Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-11-12


will see you again."
Bickford felt himself sinking into q
slumber as the old man spoke and had
a confused view Of those who had gath
cred about him trooping out of the
room. When be awoke or when he
came to consciousness again-for all
this seemed more like a dream than
reality-he found himself sitting around
a large table. At one end sat the old
man who had hidden him rest. At the
other was an old oman There SEEM
ed to be several generations present,
the youngest, a child of three years,
sitting in a high chair In a quaint Co.'S
tune to correspond with the clothes of
its elders.
The old man at the head of the table
asked a blessing on the repast, giving
thanks for the abundant crops and
many comforts that had been showered
on the family during the past year.
Then the viands were served, and the
company fell to, the men washing them
down with rotations of rum, the wo-
men with port brought from England
and the children with milk.
Beside Bickford sat a girl, who from
the moment he looked at her engrossed
his attention. Her complexion was
soft and smooth; her cheeks were a
pale rose color. On her lips played an
incessant smile.
who are you, pretty oneP" asked
Bickford.
~ am the girl of New England" was
the reply. 81 am noted for my health,
strength and freshness. Poets have
sung my prasises. L have been wooed
by many a lover. My mother came
over In the Mayhower, and l am the
first girl born on Massachusetts SOIL"
Bickford was SO taken aback by this
speech that he sat looking at the girl
in a sort of stupor. The girl of New
England! Why did she not say a
girl of New England? And what did
she mean by saying that she was the
first girl born on Massachusetts soil?
And yet she looked-were she endow-
ed with perpetual youth-as if she
might be the first girl so born. There
was something typical about her. She
seemed rather to be the girl of New
England than an individual girl.
1t seemed to Bickford that there was
more union In the family about the ia
BILE han he had ever seen in any fam
lily before. The sons and sons-in-law,
the daughters and daughters-in-law all
treated the old couple with great rev.
erence, being obedient to their wishes
as their own children were to them
selves. The twoscore persons sitting
together seemed to be in this respect
as n
at is the patriarchal SYSTEM" said
Bickford to himself. "These people
have not only put on the apparel of the
pilgrims for their Thanksgiving cele-
bration, but they have turned away
from that disrespect for old age which
pertains to the present day and gone
back to the reverence and affection of
those who first set aside a day for
giving thanks for the fruits of the
earth"
The conversation about the table be-
ing carried in different small groups,
Bickford could only get a broken bit
from each. Some were speaking of
regicides who had come to the colony
to save their heads, others of dissent
ers, others of Old Noll, as Oliver Crom-
well was called. A young woman was
speaking of an acquaintance who had
been brought to her senses by means
of the ducking stool and seemed to
think that she had been rightly served.
Bickford wondered how a woman of
the twentieth century could approve
Of such harsh treatment of one of her
sex.
Bickford, the n guest who did not
seem to be carried back 300 years,
was offered rum like the others, but
declined II. He was not used to drink
ing anything with his dinner stronger
than wine, and the odor of the rum
n%auseated him. Finally n Of the
men urged him to drink. Bickford re-.
fused. The man rose from his seat
and, with a cupful of rum in his hand,
came to where the guest was sitting
and insisted on his drinking. Bick-
ford, surprised at an effort to force
him to do what he did not wish to do,
e~ndeavored to push him away. The
man put a muscular arm around Bick-
ford's neck and forced the cup to his
lips. He felt a warm stream going
down his throat. The assembly faded,
and he heard the words:
"He is coming round"
Instead Of being at the dinner table
Bickford was in his car. An arm was
around his neck, and a flask was press
ed to his lips. He drank not rum, but
whisky. More liquor was swallowed.
and he received a shaking sufficient to
wake a dead man. Several persons
were about him, and one was chatting
his limbs.
1t was soon plain to him that he had
gone to sleep in his auto and had been
found nearly frozen.
The snow, which had ceased falling,
--on .oA dnnn Rinlrford rnr ro-