A Bit of Shore Life Page #2

"A Bit of Shore Life" by Sarah Orne Jewett is a collection of short stories that captures the essence of coastal life in New England. Through vivid descriptions and richly drawn characters, Jewett explores themes of community, nature, and the passage of time. Set against the backdrop of small fishing towns, the stories reflect the intimate relationship between the residents and their environment, offering a heartfelt glimpse into the simplicity and beauty of rural living. Jewett's keen observations and lyrical prose celebrate the nuances of everyday life, making this work a timeless representation of American regional literature.

• Short story

								

and curious stray creatures which often even the fisherman do not
know. We had capital good luck that morning, and Georgie and Andrew
and I were all pleased. I had a hand-line, and was fishing part of the
time, and Georgie thought very well of me when he found I was not
afraid of a big fish, and, besides that, I had taken the oars while he
tended the sail, though there was hardly wind enough to make it worth
his while. It was about eight o'clock when we came in, and there was a
horse and wagon standing near the landing; and we saw a woman come out
of Andrew's little house. "There's your aunt Hannah a'ready," said he
to Georgie; and presently she came down the pebbles to meet the boat,
looking at me with much wonder as I jumped ashore.

"I sh'd think you might a' cleaned up your boat, Andrer, if you was
going to take ladies out," said she graciously. And the fisherman
rejoined, that perhaps she would have thought it looked better when it
went out than it did then; he never had got a better fare o' fish
unless the trawls had been set over night.

There certainly had been a good haul; and, when Andrew carefully put
those I had caught with the hand-line by themselves, I asked his
sister to take them, if she liked. "Bless you!" said she, much
pleased, "we couldn't eat one o' them big rock-cod in a week. I'll
take a little ha'dick, if Andrer 'll pick me one out."

She was a tall, large woman, who had a direct, business-like
manner,--what the country people would call a master smart woman, or a
regular driver,--and I liked her. She said something to her brother
about some clothes she had been making for him or for Georgie, and I
went off to the house where I was boarding for my breakfast. I was
hungry enough, since I had had only a hurried lunch a good while
before sunrise. I came back late in the morning, and found that
Georgie's aunt was just going away. I think my friends must have
spoken well of me, for she came out to meet me as I nodded in going
by, and said, "I suppose ye drive about some? We should be pleased to
have ye come up to see us. We live right 'mongst the woods; it ain't
much of a place to ask anybody to." And she added that she might have
done a good deal better for herself to have staid off. But there! they
had the place, and she supposed she and Cynthy had done as well there
as anywhere. Cynthy--well, she wasn't one of your pushing kind; but I
should have some flowers, and perhaps it would be a change for me. I
thanked her, and said I should be delighted to go. Georgie and I would
make her a call together some afternoon when he wasn't busy; and
Georgie actually smiled when I looked at him, and said, "All right,"
and then hurried off down the shore. "Ain't he an odd boy?" said Miss
Hannah West, with a shadow of disapproval in her face. "But he's just
like his father and grandfather before him; you wouldn't think they
had no gratitude nor feelin', but I s'pose they have. They used to say
my father never'd forgit a friend, or forgive an enemy. Well, I'm much
obliged to you, I'm sure, for taking an interest in the boy." I said I
liked him; I only wished I could do something for him. And then she
said good-day, and drove off. I felt as if we were already good
friends. "I'm much obliged for the fish," she turned round to say to
me again, as she went away.

One morning, not very long afterward, I asked Georgie if he could
possibly leave his business that afternoon, and he gravely answered me
that he could get away just as well as not, for the tide would not be
right for lobsters until after supper.

"I should like to go up and see your aunt," said I. "You know she
asked me to come the other day when she was here."

"I'd like to go," said Georgie sedately. "Father was going up this
week; but the mackerel struck in, and we couldn't leave. But it's
better'n six miles up there."

"That's not far," said I. "I'm going to have Captain Donnell's horse
and wagon;" and Georgie looked much interested.

I wondered if he would wear his oil-skin suit; but I was much amazed,
and my heart was touched, at seeing how hard he had tried to put
himself in trim for the visit. He had on his best jacket and trousers
(which might have been most boys' worst), and a clean calico shirt;
and he had scrubbed his freckled, honest little face and his hard
little hands, until they were as clean as possible; and either he or
his father had cut his hair. I should think it had been done with a
knife, and it looked as if a rat had gnawed it. He had such a holiday
air! He really looked very well; but still, if I were to have a
picture of Georgie, it should be in the oil-skin fishing-suit. He had
gone out to his box, which was anchored a little way out in the cove,
and had chosen two fine lobsters which he had tied together with a bit
of fish-line. They were lazily moving their claws and feelers; and his
father, who had come in with his boat not long before, added from his
fare of fish three plump mackerel.

"They're always glad to get new fish," said he. "The girls can't abide
a fish that's corned, and I haven't had a chance to send 'em up any
mackerel before. Ye see, they live on a cross-road, and the fish-carts
don't go by." And I told him I was very glad to carry them, or any
thing else he would like to send. "Mind your manners, now, Georgie,"
said he, "and don't be forrard. You might split up some kindlin's for
y'r aunts, and do whatever they want of ye. Boys ain't made just to
look at, so ye be handy, will ye?" And Georgie nodded solemnly. They
seemed very fond of each other, and I looked back some time afterward
to see the fisherman still standing there to watch his boy. He was
used to his being out at sea alone for hours; but this might be a
great risk to let him go off inland to stay all the afternoon.

The road crossed the salt-marshes for the first mile, and, when we had
struck the higher land, we soon entered the pine-woods, which cover a
great part of that country. It had been raining in the morning for a
little while; and the trunks of the trees were still damp, and the
underbrush was shining wet, and sent out a sweet, fresh smell. I spoke
of it, and Georgie told me that sometimes this fragrance blew far out
to sea, and then you knew the wind was north-west.

"There's the big pine you sight Minister's Ledge by," said he, "when
that comes in range over the white schoolhouse, about two miles out."

The lobsters were clashing their pegged claws together in the back of
the wagon, and Georgie sometimes looked over at them to be sure they
were all right. Of course I had given him the reins when we first
started, and he was delighted because we saw some squirrels, and even
a rabbit, which scurried across the road as if I had been a fiery
dragon, and Georgie something worse.
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