The Opelousas courier., 1899-11-04

1sxGaXiMfA ESa1Ak5SSAAlsS What chief
IA HMklA4hMM puzzles me is ho'
M[tYktshHMk7 first it got abroad
@4SrE@gASS for Paul Fralic wa
&EI' lost and the othe
two were most like to keep the mat
ter hid. But I set it down here-no
in the picturesque fisher speech
which is goddess and unrefinsd-as i
was told me one summer twilight wit
the sky like flaming gold and all hill
asleep.
Be it known that the south coast O
Nova Scotia is a rampant Of solid rocl
fronting the Atlantic surges. Some
times the fog wells its stern precipice:
and gray-backed waves beat in from
the shrouded sea; and sometimes
great Gains descend, when the head
lands glass themselves all day in til,
quiet water. There are huge lodges
cropping up out Of the deep, ani
sunken rocks where the surf takes OF
a heavier note, and miles on miles O
frowning cliff where the SHOWS lie
strangely white in winter. But there
are also broad harbors and sheltered
coves where the fishermen FIND
shelter in time of storm.
The place called Tenants is a
good example of the latter. 1t is
wide and deep. with a narrow
entrance and a girding Of rocky hills.
At its mouth stands a fat white light.
house, put there, not foy the i'm
portance of the place, bus because
Tenant Cap sticks far cut into the
Atlantic and the light guides coast
wise vessels to the town twenty miles
away. Seaward, east of the entrance,
lies a rock on which many a tall ship
has come to grief. The charts mark
it by a cross and the legend:
Breaker nearly always shows" The
fisher folk call it "The Bull" be-
cause, hours before a storm rolls up,
its hoarse complaining can be heard
along the coast. Currents which know
no law beat upon it in stormy weather,
and of all the seafarers who there
have met their doom, not one has ever
reached the shore, alive or dead. The
Bull claims its own and guards its
secret we'll.
At the head of Tenant Harbor
there is a small village-two or three
streets of whitewashed houses, with a
few slim wharves thrust out into the
still waters beneath. During certain
seasons of the year the place is lively
enough-when the little fleet Of
bankers is fitting, for example, and
the harbor is astir with the passage
ofloaded dories; or when the schooners
return deep-laden, andsthe gaunt fish
skids creak beneath their whitening
burden. But ordinarily all is quiet;
the men are absent half the year,
while the women and children till the
rough farms or tend the COWS and
goats which find scant pasturlng on
the stormy hills.
Tenants impressed something of
its own character upon the early
generations Of its settlers. OF former
days it was secluded from the world
withdrawn among its granite rock
and somber pine-scrub. The life
and environment bred a sturdy
class; " fishermen who piled their
trade from Labrador to Cape Aan,
from the Grand Banks to the
Georges; sailors who built their own
ships and took them around the
world. There still survives a certain
of heroism-rough, often
ancouth, but none the less genuine.
For many years the place retained
It's quaint customs and modes of liy-
ing. The houses of a former day,
,rammed with relics of ancient voyage
:ngs, suficed the fsherfolk. TsE..
women chung to their huge hand
ooms and wore the strong gray and
blue cloth of their own weaving. The
'chooling of the children consisted of
What they could pick up from the old
eatholic priest, who taught them
Neir letters as the spirit moved him
II the rheumatism permitted, and of
much unholy lore gathered along the
front.
But in course of time the Govern
aent decided that the place required
he blessings of modern education,
q school was organized and the
'rimal charm of Tenants vanished
way.
Thus, n summer, the white-and-
ed schoolhouse stood finished. A
linn young man, with a beautiful
arrived from the city to take
gather in recruits and $ n
rally to modify the opinion of = en-
ants that teaching and teachers
ere the direct agents of the devil.
The fishing feet had come home
arlier than usual that season; by the
nd of July all the schooners were
ing at anchor with bearded rigging
nd sides weathered to a silver gray.
,eir fiat bottomed dories moored in
ing rows behind them. The skids
ere spread with fish, cleaned and
Dit, drying under the hot sun, and
the pleasant Northern twilight
10 fishermen fore-gathered to smoke
i'd talk.
Sometimes the young schoolmaster
noked and talked with them, in pur.
lance of a wise pedagogical policy.
ar more frequently, however, he
emit to a large house which stood
'art from the village. And thereby
Ings this tale.
1t was because Of the girl-the
'own-eyed daughter of old John h
lea. Her natural eleverness at,
acted him. just "a her simplicity
q NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. wsrs eaus;d. /;
ably more shsa gil the world 10 the
'ass aaa.rnAa, Paal Tral.A {