The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1926-12-17
E
Tertia and Her
Lunch Boat
By SUSAN GIBBS

TERTIA was busily painting let
L ters ON the bow of her comfort
able, safe-looking rowboat. Fish
erman's Luck" said the old man
who had been sitting on a rock
watching her as she traced the
white letters and the spick-and-
span green surface of the bow.
Tertia laughed. Look again."
she said merrily. 81 suppose nine
out of every ten who read it Will
see it the same way" When she
remembered that the old mans eye
sight might be failing and she read
for him, It's Fisherman's Lunch
Uncle"
Everybody along the shore called
him Uncle although nc one who
had the right by kinship had ever
been known in these parts.
wall, what does that mean, Ter
tia?" he asked. And why did you
paint out the letters your father
had put on the boat!'
mi answer your first question
last, Uncle" replied Tertia. IA
Their named the boat after me, Ter
tia. He had named me Tertia be-
cause | was the third child and his
fancy was for naming all his chill
dren by numbering them in Latin.
/ don't like the name for a boat,
and now that Dad is gone he can't
be hurt. And-your second an
swer: l have gone into a business
Of my own with this boat and the
new name is an advertisement"
In this cove where Tertia Miller
meant to ply her new trade there
was good fishing.
She was going to carry sand.
wiches, cakes, homemade dough-
nuts and pies in season in her small
boat and row about among the 81
lent groups of fishermen each day
at mealtimes.
Her mother was no longer young
and they lived together in the little
cottage that belonged to the club
and which they were to be permit
ted to use as long as they liked.
This was in the form Of a pension
to her mother in appreciation OF
the long services of old Captain
Miller.
Her brightly painted boat caught
the eye of every fisherman as she
rowed along and it was not long
before she was handing out lunches
to those who hailed her. If COM
ing alongside disturbed the home
life OF the gentle fish, no man cared
since he was to be refreshed by so
splendid a lunch as Tertia pro-
vided.
Rain or shine, early and late, she
was out with her lunch boat and
she and her mother were both sur
prised at the amount of profit they
found to their credit.
Tertia was happy. She told her.
self 1t was the success of her prof.
ect that made her heart sing. 1t
was, she argued, because Of the JOY
that achievement brings to one.
Perhaps that was a part of the
reason. But there vas another
cause for her gladness. Tertia IA
experiencing the first treasured mo-
mcnts Of romance.
Archie Dove had put into the
harbor one stormy night and for
lack of knowledge of the water had
anchored his craft until dawn
should give him a better idea of his
locality. And-at dawn, when the
fishermen began to come out to get
their catch on the flood tide after
the storm, had come the little craft
which bore the letters, Fisher
mans Lunch"
1t seemed almost to Archie as il
Tertia in all her beauty had come
toward him out of the very dawn
itself, so whimsically, so fancifully
had he first beheld her.
He had come out Of his cabin to
begin to get under way. He was
cruising alone so as to work out
his novel. The green boat was APP
preaching and the soft morning
light shone on the gold Of T~ertia's
hair.
"Fisherman's Lunch" he read to
himself when he could discern the
letters. "Fisherman's Luck, I'm
thinking" he added.
Tertia rowed slowly, as was her
custom.
"Have you-something to eat?"
he asked.
Tertia smiled. II should think /
had-fresh coffee cake and dough-
nuts and"
Archie stopped her then and
there. He was too hungry to listen
without acting.
May l have-some?" he asked,
still with a boyish shyness.
1t was only a moment before she
was alongside his boat, and he had
climbed down into the one bit Of
seat that remained empty Ia her
boat.
When she explained to him her
work he suggested that az It was