The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1908-02-20
An Old Woman
Whose House
Faced the Sea.
By Frances ]. Delano.

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Once there was an old woman who
lived in a little house facing the sea.
There was a great hill in back Of her,
the sky was over her, the sea in front
Of her, and not a house in sight for
many mile,
It was thought that the old womans
days Of usefulness we're over, for she
could not go to the little fishing ham
let as she used and care for the sick.
1t was all she could do to keep her
house in order and tend her garden.
But still she was useful and happy
because she had a friend. She could
not see her friend. it is true, but no
more can we see our friends; it is only
their body we see, and what good
would that be If the friend were not
inside?
Well, the old woman knew that her
friend was with her, and she tried to
make her little house a pleasant place.
When she felt the fresh wind sweeping
in from the sea, and saw how the tide
came in and washed the sands clean
every day, and how the rain came down
and washed the whole earth. then she
knew that her friend liked whatever
was clean. SO she secured her pewter
plates, and brought white sand for her
floor, and kept her candles always as
good as new.
, She found, too, that her friend loved
beautiful things; for the great sea,
both in storm and sunshine, was al
ways wonderfully beautiful, and the
shells thrown up on the beach were
delicately fashioned. So, when she
planted her potatoes, she planted pop
pies, too, and Canterbury bells and fox
glove. Sometimes she picked flower
or two and set in a cup upon the table,
and then she would smile, thinking OF
her friend and Of his love for every
beautiful thing.
She found out, after a little, that
her friend loved people--the staunch
old fishermen who kept the ships al
ways steady before the wind, and the
wives OF the fishermen, the poor old
wives and the fighty young ones, and
the little children everywhere. and the
wicked people away out In the great
world The old woman knew that It
was beyond her power TO understand
how great was her friends love for all
these.
But she tried to help, and, when
ever the fishermen went by, she would
nod to them, and sometimes, when the
weather threatened she would call to
them: 'Ye're safe, ye're safe she
would call, whether ye come back, or
no, ye're safe" Now and then, in the
summer time, when the children went
wandering by, she would give them
flowers and help them in their search
for shells; and no weary, discouraged
traveller ever went by her door with
out being FED and cheered.
One winters night, when there was a
great storm abroad, when the wind
came from far out of the north and lift
ed the sea as II II were a feather and
hurled Il against the rocks, when the
rain came IN sheets on the roof Of the
old woman's cottage, and when every
ship that could had been run into har-
Dor, on this night the old woman Law
In her bed, which was rocking like
cradle, and she was listening to the /
sweep Of the wind, and thinking 81
The sailors al sea, when all at once
she heard a strange sound. It vas not
The sea, nor the wind. nor the rain.
Il was a different sound from any OF
lhese. The old woman raised her head
md listened. then she dressed herself
Her candle vas burning in ,he little (
room below, AND she seized It and peer
"a ont into the night. She could see
nothing because Of the storm. SO RE
placed her candle upon the table and
opened her door. With the wind and