EDNA MAY MARCH.
Mark, Ruth, and Edna hurried on deck, and reached it in time to see
Captain May load to its muzzle the small brass cannon that was carried
on the schooner for firing signals.
How beautiful and peaceful everything looked! The tide, with which they
had come up, filled the river to the brim, and it sparkled merrily in
the light of the rising sun. The ferry-boat lay moored to the bank just
in front of the schooner, and they could see the tin horn hanging to
its post, and the very card on which were the ferry rates that Ruth had
printed so many months before. The house was hidden from their view by
a clump of trees, but over their tops rose a light column of smoke, and
they knew Aunt Chloe was up and busy, at any rate.
Suddenly, flash! bang! the small cannon went off with a roar worthy of
a larger piece, and one that woke the echoes for miles up and down the
river, disturbed numerous wild water-fowl from their quiet feeding, and
sent them screaming away through the air, and set all the dogs in
Wakulla to barking furiously. In the midst of all the clamor the
children heard the loud bark of their own dog, Bruce, and in another
moment he came bounding down to the landing, and was the first to
welcome them home.
At the same time a number of colored people, among whom the children
recognized several familiar faces, came running down to the opposite
bank of the river, where they stood rubbing their eyes and staring at
the big schooner, the first that had been seen in their river in many
years.
The children did not pay much attention to them, however, for a
landing-plank was being run ashore, and they were eager to go to the
house. As Mark reached the wharf, and was holding out his hand to Ruth,
who followed, there was a loud hurrah behind him, and before he could
turn around Frank March had thrown his arms round his neck, and was
fairly hugging him in his joy.
"I knew you'd come when we weren't expecting you! I knew you'd surprise
us! and I told 'em so last night when they were worrying about you,"
shouted the boy, dancing about them, and almost inclined to hug Ruth as
he had Mark. But he didn't; he only grasped both her hands, and shook
them until she begged for mercy. As soon as she regained possession of
her hands, she said,
"And here's Edna, Frank. Miss Edna May, Mr. Frank March."
"I'm awfully glad to see you, Miss Edna," said Frank; and "How do you
do, Mr. March?" said Edna, as they shook hands and looked at each other
curiously.
Then Frank was introduced to Uncle Christopher, who said, "My boy, I'm
proud to make your acquaintance. So you didn't expect us, eh?" and the
old gentleman chuckled as he thought of the quality and size of the
joke they had played on the inmates of "Go Bang" by surprising them.
Captain May and the gentlemen from Aroostook had not left the schooner
when the others turned towards the house, talking so fast as they went
that nobody understood, or even heard, what anybody else was saying.
As they came in sight of the house two well-known figures were leaving
the front gate, and the next minute Mark and Ruth had rushed into the
arms of their father and mother, and the latter was actually crying for
joy.
"It is all your doing, Uncle Christopher," she said to Mr. Bangs, as
soon as she could speak. "I know it is; for you never in your life have
neglected opportunities for giving people joyful surprises."
"Well, Niece Ellen, I won't say as I didn't have a hand in it,"
answered the old gentleman, his face beaming with delight. "But, sakes
alive! Mark Elmer, is this the place that I let you have rent free for
ten years?" and he pointed to the pretty house, and swept his hand over
the broad fields surrounding it.
"Yes, Uncle Christopher, this is the place. This is 'Go Bang,' as the
children have named it, and we welcome you very heartily to it."
"Well, well," said Uncle Christopher, mournfully, "what chances I have
thrown away in this life! eh, Niece Ellen?"
"You never threw away a chance to do good or make others happy, uncle,
I am sure of that. But now come into the house and get ready for
breakfast, which will soon be ready for you."
As the others went into the house, Ruth ran around to the kitchen to
see Aunt Chloe, and so surprised that old woman that she just threw her
floury arms about the girl's neck and kissed her, saying,
"Tank de Lo'd, honey! Tank de good Lo'd you's come home ag'in! We's all
miss yo' like de sunshine, but nobody hain't miss yo' like ole Clo
done."
Mr. March and Jan had gone to Tallahassee the day before, but were to
be back that night.
Mrs. Elmer sent Mark down to the schooner to invite Captain May and the
Aroostook gentlemen to come to the house for breakfast, but, rather to
her relief--for she was not prepared to entertain so many guests--they
declined her invitation, saying they would breakfast on board, and come
to the house to pay their respects later.
How jolly and happy they were at breakfast. How shy Frank was before
Edna, and how many funny things Uncle Christopher did say to make them
laugh! Little by little the "great scheme" was unfolded to the three
members of the mill company present who had not heard of it, though
Uncle Christopher and Mark had intended to keep it a secret until they
could lay it before a regular meeting of the directors. But, beginning
with hints, the whole story was finally told, and Mr. and Mrs. Elmer
and Frank were only too glad to sustain President Mark in his promises.
They said they should not only be proud and happy to have the "best
uncle in the world" become a member of their company, but that new
saw-mill machinery was just what they needed, for they found the
present mill already unable to supply the demands upon it for lumber.
While the others were talking business, Ruth and Edna had gone out on
the front porch to look at the garden, and now Ruth came back to ask
whose house the pretty little new one was that stood just on the edge
of the woods to the right.
"Why, that's ours," said Frank, jumping from the table. "Don't you want
to go and look at it?"
They said of course they did, and Mark said he would go too. They were
perfectly delighted with the new house and everything in it, and
praised it for being so tiny and cosey and comfortable, until Frank
thought he had never felt so happy and proud before. It was no wonder,
for this was the first time he had ever known the pleasure of
extending, to those whom he loved, the hospitality of a pleasant home
of his own.
When they returned to the big house they found the rest of their
friends from the schooner there. Captain May started when he saw Frank
March, and on being introduced to him held his hand so long, and stared
at him so earnestly, as to greatly embarrass the boy.
As Uncle Christopher and the Aroostook gentlemen were anxious to visit
the mill, Mr. Elmer invited them to walk up there through the woods. On
their way they passed the sulphur spring, which had been cleaned out
and walled in, and over which a neat bath-house had been built. Uncle
Christopher was delighted with it, and declared that, to an old
"rheumatizy" man like him, that spring was worth all the lumber in
"Floridy."
Mark had asked Edna and Ruth to go up to the mill by water with Frank
and him in the canoe, and they accepted the invitation. At first Edna
was very timid in the frail craft, but she soon gained confidence, and
said "she thought it was the very nicest little boat, on one of the
prettiest rivers she had ever seen."
As they neared the mill its busy machinery seemed to Mark to say,
"Welcome, Mr. President, welcome, Mr. President, welcome Mr. President
of the Elmer Mills"; and when he drew the attention of the others to
it, they declared that they, too, could distinguish the words quite
plainly. The mill looked just as it had when they last saw it, but at
one side were great piles of sawed lumber that Uncle Christopher and
the Aroostook gentlemen were examining carefully.
That afternoon Mark handed Frank thirty dollars as his share of the
money the former had received from their otter-skins, which he had
carried North and sold. Frank had several more that he had caught
during the summer, but their skins were of little value compared with
those caught during the earlier months of the year.
Mr. Elmer had invited all the gentlemen to dine with him that evening,
much to the consternation of Aunt Chloe, who said "she was sho' she
couldn't see how she was gwine fin' time to po'wide vittles fo' so many
guesses; an' dem po' hung'y Norfeners too. 'Specs dey'll be powerful
tickled to git a squar' meal."
The "guesses" spent the afternoon in crossing the river to Wakulla, and
in driving several miles into the great pine forests, which pleased
them greatly.
The dinner turned out to be a most bountiful meal, in spite of Aunt
Chloe's fears; and at half-past six a very merry company gathered
around the long table, which, for want of space elsewhere, had been set
in the wide hall that ran through the house from front to rear. The
evening was so warm that the front door stood wide open, and when
dinner was nearly over, the whole party were laughing so heartily at
one of Uncle Christopher's funny stories, that no one heard the sound
of wheels at the gate, nor noticed the figure that, with white face and
wild eyes, stared at them from the open doorway.
No, not at them; only at one of them--the fair-haired girl, almost a
woman, who sat at the head of the table, on Mr. Elmer's right hand, and
on whose face the light shone full and strong.
Then a cry rang through the hall, a cry almost of agony, and it was
"Margaret! Margaret! my wife Margaret! Am I dreaming, or can the dead
come to life?"
As the startled guests looked towards the door Mr. March entered the
room, and without noticing any one else, walked straight to where Edna
May was sitting. She, frightened at his appearance and fixed gaze,
clung to Mr. Elmer's arm, and Captain May half rose from his chair with
a confused idea that the girl, whom he loved as his own daughter, was
in danger.
"Who is she, Elmer? where did she come from?" exclaimed Mr. March. "She
is the living image of my dead wife; only younger, much younger, and
more beautiful than she whom I drove from her home," he added, with a
groan.
Mr. Elmer had noticed the strange resemblance between Frank March and
Edna May, and had determined to speak to his wife about it that night.
Now it all flashed across him as clear as sunlight; but before he could
speak, Ruth sprang to his side, and taking her friend's hand in hers,
cried,
"Don't you see, father, she is his own daughter, the baby he thought
was drowned in the Savannah River so many years ago? Captain May saved
her, and now he has brought her back to her father and brother. Frank,
Edna is your own sister."
Mr. March tried to take Edna into his arms, but she slipped away from
him and ran to Captain May, saying, "This is my father, the only one I
have ever known. As he has loved and cared for me, so do I love him. I
will never, never leave him!" and she burst into tears.
After soothing and quieting her, Captain May said, "Mr. March, I
suspected this long ago. Mark and Ruth told me of the resemblance
between Edna and your son on our way North together last spring, and I
made them promise not to mention it to her. I hoped it would prove to
be only a fancied resemblance; but, as a Christian man, I could not
keep father and daughter separated, if indeed they were father and
daughter. So I brought her here to meet you face to face; and from what
I have just seen I am inclined to think you are her own father, but you
must prove it to me. Prove the fact beyond a doubt, and I will yield to
you an undivided half interest in this dear child. Only a half, though.
I can't give up the love that has twined round my heart for nearly
fifteen years."
Then Mr. March sat down, and in faltering tones told to the listening
company the sad story of his married life. He gave the date of the
disappearance of his wife and her baby from home, and he described as
well as he could the clothes that each wore at the time.
As he finished, Captain May went to him and gave him a warm, hearty
hand-grasp. "That's enough," he said. "Gentlemen, I call you to witness
that from this time forth I renounce all claims, except those of love,
to her who has been known for the last fifteen years as my daughter
Edna May. I am satisfied that this man is her father, and that whatever
he has been in the past, he is now worthy to occupy that position
towards her. Edna, my girl, you have only got two fathers instead of
one, and a brother of whom I think you will live to be very proud
besides; your heart holds enough love for all of us, doesn't it, dear?"
Edna's answer was to throw her arms around his neck, and kiss his
weather-beaten cheeks again and again. Then, with a smile showing
through the tears that still filled her eyes, she went over to Mr.
March, whom she no longer doubted was her own father, but of whom she
could not help feeling very shy, and half timidly held up her face for
him to kiss. The happy father opened his arms and clasped her to his
heart, exclaiming, in a broken voice, "God bless you, my daughter! That
He has restored you to me is the surest sign of His forgiveness."
Then Frank came to them, saying, "Sister Edna, won't you kiss me too?
The thing I have envied Mark most was his having a sister, and now that
I have got one of my own, I do believe I am the very happiest boy in
the world."
"Sakes alive!" exclaimed good old Uncle Christopher, who had all this
time been blowing his nose very loudly with a great red silk
hand-kerchief, and occasionally wiping his eyes, "with all this kissing
going on, where am I? Grandniece Ruth, come here and kiss your 'Uncle
Christmas' directly." Ruth did as she was bid, and the old gentleman
continued: "What a country this Floridy is, to be sure. They change
March into May, or vicy versy, and each one is as beautiful as the
other. Sakes alive! what an old April Fool I was not to think of all
this myself when I first saw those two young people together."
Long before this, honest Jan Jansen, who had returned from Tallahassee
with Mr. March, but waited to put up the mules, had come into the room,
and he was now brought forward and introduced to everybody. Among the
Aroostook gentlemen he found an old acquaintance who had met him in New
Sweden, and who now told him that, owing to the death of a relative in
the old country, a snug little property awaited him, and that a lawyer
in Bangor was advertising and searching for him.
Having now spent almost a year with our Wakulla friends, perhaps they
are getting tired of us, and we had better leave them for a while, only
waiting to draw together the threads of the story, and finish it off
neatly.
Edna May March has been installed mistress of the pretty little house
that Mr. March and Frank built while the young Elmers were in the
North, and she and Ruth receive daily lessons in cooking, sewing, and
all sorts of housekeeping from Mrs. Elmer and Aunt Chloe; and the
latter says "she's proud to 'still Soufern precep's into deir sweet
Norfern heads, bress em!"
The Nancy Bell lay in the St. Mark's River long enough to secure a load
of lumber from the Elmer Mill, and then sailed for the North. But she
will return, for Captain May has bought a half interest in her from
Uncle Christopher, and will hereafter run her regularly between New
York and Wakulla.
The new Elmer Mill is nearly finished, and four of the six gentlemen
from Aroostook have gone home to get their families, and to buy more
machinery with which to erect another saw-mill farther up the river,
and they are expected back on the next trip of the Nancy Bell.
Jan has gone to Sweden; but they have had a letter from him saying that
he should return soon, and invest his property in Wakulla.
Dear old "Uncle Christmas" is busy preparing for his expedition in
search of the famous Wakulla volcano. He revels in the warmth of the
climate, and in bathing in the sulphur spring, and he says that if a
good thing's good, a better may be better, and he may find more warmth
and more sulphur if he can only find the volcano.
Edna has been taken on several picnics to Wakulla Spring, over the
"humpety road," and "de trabblin' road," past "Brer Steve's" down to
the light-house, and to other places of interest. The contrast between
what is, and what the people of Wakulla hope will be when they get the
great ship-canal across Florida built, and other schemes carried out,
amuses her greatly. She smiles when they come to her and in strict
confidence unfold their plans for future greatness; but is such a
patient listener, and so ready a sympathizer, that she is rapidly
winning their admiration and love.
THE END