Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1904-10-11
Mary's silhouette Of
Nathaniel Bacon

NIfuuIIl SuNclitllSh yOuio
your sisters" said l.
May" said she. otis the kings"
Then she tossed her head again and
rode on and said not another word, nor
l, but | knew well what she meant.
Since the navigation act 1t was indeed
small profit any one had Of his own to-
bacco, since 1t all went into the ex-
chequer of the king. and ! did not
gainsay her.
When we had passed the negro huts.
swarming with black babies shining in
the sun as sleek as mahogany and all
turning toward us with a marvellous
flashing of white eyeballs and opening
of red mouths Of smiles, all at once,
like some garden bed Of black flowers
at the sight of our gay advance. we
reached the great house, and Mistress
Catherine stood in the door clad in a
green satin gown which caught the
light with smooth shimmers like the
green sheath Of marsh lily.
Her bare. slender arms were clasped
before her, and her long. white neck
was bent into an arch Of watchful
grace. Her face was the gravest ever
saw on maid, and not to be reconciled
with my first acquaintance with her,
thereby giving me always Il slight
doubt as of a mask, but her every fea-
ture was as clear and fine as ivory, and
her head proudly crowned with great
wealth Of hair.
Catherine Cavendish was esteemed n
great beauty by both. men and women,
which shows perchn he tl;at her beau
ty availed her little in some ways, else
1t had not been so freely admitted by
her own sex. However that may be.
Catherine Cavendish had had few low
ers as compared with many maid less
fair and less lowered, and at this time
she seemed to have settled into an eX-
pectation and contentment Of single
hess.
She stood looking at her sister and
me as we rode toward her, and the sun
was full on her face. which had the
cool glimmer Of pearl in the golden
fight, and her wide open eyes never
wavered. AS she stood there she might
have been the portrait Of herself, such
a look had she of unchanging quiet.
and the wonder and incredulity which
always seized me at the sight Of her TO
reconcile what ! knew with what she
seemed was strong upon me.
wnen her young sister had dls-
mounted and gone up the steps she
kissed her, and the two entered the
hall, clinging together in way which
was pretty to see. never saw such
love betwiyt two where there was not
full sympathy, and that was lacking
always and lacked more in the future,
through the difference in their two tenn
peraments got from different mothers.
Madam Cavendish was still In her
bedchamber. and the two sisters and l
dined together in the great hall. Then.
after the meal was over, l went forth
with my book of Sir William Dave
nant's plays and sought favorlte
place of mine in the woods and stayed
there till sundOwn.
Then. rising and going homeward
when the mist fioated over the marsh
lands like wells Of silver gauZe and the
frogs chorused through 1t in waves OF
sound and birds were circling above II,
calling sweetly with duting notes or
screaming with the harsh trumpet
clang of the sea fowl, heard OF sud-
den, Just as the sun sank below the
western sky, mighty din Of horns and
bells and voices from the direction OF
Jamestown. / knew that the sports
which a certain part Of the community
would have on Sabbath after sun
down, when they felt so inclined, had
begun. Since the king had been re-
stored such sports had been observed
now and then, according to the humor
of the governor and the minister and
the others in authority.
Laws had been from time to time sc,
forth that the night after the Sabbath
the Sabbath being considered to cease
at sundown. should be kept with de-
corum, but seldom were they enforced
and often, as now, great din arose
when the first gloom -overspread the
earth. However, that night was the
3Oth Of april, the night before May day
and there was more merrymaking 10
consequence. though May was not here
as in England, and even In England mol
what it had been in the first Charles
reign.
But they kept up their rollicking late
that night for the window Of my