The Ambler Gazette 18991221

              ambler gazette vol xviii.-no s ambler pa dkctmbkk 21 18jm 1.25 a year s 1 o o he ttfan who oved a jfcero some one has said iliiit the time is not fur away when acallopera and summer visitors will be the only residents of nan tucket island this opinion savors of hie pessimist and ought uot to be toler ated kut if this prophecy should ever be come a fact it is not unlikely that the scalloper would si:uid higher in the kingdom of heaven this does not im ply that the atimmei visitor is not nil right decidedly ii would be hard to get along without liim hut give the man who unows life his cbolep and it will be the nantucket fisherman every time when tim henderson first saw ivr sis hay ward lie was stilling up and dowu the harbor in his cntboat the nan tneie were not a tew w no ilkea ner neuer than the cigars she dispensed the wives ami mothers who approved of her might be numbered on the fingers of one band but in ppite of all this persia was all i'ighf neither dues it tnattpr a gl'pni deal whether she was pretty or not the young men thought she was while older ones said she was invariably cheerful amd good to pass the time o day with in reality she was as trim as a steam yacht ever read with a sparkling retort nnd her deft parrying with words would have tnacle a mediaeval swordsman invulnera ble deep down in her heart persia had lint a very high opinion of the species of mankind chut hung over her counter and gossiped with her by the hour no mat ter bow tbe outside world looked at her conduct she in truth had certain pre conceived ideas as to the qualities which constituted a real man the evening of the day she had met tim henderson while she was shelling guess you don't know who i am cy higgins dragging his scoop net be hind him in search of scallops persia was digging clams along the hats they were clad in a manner that was hardly calculated to make an impression on each other yet tim wore a soft place in his heart ever after although that important organ was reputed to be a rather hard specimen of its kind hello friend tiui shouted any luck only u few guess you'd do better if you was up poverty point it's too fur for me if you'd jest as soon i'd admire to take you up thai1 tiiin't outen my way n mite i'll come up us nigh as i darst an you can wade out ivrsis nodded her assent she was dressed for her work nnd wore a pair of rubber boots which were evidently made for a man in a few minutes the pair were tacking toward l'overty point don't know as i've ever seen you be fore but p'r'api you've heered o me i'm tim henderson that lives down newtown way i'm a member p no 44 i go scallopin in winter an drive a car riage in summer i ain't oue o the kind that loafs around tween times nuther i'm ready for anything that'll bring in 10 cents what 1 get is enough for ina and me besides we have generally put a leetle in the bank when the eud o the season comes that's niore'u most do dowu here yes i know you i've seen you driviu carriage the summer folks say you are as voinimidai in us can be well i try to be jest civil that's about all that's more than some is anyhow well i guess you're right but it lou't pay guess you don't know who i am i'll have to cave on that sure i've mmgh to do without keepin track o the girls in this town never whs any great after em auyhow i'm only perils ivrsis haywnrd i sell cigars over the counter at the sea view i louse iii the summer an do any thing that comes along in the winter ottpt work out 1 won't do that never could get aliing with women anyway lvr.sis observed net new friend closely but tim teemed hardly to notice her his eyes miv im.-.v with the horizon which was a trifle threatening hut the in i1 a sailor will sweep in more in oue glance than a landlubber in » week i'ersis llaywnrd was worlliy at more attention than she received 00 this 0cc8 ion she was accustomed to more too miii.ii made it harder to bear a fueling of pique was rising within her an ap prenticeship of four summers in serving the nurcolii tastes of all sorts ami eon ditions of iu-ii liud given her tin insight into the masculine nature whether it was the btst side is a matter for others tn d ride there is no doubt tit all tuut the clams which she had found in plenty lie nouderid tuut ue efforts had met with such poor success when the clams were shelled she sat down to sew on her next summer's dresses still thinking of tim tim was in no 4's room whore he rpent every evening talking to men of his own ilk omitting the common courte sies of clubmen no 4 is a unique institution on the is land of nantiieket it derives its name from ilie lire engine which is its special charge ll is an old hand engine and faifs ii'-oui gality purchased recently some people say it is more ornamental than useful and it certainly does look pretty wheu it goes through the old lanes no 4 is still in commission just the same und while it may be a little old fashioned ii there is over a tire which is rare the combination of no 4 and no 4's men is hard to beat but there is a good deal more to no 4 than that it has risen to a point where it wields great social and political importance candidates for office like to call no 4's men their friends it is fur from being a sunday school anil the common run of the clergy would probably uot feel much at ease iu the society of its members but this story does uot deal with no i's affairs so much as with one of its members his companions noticed that tim was unusually silent tins evening billy newcomb who had happened to be rabbit shooting upon coatue when tim had taken on his cargo had been keenly interested in the adventure while others were seeking solicitously for the cause of tim's silence he was biding his time ah they had got out of tim had expressed about as much as a crow's croak but billy got a rise i'll tell you what's the matter with tim he's in love never oue declared tim's the last oue well i'll bet you it is so for i seen him with that lluywurd girl scullopiu toduy so now now i jest want to know said au other well well if it's so i'm glad o it it's high time tim an i wish you well others wished tim weft too so thor oughly and unceasingly that be had no time to explain if he had bad words to explain himself which may well he doubted he returned home to his mother earlj that night and the next thing he went to see perils instead of going to no 4 he was received with a warmth that brought the blood to his lace and kept it there for the rest of the evening the conversation was mainly devoted to the past season and the prospects of the next and the probable market quo tailana n nciilloos when lent came it wus only when run started co go that he approached the subject of his vis it with a trepidation that was plainly vis i ible to ivrsis as it might have been to any one j i wonder he began that is 1 was ' tliinkin sorter that is whether you'd ever danced don't want to seem inquis itive you know only 1 kinder thought i'd like to know why yes tim i can tl i in-c an 1 like to wlint's nun i well i'm glad that is 1 might be i only tim's arms in a series of ges tures not modeled after the delaarte sys tem were ratal trying to help him ax press himself you see us continued we no 1 liu s have l m'i ii-.s o dances every winter turn is assemblies we cull rin an i kinder thought you might sort er like to gov when he had at last sailed through his difficulties of spccrii tim was standing on one leg and there was perspiration uii his brow why us rrrtuiiily i'd like to go you're real kind tim quickly turned opened tbe kitchen door and dciiartrd without cvi-n saying tent was himself again when he went 4 the next evening he showed no resentment nl the gibes which wen aimed at him and they finally ceased he only said you jest wait till the dances be gin tliis they did and there was not a sol lace in the hall when he entered it the following week with i'ersis by the hand r was a happy winter for tim almost ilic happiest lie had ever known and it was not until summer came that lie found a ily in his ointment there had been no expressed understanding between the pair but then understandings are not al ways put in words it was only when tim and persis misunderstood each other that they approached the subject of their relations with each other it happened when the summer season had begun tim had appeared in a new ti'iui surrey and business was good and j a re him the world lookeil sweet and lovely to him but however the extremely virtuous may feel about it jealousy is no respecter of persons when tim passed the sea view house he always stretched his neck nnd looked for 1'eisis 1'ei'sis gen erally saw him and waved anil smiled the city people smiled too and thought it was so pleasant to see a happy pair of lovers even in humble life ut there were times when ivrsis did » tim they were not many to but enough to crush the life out thill i'ersis could ever be seen . and joking with a stranger nnd irtvei ii::i « lieu lie passud killed his heart summoned all the baseness in his soul to the surface and at last made him/the sepuldier of a once happy na ture it was nil done in a minute he did not often see i'ersis but once in the mid dle of the summer he met her wheu his resentment was hot within him see here persis he began — and speech came easy and without hesitation seems to me you're sometimes pretty close to them city fellers au what do they care for you anyway v he couldn't have done worse she had stopped suddenly tim henderson what do you mean what have you to say about what i do say do you think you're captain o this trait why i dunuo but i kinder s'posed you an me v;is goin together — well you needn't s'pose you're under any obligations i see you're jest like all the rest o tlie men i want a man that is » man i want a follow that hns some thin o the hero in him i don't want any o the trasb that has only suspicions wheu they see a man an n woman talkin together kinder friendly like she turn ed on her heel and walked away that was the last time tim spoke t(i her for over a year that period of his life wns an interlude of blank agony as for being a hero he felt instead the meanest of men if be him loved t'evsis henderson he worshipfl he 1 it may seem klraugc lo some him e lew hat incisive words she had spoken increased l«is pas sion ten f oid those n'ho profess to understand hu man nature have uot yet given us a satis factory deliuilion of ihe qualities that make a hero perhaps alter all it is only the lack of opportunity that keeps all oi us from being heroes when thut tiuit comes it is generally the hero himself i that is most surprised that is the way it was with tim tw days before ( hrisi mas the following year the weather vanes backed into tin southwest fur a second line there was uot much wind siir ,..¦_ ml the most dangerous thing nln . . her some times i its dim tbe i lills elner iluts said it was a w 	 ,-,- ciler and o it was the night before t hri.-iuias the south west wind had i'l r.-ii ncd up and at dawn had reached thai poiul which en titled it to being called a icrcunier i'yuiu tlu mm ih shore life simmj sttl tiou the captain in charge watched the waves and the hungry shoals stretch ing live miles toward i lie main howling und lashing like hungry lions at sun down there was a deluge of eohl ruin carried straight out with u wind blow ing ix miles an hour the sand cut the oilskins of the surliucii like a knife but they faced it and walked their beats or they were heroes too it was a little after 10 o'clock that night when the ( lirislinas trees in i he churches hud been unladen thftl the home comers saw au ominous tlash across the southern sky and the nail of the rockuts acted like u cry of lire ou the men the dull silence iu the nantuckel lanes resounded with llic fruutic yell wreck ou the south shore kvcry ablebodicd man wus on foot in an instant inn henderson and all of no 4 were there too but not ihe old hand engine it is not over three miles to the south shore from the villuice of nuutiiekel vvnen me men mm readied tlie scene the life savers bad sent a line over the mast of the brlgantlne henrietta ling ers less than half a mile away lint the vessel v:is acting uftly and was lontli to stand still she pounded on ihe shoal and tugged til the line over which ran the trolley of the breeches buoy three were already saved but every moment it seemed as if the line would break as the mountainous sens heaved and broke over the cliffs the line and its burden were buried out of sight then the line released from its tension snapped into ihe air like a lash ami yet somehow the breeches buoy held to its trolley and its human freight staid too slowly feeling its way to the bank the captain of the vessel wus the last to come the men had checreil them all as they were picked up half drowned and carried into the station by willing hands it was ready to cheer now as the last man was slowly coming shore ward but the words died on their lips un uttered the line had caught when re ! leased from the clutch pf the waves a dark object was tossed into the nil kach moment it seemed as if tbe captain would be thrown into the sea that moment would be his last for nothing uot even a lifeboat could live in that sen it was not a time to stop and consider the life saving captain wus about to speak to bis men to command them to z to almost certain death when u u shot out of the darkness and grabbed tin life line the men on shore wore u>t softly but above l rntriunf at storm they were heard nnd it seemed as if they called him a fool no one knew who it was for he was scarcely in view iong enough even if lie could have been recognized each time the line flow into the air the men ou shore held their breath once man nnd lino parted and disap peared a low groan mingled with the storm then the line hew up again and the man was again slowly creeping to ward the buoy there was no timekeeper for that race with loath it seemed as if hours had passed when the buoy again yielded to the pull from the shore and the two men wore brought to safely when they picked up tim henderson already unconscious they carried him to the siation as tenderly as a mother gath ers her child to her arms they had for gotten to cheer at lirst that came later when the waiting crowd saw the usher man stepping forth into the open air tim walked back to town he resent ed any demonstration he went home ivrsis hayward waited all day foj him but she did not understand him yet if she thought it was for her that he risked his life she was mistaken she learned about that afterward christinas night the wind luid changed to northeast and the ruin had turned in to sleet and snow but the weather did not couut with persis she had the street to herself as she half walked and half blew down newtown way l.uier she had tim to herself too it has never ik-cii really known what ie<l but it has leaked out that tim eft f xi v thk has was aliain si.owlv cheeping towahd mil w ov said i'd dune he same iliing imy time if i hadn't slopped to think the lirst thing i knew i was out a that line an i wouldn't sweat that l was glad on it when tim and perils were married the next summer there waa ¦ good dual of fuss niude especially b,v the miuimer vis itors but tim says their water liue is jest about right to take cm over th bar in they wouldn't do fur deep vt uter tilft perhaps the best thing about the whole ift'aii is thai they understood each other lefora the fatal tie whs bound and at cast out woman has proved that uiutri uiony and a woman's independence are bot uecessarily incompatible itostou lobe y<v