The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1935-09-20
CHAPTER III
FIRMLY.

The village store, grandiloquently
styled by red sign the Wilton en-
porium, was thronged with the usual
noontime crowd
1t was still, gray day, murky with
fog, and the odors of wet oilskins,
steaming rubber coats, damp woolens
blended with a mixture of tar, coffee
and tobacco smoke, made its interior
thick and stuffy. Long ago the air
tight stove had consumed such rem
nants of oxygen as the room contained.
The windows reeked with moisture;
the floor was gritty with sand.
These discomforts, however, failed
to be of consequence to the knot of
men who, rain or shine, congregated
there at mail time. They were accus-
toned to them. Indeed, drizzle, far
from keeping the habitues away, rem
dered the meeting place unusually pop
ular.
Shutting over to the counter where
his friends were huddled Zenas Henry
unostentatiously Joined them.
"Yes, stree, there'H be somethin'
dom in Wilton now," Enoch Morton,
the fish-man, was saying. "That sand
bars goin' to be the center of the
town, If I don't miss my guess. There1l
he more'n Charlie Eldridge fishin' in
the channel"
A laugh greeted the prediction.
who's seen her?' Captain Benja-
x,fn Todd innuirnd
II have" came the piping voice of
Lemuel Gill; "Me and 'Becca rowed
over from Belleport Saturday. The
girls Jason's niece all right, same's
folks say, though she looks no more
like him than chalk like cheese. A
prettier little critter 'twouldj be hard
to find. And she's head over heels in
love with the place. I'm almighty
glad she's come, too, for it's goin' to
be grand for Marcia, who must be
lonely enough out there with only the
setter for company"
"It's her own fault. She could have
other companions was she so minded"
declared Captain Phineas Taylor, sig
nificantly.
"Oh, we all know that, Phineas,"
agreed the gentle Lemuel Gill. There's
plenty of folks hankerin' to be COM
rades to Marcia. The only trouble is
she doesn't want 'em."
'With this girl at her elbow, she'll
want 'em even less, l reckon" Asaph
Holmes interposed.
"Mebbe. Still, 1 figger that amt
a-goin' to discourage her admirers
none. Why, within the week Sylvia's
been here, happen to know Marcia's had
four buckets of clans, catch of 1loun-
ders, an a couple of cuts of sword
fish presented to her." Ephriam Wise,
the mail carrier announced.
"That stray blue-fish of Charlie
Eldridge's must "a swelled the collec-
ton some, too" put in Lemuel. when
/ asked Charlie what he done with 1t,
he owned he left it over at the Home
stead. He said he never wanted to see
another fish longs he lived"
"That amt all the gifts The Wild
der's had. neither" volunteered Silas
Nickerson, the postmaster, who now
Joined the group. "More'n one lob
ster's been sneaked to Marcia after
dusk"
II don't SO much mind folks maxim
Marcia friendly donations" Captain
Jonas Baker declared with guilty haste
I'm my opinion, it's right an proper
they should. But when 1t comes "a
Eleazer Croker, who's head Of the
fire department an undertaken as well.
goin' over there for the entire even.n'
with the keys to the engine house in
his pocket, ] think the town oughter
take some action bout 1t. S'pose there
was to be a fire an him hemmed In b,