PACIFIC COAST 
 
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 ED. K. WATTS, GENERAL MANAGER, 
 
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 Book No. V?.. /.. of Installment No. 
 
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 AGENTS WANTED.
 
 N THE 
 
 POINT 
 
 A SVMMEFLIDYL 
 
 BY 
 
 NATHAN HASKELLDOLE 
 AVTHOR.OF"NOTANGELS OVITE 
 
 ETC. 
 
 LLV5TR.ATED 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 JOSEPH KNIGHT COMPANY 
 MDCCCXCV
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1895, 
 BY JOSEPH KNIGHT COMPANY 
 
 Printed by C. II. Simonds & Co. 
 Boston, U.S.A.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHATTER PAGE 
 
 I. MR. MF.KRITHEW SHINES AT THE GOV 
 ERNOR S DINNER .... i 
 
 II. MR. MERKITHEW FAILS TO KEEP A 
 
 SECRET 7 
 
 III. MR. MERRITHEW HAS THE HONOR OF 
 
 INTRODUCING ins FAMILY . . 15 
 
 IV. MR. MERRITHEW INSINUATES THAT HIS 
 
 DAUGHTER MARGARET is TO DE THE 
 HEROINE OE THE STORY . . 24 
 
 V. WHEREIN MR. MERRITHEW TREATS 
 GRAPHICALLY OE A SHORT OCEAN 
 VOYAGE 37 
 
 VI. MR. MERRITHEW AND HIS FAMILY DRIVE 
 
 A LONG THREE MILES IN THE RAIN 51 
 
 VII. IN WHICH A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL 
 
 APPEARS AS A COMFORTER . . 66 
 
 VIII. IN WHICH NEIGHBORS APPEAR AND 
 
 COMFORT THE MERRITHEW FAMILY So 
 
 IX. IN WHICH MR. MERRITHEW DESCRIBES 
 THE POINT, AND GIVES HINTS ON 
 THE FORMATION OF A LAND COM 
 PANY ... 89
 
 iv CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PACT. 
 
 X. FOURTH OF JULY AND OTHER DAYS AT 
 
 THE POINT 96 
 
 XI. TIIK MERRITHEWS MARK VISITS . . no 
 
 XII. IN WHICH FATE SKKMS AIJOUT TO 
 
 BEC.IN SPINNING A \\ EI: . . . 152 
 
 XIII. WHEREIN A YACHT KNIKKS UNDKR THE 
 
 DISPOSITION OK FATE . . . i.|8 
 
 XIV. \YHEREIN MR. MERRITHEW SHOWS THAT 
 
 BEAUTY is A LOADSTONE TO LOVE 166 
 
 XV. IN WHICH MK. GREC.OR TAKES THE 
 MERRITHEWS ON HIS YACHT AND 
 TELLS THEM A STORY . . . 178 
 
 XVI. SURPRISES, LIKE MISFORTUNES, NEVER 
 
 COME SINGLY 192 
 
 XVII. MAN PROPOSES 208 
 
 XVIII. IN WHICH MR. MERRITHEW TRIES TO 
 
 CAP THE CLIMAX AND FAILS . . 222 
 
 XIX. IN WHICH MR. MERRITHEW ONLY HINTS 
 
 AT A CLIMAX 237 
 
 XX. WHEREIN THE END OK THE STORY is 
 SHOWN TO I:E LIKE MAHOMET S 
 COFFIN 2.17
 
 ON THE POINT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MR. MERRITHEW SHINES AT THE GOVERNOR S 
 DINNER. 
 
 A COOL, drowsy atmosphere was imprisoned 
 in the drawing-room of the Governor s house. 
 This atmosphere had been caught during the pre 
 vious night and carefully shut up. Outside, the 
 sun beat fiercely, and the mercury was buoyantly 
 soaring, as if in emulation of the winged god for 
 whom it was named. The heat, of course, tried 
 to get into the Governor s house, but that stately 
 mansion was well barricaded against it with outside
 
 2 O,V THE POIXT. 
 
 shutters and Venetian blinds. A marble statue on 
 a revolving pedestal looked almost ghostly in the 
 subdued light. I could quite imagine that the 
 marble flesh shivered slightly from the moist cool 
 ness. The contrast with the intensity of the sum 
 mer heat, from which I had just escaped, made me 
 feel languid. My eyes almost closed. 
 
 Thank Heaven I have not an envious disposition, 
 and I never consciously broke the Tenth Com 
 mandment; but as I sat in that flower-perfumed 
 drawing-room, in a silence broken only by the deep 
 tenes of a chiming clock, the ticking of which made 
 a monotonous musical murmur, I could not help 
 thinking that wealth and position must be a very 
 pleasant possession. I began to imagine myself a 
 Governor and the owner of a similar mansion. In 
 another moment I should have been asleep. 
 
 "And how does Mr. Merrithew do, this stifling 
 hot day?" 
 
 It was the voice of my hostess. She was the 
 very ideal of what a Governor s wife should be : 
 stately, yet free from condescension ; dignified, yet 
 cordial; always dressed in the perfection of style, 
 and therefore free from any affectation of show. 
 People s sincerity is generally evidenced in the 
 voice. Or, rather, few people can be insincere and 
 not betray it in the voice. On the strength of my 
 impression that she was sincere I had broken one 
 of the rules of my life ; for what is the advantage of
 
 ON THE POINT. 3 
 
 having rules for your life if you don t break them 
 whenever the proper occasion comes ? 
 
 I had accepted a general invitation given some 
 months before : 
 
 " We dine at an old-fashioned hour in the middle 
 of the day, and we always have a vacant seat : do 
 happen to drop in some day and dine with us 
 informally." 
 
 Here I was, undoubtedly come on the most in 
 convenient day that I could have chosen ; for, after 
 we were seated at the big round table, several of 
 the Governor s sons came in unexpectedly, and two 
 or three other chance guests " happened " in on 
 probably the same generous and sincere general 
 invitation which I had accepted with so much 
 assurance. But the hostess was equal to the 
 occasion. No one could have failed to admire her 
 self-possession and serenity. Each successive 
 arrival was made to feel at home. There was no 
 lack of room, though we had to sit closer together; 
 but tact and good-humor are wonderful social 
 lubricants, and the dinner passed off delightfully to 
 all. 
 
 I wondered whether Mrs. Merrithew would have 
 steered the domestic ship so easily through such a 
 complication. But Mrs. Merrithew is no fool of a 
 woman, and if ever I sigh for wealth and position it 
 is when I think of Mrs. Merrithew s latent possi 
 bilities. She also can tell a story with a very
 
 4 O.V THE POINT. 
 
 pretty knack of mimicry and a touch of drollery 
 and wit. But she is shy, and shines brightest on 
 the domestic hearth. Now I remember one 
 time 
 
 Mrs. Merrithew tells me that one of my great 
 faults is lack of continuity. I am led astray from 
 one pearl of thought to another, as a cow browses ; 
 and I see that even now I have been digressing. 
 I got the dinner in ahead of time. 
 
 I was roused from my dream of being a Governor 
 and rich by the appearance of my hostess, and I 
 began to describe her characteristics. She was not 
 tall, but she carried herself in such a way as to give 
 the impression of more than average height. I was 
 startled and confused on being detected, as it 
 seemed to me, in such an undignified condition, but 
 the tact of my hostess put me at ease without my 
 knowing it. 
 
 Tact, for a word of only four letters, and one so 
 warped from its original significance, stands for one 
 of the divinest qualities in man or woman. Now 
 Mrs. Merrithew has considerable of this quality, 
 especially in managing me. I am not easily man 
 aged, but oftentimes I find myself guided into a 
 thing after I have vowed with all my native obsti 
 nacy that I won t have anything to do with it. And 
 I am always so deeply impressed with Mrs. Merri- 
 thew s tact that I forgive the deception. For in the 
 last analysis, tact comes to be a sort of deception, at 
 least in matters matrimonial. Mrs. Merrithew
 
 OA r THE POINT. 5 
 
 But I am digressing again. 
 
 " Very hot weather for the merry month of May," 
 I ventured to observe. 
 
 " Yes ; but we are likely to have very hot 
 weather prematurely. It makes us think of our 
 summer plans." 
 
 " Have you made any plans for the summer yet ? " 
 I asked. 
 
 " \Ye are only just back from Florida, and I think 
 we can be very comfortable at home. After living 
 in a hotel, home seems like a paradise. And what 
 are your family going to do, Mr. Merrithew ? " 
 
 I replied that I was afraid the family purse would 
 not allow us to do anything. 
 
 " We have quite frequently been to Gunkit," I 
 added, " but at the cottage where we used to go 
 they have no room for us. We can t afford to go 
 anywhere else." 
 
 Just then the Governor came in. I could under 
 stand why he was elected governor. Anybody who 
 shook hands with him felt personally his friend, 
 and even though of the opposite party, scratched 
 the ticket in his behalf. Political popularity is 
 born with a man. Some men have the power of 
 arousing self-respect in others, just as the hand 
 passed over a cat s back develops the latent elec 
 tricity. I, who am naturally timid and shrinking 
 (Mrs. Merrithew always laughs when I say that, but 
 it is true, nevertheless), felt for the nonce as if
 
 6 <9.V THE POINT. 
 
 I, too, were an important member of a great political 
 organization, and that feeling of assurance did not 
 leave me all dinner-time. 
 
 A fortnight later I met the Governor s wife just 
 getting out of her carriage in the rain. It was a 
 sudden shower, and I, who happened providentially 
 to have an umbrella with me, was enabled to save 
 the delicate lavender ribbons of a new spring bon 
 net from the stain of raindrops. 
 
 " Come to dinner to-morrow," said she, gratefully ; 
 " I have something to say to you. About half-past 
 one, you know."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MR. MERRITHEW FAILS TO KEEP A SECRET. 
 
 MRS. MKRRITHKW and I amused ourselves 
 with guessing what she could possibly want 
 of me. I thought perhaps she wanted me to tutor 
 her youngeston ; -Mrs. Merrithew was certain that 
 she was going to propose my name for a professor 
 ship of elocution in a college in which she was 
 interested. We worked ourselves up considerably, 
 building air-castles. Just as the clock was striking 
 twelve that night, Mrs. Merrithew waked me up 
 from a delightful dream by exclaiming for the 
 fiftieth time, 
 
 " Magnus, darling, what do you think it can be ? " 
 And I had only just dropped off to sleep! If I 
 answered crossly, I think I deserved pardon. I 
 did n t want to go to the Governor s looking as if I 
 had been dragged through a -knot-hole, and loss of 
 sleep simply uses me up. Any man would have 
 answered with some acerbity. I said I did n t 
 know and I did n t care. I did n t at that time of 
 night. 
 
 Well, at the appointed hour next day I presented 
 myself at the Governor s front door and was admitted 
 into the library. Here again I almost had to fight
 
 8 OA r THE POINT. 
 
 down rising feelings of envy, for if there is any one 
 thing that I crave, it is a good library. I have not 
 many books myself, and those which adorn my 
 shelves are a chance mixture gathered without any 
 method. My wife had none. As far as books are 
 concerned I might 
 
 But there is nothing more idle than to speculate 
 on what a man might have done. Regrets are the 
 least valuable assets of a bankrupt. 
 
 " I have been thinking a good deal of what you 
 said the other day about your summer," began my 
 kind hostess, when we were seated together on the 
 comfortable divan, flanked by a music cabinet such 
 as I wished I might present to Mrs. Merrithew. 
 Our music has to be kept in a drawer. u It 
 occurred to me that possibly you might like to 
 occupy our cottage by the sea." 
 
 She paused rather impressively, and I, quite taken 
 aback, stammered something about it depending on 
 the rent. 
 
 The Lord knew that I had no money to spend on 
 rent ; but the Governor s wife hastened to reassure 
 me. 
 
 " ( )h, there would n t be any rent to pay ! It has 
 been unoccupied for two or three years. We should 
 like to rent it, but there is scarcely a shadow of 
 a chance, and if it is not engaged by the first 
 of June, we shall consider it a real favor if you 
 will take possession of it."
 
 CLV THE POINT. 9 
 
 "Where where is it?" I asked, not knowing 
 what else to say. I knew it could not be at New 
 port or Mount Desert, for cottages there do not go 
 empty for lack of tenants. 
 
 " This is how it happened," she went on to 
 explain, " My husband was inveigled into a very 
 promising land speculation. I was not consulted. 
 He invested, I don t dare to say how many thousand 
 dollars, in helping to buy up all the land and build 
 a big hotel. Then he built this cottage. It was 
 well built, and we furnished it comfortably with all 
 the requirements for housekeeping. We spent one 
 summer there, but have never been there since. My 
 husband was taken very ill, and had a dreadful time, 
 and he conceived a great dislike for the place. I 
 wish he had conceived it before he went into 
 the speculation, for the enterprise has never been a 
 success. And there stands the cottage, all furnished ; 
 and, as I said, if no one wishes to rent it within the 
 next ten days, it is yours." 
 
 " You are very generous," I said 
 
 No ; don t call it generous," she cut me short. 
 " It is you who will be doing us the favor. It is 
 better for a house to be occupied than to stand idle 
 and empty." Then she added, " I should certainly 
 advise you to go and see it first, before you decide 
 to go there with your family. I can tell you, it is in a 
 lovely situation. Our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Aller- 
 ton, had it one year, and Mrs. Allerton declared
 
 IO av 777^ POIXT. 
 
 that it had only one fault : that was, the chairs did 
 not face in all directions at once. The views up 
 and down the bay are simply bewitching." 
 
 She told me considerably more about the furnish 
 ing and location of the cottage, and about the people 
 who had places in the neighborhood. At dinner 
 the Governor gave me further particulars. 
 
 As I was about to take my departure I remarked 
 that, for their sake, I hoped some one would appear 
 at the last moment to hire the cottage, but for my 
 own sake I hoped it would still go begging. That 
 was all I could say under the circumstances, and 1 
 am sure at least half of the remark was absolutely 
 sincere. That is a large proportion. 
 
 I felt that it was best, on the whole, not to say 
 anything to Mrs. Merrithew about the prospective 
 cottage, lest in case we, after all, failed of it, she 
 should be disappointed. But I knew my wife was a 
 woman of shrewd penetration, not easy to deceive. 
 I hid my secret, therefore, behind what I thought 
 was a skilful veil. She was watching for me as I 
 came up to the house from the train. The intensest 
 curiosity was depicted on her face. I trembled 
 in my shoes ; I felt in my bones that I was running 
 the sharpest risk of detection ; I feigned to look 
 disappointed. 
 
 "Well, well, dearest, tell me what she wanted." 
 
 " You forgot to kiss me," I replied, parrying 
 cleverly.
 
 OA r THE POIXT. I I 
 
 " I shan t kiss you till you tell me." 
 
 " Well, then, I shan t tell you till you kiss me," I 
 retorted. 
 
 She hesitated. I have known family discords 
 and even divorces to originate from as small a 
 matter. Mrs. Merrithew has a considerable back 
 bone of stubbornness. She tells me that I am 
 stubborn. But in that respect I can t hold a candle 
 to her. And I knew well that I should be punished 
 in some way for my recalcitrancy. 
 
 Perhaps I ought to remark here, as an offset to 
 any suspicion aroused by the above mutual confes 
 sion of obstinacy, that the mere fact of my expect 
 ing and demanding a kiss speaks well for the 
 general happiness of a marriage which dated back 
 more years than I like to count. Our silver wedding 
 was not far ahead, and yet every morning when I 
 went away and every night when I came home 
 
 Undoubtedly we were as happy as the average 
 married couple in our own walk of life. We have 
 had our little spats and differences ; and I have no 
 doubt we have more than once a year wished quite 
 sincerely, for the time being, that w r e had not put our 
 heads into the marriage noose. But I have heard 
 an Episcopal clergyman declare that that marriage 
 where both parties did not sometimes regret it was 
 not worth calling a marriage. 
 
 The present possibility of a battle in stubborn 
 ness was dissipated. Curiosity came to the rescue. 
 I got my kiss first.
 
 12 av THE roixr. 
 
 " Now tell me what she wanted of you," insisted 
 Mrs. Merrithew, a little indignant still that I had 
 got the better of her. 
 
 " She wanted to consult me in regard to to a 
 little matter of charity," I replied, with perfect 
 truthfulness. 
 
 I escaped for that time ; but I may as well 
 acknowledge here as anywhere that I ignominiously 
 failed to keep that secret two whole days. I was 
 on the very point of congratulating myself on my 
 skilful diplomacy when my wife attacked me from 
 an unexpected quarter, and wormed out of me the 
 information that I was keeping for a better day. 
 She suspected all the time, not so much from what 
 I said or failed to say as from my manner, that I 
 was withholding something from her. 
 
 Aside from the fact that my wife was more than 
 ever persuaded of her power of extracting unwilling 
 information from me, and my consequent humilia 
 tion, no harm resulted from the avowal. We really 
 got considerable pleasure from discussing what we 
 would do in case the cottage should be ours for the 
 summer, and as we both fully realized the possibility 
 of being disappointed, we did not allow our expecta 
 tions to reach the boiling point. 
 
 I am not especially superstitious. I think Mrs. 
 Merrithew has a tendency that way. She has a 
 stock of curious observances which she acquired 
 from her grandmother ; but I scorn noticing which
 
 ox TIIF. roixr. 13 
 
 foot I put out of bed first, or whether I see the new 
 moon over my left shoulder, or what it means when 
 my nose itches. Nevertheless, I have a sort of 
 touchstone of prognostication for each day s suc 
 cess. I gauge it in advance by tossing my night- 
 robe from the bath-tub over to the hook by the 
 door ; if it catches and hangs in graceful folds, I 
 incline to expect tha-t the day will be a good one. 
 During the week that followed my interview with 
 the Governor s wife I succeeded every morning in 
 accomplishing that excellent feat, and my expecta 
 tion was proportionately heightened. 
 
 Nor was I disappointed. The first clay of June 
 well exemplified one of the meanings of Lowell s 
 famous line from " Sir Launfal." " Rare " means 
 " raw," and I never knew a day more raw in June ; 
 but our hearts were filled with sunshine by receiv 
 ing a note from the Governor s wife, in which she 
 said that the cottage would be at our disposal, but 
 she earnestly advised me to go and see it before we 
 decided to take possession of it. 
 
 That fell in with Mrs. Merrithew s better judg 
 ment, for she had more than once vowed she would 
 never again go to a place which she had not first 
 investigated. But it was utterly impossible for me 
 to take the long journey to the Point, where the 
 cottage stood. Besides, I had not the ten or twelve 
 dollars that it would cost to go. 
 
 " Why," said I, " it was built for themselves ! they
 
 14 ON THE POINT. 
 
 have occupied it one summer. I know the region is 
 beautiful, for I camped out there once when I was 
 a boy. The cottage is comfortably furnished ; it is 
 no risk. You may go if you want to." 
 
 " Now, Magnus, you know perfectly well that I 
 can t leave the baby 
 
 The baby ! 
 
 Well, I suppose it is time for me to introduce my 
 family. 
 
 I will do so.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MR. MKRRITHEW HAS THE HONOR OF 
 INTRODUCING HIS FAMILY. 
 
 I HAVE already spoken of Mrs. Merrithew as a 
 woman of tact. She is slightly older than my 
 self, slightly taller. That made me feel awkward as 
 we marched up through the aisle of the church. I 
 knew some people would be making sport of us, or 
 at least of me. But every one said I bore myself 
 remarkably well, and I had good reason to be proud 
 of my wife, though she was a poor girl who had 
 been obliged to earn her own living by teaching in 
 a kindergarten. Unlike many women, she improved
 
 1 6 av THE POINT. 
 
 in looks as she grew older, and she still seemed as 
 young as a goddess. 
 
 " Why, my darling," I was frequently moved to 
 exclaim, " how fine you look this morning ! You 
 are as handsome as Queen Victoria on a postage- 
 stamp ! 
 
 She looked so young, so blooming. Oftentimes 
 when she and our daughter Margaret went together 
 to the shops they were taken for sisters. Mat re 
 ptikhra pulchrior filia. There was not a white 
 hair in her dark-brown tresses; no wrinkles on her 
 cheeks, no lines on her forehead. Yet she had 
 borne anxieties and known grief. She had a very 
 buoyant nature. She made cheerfulness a science. 
 Never was a poor man blessed with a more efficient 
 helpmeet, and I don t know how I should have got 
 through the world, had it not been for Mrs. Merri- 
 thew. She cared nothing for general society. I 
 often wished she cared more ; but it was lucky, for, 
 as she said, 
 
 " Magnus, my dear, our income would not allow 
 me to go into society. I dress well enough to make 
 the few necessary calls, but if I went to all the 
 parties to which you are invited we should be 
 bankrupt. \Yliy, the mere item of gloves, not to 
 speak of carriages, would be too much for us! It 
 is fortunate that I do not care for society. I like 
 to have you go, for you enjoy it so much. I only 
 wish you might have a little larger income, for very- 
 soon Margaret will be wanting to go out."
 
 ON THE POfA T r. I"] 
 
 That filled me with dread and regret. My in 
 come was just the same as it had ever been, just 
 enough to stretch the ends of the year together. I 
 had not been a success. I still drew a modest 
 salary as dramatic editor of the Cymbal, I had a 
 few pupils in elocution, but I had never got beyond 
 these beginnings. I might have made a second- 
 rate actor ; but my people objected to my going on 
 the stage, and I knew enough to know that I could 
 never have hoped to become a star of the first mag 
 nitude. I had always been in demand for private 
 theatricals ; and even now, when I look back and 
 think of the rich girls with whom I used to take 
 part in those amateur plays, and the opportunities 
 that I fairly enjoyed while making mock love to 
 make real love, I sometimes wonder at myself for 
 having married a kindergarten teacher with no 
 dowry at all ! 
 
 I was only a few days ago talking with the rich 
 wife of a poor musician. I had remarked that I 
 was glad I had not married a rich wife, that I 
 could not have respected myself if I had. She 
 smiled on me, I certainly displayed a lack of 
 judgment in such a remark, and said that it was 
 only a delight for a woman who loved a man to 
 give him not only herself, but all she had. 
 
 In this musician s case the experiment was a 
 success, but I have seen a number of instances 
 where the wife s possession of a fortune gave her
 
 I 8 OA r THE POINT. 
 
 the opportunity to show a very unlovely sense of 
 her power and superiority. For my wife s sake I 
 could wish that she had had money, but there was 
 none in her family and none in mine. Mingling, 
 as I did by some strange chance, with a society far 
 beyond me in wealth, I felt very keenly my own 
 poverty, and sometimes I had to fight down a cer 
 tain dull regret that I had not shown more worldly 
 wisdom. 
 
 There was that rich Miss Milbank, who had a 
 million and a half in her own right. She was an 
 orphan. She used to be very friendly toward me. 
 l>ut she had such an uncongenial nose ! I wonder 
 whether I could have been content to face it all my 
 life. Now Katharine has a nose which is the acme 
 of refinement and delicacy. Miss Milbank s aunt 
 one time as good as told me that I could have the 
 girl for the asking. What a difference it would have 
 made in my life ! I might have had a yacht and a 
 span of horses, and several other luxuries that 1 
 crave and shall never enjoy in this world. 
 
 Poor Katharine ! I could not even take her to 
 Gunkit! 
 
 Then there was Miss Maltby, whose father had 
 made a colossal fortune in manufacturing whiskey. 
 She was pretty. Her bangs were very enticing, and 
 her blue eyes made havoc with hearts. I was 
 cast as her lover in one piece we played, and the 
 rehearsals were quite dangerous to my peace of
 
 ON THE POINT. IQ 
 
 mind. She could not help inheriting her father s 
 millions ; but, somehow, money made in that way 
 seemed burdened with a curse. After all, there 
 would not have been any sympathy between us. 
 She was a giddy doll, fond only of dancing and 
 flattery. 
 
 1 think I deserve some credit for common-sense 
 that I chose as I did. Of course the struggle for 
 existence has been harder, as my uncle mildly pre 
 dicted it would be. But I have no sneaking sense 
 of shame at having made a sordid marriage. I re 
 member my old grandmother frequently saying, 
 
 Don t marry for money : marry for love, but be 
 sure you love where there s money." 
 
 I am older now than I was, and perhaps if I could 
 only have the benefit of my own experience and 
 begin over again at twenty-one I should try to 
 adapt myself to that advice, not so much for my 
 own sake, of course, as for Katharine s ! She might 
 have married some rich broker or merchant ; I am 
 sure she would have adorned a fortune. 
 
 1 never used to care for money at all. It w r ould 
 have been better for me if I had cared more for it 
 and been more saving. But I face calmly the 
 prospect of being poor all my days. I have no 
 complaint to make of the world. It is my own 
 fault and misfortune combined that has made me 
 a failure, or a comparative failure. I have no 
 patience with those men or women who sulk and
 
 20 ON THE rOINT. 
 
 Crumble because the world does not appreciate their 
 genius. Men are usually taken at their real worth. 
 If my novel or history, if my poem or symphony, if 
 my painting or statue has the elements of popularity 
 in it, there will be no question of its success. 
 
 Now, for instance, I have always been bitten by 
 the mania for writing a play. I see people of 
 apparently less literary talent furnishing the stage 
 with successful pieces. Why can t I ? I have 
 tried no one knows how many times. Several have 
 been produced. Naturally I have known many man 
 agers and many actors, and they have given me every 
 opportunity. There was no trouble with the liter 
 ary quality of them. The critics at least those who 
 knew me spoke respectfully of them; but the 
 great public failed to be moved. I could n t interest 
 them. I don t blame the public. I won t say 1 
 am not disappointed, for I am ; but I am not 
 embittered. That, again, is not to my credit, for I 
 happen to have that nature, and rosy-winged Hope 
 still lingers in my Pandora box. Besides, there is 
 my Comic Opera which, but of that, later. 
 
 I will try not to say anything more about myself. 
 1 will only add that I am of medium height, and 
 thin, and have what is called a student s stoop, 
 which I have tried in vain to overcome. My hair 
 is red, and looks as though moths had meddled with 
 it on top. My nose is long and straight, and I 
 wear a mustache and an imperial. There is noth-
 
 OA THE POINT. 21 
 
 ing in my personal appearance to be vain about, 
 and how I have ever succeeded in acquiring a 
 certain vogue in society is a mystery to me. 
 
 One more thing I will say. This may explain it 
 in part. I have made it a rule of my life, and 
 have found it easier, to say kind things about 
 people than unkind things. Perhaps not easier, but 
 more satisfactory ; for I must confess to a certain turn 
 for satire and irony, but I have tried to let these 
 flames of speech be lambent and not corrosive. 
 
 If the patient reader, taken in his and her col 
 lective sense, and embodied, like a composite 
 photograph, in one, or at most two, figures, should 
 accompany me home from my office, this would be 
 the way in which my five children would formulate 
 themselves : before we had reached the top of the 
 hill the two boys would be on us with a whoop, one 
 or both on their bicycles. Alfred is ten, a dark- 
 haired, brown-eyed boy, the very image of health 
 and fun ; Magnus, Jr., aged eight, a dreamy, pen 
 sive nature when not excited by the ozone of his out- 
 of-doors life ; he has light-brown hair and blue eyes. 
 They both try to seize me by the right hand, and 
 both talk at once, with small ideas of the convention 
 alities. Mrs. Merrithew is constantly struggling to 
 keep them in decent clothes. She declares that she 
 does not believe there are two boys in all the town 
 that go through their clothes with greater celerity. I 
 know we make the fortune of the shoe-dealers, and
 
 22 ON THE POINT. 
 
 the rubber trust declares extra dividends on the 
 strength of our demand for "gums." Mrs. Merri- 
 thew mourns so far as it is in her to mourn 
 because she can t keep Alfred s finger-nails clean, 
 and she can t keep his hands clean or his hair 
 brushed, and his hat is always on the back of his 
 head. Magnus, Jr., takes after his father to a 
 greater degree, and is more naturally orderly. 
 Spots don t show on him so suddenly and prema 
 turely and permanently. Shirt waists remain on 
 him longer untumbled. 
 
 Enough of these for now; you will meet them 
 again. 
 
 Reaching the door of my neat little house, you 
 will find standing there, with her hand on the knob, 
 little Natalie, a child of four, a will-o -the-wisp, a 
 veritable enfant terrible, from the time when she 
 first lisped words, always saying the wrong thing; 
 comical, an incarnate joke (as her mother called 
 her); with bewitching bright eyes, an absurd pug 
 nose, and a smile as merry as a sunbeam. 
 
 Toddling behind her, or in his eagerness sprawl 
 ing on the floor of the hall (unless, unfortunately, 
 kept a captive by his doting mamma), is Robert, the 
 baby, a fat, dimpled darling of two. 
 
 Yes ; here he comes, almost dancing : 
 
 " I s goin to sea-shore, I is," he exclaimed, in 
 rapture ; but his sister turns on him clictatorially : 
 
 " You musn t say I is ; you must say you 
 am.
 
 OA THE POINT. 2$ 
 
 I never see these two little ones without thinking 
 sadly of the three who lie in our lot in the grave 
 yard. If they had lived, I don t know how I 
 should have fed and clothed and educated them ; 
 and sometimes I murmur (more bitterly than about 
 anything else) that it was best for them. 
 
 But all sad thoughts are interrupted by the 
 appearance of my daughter Margaret. 
 
 She comes out from the parlor. I am not 
 ashamed that people should know she is my favor 
 ite. When she was little they used to say, in a sort 
 of contemptuous tone of voice, 
 
 u Oh ! papa s girl, is she ? " 
 
 At first, I think I was a little ashamed that my 
 oldest child should not be a boy. There is a certain 
 dignity in establishing a family on the corner-stone 
 of the male heir. I had seen families where six or 
 seven daughters successively disappointed the fond 
 hopes of the parents. Such a nest of ewe lambs 
 (if I may mix a metaphor) is always a pathetic sight, 
 and I trembled lest it should be my fate to establish 
 some domestic female college. But the arrival of 
 two boys, Tommie and Willie, dispelled my fears. 
 I saw that there was a safeguard in having my eldest 
 child a girl. When the oldest is a boy and the next 
 youngest is a girl, his college mates are apt to fall 
 in love with her, if she has any pretensions to 
 beauty. 
 
 But Margaret !
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MR. MERRITHEW INSINUATES THAT HIS DAUGHTER 
 MARGARET IS TO BE THE HEROINE OF THE STORY. 
 
 Imagine a girl of nineteen, with a fair complexion, 
 keen, sparkling gray eyes under long lashes, even 
 brows, a lovely low forehead shaded by rebellious 
 wavy golden hair, a delicately-arched, aristocratic 
 nose, the inherited gift of her maternal grand 
 mother, a mobile mouth, often a little pouting, 
 though never with petulance ; perfect teeth, the 
 girlish oval of her face showing that graceful, 
 unbroken line that artists love ; a neck as fair and 
 pure in its outlines as a lily, and upholding the 
 graceful head a little haughtily ; straight as a palm, 
 and already showing that beautiful development of 
 form which has been the admiration of sculptors 
 for thousands of years ; a slender waist yet unspoilt 
 by any artificial aids ; round arms, which daily 
 exercise have made firm and strong ; a rather stately 
 and yet unconscious carriage, 
 
 I am her father, and I know that it does not 
 become me to say too much about my daughter 
 Margaret. But I know also that as she passes 
 along the street in that sweet unconsciousness of 
 her beauty, people always turn and look at her a 
 24
 
 O.Y THE PC/XT. 25 
 
 second time, and more than one artist among my 
 friends has besought me to let them transfer her 
 beauty to canvas. 
 
 But, after all, great beauty of features and form 
 may exist in a woman and she may fail to please. 
 There is something that \ve call " expression " which 
 is vastly better than beauty. It is that which 
 makes many plain and even homely faces attractive. 
 My daughter Margaret is not like Tennyson s 
 Maud. The play of vivacity, the mark of the soul, 
 the beauty of expression make her face a perpetual 
 study and delight for all who see her. 
 
 I have sometimes wondered whether her mother 
 did not feel a secret twinge of jealousy on account 
 of my admiration and worship of Margaret. I 
 could not help it. I have been asked if I was not 
 proud of my children, but I could always truthfully 
 answer no." Pride does not enter into my feelings 
 towards them. I look upon them all, without ex 
 ception, as merely treasures loaned, and liable 
 as, indeed, happened to the three most promising 
 to be recalled. 
 
 Margaret seemed to me such a perfect creation 
 that I lived many years in a sort of mute agony of 
 apprehension lest she also should be torn from me. 
 Once when she was a little baby, what a beauty 
 she was even then ! Born beautiful; not one of those 
 dreadful red, lobstery, wrinkled-up deformities that 
 most children are when first ushered into a harsh.
 
 26 o.v THE roixr. 
 
 cold world, once when she was a wee baby I 
 came home and my heart stood still to see the 
 doctor s carriage in front of the door, for I had left 
 all well in the morning, and I rushed upstairs and 
 saw her lying white as a dead child on my wife s 
 lap. Then when she had the whooping-cough and 
 the measles I expected to lose her, but she was 
 spared. 
 
 Again, when we were visited by our great trial, 
 she also was taken down with the others, but she 
 was older and by that time much stronger, and she 
 came safely through it. 
 
 What a strange time that was ! I never laid 
 claim to piety. I had long forgotten to pray, or, 
 rather, had laid prayer aside as a childish supersti 
 tion ; but when my children four of them lay 
 all so hopelessly ill, I remembered ! I went one 
 day into the woods back of my house, and there, in 
 a solitude as complete as though I had been a 
 hundred miles from the city, one of those magic 
 spots which afterwards the Park seized and dese 
 crated into a resort for all, I fell on my face and, 
 in utter humiliation of spirit, trying to make 
 believe that I believed, I turned my soul toward 
 that God whom I, even at the time, felt took no 
 more notice of my appeal than the crystalline azure 
 that arched cloudless above me. 
 
 I did my best. I must be color-blind toward 
 matters spiritual. That very day my second daugh-
 
 O.Y Till: rO/\T. 27 
 
 ter died little Helen. She had always seemed 
 not for this world. l>ut a marvellous thing happened 
 just before she died. It changed my ideas in many 
 ways. She had been lying unconscious for some 
 hours. Suddenly she roused and inquired for me. 
 
 As I entered I heard her saying, 
 
 Yes, I m coming ; I m coming." 
 
 My heart stood still with a sort of despairing 
 horror. I thought her mind was wandering ; but 
 no. As soon as I reached her bedside she recog 
 nized me with a beaming smile, and said, 
 
 "Kiss me, papa. I am going a long way; but I 
 am not afraid to go, for they want me to come." 
 
 I don t know what she saw ; but such a look of 
 joy and delight came into her eyes ! And when 
 she died it hovered there for a moment, and de 
 parting left her sweet face as peaceful as a dream. 
 
 Death was thus robbed of all its terror, and its 
 mystery was to me increased ten-fold. Before, I 
 was inclined to be an utter materialist, and it 
 seemed incredible that, after the body perished, that 
 which was so utterly dependent on the functions of 
 the body should retain its identity. But it pleases 
 me to hope now, I can t use any stronger word, 
 for of course that blissful look in my little Helen s 
 eyes may have been caused by physical hallucina 
 tions so that I can t say I believe, but I hope in 
 a life beyond this. Nor does it seem illogical to 
 cherish such a hope. I envy those who can 
 believe.
 
 28 olv THE roixr. 
 
 Margaret, as I said, was nineteen ; and now a 
 new form of dread was beginning to assail my 
 heart. Such a pearl was not going to be left in the 
 home-oyster. I saw with apprehension that envious 
 eyes, covetous eyes, were beginning to rove in our 
 direction. 
 
 " No girl ought to be married before she is at 
 least twenty-eight," was now my favorite dictum, 
 and I fortified it with arguments that I considered 
 irresistible. Even that would leave me only nine 
 years of possession ! I felt in my bones that it 
 would not be undisputed possession. And how 
 swiftly nine years pass ! 
 
 But Margaret would throw her arms around 
 my neck and declare that she would never leave 
 her darling papa ; that her piano was her husband ; 
 she was wedded to music, and would never, never, 
 never care enough for any man to marry him. 
 Her papa and her art were enough for her. 
 These demonstrations pleased me, but did not allay 
 my apprehensions. 
 
 One thing amazed and amused me : Margaret 
 knew a good deal more than I did, not in every 
 direction, of course, but in many ways. For one 
 thing, she had been abroad. When she was in her 
 eighteenth year her godmother had put it to us as 
 a personal favor to allow Margaret to go to F,urope 
 as her companion. 
 
 I had been afraid of some such benevolent
 
 ON THE I OJXT. 29 
 
 scheme when Mrs. Merrithew proposed asking Miss 
 Askelon to act in that capacity. I did not believe 
 in the ceremony of christening, anyway. But my 
 wife declared I was a heathen, and as I had agreed 
 that all matters touching the religious training of 
 our children should be in her hands, I consented 
 with as good grace as possible. Miss Askelon, who 
 was an old family friend, was reputed to have more 
 money than she could spend. The only thing that 
 I knew against her was that she had a lap-dog for a 
 pet, which she adorned with a collar studded with 
 diamonds or rhinestones, and pampered the beast 
 with satin-lined blankets, and generally made a fool 
 of herself over him. But I suppose she had to 
 give rein to the maternal instinct that stirred in her, 
 and as I knew her well enough to know that she 
 knew that the implied compliment of adopting her 
 into my rising family as a godmother was perfectly 
 free from sordid motives, I asked her ; and I will 
 say to her credit that she did not attempt to indulge 
 in her prerogative to any humiliating extent. I 
 delicately insinuated that such abstention from fre 
 quent gifts was my earnest desire. 
 
 So it was arranged that Margaret should travel 
 with Miss Askelon ; and I was assured that the co 
 partnership was mutually agreeable. My daughter 
 was enabled, with her quick ear and lively under 
 standing, to acquire an admirable knowledge of 
 German and French, and the winter in Italy gave
 
 3o o.v Tin-: roixr. 
 
 her a fair practice in Italian. She also enjoyed 
 some first-class instruction in music. 
 
 She came home quite unspoilt, and Miss Askelon 
 had the satisfaction of having proved herself a 
 most judicious duenna. 
 
 I found Margaret s knowledge of languages veiy 
 useful, and I was proud to put myself under her 
 tuition. Even now I was studying German with 
 her, and making fair progress, though my hopelessly 
 bad pronunciation I know grated on her nerves. 
 
 Behold her, then, coming with her graceful step, 
 from the parlor, and holding an open letter in her 
 hand. 
 
 " Mein Heber papa" she says has she not an 
 admirable voice, low and sweet, and delicately 
 modulated ? " mcin licbcr piipa, guess whom 1 
 have a letter from ? " 
 
 // kcnnc nikt" I reply, in the same guttural 
 tongue, and feel proud of my success. IJut 1 see 
 from the expression of her face that I have dis 
 graced her teaching, and so I relapse into the 
 vernacular, which for some occult reason comes 
 easier to me. " I cannot guess. I never guessed 
 a conundrum in my life. Tell me, my love, from 
 whom have you a letter ? " 
 
 " From Adele ; and what wonderful news do you 
 think it contains ? " 
 
 "Why, my dear girl, do you insist on pestering 
 me so? I can t imagine, unless it is she is 
 engaged."
 
 <9A~ THE POINT. 31 
 
 - Bravo, papa ! you came pretty near it that 
 time. She writes that she has been awfully 
 disappointed in her friends. She was always 
 very proud of her men friends. They were on 
 such frank, genuine, simple terms ; but she says 
 that suddenly they all, with one accord, became 
 changed, and one after another proposed to 
 her ; and, papa, she is in despair, because she likes 
 them all so much as friends, and she does not know 
 which she likes best, and she does not know 
 whether she likes any one well enough to become 
 his wife." 
 
 Margaret, my darling," I began sententiously, 
 seizing this excellent opportunity, " you see the 
 danger of cultivating anything like a Platonic 
 friendship with a young man. Never do it. Be 
 ware of them." 
 
 I am afraid I must have seemed a very dragon to 
 some of our young neighbors. More than once I 
 congratulated myself that the trip to Europe had 
 served to erect a very effectual barrier around her ; 
 she went away a girl, she came back a well-devel 
 oped woman, with a knowledge of her own powers. 
 
 " Well, Margarita mia" I go on to say, " has your 
 mother done anything further about getting ready ? 
 We want to go next week, you know." 
 
 " Have you engaged staterooms ? " 
 
 "Indeed I have." 
 
 " Will the boat stop at the Point ? "
 
 32 GLV THE rolXT. 
 
 " I had a note to-day from the manager, stating 
 that for ten full-pay passengers the boat would 
 stop." 
 
 >v What is that ? " ask Mrs. Merrithew, entering 
 with the baby in her arms. 
 
 " They 11 stop if there are ten of us," I repeat. 
 
 Well, there 11 be nine of us," says my wife, as 
 though she always kept a mental inventory of the 
 family. I, for my part, had always to count my 
 responsibilities on my ten fingers. 
 
 " Ten full-pay passengers, my dear ! ten full-pay 
 passengers ! Alfred and Magnus, Jr., will only count 
 as one, and Natalie and Robert will go scot-free." 
 
 " Now I think that is hard luck," Mrs. Merri 
 thew begins, but I suggest, 
 
 "We might wait till Natalie and Robert are 
 twelve. I believe they have to pay full rate after 
 that mature age." 
 
 " Ho\v far shall we have to drive ? " asks Mrs. 
 Merrithew, ignoring my weak attempt at irony. 
 
 " The agent told me the nearest stop to the Point 
 is about three miles." 
 
 "That s not very bad." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Margaret, " I saw Tom Romayn in 
 the street to-day, and he had been to the Point on a 
 yacht. He remembers it perfectly well. He says 
 it s awfully pretty there." 
 
 "My dear girl," I remark, "that is twice within 
 ten minutes that you have used the word aw- 
 fullv. "
 
 O.V THE POIXT. 33 
 
 " Don t interrupt her," says her mother. " Go 
 on, my darling ; what more did he say ? " 
 
 " He thought he recollected the cottage, but 
 was n t quite sure." 
 
 " Well," I interpose, " that s very definite. 
 Young people certainly are not so observing as they 
 used to be." 
 
 " But, papa 
 
 Don t interrupt we" I retort. "I have very 
 definite information. I found out to-day who have 
 summer places on the Point, and I saw a man who 
 will be our next-door neighbor." 
 
 What did he say ? " chime both ladies in 
 chorus. 
 
 " Magnus, Jr., keep out of my pockets ! I have 
 nothing whatever for you. Look out, Katharine, 
 the baby will have that vase ! " 
 
 It was too late. The insatiable fingers of the 
 baby had reached over his mother s shoulder and 
 grasped a large Japanese vase. There was a crash, 
 and the floor was littered with fragments large and 
 small. The noise frightened the baby, who began 
 to bellow. Natalie always cried when Robert did. 
 Alfred and Magnus, Jr., in their excitement, ran 
 together with a head-on collision. I put my fingers 
 in my ears. Such a quartet of lamentation was too 
 much for me. 
 
 " Accidents will happen in the best regulated 
 families," I remarked, when order had been re-
 
 34 O.Y THE POINT. 
 
 stored. There is nothing like the practical wisdom 
 preserved and crystallized in popular proverbs. 
 
 " I should have felt much worse about it if the 
 vase had been one of a pair," said my wife, cheer 
 fully. 
 
 "One of a pair!" I exclaim. "That s just the 
 trouble! It is the only one of a pair! Don t you 
 know you bought them at that Japanese auction ? " 
 
 The word " auction " always annoys Mrs. Mer- 
 rithew. She has had such extraordinary experi 
 ences at auctions. \Ve have a great pile of green 
 plates that represent a small fortune. They started 
 off at two cents apiece, and Mrs. Merrithew bid 
 boldly and followed up her advantage, till finally 
 they were knocked down to her at an exorbitant 
 price and she had to take them all, I don t know 
 how many dozen. This pair of vases was another 
 trophy of the same kind. 
 
 I could appreciate her cheerfulness in bidding 
 farewell to a piece of bric-h-brac that had been a 
 constant reminder of indiscreet zeal. I remember 
 she was just as cheerful when the mate came to 
 grief. 
 
 Just at this juncture the general housework girl 
 
 we could not afford a waitress, though it was 
 
 Mrs. Merrithew s ambition to have one who should 
 
 wear a cap came to the door and announced 
 
 dinner. 
 
 Anne, by the way, was quite a character. She
 
 ON 77/Jl rOIXT. 35 
 
 was proud of being a Yankee, born down East. 
 She informed me one day that she did not think 
 the world was managed right. 
 
 " I m an ignostic," she added. 
 
 " An ignostic ! " I exclaimed ; " that is worse than 
 being a sceptic." 
 
 "Dyspeptic! No, I aint dyspeptic," she ex 
 claimed, indignantly, she was troubled with deaf 
 ness, though she did not like to admit the fact. 
 "My stomach is just like cast-iron. I could digest 
 a horseshoe." 
 
 I notice that there is a sort of occult relationship, 
 a symbolical connection, oftentimes, between words 
 that rhyme, and it struck me at the time* that 
 sceptic and dyspeptic paired off with a certain 
 opportuneness. 
 
 " How did you come to be an agnostic ? " I asked, 
 venturing to correct the slight imperfection of her 
 pronunciation. 
 
 " Oh," she replied, briskly, " I read and pon 
 dered ; read and pondered." 
 
 Cassandra, the nurse-girl, came and relieved Mrs. 
 Merrithew of Robert. This personage was Eng 
 lish, a ponderous, clumsy, good-natured, stupid, but 
 faithful girl, young and overgrown, with very pale 
 straw-colored hair, a nondescript nose, indolent 
 eyes. She had lived almost all her life in America, 
 and yet she had, by inheritance, probably, the in 
 eradicable habit of exchanging her aspirates. She
 
 36 UA y -//A roi\T. 
 
 was quite impartial. What she robbed one word 
 of she restored to another, like a very Robin Hood 
 of philology. Even the children sometimes caught 
 the infection. One day I asked little Natalie where 
 the boys were, and she said, in her comical way, 
 
 " They are hall around the ouse." 
 
 At dinner, Yaqoub, the tortoise-shell cat, and 
 Ruby, the lazy old setter, occupied their usual 
 places. 
 
 I believe I have now introduced all my immediate 
 family.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WHKREIX MR. MERKITHEW TREATS GRAPHICALLY 
 OF A SHORT OCEAN VOYAGE. 
 
 THE fated day for our hegira dawned. It was 
 the second day of July. The trunks, two 
 cribs, the baby-carriage and a hamper were to go 
 on the noon express. Mrs. Merrithew s fore 
 thought seemed to cover everything. In those 
 trunks was clothing against all possible changes of 
 weather ; extra boots and rubbers enough to stock a 
 shoe-shop; reading matter, from novels for me, 
 up to picture-books for the baby ; playthings for 
 the boys. I myself, by an unprecedented act of
 
 38 ON THE POINT. 
 
 providence, had laid in a stock of fireworks against 
 the glorious Fourth. That was included. 
 
 Mrs. Merrithew mildly protested when, at the 
 last moment, the trunks being all ready to be 
 locked and strapped, I brought out a quantity of 
 things that ought to have been put in the bottom of 
 the trunks. But she managed, with her woman s 
 ingenuity, to store the most of them in the baby- 
 carriage, at the imminent risk, as I afterwards dis 
 covered, of breaking the springs. 
 
 The trunks duly departed, and the house seemed 
 already empty and deserted. At four o clock the 
 Merrithew procession started down the hill to take 
 the car for the boat. It was an imposing array. 1 
 led the way, carrying the valise, and a shawl-strap 
 containing, besides innumerable wraps, four um 
 brellas and a fishing-rod. Next came, at my very 
 heels, Alfred and Magnus, Jr., appropriately loaded 
 according to their several ability. Alfred gingerly 
 held the basket in which Yaqoub, the cat, was be 
 stowed; a neighbor had agreed to harbor Ruby 
 for the summer. Margaret, dressed in a very be 
 coming gray travelling suit, followed, leading little 
 Natalie, an ornamental pair. Surely it was 
 enough to require of Margaret that she should look 
 after her sister. Natalie, however, clutched a 
 dilapidated cloth doll, named Sukey, which no 
 arguments could induce her to relinquish, lie- 
 hind them marched, with her usual staid delibera-
 
 ON THE POINT. 39 
 
 lion, which would never have been quickened, 
 even for a fire, Cassandra, the nurse-maid, with 
 her absurdly fat arms holding the lively Robert. 
 Mrs. Merrithew brought up the rear, having in 
 tow the cook and maid-of-all-work ; not our faithful 
 but half-crazy Anne, who had given out at the last 
 moment, but a very fair and very ignorant Swede, 
 named Selma, who had been bribed by the promise 
 of too high wages to accompany us into exile. 
 
 The responsibility of getting them all safely on 
 board of the car made the sweat bead my brow. It 
 had been left for Selma to bring along the two well- 
 packed lunch baskets. Just as the car was about 
 to start my wife discovered that one of the lunch 
 baskets had been left behind. After a hurried con 
 sultation, while the conductor had his hand on the 
 strap to start, it was decided that there would be 
 time for me to go back and get it. If I ran I 
 could follow on the next car but one. 
 
 I reached the wharf with only a narrow margin 
 of time before the boat started. Mrs. Merrithew 
 knew me of old, and had not worried, but the chil 
 dren were half-frantic with anxiety lest I should be 
 too late. 
 
 The trunks, which must have been delivered 
 together, were scattered all about the shed. The 
 man whose duty it was to check them was almost 
 distracted by the various calls of anxious passen 
 gers. He was crosser than a caged bear, and quite 
 impudent.
 
 40 O.Y THE POINT. 
 
 The warning bell was ringing before I succeeded 
 in getting our trunks checked. I bribed a porter 
 to run the carriage on board and store it carefully. 
 Afterwards I saw it piled up on a heap of merchan 
 dise, with my precious belongings, stowed so 
 carefully under the burlap, threatening every in 
 stant to burst forth and be scattered broadcast. 
 One trunk was missing ; it was that of Selma, the 
 Swedish girl, who I found could not speak enough 
 English to make her meaning known. Even that 
 was found at last, wrongly addressed, and tied up 
 with enough hemp rope to hang a corsair. 
 
 The boat was soon under way, steaming down the 
 harbor. The sun was still two hours high and 
 shining in cloudless splendor. Almost all the 
 population of the boat found itself on deck. Old 
 acquaintances were comparing notes as they met. 
 Strangers were inquiring the names of the islands 
 and forts. Children were dodging between people s 
 legs, and waking anxieties in parents fond hearts 
 lest their darlings should tumble off the unrailed 
 deck. I have no doubt that many a grumpy bach 
 elor, annoyed by their noisy demonstrations, wished 
 heartily that some such punishment would befall 
 them. 
 
 My own attempts at discipline failed dismally. 
 They generally do. Oftentimes my wife, in spite 
 of her tact, will say something that takes the wind 
 out of my sails when I wish to be most impressive.
 
 ON THE rOlXT. 41 
 
 Sometimes, on seeing me serious, she will smile at 
 just the wrong moment. 
 
 This thing I am sure of : It does no good to keep 
 scolding children. They get to mind it no more 
 than a young eagle minds the roaring of a storm. 
 But when I attempt discipline I don t like to have 
 interference. 
 
 For instance, Alfred was running about on the 
 deck, having a delightful time. \Ye had got out 
 where considerable wind was blowing, and a sudden 
 gust took his straw hat from his brown head and 
 sent it flying overboard, in spite of the attempts of 
 one or two people to catch it. 
 
 " Alfred," I cried, standing up and trying to be 
 impressive; "Alfred Merrithew, how could you be 
 so careless ! You are a miserable little rascal ! 
 That was a new 
 
 The words were not out of my mouth when a sim 
 ilar squall came along and dashed my own new hat 
 from my head and sent it also spinning over the 
 dancing waves. I watched it filling and sinking 
 into the sea, like the golden Goblet in Longfel 
 low s, no, Heine s poem. My countenance must 
 have been very rueful. But I had nothing more 
 to say about carelessness. 
 
 However, I observe that the faults that annoy us 
 the most in our children, those to which we are 
 most merciless, are our own especial faults. We 
 dislike to see them reproduced. That is one of the
 
 42 ON THE POIXT. 
 
 wholesome disciplines of paternity. This I know : 
 My boy, with his thick, curly brown locks, was 
 very picturesque bareheaded ; while my poor red 
 head, with its straggly, thin hair, was lamentably 
 deficient in dignity, and I had not even a cap to 
 replace my loss. I was afraid I should have to tie 
 a. handkerchief around my scalp, or else get cold in 
 my head. 
 
 I was glad enough that Margaret did not witness 
 my discomfiture. Just before this episode occurred 
 the Captain came along. He was an old acquaint 
 ance of mine, and stopped to shake hands. Of 
 course I was proud to introduce him to my family. 
 I knew that he had a very susceptible heart and 
 was a great favorite with the fair sex; so it was no 
 surprise when he asked Margaret if she would not 
 like to go and sit in the wheel-house, that being the 
 one great distinction which the Captain can bestow 
 on favored friends. The Captain is very tall and 
 fine-looking, with a long iron-gray beard ; his new 
 uniform also makes him the observed of all 
 observers. I don t wonder, though, that he felt 
 proud as he conducted my Margaret carefully 
 through the swarming load of passengers, none of 
 whom failed to turn and watch the distinguished 
 pair out of sight, and wonder (I doubt not) who 
 that beautiful girl could be. 
 
 I did not have to wear the handkerchief, for two 
 young men acquaintances of ours soon came
 
 , OA- THE POIXT. 43 
 
 to me, each most politely offering to provide me 
 with a travelling cap. I thought I detected the 
 secret motive of this generous politeness, especially 
 as I perceived a tendency on the part of these 
 youths to attach themselves to my party. I really 
 don t believe they felt as much interest as they 
 manifested in the baby, and they put up with alto 
 gether too much supineness with the impertinences 
 of the boys, who, of course, insisted upon hanging 
 on them and relieving them of their watches, and 
 indulging in other familiarities eliciting my darkest 
 frowns. 
 
 We had our dinner on deck, Margaret having now 
 returned from the pilot-house, full of praise of the 
 Captain s politeness. The true inwardness of my 
 charitable young friends behavior toward me now 
 appeared : one was eager to add a contribution of 
 fruit, and joined forces with us ; the other, who 
 declared that he had already dined, gallantly insisted 
 on serving as a sort of major-domo. Both, with a 
 shrewdness that I would not have given them credit 
 for, devoted themselves assiduously to Mrs. Mer- 
 rithew ! Through attention to the mother they 
 hoped to make a good impression on the daughter. 
 
 The sea was as calm as a mill-pond ; except for 
 the slight jarring caused by the paddle-wheels, there 
 was no motion whatever. I began to regret the 
 money wasted on " bromide of sodium," with which, 
 on the recommendation of a physician, I had liber-
 
 44 O 
 
 ally dosed the family, for a preventive of nuil dc 
 mcr The sun went down behind the hills. The 
 air, after the intense heat of the day, was deliciously 
 cool. The baby went to sleep in his nurse s arms, 
 and his mother let him stay on deck. 
 
 If I had not had in my breast-pocket a package 
 of unpaid bills, and in my heart the consciousness 
 of inability to meet them, I should have been the 
 happiest man on the boat. But, on the other hand, 
 I was conscious of integrity ; I meant to pay those 
 bills, even though I subjected myself to the humili 
 ation of obliging my creditors to wait. Besides, my 
 credit was good, as my coal dealer, of whom I had 
 just procured the next winter s supply of fuel, kindly 
 assured me. So I put aside disagreeable thoughts, 
 surrendered myself to the witching influence of the 
 fragrant cigar which one of our officious young 
 friends insisted on thrusting upon me, and listened 
 to the gay talk flashing back and forth among the 
 party. 
 
 Several other acquaintances had brought their 
 camp-stools into our circle. One was an elderly 
 gentleman of distinguished presence, with a promi 
 nent Roman nose, who was very impressive in his 
 slow and stately utterance and his habit of rolling 
 the letter " r." He had met my daughter at Aix 
 and they were bringing up a store of reminiscences. 
 At such times I felt the disadvantage of the narrow 
 circle in which I had been compelled by fate and 
 my own improvidence to move.
 
 o.v THE roixr. 45 
 
 "You ve been across, haven t you, Merrithew ? " 
 demanded Mr. Parkinton, with that tone of confi 
 dent expectation of an affirmative answer, so hard 
 to deny. 
 
 " No, I replied, as jauntily as possible. " No, I 
 have all the instincts of the migratory bird, but 
 powers mightier than I have compelled me to be a 
 brachypod." 
 
 What s a brachypod, papa ? " asked Alfred. 
 
 I am afraid I was not quite certain, myself, of its 
 exact nature ; so, ignoring my son s laudable endeav 
 or to get instruction from the paternal fount, I 
 went on with a hopeless mixture of metaphors, 
 
 " No, my dear Mr. Parkinton, a ship that is 
 anchored with a bower-anchor and four or five 
 kedge-anchors, does not take long voyages. 
 
 I remember once giving a lecture on Portuguese 
 history and literature, a subject to which I had 
 given some study, and after the lecture, a dear old 
 lady came up to me and said, in her softest tones of 
 Mattery, 
 
 " Oh ! Mr. Merrithew, you must have spent a long 
 time in Portugal. I felt the color come into my 
 face as if I had been detected in some flagrant 
 deception as I replied, with frank honesty, which I 
 hope (and certainly try to impress on my children 
 as an example), is one of my strong points, 
 
 " No, madame, I have never set foot on the 
 shores of Lusitania." And I shall never forget the
 
 46 o.v THE roixr. 
 
 tone in which she said the one monosyllable "oh ! " 
 expressing in it contempt and disappointment, and 
 a certain indignation at having been deceived. 
 She turned her back on me and came no more to 
 my lectures; and I have very good evidence that it 
 was she who prevented me from repeating them 
 before a woman s club in a neighboring town. 1 
 harbor no resentment against her. I have even 
 forgotten her name. I here publicly record my 
 forgiveness of her, in somewhat the same indefinite 
 way in which we are requested to offer prayers for 
 the safety of some person exposed to the perils of 
 the deep, but known only to the rector. 
 
 The value of such indefinite and unapplied prayer 
 must be problematical. 
 
 " Er-r, we were talking about the prronunciation of 
 English," said Mr. Parkinton, politely, willing to 
 draw me into the conversation. " I was just re- 
 marrrking to yourr daughterr that the purerest 
 English spoken in the worrld is spoken by the 
 cultivated Bostonian. They have fewerr peculiarr- 
 ities," he repeated, sententiously. 
 
 Margaret suggested that there were great differ 
 ences in the way English was spoken by the 
 English themselves. An observation so profound 
 could not help producing its effect, and its effect on 
 Mr. Parkinton took the form of a compliment, in 
 which he soothed my pride by stating that my 
 daughter was generally supposed at Aix to be an
 
 av THE ruj.\"r. 47 
 
 English girl, her complexion, he added, was so 
 fresh and her voice so low. 
 
 I looked at Margaret with a little anxiety, but I 
 am glad to say that it is her nature to shed compli 
 ments and Mattery as a duck sheds water. She 
 paid no attention, but Went on, 
 
 I heard an English earl say fawncy and an 
 English duchess say fahncy and a bishop s wife 
 say fancy. And I heard more than one English 
 man say I m goin daown taown. " 
 
 Here I was able to add something confirmatory 
 of that supposedly Yankee sound of ou. " 
 
 When the late Richard Monckton Milnes was 
 over here, after receiving his title, some one asked 
 him if he pronounced it Lord Hoton or Howton. 
 Oh, said he, Haoughton. " 
 
 Pronunciation of English was quite a hobby of 
 mine, and I thought this would be a fine opportunity 
 of airing my theory that it was a benefit to the lan 
 guage to have different parts adopt slightly different 
 pronunciations, how it tickets a New Yorker, for 
 instance, to say " tschtihtsch " for "church." But I 
 did not get my chance to bring out any of my store 
 of illustrations, for just here it was decided that the 
 boys must turn in ; and when that ceremony had 
 been safely accomplished and I returned to the 
 deck, I found the molecules of humanity had 
 arranged themselves in accordance with a more 
 subtle chemical affinity. The two young men, as
 
 48 o.v THE roixr. 
 
 assiduous as ever, were telling Margaret stories and 
 rapidly growing sentimental. The air had grown 
 much cooler, amply justifying me (so I thought) in 
 suggesting that she, too, might like to go below. 
 
 "Oh, no, papa! I m perfectly warm and I m not 
 sleepy at all yet. Is n t it a glorious night ? " 
 
 Yes, it was a glorious night, the heavens thick- 
 sown with stars, the great ship seeming itself 
 almost suspended in ether, as it sent out phospho 
 rescent star-shoots ; the cities on the shore also 
 flashed their jewels of electric lights, while here and 
 there a lighthouse gleamed calmly like a planet. 
 It was hard to tell where the sea ended and the sky 
 began. 
 
 Yes, it was a glorious night, and I said to 
 myself, 
 
 O Youth ! buoyant with hope and courage, 
 untrammelled by a doubt! how happy it is! It 
 comes but once and it vanishes so quickly away ! 
 Enjoy it while it lasts ! " 
 
 The tears stood in my eyes, for as I looked on 
 those two young men so eagerly listening to 
 Margaret s light, gay banter, so anxious to make 
 themselves agreeable, I seemed again to see myself 
 in similar fashion sitting on the deck with a lovely 
 girl how many years ago ! And I had not the 
 heart to disturb the innocent little flirtation born 
 of the summer night and of youth and beauty. 
 
 I was interrupted in these unselfish meditations
 
 OA T THE POINT. 49 
 
 by Cassandra coming in all haste, well that is 
 rather strong, coming deliberately though with 
 evident trouble, 
 
 "Oh Mr. Merrithew! please come quick down 
 stairs; the cat s got hout." 
 
 I supposed it had got out into the corridor or the 
 cabin, and I expected to find myself enlisted in a 
 frantic chase from one end of the ship to the other. 
 Vaqoub was no fool, and his slyness in evading 
 capture when it pleased his serene highness to wan 
 der free was phenomenal. In fact, we only by- 
 chance had secured him that morning and incarce 
 rated him in the basket. 
 
 Forgetting all about my daughter Margaret, I 
 rushed down to the stateroom which I and the two 
 boys and the cat were to occupy. Things were 
 not so bad as they might have been. Magnus, Jr., 
 was already sound asleep. Alfred lay quiet, with 
 his big eyes open. The cat had merely got out of 
 the basket and had taken refuge among the life- 
 preservers under the berth. Unkind fate dic 
 tated the restoration of the cat to his wicker prison : 
 for whereas he was perfectly quiet and apparently 
 contented under the berth, and only glared with his 
 glassy green eyes, so soon as he found himself 
 imprisoned again he began a series of unearthly 
 yawls which lasted all night long, with the regularity 
 of a fog-horn, and which indeed vied a little later 
 with the fog-horn in making the night a burden and
 
 5O OA THE POINT. 
 
 sleep an impossibility. Never in my life before did 
 I curse a cat more heartily, or with greater justifica 
 tion for my concentrated profanity. I am sure I 
 should have been justified had I thrown that cat out 
 of the window and let him fall a victim to whale, 
 dog-fish or porpoise, or whatever monster of the deep 
 makes a specialty of preying on cats, or to perish 
 by drowning, or change by natural selection into a 
 cat-fish or a sea-mew ! The domestic discipline to 
 which I had been subjected alone prevented me 
 from felicidal mania; but never again will I take 
 my wife s cat on a voyage with me. 
 
 Glorious night indeed ! Youth and beauty and 
 romance ! Phosphorus and stars and lighthouses ! 
 The horrors of that cataclysmic, fog-horn-haunted 
 passage will never fade from the tablets of my 
 memory ! 
 
 I only know that after I caught the cat I \>ent 
 back on deck, and found that Margaret was no 
 longer there. Like a wise and sensible girl she 
 had gone immediately to her state-room. When 
 I was assured of that, I turned in and was all ready 
 for a good night s sleep. 
 
 Then the cat began, and shortly afterwards we 
 struck the fog !
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AIR. MERRTTHKW AND HIS FAMILY DRIVE A LONG 
 THREE MILES IN THE RAIN. 
 
 IT is a nice question of accuracy to decide 
 whether we struck the fog or the fog struck us. 
 The effect was the same in either case. Mecaoii 
 went the cat ; who-o-o-o-o went the fog-horn, now 
 alternately, then with what the French call a certain 
 rapprochement, coalescing and combining with 
 sinister effect on disordered nerves. How my two 
 boys slept through it is a mystery. How those in 
 the adjoining staterooms endured it I cannot tell. 
 Mrs. Merrithew the next morning showed signs of 
 51
 
 52 OA r THE POINT. 
 
 having passed a sleepless night. Her nerves were 
 unstrung. When people s nerves are unstrung they 
 are not accountable to any previous reputation for 
 good temper. Margaret slept the undisturbed 
 sleep of healthy youth and an absolutely serene 
 conscience. 
 
 "Didn t you hear the fog signal?" I asked her, 
 in amazement. 
 
 " No, certainly not ; that is, not till I woke up 
 this morning." 
 
 " I did not get a wink of sleep all night ; what 
 with that I paused a moment to think of an 
 appropriate adjective to characterize the cat. The 
 word in my mind was distinct enough, but Alfred 
 and Magnus, Jr., were looking at me, and one 
 has to be careful what epithets one indulges in 
 before boys. Strong expressions are like burrs, and 
 quickly entangle themselves in a boy s vocabulary. 
 The word " damn " is vigorous English, and has 
 been employed for several centuries with more or 
 less effect. Even the stern Father of his Country 
 is said to have used it on various occasions. But 
 like cigarettes, one prefers that one s children should 
 reach the mature age of twenty-one before becom 
 ing addicted even moderately to the habit of saying 
 it. But in this case my hesitation betrayed my 
 thought, though I really went on with the adjec 
 tive " wretched." 
 
 "Didn t you notice when we slowed up and 
 drifted awhile to get our bearings?" I asked.
 
 O.Y THE POIXT. 53 
 
 " No, papa, I really slept all night." 
 
 And she looked it, such a contrast to her poor 
 sire, with his eyes heavy and swollen ! 
 
 Once or twice during the night our raucous 
 whistle was answered by that from another steam 
 boat also plowing blindly through the fog. At 
 first dim and distant, then coming nearer; our 
 engines were stopped and the signals became 
 more imperative and alarming. Then the warn 
 ing of the sister ship sounded right at hand. I 
 sprang out of the upper berth and opened the 
 shutter and gazed out. Suddenly, where but an 
 instant before, nothing but whirling darkness 
 seemed to be, the form of the other steamer 
 loomed up right upon us ; her lights burning 
 cliff usedly through the fog. My heart was in my 
 mouth. I thought that we or they were doomed. 
 Then I remembered how my whole family were 
 on board, and if we perished it would be over in 
 a few grim moments, but no one of us would be 
 left to mourn the others, and I was calm. 
 
 But the great ships veered apart and soon were 
 lost to sight of each other again, and I heard the 
 harsh but friendly warning retreating till it died 
 away. 
 
 Ah, Margaret, my fair daughter! little you knew 
 of the danger that threatened you while you slept. 
 Vet all the time we are exposed to unknown 
 and unseen perils. Think of the microbes, bacilli,
 
 and protoplasmic disease-germs lying in wait for 
 us, clustering by millions on everything \ve 
 touch, and only prevented from devouring us all 
 wholesale by their fortunate tendency to can 
 nibalism among themselves. But it is best not 
 to think of it ; why should we, whose proper 
 state is that ignorance which is bliss, grow into 
 morbid microbiphobes ? 
 
 There, I am satisfied! I have coined a very 
 neat and expressive word that is not in the 
 Century Dictionary ! 
 
 1 was interrupted in these meditations, which 
 I think worthy of record, by a summons to the 
 purser s office. I had asked the Captain if he 
 could not do us the favor of stopping at the Point, 
 and he had replied that if I had only thought to 
 get permission from the president of the company 
 he would have been most happy to do so, but 
 that he could not without special instructions. I 
 now felt hope revive in my heart ; I told Margaret 
 that I guessed, after all, the Captain was going to 
 stop for us. So I went down to the office. 
 
 "Do you know," said the official, "do you 
 know that you made a mistake of over six dollars 
 in buying your tickets last evening ? 
 
 " No ! " I replied, indignantly. " But I know that 
 you made a mistake of over six dollars in my 
 favor, in making change, and that it was rectified 
 then and there ! "
 
 OA r THE POINT. 55 
 
 " Oh, did you, did I ? " he replied, somewhat 
 dazed and crestfallen ; but as I was enabled to 
 detail the whole scene he had to give in. 
 
 The fog had lifted a little bit, but was changing 
 to a fine drizzle. We were out of the open ocean 
 and within the sheltered waters of the bay, whose 
 superb scenery I remembered so well and was 
 so anxious for my family to admire. Now, nothing 
 was to be seen but a narrow circle of gray flat 
 water, through which we cautiously made our way 
 at half-speed. It was too wet to stay on deck. 
 The children were all as wild as hawks, and made 
 themselves unmitigated nuisances after the manner 
 of unruly boys with energies too long confined. 
 At last Margaret fished " Chilhowee Boys" out 
 of some bundle, and pinned the two little fellows 
 in a corner and read to them for an hour, 
 a kind of homoeopathic treatment eminently 
 successful. 
 
 She insisted that I should retire to my state 
 room and try to get a nap. The last glimpse that 
 I got of her as I closed the door made a picture 
 which I hang with many others in the picture- 
 gallery of my memory, the sister flanked on 
 either side by the mischievous brother, quivering 
 with excitement, as from her sweet lips, in her low, 
 musical voice, came the pleasant story of those 
 young pioneers ! 
 
 With that picture in my mind I lay down and
 
 56 ox THE roixr. 
 
 slept two refreshing hours. I woke with a start 
 and looked out. I could just see the shore 
 of the bay, evergreen woods with moss-draped 
 boughs coming down to brownish rocks, and the 
 heavy fog-clouds hanging too low to allow the 
 mountains to be seen. The oily surface of the 
 water was pitted with fine rain. Here and there 
 floated a jelly-fish, flabbily flapping its fringed, 
 transparent folds. 
 
 A more dejected company of voyagers I never 
 saw than that gathered in the cabin. The rain 
 pattered on the deck and streaked the windows. 
 The air was close and heavy, and chill and 
 damp, but we were nearing our port. Two long- 
 drawn, quavering whistles announced our arrival. 
 I gathered our party together. The shawl-strap 
 was disintegrated ; umbrellas were distributed, 
 waterproofs and jackets appropriated. We stood, 
 a disconsolate group, waiting for the gang-plank 
 to be run ashore. The rain had reached the 
 fourth stage in its development, and was coming 
 down in earnest. We scuttled over the gang 
 plank and dashed into the waiting-room at the 
 head of the pier. The trunks were rolled out 
 and dumped under shelter. Then came the baby- 
 carriage, which the man, handling it carefully, left 
 under the eaves, just where a stream of water fell 
 directly on it. Having rescued that valuable 
 organ of locomotion from the elements, I went
 
 av THE roj.\r. 57 
 
 in and found my tribe shivering around a cold 
 stove. Whether they tried to elicit heat from 
 it through imaginative induction or not, I don t 
 know. Margaret was the life of the party. She 
 was young and ready for any kind of experience. 
 
 " It s good pure water, papa," she said, philo 
 sophically. " It won t hurt any of us." 
 
 " I d rather have it internally than externally," I 
 replied. " However, you are right : we must grin 
 and bear it." 
 
 So I went out and found a ram-shackly old 
 covered stage waiting to convey us to the Springs 
 and beyond. 
 
 " About three miles to the Point, I believe," said 
 I, a raindrop trickling down my neck and disfiguring 
 my collar. 
 
 " Three miles ! Huh ! It s a good seven." 
 
 " Why, they told me it was only three." 
 
 " Three ! your grandmother ! " he exclaimed, with 
 a laugh, though what my grandmother had to do 
 with it I could not imagine. 
 
 " Well, can you take us all over ? " 
 
 How many be you ? " 
 
 Again that miserable mental calculation and 
 enumeration of my followers and dependants. 
 
 Somehow or other this question reminded me of 
 an incident of my wedding journey. My wife, who 
 is looking over my shoulder, critically suggests that 
 it would be more becoming to say " our " wedding
 
 58 ON THE roixr. 
 
 journey; well, I agree with her: I don t want this 
 narration to be all studded with >v I s" like the beast 
 in the Revelation. 
 
 How well I remember that June afternoon, driving 
 
 up to the hotel, and as I looked over my our 
 
 possessions, saying : " Two trunks, two bags, 
 
 two umbrellas, two bundles, and two hearts that 
 
 beat as one ! " 
 
 Now there were : of trunks, six ; of bags, five ; 
 of umbrellas, four; of bundles, two; of hearts that 
 beat as one that is hard to say ! and, in addition, 
 two cribs, and that white elephant of a baby carriage, 
 in which were stored several books exposed to the 
 danger of being wet. I found them dry enough 
 when I unpacked them. 
 
 I can take all your folks and two trunks, that is 
 if some on em will set on a trunk." 
 
 "What will become of the others?" I asked, 
 dubiously. 
 
 " Bring em over s afternoon, fetch another 
 team." 
 
 " Pray don t let them get soaked," I added, 
 warningly. 
 
 " Oh, no ! won t let em git wet, won t let em git 
 wet! they ll set all right in the storeroom there." 
 
 I looked into the storeroom or baggage-room and 
 felt a trifle sceptical. The bare room was packed 
 with all sorts of general merchandise, empty egg- 
 crates, empty boxes of various sorts, in some of
 
 G>.\ THE POL\ r. 59 
 
 which chickens and ducks had evidently been sent 
 up to the city guillotine to suffer for crimes com 
 mitted by unknown ancestors, timber, iron-ware, 
 barrels, bags stuffed with top-dressing and exhaling 
 odors painful to aesthetic senses, a general riff-raff 
 of merchandise piled indiscriminately into that 
 narrow room. And under and on top and in the 
 midst lay and reposed and toppled our six trunks 
 and other possessions. 
 
 After consultation with the practical Mrs. Mer- 
 rithew, I indicated the two that seemed most essen 
 tial to our comfort, and helped lift them into the 
 groaning vehicle, one in front, on which the driver 
 proposed, with true self-sacrifice, to perch, the other 
 in the back. Then, one by one, my family came 
 forth and clambered in. Wet and mud-stained, with 
 my back aching from the unwonted effort, I mounted 
 last of all, and we started off. 
 
 Margaret and the two boys sat on the flat trunk 
 in the rear. Mrs. Merrithew held Natalie in her lap. 
 
 " Where s the cat ? Alfred, you were commis 
 sioned Lord-keeper of the cat ! Where is Yaqoub ? " 
 
 This burst from my agonized heart was occa 
 sioned by a sudden consciousness that my ears, so 
 long filled with his laments, had been for some time 
 void of those melodious strains. 
 
 Albert looked scared. Good reason ! The cat 
 was nowhere to be found. I really pitied the poor 
 little fellow, much as I blamed him for his neglect.
 
 6o o.v THE 
 
 I thought it might be a good lesson for him, for 
 Vaqoub was his special pet. His tears were copious, 
 and almost rivalled the rain. I tried to comfort 
 him. 
 
 " Driver," said I, turning to our dripping Jehu, 
 " is there a village at the Springs ? " 
 
 " Village ? " Yes sir ree ! a real smart village." 
 
 " Well," I continued, " do you suppose I can 
 telegraph or telephone there ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes m, o course you can telephone any 
 where abouts." 
 
 " Now, then, Master Albert, we will get the 
 driver to stop a moment at the village, I think 
 we re almost there now, and I will try to get word 
 and intercept the steamer. Yaqoub shall be re 
 stored to the bosom of his family. And if," I 
 added piously, " Fate decrees that the poor old cat 
 is to be snatched ruthlessly from us, we will do our 
 best to procure another." 
 
 " Cat, is it ? " ejaculated the driver ; " here s a cat 
 in the basket under my feet, half drownded, I guess, 
 too drownded to meou." 
 
 We passed the little village, looking forlorn and 
 unpainted, as we rattled through the chain of lakes 
 that hid the road or street. There was a once 
 white church, along the front of which we could see 
 a sort of black dado, where the pious shoulders of 
 the village Solons had rubbed off the paint and 
 polished the wood during their post-devotional
 
 av THE roixT. 61 
 
 gossip ; there was a great barn-like hall, with a 
 masonic symbol in gilt to designate it ; farther on, 
 a little one-story post office, with two or three un 
 kempt-looking men staring at us as we drove by. 
 
 One of those men afterwards, when asked who 
 came on the stage, replied that an old, gray-headed 
 man, with several women and kids, "come up from 
 the port." 
 
 I " an old, gray-headed man ! " My children des 
 ignated as " kids ! " Surely, I might protest in the 
 words of the Irishman, " Sure, is their feyther a 
 go-at ? " 
 
 The road from the village to the Point turns 
 abruptly at right angles from the old turnpike ; 
 but what could we see in that sheeted rain, in 
 that atmosphere of fog, fog rising from the ground, 
 and fog descending from the low-lying clouds ? 
 What could we see through the chinks of that 
 dilapidated, rattling old stage ? Nothing but a 
 procession of wet, dripping bushes ; here and 
 there wild roses in bloom ; at long intervals a 
 humble farmhouse, with a woman staring from 
 the front door of the long "L," and flocks of 
 unhappy, bedraggled chickens, scratching up a 
 precarious livelihood around the doorsteps. 
 
 " I suppose you know which the Governor s cot 
 tage is ? " I asked of our subdued and melancholy 
 driver ; a tall, lank youth he was, with a pale, 
 sallow complexion, and irregular wisps of coarse, 
 sandy hair.
 
 62 O.Y THE POI.\ T. 
 
 " \Val " (not " wall "), " can t say s I do. I hain t 
 driv the stage but a few weeks. Guess we 11 find 
 out, though." 
 
 Chronologically, I ought to have mentioned the 
 fact that the week before we Mrs. Merrithew and 
 I had called at the Governor s. We were re 
 ceived with admirable courtesy, and I could see that 
 my wife made an excellent impression. I myself 
 thought she looked remarkably young and pretty. 
 But I made one of my unfortunate speeches. 
 
 " We will try to take good care of the cottage," 
 said Mrs. Merrithew, after she had sufficiently ex 
 pressed her gratitude. 
 
 The Governor, who was most gallant, I had no 
 idea he could be so gallant ; but old-fashioned, 
 courtly dignity suited him to perfection, the Gov 
 ernor said it was a great comfort to him to think 
 that the house would be in such careful hands. 
 
 Then his lady remarked, 
 
 "I m afraid, Mrs. a, Mrs. Merrithew, that you 
 will find a great many cobwebs." 
 
 This was too great a temptation for me ; and with 
 a flippancy which I know is always unbecoming 
 and injurious to me, I snatched at the occasion. 
 
 " Oh, we will see that they are all hung back 
 again and restored to their places." 
 
 The Governor was inclined to think there might 
 be a touch of humor in my remark ; at least, he 
 laughed. But his wife looked a little annoyed, as
 
 O.V THE POLXT. 63 
 
 if she was not certain how to take it ; and my 
 wife, I could see, sat on pins and needles ; but her 
 quick tact rescued the conversation from shipwreck. 
 
 In accordance with the Governor s sensible ad 
 vice, I wrote to a native of the Point, requesting 
 her to have the house opened, cleansed and 
 warmed. The letter brought an immediate an 
 swer, stating (as I had also requested) the condition 
 of the furnishings. I had good reason, therefore, 
 as this Mrs. Johnson knew we were coming that 
 clay, to expect to find the house in fairly good order, 
 and a semi-hospitable welcome in the way of a 
 kitchen fire. 
 
 We at last reached the Point. The rain con 
 tinued with even fiercer violence. 
 
 " I declare to Moses," exclaimed the driver, " 1 
 never seen it rain harder ! " 
 
 The first cottage that came in sight was the Gov 
 ernor s. We did not know it, nor did the driver. 
 Nevertheless, with a sort of intuition, he drove 
 across what ought to have been a lawn, but was 
 only a field filled with reeking grass that reached to 
 the horses bellies. The only suggestion of recent 
 care was a narrow swath that had been mowed 
 from a sort of side avenue, gullied by the rain, and 
 impracticable, leading to the front steps. The door 
 was locked ; there was no sign of life ; nor was 
 there a person to be seen in the straggling road 
 that did service for the "street."
 
 64 ON Till: POINT. 
 
 Drive on to the hotel," I commanded, with a 
 sort of despairing courage. I had written to the 
 hotel proprietor, stating that we might like to be 
 accommodated for a day or two, till we made neces 
 sary arrangements, and also making inquiries in 
 behalf of friends regarding rooms and board ; and 
 the proprietor had replied with most satisfactory 
 promptness, and an unusual degree of na ive enthu 
 siasm about the beauties of the Point. A circular 
 enclosed was decorated with a cut representing a 
 magnificent structure, surrounded by swings, teters, 
 piazzas furnished with hammocks, by groves, 
 equipages, sailboats and other attractions; while a 
 band, a barber, a telephone, a billiard-room, a 
 bowling alley and a livery stable were advertised as 
 adding greatly to the inducements of the place. 
 
 To the hotel, then, I naturally turned as a 
 refuge from the inclement storm. It was about 
 three-quarters of a mile farther on ; and at last, with 
 the rain beginning to soak through the roof of the 
 stage, we found ourselves at the hotel steps, damp, 
 cramped, tired, hungry, and as cross as it was 
 possible for a family universally noted for its good 
 nature to be. Even Margaret, ordinarily the very 
 pattern of patience and serenity, spoke with some 
 sharpness to Magnus, Jr., whose feet were restless. 
 I don t wonder she felt cross : her pretty gray dress 
 was spotted with raindrops and wrinkled and 
 crumpled. As for her hat, I trembled when I
 
 ON THE PuINT. 65 
 
 thought of the extra millinery bill which its con 
 dition would entail. The same might be remarked 
 of Mrs. Merrithew s bonnet. What thoughts were 
 stirring in that Swedish girl s mind I could conject 
 ure, but I dared not attempt to formulate : her face 
 was hopelessly gloomy, and an ugly light balefully 
 smouldered in her blue eyes.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IN WHICH A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL API-EARS AS A 
 COMFORTER. 
 
 THERE was no sign of life around the big 
 hotel, either. The rain stood in deep pools 
 on the broad steps that led up to the piazza. I wet 
 my feet as I hastily dashed from the stage through 
 the rain, which had now reached its last and most 
 violent paroxysm, and almost drowned out my wife s 
 scream telling me to hurry, for the baby was getting 
 wet and would take cold. 
 
 The front door was locked ! 
 
 I knocked and thumped, but no one responded.
 
 ON THE POINT. 67 
 
 I walked the length of the piazza, looking in 
 through the windows. Everything seemed de 
 serted. In the billiard-room, at the end, the green 
 cloths had apparently not been removed for ages. 
 In the long dining-room the chairs were piled on 
 the tables, as if they had taken advantage of the 
 owner s absence to cut up didos. Not a soul was 
 anywhere to be seen. 
 
 1 hastened back to the front door and peered in. 
 I could see a huge stone fireplace. I shook the 
 door. I pounded again with my fist, and this 
 time I forced an entrance, for I smashed the great 
 pane of glass, which fell inward with a crash that 
 might have waked the dead. The echoes went 
 scattering through the empty halls and vanished ; 
 but no one came. I was desperate. Not a living 
 person had we seen since our arrival on the Point ! 
 
 What were we to do ? Where were we to go ? 
 What would become of those innocent, half-starved 
 children ? Never was a pater familias placed in a 
 more trying position. 
 
 Mrs. Merrithew emerged from the depths of the 
 stage. I never saw her face so woe-begone. It 
 was immaterial to her if the rain did spoil her 
 bonnet. 
 
 " Mr. Merrithew, why did you persuade me into 
 this ill-fated expedition ? " 
 
 On my word, that was too much. I took fire so 
 far as I could, being quite soaked, and a sharp
 
 68 av THE POIXT. 
 
 answer rose to my lips ; but Margaret, bless her 
 sweet heart, came to my rescue, as she so often did, 
 and pulled her mother back into the stage again. 
 
 Meantime, the driver had leaped down from the 
 trunk-seat and disappeared around the hotel. 
 While I was still boiling with a righteous indigna 
 tion, that I, of all men, should have been blamed 
 for a state of things for which I was not in the least 
 responsible, I heard steps echoing through the 
 hall, and lo ! there was our friend and benefactor, 
 the dripping driver, accompanied by a woman, who 
 flung the door wide open. She actually wore a 
 smile ! Her smile was n t handsome, but I declare 
 I could have embraced her, then and there, as a 
 prodigal son embraces a long-lost mother ! 
 
 I forgot my resentment, I always find it im 
 possible to harbor resentment ; and indeed, in 
 this instance, my usually cheerful and optimistic 
 wife had abundant justification for having her 
 sensibilities ruffled. I rushed down to the stage, 
 flung back the black, dirty flaps of the vehicle and 
 shouted in my most dulcet and encouraging 
 tones, 
 
 " It s all right, my love ! it s all right ! Come on ! 
 come out ! Get under this umbrella." 
 
 With what alacrity that stage was emptied ! 
 How merrily the children s voices rang as they 
 explored the hotel with all the curiosity of their age, 
 instantly forgetting all the discomforts of the past
 
 ON THE POINT. 69 
 
 two hours. Margaret relieved her pent-up feel 
 ings by flying at the grand piano in the parlor and 
 playing a snatch of a waltz. 
 
 " Could we have some dinner ? Could we have 
 a fire, so as to dry our damp clothing ? Could we 
 have beds in case we wanted to spend the night ? " 
 
 Yea, verily, we could have dinner, fire, shelter. 
 There were two hundred rooms, more or less, and 
 we were the first guests of the season ! 
 
 As for me, I thought I would ride back to the 
 cottages and discover definitely which was ours. 
 I paid that vivacious Jehu twice the regular fare. 
 I think he deserved it, but it depleted my already 
 diminished funds to an alarming state. 
 
 After some inquiries made by the driver I found 
 myself on the door-step of the Johnson s comfort 
 able-looking house. It was neatly painted, and 
 bore the marks of some prosperity. I knocked, 
 and a pleasant though rather stern-looking young 
 woman made her appearance. I told her who 
 I was. A screen-door kept out the flies ; it 
 also kept me out ! At least, I \vas n t invited 
 to enter, but like the " Peri at the gate," stocd 
 disconsolate. 
 
 " We had comp ny, so I was n t able to set the 
 house to rights," said Miss Johnson, with a faint 
 attempt at apology. " I suppose you found the 
 key in the door." 
 
 "No," I replied, feebly. "We drove up to the
 
 70 ON THE POINT. 
 
 piazza, but we were n t sure of its being the right 
 house, so we went on to the hotel." 
 
 " My brother fixed the doors, so s you could 
 open em, and mowed the grass in front of the 
 door. You ll find the key there, I guess. Oh!" 
 she added, " I m afraid you 11 find they ain t as 
 many things as my letter gave you reason to 
 expect. I went over there a second time and 
 found a good many things missing." 
 
 " The cottage has been cleaned, has n t it ? " I 
 asked. 
 
 "Oh yes! I got Mis Laurandy Clinton to bresh 
 down some of the worst of the cobwebs. She 
 did something, but I don t think she quite finished 
 up. I guess if t had n t rained so hard she d 
 ben there this mornin ." 
 
 I went through the wet grass over to the cottage, 
 and turning the key, opened the door and entered. 
 The first impression of a house long untenanted 
 and scantily furnished is usually melancholy, even 
 when the sun shines ; far more so, oppressively 
 gloomy is it apt to be when the skies are draped 
 in heavy-hanging clouds. I was prepared for it ; 
 I steeled my heart to meet the chill and pang 
 of such an entrance. But I must confess I was 
 agreeably disappointed. The rooms were indeed 
 rather bare, there were no pictures on the walls, 
 but the windows were large, and the outlook, 
 though veiled by fog, promised great beauty.
 
 O.Y THE POINT. /I 
 
 Open fireplaces of generous proportions commu 
 nicated an air of cosiness. Several comfortable 
 looking rocking-chairs, and a lounge with cushions 
 stuffed with fragrant fir-balsam helped the tout 
 ensemble. An ebonized bookcase, without a book 
 in it, stood against the wall. A large lamp had, 
 by long standing, made a yellow circle on the 
 oil-cloth of the dining-room table. In the kitchen 
 the stove was in good condition. In the pantry 
 the pump, alas ! only wheezed,, gave forth an 
 uncertain gurgling, and refused to furnish water. 
 
 Upstairs were large, comfortable rooms, one 
 containing a little stove, all furnished with ex 
 cellent beds. Down cellar the aspect was not 
 so reassuring. There was not a splinter of 
 kindling, not a stick of wood, not a piece of 
 coal. Moreover, the rain had poured in, and the 
 water stood in pools along the cellar foundations, 
 which, indeed, were so badly thrown out by the 
 winter frosts that the house had scarcely any 
 support except at the two ends. 
 
 ] returned to the hotel a trifle encouraged. 
 It struck, me with some surprise that I still saw 
 no living person. There were perhaps a dozen 
 cottages at the Point. Several were evidently as 
 yet unoccupied. But not a face appeared at a 
 window. Not even around the lighthouse and 
 its white-painted dependencies was anyone visible. 
 It was still foggy, but the rain had ceased.
 
 72 ON THE POINT. 
 
 Overhead there seemed to be signs of clearing 
 skies. 
 
 I found my family assembled in the largest 
 ground-Moor suite of rooms, with the cheering in 
 fluences of a fire in one of these palatial saloons. 
 After a time we were summoned out to dinner. 
 Whatever cheerfulness characterized the meal was 
 contributed by ourselves. We occupied a table 
 hastily prepared in one corner of the immense 
 dining-room. One waitress served us; we had no 
 soup and no meat, but a choice between two kinds 
 of fish, one of which was canned salmon. How 
 ever, we made out a very decent meal. 
 
 After dinner the sun actually came out. It was 
 pleasant to see the sunlight flashing across the 
 wet branches of the grove. 
 
 Mrs. Merrithew spied a man in blue overalls in 
 front of the hotel, driving a peculiar cart hung low 
 on four wheels. 
 
 " It s clearing off," she cried. " Let s go down 
 to the cottage. We may as well sleep there as 
 here. I don t believe it will be any damper. 
 Magnus, clear, suppose you go and ask that man 
 if he will take us down and how much for." 
 
 " I don t want to tackle him." I protested. " I 
 don t know what kind of a man he is." 
 
 " Well, you are a brave man ! " she ejaculated, 
 with fine scorn for my coyness. " Margaret, 
 darling, suppose you go and try the charms of 
 your eloquence on him."
 
 O.V THE P01XT. 73 
 
 Margaret, without a moment s hesitation, stepped 
 out through the window to the piazza, and soon 
 returned, stating that the man was the lighthouse- 
 keeper, and that he would convey us all down to 
 the cottage for five cents apiece. 
 
 I think it was quite a relief to the housekeeper 
 of the hotel that we decided not to stay, for in 
 spite of the glowing eulogy contained in circular 
 and letter, the proprietor of that establishment had 
 not made any arrangements for receiving guests ; 
 there was no cook, nobody to do the necessary 
 work. 
 
 On the way down to the cottage Mrs. Merrithew 
 had a lively conversation with the lighthouse- 
 keeper. It was as follows : 
 
 Mrs. M. " I suppose a good many people come 
 here in the summer." 
 
 /. // K. " Xo, used to ; ain t nobody comes now." 
 
 Mrs. M. " Why does n t the steamer touch 
 here ? " 
 
 L. II. K. " T used to. All run down. Wharf 
 ain t fit." 
 
 Mrs. M. " Does the butcher come round ? " 
 
 /,. // K. " Used to. Does now once in a 
 while. Can t depend on him." 
 
 Mrs. M. "We were told he came twice a week." 
 
 /-. H. K. "Used to. He s ben once this week; 
 said he might not come at all next week. Could n t 
 get no lamb."
 
 74 o.v THE roixr. 
 
 Mrs. M. " We can get fish, can t we ? " 
 
 L. H. K. " Doubt it. Ain t nobody fishes much 
 round here, cept Chamfray sets a few lobster pots 
 ;.nd tends the weirs." 
 
 Mrs. M. " The weirs ? " 
 
 L. H. K. " Yes, the salmon weirs." 
 
 Margaret. " We can get some salmon, can t we ? " 
 
 L. H. K. " Don t believe you kin. Salmon s 
 ben runnin ruther skurse this summer. Skurse 
 and high." 
 
 Mrs. M. " Well, we can live on eggs, if every 
 thing else fails." 
 
 L. H. K. " Aiggs ! p aps you c n git em and 
 p aps you can t. Aiggs has ben p utty skurse 
 this year." 
 
 Mrs. M. " How about milk ? " 
 
 /. H. K. " There used to be a fam ly kep cows 
 on the Point. All sold now. There s a milkman 
 brings milk to the hotel. Comes about ten miles to 
 furnish them. Guess he d let you hev milk." 
 
 Mrs. M. " Don t you keep a cow ? " 
 
 L. H. K. " Yes, I keep a cow." 
 
 Mrs. M. " You see, I have a young baby here, 
 and I must have fresh milk. I don t like it 
 brought so far. Could n t you let me have a quart 
 or two a day ? " 
 
 L. H. K. " Could n t possibly spare a drop. 
 Have regular customers, who take all I c n spare." 
 
 Mrs. M. " How can we get groceries ? "
 
 ON THE POINT. 75 
 
 L. H. K. " Groceries ! why, you have to go n 
 git em from the village." 
 
 Mrs. M. " Don t they send things over ? " 
 
 L. If. K. " Na-o." 
 
 Mrs. M. " What can we do ? " 
 
 L. H. K. " Hire a hoss, and go for m your 
 selves." 
 
 Mrs. M. " Of whom can we hire a horse ? " 
 
 L. II. K. " Well, you see this critter I ve got 
 hitched up here. I let her sometimes." 
 
 Myself. " How much do you ask to drive 
 over to the village ? " 
 
 L. H. K. " I gen rally git a dollar." 
 
 Mrs. M. " So if we want a yeast-cake in a hurry, 
 we shall have to hire your team, shall we ? " 
 
 L. H. K. " Well, that s p utty nigh the long and 
 short of it." 
 
 Myself. " Who brings the mail ? " 
 
 /,. // K. " I do if the folks pays me for it." 
 
 1 think we were all somewhat dumfounded by 
 this prospect. As I have hinted, though on gen 
 eral principle we detested the very sound of the 
 word " afford " and used it as sparingly as possible, 
 a hard Fate made its practice unavoidable with us. 
 We had calculated that if a horse was not an 
 expensive luxury, we would indulge in one or two 
 rides for pleasure every week. The unexpected 
 expense of that stage-drive had made a sharp drain 
 on our equine fund. But here was a dilemma 
 facing us of which we had not dreamed.
 
 76 OA r THE roL\T. 
 
 But that cursed lighthouse-keeper was not quit 
 of us yet. We were just turning up to the steps 
 when he suddenly said, 
 
 " D y ever hev scarlet fever ? " 
 
 That word called up terrible memories, and none 
 of us answered. 
 
 " Cause if you hev n t, p aps I d oughter tell ye 
 the last folks thet hed this house come down with 
 it." 
 
 " Turn right round and go back to the hotel ! " I 
 exclaimed. 
 
 The lighthouse-keeper saw that he had drawn 
 the string a little too taut. 
 
 " I don t think the s any gret danger," he went 
 on, confidently. " T made it kind o onpleasant fer 
 em fer a while. The neighbors kep all away, 
 xcept myself. I ve hed it in my fam ly. I ain t 
 afraint on t. I lost one child by it. But I missed 
 t other one right through it. If you should come 
 down with it I could help out ; but then, as I 
 said, they ain t no danger. The house was foomi- 
 gated from garret to cellar ; the Board o Health 
 done it, and t was done right." 
 
 My wife looked at me, and I looked at my wife. 
 We did n t know what to do. But here Margaret s 
 sound common-sense came to our aid. 
 
 " Of course there can t be any danger, papa ; they 
 would n t have let us take the cottage if there had 
 been the slightest risk. The children would be
 
 OA Till . POINT. 77 
 
 four times as much exposed in going and coming on 
 the boat. 
 
 " Right you are, Miss," said the lighthouse- 
 keeper. 
 
 So we decided to take possession. First, I 
 engaged the lighthouse-keeper to drive Mrs. Merri- 
 thew over to the village to procure necessary stores 
 of provisions to begin housekeeping with. By the 
 time he came back for her in his buggy, she would 
 have discovered what was needed. I borrowed of 
 our not-over-effusive neighbors, the Johnsons, 
 enough wood and coal to start the fire in the 
 kitchen and keep it going till the next day, and to 
 make a fire in the parlor fireplace. 
 
 Pretty soon the lighthouse-keeper appeared, and 
 my wife started off. A more depressing companion 
 she could not have had. She told us afterwards 
 that he kept up the tone of his pessimism till he 
 brought her back. He was talkative enough, but 
 such a lugubrious picture he gave of the Point and 
 its history, of the cottagers and the hotel, of the 
 farmers and the fishermen ! He warned her of 
 Farmer This and Farmer That. You could n t 
 trust Mr. Bigg out of your sight, and Ormsby would 
 cheat you out of your eye-teeth. He did n t think 
 the cottage would last the summer out ; he doubted 
 if any of the cottages except those already occupied 
 would be opened that summer. 
 
 Mrs. Merrithew came home utterly depressed.
 
 78 av THE POIXT. 
 
 But it cheered her to find the rest of us in good 
 spirits. We found some amusement in the Swedish 
 girl s mamtuvres. She was evidently as green as 
 grass, and she could not even kindle the fire in the 
 range ; she was going to put in the coal first and 
 the kindlings on top, and then wet it down with 
 kerosene. Margaret had picked up a few words 
 of Swedish, and this helped out in making her 
 understand. 
 
 The fog still hung about, but the rain was over. 
 It was cool, almost cold ; the fire in the fireplace 
 shed a grateful gleam and glow. 
 
 " I wish we had a piano for you, dearie," I said, 
 addressing Margaret, as she stood at the window 
 trying to unravel the view of the shore from the 
 still whirling fog-wreaths ; " but I am glad you have 
 your zither." 
 
 It was quite wonderful to me : we had a jolly 
 good supper in our own dining-room. Mrs. Mer- 
 rithew had brought home some beefsteak and 
 whole-wheat bread and two boxes of good straw 
 berries, besides the other stores such as her expe 
 rience suggested. 
 
 So we forgot our cares, and laughed and talked 
 and were satisfied. After tea I renewed the fire in 
 the fireplace, and while the " women folks " were put 
 ting the children to bed, and had carried off the one 
 lamp, I sat in the rocking-chair and mused. The 
 fire flickered and blazed. I happened to cast my
 
 ON THE POINT. 79 
 
 eyes up to the ceiling, and there hung, with wings 
 extended and quivering, with jaws snapping and 
 cruel, the very representation of the ugly blackbird 
 of misfortune ! It was only the shadow of the fire- 
 dog, but there was something so uncanny about it 
 that it involuntarily brought up every foreboding, i 
 am afraid I did what I am sure my wife was 
 plucky enough to refrain from doing : I felt like 
 sobbing, and I furtively wiped my eyes, pretending 
 even to myself that the smoke had made them water. 
 " But, after all," I said to myself, " you are not 
 superstitious ; the chances are that all will come out 
 right in the end."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IN WHICH NKICHIiORS Al I KAK AM) COMFORT TIIF, 
 MliRRITHKW FAMILY. 
 
 THKRK were no blinds on the house, and 
 the shades scarcely modified the daylight, 
 which began before the night was half finished. 
 Our sleep was disturbed by the whooping of several 
 steamboats, evidently caught in the fog. A caucus 
 of crows in the immediate neighborhood noisily 
 discussed some political measure which may have 
 been important to them, but which we should ?11 
 have been glad to have laid on the table, with a 
 motion for adjournment in order. \Ye had for 
 tunately retired early, and were disposed to sleep, 
 but we all waked at an unconscionably early hour. 
 Experience had taught me that the trilling incon 
 venience of sleeping in unshaded rooms was soon 
 conquered by the quickly - acquired habit. This 
 proved to be the case. Uefore a week had passed, 
 nothing, either tooting tugs, or gossiping crows, or 
 premature sunrises, disturbed our morning naps. 
 
 While we were at breakfast the fogs suddenly 
 
 vanished ; a splendid Hood of sunshine poured in 
 
 through the four windows facing the bay. The 
 
 islands that shut out the open ocean stood out clis- 
 
 80
 
 ox THE POIXT. 8 1 
 
 tinctly, and the glorious range of mountains that 
 shut in the perspective on one side, glowed like 
 opals in the vibrating distance. This change in 
 the weather was sufficient to send up the barometer 
 of our feelings. 
 
 Margaret always made the coffee for us. I have 
 no hesitation in declaring that this accomplishment 
 alone would ensure a husband s happiness. No 
 man could resist its charm. It would lift the bur 
 dens of the day with a start at the very beginning, 
 and fill the heart with that perfect satisfaction which 
 includes just the right degree of self-satisfaction. 
 
 The cottage stood on a low bluff, the land run 
 ning down to an abrupt bank, perhaps twenty-five 
 feet high, at the foot of which the ripples of the 
 fioodtide lapped large bowlders. At low tide a 
 pebbly beach, varied with rocks and ledges, extended 
 out eighty or a hundred feet. A flight of unsafe 
 but easily-mended steps led down to what at first 
 I took to be a bathing-house, but proved to be a 
 fish-house. 
 
 By the way, that poem of Heine s, 
 
 illustrates what Fancy can do. If Heine s fish- 
 house smelt like ours no one would have sat by it, 
 especially after the fog began to come up. 
 
 In front of the fish-house a long weir extended
 
 82 av THE POIXT. 
 
 out into deep water, ending in a little cluster of 
 poles decorated with a net. 
 
 Fishing for salmon is royal sport, with its whir of 
 reel and bending rod and gamy prey darting down 
 the rapids of some forest-guarded stream. I looked 
 with a sort of grief on the fierce big fish, left high 
 by his enemy, the falling tide, and gasping in the 
 meshes of that fatal net, helpless and so shabbily 
 led to his inglorious destruction. 
 
 " Chamfray," said I, with quickly-learned famil 
 iarity, to the master of the weirs, " many salmon 
 this year ? " 
 
 " Not s many s usual. Seventy-five so fur. Only 
 thirteen days left. Then the law s on and the nets 
 have to come off." 
 
 " ( )h, Mr. Chamfray, I do wish you d get us 
 one ! " exclaimed Margaret, who was standing with 
 us as we talked. 
 
 "Git you one! Course, I will. Git you one to- 
 morra f I ken." 
 
 " How about lobsters ? " asked Mrs. Merrithew, 
 coming down to the bank where we were. 
 
 " Lobsters ? Got nough pots out, but lobsters s 
 skarse ! Dunno why they be, but they be." 
 
 " Have n t you any to-day ? " 
 
 " No, hain t got none. Hev one to-morra. Want 
 one to-morra ? " 
 
 " Certainly we do," we all exclaimed in a breath. 
 
 Chamfray was a tall, good-looking man, but evi-
 
 ox THE POIXT. 83 
 
 dently not blessed or cursed with much enterprise ; 
 one of those shiftless, happy-go-lucky fellows, whose 
 wives do all the work, and whose sole object or pur 
 pose in life seems to be to fill tumble-down hovels 
 with children as shiftless as themselves. 
 
 I don t know how many times during the next 
 few weeks we hailed Brother Chamfray with, 
 
 " Any lobsters to-day ? " 
 
 And the answer was almost invariably the 
 same : 
 
 " No, hain t got none. Hev one to-morra. \Yant 
 one to-morra ? " 
 
 And the next day t would be : 
 
 Well, Chamfray, you promised us a lobster 
 to-day. Did you bring it?" 
 
 " Xo, forgot to bait my traps ! " or, " No ; some 
 one stole my bait. Hain t got none to-day ; hev one 
 to-morra. \Yant one to-morra?" 
 
 It was not from Chamfray that we got the deli 
 cious lobsters which Margaret made into salad, with 
 lettuce given us by one of our neighbors, a salad 
 rendered irresistible with pure cider vinegar and 
 the olive oil of la rcurc Chaffani, peace to her 
 husband s memory. 
 
 Chamfray did bring us the salmon, however ; I 
 will give him the credit for that ; and as he held it 
 up for us to admire, he told us how the epicures, 
 who hungered for the first salmon of the season, 
 made the price of the fish at the weirs nearly two
 
 84 o.v THE ro/\T. 
 
 dollars a pound in the early spring, and how in 
 one weir, not his, you may be sure ; nor, by the 
 way, did he ever get one dollar and seventy-five 
 cents a pound for his salmon, how in one weir 
 that spring they had taken a salmon that weighed 
 upwards of forty pounds. 
 
 " You see, Margaret," said I, affecting to be very 
 wise, "the salmon follow along the shore on their 
 way up from the ocean to the river, and when they 
 meet the obstruction of these thickly set poles, they 
 follow them out and run into the pound at the end, 
 and they have n t common-sense, and never dream 
 of turning back, but follow their noses till they are 
 hopelessly entangled in the pocket of the net. 
 
 " I think it is mean business to cheat the poor 
 things so ! " exclaimed Margaret, indignantly. 
 
 " I don t know as it is any meaner than to catch 
 them with a hook, said I. " It s their own fault if 
 they are such fools as to run their noses into traps 
 and nets." 
 
 A short distance below the house was a gayly- 
 painted little structure. 
 
 After breakfast, that first morning, Alfred and 
 Magnus, Jr., full of the spirit of the explorer, 
 dragged their sister off to investigate. 
 
 " What is it ? " I asked, when they came back. 
 
 " Oh ! it s a spring house," said Margaret. 
 
 " Yes," cried Alfred ; " there s a post which says 
 Mineral Spring on it." 
 
 " Could you get inside ? "
 
 o.v THE roixr. 85 
 
 " No ; it s locked ; but we could look through the 
 window." 
 
 " There s nothing much in it," said Magnus, 
 Jr.; "nothing but a couple of chairs and a table." 
 
 " We found the spring, though ; its all red round 
 it, and the water tastes bad." 
 
 " Must be iron in it," I said, with some pride at 
 being able to air intuitive knowledge before my 
 children. 
 
 " And see what we ve brought home, papa." 
 
 They exhibited each a handful of wild straw 
 berries. 
 
 " I guess we can pick enough for tea," said 
 Margaret. 
 
 They did, and for days after we had abundant 
 supplies of them. 
 
 The lighthouse-keeper s lugubrious prognostica 
 tions were speedily shown to be mere chimeras. 
 Chamfray kept a cow and engaged to sell us all the 
 milk and cream we needed. He even volunteered 
 to teach Margaret how to milk. She took one or 
 two lessons, her education, like my own, having 
 been neglected as regarded that branch of home 
 industry. Margaret learned, too; but she came to 
 the conclusion that the cow was the most obstrep 
 erous, cross-grained brute in creation, and she 
 declared that she would rather tend a soda-fountain 
 than be the finest milkmaid in popular song. 
 
 I told her that if she kept on and became pro-
 
 86 <9.V THE POIXT. 
 
 ficient, I would accept the offer of a neighbor at 
 home and keep a cow on shares. When he had 
 approached me on the subject, I remember con 
 senting to the arrangement on condition that 1 
 might choose my half, namely, the hinder half ; 
 whereat he went off in high dudgeon, being one of 
 those men who can t take a joke. Margaret, how 
 ever, declined to listen to any such program. 
 
 That first morning we had a perfect succession 
 of people offering their services. Farmer Bigg, 
 who lived on the nearest hill, in a house distin 
 guished, as the boys soon discovered, by the 
 presence of a great parrot that liked to have them 
 scratch him on the occiput, that was Harold s 
 favourite word, though he did not always use it 
 correctly, Farmer Bigg drove up in a craxy old 
 wagon, which broke down at our very door. He 
 was a well-preserved old man, with bent back, white 
 hair and very shrewd, twinkling blue eyes. 
 
 " Glad to see this cottage opened," he began. 
 
 If you want any vegetables, I can furnish em. 
 Want any butter ? " 
 
 He invited us to visit his farm, and he would 
 show us " some of the forrardest corn and beans 
 anywheres bout. Peas? Hev some nex week, 
 sure pop. Got some special good seed from 
 beyont Bost n, from a man n Dedh m. 
 
 A little later some of the cottage-neighbors 
 came around to inquire if they could be of any
 
 a\* THE POINT. 87 
 
 assistance. The first to come was Mr. Petti- 
 champs, one of the oldest summer residents. 
 
 Margaret gave him a very lively account of the 
 lighthouse-keeper s jeremiad. 
 
 Mr. Pettichamps laughed : " Ho ! Ho ! " he 
 said, "It s no such thing. You ll have no diffi 
 culty in getting all the provisions you want. My 
 wife and I have been down here for more n twenty 
 years, and \ve never starved yet. Any time you 
 want to send to the village, why 1 11 be glad to do 
 your errands ; and if I happen to have an extra seat 
 in my carriage, nothing 11 give me more delight 
 than to take one or more of you along." 
 
 " We were told that the Point was only three 
 miles from the port," I remarked. 
 
 "Who told you that?" 
 
 " Oh, they told me so at the office. I had no 
 idea we should need a horse down here." 
 
 " Xeed a horse ! ho ! ho ! You don t need a 
 horse. I tell you, you 11 get along all right. We 
 all of us do each other s errands, if we happen to 
 be going over to the village." 
 
 " I am sure you are very kind. Mrs. Merrithew 
 was quite discouraged last night. We thought 
 that if we had to pay a dollar every time we went 
 to the village it would ruin us." 
 
 I in sorry the lighthouse-keeper said anything 
 about the scarlet fever. But I can assure you the 
 house was thoroughlv fumigated. No danger at
 
 88 ON THE rOIXT. 
 
 all. Only one child had it, anyway, and a very 
 mild case. The other children were here all the 
 rest of the summer and didn t catch it. You re all 
 right. No danger at all. 13y the way, perhaps 
 Miss Merrithew would like to ride over to the 
 village now. There s an extra seat. She can take 
 her little sister along, if she d like." 
 
 That was the beginning of a series of polite 
 services which never ceased through the entire 
 time we were at the Point. Not one of these 
 people had we ever seen before ; but with one 
 accord they welcomed us to their society, treated 
 us as if we were relatives, instead of strangers, and 
 quite overwhelmed us with their attentions. It will 
 always be a keen regret to us all that we were and 
 ever shall be unable to requite a tithe of it.
 
 IX. 
 
 IN WHICH MR. MERRITHEW DESCRIBES THE POINT, 
 
 AND (JIVES HINTS ON THE FORMATION 
 
 OF A LAND COMPANY. 
 
 THK Point, it has a specific name of course, 
 but to its lover is distinctively THK point, 
 just as the Episcopal Church is THK Church, 
 the Point is a peninsula jutting from a penin 
 sula. The southern end, looking down the bay, is 
 charted, and very possibly learned by young stu 
 dents of geography as a cape. On the northern 
 end, perched on high, precipitous rocks, stands the 
 lighthouse, which enlightens sea and land ; for its
 
 QO oj\ THE roix i: 
 
 white rays at night illuminate not only the river but 
 also the " street " that meanders along the bluff out to 
 the hotel. The views all along the bluff vary en- 
 chantingly, each location seeming to surpass its 
 neighbor. One cottage there are not more than 
 ten gets a wider view of mountains, another 
 takes in a broader sweep of the bay, still another 
 looks up the river. 
 
 In the bay and up and down the river there is a 
 constant movement of vessels : now a steamboat 
 sending out its white evanescent plumes of salute, 
 soon followed by the audible three whistles : my 
 friend, the Captain, who evidently remembered my 
 daughter s visit in his pilot-house, invariably saluted, 
 to the great delight of the small folk, who returned 
 it with squeals that might have been heard a mile, 
 while I myself at last procured a fish-horn from the 
 village, and amid the waving of handkerchiefs, 
 aprons, towels, sheets, whatever was large and white, 
 blew a blast " worth a thousand men. Kven then 
 I always regretted lacking the peculiar vehemence 
 of old General Hornblower, who had only to go on 
 his piazza and blow three blasts on his nose with a 
 red bandanna to bring forth a response from tug, 
 yacht or steamboat. But such geniuses are rare, 
 and perhaps it is just as well for the world in 
 general. 
 
 The children found constant delight in watching 
 the tug-boats, now bringing down to the roadstead a
 
 OA T THE POINT. 9 1 
 
 four-master deeply laden with ice, now hastening 
 back again with perhaps a full-rigged ship in ballast, 
 with its huge sides rising high above the water. 
 Oftentimes when the wind turned favorable a whole 
 fleet of coasting vessels would take advantage of it 
 to spread their wings, rather patched and dirty 
 wings it must be confessed, but always picturesque. 
 Xow and then a private yacht would come up the 
 bay. 
 
 In all directions, except one or two, are beautiful 
 hills, here and there stretching away till they rise 
 into mountains, whose lovely distant outlines and 
 flanks are constantly changing their gem-like hues. 
 
 Certainly a lovelier spot cannot be found. Groves, 
 in which the lady-like white birch contrasts with the 
 more sombre evergreens, crowd down to the very 
 edge of the bluff ; waters abounding in delicious 
 fish : woods, which as I soon found, afforded abun 
 dant store of coot, black-breasted plover, wild ducks, 
 yellow-legs and (later) partridges, while once I 
 thought I had ocular confirmation of the legend of 
 deer haunting the wilder lands of the Point. If I 
 had only been educated to shoot ! I had a gun, but 
 the game generally went off before the gun did. 
 
 Comparatively few people know about this little 
 paradise. Its neglect has been quite phenomenal. 
 Thousands of eyes have looked on it from passing 
 vessels ; but though so near they simply passed, and 
 if thev wondered, their wonder was not strong
 
 f)2 O.Y THE 
 
 enough to rise to curiosity. " The world forgetting 
 by the world forgot " was the line that frequently 
 arose to my mind. It came with especial force 
 when, one day, wandering about as Margaret and I 
 were, we came on a cottage at quite a distance from 
 the lighthouse, a cottage which boie some signs 
 of comfort and thrift. In it sat an old lady who we 
 found was delighted to have visitors into whose ears 
 she could pour her simple story. In a few months she 
 would be one hundred and three years old. She 
 was called Aunt Polly, and though she boasted that 
 she had lived in two States, three counties and 
 four towns, she had never in her long life been 
 more than five miles from the house where she 
 was born ; she had never seen railroad engine or 
 been on board a steamboat. She remembered 
 events that took place ninety years previous, but 
 her recollection of recent things was faint. She 
 was the typical example of the natives of the Point. 
 
 The Point ought to have been known and might 
 have been known, but it was the victim of a land 
 company. 
 
 A " syndicate " had bought nearly all the land 
 in the immediate vicinity of the lighthouse. I n- 
 fortunately, one man who owned a strip from shore 
 to shore had shown a disposition to be disagreeable. 
 He had been a man of wealth and enterprise, but 
 had, so it was said, dissipated several inherited 
 and acquired fortunes. A big bell on his barn
 
 av THE POINT. 93 
 
 was pointed out as having in previous years been 
 rung every time he took a drink ; it was ringing 
 most of the time. He had refused to sell any of 
 his land at any price, though the bluff in front 
 of his house commanded the most attractive views. 
 A large and beautiful grove of white birches often 
 invited strangers to repose under its pleasant 
 shade, but he invariably warned them off with 
 anything but pleasant language. He had even 
 refused to allow people to take a short cut by 
 a path that led across a corner of his back-lot 
 from the wharf to the other cottages, and frequently 
 drove ladies back, compelling them to go round 
 the longer way. As he held a sort of coigne of 
 vantage, this man was by many regarded as 
 responsible for the failure of the land company. 
 
 One of the principal members of the syndicate, 
 taking umbrage at some plan that was decided 
 on against his better judgment, entirely withdrew 
 from the committee, boarded up the windows of 
 his own cottage, the most expensive one at the 
 Point, and refused either to sell it, to rent it, or to 
 open it. The hotel, costing upwards of $100,000, 
 which had been opened the first season with great 
 eclat, went from excellent to fair, from fair to 
 bad, and from bad to worse. It had changed 
 hands almost every year, and on our arrival had 
 just been sold for a trifle to a man who had 
 never run a hotel in his life. The steamboats
 
 94 o.v THE rorxT. 
 
 which had formerly that is for a few seasons 
 stopped at the Point, now passed by. Several of 
 the cottages were allowed to go to rack and ruin. 
 Foundations of cellars where cottages had been 
 begun gave an air of decay to many a sightly 
 location. 
 
 Vet it was evident to my mind that judicious 
 management and small further expenditure might 
 still make the place a success. There is every 
 attraction for those who like a simple, uncumbered 
 summer life. The Point bay, which is a sort of 
 roadstead back of the Point, affords anchorage for 
 a fleet of yachts and sail-boats. Sailing is delight 
 ful in every direction, with endless excursions. 
 The drives are not so varied, but are nevertheless 
 attractive. There is a tonic in the air. The 
 perfume of pine and lir- balsam can be detected 
 for a mile from the shore ; the south wind comes 
 across leagues of ice-cold brine. 
 
 As I take great delight in looking over old 
 records, I discovered that the town nearly half 
 a century before had laid out a road from the 
 turnpike to the present situation of the wharf, 
 and I called it to the attention of the selectmen, 
 who were advised that if they wanted to take 
 advantage of the profit that summer residents 
 brought, it would be as well to make their 
 surroundings attractive. 
 
 The selectmen saw the point, and at their first
 
 o.v THE POINT. 95 
 
 meeting voted unanimously to restore the long- 
 forgotten road. Our unpopular neighbor, Mr. Fox, 
 who had sown his grounds with signs "Private 
 grounds : no trespassing," and had filled the short 
 cut path with brush to impede pedestrians, got 
 wind of the meeting and hastened over to try to 
 balk the measure. Fortunately he was too late. 
 
 I never could understand why our coast towns, 
 especially those that have great attractions of 
 scenery, groves and bluffs and beaches, should 
 not take example from experience and organize 
 their own land companies, lay out roads along 
 the shore, set apart localities for parks, make re 
 strictions as to the quality and style of buildings, 
 and thus make enough profit to pay the expense 
 of such improvements forever. But the inland 
 villagers are so apt to be jealous of those who 
 live near the water! I know one little town 
 indeed it was my favorite village of Gunkit where 
 for years the "folks back" fought tooth and nail 
 against building a bridge across the river. It is 
 the old story of the heels being jealous of the head.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FOURTH OF JULY AM) OTHKR DAYS AT THE POINT. 
 
 THE day after our arrival at the Governor s 
 cottage was the Eourth of July. It made a 
 pretty good day to count from ; for afterwards there 
 was no especial manner of distinguishing one day 
 from another. 
 
 Nature does not in the slightest degree mark 
 Sunday from the secular clays of the week. There 
 is no Sabbath for Mother Nature. The birds sing, 
 the squirrels play, the tides rise and fall, thunder 
 storms come up and knock off church steeples, re 
 gardless of denomination ; ants build their cities, 
 96
 
 ON THE POINT. 97 
 
 and offer just as didactic a spectacle as in the days 
 of Solomon. We were too far away from the vil 
 lage to hear the church bell, if, indeed, there was 
 one. 
 
 We began our summer practically with the 
 Fourth of July. It was a great day for the boys. 
 I had skimped and spared for several weeks in 
 order to justify myself in the purchase of a liberal 
 supply of fireworks. I will say here, to my own 
 credit, that, though I am exceedingly fond of a 
 good cigar, I did not buy one for a long time, as 
 self-sacrifice seemed to be the easiest way of econo 
 mizing. 
 
 If we had stayed at home, those two boys would 
 have been up at some unearthly hour, making 
 night hideous with their horns and torpedoes. ]>ut 
 I had bribed them to be good fellows, and sleep as 
 late as possible. After breakfast they were per 
 mitted to celebrate as noisily as they pleased. 
 
 As the tide served right, I borrowed a boat which 
 one of the neighbors had told me was at my ser 
 vice at any time, and took Margaret and the two 
 boys out for a row. When we came back we tied 
 to the end of the weir, and caught a pretty " mess of 
 dinners," which Chamfray s oldest boy kindly "skim" 
 for us. Alfred quickly caught the trick, and after 
 that first morning proudly took his place as past- 
 master in the delicate art of preparing our fish. 
 
 Margaret was a great adept in fishing. She
 
 98 OA THE POINT. 
 
 would unhinge the clam with a deft movement of 
 the knife, and cateh more fish with one piece of 
 bait than any person I ever saw. And when the 
 fish came wriggling from the water, with his spines 
 all erect, her strong, firm hand would grasp him 
 under the gills, and disengage the hook with more 
 than professional skill. But how that girl did 
 abominate sculpin ! She had one tremendous 
 bite. She thought it was at least a shark, and 
 pulled in manfully. It proved to be the biggest 
 toad-sculpin that ever left the element. She let 
 him lie in the bottom of the boat until he swelled 
 up, and then she relentlessly threw him overboard, 
 and laughed a little heartlessly, I thought to 
 see him floating off, as unable to sink as a Guiana 
 spider. There was something rather significant in 
 that heartlessness, and I wondered whether, should 
 she ever engage in the more dangerous sport of 
 fishing for men, she would Ming them over with 
 equal lack of ruth. 
 
 Here, although it interrupts the narration to a 
 certain extent, I don t know why I should not re 
 late a little espiode that a few days later came 
 under my observation quite accidentally. To me, 
 Margaret has always been the type of gentle filial 
 obedience. She has a will of her own, of course ; 
 but I think her mother and I were wise enough to 
 guide rather than to thwart it. \Ye were or, at 
 least, I was far wiser with her than with the boys.
 
 OA r THE POINT. 99 
 
 A child s attention is easily diverted, and the old 
 military rule, divide ct imperil, holds in domestic 
 discipline. But in spite of a parent s close study 
 of a child, however much they may be together, it 
 is only by a small segment that the circles of their 
 lives intersect. The larger part of a child s life 
 and thought is out of the parents sight. We all 
 stand for the most part quite isolated, touching only 
 like bubbles in soapsuds. 
 
 As I have said, 1 am convinced that Margaret 
 has a peculiarly tender and feminine spirit. Im 
 agine my amazement, therefore, one clay, a week 
 or two later, to surprise her intently studying what, 
 if it had been magnified, would have been as 
 bloody and frightful a spectacle as a Spanish or 
 Mexican bull-fight. 
 
 She had got a number of spiders of various 
 colors and sizes, and imprisoned them in a large 
 box, which she had covered with a pane of glass ; 
 and there that delicately-nurtured, refined young 
 woman, my pet and admiration, was studying, with 
 a sort of horrified fascination, the battle a l\>utrancc. 
 that was progressing, the internecine war that was 
 exterminating all her captives. 
 
 Perhaps in some such spirit some beautiful 
 Roman girl may have sat in her seat in the 
 Coliseum and applauded the duels that stained 
 the arena with crimson gore. She was too intent 
 and too much preoccupied to be abashed at my
 
 IOO OA r THE POINT. 
 
 presence. She had the hardihood to hid me also 
 watch the terrible conflict in which the spiders 
 first engaged two and two, and then each of the 
 survivors took up the feud, until only two champions 
 were left, and these, with mutilated limbs, wrestled 
 in deadly embrace. 
 
 Was it a morbid curiosity that led her to enjoy, 
 or, at least, to study such a spectacle ? Was it the 
 strange outcropping of inheritance, which, descend 
 ing from some remote ancestor, prompted her to 
 revel in this miniature tournament ? Was she 
 really cruel ? 
 
 But I have known her to weep over the sufferings 
 of some wounded pet. She would often bring home, 
 when a girl, some forlorn cat, or some disreputable 
 pup, tortured by thoughtless boys. And for human 
 suffering no one had a tenderer pity. She often 
 said that if she had not elected music to be her 
 profession for she was even now quite capable 
 of earning her own living by it she should study 
 to be a trained nurse. 
 
 No; it was one of those strange impulses that 
 waken in our hearts. I presume it was the same 
 in me when once I caught a fly and tenderly placed 
 him on a piece of poisoned fly-paper in order that 
 I might study the action of poison on the nerve- 
 centers of musca domcstica . 
 
 The boys also did their share in hauling in the 
 fish, though Magnus, Jr., persisted in keeping his
 
 OJV THE POINT. 101 
 
 hook near the top of the water, and therefore 
 secured only the vivacious but useless polluck, 
 while Alfred, who let his down too far, got only 
 flounders and sculpins. The place was " very 
 poisonous," to use the translation which a college 
 friend of mine made of the French tres poissoneuse, 
 and we soon had a fine "kettle of fish." 
 
 After it was dark enough, that evening, I set 
 off the fireworks, to the great delight of the 
 small boys. We happened to be the only people 
 on the Point who celebrated to any such extent, 
 and our efforts to enliven the close of the day 
 were appreciated by several of our neighbors, 
 who came and sat on the piazza with Mrs. 
 Merrithew and Margaret. In the distance, across 
 the bay, and farther down there were also cele 
 brations, as we could see by the frequent flashing 
 up of jets of light, as if the earth were returning 
 to the skies some of the meteoric showers that 
 have been lavished on us. 
 
 I might add, as a crowning touch to this unevent 
 ful but pleasant day, we had some coffee ice-cream. 
 Of course we had no freezer, but as a neighbor, 
 in the warmth of his heart, had sent us a piece 
 of ice from his ice-house, and it would have melted 
 away as fast as the clay, for we had no refrigerator, 
 it occurred to Margaret to utilize it in making 
 ice-cream. And my wife, who is nothing if not 
 fertile in expedients, manufactured the delicate
 
 102 OX THE POIXT. 
 
 compound by whirling the pail full of cream, in 
 a bucket packed with salt and ice. Our visitors 
 had a taste of it, and were so impressed with 
 its qualities that they asked Mrs. Merrithew for 
 her pattern. 
 
 It by no means enters into my purpose to give 
 a diary of the days that followed. Blessed is that 
 country that hath no history, and the simple 
 enjoyments of our secluded retreat were by no 
 means exciting or dramatic. The boys found 
 constant pleasure in sending off shingle boats. 
 rigged with one or more masts that bore ample 
 sails made of newspapers. The changes made 
 in the shore line by the rising and falling of 
 the tide gave them also variety, and more than 
 once one or both of them came in with clothes 
 well soaked, when they had allowed themselves 
 to get caught on some outlying bowlder and cut 
 off by the slyly-rising waters. 
 
 The high-water mark was lined with drift-wood, 
 shingles and boards and other odds and ends 
 from the great mills up the river, broken logs, 
 stumps and pieces of dismantled vessels. In a 
 few moments one could collect enough firewood 
 to last two or three evenings. The boys and I 
 made a great pile of it, and then finding that 
 Chamfray had a steer that he hitched up jnto 
 a sort of rough cart, I engaged him to haul this 
 up to the cottage.
 
 O.Y THE POINT. 103 
 
 Most evenings were cool enough for a little 
 blaze, and often, even when we knew that at home 
 the temperature was almost unendurable, we found 
 a good blazing pitch-pine log not pnly compan 
 ionable but comfortable. Several times we were 
 delighted by getting a coruscating piece of drift 
 wood, some part of the copper-impregnated hull 
 of a vessel. And then we would extinguish 
 the lamp, and sit around the fireplace, telling 
 stories of adventure real or imaginary, or Margaret 
 would get out her zither and improvise haunting 
 spirit-like melodies. 
 
 She mourned for her piano, or at least I could 
 see that she longed to have it, and when we found 
 that the hotel was likely to have but few guests, 
 and that the piano there belonged to the kindest 
 and most assiduous of our neighbors, one, indeed, 
 of the original props of the land company, I 
 proposed to him to hire it for the rest of the sum 
 mer. He instantly consented, but refused to take 
 any money for its use, and even went to the unne 
 cessary trouble of having it moved to our cottage. 
 We found that he had had some little trouble 
 with the new proprietor, and was not sorry to rescue 
 the piano from the hotel. In answer to all protes 
 tations he declared that if he could only come and 
 hear Margaret play occasionally he should feel 
 amply repaid. This was only one sample of the 
 unceasing kindness of our neighbors, the cottagers.
 
 IO4 OA T THE rO/A T. 
 
 Of course the piano was a great resource, though 
 I have heard grand pianos with a fuller tone and 
 better in tune. It helped admirably to fill the 
 bareness of the parlor. 
 
 I must also tell how we relieved the white wastes 
 of the unpapered walls. Knowing that TJic Art 
 Amateur published each month a supplement con 
 sisting of a reproduction of some marine view, 
 landscape or figure piece, I wrote to the editor and 
 asked him to select ten or fifteen of the most 
 decorative of these, and send them, together with 
 his bill. A few days later we received them, with a 
 most polite and courteous note, flattering my pride 
 not a little with the remark that he was well 
 acquainted with my literary work, and took pleas 
 ure in contributing to the decoration of my summer 
 cottage. 
 
 Margaret and Mrs. Merrithew reflected great 
 credit on themselves by their artistic and ingenious 
 arrangement of these paintings on the walls, and I 
 assure you we looked as though we had just estab 
 lished a picture gallery. 
 
 Of course I had to endure some sarcasms 
 because I sat in my chair and criticised the sym 
 metry of their arrangements instead of actually 
 helping; but I insisted stoutly that the critic was 
 just as essential to art as the artist or the picture- 
 hanger ; indeed, that but for the critic there would 
 be no stimulus for improvement. Besides, had I
 
 av / ///: FOIXT. 105 
 
 not done my share in procuring some boards, and a 
 saw, and a hammer, and some nails, and showing 
 my dexterity by mending several rotten places in 
 the piazza ? Later, also, was it not I who put up 
 the screen doors, and at the risk of life and limb, 
 tacked mosquito netting over all the bedroom win 
 dows, whereby when the flies came there was no 
 way for them to get out and I was driven nearly 
 insane by these mischievous, pestilential, flying ele 
 phants, with their tickling probosces, insisting on 
 making my bald spot a common ground for prom 
 enading and other festivities dear to their hearts. 
 In such circumstances a man is justified in calling 
 on Beelzebub, the god of flies, according to Assy 
 rian mythology, provided he does not mean the 
 word for a covert allusion to the father of lies. 
 
 I may anticipate a little, as I am in the habit of 
 doing, by stating here, that at last one day, in sheer 
 desperation, I procured some sticky fly-paper, and 
 cutting it into several pieces, exposed it where the 
 flies were thickest. Would you believe it, those 
 flies had a presentiment that something was wrong; 
 they would go and smell of it, and rub their hind 
 legs together. I sat for half an hour watching for 
 one single fly to adhere. Finally, I caught one my 
 self and put him on, but the principle of the decoy 
 did not work at all ; I imagined that I heard him 
 singing to his contemporaries, " Beware my fate ! 
 beware my fate, O fly ! "
 
 io6 o.v THE roixr. 
 
 I was called out for a little while, and during my 
 absence my youngest toddled into the room and 
 calmly proceeded to sit down on one of those pieces 
 of sticky fly-paper that I had laid on the floor in 
 the dining-room, where the Hies seemed to gather 
 most thickly. I had thought of fashioning a 
 sort of fool s-cap out of the stuff for my own head, 
 but the result of my infant s experiments put a 
 premature end to this scheme. When Mrs. Merri- 
 tliew followed her hopeful, with suspicion that lie 
 would soon be in mischief, she found him occupying 
 more space on that cursed fly-paper than would 
 have sufficed for all the Hies in the house. Not only 
 had he sat on one piece, whereby his dress was 
 ruined, for she could not get the stains off, but he 
 had reached on the table for another piece, and his 
 poor little dimpled hands were glued to it, and he- 
 was in a terrible plight. 
 
 This was merely a Hy-speck, as it were, on the 
 crystal mirror of our happiness. 
 
 I had one trial, however, which I met manfully. 
 I felt that a well-ordered father should try to teach 
 his sons something useful, and so each day I 
 tackled Harold and Magnus, Jr., the elder on the 
 side of his arithmetic, which had been neglected in 
 school, the other in spelling. 
 
 Now as regards spelling, I am a confirmed 
 though not rabid, phonetist. I abhor the sporadic 
 and unnecessary u which our English cousins use
 
 aV THE POINT. TO/ 
 
 so unsystematically for decorative purposes only. 
 Spelling is not my strong point. I have entered, in 
 days gone by, into those ridiculous spelling contests, 
 in which oftentimes a chit of a girl, who was born 
 to spell (for the thing conies not by observation, but 
 of grace), will humiliate those infinitely her superior 
 in all knowledge ; I have stood up in line and been 
 downed at a shot by some such silly word as 
 " sense. Therefore, it is not to be wondered at 
 that in practising Alfred in the recondite mysteries 
 of orthography, it being my own weak point, I 
 frequently lost patience with him. 
 
 These duties filled my mind with a certain satis 
 faction, though Mrs. Merrithew would sometimes 
 assail me for being so impatient. 
 
 I have a theory about the education of the young, 
 and 1 mean to carry it out. It is this: while a 
 broad foundation of culture is an admirable thing, 
 and a college course offers a young man or woman 
 four years of enjoyment not to be otherwise ob 
 tained, a more essential thing is to have a boy 
 or girl definitely turned in early life toward some 
 dominant purpose. 
 
 I have a friend who was born for a doctor. As 
 a little boy he loved nothing better than to pore 
 over books of medicine, and his learned use of 
 technical terms used to amuse his mother, who was a 
 widow. He ought to have been encouraged to con 
 tinue that study. But his mother laughed at him
 
 IO8 O.V THE POINT. 
 
 so much that he grew ashamed and lost his interest. 
 If she had kept alive the (lame of his enthusiasm he 
 might have made a most successful surgeon. He 
 became a third-rate lawyer, though later his love 
 for medicine returned, and he used to dabble in 
 little simple operations and haunt the hospitals when 
 he was not otherwise busy. 
 
 Now, not long since I saw a sand-blast machine. 
 Sand is the most fleeting and unsubstantial of sub 
 stances, scarcely more than a liquid. Hut the 
 sand-blast, concentrating these tiny particles of 
 crumbled quartz, quickly cuts away any hard sub 
 stance that offers resistance. Time is composed of 
 such shifting, liquid-like particles; and if a mind 
 can apply the sand-blast principle, any difficulty can 
 be cut through and any task accomplished. So I 
 have the greatest desire to make my boys apply 
 themselves. 
 
 Margaret is a fine example as regards music 
 and languages. I found her easily directed into 
 the application of this principle, and she is grateful 
 to me for having compelled her to stick to it. I 
 intend my boys to have the same feelings of grati 
 tude, but I am afraid they are not so amenable to 
 my discipline. They are more slippery. 
 
 The larger part of our time we were in the open 
 air, and with the happiest results. \Ve grew brown 
 or red according to our complexions. Margaret s 
 beauty was certainly greatly enhanced by the rich
 
 O.V THE PO/.Y7 . 
 
 coat of tan which covered her face so evenly. I 
 became as burned as a lobster, and my face peeled 
 and my nose was sore. I tried all sorts of remedies, 
 singly and together, cream, skim-milk, oatmeal, 
 vaseline, soap and sugar, cucumber-juice, Ben 
 Levy s face-powder, and a half-dozen other things 
 suggested or offered by sympathizing friends. I 
 don t see why I should have been afflicted with such 
 a sensitive skin, but I notice it always goes with 
 red hair. Now Margaret s hair is golden and her 
 skin fair, but she does n t burn. Natalie and I 
 were the only ones who enjoyed this distinction. 
 But we were all as healthy as dinners, and getting 
 fat. 
 
 The days passed like dreams.
 
 XL 
 
 THE MERRITHKWS MAKK VISITS. 
 
 ONE day, early in August, Mr. 1 ettichamps 
 came back from the village and brought 
 Margaret a letter. 
 
 "From Aclele ! " she cried, as soon as she saw the 
 cover. 
 
 "Oh," said I, "hurry up and open it, and relieve 
 my mind ! Which of those young men has she 
 chosen ? " 
 
 " Why, she s coming to visit the Franks ! She s 
 coming this very week ! " 
 
 " Which Franks ? " I asked, for there was one
 
 <9.V I lIE FO1XT. I I I 
 
 family of that name who had a beautiful estate at 
 the foot of those mountains which were our daily 
 delight. The other family, also acquaintances of 
 ours, but not related, had a duck-farm at the Point, 
 next above ours. There was a certain jealousy 
 between the two Points, but not sufficient to engen 
 der any dissensions. 
 
 "We must have Miss Adele over to visit us," I 
 said. "Why didn t you invite her? " 
 
 " I did, papa, but she thought then that she 
 couldn t come. In fact, she was so upset by the 
 inconsiderate claims of her men friends, as she 
 calls them, that she couldn t do anything, even 
 her letters showed it. I 11 read and see what she 
 says." 
 
 I waited with considerable impatience, but our 
 curiosity remained unsatisfied. She simply wrote 
 that she was still undecided, but would tell Mar 
 garet when she saw her. 
 
 "I ll tell you what we ll do, my dear," said I. 
 The Franks have several times invited us to come 
 over there. We 11 go this very afternoon. I 11 
 either row you over, or we will get the Lawes s 
 team." 
 
 " Would n t it be better to wait till Adele is 
 there ? " 
 
 " She probably is there. When is her letter 
 dated ? " 
 
 Margaret looked more carefully at the heading.
 
 1 12 O.Y Tin-: roi.\~ r. 
 
 " Why ! " she exclaimed, "of course she must 
 have got there this morning! let us go, then. The 
 tide will be just right; it turns about five o clock, 
 and \ve can come back with the ebb." 
 
 " \Ye shall have moonlight, too," I added. 
 
 With the Hood-tide it was an easy pull across 
 the inner bay to the Franks Point. The wind 
 blew freshly from the north-west, and there was 
 considerable sea on. Just after we left, the light 
 house-keeper, who had seen us start, met Mrs. 
 Merrithew and told her, with that line, judicious 
 frankness characteristic of him, that the sail across 
 the inner bay was dangerous, as the wind was likely 
 to breeze up fresh and swamp a small boat. 
 
 Some women would have been worried to death 
 by such an unhappy suggestion; but, though Mrs. 
 Merrithew was alarmed, she knew that I was a 
 good boatman, and what was better, she knew that 
 the lighthouse-keeper was a pessimist on principle. 
 So she made up her mind that it was of no use to 
 worry. 
 
 We had no difficulty whatever : scarcely shipped 
 a tumbler of water, and within an hour, by dint of 
 hard rowing and by favor of the strong tide, we 
 reached the wharf at the other Point. Leaving the 
 boat in as safe a position as possible, we set out on 
 foot for the duck farm. We had no need to 
 inquire the way, for we could hear the quacking of 
 the ducks in the distance, like a beacon call, if such
 
 OA" Til]: POINT. I I 3 
 
 a thing exists. It was a long walk up a steep hill, 
 but the view from the top was fine. It completely 
 overlooked our modest domainlet, but it had the 
 disadvantage of being much farther from the water. 
 
 The house in which the Franks lived was small 
 but cosey. A wide piazza, shaded by a canvas 
 awning and furnished with hammocks and easy 
 seats, gave an air of out-doorsiness to the place. 
 
 The two girls were delighted to se e each other. 
 Adele was a vivacious brunette, rather short, with 
 thick, curly chestnut hair and snapping black eyes, 
 the last person in the world whom one would 
 suspect of cultivating platonic friendships. She 
 was an orphan, and had a small income, just enough 
 to live on comfortably. She had the smallest hands 
 that ever were seen, but perfectly proportioned. 
 The curve of her little finger when she drank a cup 
 of tea was bewitching enough to hook any suscep 
 tible heart. I did not wonder that her " men 
 friends " were anxious to rise to a degree higher 
 than the platonic relationship. 
 
 Knowing that I, as a man, was a superfluity in 
 the counsel of the girls, and that I should hear from 
 Margaret all that it was right for me to know, 
 I accepted Mr. Frank s kind invitation to look over 
 the duckery. Now, strange as it may seem, I had 
 reached, or almost reached, the sere and withered 
 leaf ; I was growing bald, and as gray as red-headed 
 men usually get to be ; and though I had seen ducks
 
 I 14 O.V THE PQIXT. 
 
 swimming in ponds, diving down and wagging their 
 tails, I knew little more of their nature and habits 
 than of the ichthyosaurus. Indeed, my whole 
 knowledge might have been summed up in the 
 words of Virgil, which dimly hovered in my 
 memory, Dido ct Trojanits dux. So I was not 
 averse to having my sphere of useful knowledge 
 enlarged. 
 
 At a duckery the instinct of the bird for swim 
 ming is studiously repressed. The poor things 
 rapidly proceed from the egg to the human stomach 
 without ever having once tasted the delight of 
 diving into water, or of wetting their webbed feet, 
 unless one, more enterprising than the rest, man 
 ages to get between the slats that protect their 
 drinking troughs. But they are encouraged to eat, 
 and to eat fast; by this fostering care they grow so 
 phenomenally that they outstrip their feathers, and 
 many of them look as if they had become prema 
 turely bald. 
 
 We went first into the cellar of the house, and 
 here a do/en or more incubators, with self-regulat 
 ing lamps, were at work. The eggs were in 
 various stages of forwardness. In one or two of 
 the mechanical foster-mothers the side of the shell 
 showed the little pit, which indicates that the 
 prisoner is about to break his bonds. Listening at 
 the door, I could hear a miniature peeping sound ; 
 it was the voice of the duck, perhaps uttering 
 almost mute prayers for deliverance.
 
 ON THE roixT. 1 1 5 
 
 The hatched cluck is a queer little fluffy ball of 
 yellow down. We followed his progress from cellar 
 to steam-heated propagation house, until he is 
 turned out to shift for himself in the cold, outside 
 world of the yard. As he goes, his voice increases 
 from the feeble piping peep to the full-fledged 
 quack. 
 
 There were thousands of ducks of every age and 
 size, and the din of their quacking when they raised 
 their voices would have suggested a new image to 
 Dante, had he lived to see such a sight. I saw 
 them fed, and admired their zeal in a noble cause. 
 How they trampled on one another! How thank 
 fully they lifted their shovel-like beaks to heaven 
 and then waddled off to the trough, to swallow that 
 element which Fate prevented them from showing 
 their inborn grace upon ! 
 
 Everything was scrupulously neat. The yards 
 were kept freshly sanded, and the ducks themselves 
 seemed to realize that they had a reputation to 
 sustain ; for did they not bring the highest prices 
 current in the city market, and were they not re- 
 imported and sold in the very village in which they 
 originated ? 
 
 \Ye saw the slaughter-chamber and the pen where 
 the next victims were waiting their fate. A con 
 sciousness of it seemed to prevail among them ; the 
 voices of these were the most raucous, and in their 
 efforts to escape they trampled each other down,
 
 I 1 6 ON THE POINT. 
 
 although they must have known that they would be 
 executed in accordance with the methods most 
 approved by the Society for the Prevention of 
 Cruelty to Animals. 
 
 Greatly edified, I returned to the house with my 
 kind host, who evidently took the most justifiable 
 pride in his army of ducks. Alexander, Caesar, 
 Napoleon, slaughtered men for less praiseworthy 
 objects. My friend Frank distinctly added to the 
 sum of human enjoyment, and it was evident that 
 he found a good profit in it. He paid his men well, 
 and set them an example by taking hold of the 
 work with righteous energy whenever he happened 
 to be at the duckery. 
 
 " Adele," said I, using the privilege of age and 
 circumstance, " you are enjoying a remarkable 
 opportunity. It is not every young lady who can 
 live under the inspiring influences of such a colony 
 as this." 
 
 Now it is evident that this offered an exceptional 
 field for flippant treatment, and I had in mind, 
 after ringing a few changes on quacks " and the 
 Latin pronunciation of "c///.v." and the genitive 
 thereof, to end off with a favorite anecdote of mine 
 regarding Mr. McGinnis, a neighbor, who lived in 
 the valley at the foot of our hill, and went to the 
 Board of Health to complain that "the watther got 
 into his cellar, and was dhrounding his chickins and 
 hins ; " and, when sent to the mavor, returned to the
 
 ON THE POfNT. I I/ 
 
 Board of Health office and reported that * His 
 Honor the Mayor, had asked him why, if the 
 watther was dhrounding his chickins and hins, he 
 did not kape dooks ? " 
 
 1 think very likely I had told that story to the 
 Franks before ; certainly Adele had heard it, and 
 this shows the advantage of having a quick-witted 
 daughter, for before I had embarked upon it, 
 Margaret managed quietly to switch me off on 
 another tack. 
 
 Adele agreed to make us a visit of a few days, 
 and it was arranged that we should bring her back. 
 That would give the desired opportunity for the 
 rest of my family to inspect the duckery. 
 
 The wind had fallen and the moon had risen 
 when we started back, after tea. We floated down 
 on the tide. There was a picnic on the beach. A 
 bonfire had been kindled, and the merrymakers 
 were clustered around the blaze, singing college 
 songs and the sentimental ballads usual on such 
 occasions. The air was sweet with fir-balsam. The 
 moon made a wide golden path across the bay, and 
 the ripples of the tide flashed diamonds. Occa 
 sionally a falling star left its trail, as of a damp 
 match that had failed to kindle. The riding-lights 
 of the anchored schooners were reflected in the 
 water, and the electric lamps of the lighthouse- 
 tender, which had come up and dropped anchor 
 in mid-stream, made a gala spot on the peaceful 
 surface.
 
 1 I 8 O.Y Till-: rOINT. 
 
 A few days later the Franks brought Adele for 
 her promised visit. I was tempted to poke a little 
 fun at Adele on the subject of her plethora of 
 lovers, but the knowledge that Margaret would dis 
 approve restrained me. I would not have believed 
 that I, a father of five children, could ever stand in 
 such wholesome awe of a girl in her teens ! I never 
 stood in any such awe of Katharine. 
 
 The two girls had a delightful time together. 
 They played duets; for Adele had fortunately 
 brought a lot of music. Adele sang very acceptably. 
 In the evening we had a rubber of whist. In the 
 morning the two girls helped Mrs. Merrithew in vari 
 ous household duties, and then amused themselves at 
 their own sweet will, either with music, or reading 
 on the pia/za. or strolling in the fields, or rowing in 
 the boat. 
 
 Some days I took the boys and went after fish al 
 a weir about two miles down the bay. where the 
 dinners were larger and more vivacious than any 
 where else. Once or twice I went to a pond a few 
 miles back, where there was an abundance of 
 delicious trout. Hut I did n t get any ! After all. 
 most of the pleasure in fishing consists in the 
 attempt. This was recognized by the old lilue 
 Laws, which forbade not the taking of fish, but the 
 attempt to take fish, on Sunday ! 
 
 We found one farmer who supplied us with 
 chickens for broilers. Instead of starving, as the
 
 ON THE POINT. 119 
 
 lighthouse-keeper had prognosticated, we found our 
 selves in clover. Farmer Bigg and Farmer Ormsby 
 were eager rivals in their anxiety to purvey for us. 
 Once, when Mrs. Merrithew bought a " mess o 
 peas " of the latter, Fanner Bigg felt called upon 
 to protest : 
 
 " No," says he, * I don t want to force none of 
 my stuff on nobody, but I should like to know who 
 you be a-tradin with. Now Ormsby s truck hain t 
 half so fresh as mine is. f look out to git the 
 best seeds s to be lied. Hut then, if you be so 
 tumble p rticklar, probably nobody could n t satisfy 
 you." 
 
 "Oh," I replied, sometimes we get of you, and 
 sometimes of Ormsby. I thought you asked a little 
 more than he did for the peas, but then you didn t 
 bring yours around first." 
 
 I patched up a peace by a few judicious compli 
 ments, and Farmer Bigg brought to us his earliest 
 sweet corn. 
 
 It was a great lesson to visit the Chamfrays. 
 They lived in an old house that belonged to the 
 land company. Chamfray had his lobster-pots and 
 weirs to look after. He also drove his steer in the 
 wagon. It wasn t so swift as a horse, but it "got 
 there." He had a small garden, and kept one cow 
 and a few hens. He was a shiftless, good-natured 
 fellow, whom you couldn t help liking. 
 
 Mrs. Chamfray had a pleasant, clear-cut face,
 
 I 2O O.Y THE rO/A 7: 
 
 with a rather handsome nose, a genuine smile and 
 bright blue eyes. 
 
 " Don t you find it rather lonely here in winter?" 
 I asked. 
 
 " ( )h, yes ; but then \ve always have something to 
 do. We have to eat, and the children go to school." 
 
 " How do they get through the snow ? " 
 
 " Well, the drifts are rather hard for them some 
 times, but they enjoy it, and it don t do them no 
 hurt." 
 
 We were standing outside the door. 
 
 Come in, won t you?" she asked, and led the 
 way into the room that must have been meant for 
 her parlor. It was scrupulously neat, but bare. 
 There was not even a rag carpet on the Moor or a 
 picture on the wall. Only a small, well-worn IJible 
 represented the library. One pane of glass was 
 broken. She perhaps saw that we noticed it. 
 
 " Take a seat and set down," she said, hospitably. 
 "We haven t much furniture, that s a fact, and 
 there s a pane out. He s ben a-meanin to set it, 
 but he don t git much time in summer, what with his 
 lobsterin and tendin the live-stock and lookin 
 after the garden." 
 
 She at this instant suddenly seized her broom 
 from the corner and stepped into the next room, 
 which served as kitchen and sitting-room, and began 
 vigorously to drive out a number of hens which had 
 been prompted by curiosity or hunger to investigate
 
 o.v TIII-: roix j\ \ 2 \ 
 
 the penetralia. Shu ! shu ! scat ! out u here ! " she 
 exclaimed, and the hens, with loud cackling, scut 
 tled out of reach of her besom. 
 
 " Excuse me," she resumed, " but these biddies do 
 drive me most deestracted. Seems to me 1 never 
 see em so free with the house. But then we 
 could n t git along without em. They give us lots 
 of aigs." 
 
 Margaret remarked that she supposed it did not 
 cost them very much to live there. 
 
 " No, indeed," replied Mrs. Chamfray ; " I don t 
 believe you could guess how little it costs us to 
 live." 
 
 Neither of us attempted to solve the conundrum, 
 and the woman went on : 
 
 " Well, it don t cost us more n three hundred 
 dollars, at the most. I suppose that seems very 
 small to you." 
 
 " Yes, it does ; but then a very dear friend of ours 
 remarked the other day that she considered five 
 thousand a year abject poverty. So you see differ 
 ent people have different standards. I should not 
 object to my friend s five-thousand- a-year poverty." 
 
 " We have plenty to eat," pursued Mrs. Cham- 
 fray, " and we are not in debt ; that s a comfort." 
 
 1 thought of that breast-pocket full of unpaid 
 bills, and I confess I almost envied the narrow 
 horizon of these people. The old verse came into 
 my mind and I quoted it,
 
 122 O.Y THE 
 
 "Looking </<>7c: // oil I ires bcloiv tli cm, men of little store are 
 
 great. 
 
 Looking up to higher Jortnites, liat d to eaeh man seems liis 
 fate." 
 
 Mrs. Chamfray went on : 
 
 " Sometimes I feel sort o discontented with my 
 lot. It seems rather hard and bare. Father was a 
 sea-captain. He lived in that big two-story house 
 just below. While he was alive mother never knew 
 what it was to want. He used to go on long 
 voyages." 
 
 " Did you ever go with him ?" asked Adele. 
 
 No; he always promised to take me when I 
 should grow up. Mother went with him once or 
 twice. He used to be gone two or three years at a 
 time. He promised just before he went the las 
 time to take us to live in the city. Then I should 
 have went to school. Hut on the voyage home from 
 Liverpool he was washed overboard. He and 
 the mate was washed overboard by a big wave ; 
 the mate was swept back, but father was never seen 
 again. \Ye was expecting of him home, and the 
 news come that he was lost. Mother had money 
 enough for awhile ; but she did n t know how to 
 save, bein as she was always used to spendin 
 freely, and there was n t any further supply, so we 
 had a pooty hard time of it, I tell you." 
 
 A sad look came into the woman s eyes, but it 
 was quickly chased away by her habitual cheerful 
 ness.
 
 av THE roix i. 123 
 
 " I s pose they s a good many a good deal poorer 
 than we be, and \ve ought to be thankful for the 
 blessin s \ve have." 
 
 The spectacle of that hard-working, cheerful 
 woman finding no fault with the bareness of her 
 lot was better than a sermon, and whenever my wife 
 and daughter went to see her they always found 
 themselves more contented with our small belong 
 ings than ever before. It was a lesson to Adele 
 which she never forgot. 
 
 A day or two later we had to face the necessity 
 of parting with Adele. We had all become very 
 fond of her. She was one of those rare individuals 
 who instantly make a place for themselves in a 
 household, accommodating their own idiosyncra- 
 cies to those of their friends. I didn t wonder her 
 young men quickly found the wings of their friend 
 ship expanding to take them into loftier regions. We 
 did not want to let her go; but she had promised 
 the Franks to return to them, and we could not be 
 selfish. 
 
 Our kind neighbor, Mr. Kpps, had several times 
 assured us that he would like nothing better than 
 to " loan " us his horse and buckboard. " The horse 
 is rather old," he remarked, " and he s slow, but he 
 don t get half enough exercise, and it would be a 
 blessing to him and a kindness to us if you would 
 some time use him for us." 
 
 That was a very graceful way of stating the
 
 124 (> - v I m-- foix i: 
 
 matter, and so I went to Mr. Fpps and told him 
 \ve had got to carry our friend. Miss Adele, back 
 to the Franks; would he like us to use his horse 
 that afternoon ? 
 
 It proved to be perfectly convenient, and so I 
 arranged that the whole tribe should go. Selma, 
 the cook, found that the Franks cook was also 
 a Swede; she therefore went over on the small 
 steamboat that plied between several of the little 
 places along the river and upper bay, and \ve 
 locked up the house. The buckboard proved 
 to be quite easy that is for us; for the horse 
 it might have been questioned. 15ut the boys 
 and I proved our generosity of nature by walking 
 up the hills. As it was up-hill most of the way, 
 we had a fine walk. 
 
 This time all the family inspected the duckery, 
 and I was not sorry to renew my acquaintance 
 with that noble army of martyrs. 
 
 It was suggested that I should unharness the 
 horse and put him in the stable. Xow I was 
 not thoroughly familiar with the processes of 
 harnessing. I could manage well enough to get 
 a harness off, though I was apt to unbuckle the 
 wrong places. I had no fear of making any com 
 promising slip in the purely negative work of un 
 harnessing; but I felt a certain inborn fear that 
 the man who had charge of the stable, and had 
 gone to the Springs on some errand, might not
 
 OX THE POINT. 125 
 
 get back in time to help me out in the more 
 serious and constructive operation of putting the 
 harness on again. I therefore assumed a jaunty 
 air, and remarked that I thought that I would 
 simply tie him to the post; he would stand all 
 right. 
 
 Now that horse had a bad habit of which I knew 
 nothing, of pulling viciously at any rope, chain or 
 strap whereby he was tied. He was used to the 
 freedom of a box-stall. So, while we were passing 
 through the domain of the ducks, he was " yank 
 ing away " at the chain. Suddenly we heard a 
 crash that sounded like the report of a pistol. 
 It was the post, which he had broken short off. 
 Fortunately, some one happened to be passing and 
 caught the animal before he did further damage. 
 
 There was nothing for it now but to unharness 
 and stable the horse. I did so, but I smelt trouble 
 afar. I still hoped that the man would return 
 before we should start for home ; but I was 
 doomed to disappointment. 
 
 Incredible as it may seem, I had reached my 
 advanced age without ever having had occasion 
 to harness a horse. Born and brought up in 
 the city, the son of pious, God-fearing, but poor 
 parents, who never attained the dignity of a nag, 
 and carefully kept from haunting stables, I knew 
 as little about animals as a native of a Polynesian 
 atoll. Boys vary much in receptivity. It wasn t
 
 126 O.V Till: POIXT. 
 
 in me to care for horses. My cousin Billy Smith, 
 on the other hand, could not be kept away from 
 them. He was always crazy to " play horse," 
 and I remember he was always driving me with 
 improvised reins. I never drove him. I did n t 
 care to go down the street on the butcher s cart, 
 or hold the grocer s team while the stupid boy 
 delivered jugs of molasses. But Billy did. and it 
 wasn t long before he knew as much about 
 driving, harnessing and caring for horses as a 
 coachman-. Indeed, he became a veterinary doctor 
 when, to have that fine profession, was to assure 
 one s self a fortune. They are more common now. 
 
 I learned to drive, of course; that is to say, 
 I could steer the creatures on a straight course. 
 but beating to windward with them or tacking 
 in a narrow channel, or managing them in a 
 Haw where one needed to reef, would speedily 
 use up all my "equine seamanship," if I may 
 so continue my metaphor. I could manage a 
 sail far better, or at least feel far more at home 
 in a catboat. And, by some strange fatality, nearly 
 fifty summers had passed and I had never really 
 needed to harness. It had always been done 
 for me. Each year I would vow to master the 
 intricacy of the art, and bribe some farmer to 
 give me a few practical lessons; but when the 
 time came I could not make up my mind to 
 brave the ignominy of confessing my ignorance.
 
 av THE roi\T. 127 
 
 So my whole knowledge consisted in the fruit 
 of observation. 
 
 When the strain comes the Hawed rod breaks 
 at the test; the weak cable parts. My test had 
 come. 
 
 The Franks were desirous that we should stay 
 to tea and drive home by moonlight. But Mrs. 
 Merrithew is a great stickler for having her 
 babies put to bed at regular hours, and so we 
 declined. I was perhaps a little too urgent that 
 this rule of the Medes and Persians should be 
 for once transgressed, but Katharine withered me. 
 
 " Magnus, my love, there is nothing more im 
 portant than regularity with children ; if you are 
 willing to run the risk of baby getting cold and 
 having to send for the doctor, I am not." 
 
 Accordingly, I had to sally out to the barn and 
 harness that miserable old steed. I wished he 
 had never been born. It was not very warm, 
 but the sweat stood on mv brow. I looked long- 
 
 * c"> 
 
 ingly clown the road, hoping that I might see 
 coining round the bend some saving hand. But 
 no, I was left to my own resources. The men 
 were all busy giving the clucks their supper. 
 Harold and Magnus, Jr., accompanied me. I 
 had seen men harness so many times that I 
 thought, " Perhaps, after all, I shall not make 
 any serious blunder." 
 
 It is a difficult matter for me to describe my
 
 128 o.v THE roixr. 
 
 efforts, for I am not sure of the names of the vari 
 ous pieces, whereas, if it were a boat, I could give 
 the whole scene with technical accuracy. 
 
 I doubled the horse s tail up, and got the crupper 
 on. I suspect at this point the beast began to 
 scent the novice, but I escaped being kicked. My 
 heart was in my mouth. I managed to spread the 
 harness pretty scientifically along his back. I 
 thought I was going to do better than I had feared. 
 Really it was the crupper that I most apprehended ; 
 and when I saw that powerful muscle of the horse s 
 fly-flapper safely caged, I gave a mighty sigh of 
 relief. But when I attacked the head even now 
 I can t for the life tell whether I began at the 
 wrong end or not there was trouble. The horse- 
 seemed to resent having his ears touched. He 
 tossed his head into the air and stamped. I sup 
 pose I pinched his ears. He tried to nab me with 
 his big teeth. I escaped being devoured, but how 
 I ever got the bit into his mouth is a marvel. I did. 
 
 Then my son Harold felt moved to interfere. I 
 certainly showed considerable sang froiJ, however 
 anxious I may have felt. I must have gone at it 
 with a look of conscious knowledge. Hut it was a 
 mask. The boys were watching me with what I 
 tried to hope was pride. I know I said, while I 
 seemed to be merely pausing, but was really study 
 ing my positions like a skilful general, 
 
 " Boys, it is a great thing to know all about a
 
 O.Y TffE POIXT. 129 
 
 horse. You must keep your eyes open, and learn 
 to harness." 
 
 1 had just succeeded in forcing the bit between 
 the horse s teeth. The horse was getting excited, 
 I could feel his flesh quiver. White flecks of foam 
 were flying from his mouth. Suddenly, Alfred, 
 whether inspired by mischief or some occult power 
 of evil, 1 can not say, cried out, 
 
 " ( )h, papa, you Ye got the bit on the wrong side 
 of the horse s tongue ! " 
 
 I looked at the institution critically. Without 
 the shadow of a doubt the bit annoyed the animal, 
 else why should he champ so viciously ? Why 
 should those flecks of white foam manifest them 
 selves ? It appealed to my reason ; but how in 
 the world to get the bit into its right place ! I tried 
 to take it out, but could not dislodge it from " the 
 white barrier of those teeth," to quote the poetic 
 description of Homer, lover of horses. By the way, 
 it is rather odd that the Greek word for a judge of 
 horses should be a hippocrite ! 
 
 I was bound that I would do it, however, and my 
 evil genius suggested unbuckling the head-stall 
 that s the word, isn t it? that part of the harness 
 that goes over the top of the horse s head. My 
 manipulations were stimulating rebellion, mutiny, 
 riot in that horse s breast. I got the thing un 
 buckled ; but, though I succeeded in removing and 
 replacing the bit, to my chagrin it was quickly in
 
 I3O O.Y THE POINT. 
 
 the same position as before; but I could not re- 
 buckle the gear. 
 
 Just at this juncture, while I was shouting to 
 Harold, with a certain sourness of temper manifest 
 in my tones, 
 
 "Not another word! Don t you speak another 
 word till I get this horse harnessed ! Can t you see 
 that your voices irritate him?" I am afraid there 
 was a little parental hypocrisy in that ! my fair 
 daughter Margaret, wondering at the long absence 
 of her sire, came out to investigate. Now, Marga 
 ret had more knowledge of a horse in her little 
 finger than I had in my whole bulk, and I admired 
 the cleverness with which she came to my aid, not 
 in the least shaming me in the presence of her two 
 small brothers, but taking my muddle as a mere 
 accident, and quickly bringing order out of chaos. I 
 was ashamed of myself, but I was proud of Margaret. 
 
 The horse was in such a nervous state that we 
 could hardly keep him still long enough to embark 
 the tribe. Then, when he was allowed to spring his 
 luff, he gave a mighty dash through the gate, nar 
 rowly escaping its complete demolition, flew down 
 the hill, as though he were a two-year-old colt, and 
 alarmed my wife so that she grew quite pale. In 
 my position as charioteer I affected the greatest 
 aplomb, - I think that is the correct term, and by 
 dint of sawing on the reins, lines, I believe, some 
 people call them, soon brought the gallop down to
 
 ON 7V//: roixr. 131 
 
 a vivacious trot, which, at the foot of a small rise, 
 suddenly became a slow walk, and so lasted till we 
 got within a yard or two of our cottage. At this 
 point his stable was at hand, and I again found it 
 hard to restrain his ardor. 
 
 On the whole, our trip was a success. The boys 
 never suspected how realistically their father had 
 played a comic part; and Margaret, sweet girl! if 
 she knew, never let on." That I call genuine 
 loyalty. I returned the horse to Mr. Kpps, and re 
 marked that the animal had been somewhat both 
 ered by the Hies, and had pulled the post down. 
 
 "Oh, that s an old trick of his," he replied, con 
 solingly. " He s a good-natured old fellow, and 
 needs to be exercised more. . , . Come and get 
 him again." 
 
 Whereupon he began to feed him with choice 
 ends of potatoes. That seemed to the horse a re 
 ward of merit. The more I think of it, the more I 
 admire a horse. I have never owned one, and 
 maybe I never shall, until I get to the world where 
 horses breathe fire, and are furnished with wings. 
 Hut, certainly, the docility of those great creatures, 
 and their intelligence, fill me with awe and admira 
 tion. Lucky for us men that bodily size does not 
 condition brains, or proportion power; else what 
 tyrants would not elephants, oxen and horses be! 
 and what wretched slaves we, to do the bidding of 
 the houyhnhnms !
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 IN WHICH FATK SKKMS ABOUT TO IJECJIN SPINNING 
 
 A wi-:n. 
 
 NATURE has two great ways of accomplishing 
 her work. Maybe she has more than two, 
 but of two I am sure. One is cyclic; the other 
 irregular. The cyclic covers vast realms; the 
 intermittent is almost universal. Thus the dis 
 tances of the planets are proportionally the same as 
 the arrangement of limbs on certain trees and the 
 twigs on the branches of the same. There are 
 recurrent fevers and earthquakes. We say history 
 repeats itself ; bu f , on the other hand, we embody 
 132
 
 av THE POIXT. 133 
 
 the contrary idea in the proverbs, " it never rains 
 but it pours ; " " to him that hath shall be given." 
 
 If you see one white horse, you are likely to see 
 two or more white horses in succession. On the 
 sidewalk, people tend to meet in clusters in the 
 narrowest part. 
 
 Fate seems to copy her great mother Nature in 
 this particular. She sends a season of bad luck and 
 then not to the same person, but to another, who 
 does not deserve it half so much (we think) a 
 season of good luck that has no end. Fate s 
 balances seem unarithmetical. It is possible that 
 happiness and misery are equally disposed in this 
 world, but they are not equally shared. 
 
 These remarks, which I hope are sufficiently 
 profound and Fmersonian, are meant to prepare 
 the reader against surprise in case the sudden 
 interruption of this peaceful chronicle appear too 
 abrupt. 
 
 The Point was sometimes chosen for camping 
 by parties coming up or down the bay. Near the 
 Spring-house, on the bluff, there was a nook 
 sheltered by spruce trees. Young men sometimes 
 came down the river on a tug-boat and paddled 
 across in their canoes, to find here at hand every 
 thing that campers need, shelter, pure water and 
 plenty of wood. We often saw their fires gleaming 
 red in the evening. The boys generally scraped 
 acquaintance with them, but we ourselves saw little
 
 134 OA 7yyy - MI XT. 
 
 of them. We modified the proverb, "Distance 
 lends enchantment to the many." 
 
 The evening of our visit to the duckery we had 
 a terrific thunder-shower. The western sky was 
 serrated with the Alps of cloudland, even while 
 we were returning, and Magnus, Jr., who was always 
 searching the skies for signs of showers, and often 
 saw a thunder-cap in a cloud not bigger than a 
 man s hand, insisted that he heard the mutterings 
 of a coming storm. 
 
 The sun sank down behind the shifting peaks, 
 kindling them with gorgeous fires. A wan light, 
 weird and sinister, shot across the fields. The 
 distant sails gleamed for a moment, ruddy in the 
 vanishing rays. 
 
 "My head aches; that s a sign we are going to 
 have a shower," said Mrs. Merrithew. 
 
 "No doubt about it," said I, for by this time the 
 clouds had risen toward the xenith, and the mutter 
 ing thunder was beginning to resolve itself into 
 definite reports. " I m sorry for those fellows who 
 are camping out beyond the Spring-house. They 11 
 get well soaked, I reckon." 
 
 " Who do you suppose they are ? " asked Mrs. 
 Merrithew. 
 
 "How should 1 know? They have only just 
 pitched their tent this afternoon, while we were 
 visiting the ducks." 
 
 "Poor fellows!" exclaimed my wife, who was
 
 ON THE POINT. 135 
 
 always thinking about others, " I hope their tent 
 won t get blown clown or struck by lightning." 
 
 "Oh, mamma, papa!" cried Magnus, Jr., run 
 ning in at this moment, in a state of great excite 
 ment, " it s lightning most terrible ! Can t we sit 
 up and see it ? " 
 
 It had grown dark suddenly and ominously. It 
 was not quite time for the moon to rise. But the 
 lightning was now Hashing incessantly. Already 
 the rain was beginning to fall in big fiat drops on 
 the piazza roof. It sounded as if it were hail 
 ing. Natalie had n t yet gone to sleep, and the 
 fat Cassanda, who herself was trembling like an 
 aspen, was trying to pacify her. 
 
 There is still another proverb that, unlike the 
 average run of popular wisdom, does not embody 
 a truth. Lightning is extremely apt to strike twice 
 in the same spot. I well recall riding in a train 
 once with President Hill, of Harvard. u I remem 
 ber," said he, lying in bed once, and looking out 
 of the window as a thunder-shower was in progress, 
 and I saw the lightning strike a barn. It set it on 
 fire, and while the men were trying to put it out 
 the lightning struck it a second time, and before 
 they got through it struck it still a third time." 
 
 Now, I was not afraid, for I knew that the 
 cottage had stood several years, and it had never 
 yet been shot at by the fiery bolts of Jove. I Jut 
 there was a tall tree not very far away, and I had
 
 136 av THE roixr. 
 
 noticed that it bore marks of fire. I told the boys 
 one day that I thought the tree had been blasted 
 by lightning. 
 
 1 went to the window and peered out. The rain 
 was falling in sheets, mingled with hail. The wind 
 blew like a hurricane and the flashes were blindhv, 
 
 O 7 
 
 the crashes were deafening. Suddenly there came 
 a sort of pause, as though the storm was holding 
 its breath. Then there was a keen, red, punctur 
 ing jet of fire, not followed but accompanied by a 
 sharp, snapping clap, so close to us that we all 
 were startled. I instinctively sprang back from the 
 window. Mrs. Merrithew covered her face with 
 her hands. Margaret had gone upstairs to stay 
 with little Natalie. The boys were a little awed by 
 the apparent peril, but they soon recovered their 
 spirits and enjoyed it, as if it were a sort of 
 theatrical display for their special benefit. 
 
 The rain did not last long, and the shower passed 
 almost as rapidly as it came. Hut the play of the 
 lightning continued for some time. Kvery time it 
 lightened we could see a schooner or two at anchor 
 opposite the house. One had evidently come up the 
 bay before the wind. She had got in rather close to 
 the shore, and had dropped anchor off the weir, 
 not a cable s length away. The gleam of the 
 lightning on her big sails was like a phantasma 
 goria. One instant she would stand out on the 
 retina, and the next she would fade from sight as
 
 ON THE POINT. 137 
 
 though annihilated. Of course, after the clouds 
 passed off, and the moon stood full and round, 
 pouring her light across the dancing waves, we 
 could see her distinctly. As I went out on the 
 piazza I could hear the voices of her crew. One 
 sailor was singing the snatches of some rough 
 chanty, as I went in and locked the door for the 
 night. I looked once more out of the window and 
 saw the brightly -burning fire of our unknown 
 friends, the campers. They were probably drying 
 their dampened clothes. 
 
 The next morning the schooner, a big three- 
 master in ballast, was still anchored in her rather 
 perilous position. The white tent of the campers 
 gleamed in the morning sun. We could see the 
 young men busying themselves, probably about 
 their breakfast. Just after we had eaten our own, 
 the boys called our attention to a handsome steam- 
 yacht that was swiftly coming up the bay. We 
 watched her as she passed ; we heard her salute 
 the lighthouse, and the three answering taps on the 
 big fog-bell were borne distinctly to our ears. She 
 passed out of sight, and with a brief wonder whose 
 she was and whither she was bound, we forgot all 
 about her. 
 
 That schooner, that camp and that yacht had a 
 deeper interest for us than we then suspected. 
 
 After breakfast Mr. Epps drove up and invited 
 Mrs. Merrithew and me to take Natalie and ride
 
 138 OX THE POIXT. 
 
 over to the Springs with him. It was a perfect 
 morning, after the shower, but calm. There was 
 not a ripple on the water. The mountains stood 
 out against the cloudless sky with every ravine 
 clearly defined. The islands were each distinct, in 
 stead of blending, as they so often did. The three- 
 master still rode at anchor waiting for the tug-boat. 
 Out in mid-stream a small schooner had got up 
 anchor, and a couple of men in a small boat were 
 trying to row her a little faster than the rising tide. 
 \Ye were glad enough to take the ride with our 
 kind Mr. Epps, and it was while we were gone that 
 the schooner and the camp, by a swift culmination 
 of circumstances, came into play to change the 
 peaceful serenity of our summer by the bay. 
 
 \Ye were so out of the great world, so aloof from 
 the current of travel that passed us by, so seem 
 ingly isolated, that we scarcely thought of the pos 
 sibilities that this sweeping current had to offer. 
 There were few people at the hotel ; we saw almost 
 nothing of them. It was only occasionally that the 
 steamboat condescended to touch at our wharf. 
 The men on the two tug-boats were honest fellows, 
 who for the most part lived along the river. The 
 vessels that anchored in the inner bay lay not far 
 from us, but if ever any of their crews went ashore, 
 it was not on the Point, but on the farther side, 
 nearest the village. We had, therefore, become 
 perfectly unconcerned and without thought of harm.
 
 OA THE POIXT. 139 
 
 But the real clanger that existed was brought 
 home to us that morning. 
 
 Strawberries had been succeeded by raspberries. 
 That morning, Margaret took a basket and strolled 
 along the shore, looking for berries. She walked 
 on and on, and found herself at a considerable 
 distance from our settlement. 
 
 About half-way between the lighthouse and the 
 cape rises a steep cliff crowned with a dense grove 
 of evergreens. There is no path along the brow, 
 and when the tide is in, the water laps its feet, 
 sucking in and out of little caves. Just before this 
 headland commences, there is a small cove where 
 the bluff is not quite so steep, and the shore is 
 shelving. Some of the larger bowlders have been 
 cleared away, making a sort of narrow dock, up which 
 men can drag their punts without staving holes in 
 their bottoms on the sharp rocks. A, fishing-boat, 
 half full of ill-smelling water, is generally moored to 
 a buoy a few rods off shore. A rough path leads 
 from this point up through the hemlock and spruces 
 and several pastures, until it strikes a lane that 
 runs into the back road to the village. 
 
 Margaret had followed along this path, and was 
 engaged in filling her basket with the berries that 
 grew abundantly beside the stone wall bisecting 
 the pasturage. 
 
 Suddenly she was startled by seeing a rough- 
 looking man, tall and gaunt, unshaven and with
 
 140 av TFIE roixr. 
 
 wicked black eyes, coming down the lane. When 
 he caught sight of Margaret, he stopped short. 
 
 " Peekin a-berry, hell ? " he said, with a strongly- 
 marked foreign accent. He was a Portuguese 
 sailor, evidently from the three-master, that for 
 some unacountable reason still lay at anchor off our 
 weir. 
 
 Margaret looked around, and perceiving that she 
 was quite alone, without making any answer, started 
 up the lane. But the sailor placed himself in front 
 of her. 
 
 " Minha lindissima my beauty Mees ! we lone 
 dai-mc geef me kees." 
 
 Margaret afterwards told us that in spite of her 
 fright she could not help being amused at the rude 
 rhyme the sailor made. He held out his long 
 arms. 
 
 " Papa, there was a whole picture tattoed on his 
 arm in blue and red," said Margaret, whom I will 
 allow to finish the story. You may imagine she- 
 was full of it when we got home. 
 
 " He held out his long arms, with a smile that I 
 suppose he meant to be engaging. I did not like 
 it, and tried to dodge away from him. Put he was 
 too near me. I did n t want to sacrifice my berries : 
 yet I was just going to Ming them into his face, 
 but he saw my motion and grasped my arm. I 
 thank him for his consideration, for if you have am 
 berries for tea tonight it will be because he pre-
 
 o:\ THE roixT. 141 
 
 vented me from wasting them on him. He seized 
 the basket and set it down on the ground." 
 
 " Did n t you scream ? " I asked. 
 
 " Oh ! I did n t want to scream. Besides, what 
 good would it have done? There was no one in 
 sight, and I did n t suppose any one would hear 
 me. ljut when I saw that I could n t get away 
 from him, I told him I d scratch his eyes out if he 
 touched me. I think I must have looked pretty 
 angry, but he did n t seem to care. 
 
 " * Mnito bonitaj or something like that, said he. 
 Geef kees ! 
 
 " Well, do tell us how you got rid of the knave ! 
 I should like to give him a good horse 
 whipping ! " 
 
 When I found that I couldn t escape from him, 
 and that he was a great strapping fellow who might 
 have carried me, then I grew really frightened and 
 tried to scream, but I could n t get any sound out 
 of my throat. Just at that instant two young men 
 came up the path, and seeing the state of things at 
 a glance, they came to my aid. The sailor took to 
 his heels and I was left with my preservers." 
 
 " You were a lucky girl ! " I cried. " And who 
 were your young knights ? " 
 
 " I don t know their names, but they are camping 
 out 
 
 " What ! those youths who were drowned out 
 in the thunder-shower last night ? "
 
 14- CLV THE POJXT. 
 
 " Yes, the very same. They were on their way 
 to the Springs when they found me with my dragon 
 or giant, and they most obligingly picked up my 
 basket of berries and insisted on seeing me safely 
 home. I found out a good deal about them. They 
 are Harvard students, and they have been up to, 
 dear me, I forget the name of that lake, way up 
 the country." 
 
 " How did they enjoy the shower ? 
 
 "Well, they said they were tempted to come up 
 and ask for shelter, but they managed to get into 
 the spring-house and keep pretty dry. They told 
 me that the lightning struck a pine quite near them 
 and set it on fire, and it was burning this morn 
 ing - 
 
 "Oh, yes! " cried Alfred, and Magnus, Jr., in one 
 breath; "we went to see it. Oh, it was a terrible 
 tire right in the middle of the tree, and it is smok 
 ing yet ! " 
 
 " You 11 have to be more careful how you wander 
 around alone. I was told that such a creature as a 
 tramp was never known here at the Point. Hut 
 then, any sea-side place is liable to be visited by 
 pirates." 
 
 "I don t think he meant any great harm," said 
 Margaret. " He was a sailor, and he knew it 
 wouldn t be safe." 
 
 "I don t know about that," said I. "These 
 sailors, especially the foreign ones, are pretty reck-
 
 ay THE POIXT. 143 
 
 less fellows. The captains are all right. They are 
 respectable men ; but they pick up their crews 
 wherever they can get em. Don t you remember 
 what that captain told us the day we were rowing 
 in the inner bay, and went out round that big 
 bark ? " 
 
 " Yes, I remember that ; but still a man would 
 not dare to do any harm on shore and then return 
 to his ship ; and if he stayed on shore he d be caught, 
 sure. 
 
 "There s something in that, I acknowledge," I 
 replied. But I must go clown and thank Sir 
 Galahad and Sir What s-his-name." 
 
 " Invite them up to dinner," suggested my wife, 
 "that is, if they seem like respectable young men. 
 To-morrow we 11 have a specially good dinner, with 
 some of Farmer Ormsby s broilers, and some of 
 Farmer Bigg s sweet corn, and 
 
 " And some of mamma s and Margaret s ice 
 cream," suggested Magnus, Jr., interrupting his 
 mother s flow of eloquence. 
 
 " Of course they re respectable young men ! " 
 exclaimed Margaret. "Don t you suppose I know 
 a respectable young man when I see one, or 
 two when I see two ? They are Harvard stu 
 dents." 
 
 " Of course, they may be respectable," I inter 
 posed, trying to calm Margaret s indignation. " But, 
 if they are camping out, they may not have clothes 
 suitable to suitable to
 
 144 * v THE roixr. 
 
 " Who cares about their clothes," interrupted 
 Margaret, though my hesitation, perhaps, gave her 
 some justification. 
 
 " This habit of interrupting is a very bad one," 
 I remarked, severely. " You did not allow me to 
 finish. I will go down and suitably thank your 
 unknown knights, and I will, possibly, invite them 
 to our Table Round." 
 
 " May I go with you, papa ? " " May we go with 
 you?" cried the boys; and Natalie, who came 
 running in at that instant, also joined in the cry. 
 
 " Do you think I want to take a whole menagerie 
 with me ? " I exclaimed. " No. sir ree ! I go on this 
 embassy untrammelled by any encumbrances. If 
 it were an enemy s camp it might be appropriate to 
 take olive branches with me." 
 
 " I wish papa would n t use such big words," said 
 Magnus, Jr. " What does uncammelled mean ? " 
 
 I proceeded in solitary dignity down to the camp, 
 and was fortunate enough to find the two young 
 men at home. I presented my credentials as envoy 
 extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary. That 
 is, I gave my name, and announced that I had come 
 to thank them for their graceful defence of my 
 daughter. 
 
 " Don t mention it," they cried ; " it was the 
 merest trifle. We did n t do anything, either, 
 though it was lucky we happened to come along 
 just at that moment. Your daughter was very
 
 OX THE POIXT. 145 
 
 plucky. The fellow had taken to his heels before 
 we got there. He was probably glad to escape. 
 The young lady looked like an angry goddess." 
 
 I was equal to them there, for I remembered 
 enough of my Virgil to quote, 
 
 " S(C7 ic memorcm lunonis ob Irani." 
 
 They looked at me in some surprise. 
 
 1 soon learned that they were members of the 
 new senior class at Cambridge. Now comes in an 
 other of the surprises of this memorable day. 
 
 This world is a very small one for its size, and 1 
 have found that no matter where I go, I always find 
 some one who knows, or is related to some one of 
 my acquaintance. Other people, with vastly wider 
 experiences, have noticed the same thing. The 
 universal descent from Adam is significant as a 
 myth. 
 
 These two young men, spending a part of their 
 long summer vacation in a canoe trip, and dropping 
 down, as it were by chance, at our door, proved to be 
 the sons of two college classmates of my own. The 
 names Cranston and Curtiss instantly struck me 
 as familiar, and it did not take long questioning to 
 discover that they indeed deserved special con 
 sideration at my hands. Their fathers had not 
 been among my most intimate friends, but I 
 remembered them pleasantly, and had occasionally 
 met them since our graduation. One of them had 
 studied for the ministry, and was now a D. D., and
 
 146 ON THE POINT. 
 
 settled over a prominent church in a western city. 
 The other had risen high at the bar, and was a 
 judge. 
 
 Their sons were fine, manly fellows, both athletes, 
 well developed, and, as is usual among chosen 
 friends even when the friendship is hereditary, 
 complete contrasts. Richard Cranston, the Doc 
 tor s son, was nearly six feet tall, grave and serious, 
 with the bluest of blue eyes, light abundant curly 
 hair and brown whiskers ; he had broad, massive 
 shoulders, and was a very model of unconscious 
 grace. I was particularly struck by the noble mas- 
 siveness of his head, and the depth of intellect indi 
 cated by his well-moulded brow. He had a voice 
 that, in singing, would shake the walls. Even in 
 common speech it was a bass of tremendous power. 
 I needed little skill of prophecy to foretell that he 
 was a man bound to make his mark. 
 
 Ralf Curtiss was slender and firmly knit. He 
 had no superfluous Mesh; he was one of those men 
 who can row or walk all day, and tire out men of 
 twice their apparent strength. He had brown eyes, 
 so dark that they seemed almost black. His hair 
 was as straight as an Indian s. Cranston was 
 appreciative of humor, but as grave as a judge ; 
 Ralf, on the other hand, had the bump of fun and 
 wit extraordinary developed. 
 
 I must confess I was glad enough to see these 
 two young men. My heart warmed to them not 
 only on their fathers , but on their own account.
 
 GN THE rOTA T T. . 147 
 
 They had intended to break camp that very 
 day, but it required no persuasion to bring about a 
 postponement of their Might. They said, 
 
 " We are our own masters, and can spend a 
 month here if we want." 
 
 " I wisli you had swum into our ken a few 
 clays earlier," said I, rather reckless of potential 
 complications. " We had a very charming young 
 lady visiting us. She left us only yesterday after 
 noon. She and my daughter gave us some fine 
 music ; you would have enjoyed it." 
 
 "Yes; it is too bad," replied Ralf. "We are 
 both very fond of music. Richard sings in the 
 Glee Club and I play in the Pierian." 
 
 They agreed to come up to the house and spend 
 the evening, and to take dinner with us on the fol 
 lowing day. I could read in their faces pleasant 
 anticipations. 
 
 When I got back to the cottage I told the result 
 of my embassy. 
 
 " Now is it not a strange coincidence," said I, 
 "that these sons of my classmates should happen 
 upon us in this out-of-the-world place ? They are 
 line fellows. You ll have to play to them, 
 Margaret ; they are both musical."
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WHEREIN A YACHT ENTERS UNDER THE DISPOSI 
 TION OF FATE. 
 
 WHILE we were still talking about the events 
 of the morning, the boys, who had disap 
 peared shortly after my departure on the embassy, 
 came rushing into the parlor in a state of the wild 
 est excitement. 
 
 " Oh, papa, mamma, Margaret ! there s the loveli 
 est yacht you ever saw anchored just a little ways 
 beyond the wharf,-- a steam yacht ! I think it s the 
 one went by this morning. Come and look at it ! " 
 There seemed no good reason why we should not 
 148
 
 OA" Tf/E rOTNT. 149 
 
 go with the boys. Mrs. Merrithew suggested 
 taking the baby in his carriage. So we all started 
 forth. We had not gone as far as the lighthouse 
 when we passed a stout, elderly man with a ruddy 
 but wrinkled face, small, steady, grayish eyes, a 
 stout little nose, that had evidently been treated all 
 its life to plenty of stimulating food and drink, and 
 a rotund little stomach marvellously balanced on a 
 pair of short stout legs. He was a man of con 
 siderable importance. No one could have such a 
 stomach and fail to carry weight in any community. 
 He wore a yachting cap and a sort of uniform ; 
 bushy locks, emerging from the rim of the cap, 
 were snowy white. His rather full side- whiskers 
 were also white. He must have been fully sixty 
 years of age, perhaps more. 
 
 I think the Merrithew family, when it paraded en 
 masse under the perpendicular rays of the summer 
 sun baby carriage, baby, boys and all made an 
 imposing spectacle. That we were bent on seeing 
 the big steam-yacht was in itself a great honor for 
 the yacht and the owner thereof. 
 
 It was the owner of the yacht whom we passed. 
 He stood for a moment and watched us. I fancied 
 and so did Mrs. Merrithew, as she afterwards 
 confessed that a sort of wistful, pathetic look 
 came into his eyes as he saw the proud pater 
 f<imi/, <is, marshalling his Hock under the perpen 
 dicular ravs of the summer sun. We did not know
 
 150 av THE POIXT. 
 
 then that he was the owner of the yacht. He 
 might have been some stranger at the hotel, who 
 perhaps either had never had, or had lost promising 
 children, and felt his loneliness in this big world, 
 without kith or kin to help him enjoy his wealth. 
 
 In accordance with the simple country custom 
 which I always fall into, I bowed politely to him. 
 and he raised his cap. Then his eyes fell on 
 Margaret. No, I am wrong; I think his eyes were 
 on her all the time. 1 shall never forget the look 
 that came into them. It was a sudden mixture of 
 wonder and admiration and worship, which quite 
 redeemed whatever was commonplace in his face, 
 lifting it, as it were, to a higher plane of humanity. 
 
 We passed on, Margaret evidently quite uncon 
 scious of the impression that she had produced. 
 
 " I guess that s the owner of the yacht." said 
 Mrs. Merrithew. 
 
 " Oh, no," said I, with wide practical wisdom, 
 "he s no yacht owner! He may be a yacht 
 captain." 
 
 And so we passed on, entered the domain of the 
 hotel, where the boys first attacked the big teeter, 
 then went down the shaded, winding path that led 
 to the wharf. There lay the yacht, about half a 
 furlong from the shore, her Hags flying in the gentle 
 breeze. She was a large yacht, schooner-rigged. 
 
 " One could cross the ocean in that vessel," I 
 remarked.
 
 ON THE /WAT: 151 
 
 " Oh, I wish we could go on board of her ! 
 Can t we, papa ? " cried Harold, impetuously. 
 
 I explained that as I was not acquainted with 
 her owner I did not see very well how it could be 
 managed. But 1 added, magnanimously, that if 
 it were mine I would take them all out to sail on 
 her ! 
 
 " There ! we might have rowed round," said 
 Margaret. 
 
 " You mean /might have rowed round," said I. 
 
 " You know I like to row, papa. I 11 go and 
 get the boat now, and bring it round and row you 
 all back ! " 
 
 " Baby carriage and all ? " I suggested. 
 
 " No ; 1 11 send Cassandra up for the baby." 
 
 " But you could n t get the boat down into the 
 water, child of mortality ! If the yacht is here 
 to-morrow we will row up and go round her." 
 
 It was so decided, and we turned back. On our 
 way we met the elderly gentleman, who again lifted 
 his cap politely. I turned round to get another 
 glimpse of him. He also had turned, and was 
 staring with all his eyes. 
 
 " Margaret," said I, " you have made a conquest ! 
 You did n t see how our friend of the white side- 
 whiskers devoured you with his little gray eyes. 
 Beware ! " 
 
 " If he s the owner of the yacht," replied Mrs. 
 Merrithew, jestingly, " it might be worth while for 
 Margaret to cultivate his acquaintance."
 
 1 5 2 6>.v THE rorxr. 
 
 " Y r es," I pursued, " I have always wanted a 
 yacht. When Margaret is ten years older I 
 shouldn t object to her marrying one. 
 
 How absurd you are ! " exclaimed Margaret. 
 
 I think so, too," said I, heartily. 
 
 And it was ridiculous to be filling the girl s head 
 with such notions. People are never consistent, 
 and are always failing to carry out their own 
 theories. 
 
 Cranston and Curtiss came up and spent the 
 evening. Curtiss told us a good many anecdotes of 
 his college experience. He gave us a most comical 
 account of the way some acquaintances of his. see 
 ing the dreadful mortuary statue of the late Presi 
 dent Garfield that has long been standing in a 
 certain Cambridgeport marble -yard, conceived a 
 bold plan of deception which they forthwith carried 
 into execution. They somehow procured some 
 official paper with the college seal, and wrote a 
 letter to the proprietor of the marble-yard, stating 
 that " a certain person (who, as was well known, 
 had recently left a large bequest to Harvard) had 
 directed that a considerable sum should be ex 
 pended on the purchase and erection of a marble 
 statue to Garfield in Memorial Hall. It was near 
 commencement time, and it was important that the 
 work should be accomplished at once. The author 
 ities had noticed that fine, noble chef iFa tn re in his 
 establishment, and had without hesitation decided
 
 O.V THE POJXT. 153 
 
 that nothing more satisfactory could be found any 
 where. They would therefore like to have this statue 
 erected at once in the peristyle. The place would be 
 marked in red chalk where the statue was designed 
 to stand. 
 
 "Unfortunately for the schemers/ said the nar 
 rator, " the proprietor must have smelt a rat, but I 
 think if he had not tumbled to it that would have 
 been far funnier than painting that imaginary statue 
 of John Harvard with red paint ! " 
 
 1 remarked that probably the spirit of mischief 
 would never die out. " See how stockbrokers haze 
 fledgling members of the exchange." And then we 
 had a very good time telling stories and comparing 
 old days with the modern. Of course they knew a 
 good deal about the college of my day, having 
 heard their fathers often talking about it. 
 
 Then we had music. Cranston was persuaded 
 to sing, and his voice was so big and pervading 
 that it waked up both the babies. The poor things 
 evidently thought another thunder-storm was in 
 progress. He sang "The Heart Bowed Down," 
 " Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep," and several 
 modern sea songs. Margaret gave us some of her 
 best piano pieces, and then was induced to bring 
 out her zither. 
 
 The zither, with its mysterious, far-away tone, 
 and faint, quivering melody, is always a favorite 
 of mine. It also pleased our young guests, who
 
 154 <^ 
 
 were enthusiastic over the performance. Lastly, 
 (Jurtiss sat down at the piano, and playing his own 
 accompaniments, as indeed he had played for his 
 friend, sang a dozen rollicking songs : " Cupid, 
 Cupid, why so Slow?" "The Cat Came Hack," and 
 others from the Pudding operas ; but the old col 
 lege songs, "Jingle Hells," " Stop that Knocking," 
 the sentimental " Seeing Nellie Home," " Cockles 
 and Muscles," " Rum sty, ()," which I had sung in 
 days gone by, were quite unknown to him. They 
 were antiquities, just as I myself was a kind of 
 antique. 
 
 We ended with "Fair Harvard," though not one 
 of us knew the words of more than the first verse; 
 and for the second verse we sang the first over 
 again. That is as it always hath been, and always 
 will be ! 
 
 We had a very jolly evening. 
 
 Several times Adele had been mentioned, but 
 perhaps not by name, or only as Adele. When the 
 young men were standing by the piano, Cranston 
 happened to be turning over the music, and his eye 
 fell on the name written on a piece of Chaikovsky s 
 that Adele had accidentally left. He quietly 
 showed it to young Curtiss, who instantly, with 
 some excitement in his face and manner, ex 
 claimed, 
 
 " Do you know her? Do you know Adele ? " 
 
 "Why, yes," replied Margaret. "Know her?
 
 OiV THE roiXT. 155 
 
 of course we do. She spent all last week with us, 
 and only left us yesterday." 
 
 " Where is she where is she now?" he interro 
 gated, with growing excitement, which I could see 
 he tried to repress. 
 
 " She s at the Franks , about three miles from 
 here, just at the bend above." 
 
 It is not always safe to judge by appearances. 
 Symptoms sometimes go by contraries. I quite 
 plumed myself on my acuteness, for I was con 
 vinced that in Curtiss I saw one of the hapless 
 moths that had been singeing its wings around the 
 bright candle of Adele s vivid personality. I 
 afterwards found that I was mistaken. It was 
 Cranston who was in love with the girl, and Curtiss, 
 who knew the circumstances, was more interested 
 on his friend s account than Cranston himself ap 
 peared to be. 
 
 I ventured a rather risky remark, for which I 
 was afterwards punished by both Margaret and 
 Mrs. Merrithew. I said, as innocently as pos 
 sible, - 
 
 "Miss Aclele didn t seem as lively as usual. 
 Really, we thought there was something on her 
 mind." 
 
 Both the ladies here made a diversion by inter 
 rupting me. I had already a yet bolder stroke, 
 and was watching Curtiss s face. But my obser 
 vations were not fruitful. I happened to be watch-
 
 1 56 o.v THE roiA T. 
 
 ing the wrong face. It is a curious world, as 1 
 have many times remarked to Mrs. Merrithew, and 
 she always replies, " I have heard you say so 
 before." 
 
 Early the next morning, before breakfast, Mr. 
 C hamfray appeared, "whoa-ing" and " whoa-hysh- 
 ing" his single steer. I thought he might have 
 brought us a lobster. It was the same old story, - 
 
 " No ; hain t got one to-day. There s allus 
 somethin to keep a rabbit s tail short. Want one 
 to-morra? Git you one to-morra." 
 
 " My dear Mr. Chamfray," said I, "you ve held 
 out to us that same promise almost every clay this 
 summer, and you have brought us only two, and 
 those were little ones." 
 
 " \Val, I 11 bring you one to-morra, if nothing 
 breaks thicker n a shingle. Be jolly ! they ain t s 
 plenty s they used to be. Don know what s 
 become of em." 
 
 After breakfast I took the young people, Mar 
 garet included, and rowed up into the inner bay. 
 The big yacht was still at anchor. We cruised 
 around her, admiring her graceful lines and coming 
 near enough to read the name, u Yetolka," under 
 her stern. Her owner s Mag was Hying and we 
 knew that he was aboard, but we saw nothing of 
 anyone but the crew. 
 
 But as we were about to return, the fat, pudgy 
 gentleman whom we had met the previous day
 
 av THE roiivr. 157 
 
 came on deck. He saw us and recognized us. 
 We were near enough to speak. 
 
 Margaret whispered, " I think he might invite 
 us aboard." 
 
 L suppose it may have been a rather irregular 
 proceeding, but he seemed intuitively to respond to 
 my daughter s desire. 
 
 "Wouldn t you like to come aboard?" he 
 shouted, in a friendly tone, though his voice was 
 rather cracked. 
 
 We accepted his invitation as unceremoniously. 
 I rowed alongside, and the captain and the owner 
 aided us to mount to the deck. 
 
 It was indeed a beautiful vessel, and no expense 
 had been spared in securing every comfort and 
 every luxury. Costly woods and brightly-polished 
 metals with rich but tasteful fabrics were employed 
 in her decoration. The large dining-room was 
 elegant; the staterooms were ample, and furnished 
 in the most luxurious manner. 
 
 " My friends often ask me why I don t have a 
 summer cottage," said our host, but I always tell 
 em that I prefer a yacht. It is just as comfort 
 able as a house, and when I get tired of one place 
 I go to another. In the winter, I go to Florida, or 
 Cuba, or the Bermudas." 
 
 " The vext Bermuthes, as some poet called 
 them," said I. 
 
 He afterwards confessed that he sometimes 
 found it rather lonelv.
 
 158 ON THE POINT. 
 
 "I m an old bachelor," said he, "and and 
 
 But he did not finish his sentence. 
 
 His name, as he took pains to inform me, was 
 Mr. Archibald Gregor, and he had been out of 
 r.ctive business for several years. He showed us 
 all over the yacht, was gracious even to the small 
 boys, but he quite devoted himself to Margaret. 
 One thing struck me with a little surprise, he 
 knew my name. He must have made inquiries at 
 the hotel or elsewhere. He told us that he in 
 tended to stay at the Point for several clays, and 
 would be pleased to take us all out on her some 
 day. 
 
 "We may as well settle upon a time now," he 
 added. " Any time is no time. How would to 
 morrow do ? " 
 
 I knew of no contrary engagement and so as 
 sented, after consulting with Margaret. 
 
 " All right, then," said Mr. Gregor ; be at the 
 wharf at nine o clock. You will dine with me, and 
 we will be back before sunset." 
 
 With that, after mutual expressions of pleasure at 
 this odd, informal introduction, we parted. 
 
 By the time we reached the cottage it was about 
 noon, and we had to prepare for our guests. 
 
 We were never certain of the results of Swedish 
 Selma s cooking; it was as erratic as her temper. 
 But it happened that this day she quite outdid 
 herself: the delicious soup was salter than the
 
 OA THE POIXT. 159 
 
 Dead Sea. The broilers, which always hitherto she 
 had set on the table passably adapted to the taste 
 of a gourmet, were burnt to a crisp, and only 
 Farmer Bigg s corn was an unqualified success. 
 
 My wife has one good quality : she never 
 attempts to make excuses and apologies. Our 
 appetites were all keen enough to make light of 
 such trifles; and our guests, to whom a dinner 
 served on a white table-cloth was a luxury, seemed 
 to enjoy it. 
 
 I dropped some remark about the world being 
 given up to swallowing camels. Cranston looked 
 at me with some surprise : 
 
 " Are you a pessimist, Mr. Merrithew ? " 
 
 "Well, not exactly. I am a sort of optimistic 
 pessimist," I replied. " I don t think this is the 
 worst possible world, by any means, and I don t 
 go as far as a late friend of mine did, who 
 used to argue that we were, in reality, spirits 
 plunged in sheol to atone for sins committed in 
 another life. But it sometimes seems to me that 
 things are pretty badly mixed." 
 
 "Well, I, for my part," replied the young man, 
 think this is about as good a world as could be 
 found ! " 
 
 "So do I," remarked Margaret; "and papa does, 
 really. He always has a good time." 
 
 "Well," said I, "it is one thing to have a theory, 
 and it is another to live in accordance with it.
 
 160 av THE roixT. 
 
 Now, in regard to marriage : I know a number of 
 very happy marriages, but on theory it is a most 
 haphazard arrangement of life. It is just like the 
 Persian man, who wishing to make some money, 
 advertised that he had at his tent a great curiosity, 
 a horse with his head where the tail ought to be. 
 The people flocked to see it, and when they went in 
 and saw a horse with its tail toward the crib they 
 looked foolish ; but they had paid their darics, and 
 so, after coming out, they kept the deception a 
 secret. At last, however,, when the Persian had 
 made a fortune, it leaked out. So it is with mar 
 riage." 
 
 " What an abominable thing to say!" exclaimed 
 Mrs. Merrithew, indignantly. 
 
 But I had my design in all such remarks. 
 
 " Why, I don t see anything abominable about 
 it. I gave credit due to the happy marriages, 
 there are some, of course. Even the word sweet 
 heart seems to be composed of sweet and tart." 
 
 " Let us talk about something else pleasanter," 
 said she. 
 
 " There, you acknowledge yourself that it is not 
 the pleasantest 
 
 "Mr. Merrithew," interrupted my wife, "will you 
 kindly get the bell ? Selma forgot to put it on." 
 
 This practical change of topic brought about a 
 diversion. 
 
 " Richard and I propose to paddle over to see
 
 ar THE POINT. 161 
 
 Aclele this afternoon," said Ralf. " Would there be 
 any objections to Miss Merrithew going with us?" 
 
 " What ! in a canoe ? " exclaimed my wife. 
 
 " Certainly, in our own canoe. I assure you it is 
 perfectly safe." 
 
 I may have inherited a controversial spirit from 
 some remote ancestors ; if so, it now showed 
 itself, for, ordinarily in such circumstances, I 
 should have been the first to see the possible 
 danger in such an excursion. But I burst out, 
 impetuously, 
 
 " Why, my love, a canoe skilfully managed is 
 the safest craft on the water. There is n t the 
 slightest risk in Margaret going if she would like to 
 go. There is nothing more delightful than a 
 paddle in a canoe." 
 
 And even as I spoke I have no doubt it was 
 meant as a secret warning rose before me the 
 vision of myself paddling a fair girl on the waters 
 of Bar Harbor at sunset s witching hour years 
 and years before. The "birch-bark" rose on the 
 smooth swells and sank into the cradling hollows. 
 The water was tinted like changeable silk with a 
 delicate rose, except where it was broken into vivid 
 azure by paddle or skimming bird. In a canoe 
 one seems so close to the heart of the ocean, even 
 more than when one is swimming. It is a great 
 loss that we have no mermen and mermaids and 
 Tritons and sea- nymphs, for if there is such a
 
 1 62 av THE porxr. 
 
 thing as re-incarnation, those of us who must go 
 down in the scale can only hope to come back as 
 fishes, chubs, or salmon, or sharks, according to 
 our natures, whereas, if they were the creatures 
 with which the ancients peopled the sea, we might 
 join the court of Phorkos or Poseidon. 
 
 Margaret pleaded to go, and as I had already 
 cast my vote in favor of it, her mother waived her 
 objections under protest. 
 
 This matter was settled while we were still at 
 table. The last word had just been said when, 
 suddenly, Natalie cried out, - 
 
 " Oh, mamma, I sought I saw a yat ! zere it 
 goes, zere it goes ! " 
 
 We all laughed ; but Magnus, Jr., jumped from 
 his chair, tipping it over with a great crash, and 
 shouted, 
 
 "No! no! it wasn t a rat, Natalie, it was only 
 a mice. There ! there ! " 
 
 It was indeed a little wee mouse. Now Mrs. 
 Merrithew has an inborn antipathy to mice. She 
 knows it is unreasonable, but nevertheless she 
 drew up her skirts, and if she had been alone 
 she would have climbed on the chair. Margaret, 
 on the other hand, even as a little girl, would 
 have made pets of all the mice in the neighbor 
 hood if her mother had permitted it. I remember 
 her mother s horror when she brought home a 
 colony of pink-eyed white mice which some one
 
 OA T THE POINT. 163 
 
 gave her. I should have been glad to have her 
 keep them, but she had to sacrifice them. I 
 flatter myself that she inherits this fearlessness 
 from her father. Girls are apt to take after their 
 sires ! 
 
 \Ve followed the mouse in its erratic course 
 from chair to table, and thence across to the 
 fireplace. It had disappeared in a little crack. 
 
 "I see him! 1 see him!" cried Alfred. "I see 
 his eyes twinkle ! There, there ! way in the crack ! " 
 
 " Where is Vaqoub ? " I asked. " Why was n t he 
 at dinner." 
 
 The cat himself answered my question. \Ve 
 heard him scratching at the screen-door. That 
 miserable cat had almost ruined the lower part 
 of the door with his claws. I went to let him 
 in. Yaqoub is unquestionably a very intelligent 
 animal. He knows instinctively when we have 
 meals. If we don t have company, he is always 
 on time. He now perceived that something was 
 going on. It took him only an instant to realize 
 that that " something " concerned him. Ihit the 
 little mouse was safe for the time being. Yaqoub 
 haunted that crack for some days, but his claws 
 were not long enough to reach the little thing. 
 And Margaret was as glad as her mother was 
 sorry. 
 
 We went back to the table for dessert. 
 
 " Mamma," cried Magnus, Jr., " it was a little 
 tiny wee bit of a baby mouse ! "
 
 164 ON THE POINT. 
 
 " Don t speak of it ! " exclaimed Mrs. Merrithew. 
 
 We had to laugh, she was so earnest ; but the 
 children were not to be repressed. 
 
 " Do you suppose that s his nest in there ? " 
 asked Alfred. 
 
 " The old mamma mouse would have felt bad 
 if Yaqoub had caught him, would n t she ? " ex 
 claimed Magnus, Jr. 
 
 " Papa," cried Natalie, evidently impressed by 
 her mother s timidity, "take sold mine sand, I s 
 faid." 
 
 But the boys were still excited. Their infantile 
 minds were agitated like the sea after a storm 
 has passed. 
 
 " Say, papa, did he lay an egg there ? " de 
 manded Magnus, Jr. 
 
 " Who ? " I asked. 
 
 " Why, the old mouse." 
 
 Before I had a chance to expostulate, Alfred, 
 who certainly ought to have known better, mor 
 tified his parents and almost convulsed the two 
 young men, by exclaiming, 
 
 " Oh, I m going to hunt and see if I can find 
 some of the egg-shells." 
 
 " You duplex-elliptic double-back-action geese ! " 
 I cried in exasperation, " what are you talking 
 about ? " 
 
 Why it is that children always seize the occasion 
 of company being present to indulge in embar-
 
 av THE roiA T. 165 
 
 rassing remarks is one of the mysteries of life. 
 l>ut so it has been in my considerable experience, 
 and I hear other parents say the same thing. It 
 is a queer world. I think the young men enjoyed 
 their dinner.
 
 
 - 
 
 XIV. 
 
 WHEREIN MR. MERRITHEW SHOWS THAT REAUTY IS 
 A LOADSTONE TO LOVE. 
 
 THE weather was propitious for our friends 
 canoe voyage. There was a gentle south 
 west wind, which brought in a slight haze, so 
 that the islands loomed. Where there had been 
 before a point dipping into the sea, stood now 
 what seemed like an immense fortification. Islands, 
 before out of sight, now hung, as it were, above 
 the sea. 
 
 The young men brought the canoe to a big 
 bowlder which served admirably for a wharf. It 
 166
 
 OA T THE POINT. l6/ 
 
 was a beautiful little craft, light enough for a 
 single man to carry, but yet commodious enough 
 to carry a married man and his wife. It floated 
 on the water like a duck. Margaret took her 
 place amidships and they started. With strong, 
 regular strokes they glided away. 
 
 Did I not envy them? Did I not again recall 
 those old clays when I, too, free from cares, 
 unwitting of the future, except of its glittering, 
 beckoning, rosy hopes, floated on the rolling 
 waves at sunset, and the last beams gilded the 
 tops of the evergreens on the Porcupines, and 
 the white breakers dashed over the Thrumb 
 Cap ! Ah ! that was many years, many, many 
 years agone ! 
 
 And here I was watching my own daughter 
 sailing away in the same insouciant, joyous mood, 
 happily blind to the coming years. 
 
 No ; I could not regret that we had allowed 
 the girl to go. To distrust these two young men 
 was impossible. A glance into their faces told 
 that they were honest souls. And as for Mar 
 garet, she was her mother s daughter ! and mine 
 (ahem ! ). 
 
 They were not gone very many hours. They 
 were back before it was dark, for so they had 
 agreed. Mrs. Merrithew had rightly insisted on 
 this as a condition to her assent. 
 
 " We had a delightful time ! " cried Margaret.
 
 1 68 O.V THE POIXT. 
 
 " They are such fine fellows. They talked right 
 seriously about the responsibilities of living in 
 these days. I loved to hear them talk. I thought 
 at first they were going to advocate socialism. 
 But they are not Socialists. They said they 
 believed that all the land and all natural monop 
 olies should be common property, mines and 
 such things. I have heard a good deal about 
 Harvard indifference: I didn t see any in them." 
 
 " They wanted to impress you." I remarked. 
 
 "But, papa!" exclaimed Margaret. n:>t deigning 
 to reply to my innuendo. " I have a piece of inter 
 esting news for you 
 
 Then, suddenly remembering her advantage, and 
 not unwilling to have her revenge "I shan t 
 tell you unless you promise not to say sarcastic 
 things about our friends." 
 
 Of course I had to promise, and then Margaret 
 told me how Cranston had all along been really 
 Adele s favorite, how he had urged her to be 
 come engaged to him. how she refused to do so 
 until, at least, he had graduated; how he that 
 afternoon had managed to see Aclele alone while 
 the rest were looking at the clucks, and how 
 Adele had finally been over-persuaded into accept 
 ing him. 
 
 Well," said I. " they are both very foolish 
 children. He has another whole year in college. 
 and then three or four years more while acquiring
 
 av THE POIXT. 169 
 
 his profession, and then it will be several years 
 more before he will be able to support a wife." 
 
 But, papa, Adele has a little property 
 
 yes, so she has; but Cranston is too manly a 
 fellow to want to live on his wife," said I. 
 
 " At any rate," remarked Margaret, " they are 
 both very happy. You never saw anyone look 
 more radiant 
 
 " But what about those other platonic friendships 
 who will console them ? " I asked. 
 
 " But, papa, she could n t marry them all. Mr. 
 Cranston happened to be on hand at just the 
 right moment, and I don t believe Adele could 
 have made a better choice." 
 
 " That illustrates the folly of socialism," said 
 I, with apparent irrelevance. "They want every 
 one to have a place every one, themselves 
 especially in the front seats in the synagogues; 
 but there isn t room, there isn t room 
 
 Here our talk was interrupted. 
 
 The day appointed for our sail in the " Yetolka " 
 was rainy. My wife was glad, for she did not 
 more than half approve of such unconventional 
 behavior. In the middle of the forenoon, while 
 I was reading and Margaret was practising, I 
 happened to look up and see a man with a 
 dripping umbrella mounting our steps. 
 
 It was Mr. Gregor. 
 
 It was a perfectly natural proceeding on his
 
 I/O OX THE 
 
 part to come to apologize for the " nasty weather," 
 and to set the next pleasant day for the excursion. 
 Margaret was still at the piano when I heard his 
 knock and went to meet him. 
 
 " Oh ! " he said, before even exchanging a word, 
 " I want to hear your daughter play, I want to 
 hear your daughter play. I am very fond of 
 music, and yet, strange to say, I can hardly tell 
 one tune from another." 
 
 Margaret, after shaking hands with him, was 
 persuaded to go on with her music, but she ex 
 changed the Bach preludes for some pieces nearer 
 the comprehension of a man whom she instinctively 
 felt to be a musical Philistine. 
 
 The worthy Mr. Gregor s face was a study. 
 I noticed the same look of mute adoration that 
 had exalted it before. I was proud that Miss 
 Margaret should show off well. 
 
 The rain was increasing in violence ; the wind 
 blew in great gusts; the waters of the bay, usually 
 so calm, dashed against our shore with all the 
 violence of ocean surf; it was a fine storm. Mr. 
 Gregor once or twice made a feint of going, but 
 each time a fresh squall of wind and rain beat 
 against the house, and he was not sorry for an 
 excuse to linger, though he was well protected 
 against any stress of weather. 
 
 He was really a man of good intelligence, but 
 he sometimes made havoc with polysyllables, and
 
 av THE POINT. i;i 
 
 his acquaintance with Paris did not prevent him 
 from speaking of " the Trocadora " or " the Av- 
 enoo dell opera." But he had travelled widely 
 and seen much of the world. 
 
 I grow less and less to care for merely superficial 
 polish. That celebrated millionnaire war-governor, 
 who talked about being sent up from camp to 
 Washington in " an avalanche," and thought Gen 
 eral Grant s champagne was " mighty good cider," 
 but his olives were " thunclerin poor pickles," may 
 have lacked a certain veneer, but the man within 
 was " a man for a that." 
 
 So I could forgive our friend, Mr. Gregor, certain 
 mispronunciations. Thus, for instance, he told us 
 that he thought the spot where, the river 
 "debauched" into the bay, was one of the loveliest 
 on the whole coast, it was, and he added, 
 
 " I Ve sailed from Saint Johns to New Orleens, 
 and I know it all." 
 
 Alfred came in at just this moment and showed 
 me his arm, which looked as if it had been 
 poisoned. 
 
 Mr. Gregor showed a lively interest in the 
 matter, and assured us that if it were poisoned 
 " nitroglycerine was the best anecdote that he 
 knew." 
 
 I could not have been mistaken. He repeated 
 
 rtj 
 
 " Nitro-glycerme is just the best anecdote for 
 such things."
 
 172 o.v THE porxr. 
 
 I wondered whether the remedy was not a trifle 
 powerful, not to say sudden, and more reliable to 
 kill than to cure, but I kept my face. These 
 breaks," as they are called in fashionable slang, 
 did not occur with any great frequency. I remem 
 ber only two or three others that he made : 
 speaking of his health, he said that it had been 
 always very good, very good. He was never 
 ill but two or three times in his life ; once he had 
 had an attack of neuralgia, but the doctor gave him 
 a hydraulic injection in the arm, and that cured 
 him. And as he was going out that day, he 
 remarked that if he owned that cottage he should 
 be tempted to put down a marquetry floor. 
 
 1 violate historical perspective a little by thus 
 grouping his little slips, and, I repeat, he showed 
 himself in very many matters a man of wide 
 general information. 
 
 He told us how he had made his fortune. He 
 had been in business in New York, but financial 
 reverses had overtaken him, and having lost every 
 thing or almost everything, he obtained a position 
 in a Western railway office. 
 
 "I had my ears and eyes open," he said, "and 
 when it was whispered that the road with which I 
 was connected was going to swallow up several 
 rival and competing lines, and add several branch 
 lines that were struggling along, not even paying 
 two per cent, interest, I recognized my opportunity.
 
 O.V THE rOIA T. T73 
 
 I came East, raised all the money I could borrow, 
 and bought up as many of these bonds as I could 
 lay my hands on. They were way down. My 
 road did buy em, and guaranteed six per cent, 
 interest, and the stocks went right up to par. I 
 made a good thing out of it, a mighty, good 
 thing." 
 
 Here Margaret, whether with a little malice or 
 quite innocently, asked point-blank, 
 
 "Why, Mr. Gregor, isn t that what they call the 
 unearned increment ? 
 
 I -hastened to interpose, certainly with a little 
 malice, 
 
 " My daughter has been talking a good deal 
 lately with Socialists, and she is full of modern 
 notions. She would have the State own all the 
 railways and the land and 
 
 "Papa!" exclaimed Margaret, warningly. 
 
 "Why, that is dreadful!" exclaimed Mr. Gregor. 
 His face expressed so much concern that I almost 
 laughed aloud. 
 
 " Why is it dreadful ? " asked Margaret. 
 
 "That young people s heads should be filled 
 with anarchy, and menace the foundations of our 
 prosperity. If men are n t to be allowed to have 
 what they make, what inducements will men have 
 to work ? " 
 
 Margaret s eyes began to flash ; a bright color 
 came into her cheeks ; her animation made her
 
 1/4 OA THE 
 
 look simply bewitching. I was interested to hear 
 what she would say. 
 
 " Why, Mr. Gregor," she said, " if a man buys a 
 lot of land in the wilderness, it is good for nothing 
 till other people come. It is the people who give 
 it their value. Why should all the gain belong to 
 the original investor ? " 
 
 We seemed now precipitated into a regular dis 
 cussion, in which the old conservatism would be 
 represented by our millionnaire guest, and the 
 modern radicalism by the maiden of nineteen ! 
 It would have been a pitched battle, I have no 
 doubt, for Margaret was all full of the subject from 
 her talk with the two college youths. 15ut 1 was 
 disappointed, and so was Mr. Gregor, who, in spite 
 of his annoyance at finding himself in a stronghold 
 of what he considered "socialism and anarchy," 
 could not help admiring his bright-eyed opponent. 
 Just at this instant Selma opened the door to put 
 on the dinner, and Mrs. Merrithew appeared. 
 
 It was a very good chance for her to display her 
 latent adaptability and her tact. I introduced our 
 visitor to her, and she with graceful courtesy 
 invited him so cordially to stay to dinner that he 
 yielded. 
 
 "We were just beginning to discuss socialism, 
 as you came in/ remarked Mr. Gregor, turning to 
 his wife, after we had taken our places at the 
 table.
 
 ON THE I OJXT. 1/5 
 
 I find your daughter is guilty of terrible 
 economic heresies. She would despoil us rich 
 men of our property, and divide it up among the 
 nation at large. Why, if young ladies like your 
 daughter adopt such theories, we shall be worse off 
 than Russia with her nihilism." 
 
 Margaret hastened to her own defence. 
 
 " Hut, Mr. Gregor, she said, in her most persua 
 sive accents, (how many times with them has she 
 wheedled me into doing things I ought not to have 
 done, or allowing things I ought not to have 
 allowed!) "but, Mr. Gregor, I believe in individ 
 ualism. It is only in natural monopolies that I am 
 a Nationalist. I am not a Socialist, in spite of 
 what papa says ; much less do I believe in anarchy 
 or nihilism." 
 
 Mr. Gregor looked greatly relieved at this dis 
 claimer. He was a man who did not always see a 
 joke, and of course he was tempted to take her 
 too seriously. 
 
 Almost immediately after dinner Cranston and 
 Curtiss came up to the house. The attraction of a 
 roof was too strong for them. I saw through their 
 proffered excuses. Of course they wanted a roof 
 over their heads ; of course they were lonely, and 
 needed to be cheered up ! It was altogether 
 natural ! 
 
 Besides, Richard could not well go to see Adele 
 in such a rain-storm, and he wanted to talk with
 
 1 /6 OA THE rOL\T. 
 
 some one who knew her. It was all clear to me! 
 Hut I was glad to see them, and I presented them 
 to Mr. Gregor, who received them, I thought, a 
 little stiffly. I wondered that lie did not include 
 them in the invitation for the next day s excursion. 
 But he did not do so, and after sitting for a few 
 minutes, scarcely opening his mouth, he took his 
 departure. 
 
 Just before sunset the rain ceased, and the sun 
 came out. There was a magnificent double rain 
 bow, that exactly spanned the bay. The colors 
 glowed as though they had been made of living 
 gems, and they were reflected in the still tossing 
 waters. 
 
 The houses on the opposite shore seemed to 
 have acquired shifting, iridescent coats of paint. 
 I never see a rainbow without recalling the fine 
 words of Jesus, the Son of Shirach : 
 
 Look upon the rainbow and praise Him tliat i,iade it; 
 rcry beautiful it is in the brightness thereof, 
 
 " It compasseth the lieavens about with a glorious circle, ami 
 the hands of the A fast High hare bended it." 
 
 " It will be a fine day to-morrow," I said. 
 
 A man whose predictions generally eventuate 
 diametrically opposite to their tenor naturally feels 
 proud when for once he hits the mark. The storm 
 was over. The night was clear. How bright and 
 near the stars seemed !
 
 O.V THE POINT. 177 
 
 Oh, the splendor of a summer night after a storm 
 has cleared the atmosphere ! 
 
 And t lie nighfs mysterious calm 
 
 Seems t<i pour a restful balm 
 
 I hummed this snatch of song and went to bed !
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 IN WHICH MR. (1RKCOR TAK.KS THK. M KRRITH KWS OX 
 HIS YACHT AM) TKLI.S THKM A STORY. 
 
 IV socialistic principles prevailed, and men were 
 allowed to have only what they fairly 
 earned, and the wealth of the country were distrib 
 uted with comparative equality, it is evident that 
 such luxuries as private yachts would be no more 
 known. They would disappear as completely as the 
 Harem of King Solomon, or the fifty thousand 
 " souls" of Prince Potemkin. 
 
 There are many delightful things becoming ex 
 tinct in this century. ( )nly a few buffaloes are left.
 
 G>_V 77/7? POIXT. 179 
 
 The great auk has bequeathed only a few big eggs, 
 to be sold at enormous prices to oologists. The 
 dodo is only a memory. It is quite within the 
 bounds of possibility that our grandchildren will 
 read with wonder of the magnificence of such crafts 
 as the " Yetolka," representing an outlay of a hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars, and running expenses of 
 a hundred dollars a day. 
 
 A yacht is not so picturesque an object in the 
 eyes of a painter as a dirty fishing-smack or a lugger 
 with mildewed sails. It is too white or too black, 
 and too shiny and too spick and span. But a swift 
 yacht is the perfection of locomotion, the great 
 white sails, unspotted, belly in the wind ; the spin 
 naker is spread, the top sails catch the hand of the 
 wind and help to pull you along; you careen at an 
 easy angle, you feel the caress of the affectionate 
 waves, treacherous kisses of a lion though they 
 be ! You pass heavy laden barks and know that 
 those on board envy you, and in their heart of 
 hearts regard your elegant leisure as a million times 
 preferable to their strenuous toil. You meet other 
 yachts whose owners you may know 7 or may not, 
 but whom you salute. The sea is at your service, 
 the sun shines for you. A dozen neatly uniformed 
 sailors act at your whim. 
 
 I never yet had my fill of yachting, and never 
 shall have it. All too short have been the days 
 that I have spent on the blue waters of Xarragansett
 
 i So o.v TIIJ-: roixr. 
 
 Bay, or bowling along the Sound, or fleeting between 
 the islands down the rock-bound shores of Kgge- 
 moggin Reach or Yinal Haven Thoroughfare. I 
 am not quite ready to see the yacht become extinct, 
 and the cost of her spent on bread for the impecuni 
 ous children of the slums ! 
 
 A steam-yacht has some manifest advantages over 
 a wind-propelled yacht. It is not liable to be 
 becalmed. Jt can drive into the very teeth of a 
 gale. If the weather be cold, the cabin can be 
 warmed. Other considerations suggest themselves. 
 
 I have no intention of describing in detail our day 
 on the " Vetolka." We could not have had more 
 perfect weather. We first steamed up the winding 
 river ; then we retraced our course and proceeded 
 down the bay. We had an elaborate dinner, admi 
 rably served. The water was as smooth as a lake. 
 The sky was cloudless, save for occasional fleecy 
 drifts of swiftly-vanishing milk-white vapor. The 
 air was soft and balmy, but very clear and dry. 
 \\*e were followed for a time by a Hock of white 
 mackerel gulls, whose sharp, shrill cries came to us 
 as though they were trying to talk. Now and again 
 they would settle on the water and float like a min 
 iature Meet of pleasure-boats. Then they would rise, 
 one by one or by dozens, and circle about, occasion 
 ally dropping like a plummet, to emerge a moment 
 later with- a glittering fish. Off on our weather-bow 
 the surface was suddenly broken by a rush of hurry-
 
 ON THE ro/A T. iSl 
 
 ing fins : it was a school of mackerel. The boys 
 were crazy over a number of porpoises that passed 
 us, making mighty scallops through the bay. 
 
 Mr. Gregor was very attentive to Margaret. It 
 was quite natural that he should be. He was her 
 host. He was likewise most polite to Mrs. Merri- 
 thew, and was evidently anxious to win her good 
 opinion. The boys, as may be imagined, having 
 the run of the yacht, but cautioned by us all to be 
 very careful to do no damage, and not to handle 
 things, and not to slide with their heeled boots on 
 the polished floors, and not to lose their hats over 
 board, and to be very respectful to the sailors, and 
 not to ask the captain too many questions, enjoyed 
 themselves immensely. It was their first experi 
 ence of the joys of a millionnaire, and the freshness 
 of their zest pleased Mr. Gregor. They certainly 
 behaved very well, and did themselves credit, and 
 reflected credit on our training of them. \Ye cer 
 tainly found it easy to forgive Magnus, Jr., at 
 dinner for passing his plate and asking for some 
 of the "warm broth," meaning the melted ice 
 cream. It created a diversion. 
 
 1 often wonder what we should do if one of our 
 children suddenly or gradually developed vicious 
 tendencies. Suppose that which our ancestors 
 used to call "a lying spirit" should take possession 
 of the boy! J!ut my good friend. Dr. Lloyd 
 Tuckey of London, assures me that hypnotism is
 
 1 82 OA r THE POIXT. 
 
 generally effectual in driving out such an evil 
 spirit, and is no more harmful than for a mother to 
 rock her baby. Happily, I have never detected 
 any such symptoms in my flock. Alfred s worst 
 fault hitherto has been a certain Mightiness and 
 lack of attention ; but modern science has, I be 
 lieve, found also a remedy for that, if ever it 
 becomes pronounced enough to be alarming. A 
 Dr. Guye of Amsterdam has recently discovered 
 that it is the nose that is the cause of aphrysexie, 
 or inattentiveness, and that often a slight surgical 
 operation restores the tone of the mind, and makes 
 mental labor easy. Wonderful is modern science ! 
 I have made a careful study of my son s nose, and 
 I find he could easily spare a section in case his 
 inattentiveness became alarmingly developed. 
 
 It is always a secret pleasure, however, to have 
 strangers praise one s offspring, and to feel that the 
 praise is deserved. And Mr. Gregor more than 
 once warmed the cockles of our hearts by reference 
 to the good temper and gentlemanly ways of Alfred 
 and Magnus, Jr. 
 
 Absolutely nothing occurred to mar the pleasure 
 of the day. No one fell overboard, no one was ill ; 
 sea and sky seemed, like ourselves, to have nothing 
 to do but be happy. Even the breeze seemed to 
 sing for joy. Who would have believed that any 
 where in the world, at any moment of that day, 
 men and women were dying of starvation, that
 
 6>/V THE POINT. 183 
 
 fathers were abusing helpless children, that lovers 
 were murdering their mistresses, that men were 
 fighting for the possession of the bauble wealth ? 
 
 Well, there were the mackerel chasing their prey, 
 and there were the mackerel gulls after theirs ; and 
 hark ! as we skirt along the bold, rocky, pine- 
 shaded shore, we hear the sharp crack of a gun, 
 and a Hock of coots fly up, and skim away in 
 terror ; and just on the edge of the horizon the 
 bright eyes of Magnus, Jr., perceive half a dozen 
 wild ducks pursued by a big hawk. So, after all, 
 the peacefulness and love which seem to radiate 
 from sky and water are as deceptive as the gentle, 
 rolling, sun-sparkling ripples. 
 
 Margaret, as usual, was the life of the party. 
 Like Turgenief s Parasha, she has a nature keyed to 
 every kind of intensity. Should sorrow come into 
 her life, as it must to every woman, she would 
 suffer keenly. And so, as a compensation, her en 
 joyment was always almost intoxication. What 
 glorious, radiant days are those of the maiden, fancy 
 free ! What rosy dreams, perhaps never to be ful 
 filled, but more real than reality ! When the 
 unbroken curve of the unwrinkled cheek, and the 
 unlined, pure forehead are types of the happy soul 
 within and the happy life without! 
 
 Anfs I fun ft dir legen so/If, 
 
 So rein und sclioen mid Jiola I
 
 184 OA r THE POLVT. 
 
 I suppose tliat I ought to try to record some 
 of the talk that \ve had on board the " Yetolka." 
 Alas ! the bouquet quickly vanishes from the spilled 
 champagne, and the light, airy talk, suitable enough 
 for a happy summer s day, scarcely preserves its 
 flavor when recorded in cold blood, or, more accu 
 rately speaking, cold ink. Delicately-turned flip 
 pancies, fiighty nothings, gossamer fancies, that 
 vanish like the smoke from Mr. Gregor s fragrant 
 cigars; lightly exploding jests from the tightly 
 corked bottles of paranomasia, wasted, alas ! on 
 our matter-of-fact host, and forgotten as soon as 
 uttered. More worthy of record were the stories 
 with which Mr. Gregor regaled us. Many of them 
 were from his own experiences in many lands. He 
 had been in India ; he had sailed along the eastern 
 shores of Formosa, where the cliffs rise sheer from 
 the water six thousand feet ; he had visited Aus 
 tralia and New Zealand ; he had landed on St. 
 Helena; and, in spite of his occasional slips in pro 
 nunciation and misuse of words, we all felt that he 
 told of his experiences and related his stories with 
 much vivacity. 
 
 One only will I try to give in his own words. 
 
 I ought to say this: we had been told that the 
 Point generally escaped the infliction of thunder- 
 showers, and that there were no mosquitoes there. 
 We had a thunder-shower almost every day ; and 
 as for mosquitoes, when the wind blew from the
 
 OA r THE rOINT. 185 
 
 swamp I found the only way to be comfortable 
 :n knickerbockers was to wrap a newspaper round 
 one s legs. 
 
 \Ve were on our homeward way, the possibility 
 of a thunder-shower having turned us about a 
 little earlier than some of us would have wished. 
 
 We were talking about the romance of life, and 
 how frequently one came upon it in a thousand 
 phases. I remarked that I had once met the 
 younger son of an English earl settled in a Con 
 necticut town, engaged in the poetic work of 
 wood-carving. Mrs. Merrithew told how once in 
 a Vermont village a mysterious stranger of evi 
 dently large means had lived a sort of hermit 
 existence, and only when he had suddenly dis 
 appeared did the minister, who alone knew his 
 secret, inform the inquisitive villagers that he 
 was a French marquis, who had left his home 
 forever because he had discovered that his wife 
 loved his dearest friend. 
 
 " That reminds me," said Mr. Gregor, " of a 
 man whom I knew out West. He once told me 
 his whole history, which I think the French would 
 call a "success <r esteem" His father was stolen 
 by the Indians and carried across Lake Ontario, 
 where he was brought up in the family of a chief. 
 When he was twenty years old he, in company 
 with some of the other Indians of his adopted 
 tribe, came across the lake to sell furs. They
 
 86 o.v i HI-: 
 
 happened to land at a village which had grown 
 up only a few miles from the very spot where 
 he had been ravaged away. He was a fine young 
 fellow, tall and straight as a pine sapling. As 
 lie walked through the village he happened to 
 catch sight of a remarkably pretty girl standing 
 in a doorway. She was the village school -mis 
 tress. He could n t speak a word of Knglish, but 
 he managed to express his admiration in a way 
 that the girl understood. Then lie disappeared. 
 About a year later he returned to the village 
 a gain with two head men of the tribe. He 
 brought with him a lot of beautiful furs, went 
 directly to the house where the girl had been 
 seen, and by means of the interpreter he made 
 known that he had come, in accordance with the 
 Indian fashion, to woo the girl. Her friends 
 thought it a capital joke. They summoned her, 
 expecting of course that she would give him the 
 grand conjure. But not at all. The girl had 
 fallen in love with the handsome, dark-eyed 
 stranger, who seemed to be an Indian, and yet 
 seemed unlike an Indian. Finally, it leaked out 
 that he had been abducted, that he was not really 
 an Indian at all. Then some one remembered that 
 a woman lived four or five miles away who had 
 lost a son, stolen by the Indians twenty years 
 before. The gallant suitor went to see this 
 woman and she recognized him "
 
 av THE POINT. 187 
 
 " By the strawberry mark, I suppose," suggested 
 Margaret. 
 
 " I don t know how. The adopted Indian 
 married the little school-ma am. She taught him 
 English, and finally he became the best-read man 
 in the whole place 
 
 " Mr. Gregor, I did n t think that of you ! " I 
 exclaimed. 
 
 " What of me, think what of me ? " he demanded. 
 
 It was perfectly evident that he did not see 
 his own accidental joke, and I knew it would be 
 useless to detain him by an elaborate explanation 
 of that which was as plain as the nose on his 
 face, so I stumbled out of it as well as I could 
 and soon got him on his narrative again. 
 
 " I am sure I don t know what you mean," he 
 said, "but I will go on, if you like. This man 
 much preferred the frontier to civilization, and kept, 
 as it were, a little in advance of it, living on the 
 border as the border preceded to the West. He 
 had several children, and my acquaintance whom 
 I will call James was the youngest of them. 
 One of his sisters was married to a Presbyterian 
 parson in a town in Pennsylvania where there was 
 a college. James resolved to attend that college, 
 and study also for the ministry. He earned 
 enough to pay his expenses, which were not 
 much, by occasionally lecturing on his experi 
 ences in the far West. One time he noticed
 
 1 88 ON TffE POIXT. 
 
 in the audience two young ladies, who were 
 extraordinarily handsome. He tried to find out 
 who they were, but did not succeed. A few days 
 later a college friend asked him to ride to a 
 place a few miles out of town to make a call. 
 He borrowed his brother-in-law s horse, which 
 happened to be a fine, fiery-blooded beast, not 
 much accustomed to the saddle. He was a su 
 perb horseman and managed it perfectly. When 
 they reached the farmhouse, they left their two 
 horses in the yard. What was his surprise to 
 find at this place the two young ladies whom he 
 had seen at his lecture. 
 
 " He made himself as agreeable as possible to the 
 youngest of them, who, as often happens not al 
 ways"- he added, turning to Margaret, with a little 
 meaning in his look "was the most beautiful of 
 the two. They soon began to talk about horses. 
 The young ladies were English, and passionately 
 fond of riding. James told her about the horse 
 on which he had ridden. She wanted to go out 
 and see it. He advised her not to go too near, 
 for it was a spirited and rather ill-tempered animal, 
 and might bite. But the young lady went directly 
 up to it, patted its glossy sides, smoothed its 
 velvety nostrils, and before many minutes the 
 horse was quite conquered, and laid its head on 
 her shoulder as docile as a cosset lamb. Then 
 she was crazy to ride the animal. James protested
 
 G>.V THE POIXT. 189 
 
 that no lady had ever been on its back. It would 
 run away with her. But she imperiously insisted, 
 and as is usually the way with pretty young ladies," 
 with another look at Margaret "got her way. 
 They happened to have a side-saddle in the house. 
 James with fear and trembling assisted her to 
 mount. 
 
 "The moment the horse felt her skirts brush its 
 sides, it was off like the wind. He sprang on the 
 other horse and started in pursuit. It was like a 
 snail chasing a rabbit. The road which the horse 
 took was down hill. He met several people, and 
 inquired of them if they had seen the young lady. 
 They said Yes, but added, you ll never see 
 her alive, or the horse either. At last he reached 
 an open space and could see her still seated firmly; 
 her hair had become unbound, and was flying out 
 in the wind, like the tail of a comet. He spurred 
 his own horse, and did his best to overtake her. 
 Suddenly, her horse turned into a field which was 
 bounded by a zig-zag fence. He saw that this was 
 his chance, for the horse ran along the fence 
 seeking for an opening, and turning the circuit, was 
 at last coming back to the gate where it had 
 entered. The young lady was sawing on the reins. 
 He saw that she had a streak of blood on her face. 
 It was where a twig had whipped her as she dashed 
 down the hill. James galloped across the track 
 of the foaming steed and managed to catch it by
 
 ON THE rOIXT. 
 
 the bridle. Then, with one supreme effort, he 
 brought both horses to a stand. He leaped to the 
 ground and helped the young lady to dismount. 
 
 " Well ! he exclaimed, you are the bravest 
 young woman I ever saw. You are brave enough 
 to be the wife of a frontiersman. She replied that 
 she would not wish a better lot 
 
 Here he suddenly paused. 
 
 " Did he marry her? Did he marry her?" we all 
 exclaimed. 
 
 " Certainly he did, and she went with him down 
 into Kansas and out to Colorado, and in all sorts of 
 dangers. She was the daughter of some English 
 man of rank." 
 
 We came safely to anchor, firing the customary 
 gun, the echoes of which went reverberating from 
 point to point in the amphitheatre of hills that 
 looked down upon the bay. 
 
 It was just sunset, another of those gorgeous 
 spectacles of which we had so many during the 
 summer. No thunder-shower occurred ; but, on the 
 clouds which had threatened, the spirit of departing 
 day mixed all his colors in most marvellous gra 
 dations, tints that no one could begin to name, 
 changing slowly and insensibly first to simpler, 
 more nearly primary hues, then leaving behind only 
 red, yellow and green, which were reflected in the 
 crystal mirror of the inner bay. The mountains 
 stood purple in all their Tyrian robes of royalty.
 
 av THE rorxT. 191 
 
 And against that glory of sky, as we swiftly sped 
 toward the wharf in the yacht s tender, we saw our 
 worthy host like a saint in a Russian background 
 of gold. Alas ! I could only think of his excel 
 lent wig, which fitted him so perfectly that till that 
 day I supposed it his own mane of whitened locks.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SURPRISES, LIKE MISFORTUNES, NEVER COME 
 SINGLY. 
 
 THE next morning I found myself obliged to 
 write several letters. Mrs. Merrithew was 
 out with the children. Gwendolen had gone after 
 berries. Mr. Pettichamps came along soon after 
 breakfast and carried off Margaret for a ride. 
 Even Yaqoub had gone to hunt for field-mice and 
 birds. I was therefore quite alone. It was per 
 fectly still, save for a song-sparrow that poised on 
 a shrub and poured out its soul in melody. 
 
 At first I sat in the hammock on the piaxxa and 
 tried to write, as women clo, with a tablet in my lap. 
 But it is only women who get any practical good 
 out of their laps. Mrs. Merrithew will sit for an 
 hour writing away for dear life, and not once 
 changing her position. I soon found my back 
 beginning to ache, and I had not got one letter 
 half done. It is a queer world ! 
 
 But I had hardly changed into a more comfort 
 able and masculine attitude when I saw Mr. 
 Gregor walking down the road. He came directly 
 toward me. 
 
 " Are you alone ? " he asked, and in answer to 
 192
 
 OA T THE POINT. 1 93 
 
 my affirmative nod, " I am very glad. I want to 
 talk with you. I have something very important to 
 say." 
 
 " I am entirely at your service," I said, and 
 offered him a chair. I thought very possibly he 
 was going to invite us to go on a cruise in his 
 yacht. I was not so far from wrong. 
 
 "You may have noticed," he began, "that from 
 the very first I have I have a have a 
 taken an unusual a shine to you and a 
 to your family. And I may add to your 
 daughter to your daughter especially! I am no 
 longer a young man, I admit; but as you can see, 
 1 am a unusually well-preserved. My friends 
 and my family have come to regard me as a 
 as a confirmed old bachelor; but as for myself, I 
 have always felt that the time might come, yes, 
 might come when it would be a be suitable 
 for me to a to marry, in fact." 
 
 I did not know what to say. I had no breath to 
 say anything with, and so I simply looked at him in 
 dumb amazement. He went on : 
 
 " For the first time I can really say so, though 
 I have seen many attractive women for the first 
 time, I have met in your daughter a woman who 
 a who appeals to every inner want of my nature. 
 I come to you, as it seems right I should do under 
 the circumstances, to ask your permission to a 
 to address myself to her, and if she is willing to
 
 IQ4 OA r THE POINT. 
 
 receive my attentions to ask her to be Mrs. 
 Gregor. 
 
 I answered as I believe many heroines of ro 
 mance do, stammeringly, 
 
 " This is all so sudden I I 
 
 " I know I am old enough to be her grandfather," 
 interrupted Mr. Gregor, "but I hope I am not 
 boastful in claiming a some little remains of 
 a of well, you know what I mean. I am not 
 yet decrepit, and I have good reason to firmly 
 believe that I will have many years still to live." 
 
 I was still a prey to a certain agitation, but 1 
 could not help noticing how he used " will" for 
 shall." Isn t that enough, especially when com 
 bined with the split infinitive, to dash a man s 
 enthusiasm for a son-in-law almost old enough to 
 be his father? 
 
 " As for a settlement, I can give you the amplest 
 satisfaction. I can assure you that your daughter 
 shall, in case she does me the honor of a ac 
 cepting my hand, have an income of her own, and 
 on my death, if it should event before hers, which 
 is in all probability likely to be, a fortune in her 
 own power." 
 
 The verse of Burns s song came into my mind, 
 
 " What can a young lassie, u<hat shall a young lassie, 
 IVhat can a young lassie do TI / an auhi man ? " 
 
 I could not treat the matter as a joke. Great
 
 ON THE POINT. 195 
 
 heavens ! It was the most serious thing that ever 
 befell me, far more serious than when I, with my 
 heart in my mouth, went to Katharine s mother and 
 confessed that I had designs on her daughter. 
 
 " This is a free country, Mr. Gregor ; Margaret is 
 nineteen. I have no right to stand in the way of 
 her happiness. If you desire to win her and can 
 do so, I must yield. Hut I am free to confess that, 
 flattering as your preference may seem, it does not 
 appeal to my better judgment. Marry with a 
 woman thine equal, said Pittacus, or some other old 
 philosopher. The discrepancy between your ages 
 is very large 
 
 " After all," hastened Mr. Gregor to interpose, 
 " after all, the inequality of years is not so much as 
 the inequality of natures. I feel just as young as 
 ever I did. I am never sick. I don t even have a 
 headache more than two or three times a year, and 
 then the use of a mental inhaler cures it. I was 
 gifted with a splendid constitution. I have dis 
 covered that your daughter and I have many things 
 in common, many sympathies that we should share. 
 I am sure that I could make her happy. And if 
 wealth is any a any advantage in this world, I 
 pour all that I have out at her feet." 
 
 " My idea is that Margaret is quite too young to 
 marry. I have always urged that young women 
 should wait till they were more mature before they 
 hasten to bind themselves in so important a matter."
 
 196 o.v TIII-: j OJ.YT. 
 
 " Allow me to observe that your daughter is 
 remarkably mature for her years," said Mr. Oregon 
 " I agree with you, on general principles, that it is 
 dangerous to marry too young. I myself am a 
 very good example of the theory, carried, perhaps, 
 too far. The rule of my life has been a sort of 
 thirteenth commandment,- Thou shalt not com 
 mit thyself." I wish now I were forty years 
 younger, but it is not too late 
 
 "No" said I, "it is not too late. I have known 
 older men than you marry young wives." 
 
 "Some of them were happy, weren t they? 
 Were n t they as happy as the average of those 
 who marry younger ? " 
 
 "That I can t answer, Mr. Oregon Most of the 
 cases that I have known have been widowers. 
 Old bachelors are too likely to have become settled 
 in their own habits; it is a great change." 
 
 Then I understand that you have no objection 
 to my addressing your daughter?" 
 
 " I did not say I had no objection. I said I had 
 no right to interfere. 1 can t say that I approve of 
 it." 
 
 You are very frank. Mr. Merrithew." 
 
 "Certainly I am frank. Would n t you be if you 
 were in my place ? " 
 
 " Will you promise not to try to influence your 
 daughter against me ? " 
 
 That was a hard question to answer. I hesitated
 
 O.Y THE rOIXT. 197 
 
 a little. " I will do what I consider right, Mr. 
 Gregor. I will do nothing rash. I must talk this 
 matter over with Mrs. Merrithew. Your proposal 
 comes like a flash from a cloudless sky. But my 
 duty to my daughter is paramount. On the other 
 hand, she is, as you say, remarkably mature and 
 level-headed. I have absolute confidence in her." 
 
 " Then you will not put any obstacle in the way 
 of my seeing her ? " 
 
 It here suddenly occurred to me how little we 
 knew of this millionnaire. How many days was 
 it since his mahogany yacht anchored off our back 
 yard ? Not a week ? And here he was aspiring 
 to be my son-in-law, he, a man in the sere and 
 withered leaf ! He, with a long unknown life behind 
 him ! 
 
 As a man drowning is said to see the whole of 
 his life in a single second of time, so in that pause 
 I seemed to see a world of disagreeable possibili 
 ties. A certain masterfulness in the man s manner, 
 an imperiousness, a wilfulness, as of one not accus 
 tomed to be thwarted, caused me to have a sudden 
 vision of him abducting my daughter and carrying 
 her off on his yacht, after the style of Lord Richard 
 Timple, in one of Jokai Mor s grewsome tales ! 
 
 But 1 was roused from this odd reverie by Mr. 
 Gregor preparing to depart. He repeated his last 
 question, and I. suddenly recollecting what I should 
 never have forgotten, that my daughter was per-
 
 198 ar THE 
 
 fectly capable of caring for her own heart, replied 
 that I was content to let things take their course. 
 But I added, on the spur of the moment, what was 
 the truth, and also a little more than the truth, 
 
 " I don t know how much longer Miss Merrithew 
 will remain here ; she has had several invitations to 
 make visits, and I believe she intends to start very 
 soon, perhaps next week." 
 
 She had certainly received the invitations, one a 
 very pressing one from Miss Askelon, who was at 
 Newport; but until that precious moment I had 
 rather opposed her going. 
 
 Robinson Crusoe was not more dumbfounded by 
 the discovery of the footmark of the cannibal on 
 the sand than I was by Mr. Gregor s demand. 
 
 The devil was in it, or behind it, for I found my 
 self in a moment counting up the advantages of 
 such a match, the worldly advantages, I mean. 
 It might be a few years of gilded slavery, and then 
 boundless freedom ! 
 
 Mr. Gregor had hardly left me a prey to these 
 conflicting emotions and thoughts when I heard a 
 voice at the farther end of the piazza. I had no 
 ticed no one approaching. The voice said, 
 
 " Good morning, Mr. Merrithew ! Are you all 
 alone? May I come up? 
 
 It was Ralf Curtiss. I shook hands with him. 
 He sat down in the very seat that Mr. Gregor had 
 vacated.
 
 ON THE POINT. 1 99 
 
 " Richard has gone over to see Adele. He s a 
 lucky clog! I was afraid he d get left," said Ralf, 
 in his easy style of speech, which, though slangy, 
 sounded not undignified. "Where is Miss Merri- 
 thew ? Gone to drive ? " 
 
 " Yes ; she went to the Springs with Mr. Petti- 
 champs. I am all alone, guarding the castle." 
 
 " I am very glad to find you all alone," said 
 Ralf, a little nervously, as it seemed to me. " I 
 \vas very anxious to talk with you before I went 
 away. We expect to leave to-morrow. I have 
 something very important to say." 
 
 It struck me as odd that he was using almost the 
 identical words with which Mr. Gregor had begun 
 his assault. 
 
 "You may have noticed," he proceeded, "that 
 from the first day that I met your daughter, in such 
 a romantic way What is it, .Mr. Merrithew ? 
 Why do you smile ? " 
 
 " Go on ! " I said, " go on ! I was only think 
 ing how history repeats itself." 
 
 I should like to know what he imagined I meant, 
 but, after a moment s pause, he took up the thread 
 of his sentence : 
 
 " You must have noticed that I a have found 
 your daughter s society peculiarly agreeable. In 
 fact, I may say that a I am the victim of love 
 at first sight. Of course I realize that I have still 
 a whole year in college, and then my way to make ;
 
 2OO aV THE POINT. 
 
 and I should not feel justified in asking Miss Mar 
 garet to become engaged to me, even if I had the 
 slightest idea that a that she liked me well 
 enough. But I felt that it was no more than fair 
 for me to come and ask your permission to continue 
 an acquaintance that has been so agreeable, which, 
 in fact, has a has packed into a few hours all 
 the delights of a long summer. If I might feel 
 that I had your sanction in my aspiration, that 
 a that you would not object to my calling 
 occasionally, in fact, doing all that I can to win 
 your daughter s love, it would be a very great relief 
 to my mind. At first it seemed to me altogether 
 too audacious a thing to ask, but I could not be 
 content to sail from here without confessing to 
 you." 
 
 " My dear boy," said I, quite taken, I confess, 
 by his manly straightforwardness, and, of course, 
 convinced of his seriousness, " my dear boy, 
 this is a great surprise to me. Margaret is 
 only a girl. Her head is quite free from any 
 thoughts of marriage. She is like the fair vestal 
 in Midsummer Night s Dream. Until her friend, 
 Adele, unfortunately, as I am convinced, began 
 to confide in her regarding her her love af 
 fairs, she looked upon all such things as quite 
 apart from her life. She has often said, in jest, 
 that she was going to marry music, and that her 
 piano was a good-enough husband for her. She is
 
 GLV THE POINT. 2O I 
 
 only a young girl, and I should much prefer 
 that " 
 
 Ralf s impatience was pardonable. He inter 
 rupted me : 
 
 "Oh, I know what you are going to say, Mr. 
 Merrithew. But I am willing to wait, if I may 
 only hope, if 1 may feel assured that I shall not 
 be presumptuous. My father 
 
 I interrupted him in my turn : 
 
 " Your father is a man for whom I have the high 
 est respect. I know of no one whose son. if he 
 were anyway like him, I should prefer to ally him 
 self to my daughter. She is true gold, and whoever 
 is fortunate enough to win her will be indeed a 
 happy man, though I say it, who shouldn t. 
 Xo. Ralf, I have no objection to your keeping 
 up your acquaintance with Margaret. On your 
 own account, as well as on your father s, we shall 
 be glad to see you whenever you choose to come. 
 But, for heaven s sake, don t attempt to bring 
 matters to a crisis for a long time to come ! " 
 
 "Thank you very much for your encourage 
 ment," Ralf began. 
 
 " Don t call it encouragement," I said. " It is 
 simply acquiescence in what I can t help. I feel 
 very much like old King Arkel in Maeterlinck s 
 play, who declares he never opposes destiny, for 
 every human being must work out his own salva 
 tion. But here comes Mrs. Merrithew. She
 
 2O2 6LV THE POJXT. 
 
 will like to have you stay to dinner. Margaret 
 will be back before very long. You had better 
 wait." 
 
 Mrs. Merrithew seconded my invitation. A few 
 minutes later Margaret came back, bringing the 
 mail. Unsuspicious of the double plot forming 
 against her, she was perfectly frank and free in her 
 expressions of pleasure at seeing young Curtiss, 
 and she told with pleasant enthusiasm of the day 
 spent on the " Yetolka." 
 
 " It is a beautiful yacht. I wish papa had one 
 like it," she remarked. I said to myself, " It all 
 depends on you whether he does ! " 
 
 After dinner Margaret took Curtiss over to a 
 neighboring cottage, where she had been invited 
 to play croquet. I sent the boys off for some more 
 driftwood, as our supply was running low, and the 
 wind of the recent storm had piled a fresh, or more 
 properly a salt, supply all along the shore. Gwendolen 
 took the two younger children up the hill to the 
 Chamfrays to see the chickens. This gave me 
 a favorable opportunity to talk with Mrs. Merrithew. 
 
 " This has been a very eventful morning, my 
 dear," I began. 
 
 " Eventful ! " she exclaimed. " Why, what has 
 happened ? " 
 
 " There were two men here after Margaret." 
 
 " After Margaret ? " 
 
 "Yes."
 
 OA THE POIXT. 2O3 
 
 " What did they want of Margaret ? Do tell me 
 don t keep me on the tenter-hooks any longer!" 
 
 "They both want to marry her." 
 
 " Marry Margaret ! Was one of them that 
 miserable Gregor ? " 
 
 I nodded. 
 
 " I knew there was something wrong about 
 that man from the moment I laid my eyes on 
 him." 
 
 " But Katharine, my love, he was very honor 
 able about it. He came and asked my permission 
 to to " 
 
 " Asked your permission, did he ? That was 
 thoughtful of him ! And what did you say ? " 
 
 " I told him in the words of Shakespeare, 
 Crabbed youth and age - 
 
 " Now, Magnus," said my wife, severely, " this 
 is too serious a matter to make light of." 
 
 " I know it is. But what could a man do ? Mr. 
 Gregor is a person of wealth. He offers to make 
 a handsome settlement on Margaret if he succeeds 
 in securing her hand. I know nothing against 
 him except his age and his heterophemies. Mar 
 garet might make him very happy ! " 
 
 " Margaret make him very happy ! Mr. Merri- 
 thew, I have no patience with you. If Margaret 
 married that man, everyone would say that we 
 had sold her, and they would say right." 
 
 " I told him it was a free country, and if Margaret
 
 204 o.v J tik roixr. 
 
 chose to accept him for her husband, I should 
 have nothing to say against it. I put it to you 
 squarely: Isn t Margaret old enough and mature 
 enough to decide such a question for herself ? " 
 
 Mrs. Merrithew did not answer that question. 
 
 " But who was the other man ? " said she. 
 "You said there were two. 
 
 " Guess ! " 
 
 I don t know whether I have mentioned that 
 Farmer Bigg had an only son, a tall, lean, lank, 
 cadaverous, lantern-jawed, dull-eyed specimen of 
 rustic chivalry. He had sometimes brought us 
 country produce for his father, and Mrs. Merri 
 thew had several times remarked in jest that 
 she believed that Jedediah was smitten with 
 Margaret. He always stared at her with open 
 mouth as if he were ready to devour her. 
 
 " You don t mean Jedediah Bigg ! " she gasped. 
 
 Not a bit of it," said I. " He would not have 
 known enough to speak to me. I agree with you, 
 though he has been hanging round here a good 
 deal lately. But of course," I added, with a sud 
 den flash of intuition, " he is after Cassandra. 
 I never thought of that before." 
 
 " How absurd you are ! " exclaimed Mrs. Merri 
 thew. 
 
 "You are always calling me absurd," I retorted. 
 
 "Then, of course, it must have been Ralf Cur- 
 tiss," said Mrs. Merrithew, ignoring my aggrieved 
 tone.
 
 ON THE POINT. 2O5 
 
 " Well, what did you say to him ? " 
 
 I asked him to stay to dinner." 
 
 "Well, I tell you what, pursued Mrs. Merrithew, 
 " this place is getting quite too dangerous. Mar 
 garet must go right away." 
 
 -Where?" 
 
 " Well, she has several invitations. Let her go 
 to Newport, to Miss Askelon." 
 
 " That is just exactly what I was thinking, and I 
 told Mr. Gregor that she was likely to leave here 
 in a day or two." 
 
 " But did you really give young Curtiss any 
 encouragement ? " 
 
 "Not a bit, that is to say, not much. I told him 
 I respected his father, and was willing to have him 
 continue his acquaintance with Margaret, but not 
 to speak of marriage for a long time to come. 
 Wasn t that right ? " 
 
 " Yes, I suppose so. But daughters are a ter 
 rible responsibility. Children are, anyway ! Still, 
 I had a hundred times rather she married Curtiss 
 than your friend of the yacht, purse-proud, 
 conceited 
 
 That s natural enough, my love. If she mar 
 ried Gregor, you would have a son-in-law old 
 enough to be your father, and you could not 
 exercise the prerogative of your sex. I have 
 often wished I were older than your mother." 
 
 "That wouldn t make any difference
 
 2O6 O.V THE POIXT. 
 
 " No," said I, purposely misunderstanding her. 
 " No, I don t believe it would." 
 
 " Magnus ! " 
 
 "There is another thing, I said, willing to 
 change the subject, which was approaching danger 
 ously near the point of precipitation ; " it is quite 
 important, but I really forgot it amid the exciting 
 events of the morning. I Ye got to go back home." 
 And I tossed the letter into Katharine s lap. 
 
 " Then I shall go back, too ! " exclaimed Mrs. 
 Merrithew. 
 
 "What! and take the baby to the city in 
 August? You are crazy." 
 
 " But I don t want to be left down here all 
 alone." 
 
 "You won t be all alone. Besides, if you think 
 best, you can keep Margaret." 
 
 "No, no! she must go. She can go along with 
 you. Certainly, when I come to think of it, I 
 couldn t take the children back. They would be 
 sick. I suppose I can manage to get along, but it 
 will be dreadfully lonely." 
 
 " You will have Yaqoub ! " 
 
 " Magnus, you have no heart." 
 
 "Oh, yes, I have, and it is frequently in my 
 mouth ! " said I, thinking of the perils that haunt a 
 sensitive nature like mine. 
 
 Now I really did not mean to be or seem heart 
 less, but I suppose it may have sounded so. I felt
 
 o.v TUP: roixr. 207 
 
 the whole thing very deeply, but it is my practice 
 to hide such feelings, and to cover them with a 
 superficial mask which often deceives my own 
 wife. I saw that I was carrying the flippant too 
 far, and I added, in earnest, 
 
 " Really, dear, I shall be awfully sorry to leave 
 you here. But I think that I ought to return in 
 response to that letter. It will be for only a few 
 weeks. If I don t come down for you I will meet 
 you at the wharf, even if the boat gets in at four 
 o clock in the morning, and on board there is 
 nothing that I could do especially that the stew 
 ardess can t do for you. As for Margaret, if you 
 think it best for her to go to visit Miss Askelon, this 
 sudden return of mine seems to favor that plan." 
 
 I could n t help adding, however, " I have no 
 doubt Mr. Gregor would be glad to take us home in 
 his yacht ! It would be just what he would like. 
 Perhaps I had better ask him. It would be a great 
 saving! " 
 
 Mrs. Merrithew gave me a look that went 
 through the marrow of my bones. She might have 
 known that I was n t serious. I remembered an 
 equally flippant remark of her own only a few days 
 before. But a man cannot expect absolute con 
 sistency in any woman. I affected to look very 
 innocent, and then she perceived that there was no 
 immediate danger of such an overture.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MAN PROPOSES. 
 
 SEVERAL of the letters thnt I had received 
 during the summer were not calculated to 
 make me feel comfortable. Some of them I did not 
 even open, knowing by the looks of them that they 
 contained bills and were merely duplicates. Now, 
 duplicates are not especially interesting, unless to 
 collectors. Once when several of these unpleasant 
 documents arrived in the same mail, I tried to write 
 a parody on Foe s "Bells. 1 It began thus: 
 
 Here V the dunning of the bills, 
 Tradesmen s bills ! 
 
 208
 
 av THE POIXT. 209 
 
 What a world of wretchedness their poisonous sting distils ! 
 
 How they chase away delight 
 
 From the impecunious wight ! 
 
 Ifow they goad him with misfortune ! 
 
 How the cursed things importune, 
 
 //<w they han /it him day and night ! 
 
 As he sleeps and as he wakes, 
 
 Like a host of winged snakes - 
 
 Filling all his dreams with omens of exaggerated ills ! 
 
 Oh, the bills, bills, bills ! 
 
 Oh, the sharp, relentless bills, bills, bills, bills, bills ! 
 
 If only some of my literary argosies would come 
 sailing home, or, more accurately, if they only 
 would n t have come sailing home ! But they 
 seemed all scattered by the tempests of Fate. 
 There were a dozen possibilities. A fair return on 
 any one of them would enable me to pay up all 
 that T owed. For twenty years I had been en 
 gaged in this discouraging, unremunerative traffic 
 with fortune. My comedies and tragedies lay for 
 months in the safes of theatrical managers before 
 they were even read. In many cases I was certain 
 that they were returned unread. More than once 
 I was certain that the brilliant ideas I had em 
 bodied in some scene were stolen and transferred 
 by an unscrupulous manager to some other play. 
 1 recognized them on the stage. Did n t Shakes 
 peare, when manager of the Globe, probably do 
 such things? I trow he did. I had tried my hand 
 at all sorts of work. I had written a number of
 
 2IO OA r THE 
 
 short stories. They went flying about from maga 
 zine to magazine, consuming more money in post 
 age stamps than they ever brought me. Here, 
 again, I sometimes was abused ; for even when I 
 enclosed full return postage, it happened that only 
 one stamp would be put on. My poems were a 
 drug in the market. Occasionally, one would be 
 accepted, but as they were even then kept among 
 the precious arcana of . the magazine, as if too 
 valuable to be exposed to the light of day, I got 
 little good from them, especially from those meaner 
 magazines that pay for their contributions only 
 when they print them. And I have no doubt that 
 dozens of these effusions are still awaiting their last 
 trump to be resurrected. 
 
 My delight may be imagined, therefore, on that 
 memorable day when Fate threw so many would-be 
 sons-in-law at my head, at receiving word that 
 the libretto of a comic opera that I had offered a 
 certain hnpressario was accepted, that it had been 
 already set to music, and was to be immediately 
 rehearsed and staged. I was needed, that I should 
 make a few changes, and could I be on hand early 
 the next week ? 
 
 Mrs. Merrithew, who was even more sanguine by 
 nature than I was, but was more deeply dis 
 couraged at my lack of success, was now unduly 
 elated. She predicted that this was to be a 
 change of luck."
 
 ON THE POINT. 2 I I 
 
 " I should not be surprised," said she, " if you 
 should have quite a run of good fortune." 
 
 I was perfectly willing to hope so. The present 
 dividend of luck was not to be despised. It was 
 worth going home for, even though 1 had to forego 
 the pleasures and physical advantages of a longer 
 sojourn at the sea-shore. But the fact that the 
 coming weeks would be without the presence of 
 Margaret went a long way toward reconciling me 
 to a premature return. 
 
 I had just finished my reply to the invitation 
 from the impressario, and was sitting on the piazza 
 making a sort of windmill of the envelope between 
 my two thumbs, and wondering how I could get it 
 to the post in time for the early morning mail, when 
 I noticed Ralf rather hurriedly stalking by the 
 house on his way to his camp. I wondered why 
 he did not stop. It struck me as strange that 
 Margaret was not with him. Half an hour later 
 the girl herself came flying down the road. Her 
 cheeks were on fire. Her eyes were flashing. She 
 did not stop to say a word to me except to ask as 
 she passed into the house, " Where s mamma ? 
 
 Something unusual had happened. My imagina 
 tion began to conjure up all sorts of scenes. I 
 have really a dramatic sense, and I got quite 
 excited in working out various theatrical possibili 
 ties. I felt a little piqued, also, that Margaret went 
 directly to her mother, instead of confiding to my
 
 212 O.Y THE POINT. 
 
 ear the unusual experience which she must have 
 just passed through. 
 
 Women are such unaccountable beings. You 
 think you know them, and you find that they 
 are inscrutable. Proteus, the old man of the sea, 
 is nothing to them for variableness. I found 
 myself humming "Donna c mobile." 
 
 It was a question whether it would have been a 
 good plan to warn Margaret of the web the spiders 
 were spinning. Hut we did not have the chance. 
 She went to play croquet, and this was what hap 
 pened : 
 
 The croquet-ground was next to the road. It 
 was fairly well rolled, unshaded by a tree (which 
 was of little importance in that cool atmosphere), 
 and commanded a charming view. If the players 
 got tired, or were disgusted at seeing themselves 
 knocked out of position, they had the privilege of 
 looking out on the sparkling bay, or watching the 
 mirage, or waving their handkerchiefs to some pass 
 ing steamboat. 
 
 Croquet is a touchstone of temper. The testi 
 mony of one set of eyes is so apt to be at variance 
 with that of another set ! A man dislikes, above all 
 things, to have his senses distrusted ; it is almost 
 equivalent to a slap in the face to be told that 
 he did not see correctly. Did a ball hit, or did 
 it miss by a hair s breadth ? I )icl it scrape 
 through the wicket or <ro to one side ? Such
 
 UA 7 //A ro/NT. 213 
 
 questions are constantly rising, and the ill feelings 
 that they engender are accountable, I am convinced, 
 for the comparative desuetude of croquet, which 
 otherwise is one of the most attractive out-of-doors 
 games. 
 
 I myself had not played before for years, but 
 during the last week or two all of us had enjoyed a 
 revival of the game. Margaret had developed con 
 siderable skill at it. 
 
 That afternoon they had a four-hand game. 
 Margaret played with Ralf, who was pretty rusty 
 and made some vexatious mistakes, so that the 
 other side won game after game. Margaret did not 
 like it, but she tried to be good-natured. Even 
 when she hit her ball for a wicket, and the wicket, 
 being insecurely placed, flew round on one leg, and 
 the other side declared she did not go through, 
 while she was sure that she did, she had the good 
 grace to yield, though it cost her an effort. 
 
 About that time Mr. Gregor came along and 
 stopped in the road to watch the game. I have 
 said that he was a masterful man ; he was also 
 a man of resources. It took him only an in 
 stant to see that Margaret was not pleased with 
 the proceedings. 
 
 " Miss Merrithew," he said, rather suddenly, " if, 
 when you are through playing, I may have a word 
 with you. 1 will be much obliged. 
 
 Margaret, unsuspicious, replied she would join
 
 214 - v TIIE POINT. 
 
 him as soon as they finished that game. She was 
 only too glad to have an excuse to stop playing. 
 
 The game was played in a few minutes. Ralf, 
 naturally feeling a little piqued, excused himself on 
 the ground that Cranston would be back, strode 
 off to the camp, feeling, I have no doubt, that it 
 was a very miserable world. 
 
 Margaret joined Mr. Gregor, who asked her if 
 she would walk with him up toward the lighthouse. 
 
 " Have you been up in the lighthouse yet ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " No," replied Margaret. " It has been right at 
 hand all summer and and 
 
 " Let us go and see it." 
 
 Mr. Gregor got the key from the lighthouse- 
 keeper s wife and they entered the tower. Every 
 thing about the premises was scrupulously neat. 
 The buildings were all painted white. Whatever 
 fault that official may have displayed as a champion 
 croaker, he certainly performed his duties faith 
 fully. 
 
 Mr. Gregor told Margaret a good many interest 
 ing things about foreign lighthouses that he had 
 seen, and he waxed eloquent over the electric lights 
 that were now used on many exposed points. 
 
 " This," said he, " is only a third-class light, but 
 see how bright the brass and glass are kept. And 
 is n t this a superb view ? " 
 
 They were alone in the lighthouse tower, and
 
 ON THE POINT. 215 
 
 not liable to interruption, or at least where they 
 stood they could see the approach of any person. 
 
 Suddenly Mr. Gregor, in a perfectly quiet tone, 
 said, 
 
 " Miss Merrithew, do I seem to you a very old 
 man ? " 
 
 " Why, no, Mr. Gregor. Why do you ask me 
 such a question ? " 
 
 " Well, I simply wanted your opinion. I have 
 been meditating upon a very important step, and 
 a and I did not want to be considered ridic 
 ulous." 
 
 " Ridiculous ? " 
 
 " Yes, when a man is very old, or seems very 
 old, such a step as I propose taking is generally 
 regarded as ridiculous." 
 
 FA en then Margaret had not the slightest inkling 
 of what was coming next. She waited inquiringly. 
 
 "Should you think I was too old to to be 
 married ? " 
 
 " Really, Mr. Gregor, how could I answer such a 
 question ? " 
 
 " Well, then," he went on, a little more hurriedly, 
 " I will speak more to the point. I am not such 
 a very old-appearing man, you say. I have lived 
 so far, and I have until within less than a week, 
 I -suppose, expected with good reason to finish 
 my days as as a as an old bachelor. But 
 from the moment that I saw you that first day,
 
 2l6 OA r THE POINT. 
 
 walking with your family, I felt that, late as it 
 was, I had met my fate. Do wait a moment let 
 me speak I have your father s permission." 
 
 Margaret must have turned pale. She clung to 
 the brass work of the lamp, but Mr. Gregor stood 
 between her and the stairs. He compelled her to 
 hear him out. 
 
 " Your father said you were old enough to know 
 your own mind, and mature enough to decide such 
 a question yourself. I have stayed here at the 
 Point day after day with the sole and only idea 
 of seeing you as often as I could. It was for 
 that purpose that I took you to sail. And every 
 time that I have seen you I have felt renewed in 
 my determination to lay at your feet all that I 
 have and all that I am 
 
 "But, Mr. Gregor 
 
 " I know exactly what you think. Of course 
 this comes upon you suddenly, and I am in no 
 absolute haste for an answer. Indeed, I could not 
 expect it. I cannot help feeling, however, that you 
 and I have not a few mutual tastes and sympathies. 
 There is nothing that I would not do for you. We 
 would go abroad if you wished. Now, my dear 
 young lady, think it over. I meant to have 
 told your father that my yacht is quite at his 
 disposal if he would like to take a three or four- 
 days excursion. I forgot to tell him. Perhaps 
 in a little longer acquaintance, under such intimate
 
 <9.V THE POIXT. 21 J 
 
 conditions as are a you might come to regard 
 this offer of my heart as not at all unworthy of 
 your consideration. 1 do not wish to add as a 
 further inducement what is merely an accident 
 the fact that I should settle on you immediately 
 a handsome annual allowance, and in case I died 
 first no, please let me finish! in case I died 
 first I should leave you absolute mistress of what 
 is not a small fortune. All this is merely acci 
 dental " (he probably meant to say incidental or 
 accessory). "But the main thing is that I, who 
 have lived all my life alone, have fallen in love 
 with you like a boy. It was love at first sight. 
 Miss Merrithew, I love you." 
 
 Xow, at first thought, there is something ridicu 
 lous in the picture of an old, white-wigged man, 
 witli one or two, if not more, false teeth, and a 
 certain rotundity of stomach, and a short nose, 
 taking a young girl of nineteen up into the tower of 
 a lighthouse, and " popping the question. There 
 is also an element of pathos in it. The love, on 
 the old man s part, may be perfectly genuine, as 
 genuine as the boy-love of a Byron for a woman 
 older than himself. But reciprocity is so hopeless ! 
 A bright maiden might well come to respect her 
 aged suitor, might even be tempted by the glamor 
 of his riches. But love ? 
 
 Mr. Gregor was no fool, and his proposal, sudden 
 and unexpected as it was, was cleverly managed.
 
 21 8 ON THE POIXT. 
 
 If Margaret was at first startled, and wanted to run 
 from him, his calmness, his reasonable discourse, 
 allowed her time to recover her self-possession. 
 She felt the man s dignity ; she appreciated the 
 compliment that he was paying her. She collected 
 her thoughts and answered him : 
 
 "Mr. Gregor I I wish I might give you 
 such an answer as would satisfy you. I really 
 can t tell Just now, nothing seems more impos 
 sible than for me to say Yes to your your offer 
 of marriage 
 
 " I could hardly expect that you would," inter 
 posed Mr. Gregor. "Only don t decide hastily. 
 Don t say Xo, without further thought. 1 will 
 wait. Let me hope that you will not object to my 
 seeing you later this fall some time again. 
 Let me show you how much I adore you." 
 
 " I could never think of marrying without loving 
 the man whom I married," said Margaret. 
 
 " Hut is it impossible that you should ever learn 
 to love me ? " asked Mr. Gregor. 
 
 She looked at him as he stood there, in the fierce 
 light of that glass-surrounded tower. The cloud 
 less sky was dazzlingly blue. At their very feet, 
 twenty fathoms below, the rising tide swirled in a 
 diamond-flashing tide-rip. The bay spread out in 
 a gay panorama of dancing waters. Against that 
 sky and that expanse of brilliant sea stood the 
 millionnaire, calm, confident, yet earnest, the
 
 aV THE POIXT. 219 
 
 most trying environment that he could have 
 chosen. It showed him at his best and at his 
 worst. 
 
 " I hardly know you, Mr. Gregor, we have 
 been acquainted so short a time. I cannot tell 
 whether it is impossible or not." 
 
 " Will you answer my letters? " 
 
 " I see no reason why I should not answer them, 
 Mr. Gregor if, as you say, you have spoken 
 to my father." 
 
 " My dear Miss Margaret, I thank you for your 
 most reasonable treatment of my a my pro 
 posal. Not every young lady would have been so 
 a so sensible. It only confirms me in my 
 high opinion of your character, and increases my 
 admiration of you. \Ye will now go down, if you 
 please. Your father tells me you are going away 
 to make some visits. 1 will see you before you 
 leave." 
 
 It was news to Margaret that she was going away 
 to make visits, as it had been decided at last ac 
 counts that she was not to go. 
 
 Mr. Gregor took leave of her as soon as they 
 quitted the lighthouse. He went to his yacht ; 
 she hastened to the cottage, and, as I said, passed 
 me with flaming cheeks and flashing eyes. 
 
 It was through Mrs. Merrithew that I learned the 
 details of her first proposal. 
 
 Such an experience, more than anything else,
 
 22O av THE 
 
 perhaps, gives a woman full knowledge of her latent 
 powers. It is after the gosling has once, though 
 by instinct, taken to the water, that she sits in 
 proud consciousness of her grace and fitness. So 
 long as she only waddles awkwardly on the land, 
 her webbed feet are but apparent examples of mis 
 placed generosity. 
 
 Margaret had, as it were, pushed out from the 
 shore. She was to sail henceforth responsible only 
 to the dictates of her own nature. She was a 
 woman. It was evident in every act, in every mo 
 tion, in every turn of speech. 
 
 Kven the children were conscious of t lis change 
 in their sister. Alfred asked the very next morn 
 ing. - 
 
 " Say, mamma, what s the matter with Margaret ? 
 She is n t like a girl any more. 
 
 To me she said nothing about Mr. Gregor s 
 offer. The fact that he had already spoken to me 
 seemed to raise a barrier between us. All I had to 
 do was to wait and see how it would end. It was 
 evident that she was not to decide the question as I 
 supposed she would, at a word. Not even the 
 man s occasional slips in grammar and pronuncia 
 tion, or his involuntary pomposities, that which 
 made Mrs. Merrithew think him purse-proud, 
 caused him to seem absurd in her eyes. Jf he had 
 been ridiculous in his wooing it would have been all 
 over with it; she would have decided in a moment.
 
 OA THE rOIA T. 221 
 
 I am not certain what it was in the man that 
 attracted her to him. Perhaps it was his gener 
 osity. 1 afterwards learned through a distant 
 kinsman of his, that he was really munificent in his 
 benefactions ; but it was all done quietly, as it 
 were, on the sly. No ; Mrs. Merrithew was quite 
 unjust in calling Mr. Gregor purse-proud. She 
 afterwards came to acknowledge her mistake. 
 
 If- 
 
 But I must not anticipate.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 IN WHICH MR. MERRITHEW TRIES TO CAP THE 
 CLIMAX AND FAILS. 
 
 EARLY the next day our young college friends 
 broke camp. They came up to say good-bye 
 and to thank us for our hospitalities. Jf Ralf had 
 desired to give way to the impulse of the quite 
 justifiable sentimentality that I am sure oppressed 
 him, he had no chance to do so. I well knew how 
 he felt, but Margaret had not a suspicion that he 
 had gone so far as to talk with me. 
 
 It was all like a comedy. 
 
 We had not yet decided what boat we should go
 
 GLV THE POIXT. 223 
 
 up on, and so nothing was said of our prospective 
 departure. \Ve simply told our young friends that 
 \ve should hope to see them again, that our house 
 was always open to them, and that we should prize 
 their acquaintance. We walked down to the shore 
 and saw them embark. Richard was beaming with 
 happiness and hope ; Ralf looked sad and forlorn. 
 Their paddles flashed in the sunlight ; they shouted 
 their last adieus, and quickly vanished from sight. 
 
 In a certain sense it was off with the young love 
 and on with the old. When we got back to the 
 house, Mr. Gregor was there. I say "we," but not 
 Margaret. She wanted to be alone, and she took 
 the boat and went out for a row. She shouted to 
 me, "I may go over to see Aclele." It was a long 
 pull for her, but she was capable of it, and the tide 
 was favorable. 
 
 Mr. Gregor was disappointed not to see her, 
 though he did not ask for her. He said that he 
 came to propose the longer cruise in his yacht. We 
 might be gone four or five days, or a week. Of 
 course this was impossible. I explained to him 
 that a sudden engagement called me back to the 
 city. 
 
 " I will take you there," he said; "do it just as 
 well as not Miss Merrithew I suppose is going at 
 the same time. Now, Mrs. Merrithew, please tell 
 me why should they not take advantage of such a 
 chance ? The yacht can sail that way as well as
 
 224 - 
 
 the other. There s plenty of room, and I think it s 
 comfortable, don t you? Then why shouldn t 
 they do it?" 
 
 It was a tempting offer. I, for one, should have 
 gladly accepted it, at least, so far as I myself was 
 concerned. But for Margaret ? 
 
 It struck me as not quite a delicate thing to do. 
 Mrs. Merrithew replied,- 
 
 "We will leave the matter to Margaret. She 
 shall decide." 
 
 A change came over the weather a few hours 
 later. It was perfectly calm, but a dark purple 
 cloud came up in the west and spread gradually 
 over the sky. I began to worry about Margaret, 
 and to regret that I had permitted her to go off 
 alone. I remembered what the lighthouse-keeper 
 said about the dangers of the inner bay. 
 
 She must have seen it rising and be on her way 
 back. I went up to the steep bluff beyond the 
 lighthouse, where I could see the whole distance to 
 the Franks wharf. By this time the cloud was 
 overhead, sweeping like a vast cylinder, its forward 
 edge clearly denned and sharp-cut against the blue 
 of the sky. Underneath, puffs of ragged cloud 
 shot downward, as though spurted out by internal 
 forces. I could see a small speck on the water. 
 It was evidently a boat. A single pair of oars was 
 rising and falling. It was Margaret, trying to get 
 back before the storm would strike. The tide had
 
 O.Y THE POLYT. 22$ 
 
 turned, as I could see by the ripple behind the 
 numbered buoy. 
 
 "Oh! why didn t she stay till it was over?" i 
 cried to myself. A sudden idea struck me. I put 
 it into instant execution. I ran as fast as I could 
 to the wharf. Mr. Gregor s yacht was moored 
 within hailing distance. When I got there I was 
 out of breath. I could not utter a word. Fortu 
 nately, a man was lounging about on the wharf. I 
 made him shout. I could see some one on board 
 looking through a spy-glass. I waved my hand 
 kerchief and beckoned. A minute or two later, 
 the yacht s small boat started for the shore. I was 
 so excited that I could hardly wait till it reached 
 the wharf steps. 
 
 " Put me on board," I cried, and narrowly escaped 
 pitching head first into the water. 
 
 " Is Mr. Gregor there?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 There was an ominous darkness, a sort of angry 
 glare in the sky and on the water. 
 
 I scrambled on deck and told Mr. Gregor that 
 Margaret was out alone in a small boat, trying to 
 row back from the Franks . At that moment the 
 storm struck the inner bay : a tremendous gust of 
 wind that careened the yacht, a flash of yellow-red 
 lightning and a deafening peal of thunder, instantly 
 followed by a deluge of rain. 
 
 Mr. Gregor, as usual a man of resources, or-
 
 226 ON THE POIXT. 
 
 dered out the electric launch. It took only a few 
 seconds, but it seemed to me an age. 
 
 " You stay on board ! I 11 go ! " he shouted, and 
 before I had a chance to protest, the little craft, 
 under his guidance, was dashing through the water 
 toward the boat, which \ve could just see through 
 the driving rain. Fortunately, the wind had come 
 too suddenly to raise a heavy sea, but Margaret 
 found it impossible to row against such blasts. 
 When she found it was a hopeless task, and that 
 the wind was driving her up stream against the 
 tide, instead of giving up and lying down in the 
 bottom of the boat, as many girls would have done, 
 she pluckily clung to the oars and did her level 
 best to keep the bow in the wind. Mr. Gregor and 
 his men reached her before her strength was 
 exhausted. 
 
 They helped her into the launch, made her boat 
 fast by the painter, and started back to the yacht. 
 Even for the launch it was a tough struggle. I 
 could see the gallant craft tossing from her bow the 
 dashing spray, and lurching forward when the fierce 
 wind lulled for a moment. It was really a marvel 
 that they reached the yacht in safety, for only 
 a few moments afterward a tremendous gust struck 
 the bay. The captain ordered additional anchors 
 out, and we held ground. But several schooners 
 dragged ; two collided together and one went 
 ashore.
 
 OA THE POLYT. 227 
 
 Of course Margaret was soaked to the skin ; 
 but her cheeks were aglow. She realized the 
 clanger to which she had been exposed, but she 
 enjoyed the excitement of the storm. She declared 
 she was not frightened in the least. 
 
 I -knew that Mrs. Merrithew would be frantic 
 with apprehension. I therefore begged Mr. Gregor 
 to set us both ashore as soon as possible. He 
 himself saw the necessity of doing so. 
 
 As soon as we got home, Margaret had an attack 
 of something like hysterics. She laughed and cried, 
 and talked so fast that it was strange to hear her. 
 Mrs. Merrithew put her to bed, and, thanks to 
 her excellent constitution, she suffered no serious 
 ill. She stayed in bed the rest of the day, and 
 was all right the next morning, when Mr. Gregor 
 came to inquire after her. 
 
 I am inclined to think that if it had not been 
 for his rescue of her the day before, she would 
 have decided to accept the invitation to go home 
 on the yacht ; but after that episode it was clearly 
 impossible. He had the delicacy not to press the 
 invitation. 
 
 Even if we had decided to go with him, the 
 excursion would not have taken place. 
 
 I thought that Mr. Gregor looked a trifle pale, 
 and asked him if the exposure of the day before 
 had not been too much for him. He laughed 
 it off, but acknowledged that he had been suffer
 
 228 O,V THE 1 OIXT. 
 
 ing from a rush of blood to the head, but felt 
 much better. He remarked that as we were 
 not to be his guests, he thought he would carry 
 out his original intention and sail farther up the 
 coast, especially as two gentlemen whom he brought 
 with him the week before had that morning re 
 turned from a trip up into the country. They would 
 like to see some of the interesting places beyond. 
 He would see us on his return. 
 
 He shook hands heartily with each of us. gave 
 Natalie a kiss on each plump cheek, and exchanged 
 pleasant words with the small boys. He held 
 Margaret s hand a moment in his, and looked at 
 her with a sort of mute pleading that was not 
 without its pathos. 
 
 * I shall hope to hear from you." he said. and 
 we may meet in Newport." 
 
 A few hours later we heard the yacht s starting 
 gun, and after a little we saw her rounding the 
 Point. She came as near to our shore as the 
 channel permitted. We could plainly see Mr. 
 Gregor waving his handkerchief. His two friends 
 were standing by him. The yacht saluted again 
 and again. The small boys squealed with all 
 the siren might of their elastic lungs. We waved 
 everything white that we possessed. 
 
 Then the yacht struck diagonally across the 
 bay. We watched her rapidly growing less and 
 less, till she vanished out of sight.
 
 <9.V THE POINT. 229 
 
 It was impossible to explain the feeling of 
 sadness that fell on all of us after the disap 
 pearance of the " Yetolka." It was a sort of presenti 
 ment. It could not have been more pronounced 
 than if it had carried Margaret away on a bridal 
 tour. Yet there the girl stood by my side, with 
 a far-away look in her eyes. The Point seemed 
 desolate. It seemed as if the breath of Autumn 
 had suddenly struck the place, as if the prevalence 
 of Fall s yellow colors, China s mourning hues, had 
 anticipated the departure of Summer. It was a 
 strange, inexplicable sensation, caused perhaps in 
 part by the impending changes, by our own ap 
 proaching break-up, perhaps in part to the reaction 
 after the strain of the past few days, and the 
 removal of immediate decision on a matter so 
 important, leaving it, however, a matter of sus 
 pense and conjecture. There were many possible 
 elements in the impression. Even Mrs. Merrithew, 
 who approved least of the proposal, felt the shadow; 
 but in her case it was more easily explainable. 
 
 On the following Tuesday Margaret and I 
 started. We took the early morning steamer 
 down the bay, proposing to stay a few hours 
 with the other Franks at their summer farm, and 
 take the big boat in the afternoon. I wrote them 
 of our coming, and they kindly met us at the 
 wharf. Mr. Frank himself drove down with 
 his two daughters and his son ; he had a thr* 3 ^-
 
 23O O.Y THE POIXT. 
 
 seated wagon, drawn by two handsome horses. 
 He suggested that it would be pleasant for us 
 to have a drive before dinner. 
 
 That drive was one of the pleasantest episodes 
 of the summer. It was not the clearest of days ; 
 there was a haze in the atmosphere which hung, 
 veil-like, over the sea and made the islands indis 
 tinct ; but it softened the contours of the mountains, 
 and communicated to them a sort of poetic mystery. 
 We first drove through the pretty village clustering 
 around the beautiful harbor. There were two large 
 four-masters almost ready for launching. Dozens 
 of men were at work like bees, some bending the 
 new canvas, others giving finishing touches. One 
 of them was to be launched that very day, and 
 it was likely that we should have time to see it. 
 
 Then we left the village and climbed a long 
 hill, on the very summit of which stood the 
 charming home of our friends. The view ex 
 tended in every direction, with mountains on three 
 sides of them and the sea in front. Down in 
 the valley gleamed the winding waters of a jewel- 
 like lake. Toward that we took our way, skirting 
 its shore for some little distance till we reached 
 a branch road that followed the foot of the highest 
 of the mountains, rising sheer from the water with 
 a magnificent precipice, where lurked a gigantic 
 echo, as tall as the Dame Nature described by 
 Brunetto Latini. Under an arch of fine trees
 
 ON THE POINT. 2$ I 
 
 we climbed this hilly road, leaving the lake, till 
 at last we reached another summit from which 
 we could see a large part of the lake. 
 
 Margaret instantly exclaimed, 
 
 "Oh, papa! it is like the Lake of Killarney ! " 
 
 " You are not the first person who has said so," 
 said Mr. Frank. " But is it not strange that this 
 region has been so neglected by Fashion ? Merri- 
 thew, there s a farm next ours, one hundred and 
 twenty acres three thousand dollars worth of 
 standing timber on it good house that is, good 
 enough could be made first class for five hun 
 dred dollars barn tumble-down, ramshackly, 
 you can buy it for twenty five - hundred ! Good 
 chance, sure investment." 
 
 " I will think it over," I replied. 
 
 It was a very judicial reply. I thought many 
 a time of the pleasures of a Newport cottage, of a 
 mansion in the skies, of a dozen things enviable 
 but equally out of my reach. As for a farm, I felt 
 the life of a farmer was not my vocation. I did n t 
 know " pusley " from sauerkraut, or at least from 
 salad ; I might almost be said not to " know beans." 
 I did not know the proper time to plant anything. 
 I never ploughed in my life. I never swung a 
 scythe. The only way of owning a farm, as far as I 
 was concerned, was to conduct it myself. I was 
 not a rich manufacturer like Mr. Frank, and it was 
 out of the question for me to have a farmer and 
 run it on broad principles of laissez faire.
 
 232 OA THE POIXT. 
 
 What a delightful drive it was ! We got back 
 just in time for dinner. Then we appreciated the 
 blessings of being a farm-owner ! Such vegetables 
 I never tasted before, full ears of the sweetest 
 corn, late peas, that melted on the tongue like 
 honey, string-beans as tender as the heart of a 
 cherub, beets bleeding ruby wine, summer squashes 
 almost as delectable as melons, and for dessert, 
 canteloupes as spicy as the juices of Cathay. 
 
 We were just in time to see the launch of the 
 four-master. It was a gala occasion for all the 
 region round. The harbor was full of yachts of 
 every description, all gayly decorated with flags 
 and streamers, the great vessel duly attired, as 
 befitted the latest bride added to old Neptune s 
 harem : he has more than Solomon had in all 
 his glory, (as may be read in the eleventh book 
 of First Kings!*) All was expectation; crowds 
 of people stood on every wharf and house-top and 
 lined the shores. Hundreds of carriages filled the 
 roads. Suddenly the noise of fifty hammers was 
 heard, and then, with a slight cracking sound the 
 ship began slowly to slide down the greased ways. 
 Three young ladies decorated her bow with a 
 garland of roses. As she gathered impetus the 
 whistle on all the steam -crafts and all the mills 
 set up an unearthly shrieking ; cannon were fired, 
 and thousands of shouts rent the air. She was 
 soon riding like a swan on the water.
 
 O.Y THE rOIXT. 233 
 
 I should recommend Longfellow s " Building of 
 the Ship " if any one wished further details, but I 
 believe that has been declared immoral by certain 
 eminent authorities, and I should not like to con 
 taminate the minds of the most sensitive. The 
 metaphor employed above is strictly scriptural, and 
 therefore irreproachable. 
 
 Our steamer was on time, and we were soon 
 homeward bound. We had only one more stop to 
 make. It was just sunset as we reached the port. 
 The sun, looking like a disk of bloody fire, was sink 
 ing behind the mountains as we passed the break 
 water and moved up to the wharf. We were on 
 the hurricane deck enjoying the scene. It was 
 warm and perfectly calm. Suddenly Margaret ex 
 claimed, 
 
 " Why ! there s the " Yetolka," isn t it ? " 
 
 " What can she be doing here ? " I queried. 
 
 When we were alongside the wharf, we watched 
 the men loading the freight. It was high tide, and 
 they had an easier time than when they have to 
 run it up an inclined plane, at an angle of forty-five 
 degrees. But it was interesting to see them rushing 
 on board with their trucks filled with boxes, and 
 bales, and barrels, occasionally a crate full of 
 fowls cackling and craning their scared heads out 
 between the slats, at imminent danger of disloca 
 tion. Two men at last came with a canoe. 
 
 "I declare," said I, "if that isn t our friends 
 canoe ! "
 
 234 OX THE POIXT. 
 
 "Then they must be on board," said Margaret; 
 "that will be very pleasant." 
 
 I went to look for them, but Margaret was the 
 first to spy them on the wharf. 
 
 " This is indeed a surprise ! " they exclaimed, 
 when we were all together. 
 
 Naturally Curtiss was radiant and full of his droll 
 sayings. I could not help thinking how strange it 
 was that he, who, at first sight, struck one as a 
 man graver than a judge, should have had such a 
 quaint humor, while Mr. Gregor, in spite of the 
 rather comical appearance, seemed to have had the 
 sense of wit left out of his composition, as though 
 he had inherited the traditional obtuseness of the 
 Scotch. 
 
 It was Curtiss, nevertheless, who explained for 
 us the presence of the yacht in the harbor. It was 
 indeed sad news, and considerably dashed our en 
 joyment of the trip. 
 
 " Yes," said he, " we heard accidentally that Mr. 
 Gregor had had a stroke shortly after leaving the 
 Point. They brought him here and carried him 
 ashore. He s at the hotel, and very dangerously 
 ill. He can hardly speak ; he can only write with 
 his left hand. We heard this afternoon that he 
 was sinking. 
 
 " Fortunately," said I, " one of his friends on 
 board was a doctor, I believe ; so he will have good 
 care."
 
 O.Y THE POINT. 235 
 
 The home voyage was otherwise uneventful. 
 Margaret pleaded a slight headache, and turned in 
 early. 1 did not blame her. She could not feel 
 like joining in gay conversation. I am afraid the 
 young men thought that 1 was rather abstracted ; 
 but it was impossible for me to keep my mind from 
 the sick-bed of the man whom we had met and 
 parted from so significantly. Nor could I confide 
 to my daughter s other suitor the real state of 
 things. I suppose it was this upsetting intelligence 
 that prevented Margaret from telling the young 
 men of her prospective visit to Newport. 
 
 We got in early in the morning; there was not 
 even a wraith of fog to delay us. It was too early 
 to catch the first car home, so Margaret and I went 
 to a hotel and got breakfast. On the way 1 got 
 a newspaper, and almost the first thing that my 
 eye fell on was a telegraphic despatch announcing 
 the death of the millionnaire Archibald Gregor. A 
 brief obituary was appended, and mention was 
 made of the probable destination of his fortune. 
 
 Margaret was to go to Newport that afternoon. 
 I was to sleep at the house and take my meals in 
 town until the family returned. Thus must the 
 forlorn temporary grass-widower live, as it were, 
 from hand to mouth. I saw Margaret off, but 
 could not bring myself to the point of telling her 
 of Mr. Gregor s death. 
 
 How strange it seemed to be back amid civiliza-
 
 236 O.V THE POIXT. 
 
 lion again ! to see men crouching like monkeys 
 over the bars of their bicycles, as though to entail 
 on their descendants humps more monstrous than 
 Quasimodo s ! and women, each with one hand at 
 tached to her back, as though to entail on their de 
 scendants an atrophied member! How close and 
 ill-smelling the streets of the city ! How lifeless, 
 ozoneless the atmosphere ! How the August pipers 
 dinned with their rythmic, vibrant voices ! What a 
 barbarous roar and rumble of teams on pavements ! 
 
 But I am fain to confess that I rather enjoyed 
 my temporary grass-widowhood. Most of the 
 houses in our neighborhood were closed ; there was 
 no temptation to waste time ; there was no interrup 
 tion ; it was perfectly quiet, and I was enabled to 
 do a lot of work. 
 
 Thus passed the days so far as concerned me.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 IN WHICH MR. MERRITHEW ONLY HINTS AT A 
 CLIMAX. 
 
 THE first letter that I received from Mrs. 
 Merrithew enclosed a telegram and a letter. 
 They had been received shortly after our departure, 
 but had not been delivered till some hours had 
 elapsed. They were both to the same effect, only 
 the letter was circumstantial. I was desired to 
 bring Margaret as soon as possible to Mr. Gregor s 
 bedside. He had received this stroke on board of 
 the yacht, and knew that he had not long to live. 
 He was most anxious that Margaret should marry 
 237
 
 238 a\* THE POINT. 
 
 him even then ; but if she were unwilling, he 
 wanted at least to see her once more before he 
 passed away. 
 
 It was strange that no one thought to intercept 
 us at the steamer, but it was evidently a refinement 
 of forethought that, under the circumstances, was 
 pardonably neglected. 
 
 I am certain that Margaret could not have consci 
 entiously taken such a step. It would have been 
 done, at least in the eyes of the world, simply foi 
 the sake of attaining control of a large fortune. It 
 would have entailed disagreeable complications 
 with Mr. Gregor s relatives. I was, on the whole, 
 thankful enough that the messages from the dying 
 man failed to reach us. It would have been inex 
 pressibly trying. 
 
 But, after this warning, I was not surprised to re 
 ceive, a few days later, a letter from Mr. Gregor s 
 lawyers, enclosing a dictated letter, sealed, for Mar 
 garet, and informing me that by the terms of his 
 will, under a codicil, signed just before the stroke 
 came on him, the junior partner of the law firm 
 being on board the " Vetolka," so that it was all 
 perfectly regular, Margaret was a beneficiary to 
 the amount of fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 I had heard of such things before, but I never 
 dreamed of their happening in my family. In 
 these days of colossal estates, it was not a piece of 
 absolutely dazzling fortune; but when I, as trustee,
 
 av THE POIXT. 239 
 
 received the securities, which brought an income at 
 six per centum, I felt that Margaret, while theoreti 
 cally disapproving of the principle of an unearned 
 increment, might not find the interest so inconven 
 ient to have. 
 
 It made her independent. It gave her a thou 
 sand chances to do good. 1 don t know how many 
 little luxuries that Mrs. Merrithew and I had 
 longed for, or how many little pleasures for the 
 younger children it enabled her to provide. 
 
 I only wish that every girl in the country, who 
 deserved it as much as Margaret did, could have a 
 similar stroke of good fortune. 
 
 Margaret afterwards showed me the letter which 
 Mr. Gregor had sent her. It was a pathetic 
 message from the dead. It was indeed begun 
 in his own cramped and disabled hand ; but the 
 ending was copied from dictation. Just before 
 he died, he had, to a certain extent, recovered the 
 use of his tongue. The letter showed the man s 
 excellence of character, and, above all, his tender 
 heart. Margaret will always preserve it among 
 her most precious treasures. It was that letter, 
 and the knowledge which she came to have of 
 Mr. Gregor s life-long benefactions, that more than 
 anything else inclines her to use the fund which 
 he left her as a sort of trust for others. 
 
 Owing to the death of Mr. Gregor, Margaret 
 and I had for several days a lively correspondence, 
 mainly on that subject.
 
 240 O.Y THE POLYT. 
 
 It was, perhaps, a week after the letter from the 
 lawyers came announcing the matter of the will 
 that she began to tell anything about her visit 
 to Newport. Miss Askelon was kindness itself, 
 and was most sympathetic when she learned the 
 whole story from the gill s iips. 
 
 Miss Askelon lived in a large, old-fashioned, 
 comfortable house on one of the streets near the 
 Jewish burying-ground, one of the pleasantest 
 parts of Newport. IJut she did not move, or care 
 to move, in the fashionable society, which, judging 
 from the reports in the newspapers, make up the 
 life of that lovely watering-place. 
 
 There is a theory which I have never verified, 
 that one may pour a bushel of beans into a basket 
 filled with potatoes. So it is with Newport : the 
 so-called " smart set " occupy all the space that 
 they can ; they fill the social basket, but there is 
 just as much room as ever for the smaller folk 
 who do not pretend to be fashionable, and who. 
 nevertheless, get an equal amount of enjoyment 
 out of life. 
 
 Miss Askelon was one of these. She possessed 
 a large income, she had charming taste, her house 
 was furnished in the most comfortable and home 
 like style, with plenty of books, admirable pictures 
 and not too much bric-a-brac. - unless the pam 
 pered dog be considered under that category ! 
 She had good, safe horses, a careful driver, and
 
 ON THE POIXT. 241 
 
 she always managed to attract about her a society 
 of culture and refinement. She was a woman who 
 had a definite idea of what life meant ; she made 
 the most of it, not only for herself but for her 
 friends. No one ever visited her and failed to 
 have a good time. She was a maiden lady, and 
 yet she was the least of an old maid that I ever 
 saw. There was some romance connected with 
 her life. Some time I mean to find what it was. 
 If 1 ever do and it is possible, I shall make use 
 of it. She will give me permission, I am sure. 
 
 Those who visit Newport in such conditions as 
 Miss Askelon provides are amazed at the freedom 
 of the place. They may hear rumors of the scan 
 dals affecting our pinchbeck high-life; 1 they may 
 by chance get glimpses of haughty faces, passing 
 down the avenue ; they may even see the in 
 terior of some of the palatial " cottages " along 
 the cliff; but it is not the Casino, or watching 
 fashionable young men break their necks playing 
 polo, that they will enjoy most. It will be at 
 the " Town and Country Club," or sailing in a 
 humble cat-boat, or rowing in the moonlight, or 
 walking over to Fort Adams to hear the band 
 play from the ramparts, or, at least so it used 
 to be, picnicking at the Dumplings and fishing 
 off Brenton s reef. 
 
 Oh, simplicity of life! how delightful it is! 
 When the wheels are complicated, how much more 
 apt they are to clog and foul !
 
 242 O.Y THE POIXT. 
 
 Those who have their terrapin and champagne 
 and high game every day know not the delights of 
 terrapin and champagne and game. Once or twice 
 a year is enough for it, and we are willing, perhaps, 
 to pay the penalty of headache and ill-temper 
 that ensue. If I were worth a million I should 
 not be tempted to enlarge my style of living. 
 Why should I keep a boarding-house for servants 
 and pay them for boarding with me ? Those days 
 when both girls are out and Mrs. Merrithew her 
 self gets our supper (and I tell you she can 
 cook; she can make things taste appetizing, though 
 I did not marry her for that) are marked with 
 a golden mile-stone ; and I wish from the bottom 
 of my heart that we could always get along with 
 that old-fashioned, Arcadian simplicity which we, 
 perhaps fallaciously, suppose that our ancestors 
 enjoyed. 
 
 Margaret has been educated to enjoy this same 
 simple fare. She is simple, also, in her dress. I 
 could not imagine her rigged out like a girl whom 
 I saw yesterday in the street, with elaborately 
 frizzled hair and machine-made bangs, and a hat 
 decorated with a regular arsenal of pins and buckles 
 and feathers and ribons, and a structure unnamed 
 rising from each shoulder, as though she were 
 trying to make people think wings were sprouting 
 underneath, and a belt with enough silver on it 
 to raise the price of that no longer precious metal,
 
 O.Y THE POINT. 243 
 
 and various other articles for show between the 
 top feather on her head and the high heel on 
 her unhygienic boot. This one was a study ! 
 But Margaret needs no " making up." 
 Margaret wrote me in full of the delights of New 
 port ; I should like to quote a good many pages 
 of these letters. They would give a better idea 
 of the girl s character and nature than any de 
 scription of mine. But they have so much to do 
 with people whose names are interwoven, and who 
 might object to this kind of publicity, that I must 
 refrain. 
 
 One sentence only from one of them I will 
 quote : 
 
 " Now, papa, I have a great piece of news for you. Who 
 do you guess is visiting here at Miss Askelon s ? . . . . No 
 one else than Ralf Curtiss! He is Miss Askelon s nephew, 
 no half-cousin. Isn t it strange that we never knew it 
 before? We never mentioned her to him, nor he to us. lie 
 only came last night, and he is to be here a whole week, 
 
 perhaps longer He seems like such a good fellow. 
 
 Miss Askelon has told me a great deal about him. She is 
 very fond of him. She says he has such a strong character. 
 When I saw him coming in it almost took away my breath. 
 I le did n t know I was here, either. I have known him only 
 a few days, but somehow it seemed as though I had known 
 him all my life. He has planned some lovely excursions, and 
 Miss Askelon, who told us she expected a relative, but did 
 not mention any name, is very enthusiastic about it .... 
 Can t you come down and spend Sunday ? Miss Askelon 
 suggested the idea. I think she will write you."
 
 244 O.Y THE POIXT. 
 
 I will also quote a sentence from Miss Askelon s 
 letter : 
 
 We are enjoying Margaret s visit immensely. She has 
 the gift of making herself at home, and that is the great 
 est compliment that a visitor can pay. She is also very 
 helpful, full of resources, amiable, and unselfish. A young 
 relative of mine, whom you know Ralf Curtiss is there. 
 I suspect, you know there is no one so alert as an old maid 
 in getting wind of such things, I suspect that Ralf has a 
 tender spot in his heart for Miss Margaret. I am pretty 
 skilful in worming secrets from young people. I made Ralf 
 confess. It seems to me an ideal match. Margaret is n t 
 fond of him yet, I mean dangerously fond of him, but if she 
 sees him much longer, the damp green-wood of her heart will 
 catch fire. Can t you come down to Newport and spend 
 Sunday, -stay as long as you can, there is always plenty of 
 room? Come down, and we will talk the matter over like a 
 pair of old conspirators. ... Do come! I have bidden 
 Margaret add her persuasions. 
 
 There was no reason why I should not go. So I 
 packed up my gripsack and started. I had a 
 delightful visit. Miss Askelon managed to take 
 me to ride while the rest were doing something else 
 less important, and we thoroughly discussed the 
 matter of a match between Margaret and Ralf. 
 Miss Askelon believed fully in letting the affair 
 have full course. 
 
 " If they want to become engaged before he 
 graduates, let them, by all means," said she. " I 
 have seen in my own life the wretchedness of 
 parental interference
 
 a\ r THE POINT. 245 
 
 That gave me an excellent chance to get Miss 
 Askelon to tell me of her own life-romance, but she 
 evaded it : 
 
 " Not now, not now ; some other time. Perhaps 
 J will leave you my memoirs my manuscript 
 memoirs in my will," she added, playfully. 
 
 * I don t mean that in every case young people 
 are to be left to follow their own inclinations," she 
 explained. " But in the case of a girl like 
 Margaret, who has such remarkable self-balance, or 
 Ralf, who is, I assure you, true gold, there is not the 
 slightest danger. I kit then, you know, the best 
 laid plans of mice and men, Ralf is already in 
 love with Margaret, but Margaret does not as 
 yet suspect it. Ralf told me that he had spoken to 
 you, and you rather warned him off. Don t do it ! 
 Let him see her as much as he wants. He will be 
 wise. But then, as I have read, 
 
 " Two shall be born tJie whole wide world apart, 
 And speak in different tongues, and have no thought 
 Each of the other s being, and no heed; 
 And tJicse o er unknown seas to unknown lands 
 Shall cross, escaping wreck, defying death; 
 And, all unconsciously, sJiape ei cry act 
 And bend eacli wandering step to this one end; 
 Tliat, one day, out of darkness they shall meet, 
 And read lije s meaning in each other s eyes.
 
 246 ON THE POINT. 
 
 Ever so little space to right or left, 
 
 They needs must stand acknowledged face to face, 
 
 And yet with wistful eyes that iii-vcr meet. 
 
 IVith groping hands that never clasp, and lips 
 
 Calling in vain to cars that >u~\ r hear. 
 
 They seek each other all their weary i/urs 
 
 And die unsatisfied, and that is fate ! " 
 
 For sentimentality pure and simple commend me 
 to an old maid ! Still I could not really see any 
 reason to interfere with Margaret s love affairs. 
 
 I went back home, satisfied to let her stay on 
 with Miss Askelon in spite of the continued visit 
 of Ralf Curtiss.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 WHEREIN THE END OF THE STORY IS SHOWN TO 
 BE LIRE MAHOMET S COFFIN. 
 
 NO one ever saw Mahomet s coffin, but it is 
 said to be suspended in the air somewhere. 
 Margaret s love-story has a certain resemblance to 
 that. Perhaps I should be regarded as presumptu 
 ous if I said that no one had ever seen the future. 
 But we can imagine the appearance of Mahomet s 
 coffin kept rigid at some central place by the com 
 bining forces of the universe ; so the reader s 
 imagination may easily act the seer and tell 
 whether Ralf s persistence is or is not to win the 
 day. The question is still undecided. 
 
 Mrs. Merrithew succeeded in shutting up the 
 cottage unaided. She engaged outside staterooms 
 communicating. The bungling agent secured her 
 two isolated inside ones. The night proved to be 
 the roughest and windiest of the whole season. 
 The captain did not dare leave port until about 
 four o clock in the morning. It was a night of 
 horrors over which I will draw a veil. 
 
 At home the day was perfect until late in the 
 afternoon, clear and bright. Mrs. Merrithew en 
 countered fog as thick as that on which the Cape
 
 248 o.v riir. POIXT. 
 
 Cod man shingled out a hundred feet beyond his 
 barn without knowing it. 
 
 I got up at an abnormally early hour and went 
 to the wharf to meet the boat. With characteristic 
 disagreeableness the functionary in charge of the 
 office held back the telegram that he had received 
 stating that the boat would be seven or eight hours 
 late. I therefore waited on the wharf, as Milton 
 would say, unbreakfasted, unconsolable, unde 
 ceived. 
 
 At last an acquaintance belonging to the com 
 pany informed me of the true state of things ; but 
 he miscalculated, and when I reached the wharf 
 again, half an hour earlier than the time he set, the 
 boat was already in. I therefore missed finding 
 my family. They took the car, and I hastened 
 across town for the train, which I managed to get, 
 so that I intercepted them just as they were dis 
 mounting from the car. I carried the baby this 
 time. The little rascal, in spite of his hard experi 
 ence, was as lively as a grig, and managed to untie 
 my necktie before I had gone four steps. They 
 were all glad enough to get home ; but it was 
 twenty-four hours before the boys were convinced 
 that the floors of the house were not as "wobbly" 
 as the ship. 
 
 Margaret was still in Newport, with Miss Aske- 
 lon, but she returned a few days later. She had 
 less to sav than before about Ralf Curtiss, and I
 
 ON THE POINT. 249 
 
 noticed that when his name was mentioned she 
 seemed a little self-conscious. 
 
 That was all. 
 
 We agreed that it was our duty as a family to go 
 and thank the Governor and his wife for the de 
 lightful summer which their generosity had enabled 
 us to enjoy, with all its momentous consequences. 
 I should have liked to take, also, one of the boys, 
 but Mrs. Merrithew thought that she and I and 
 Margaret would make a committee large enough. 
 
 Just as we started, Magnus, Jr., made one of his 
 embarrassing remarks. 
 
 "Mamma/ said he, "what makes papa so bald? 
 Why doesn t he take some of his hair from the 
 mustache place, and put it on top of his head ? " 
 
 \Yhat can be done with such a boy? I can only 
 console myself by quoting what Dromio saith : 
 What Time hath scanted men in hair, he hath 
 given them in wit." But that is a small consola 
 tion. 
 
 On the way I remarked that I had lost an im 
 portant letter. " It is very strange," said I, " for I 
 very rarely lose anything." 
 
 " Why," said Mrs. Merrithew, " you are always 
 losing things. You are always losing canes, gloves, 
 umbrellas, books, pencils. If it were not for me 
 you would n t have anything left." 
 
 That is the way a man gets taken down. 
 
 I had nothing to say. It was true I had lost
 
 250 6>A r THE 
 
 my best umbrella going to Newport. I had left my 
 last cane, a friend had brought it to me from the 
 Cannibal Islands, an ironwood cane, warranted a 
 sure defence against highway robbers. I had at 
 least five sets of mismated gloves. As for lead 
 pencils, it was my habit to cut them into short 
 pieces, and put one into every pocket that I had ; 
 but the result was inevitably the same, when I 
 wanted to use a pencil in a hurry, I could not find 
 one. Perhaps a week later I would find them all 
 clustering in one pocket of some rarely-worn 
 waistcoat. 
 
 Nevertheless, 1 still cling to my theory, which 
 my wife declares is very silly and trivial, although 
 I believe I printed it as an editorial in the Cym- 
 bal, that the explanation of the difference be 
 tween the mind of man and the mind of woman 
 lies in the fact that man has so many pockets, while 
 woman has but one. The man must reason from 
 pocket to pocket ; the woman goes for her one 
 pocket by intuition. 
 
 This illustrates the genesis of the intuitive faculty 
 of woman, as well as the logical processes of a 
 man s mind. A man has to reason out a thing by 
 cumbrous machinery. A woman leaps at it. 
 
 But this is too abstract a theory to develop at 
 length. 
 
 We reached the Governor s, and found both him 
 and his wife at home. We quite deluged the
 
 <9.V THE POIXT. 251 
 
 worthy pair with our eloquence. We told them all 
 about our summer, and expressed our gratitude as 
 well as we could. 
 
 The Governor said that he was delighted that we 
 had such a good time. His wife added that it 
 would be a great consolation to her if she could 
 dispose of that cottage. 
 
 " We would sell it very cheap, very cheap in 
 deed," said she. 
 
 " How much ? " I asked. 
 
 Well, said she, looking at the Governor, "I be 
 lieve it cost us about twenty-five hundred dollars, 
 not reckoning the land ; but, as it is not likely that 
 we shall ever go there again, and as it is only a 
 burden on our hands, giving us no pleasure, except 
 when our friends get pleasure from it, we would put 
 it in first-class order, and sell it for a thousand 
 dollars." 
 
 I looked at Margaret. She understood my look, 
 but she was wise. Out of gratitude I should have 
 been glad to buy that cottage. Besides, it was a 
 safe investment. Some time the Point would come 
 into favor ; some good manager would take the 
 hotel, and then there would be a boom. But then, it 
 might not happen for twenty years. There is noth 
 ing easier in the world to buy than real estate, and 
 nothing harder to get rid of, I mean at a profit. 
 
 Margaret shrewdly changed the subject. Five 
 minutes later she and the Governor were having a
 
 252 av THE POIXT. 
 
 lively discussion on some matter which I happened 
 to know greatly interested his excellency. 
 
 The next time I met his wife, she said, 
 
 " Mr. Merrithew, what a charming girl your 
 daughter is ! I want to know her better. My hus 
 band was delighted with her, he quite lost his 
 heart to her ! She is so clever, and at the same 
 time so unconscious of it. And she is beautiful, 
 too." 
 
 Such encomiums tend to warm the heart, perhaps 
 unduly. But I answered as modestly as I could. 
 
 We talked the matter of buying the cottage over 
 seriously ; and if Mrs. Merrithew had wanted to go 
 there more than once again, certainly Margaret 
 would have bought it. But the truth is, Mrs. Mer 
 rithew likes surf and the open sea ; she has a 
 decided longing for Gunkit. We shall surely go 
 there next summer, if we live. 
 
 Just as I am making that prediction, I look up 
 from my paper and see, passing my window and 
 entering my yard, the familiar form of Ralf Curtiss. 
 I can, therefore, only add a word. Seeing him 
 makes me forget where I am. As I hear his voice 
 in the hall, asking for Margaret, it comes over me 
 vividly, as in a dream, that we are still on the 
 Point ! 
 
 THE END.
 
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