Maid Sally

by Harriet A. Cheever

  CHAPTER XIII.

  TWO YEARS

  With the coming of another summer there were reasons why Sir PercivalGrandison did not think it best to have his son Lionel come home.

  Troublous times were indeed brewing, and he did not want hisenthusiastic son to hear the reports that were going from mouth to mouthand from place to place.

  And when the next December came he was glad the lad was away, for inBoston, men painted and plumed like Indians had gone at night aboardsome laden vessels lying in the harbor, and had thrown nearly twohundred and fifty chests of tea into the water.

  For England was bound to tax the people of the Colonies for tea, beyondwhat they were willing to stand. And very patient had the Colonistsbeen. Eight years before this there had been a Stamp Act put upon themby the mother country, trying to make them put a stamp on all their lawpapers, newspapers, and such things.

  But this had made the people of the Colonies so very angry that the lawwas laid aside.

  Now, strange as it may seem, there were yet some of the people who didnot quite know whether it was right to stand up and say that England waswrong, and they would not stay on her side, or to think that they oughtto obey the king in everything simply because he was the king, and itseemed wrong to break away from his rule.

  And Sir Percival Grandison, really a fine, noble gentleman, found ithard to make up his mind as to what was entirely right or wrong in theimportant question.

  Sally was now so much a student that nothing, it seemed, could stand inthe way of her books and her swift way of learning. She understood allabout the trouble with England, and there was not a more decided,staunch little American patriot than was she.

  You know a patriot is one who loves well his or her own country, andSally was a true, staunch young Colonist. And Mistress Kent listened insurprise to some things she said that winter, wondering that a merechild should know her own mind so well.

  "I suppose," she said one day, "that we ought to love the king and obeyhim. But here we are way off by ourselves in another country, where thepeople have their own homes, and fields and lands of their very own. Andwhy should they want to keep taxing us harder and harder over inEngland, when we owe them nothing at all, and ask nothing of them? _I_wouldn't pay such unjust claims!"

  Mistress Kent was timid, and watched carefully her speech, and couldonly warn the out-spoken child to be careful herself.

  "The times are hot and full of threat," she said, "it is feared theremay be fighting before long; it were better to watch our words."

  And Sally tried to be prudent, although it tried her sorely whenMistress Cory Ann would raise her voice and declare that folks werefools who thought it best to oppose the king. But she said those thingsmost frequently when the men were away.

  And Sally found great comfort and delight in her lessons, whichincreased from time to time. She also sang in the choir and atsinging-school, greatly to Master Sutcliff's help and satisfaction.

  One day she picked up part of a newspaper in the road, and was surprisedto find that not a word of it could she read.

  This was late in the fall, after her Fairy Prince had again gone away,bound for Oxford and its halls of learning. And as time went on, not aparticle of the dreamy, story-like charm that clustered about the youngLionel died out of her heart. If anything, it grew stronger. Nor was itstrange that, with her fancy-loving nature, the lonely child had to setup a kind of dream-castle for her mind to feed upon.

  Yet all was pure and innocent as could be, and, if not real, it yet washelpful. And if into her heart had grown a kind of affection for herFairy Prince, who was so far removed from her in many ways, she feltthat it must always stay just where it was, in truth a secret admirationfor one far beyond and above her.

  "Because," she said to herself, "we are oceans apart, not only becausethe great sea rolls between us, but because in every way he is so faraway."

  Now on this day when the strange paper came into her hands, Sally wentslowly along, puzzling over the words, until she exclaimed:

  "Oh, I know what it meaneth! The paper is in another language, and how Iwould like to understand it! I must learn it if I can find one to teachme, I must, I must!"

  When she went at evening to Mistress Kent she took the sheet with her.

  "Yes, it is a page of a French newspaper," said the mistress, "andalthough I can make out many of the words, I have not enough knowledgeof the strange tongue to think of teaching it."

  A new ambition, or eager desire, jumped into Sally's heart.

  "And is there no one who could teach me?" she asked.

  "There may be many who could," answered the teacher, "but it hath alwaysbeen thought a hard matter to learn another language. Parson Kendallhath wide knowledge in Latin, Greek, and some say in French, also. But,knowing for one's self, and imparting or giving knowledge to another,are two different things. It needeth a professor, or a teacher wellskilled in other tongues, to teach them properly."

  Into Sally's mind leaped another thought.

  "My Fairy Prince will learn these other tongues, why cannot I? I will! Away there must be. I am poor, but I can learn."

  Mistress Kent then promised Sally that another year, when she would befourteen, she should begin the study of Latin, if she kept on flyingahead with her studies as she was doing. There was no danger that Sallywould forget the promise.

  That night she set her wise head to planning and asking in what way shecould manage to take up the study of French. Her two spare afternoonswere still taken up with Dame Kent, the mother of her good teacher. Theevenings, all except Saturday, were given to lessons and thesinging-school. What time was there for anything else?

  "Yet I will!" she said, over and again.

  "That is right," said her inner Fairy. "Since the desire has come sostrongly upon you to know the French language, only persevere, and theway to learn it will open."

  It opened in so simple a manner as to again surprise brave Maid Sally.

  And her ever-present Fairy said:

  "It doth in truth astonish me, the ease of it all."

  She was on her way home from Mistress Kent's when Parson Kendall cametoward her.

  "Good evening, young maiden," he said, with gentle dignity, "and how dothe studies progress?"

  "Very fairly, I thank you, sir."

  "And what are they now?"

  "I have arithmetic, sir, grammar, geography, and history."

  "Quite a list; and are the studies still pleasant to thee?"

  "Very, very pleasant, I thank you, sir. But, ah! if only I could learnthe French language!"

  "Learn French! And what, prithee, would a maid of thy years be needingof that?"

  "I might need it when I am older, sir."

  Then she added, with the respect that was natural to her, and was alwaysexpected of the young:

  "I think I should much like studying other languages. Grammar pleasethme; I like right well knowing my own parts of speech."

  Parson Kendall looked pleased.

  "When could'st thou find time for another study?" he asked. "It is nosuch simple thing to master a strange tongue."

  "I could, sir," was all Maid Sally said in reply.

  The parson smiled.

  "Could'st which?" he asked. "Find the time or master the language?"

  "I meant, sir, I could learn the language, but Mistress Brace might havemuch to say if I asked for more time, and I must in some way work forthe one who teaches me anything new."

  "Thou hast the right idea about some things," said the parson, kindly,"but go home now, and fret not about knowing another tongue at present;it is not needed so early in life. But that which is greatly desiredsometimes cometh to pass."

  There was a twinkle in the good man's eye when he last spoke that Sallyliked to see.

  "He is wise and kind," she said, as the parson passed on, "and I mustwait for learning French until comes the right time for it, but learn itI must some day."

  "Think no more about it, but do the best
you can with the fine teachingyou have already," advised her Fairy.

  And Sally tried to heed the advice.

  It was but the next week on Wednesday afternoon, when Mistress Kentreturned from visiting her sister, that she said to Sally:

  "I met our good parson but just now, and he would like seeing you at hishouse on your way home. I hope he hath good tidings for you."

  Sally trembled with hope as she went toward the parson's house, and itmay have been that he feared lest the little maid might find it hard touse the great brass knocker on the front-door, for there he was in thegarden as Sally entered the gate.

  "It hath all been arranged, dear maiden," he said, in so father-like atone that Sally felt tears starting to her eyes. "I deemed it best tosee Mistress Brace before saying more to thee about the French lessons,but the use of one morning is to be given thee. Come on Thursday bynine o'clock, and an hour and a half will I give thee.

  "No payment will be required save that one or two simple rules must beobserved. No more than half an hour a day at present must be given toFrench. This will make progress slow, but it is of more importance thatfigures, history, geography, and thy native speech should be welllearned than that thou shouldst know a foreign tongue while so young.

  "And so, see to it that other studies are not neglected for this new onewith a new teacher. This is all."

  When Sally began, to thank Mistress Cory Ann for her kindness inallowing her to go of a morning to the parson, sharp words arose to themistress's lips, but she kept them back.

  Sally was yet a great help to her. And a maid whom the parson would takepains to teach the French language was not to be too harshly treated. Soshe only said:

  "Ah, well, it seems not strange to me that one who thinks not much ofour king should want to get able to talk with the French some day. So Itold the parson he was welcome to teach you all the queer stuff he choseto, as I am sure he is."

  Mistress Cory Ann Brace did not speak to Parson Kendall in that way atall, and Sally knew it. She curtseyed and bobbed and tried at first topretend that she could not spare Sally during a morning.

  But when the parson said, quietly, "Very well, then we must try someother plan," she came around as if the word "burgesses" was againsounding in her ears, and said that after all she reckoned that onThursdays she could let the girl off for a couple of hours in themorning, and so it was settled without more ado.

  Before spring again gave place to summer, the parson said to GoodwifeKendall:

  "It doth astonish me, the way in which the Maid Sally Dukeen taketh herFrench! I have of late granted her an hour a day at the study, she sodesired it. She hath verbs, accent, the speech itself to a degree thatwill soon enable her to speak and write it correctly. And to-day thepretty wench asked if in the fall she could drop geography and take upGreek!"

  "I bethink me she must have come of a race strong of will, keen ofintellect, and quick to learn. I would that we knew more of the maid."

  Did Sally grieve that no Fairy Prince would come sailing home on the_Belle Virgeen_ when June would be rich with flowers and song?

  Yes, and no. Down deep in her heart was a little murmur of pain. But herFairy had cried as if in scorn:

  "And what, prithee, have you to do with the comings and the goings ofthe Fairy Prince? If it be the will of his father that he should stickto his studies and not mix at all with the strife, and, it may be, theperil of these days, why should it cause you sorrow? Dream, if you must,of the lad that is far away, but concern not yourself with the coursethat is marked out for him."

  And Sally was ashamed to mourn or sigh over her Dream Prince, except sofar down in her heart that even her own inner Fairy could scarcely knowit.