Birmingham age-herald., 1895-03-10
THOUGH THE HARBOR BAR BE
 MOANING.
For the Age-Herald.

toric town at it's mouth combined to make pleasant lenten diversion. All had gone smoothly, with singing above and card playing below, and little groups here and there discussing one another and every body in general.
 Lunch had been served, and hearty ap- petites, whetted by the watery breeZes and much fun and laughter, had done full jus tice to the sandwiches, olives and devlled eggs and such appoint tments of river ex- cursons; and now we stood on deck, watching the river widen toward the ocean watching the great rice fields glide behind us; Watchiug the little smacks and dredge boats, looking so earnest in their littleuess. The dredge caine slowly up, deposited it's black, muddy burden, and began as slowly to redescend. My companion spoke.
 It looks like great horned insect feel ing for dead bodies.''
 'sHe would hardly thrive here,' l said; ''The death rate from drowning IS small. v
 '.The people all swim?"
 "Yes.o
 'tAnd the women as well?''
 'sThe best swimmer at the Point l5 womau-quite character, too.o
 The girls face brightened. "Delight- ful," she said, and her eyes left the water to look expectantly at me. had never given more than passing thought to this autocrat of the Point, though I had eaten many crab at her table, and now was obliged to make story or her. My spirit of engenuity arose.
 tShe is without fear,' began, "abso-
 lutely, and if there is anything in heredity she has right to be, for her mother was the terror of the country for miles around,
 but loyal old soul, with all her fierceness. The yankees found that out when they tried.to make her take the oath of alle- glance, after she had given three years to the nursing of our poor wounded soldiers, when she would much rather have been fighting in the foremost rank. v
 's If all hell was billed down to half pint I'd drink it before I'd take that oath, she said, and meant it, and they wisely dropped the subject.
 "Years afterward, when the government t tried to use her wharf for the keeping of some wrecked vessels until they could be investigated, it found the old lady's spirit kept alive h her daughter.
 '" Take those ships away before they
 breed disease among my people, said Miss Susan, with her arms a-kimbo, but the govern ment officials smiled a superior smile, and she went back to feed the chick ems and water the anemone bed. How ever, no sooner had the worthy gentlemen hed themselves up into village to attend dog fight than she shouldered her ax,
 marched down to the wharf, and, having loosed the vessels from their moorings,
 went calmly back, whistling hymn, and sat smiling on the porch under the gourd vine while they drifted out to sea.
 ''She is a chip of the old block-every whit as fearless, but the ferceness IS tempered
 by Knowledge and love of books. And It
 is to this pluck and bravery that she owes
 her education.
 ''The first dozen years of her life being
 spent with the waves for her closest play
 mates, she was, by nature and environ
 ment. as wild es they, and one day some
 little children playing in the sand were knocked down by great wave and taken
 out so far that they would surely have drowned except for her courage and pres- ence of mind.
 "She thought nothing of it.; it was a pleasant bit oi excitement for her. But the governor, who was fishing there at the time, saw the rescue from his yacht, and was so struck with the young sea goddess that he sent for her and had her educated tShe might have shone, they say, in a literary way, but she chose to come back to the Point and take her mother's place among the fish folk and sailors. She lives all alone, now, in that little house-the white one near the wharf, do you see2- with the purple anemones in front. The other gardens have flowers, all of them Point. A botanist once told me that they came from Holland-brought over by some sailor, probably.'
 The whistle blew and the boat drew near the landing.
 s'That would be good story,'' said my companion, "if you hadn't left out the romance.''
 "But I am not to blame because she didn't have an affaire d'amour. l am rather to be praised for not embeliishing my tale a littls.''
 ssGet ready to land," said the practical
 "Three minutes yet, [" said the girl who wasn't energetic.
 1.-TWO and half," said the argumenta- tive man.
 'Where shall we go7'' asked the non- entity. "Where the breeze is stiffest," said the girl with the false bang, that wouldn't come out of curl.
 "Ail off for the Point" said the cap. tain.
 Hurry of feet and wagging of tongues, and found myself holding the practical girls umbrella, while my companion strolled away with the man who asked CO., nundrums. We walked on the beach; we counted the churches; we guessed at the population; we drove an OK cart through the streets; and finally, as if by some magnetic influence. every toe was turned toward the quaint old cemetery.
 Frivolous, is it, to take our mirth and laughter to such solemn spotsf Well, if in years to come some romping party shall make tests across the stone that marks my resting place, or, growing fanciful, shall guess what nature clothed the bones that lie beneath, or where the paths they fol- lowed, let none molest them. ''This was poor Amanda, V some one was saying, "who died of a broken heart at F because her lover
 "Twenty-six, said the practical girl, looking at the stone. "You should learn to subtract.'
 Some one touched my arm. It was my companion. "Come with me, she said in low voice, and I followed her in and out among the grass-grown graves with the afternoon sunlight across them, and the sweet, solemn voice of the sea sounding 6 ever over them until we reached the farth- : est corner, where, near the old wall, and little apart from the others, stood simple white stone, and beside it lay bunch ot anemones, freshly gathered ''Read,'n n said my companion, "It is the romance. La ia of Pilnt