Cy Whittaker's Place

a meeting of the board of selectmen that day, and Asaph has been town clerk in Bayport since the summer before the Baptist meeting house burned. But on t

nd when the dinner bell rang. Keturah says she is certain it was Tuesday, because she remembers smelling the boiled cabbage as she stood at the side door, looking up the road to see if either Asaph or Bailey was coming. As for Bailey, he says

presented to the Methodist Society by the Honorable Heman Atkins, when Asaph Tidditt came down the steps of the

o dinner, if you don't hurry. I was headin' for h

importance pertaining to his official position. "What ke

had very little more then, but he mopped his forehead,

ap'n Josiah Dimick and some more of 'em drifted in and we got talkin' about the chances of the h

opic among us just then. Heman Atkins, the congressman from our district, had promised to do his best for the appro

hink about the chances

s 'No,'" replied Bailey. "He says, of course, if Heman i

nd I don't set up to be no inspired know-it-all, like

r's anybody else, so

ey have. I h

e-quick march for home and dinner, a

an to tell me you've had a letter f

dded por

rable Heman G. Atkins, of Washin'ton, D. C., com

never said not

s'lectmen. I ain't in the habit of hollerin' town affairs through a speakin' trumpet. Folks that vote for me town-meetin' day know t

acquainted with her personal peculiarities; for that

k when she's around. Angie Phinney! Why, when that poll parrot of hers died, Alph'us Smalley declared up and down that what killed it was j

husband is touchiest. Asaph knew this, but he delighted to stir up his c

ngie's tribe as you do, I cal'late. Ain't we a little mite of

it. Aw, don't be so mean, Ase! Showin' off your importance like a young

lying. Then, bending over, he

this year's taxes on the Whittaker place. And, if we hadn't, what was we goin' to do about it? Bailey

rty enough already? Ain't a-a palace like that enough for

long slope leading up from the townhall. On one side of the road stretched the imposing frontage of the "Atkins estate," with its iron fence and stone posts; on

illage and its surroundings. As Captain Josiah Dimick always says: "Bayport is all north and south, like a codfish line. It puts me in mind of Seth Higgins's oldest boy. He was so tall and thin that when they bought a suit of clothes for him, they used to take reefs in the sides of the jacket and use the clot

-the station being a full mile from Simmons's "general store," which is considered the center of the town. The upper road enters the main road at the co

s to be a fog, with a strong easterly wind, you cannot see the marshes or the bay, but you can smell them, wet and salty and sweet. It is a smell that the born Bayporter never forgets, but carries with him in

Whittaker's Hill, and built in its place a big imposing residence. It was by far the finest house in Bayport, and Heman made it finer as the years passed. There were imitation brownstone p

t, stood before the townhall. The Atkins portrait in the Bayport Ladies' Library was much admired; and the size of the Atkins fortune was the principal subject of conversation at sewing circle, at the table of "the pe

set spoke of it as the "Sea Sight House." It was a big, old-fashioned dwelling, gambrel-roofed and brown and dilapidated. Originally it had enjoyed the dignified seclusion afforded by a white picket fence with square gateposts, and the path to

picket fence, uprooted the box hedges, hung a sign over the sac

ertaking, returned to Concord, New Hampshire, their native city, and left the Cy Whitta

race in the eyes of Bayport's neat and thrifty inhabitants-for neat and thrifty we are, if we do say it. The selectmen would have liked to tear it down, but they could not, because it was private property, having been purchased from the Howes heirs by the third Cy Whittaker, Captain Cy's only son, who ran away to sea when he was sixteen years old, and was disi

was now May. Mr. Tidditt wrote again; then he laid the case before the board of selectmen, and Captain Eben Salters, chairman of that august body, also wrote. But even Captain Eben's authoritative demand was ignored. Next to the harbor

, "does Heman want of a shebang like

nd shook

judge it's this way, Baile

g to resent any criticism of the popular idol. "Cal'late you and me'd

strain your biler just because I said that. I ain't finding fault w

year. What are you r

grown up into a high-toned young woman. Well, Heman is fur-sighted, and I s'pose likely he's thinkin' of the days when there'll be young rich fellers-senators and-and-well, counts and lords, maybe-cruisin' down here

e a crow build a nest i

an he writes to the board, askin' if the taxes is paid, if we've heard any reason why they ain't paid, and what we're goin' to do about it.

r she must stop singin' in the choir or lose her voice altogether. 'Whichever happens 'll be an improvement

we want to wait a spell, anyhow. But I know how 'twill end: Atk

and with the ubiquitous "silver-leaf" saplings springing up in clusters everywhere about it and closing in

taker was one of the biggest men we had in this town. So was his dad afore him, the Cap'n Cy that built the house. I wonder the looks of things here now don't bring them two up out of th

tt shook

, sir! Wan't no monkey shines or didos cut up in this town that young Cy wan't into. Fur's that goes, you and me

iend c

son,' says the Cap'n. 'I'll go to sea and be a sailor, same as you done,' says Whit. And he did, too; run away one night, took the packet to Boston, and shipped aboard an Australian clipper. Cap'n Cy didn't go after him to fe

ld man pined away, too, but he never give in or asked the boy to come back. Stubborn as all get-out to the end, h

nd yet, when you come to think of it, he must be pretty nigh fifty-five

led down there in Buenos Ayres. He's made all kinds of money, they say, out of hides and such. What he ever bought his da

receipt for the draft for taxes caused him to wax reminiscent. The younger generation here in Bayport reg

chuckle

, wan't we, Ase?" he said. "Spunk was kind of bo

n, dignified stroke. Mr. Tidditt and his c

gasped Asaph. "Is th

silver watch from his pock

Ketury's dinner waitin' twenty minutes. You and me are in for

ill at a race-horse gait, Bailey pounding at his heels. For "born da

to an unexpected change in the administration at Washington, Mr. Bangs was obliged to relinquish his position as our village postmaster, his wife came to the rescue with the proposal that they open a boarding house. "'Whatsoe'er you find to do,' quoted Keturah at sewing-circle meeting, 'do it then with

ves the Bangs residence is always "Keturah's perfect boarding house." As for the sign's affirmation of Mr. Bangs proprietorship, that is considered the c

e door leading to the dining room. Dinner was well under way, and Mrs. Bangs, enthroned at the end of t

ammered Asaph hurriedly. "Town affairs are im

s so, Ketury," c

u s

eral degrees below freezing. "Hum! I s'po

his wife, the end which, with sarcasm not the less keen for being unintentional, was called the "head." "Not exactly town aff

Bangs had a sermon to deliver, a

ort HIM by keepin' boarders, I says, 'If there's one thing that my house shall stand for it's punctual promptness at meal times. I say nothing,' I says, 'about the inconvenience of gettin' on with o

achment. From the driveway of the yard, beside the dining-room windows, came the rattle of wheels and the

e said. "There's somebody inside i

elf crowded to the windows. The "depot wagon" had drawn up by the steps, and Gabe Lumley, the driver, had descended from his

riage. "Wait till I get a purchase on her. Now, then

ep of the porch. The eye of every inmate of the perfect boarding h

Mrs. Tripp. "I never see him

with a face the interested expression of which was changing to that of surprise and

his breath. "Godfrey-SCISSORS! Bailey,

Mr. Bangs, "am I goin' lo

There are times when language