SIGHT SEEING UNDER DIFFICULTIES
"Halifax! End of the line!"
The conductor's announcement was followed by the usual haste and bustle
among the passengers, the taking down of parcels from the racks
overhead, and a general settling and straightening of travel-crushed
garments.
This little preparatory freshening over, the travelers stepped into the
car aisles and followed the rush forward; passing out into by far the
most pretentious station they had seen in the Province. Lines of hackmen
were drawn up alongside the rail which bordered the paved descent to the
railway level, and a policeman in uniform held back the too-solicitous
drivers from the arriving strangers, who looked about them, mostly, in
doubt which vehicle to select:
"Here you are for the Halifax!" "Right this way for the Queen! Queen,
sir? Queen, madam? Finest hotel in--" "Prince Edward! Right on the
bluff--overlooking--" "King's Arms! Carriage for the King's Arms?"
To the rail and no further were these runners for their various
employers permitted to go, yet even at that few feet of safe distance
their cries were so deafening and insistent that Dorothy clapped her
hands to her ears and shut her eyes, lest she should grow too much
confused.
But there was no hesitation about the Judge. His hotel was a familiar
one, their rooms engaged long before; and by a nod he summoned the 'bus
of that house, marshalled his party into it, handed the runner his
baggage checks, and they rolled away through the streets of the oldest
city in the Province.
Just then it was gay with illimitable decorations of bunting and flags,
in honor of the visit of the Viceroy of Canada and his consort, due upon
the morrow.
"Oh, Papa, did they know we were coming?" mischievously inquired Molly,
as vista after vista of red and blue and white unrolled before her eager
eyes. "I never saw anything like it! Even at our home Carnival there
wasn't anything to compare."
"That's Canada. We Yankees boast we go ahead of everything in the world
no matter what line we chance to follow. Canada doesn't boast, she
simply goes ahead."
"Oh! how disloyal, Schuyler!" protested Aunt Lucretia, herself gazing
with admiration at the buildings whose fronts were almost solidly
covered with artistically arranged decorations. Of course the English
and Canadian flags held first place, but at last their 'bus stopped
before a quaint old hotel whose balconies were draped with as many
American as English banners.
"Why, is this an American, I mean a United States hotel?" asked Auntie
Lu; while Miss Greatorex's face assumed a more agreeable expression than
it had worn since they left the station. She had felt hitherto as if an
alien nation had flaunted its colors in her own patriotic face; but her
common sense now assured her that these people had a right to honor
their rulers after their own fashion even if it could by no possibility
be so good a fashion as reigned in her beloved States.
The youngsters of the party felt nothing but delight; and as a squad of
scarlet-coated soldiers came marching toward them on the other side of
the street Monty tossed up his cap and cheered. Melvin did more, as was
natural. They marched to the tune of "God Save the King," and were on
their way to Parliament House to give an evening concert; and as the
'bus came abreast of the squad with its fine band and its national
colors floating in front, the young Yarmouthian rose and bared his head,
saluting the flag! Then he dropped back to his seat with a slight flush
on his fair cheek, as he felt the eyes of the three strangers rest upon
him curiously. Then cried Molly:
"That was funny! I forgot you weren't a 'Yankee' like ourselves, but you
did right, you did just right. I wouldn't have let Old Glory pass by
without doing it my honor. But, do you know, Auntie Lu, I feel as if
this were a foreign country and not part of our own America?"
She was to feel it more and more, but to find a keen delight in all
that was so new to her and so matter of fact to Melvin. Even the dishes
served at table, were decidedly "English" in name and flavor, though
there were plenty of other and more familiar ones upon the _menu_.
After this supper which was more hearty than most dinners at home, they
walked to the postoffice and found a heap of mail that had been
forwarded along their route. As usual there were letters from the "Boys"
and the Judge hailed with delight the news that they, as well as the
Governor-General, would be among the morrow's arrivals.
"We'll stay till Sunday in Halifax, then start for camp on Monday, rain
or shine, wind, fog, or sunshine;" wrote the correspondent who arranged
matters from the other end of the line.
"Good enough, good enough! Then my vacation will actually begin!" cried
the pleased man.
"And pray, what do you call the days that have just passed, my brother?"
demanded Auntie Lu, with a smile.
"My dear, I call that a 'personally conducted tour,' a tour of great
responsibility and many perils. After Monday, when I deposit you ladies
and the youngsters at Farmer Grimm's, I wash my hands of the whole of
you for one long, delightful month!"
The laugh with which he said this disarmed the words of any unkindness
and was echoed by another laugh quite free from offense.
"Very well, then, Schuyler, until Monday we hold you to your
'personally' conducting. You must take us everywhere, show us everything
that is worth while. I want to go to the 'Martello' tower; to the
Citadel, the old churches, the parks, all over the harbor on all sorts
and conditions of boats, to--"
But the Judge held up his hand, protesting. Then asked:
"Suppose it proves a foggy season? Fog is one of the things to be
counted upon in all parts of this country, more especially here. One
summer I was here three weeks and the sun didn't shine once!"
However, Mrs. Hungerford was bent upon enjoying and making others enjoy
this visit; and she laughingly assured him that they were all "fog
proof."
"Every one of us has overshoes, umbrella, and raincoat. We feminines I
mean and 'boys' aren't supposed to mind any sort of weather. Am I not
right, Melvin?"
"Yes, Mrs. Hungerford, I fancy you are. We have so much wet weather
we're 'most unprepared for sunshine, don't you know."
This was so long a remark for Melvin, and so thoroughly "English" with
its "fancy" and "don't you know," that all laughed.
But they waked in the morning to find the Judge's fear of a fog
justified. The whole city was a-drip. The decorations which had been so
crisp and brilliant on the day before hung limp and already discolored;
and the scarlet and white bunting which had been so artistically
wreathed about columns and cornices now clung tightly to them as if
shivering in the wet.
It was a disheartened populace, too, which one met upon the street; for
the expense had been great in preparations for the Governor's visit and
the week of Carnival that had been planned seemed doomed to a series of
disappointments.
None the less Auntie Lu held her brother to his promise to escort them
everywhere; and everywhere they went, though mostly in covered carriages
or under dripping umbrellas. One morning when the sunshine came for a
brief visit they hastened to the street before the Provincial building
to hear the most famous band in all the Canadas give its open air
concert. Other people besides themselves had flocked thither at the
first ray from the sun and now crowded the pavements surrounding the
iron-fenced grounds. Everybody waxed enthusiastic and hopeful
till--suddenly a drop fell on the tip of the band leader's nose. He cast
one glance skyward but continued to wield his baton with great flourish
and skill. Another drop; many; and the summer crowd swiftly dispersed.
Not so our sightseers from the States. But let Dorothy tell the tale in
her own words and in the journal-letter she faithfully tried to keep for
Father John:
"Dear Father:--
"Since we've been here in Halifax I haven't had a chance to write
as regular as I ought. You see we come home so tired and wet every
time that--Well, I just can't really write.
"We went to an open air concert in the heart of the city. The band
was, were--which is right? Anyhow the men all had on their Sunday
uniforms, the most beautiful red and brass and buttons, and their
instruments shone like anything. It rained, still they didn't even
wink, except the head of them. He was brillianter dressed than any
of them and he didn't like the rain. You could see that plain as
plain. They all had little stands before them with their music on
and the music got wet and splattery, but they didn't stop. They
just tossed one piece of music down and began another, after they'd
waited a little bit of while, to get their breath, I reckon. By and
by all the people, nearly, had gone away from the sidewalk yet the
band played right along.
"Then I heard somebody laugh. It was the Judge. He was laughing at
Auntie Lu; he always is and she at him. When she asked him 'why,'
he said: 'I was thinking this was a match game between British and
Yankee pluck. It's the Britisher's 'duty' to play to the end of his
program and he'll do it if he's melted into a little heap when he's
finished. It seems to be Yankee pluck, or duty, to stand out here
in this melancholy drizzle and hold on as long as he does.'
"'Of course,' said Mrs. Hungerford, 'it would be mean of us to
desert the poor chaps and leave them without a listener at all.'
"Then he said: 'Let's go indoors and sit in the 'seats of the
mighty.''
"She didn't know what he meant but he soon showed her. The Province
Building where their sort of Congress meets was all open wide and
they weren't having any session, it not being session time. So we
went in and sat around in leather covered chairs, only Molly and I
and the boys climbed up on the window seats and sat there. We could
hear beautiful and we got quite dry. Only it isn't any use getting
dry, daytimes, 'cause you're always going right out and getting wet
again.
"Sunday was the wettest yet. It didn't look so and Auntie Lu let us
girls put on white dresses, but she made us take our raincoats and
umbrellas and rubbers just the same. We went to the soldiers'
church out of doors, 'cause they'd thought it was clearing off.
There were benches fixed in rows like seats in church, and there
was a kind of pulpit all covered by a great English flag. Other
benches were up at one side. They were for the band. By and by a
bugle blew and they came marching, marching over the grass from the
big barracks beyond. The field sloped right down the side of a
great hill and at the foot, seemed so close one could almost touch
it but you couldn't for there were streets between, was the harbor
of water.
"It was an English church service and the minister prayed for all
the royal family one by one. The soldier-band played the chants and
hymns and they and anybody wanted sang them. After a little while
it rained again and we put on our coats and didn't dare to raise
our umbrellas, 'cause we were in church you know.
"It seemed pretty long but I loved it. I loved the red soldiers and
the beautiful place and all. Auntie Lu said it was a good sermon
and that the preacher considerately cut it pretty short. But it
wasn't so short but that we got our hats dreadfully wet and Auntie
Lu had to buy herself a new one before we came away last Monday
morning. In the evening we went to St. Paul's, which is the oldest
church in this oldest city of Markland, as some call Nova Scotia.
"Now we have ridden a good many miles in wagons to this great old
farmhouse right on the edge of the woods. Miles and miles of woods,
seems if. There are lakes in them and rivers and game of every
sort, seems if, to hear them tell. Judge Breckenridge's friends are
here, too, and the Indian guide. He calls them 'the Boys,' and they
do act like boys just after school's let out. They laugh and joke
and carry on till Molly and I just stare.
"Judge has hired a river to fish in. Isn't that funny? To pay for a
place to fish, and the Farmer Grimm we're to live with is going to
haul all their camp things out there to-morrow morning before
sun-up. Monty and Melvin are to go, too, and I expect we women
folks'll feel pretty lonesome.
"One lovely thing the Judge did for me. He hired a violin for me to
practice on here. He said he thought it would pass the time for
all of us. There's a piano, too, already in the house, and Molly
can play real nice on that. Her Auntie Lu plays mag-nifi-cently. I
wrote that out in syllables so as to get it right and to make it
more--more impressiver. I'm dreadful tired and have been finishing
this letter sitting on the floor beside a great big fire on the
hearth. It isn't a bit too warm, either, even though the sun has
shone again to-day.
"Good night. Your sleepy Dorothy, but always loving you the best of
all the world.
"P. S.--The funniest thing happened after supper. Two the funniest
ones. The bashful-bugler, that's Melvin, slipped something into my
hand and said: 'That's to remember me by, a keepsake, if anything
should happen to me out in the woods. I bought it for you that day
in Digby.' When I opened the little box there was one those
weeny-wiggley sort of silver fishes, they call the 'Digby
chickens,' that I'd wanted to take home to Alfy. But I shan't take
her this; I shall keep it. 'Cause Molly wants one, too, and when we
get our next month's allowance, _if_ we get it, we can write and
buy some by mail.
"The other funny thing was one of those grown up 'boys.' He asked
me to play for him and had me stand right near him. When I got
through he looked over at the Judge and nodded his head. Two, three
times he nodded it and then he said, just like this he said it: 'It
is the most remarkable likeness I ever saw. You're on the right
track Schuy, I'm sure of it!' And the Judge cried real pleased,
'Hurray!'
"They two were little boys together, down in the south where they
lived and they know Mrs. Cecil Calvert real well. And the other
'boy' said: 'Aunt Betty'd ought to be spanked--same as she's
spanked me a heap of times.'
"I wonder if it was I 'resembled' anybody and who! I wonder why any
gentleman should say such a dreadful impolite thing about that dear
old lady! I wonder,--Oh, Father John! Your little girl so often
wonders many, many things! Good night at last. Molly calls real
cross and I must go.
"DOLLY."
Dorothy's letters to Mother Martha were equally descriptive though not
so long. One ran thus:
"Dearest Mother Martha:--
"You ought to see this farm where we're living now. It's so big and
has so many cattle and men working, and orchards and potato-fields.
They call the potatoes 'Bluenoses' just as they call the Nova
Scotia folks. The house is part stone and part wood. The stone part
was built ever and ever so long ago; strong so the man who built it
could protect himself against the Indians. The man was English, and
he was a Grimm; an ancestor of this Mr. Grimm we board with. The
Indians were Micmacs and friends of the French. Seems if they were
all fighting all together all the time, which should own the land.
Mrs. Grimm says there have been a good many generations live here
though all are gone now except her husband and herself. They are
more than seventy years, both of them, but they don't act one bit
old. She cooks and tends to things though she has two, three maids
to help her. He rides horseback all over his farm and jumps off his
horse and works with the men. Sometimes he drives the ox-carts with
the hay and lets us ride.
"I did want you that last Saturday in Halifax. The day your letter
came to me with the one dollar in it. I expect you wanted I should
buy something to bring you with it but I didn't. Listen. It was
what they called a 'green market' morning. Rained of course, or was
terrible foggy between showers. The market is just a lot of Indians
and negroes, and a few white people sitting round on the edge of
the sidewalk all around a big building. The Judge told me many of
them had come from across the harbor, miles beyond it, so far that
they'd had to walk half the night to bring their stuff to market.
Think of that! And such funny stuff it was. Green peas shelled in
little measures, ready to cook. (I wish they'd have them that way
in our own Lexington market at home!) Wild strawberries--I didn't
see any other kind, no big ones like we have in Baltimore or at
home. The berries were hulled and put into little home-made
birch-bark baskets that the Indian women make themselves, just
pinned together at the end with a thorn or stick. Auntie Lu bought
some for us but Miss Greatorex wouldn't let me eat the berries,
though I was just suffering to! She said after they'd been handled
by those dirty Indian fingers she knew they were full of microbes
or things and she didn't dare. Oh! dear! I wish she didn't feel so
terrible responsible for my health, 'cause it spoils a lot of my
good times. The boys weren't afraid of microbes and they ate the
berries but I have the basket. It will be all I have to bring you
from Halifax; because one of those Indian women had her baby with
her and she looked so poor--I just couldn't help giving that dollar
right to her. I couldn't really help it. She wanted me to take
baskets in pay for it, but I knew that wouldn't be _giving_. You
won't mind, will you, dearest Mother Martha? if the only thing I
bring you from that city is a poor Indian woman's blessing? You
always give to the poor yourself, so I wasn't afraid you'd scold.
There are just two things that I'd like different here, on this
lovely vacation. One is if only you and father were here, too!
Every new and nice thing I see, or good time I have, I do so want
them for you both also. The other is--I wish, I wish I knew who my
father and mother were! The real ones. They couldn't have been any
nicer than you have been to me, but folks that don't know me are
sure to ask me about my family. Molly and Monty and Melvin are
always able to tell about theirs, but I can't. Her mother, the
'other Molly,' died when she was a little thing, but she knows all
about her. The Judge has a beautiful miniature of this 'other
Molly' his wife, and takes it with him wherever he goes, even into
that camp, where we're to be let to go, maybe, for a salmon dinner
that the 'Boys' catch themselves.
"There are lots of books in this old house and a piano. Each
generation has added to the library and Mrs. Grimm says that in the
winter she and her husband read 'most all the time. Christmases, no
matter how deep the snow, all their children come home and then the
rooms are opened and warmed and they have such fun. Oh! it must be
grand to belong to a big family and know it's all your own! They
burn great logs of wood and even now we have a fire on the
living-room hearth all the time. One of the young Indian boys who
works here has nothing else for his chores except to keep the
wood-boxes filled and the fires fresh. He's rather a nice Indian
boy but he's full of capers. Molly is so lonesome without Monty and
Melvin to play with she makes plays with Anton. I don't think Mrs.
Grimm likes it and I'm sure Aunt Lucretia doesn't, for I heard her
tell Molly so. But nobody can keep Molly Breckenridge still. She
doesn't care to read much and she hates practicing, and she cries
every time she has to sew a seam, though Mrs. Hungerford makes her
do that 'for discipline.' I don't know what would become of the
darling if it wasn't for Anton. She likes me, course, but I can't
climb trees after cherries, or wade in ponds after water-lilies,
and though I like to ride horseback with her I'm afraid to go
beyond bounds where we're told to stay. Molly isn't afraid.
"Please give my love to Aunt Chloe and write soon to your loving
"DOROTHY."
Having finished this letter, longer than common, Dorothy wandered out of
doors seeking her mate. She was nowhere in sight, but the man who rode
into town so many miles away, to fetch and carry the mail and to bring
supplies of such things as the farm did not produce, was just driving up
the road and playfully shook his mail-pouch at her. She sped to meet
him, was helped into his wagon and received the pouch in her arms. She
and Molly were always eager to "go meet the mail," which was brought to
them only every other day, and whichever was first and obtained it was
given the key to the pouch and the privilege of distributing its
contents. This privilege would be Dorothy's to-day; and she skipped into
the living-room and to the ladies at their sewing, dragging the pouch
behind her.
Little she knew of its contents; or that among them would come the
solution of that "wonder" that now so constantly tormented her:--"Who
were my parents?"