The Country of the Pointed Firs Sarah Orne Jewett (bill gates best books TXT) đ
- Author: Sarah Orne Jewett
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âYou donât go out fishing after Christmas?â I asked, as we came back to the bright kitchen.
âNo; I take stiddy to my knitting after January sets in,â said the old seafarer. âââTainât worth while, fish make off into deeper water anâ you canât stand no such perishinâ for the sake oâ what you get. I leave out a few traps in sheltered coves anâ do a little lobsterinâ on fair days. The young fellows braves it out, some on âem; but, for me, I lay in my winterâs yarn anâ set here where âtis warm, anâ knit anâ take my comfort. Mother learnt me once when I was a lad; she was a beautiful knitter herself. I was laid up with a bad knee, anâ she said âtwould take up my time anâ help her; we was a large family. Theyâll buy all the folks can do down here to Addicksâ store. They say our Dunnet stockinâs is gettinâ to be celebrated up to Bostonâ âgood quality oâ wool anâ even knittinâ or somethinâ. Iâve always been called a pretty hand to do nettinâ, but seines is master cheap to what they used to be when they was all hand worked. I change off to nettinâ long towards spring, and I piece up my trawls and lines and get my fishinâ stuff to rights. Lobster pots they require attention, but I make âem up in spring weather when itâs warm there in the barn. No; I ainât one oâ them that likes to set anâ do nothinâ.â
âYou see the rugs, poor dear did them; she waânât very partial to knittinâ,â old Elijah went on, after he had counted his stitches. âOur rugs is beginninâ to show wear, but I canât master none oâ them womanish tricks. My sister, she tinkers âem up. She said last time she was here that she guessed theyâd last my time.â
âThe old ones are always the prettiest,â I said.
âYou ainât referrinâ to the braided ones now?â answered Mr. Tilley. âYou see ours is braided for the most part, anâ their good looks is all in the beginninâ. Poor dear used to say they made an easier floor. I go shufflinâ round the house sameâs if âtwas a boât, and I always used to be stubbinâ up the corners oâ the hooked kind. Her anâ me was always havinâ our jokes together sameâs a boy anâ girl. Outsiders neverâd know nothinâ about it to see us. She had nice manners with all, but to me there was nobody so entertaininâ. Sheâd take off anybodyâs natural talk winter eveninâs when we set here alone, so youâd think âtwas them a-speakinâ. There, there!â
I saw that he had dropped a stitch again, and was snarling the blue yarn round his clumsy fingers. He handled it and threw it off at armâs length as if it were a cod line; and frowned impatiently, but I saw a tear shining on his cheek.
I said that I must be going, it was growing late, and asked if I might come again, and if he would take me out to the fishing grounds someday.
âYes, come any time you want to,â said my host, âââtainât so pleasant as when poor dear was here. Oh, I didnât want to lose her anâ she didnât want to go, but it had to be. Such things ainât for us to say; thereâs no yes anâ no to it.â
âYou find Almiry Todd one oâ the best oâ women?â said Mr. Tilley as we parted. He was standing in the doorway and I had started off down the narrow green field. âNo, there ainât a better hearted woman in the State oâ Maine. Iâve known her from a girl. Sheâs had the best oâ mothers. You tell her Iâm liable to fetch her up a couple or three nice good mackerel early tomorrow,â he said. âNow donât let it slip your mind. Poor dear, she always thought a sight oâ Almiry, and she used to remind me there was nobody to fish for her; but I donât recâlect it as I ought to. I see you drop a line yourself very handy now anâ then.â
We laughed together like the best of friends, and I spoke again about the fishing grounds, and confessed that I had no fancy for a southerly breeze and a ground swell.
âNor me neither,â said the old fisherman. âNobody likes âem, say what they may. Poor dear was disobliged by the mere sight of a boât. Almiryâs got the best oâ mothers, I expect you know; Misâ Blackett out to Green Island; and we was always planninâ to go out when summer come; but there, I couldnât pick no dayâs weather that seemed to suit her just right. I never set out to worry her neither, âtwaânât no kind oâ use; she was so pleasant we couldnât have no fret nor trouble. âTwas never âyou dear anâ you darlinâ afore folks, anâ âyou divilâ behind the door!â
As I looked back from the lower end of the field I saw him still standing, a lonely figure in the doorway. âPoor dear,â I repeated to myself half aloud; âI wonder where she is and what she knows of the little world she left. I wonder what she has been doing these eight years!â
I gave the message about the mackerel to Mrs. Todd.
âBeen visitinâ with âLijah?â she asked with interest. âI expect you had kind of a dull session; he ainât the talkinâ kind; dwellinâ so much long oâ fish seems to make âem lose the gift oâ speech.â But when I told her that Mr. Tilley had been talking to me that day, she interrupted me quickly.
âThen âtwas all about his wife, anâ he canât say nothinâ too pleasant neither. She was modest with strangers, but there ainât one oâ her old friends
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