MARY ANN'S MIND.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 12, 22 December 1877, Page 4

MARY ANN'S MIND.

9 BT F.O3E TERRT COOK. (Continued from our la.it issue.) Another week went by, and one hot afternoon Man- Ann and three or four of her friends had gone down to bathe. The girls at Sandy Creek knew how to swim, a« well 88 the boys; and those 'extempore mermaids liked t© splash about in the fresh coolness of tho water almost as well as if they hati been the genuine kind, though there was nothing siren in their aspect. They h%d bathed and dressed, and were going home from the retired little cow which .was set apart for their use, when Jake Hazard appeared, cirryiug an armful of rishin«;tackle, bait, scoop, anil iines, and a big basket of fish. His way home led by Sam Tuekera door, while the rest went farther down the beaeh. Maiy Ann walked on a little before him, her long, dripping tresses hanging to her knees, coiling and curling as the salt breeze blew them about lift in a thousand darkly shining rings, and her white shapely ankles betrayed by the short skirt she wore, for the day was so hot she had gone barefooted to the beach. They went along in silence, till, just as they reached the door, Jake said in a low" voice, perfectly audible, however, to this one hearer: •• Mary Ann, have you made up your mind'.'" Mary Ann was exasperated. Who would not have been ? She faced-Jake with tiie look of a creature at bay in her dark eyes. " No, sir! and I'll never find is till you stop pesterin'; there !" Jake looked at her fall-raced, with a determined expression, that almost daunted her. " 1 neVfrislall stop—till I know,'' he answered gravely ; iind went his way. Mary Ann was angry': but she was also scared. When a man falls back on his masculine supremacy, the 'eternal fitness of things demands that a woman .shall give way. And she does, though she does not always show it. Mary Ann began to fool, rather than to think, that Jake was, in her fashion of speech, " the biggest," and from that moment began to find out that she loved him. But' do you think she told him so ? The Fourth of July came at last—bright, hot, beaming, as holiday weather should l)o—and at nine o'clock Mary Ann's tire was out, her house was in order; her big basket of bread, butter, cold coffee, and pickles neatly packed, her father sitting on the doorstep, and Vi-c beside him, waiting for the boat. A pr. tty picture they made—Sam in his Sunday clothes, with his coat over his arm, his spotless shirt-sleeves scarcely whiter than the silvery hair that showed under his brown felt hat, and his wrinkled, kindly face and keen dark eye pleasant as the day itself ; and Mary Ann, in the new pink and white calico, her pretty• iwad rising from a full, soft rurHc, clear and snowy, and her old black hat smartened up with a white muslin scarf about the crown, and a bunch of pinks

from the posy beds fastened in the bow, their clean, spicy breath perfuming the air about her. Jake Hazard looked at her with adoring eyes. His mind was made up even more than usual if that were possible: for he. had devised a plan, to be carried out that day, which should, once for all, end -his suspense; since he, too, had concluded,.in the spirit of the old distich: Ho either fears his futo too much, Or his desert is email. Who fears to put it to the touch. To win or lose it all. Certainly Mary Ann would not have gone toward her fate—as well as the boat—with such a hapyy, smiling face, had she known what was before her. The journey over to Point Peter was delightful. A light breeze filled the sail, and flapped the long red pennant above it. There was plenty of fun and laughter; Jake himself seemed as gay as the rest; and Mary Ann owned to herself, as she looked at Mm furtively from under her broad hat, that he was " awful good-looking." And less prejudiced observers might agree with her. Jake's .simple costume of white duck trousers, and a dark blue flannel shirt, a widebrimmed straw hat set well on the thick Curls of his fine head, and the keen animation of his clear-cut honest face below it, were certainly picturesque. They landed at Point Peter in the best of humors; and immediately the preparations for the clam-bake began, for the rest of the company were there before them. For a wonder, all went right; there were no mishaps, no vexations. The simple fisher folks, in their primitive fashion, enjoyed the rare holiday to the top of their bent After dinner, Jake proposed to Mary Ann that they should take a row boat and go np Natick Bay to Bluoberry Island, where the low blueberries already dotted the turf with dwarf brush loaded with turquoise spheres. " If Hosy and Ann will go," said Mary Ann. So Hosy was sent for Anny, and Mary Anu walked down to the boat with Jake, and Kitting down on one of the seats, with her face suoriiward, to watch the others, Jake, being behind her, silently put the oars in place, and with one sudden sweep <*f his f**varf ul mtam 'drove it oil'. Mary . •Anri-erietf'oiit. -' ■/' " Well," tranquilly replied Jako, "we might as well be rowin' round till they comp." Mary Ann obsoryed that, instead of " rowin' roand," the boat headed straight for the mouth of the bay, and rcmonatrated accordingly.

j "Well, well, M?rv Ana PD just put ye ashore on kite I ■; ' fetch 'era along, at you say a | always hankerea to t o u i Rock, ; you said, when we was comin ov> i I The Rock was a little bare islet, with ' I one dwarf-cedar on it, stunted and spread ' I by driving rain and furious winds into ■ I the rough shape of an umbrella, and 1 commonly reputed to be a wonderful ' place for pretty pebbles. Mary Ann cared less for the pebbles than for getting out of a tete-a-tete with Jake, so she jumped at the proposition. Now the Rock was quite out of sight of Point Peter, and full a mile away. Jake drew his prow close to the abrupt edge «f the islet, where one upward step safely landed his passenger, drove the boat a single stroke's length oft' and then deliberately drawing in his oars, spoke as foUows: y* Now, Mary Ann, I've bobbed at the end of your string as long as is reasonable ; I can't do it no more. There you be, and here I be; and here both of us will stay till you've finally made up your mind." Mary Ann was dumb. She was stunned for a moment; then she was angry. " How dare you, Jake Hazard • " " Well, you see, I've got to a pitch where I darst do a'most any thing." Mary Ann looked at his set mouth, his steady, resolute eyes, his air of stern selfpossession, and felt that he .spoke tile truth. But it was not in her t; give up. She .saw, or rather felt, very plainly that she aid not want to lose him; that she liked him very, very much; but not the less did she feel rebellious and outraged by this extraordinary proceeding. " It's fair to tell you one thing, Mary Ann," he began again. "If you finally make up your mind against me, I shall clear out of these parts for the future. I couldn't stay here." An unconscious tremor and sadness was in these last words ; and Mary Ann felt it. She saw, in a flash of imagination, what Sandy Creek would be without Jake. Indeed, all her own life ; but this did not move her outwardly; she sat quito still on the stone; she forgot all about the pebbles; she only thought of Jake's 1 demand, and resolved never to yield to it, if she sat there a week. And she might have sat there long enough to discomfort her jailor and herself both, had not a Certain soiyid approached her ears—for the wind had suddenly veered round to the east—a dip of slowly pulling oars. And in a deep nasal voice which she recognized as Hosy Long's, the following 'long-shore ditty, coining nearer, from the direction of Point Peter:— Uncle Keziah and his son Sam They went to flea in the shell of a clam, A-o-utside the l"int'. They put up the helium and put her about, The sea went in. and Saul he went uout, A-o-utside the P'iut! Undo Keziah he cursed and he swore He'd never go to sea in a shell any more, i A-o-utsidc the P'int! Women are " cur'us creturs," as Hosy

was wont to remark ; whether it was the terror of approaching observers, or the ludicrous drawl of Hosy's song, or the weary waiting and heat, or some fiercer and subtler influence she knew not how to name, suddenly Mary Ann's heart gave way without her will or wish, she broke down utterly, and with an unconcealed sob of agitation, stretched out both hands to Jake. " Come," she said; and when Jake took her in his strong arms, and lifted her into the boat like a big baby, he knew from the soft shy look in her beautiful eyes, and the lingering of her arm upon his shoulder, that Mary Ann had made up her mind at last, and that he needn't go away forever. But before either of them could speak, Ho3y appeared around the corner. " Waal," shouted he, " this is kinder upsettin'; why couldn't ye wait for a feller ?" " We did wait a minute," laughed Jako. "We was coming back for ye. Mary Ann wanted to land on the Rock to look for somcthin' she lost t'other day." " Did she find it?" asked the interested Hosy. " No—l did," drily replied Jako, and Mary Ann looked over the gunwale into the water. She has always professed to Jake that she never did or would forgive him, but Jake only laughs, knowing very well there is no happier or sweeter wife and mother on all the shore than Mary Ann Hazard, and that in her secret heart she is very glad he made her know her own mind, however, ho did it.— " Galaxy."