They Had A
Touch Of It Most Years, And Sometimes Pretty Sharply.
"It was a
coarse place to live in," the old woman said, "but there was no one
to meddle with them, and she guessed that it suited." They had
books and newspapers, tidy delf, and clean glass upon their
shelves, and undoubtedly provisions in plenty.
Whether fever and
ague yearly, and cords of wood stretched from fifteen to twenty-two
are more than a set-off for these good things, I will leave every
one to decide according to his own taste.
In another cabin I found women and children only, and one of the
children was in the last stage of illness. But nevertheless the
woman of the house seemed glad to see me, and talked cheerfully as
long as I would remain. She inquired what had happened to the
vessel, but it had never occurred to her to go out and see. Her
cabin was neat and well furnished, and there also I saw newspapers
and Harper's everlasting magazine. She said it was a coarse,
desolate place for living, but that she could raise almost anything
in her garden.
I could not then understand, nor can I now understand, why none of
the numerous passengers out of the boat should have entered those
cabins except myself, and why the inmates of the cabins should not
have come out to speak to any one. Had they been surly, morose
people, made silent by the specialties of their life, it would have
been explicable; but they were delighted to talk and to listen.
The fact, I take it, is that the people are all harsh to each
other.
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