I Saw Three Ships and Other Winter Tale
arols ushered in the day, a certain languor not seldom pervaded the services of the Church a few hours later. Red eyes and heavy, young limbs hardly rested from the Dashing White
ed at midnight. The building stands high above a bleak peninsula on the South Coast, and the congregation had struggled up with heads slanted sou'-west against the weather that drove up the Channel in a black fog. Now, having gained shelter, they quickly lost the glow of endeavour,
ing back at the end of the Psalms, and eyeing his fiddle dubiously; "If Sternho
the second fiddle-a screw-faced man tightly
to cuss the singers when the
s Sweetland, bending across from the left. Now Elias was a bachelor, and had blown the serpent from hi
d among the proper psa'ms, 'specially since Chris'mas three year, when we sat in the forefront of the gallery, an'
at hour, I do b'lieve. Though I'd as lief you didn't mentio
looked up for a moment, as a scud of rain splashed on
m intervals, and a drop o' cider in the mouthpieces i
rew as p
ed boy o' mine, I keep silence, yea, even from hard words, considerin' what's to co
hy he looks
g Zeb Minards, who sat on their left and f
feelin',
er; very whitely, a
by sympathy, handed a
, the bass-viol player; "But cast your eyes, good friends, 'pon a little slip o' heart's delight down in t
orld's way
dn't miss the importance of i
Pa'son Babbage by the desk statin' forth my own banns, an' me with my clean shirt collar limp as a flounder. As for your mother, Zeb, nuthin 'ud do but she must dream o' runnin' water that Saturday night, an' want to c
ust daunt a man to hear his name loudly couple
n ended. There was a scraping of feet, then a clearing of throat
out, grey morning or white, a gloom rested always on the singers' gallery, cast by the tower upon the south side, that stood apart from the main building, connected only by the porch roof, as by an isthmus. And upon eyes used to this comparative obscurity the nave produced the effect of a bright parterre of flowers, especially in those days when all the women wore scarlet cloaks, to scare th
ree words from the mouth of Old Ze
-ye s
ng the rest of the canticle his eyes were glued to the score, and seemed
us, my son," commented his father at
eppermint lozenge had somehow jolted into his windpipe, and
unheeded. The crowder, with his eyes contemplatively fastened on the capital of a distant pill
he, had a-dropped in, in passin', an' heard me read the same. 'Hullo!' he'd 'a said, 'You've a-put the same words twice over.' 'How's that?' 'How's that? Why,
ve and wholly flattering sketch. "No-really now! Though, indeed, strange wo
eaded old antic,- leave that to the musicianers. At the word 'whales,' let the music go snorty; an' for wells, gliddery; a
mfortable sounds were issuing. His eyes rolled
he back, Calvin
pa'son at' h
For 'tis clunk or stuff
pew as Calvin Oke brought down his open palm with a whack! knocking the suffer
between Zebedee Minards, bachelor, and Ruby Tresidder, spinster, both of thi
ned. Parson Babbage broke off his sentence and looked also, keeping his forefinger on the fluttering page. On the threshold stood a
ck! a
sbands' hats, and stood up also. The choir in the gallery craned forward, for the church-do
e's s
t, an' comin' full
board!" spoke up a woman's voice, in
you know, G
ff to warn the Methodeys! 'Stablished Chu
the short grass, blowing the women's skirts wide and straining their bonnet-strings, pressing the men's trousers tight against their shins as they bent against it in the attitude of butting rams and scanned the coast-line to the sou'-west. Ruby
d her by, she felt suddenly out of tune with them, especially with Zeb, who, at least, might have understood her better. Some angry tears gathered in her eyes at the callous indifference of her
along my second-best glass, under the Dook o' Cumberland's picter i' the parlour, 'longside o' last year's
lready fighting her way out along the headland to a point where Zeb s
eb
is ear. He faced round with a start, nodded as i
lling and sinking, and the puffs of foam that shot up like white smoke at her feet and drenched her gown. Beyond, the sea, the sky, and the irregular coast with its fri
r gnawing at her face, and the spray for spoiling her bonnet and t
eb
back in her ear, kissing her w
in comparison with it. But, at this instant, a small group of men and women joined them, and, catch
you; but don't 'ee take on so. Think how much
ly. Zeb answered it with a point-blank stare of bew
r, Zeb?" called
N
the wind the better to wink at the company, "that 'tis lucky for some folks Gauger Hocken hain't extr
'em 'pon the road, a minute
ger Hocken to warn the church-folk first; and him a man of n
p, now suddenly flung his left out in the directi
moment it had doubled its size-had become a blur-then a shape. And at length, out of the lead
one, while Ruby dug her
e with a rush like a greyhound's, heeling over the whitened water, close under the cliffs, and closer with every i
affer's Rock. By crum! if she does, the
es, her steerin' gear's broke," ans
ooner came tearing abreast of it, a huge sea caught her broadside, and lifted as if to fling her high and dry. The men and women on the headland held t
d young Zeb, shaking off Ruby'
r the schooner must dash upon the Raney-a reef, barely covered at high water, barring entrance to the cove-or avoiding this, must be shattered on the
it, half buried in the seas through which she was being impelled; she saw distinctly one form, and one only, on the deck beside the helm-a form that flung up
ng her eyes, an age before the crash came, and
from her face the others were tw