A Little Maid of Old Maine | Page 2

the morning whistling, and
never stopped except to eat. And, indeed, his little daughter Luretta said
that when her father wanted a second helping of anything at the table he
would whistle and point toward it with his knife; so it might be said
that Mr. Foster whistled even at his meals.
"There's Father! There's Father!" Anna called out as they passed a big
pile of pine logs and came to where stacks of smooth boards just from
the sawmill shut the river from sight.
"Well, Danna, do you and Rebby want your basket filled with golden
oranges from sunny Italy and dates from Egypt? Or shall it be with
Brazilian nuts and ripe pineapples from South America?"

"Oh, Father! Say some more!" exclaimed Anna, laughing with delight;
for she never tired of hearing her father tell of the wonderful fruits of
far-off lands that he had seen in his sailor days, before he came to live
in the little settlement of Machias, in the Province of Maine, and
manage the big sawmill.
"Father, tell us, is the Polly coming up the bay?" Rebecca asked eagerly.
She had a particular reason for wanting the sloop to reach harbor as
soon as possible, for her birthday was close at hand, and her father had
told her that the Polly was bringing her a fine gift; but what it was
Rebecca could not imagine. She had guessed everything from a gold
ring to a prayer-book; but at every guess her father had only smilingly
shook his head.
"No sign of the Polly yet, Rebby," Mr. Weston replied.
Rebecca sighed as her father called her "Rebby," and a little frown
showed itself on her forehead. She was nearly fourteen, and she had
decided that neither "Rebecca" nor "Rebby" were names that suited her.
Her middle name was "Flora," and only that morning Anna had
promised not to call her by any other name save Flora in future.
Mr. Weston smiled down at Rebecca's serious face.
"So 'tis not spices from far Arabia, or strings of pink coral, this
morning," he continued, taking the basket, "but pine chips. Well, come
over here and we will soon fill the basket," and he led the way to where
two men were at work with sharp adzes smoothing down a big stick of
timber.
In a few minutes the basket was filled, and the little girls were on their
way home.
"Would it not be a fine thing, Rebby, if we could really fill our basket
with pineapples and sweet-smelling spices?" said Anna, her brown eyes
looking off into space, as if she fancied she could see the wonderful
things of which her father spoke; "and do you not wish that we were
both boys, and could go sailing off to see far lands?"

"Anna! Only this morning you promised to call me 'Flora,' and now it is
'Rebby,' 'Rebby.' And as for 'far lands'--of course I don't want to see
them. Have you not heard Father say that there were no more beautiful
places in all the world than the shores of this Province?" responded
Rebecca reprovingly. She sometimes thought that it would have been
far better if Anna had really been a boy instead of a girl; for the
younger girl delighted to be called "Dan," and had persuaded her
mother to keep her brown curls cut short "like a boy's"; beside this,
Anna cared little for dolls, and was completely happy when her father
would take her with him for a day's deep-sea fishing, an excursion
which Rebecca could never be persuaded to attempt. Anna was also
often her father's companion on long tramps in the woods, where he
went to mark trees to be cut for timber. She wore moccasins on these
trips, made by the friendly Indians who often visited the little
settlement, and her mother had made her a short skirt of tanned
deerskin, such as little Indian girls sometimes wear, and with her blue
blouse of homespun flannel, and round cap with a partridge wing on
one side, Anna looked like a real little daughter of the woods as she
trotted sturdily along beside her tall father.
As the sisters passed the blacksmith shop they could hear the ringing
stroke on the anvil, for Mr. Foster had returned to his work of
hammering out forks for pitching hay and grain; these same forks
which were fated to be used before many months passed as weapons
against the enemies of American liberty.
"To-morrow I am to go with Father to the woods," announced Anna as
they came in sight of the comfortable log cabin which stood high above
the river, and where they could see their mother standing in the
doorway looking for their return. The girls waved and called to their
mother