The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1912-04-12
house and stood on the steps knock.

house and stood on the steps knock.
ing"
"She came to the door," he nodded
his head in the direction Of the
kitchen, "and she didn't look much
as she does now. She was little and
white, and she peeped through the
! crack, and said in a kind of fright
ened way, Come in. Oh, amt the
wind dreadful?'
Pretty bad said. But she SEEM
ed kind O crazy over it.
1T means shipwreck and dead
sailors, and l hate it, she said, and
just stood there shivering.
Il didn't know just what to say,
so l took off my oilskins and asked
her if I might put them out in the
kitchen, and she said, Yes So l
went out and there in front of the
stove was man. He was cooking
ham in frying-pan, and when 1 came
out he nodded, and went on, with his
cookin'.
Il didn't know what sort of place
. had struck. But told about my
boat goin' to pieces, and he finished
the ham, and broke six eggs into the
pan and put the coffee where it would
boil up, and then he said, You'd bet
ter set down and eat. You'll likely be
hungry after bein' out all day.
$50 we, sat down, and pretty soon
the girl came in and drank her coffee.
but she didn't eat anything. She
tried to talk to me, but every time
blast struck the house, she turned
white and looked sick, and it made nv
heart ache to see her.
After supper she washed I'D the
dishes, and her brother went right
off to bed, after shown me where J
was to sleep. It's goin' to be awful
she kept sayin' over and over.
1T amt goin' to be any worse
than it is now told her. You come
here and sit by the fire and talk to
me. You won't feel half so scairt If
you have company
$50 she set down beside me, and
told me how that fear had come upon
her. 1t seems that her father and
her brothers-all except the brother
had seen-had gone out one morn
ing and had never come back-and
since then she just couldn't stand it.
And then there was another reason
for her to be nervous. for the house
was old, and she said that once in a
February blow the waves at high tide
had washed right through their set
tin room. and they thought they was
goin' to float out to sea.
1T wasn't much of life for timid
woman, was it? But she said her
brother wouldn't leave. While she
didn't complain, made out that he
was the lazy kind that liked to set
around the house and do woman's
work, but he didn't have much idea OF
earnin' livin'.
Why, I'd work my fingers to the
boon to get away from here she said
to me, with her big eyes blazing.
We'll, I went away the next morn
in, but | used to think of her when
the storms came, and | kind O. got
into fashion Of running over and set.
tin with her when it was bad enough
to scare her.
But after the winter set in 1t
wasn't easy gettin' there. No boat
could live in some of the blows we
had, and the big waves used to- wash
over the causeway at high tide and
make a wall to beat me back.
1--WE got to be such good friends
that / was invited over to Christmas
dinner with them Lizzie was going
to cook big turkey, and I had plan
ned to take oysters for the soup.
But when Christmas day dawned
we were in the thick of the worst
gale ! ever saw on the coast. There
was snow with it, SO that everything
was just binding wilderness, and the
wind howled an tore like sixty
Il knew there wasn't any use try
Ing to walk across the causeway, SO