younger by year, held in
her arms a very young child, not yet
able to speak or gesticulate, and two
urchins, whose ages might be two and
four years, sitting flat upon the ground,
face to face, We're playing at gardening
with their clumsy little hands and
throwing dirt into each others eyes.
Nobody spoke. Only the child which
the young girl was trying to put to
sleep cried continuously in little sharp
voice. A cat slept in the window, and
at the foot of the wall extended a
vcrtable cushion of white gillyflowers.
about which buzzed whole tribe of
bees.
All of sudden the girl sewing near
the gate cried out: Mamma
The mother answered: What is itP"
Here he is again.
The whole family had been uneasy
since early morning because of man
VINO hau kept proving about the
hOu,c--au old man who looked like a
brg-ar They first saw him while they
were going to the boat house to see
father OIL. He was then sitting by the
odcU, directly in front of the door.
" n"n they came back from the beach
he was still there, looking at the house.
lie seemed sick and very miserable.
lie had not budgcd for more than an
hour; then, finding that he was being
watched like malcfactor, he had
risen to his feet and gone away, drag
glng his legs heavily as he walked.
But after while the girls saw him
coming back, walking with the same
slow and weary step, and sat down
again-this time little further off
and kept watching them.
The mother and her girls began to
feel afraid. The mother was particu-
lurIy worried because she was naturally
umid, and then her husband Lcvesquc,
would not return until nightfall.
Her husband : real name was Laves-
que, and hers Martin, and the neigh
brrs called them the Martini -Levesque
folks. This was because she had first
married a sailor named Martin, who
used to 90 to Newfoundland every
year to engage in the cod fisheries
After two years of married lie she
had a daughter growing up, and was
shortly to become a mother again when
the vessel that her husband had shipped
on-the Deux-Sgurs, a Dieppe three
master-disappeared.
No news was ever heard of her; none
Of her crew ever returned, so it was
generally believed she had gone down
with all hands.
La Martin, as folks called her, waited
Tor her husband ten long years, raising
Icr children with the greatest difficult
P, and then, as she was known to be
ood, industrious woman, LevesQue, a
sherman OF the place aud widower
With one son, asked her to marry him.
She accepted his proposal, and had
two more children by him within three
years.
They lived with difficulty by the
hardest work. Bread was dear and
meat was almost an unknown luxury
IN their cottage. Sometimes during
the winter in the stormy weather they
would get heavily in debt to the baker.
Still the children were wonderfully
healthy Folks used TO say: They re
good people-thc Lcvesques La Martin
she great worker. and there's no.
body can beat Levesque fishing"
The girl at the gate continues:
Looks as if he knew US. P'raps it $
some beggar from Eprevile or Ause-
bose.
But the mother could not be mis-
taken. No, no! it was nobody from
that part Of the country, sure!
As he remained motionless as stake
and kept his eyes persistently fixed on
the habitation OF the Martin-Levesque
people La Martin became furious at
last, and her fear giving her courage,
she seized spade and went out in
front Of the gate.
what do you want therep' she
screamed to the tramp.
lie replied in wheezy voice: 'Tm
JUS taking rest in the shade. Why |
AIM doing you any harm-am IP'
She went on: What are you spy
ing around like that before my house
fOrpn
The man answered.: "rm doing no
harm to nobody. Amt a person al
lowed to sit on the edge of the public
roadP'
As she could not find any answer to
this observation. she went into ~