The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-01-30

promise that she would be his wifi
when he should ship first mate Wha
WIN wanted to go to sea for, whel
t ne could stay at home and be happ,
; with her, Ann could never imagine, blu
Rhody understood it all. She, too, with
out being a poet, knew the tune VIII
Mather's heart was beating:
God help me, save take a part
VI danger on the roaring sea,
A devil rises in my heart
For worse than death to me.
and her thoughts followed him al
along the wide sea ways and int,
storms and into Gains and into strane,
ports of the orient. 20, Ann she woulC
say, running in at the close of a low.
erlng day, or when such a tempest o.
rain and sleet was beating that no one
who could stay at home ventureC
abroad, I thought I'd jes' step over
you must be so sort of dismal Bu
you know it amt blowing any such wa,
as this down on the other side of tht
globe
Well, Rhody, you must think AS il
L didn't know that" was the reply
with a toss of the sleek black head.
L suppose" Rhody continued. 1.-THE
suns shining enough to tan melons
down there where he is
Where who is? o, Will? do know
I'm sure
" ny <Alalis QO you mean TO say YOU
don't feel all sorter worked up with the
wind roaring down chimbly like this.
and you hear the pounding of the big
/ waves rolling in across the bar? 1 know
/ better. know how hard it seems, an
L made shift to run over, because I
/ guessed your heart was in your throat
every time the wind put its great Shout
/ der to the house,
My gracious! Then you'd better
make shift to run back. The ideal In
/ this weather. And I'll be bound you
amt any rubbers on"
LAS if rubbers-'
You're allus so in the clouds, Rhody.
that you don't know where you set
your feet, an both of 'em hev ben in
q puddle, and if you don't take your
death O cold-You better go home an
go to bed an drink a hot bowl of
] thoroughwort tea
20, I'll jes' toast 'em by the fire here.
You allus do heV a good fire, Ann. L
nope Wits got as good a one wherever
he is"
What in the world does Will want
with fire down under the EQUATOR
DO you suppose that's where he is?"
said RhOdy wistfully, reaching the
point for which she started, her errand
OF consolation having been occasioned
chiefly by her wanting consolation her
self, it may be. My, how it blowsi"
OR thereabouts," answered Ann,
shipping off her threads.
And you don't really feel concerned
about his being safe?"
well, you are soft, Rhody! For my
part, give viii a stick and a string
and I'd trust him against any storm
that blows"
Rhody looked at her admiringly
You're jes' the wife for him, amt you,
Ann|' she said sweetly. II / was Il
sailors wife 1 should be scared to
death and hide my head in the blan-
kets every time the weather changed.
All the same, 1 don't believe but what
you be a little stirred up, an that's
why come over to keep you heartened
like / suppose" she went on dream
lily, looking into the fire, IF one was
high enough to see, the earth would be
like Miss Brier's blue changeable silk.
here a bit of blue sea. and there a biz
of gray storm, and there a bit of green
field. and there clear silver blue again.
all sort o changeable and shining, and
you're here in the bit of gray storm, an
Wills out there in the silver blue
I should like to know the good of
such notionsi I'd a sight rather be
thinking of the peeny muslins Will will
fetch home"
should think twas a plenty if he
brought himself home, if 1 was you.
Ann
q declare you're enough to make
person creep. What was that? Did
you hear the door rattle? O, Rhody,
what if them old songs an stories is
truei Sometimes. in the middle of the
night, l wake up in a cold chill. the
stories of the dead and drowned sailor
comm to the door"
Yes, yes" sobbed Rhody, at; o, I
remember
He'd a sailors cap and a visage pale
As he died on board of the Nightingale |
And they locked their arms about
each other, both crying together. And
Rhody had to stay that night, to keep
AIMS tremorS company with her own, |
which, after all was why she came
over.
But when it was sunny, and only
soft southwest breeze signing through |
the old garden, Rhody's heart was as |
light as the wings of the birds that |
had the old garden all their own way. |
1t was a spacious place, long since run |
wild, here and there a bed of old-faSh- |
toned flowers or pot-herbs that RhOdy !
gave the little care they needed, saying /
the lunches Of sage and mint and balm /
and pennyroyal, for she was already !
becoming the village nurse; and here at
odd times she sat in the back porch at
her sewing, the breath of the undying
old roses and hOneysuckles blowing
about her. and all her soul as tranquil
as the sur ner seas where her fancy
went out and lowered over VIII plow-
ing his ship along under full-fiowing
snowy sails.
Rhody's father had been the lawyer
OF the shore, but he had not been par
obedient to law himself, that
is, the law of healthy living, and he had
early left her to buffet the world as she
could. with nothing but the old house
for her portion. 1t had long fallen into
but when it leaked too seri-
Ously in one room, RhOdy moved to
another 1t was said that Try
Hodge once paid court to her till he
found in her complete unsuspiciousness
Of his wearing the negative of his de-
sires. But he cherished no ill1will on
account of that. On the contrary with
circumlocution, he induced
the other young men, once when Will
was at home, to help him, and with
VIII and Humphrey Lavendar and Tom
Brier and Joe Burns, he had the old
roof shingled and the back porch re-
built for Rhody. Poor Try, of course,
had small credit for it with Rhody
For though she thanked him very pref
lily, in her heart of hearts she was sure
that it was VIII who first thought of
the kindness and put it into execution;
and she was the happier thinking of the
nobility and generosity of his nature
thus manifested than she was in the
repairs themselves. And as she sat in
The porch now, this poor silly Miss
RhOdy, she had an unspoken sense that
It was Wills protection surrounding
her. and she dropped her needle and
eaned back and dreamed so long that
he low-flying birds regarded her no
more than if she were the silver aspen