s," says he, "ol' Top betwixt the Dannie an'
the Callaway. An' as for the business in trade an' schooners that
there little ol' damned Chesterfieldian young Dannie haves builded
from a paddle-punt, with Judy t' help un," says he, "why don't ye be
askin' me!" And the business I have builded is good, and the wife I
have is good, and the children are good. I have no more to wish for
than my uncle and wife and children. 'Tis a delight, when the day's
work is done, to sit at table, as we used to do when I was a child,
with the geometrical gentleman framed in their tempestuous sea beyond,
and to watch my uncle, overcome by Judith's persuasion, in his old
age, sip his dram o' hot rum. The fire glows, and the maid approves,
and my uncle, with his ailing timber comfortably bestowed, beams
largely upon us.

"Jus' a nip," says he. "Jus' a wee nip o' the best Jamaica afore I
goes t' bed."

I pour the dram.

"For the stomach's sake, Dannie," says he, with a gravity that
twinkles against his will, "accordin' t' the Apostle."

And we are glad that he has that wee nip o' rum t' comfort him....

* * * * *

'Twas blowing high to-day. Tumm, of the _Quick as Wink_, beat into
harbor for shelter. 'Twas good to know that the genial fellow had come
into Twist Tickle. I boarded him. 'Twas very dark and blustering and
dismally cold at that time. The schooner was bound down to the French
shore and the ports of the Labrador. I had watched the clouds gather
and join and forewarn us of wind. 'Twas an evil time for craft to be
abroad, and I was glad that Tumm was in harbor. "Ecod!" says he, "I
been up t' see the fool. They've seven," says he. "Ecod! think o'
that! I 'low Walrus Liz o' Whoopin' Harbor got all she wanted. Seven!"
cries he. "Seven kids! Enough t' stock a harbor! An' they's talk o'
one o' them," says he, "bein' trained for a parson." I think the man
was proud of his instrumentality. "I've jus' come from the place,"
says he, "an' he've seven, all spick an' span," says he, "all shined
an' polished like a cabin door-knob!" I had often thought of it, and
now dwelt upon it when I left him. I remembered the beginnings of our
lives, and I knew that out of the hopelessness some beauty had been
wrought, in the way of the God of us all: which is the moral of my
tale.

"Think o' that!" cries Tumm, of the _Quick as Wink_.

I did think of it.

"Think o' that!" he repeated.

I had left Tumm below