Harriet A. Cheever

“ Are these sprays of pink coral? No, they are sea-rods and branches. If you pinch the thick stems, water will ooze out, for they are partly hollow, like the pond-lily stem.
I do not wonder you look with questioning surprise at that next plant. It is like a mass of purple bushes, a very sweet growth rather hard to describe. All through the delicate branches are what look like small dark berries, seen through a mist of pinkish, hairy spires.
Don't start. These merry fishes darting through the next clump of bushes have only come to smell of the carnation pinks the bushes bear. ”

“ Although Sally had not slept until late the night of the ball, yet quite early she awoke the next morning, and, gathering the shawl closely about her, she began going over the fine sights and sounds, that had left a charm in her mind like unto a Fairy dream.
The longing in the maid's young heart for better things than those she had, fairly cried out within her, as she thought of the appearance and the graces of those high-born dames.
"I should have a better home," she said, glancing around her miserable room. "There must be ways in which I can raise myself. ”

“ Ah, who would not be a Dolphin, merry and free, whisking through deep, still water, coasting over coral sands, and diving and sporting through coral groves!
Nor is this the only rare and curious place through which I rove, chasing my comrades, wandering about in search of caverns below, and sweet music above, while forever making war on my enemy, the flying-fish.
You see, these fish can cut through the water, reach the surface, then really fly with finny wings across short spaces right in the air. They think themselves smart, and are great braggarts. ”

“ Would it suit thee to be my helper for a time?"
"Oh, indeed, and indeed," cried Sally, stopping to choke for an instant, "I will so gladly and most faithfully do anything you may ask; and I shall need nothing at present, I have clothes—"
"Tut, tut, child!" said Goodwife Kendall, with a smile. "No one should work well to receive nothing in return, and I shall give thee two and sixpence a week, both to teach thee how to use a little money wisely, and also to pay for what I know thou wilt justly earn." ”

“ Yet it is not necessary for us to breathe as Folks do, and we can blow out water in an upward stream from little holes that are over our eyes.
My colors are fine, dark, almost black on my back, gray at the sides, white and shiny as satin underneath.
There are strange things about a Dolphin. One is that when one is about to die, the colors are very beautiful. In growing faint-tinted where once dark, new and brilliant shades flash forth that change and glow in showy tints. In our beak are thirty or forty sharp teeth on each side of the jaw. Our voices are peculiar. ”

“ Oh, with what a thrill of delight I saw this time, in these far happier days than when last I passed through it, this narrow outlet from ocean to sea. I went through first in a tank, I returned with the broad ocean for my glorious bed.
I know now that the strait was named for the enormous Rock of Gibraltar, and that it once was called the Strait of Hercules.
Now "Hercules" is another "myth" you will study about in those old Greek fables called "mythology." He was one of the gods, and famed for his tremendous strength. ”

“ She was too much in earnest to laugh as she went on: "All is, if there be, we must help each other. Thankful should I be to rise in the world, and great, great joy would it be if some good Fairy could come and live with me, helping me to rise. Listen, listen will I for your voice, good Fairy, and run wherever you send, and do whatever you bid."
Then Sally heard many voices, and the rustle of silken garments, and she knew that a soft swish of fine muslins and delicately shod feet were coming over the lawn.
She dared one peep at the gay company. ”

“ But the gown was soiled and must soon be done up. So in a spirit of sport Sally put it on, and at breast and waist she pinned great posies of buttercups, daffy-down-dillies, and sprays of fresh green leaves. Then she started for the pine woods and the oak-tree.
The sweetness, sunshine, and melody all about so charmed her for a time that the book for once lay idly in her lap.
"Life is beautiful," she murmured.
"Yes, life is beautiful!" echoed her Fairy; "it is but right that the young should enjoy it."
"I feel so glad to-day," said Maid Sally, "I would I might always feel this way." ”

“ A cavern, you know, is a hollow or den, and old ocean holds many a cavern or den full of interest and beauty. But I will take you first to a kind of grove.
My home, where I spend most of my time, is in deep water. But not in the deepest, oh, no! That is said to be two thousand fathoms down. Think of it! More than two miles below the surface. There probably is but very little life at that depth. But when I visit some groves, or the region of a reef, I must first sail and sail until I reach water that is not deep at all.
Do you think you have ever seen coral, real coral? ”

“ One evening, as Sally sat dreaming on the stones, she heard Rosamond Earlscourt say:
"I must furbish up my riding-suit, for cousin Lionel will want to mount Hotspur once he is home again, and I my Lady Grace."
And Lucretia answered, "Lionel liketh best to ride alone when on Hotspur's back. Do not you remember he thought it made Hotspur impatient to have another horse beside him, and raised his temper?"
"Then there are other horses he can ride," returned Rosamond. "My beautiful Lady Grace is tired of standing in the stable, but I like not to ride alone or only with a groom for company." ”

“ And should there be a violin, a guitar, flute, or a cornet—oh, yes, I know them all!—on a passing vessel, we float alongside just far enough under water to keep our bodies out of sight, while we take in the strains in our own peculiar way. For although our ears might be hard to find, we yet absorb or draw in sound very readily.
And now that you know quite a little about the Dolphin family, I will tell you some things that may interest you about my watery home. For home, you know, is wherever one lives, whether it be in the air, on the earth, in the earth, or in the waters under the earth. ”

“ The opinion of a fish, even a great lordly one, may not be worth much, but to me that exquisitely lovely stone, reposing on that exquisitely lovely shell, is a far more beautiful thing to look upon than the jewel ever could be when fitted into the costliest setting of gold.
Now it is just as it was made, and I think that Whoever formed and set that pearl knew more about real beauty and fitness, and what is simple, natural, and very beautiful, than all the Folks and jewellers in the world. ”

“ It is only to find out how mean and soiled is my dress, how brown are my hands and feet, and worst of all, that no matter how hard I might long for it, learning is not for a maid of my quality."
"Prithee, be patient!" cried the new Sally, cheerily. "Thou hast already made of thyself a more seemly looking maid; still better things may come ere long." ”

“ Pick up that shell, carry it with you to a jeweller, and see the dollars the fair round gem will bring to your purse. You could buy yourself beautiful clothes, or a pony, or could have with it a fine party, flowers, favors, treat and all.
What? Don't dare to? Oh, me, me, what a little coward! I can't pick it up very well. If I took it in my mouth, down my throat it would go. If I tried to catch it up with a fin, over into the water it would bounce.
Never mind. Look at the sweetly beautiful conch-shell, with the splendid gem resting so softly on its pink, polished side. ”

“ Mistress Kent was silent for a time after Sally had spoken. She was thinking to herself:
"This is something new. Here is a little maid ten or eleven years of age, who, all by herself, has come to my door, saying that learning she wants and must have, and will gladly pay for it what she can with her own small hands."
But the Mistress had to be wise and prudent. The children who came to her school were well taught and well reared, came of proud parents who paid well for their schooling, and would never let their little people associate with children of the poorer classes. ”

“ When Sally heard the order for the supper company the next night, she at once decided that her own simple meal must be quickly eaten, as she must see something of the fine things at Ingleside.
By standing on the rocks it would be easy to peep through the thin tangle near the arbor just above her head and close by the wall. It would not do to take long peeps, but she could take several for a moment at a time. Yet she must beware: a sudden gust of wind might part the slight brush, show her bright eyes, then, alas, the pleasure it might take from her! ”

“ Just so ocean-flowers, and sea-tints can only live in their own element, which is not air, but water. And the faces on our water-pansies—for we have them—would soon fade in what to them would be lifeless air, just as the garden pansies would lose their bright faces in the salt sea.
Great quantities of seaweeds float ashore and are often dried and used as fuel, or perhaps are put around garden plants to make them grow.
But nothing that grows on the land, or in the water, can exchange places one with the other and keep alive. ”

“ Lionel replied, stoutly:
"The lad or the maid who is determined to learn, and have the right place in the world, can find the way! The lad or the maid who pushes through everything that would hinder, and will get learning in spite of difficulties, is the one to succeed and to be admired! ”

“ I had raised myself into the storm circle, and big creature that I was, I had need to learn that there were mighty forces of the sea that made all my strength as a mere wisp of straw when placed against them.
Do not Folks, I wonder, sometimes find it much easier to get into a hard place than to get out of it? That was what I found then, being driven about first this way, then that. I was slammed against a great, roaring billow that sent me off presently in another direction, merely to be met by another wave that dashed me against a third one. ”

“ I wonder did it mean anything?"
"What should it mean?" asked the faithful Fairy.
"Mistress Cory Ann might say it was a good sign," said Sally.
"Do not be a silly, taking note of signs and omens!" cried the Fairy. "They bear no meaning except for simple souls that know no better than to make them up. ”

“ Then such a vicious-looking tail! Oh, you had better keep clear of an angel-fish.
A toad-fish looked like an enormous, swimming toad. Bless me! I caught sight of a shark as I came well out into the ocean. He was more than twenty feet long. Think of that! But they are thirty feet sometimes. His great, fleshy, powerful tail takes him along as he looks from side to side for his prey. I saw his pointed nose and his rows of awful teeth, one over another.
There are sharks that can bite a man in halves. Once in awhile we see a shark in our Mediterranean, but they do not abound there. ”

“ And our fair Lady Rosamond, prithee?"
"The Lady Rosamond has money and beauty, friends, fine clothes, and many things to please her," grieved Sally, "what need has she of the Fairy Prince for company? She can read books, ride in the family coach, sit at a fine table; but when the vessel sails away, what other comfort will I find with his voice gone from the arbor, and in all Ingleside I can find him not?"
[Pg 80] "There is work to do, learning to get, many things to seek after," cried her good Fairy. "Up and away! Be ashamed to brood and sorrow over what you cannot help. ”

“ Orion, another myth, and a most exquisite player of the lute, so charmed the Dolphins with his playing, that once being in great trouble and throwing himself into the sea, a Dolphin bore him on his back to the shore.
Some Folks have called us whales. But we are not whales at all, and are of an entirely different family. Yet I am a big fellow all of eight feet long, while some of us are still much longer than that. ”

“ A few nights after this, when July had come, and the black people, bare-footed, bare-armed, dressed in but one or two cotton garments, went sluggishly about their work, when gauzy-winged creatures droned midst clumps of sweet flowers and heavy garden scents, when rich blossoms hung in trailing abundance and the paths were carpeted with wild flowers, when birds sang far into the twilight, Maid Sally more slowly than usual went over to her rocky seat. ”

“ Does it live and breathe? It is one of the curious, mysterious things of the ocean about which Folks have written and studied, and the wise ones say that coral is neither insect nor fish, but a kind of sea-animal, that lives in both deep and shallow waters. In the beginning it appears to be a tiny sea-creature, like a small, fleshy bag, with a mouth at one end, while with the other it clings to some object, almost always a rock. ”

“ One shall be really me, Sally Dukeen, then there shall be another Sally, a fine, new one, that has been taught by the Fairies, and knows all things that are seemly and proper, even as the upper people do. ”

“ There is a great deal of wisdom in all this that a poor fish cannot understand, but Folks must know how these strange things come about, and who makes and guides all creatures everywhere. But a Dolphin cannot take it in at all.
We are a merry, friendly tribe. There probably are no fish that swim the sea that are fonder of Folks than we Dolphins. And we cannot help feeling quite proud because of what Folks have appeared to think of us. ”

“ Indeed!" cried a voice of mock surprise. "Five years to fit a lad, who already hath somewhat in his noddle, to do a man's work?"
"And but twenty-one will I be then," answered the Fairy Prince. "Youth is the time for study."
"And is so very much learning needed?" asked a womanish voice which yet was a man's, "for the young gentleman who will have lands and servants of his own whenever he wants them?"
"No man can properly care for houses, lands, or servants, who hath not a fair stock of the right kind of learning," said Lionel, stoutly. ”

“ Swiftly back through Shady Path and Lover's Lane ran Sally, her frowsly head full of the strange, sweet fragment of fairy song that she had heard.
"Now, where've you been?" cried Mistress Cory Ann, as Sally came panting into the Row. "Not up to Ingleside, I hope! I had to run way up the path to make you hear. Haven't I told you more'n a hundred times you'd better keep away from there? Just let the people up at the big house catch you pokin' around, and back you'll come faster'n ever you went. Do you hear, Sally Dukeen?" ”

“ But one great help and comfort was coming to good little Sally. An ignorant woman was Mistress Brace, for indeed she could scarcely more than read and write, and she cared more for money and show than she did for better things, such as learning and filling the mind with useful knowledge.
People who know but little are likely to be superstitious; they are very quick to believe foolish and untrue sayings, or things that in the least alarm them, perhaps having in them something to dread. ”

“ But they have curiosity, and want to peer and pry into things. It is not at all nice to want to find out all about other Folks' affairs. It belongs to a poor, mean nature to want to do that. But to want to inquire into matters for the sake of getting true knowledge is right and worthy even for a fish.
And suddenly I had determined to see just what that amazing creature could be. If it caught and swallowed me alive, it might, but—it would take a pretty big swallow to make away with Lord Dolphin. I confess to going to work very much like a sneak. ”

“ Many fiddlers will be there, and you can have a low seat, even on a cricket hard by the bass viol, and though the players will be on a high platform, you can hide for a little while behind the big instrument and have a good peep at it all."
"How can I get in?" asked Sally.
"You can enter under the shadow of my wing," said Master Sutcliff, "but not long had you best remain. At first no one would notice you, but it might not be easy for you to long hide entirely: we change places once in a while." ”

“ For where, pray, would Lord Dolphin wear a breastpin, or how would he look with a string of coral beads about his neck, or a bracelet pinched about his tail?
You needn't laugh so hard. I have seen Folks who hung too much jewelry about themselves and seemed to think it becoming. A few pieces of nice jewelry may be tasteful and ornamental, but when too much is worn, I have a fancy that it might make a coral mite or an oyster want to laugh. ”

“ Pamunkey turnpike lieth before me as the crow flies. Often enough have I heard that."
As if her own voice was like company, she asked:
"Now, good Fairy, what must I do?"
And she pretended her Fairy made answer:
"Be wise. Speak to no one unless forced to. Poke a sharp toe against Hotspur's side should any one try to stop you. If speak you must, [Pg 227] let it be in the words and tones of the black people. This you could do very well. Make a queer jumble of what you say, to confuse any who may question you."
And Sally answered, demurely:
"All these commands will I obey." ”

“ Set the tray on yonder bench; we will see to passing things ourselves."
There was a cheerful chinking of glasses, much laughter, and the sound of gay spirits, while, her sharp imagination at work, Maid Sally fancied herself one of the group above her head; "and yet," she said to herself, "should my Fairy Prince indeed sit beside me, and hand me fine delicate food and a sweet drink, I think I might die of delight, I do indeed!" ”

“ But Hotspur liked not being drawn up into the dark shadow. Just as the wagon rumbled by he gave a loud neigh. Up went a window somewhere overhead.
"Who's there?" called a harsh voice. "Answer, or I'll let out the dogs."
"Say, Mars'," called Sally, in a shrill tone, "how far to Parson Kendall's, and how far to Farmer Hinds's?"
"You must be a fool!" replied the gruff [Pg 228] voice. "Parson Kendall's lies way behind, two or three hours' ride. Hinds's place is two hours ahead, straight along by the bushes, through the oak belt, and on by the river path." ”

“ Too much a child of nature was Maid Sally to lose or cast aside the dearest fancy of her life as she grew older, and the Fairy Prince of poorer days was the Fairy Prince still in her deep young heart. ”

“ Had Sally known the meaning of such a word as "romance," which is a sweet and wonderful story, or happening, or dream, she would have known that the chief bewitchment of her life sprang from the dear romance that to her fancy was all about fair Ingleside.
Because, from the time that she had been [Pg 21] brought to Slipside Row, when a bright little child of eight years, with a keen imagination and great love for all that was tasteful and beautiful, it had become the greatest charm she had ever known to race, whenever she could, through Lover's Lane and Shady Path, to some part of Ingleside. ”