A Little Maid of Old Maine | Page 3

to ask her mother to forbid Anna talking in future in such a silly way.
"You are good children to go and return so promptly," said Mrs. Weston, "but you are none too soon, for 'twill take a good blow with the bellows to liven up the coals, and I have a fine venison steak to broil for dinner," and as she spoke Mrs. Weston took the basket and hurried into the house, followed by the girls.
"Mother, what is a 'liberty pole'?" questioned Anna, kneeling on the hearth to help her mother start the fire with the pine chips.
"What dost thou mean, child? Surely the men are not talking of such matters as liberty poles?" responded her mother anxiously.
Anna nodded her head. "Yes, Mother. There is to be a 'liberty pole' set up so it can be well seen from the harbor, for so I heard Mr. O'Brien say; and Father is to go to the woods to-morrow to find it. It is to be the straightest and handsomest sapling pine to be found in a day's journey; that much I know," declared Anna eagerly; "but tell me why is it to be called a 'liberty pole'? And why is it to be set up so it can be well seen from the harbor?"
"Thou knowest, Anna, that King George of England is no longer the true friend of American liberty," said Mrs. Weston, "and the liberty pole is set up to show all Tories on land or sea that we mean to defend our homes. And if the men are talking of putting up the tree of liberty in Machias I fear that trouble is near at hand. But be that as it may, our talking of such matters will not make ready thy father's dinner. Blaze up the fire with these chips, Anna; and thou, Rebby, spread the table."
Both the girls hastened to obey; but Anna's thoughts were pleasantly occupied with the morrow's excursion when she would set forth with her father to discover the "handsome sapling pine tree," which was to be erected as the emblem of the loyalty of the Machias settlement to Freedom's call. Anna knew they would follow one of the Indian trails through the forest, where she would see many a wild bird, and that the day would be filled with delight.
But Rebecca's thoughts were not so pleasant. Here it was the fifth of May, and no sign of the Polly, and on the tenth she would be fourteen; and not a birthday gift could she hope for unless the sloop arrived. Beside this, the talk of a liberty pole in Machias made her anxious and unhappy. Only yesterday she had spent the afternoon with her most particular friend, Lucia Horton, whose father was captain of the Polly; and Lucia had told Rebecca something of such importance, after vowing her to secrecy, that this talk of a liberty pole really frightened her. And the thought that her own father was to select it brought the danger very near. She wished that Lucia had kept the secret to herself, and became worried and unhappy.
Rebecca was thinking of these things, and not of spreading the table, when she went to the cupboard to bring out the pewter plates, and she quite forgot her errand until her mother called:
"Rebby! Rebby! What are you about in the cupboard?" Then, bringing only one plate instead of four, she came slowly back to the kitchen.
"What ails the child?" questioned Mrs. Weston sharply. "I declare, I believe both of my children are losing their wits. Here is Anna making rhymes and sing-songing her words in strange fashion; and thou, Rebecca, a girl of nearly fourteen, careless of thy work, and standing before me on one foot like a heron, staring at naught," and Mrs. Weston hurried to the pantry for the forgotten dishes.
Anna smiled at her mother's sharp words, for she did not mind being called a silly girl for rhyming words. "'Tis no harm," thought Anna, "and my father says 'tis as natural as for the birds to sing;" so she added more chips to the fire, and thought no more of it.
But Rebecca, who was used to being praised for her good sense and who was seldom found fault with, had looked at her mother in surprise, and the pewter plate fell from her hands and went clattering to the floor. At that moment the door swung open and Mr. Weston entered the kitchen.
"Father! Father!" exclaimed Rebecca, running toward him, "you won't put up a liberty pole, will you? You won't! Promise you won't, Father!" and she clasped his arm with both hands.
CHAPTER II
REBECCA'S SECRET
Mr. Weston looked down smilingly at his little daughter. He was evidently amused at her excitement.
"Is this the little girl who was born in loyal Boston?"