“It would take centuries of exile to get a Coffin1 to acknowledge any other spot as home,” she would say.
She had inherited a beautiful old house on the main street of Nantucket Town and it had been almost a religion with her to keep that house as her grandmothers for generations had kept it. Not a modern touch was allowed to profane2 the lovely simplicity3 of that island home. Her regret was that only the summers could be spent there. She would have enjoyed it the whole year round and she resented Mr. Reynolds’ large law practice that compelled his presence in Boston.
In Boston, Mrs. Reynolds was a fashionable, handsomely dressed woman, but the moment she entered her ancestral halls she changed her costly4 attire5 for a gown of severe simplicity more in keeping with the painted floors, rag rugs and cane-bottomed chairs found therein. She might have been her own great-grandmother in her sprigged muslin dress with a hemstitched kerchief crossed over her loyal Coffin bosom6. The retinue7 of servants the Reynolds family found necessary in Boston to administer to their wants were left on the mainland. Ruling in their stead was one severe-looking person who claimed distant relationship with Mrs. Reynolds since they boasted the same great-great-grandmother Cousin Esther Sylvester was her name. She was the maid of all work, accomplishing with the utmost ease and precision the labor9 of cook, laundress, and housemaid, and at the same time never forgetting that she was of the same blood as the mistress. The fact that her cousin’s grandfather had left the island and gone over on the mainland, amassing10 a fortune, made not a whit11 of difference to the independent Esther, whose grandfather had stayed where he was and, at least, kept what he had, which was a fourth share in a very likely whaling vessel12 and an extremely picturesque13 fisherman’s cottage at Siasconset. Esther had inherited this property and, like her grandfather, she had held on to it. She still owned a fourth share in the whaling vessel and the picturesque cottage at ’Sconset. To be sure, the whaling vessel was rotting at the Nantucket wharf14, a mute reminder15 that the wheels of the world no longer had to be greased with sperm16 oil. The cottage had proved a much more valuable asset, as she rented it every summer for large sums to a great actress who delighted in its simplicity and the view one could get from its crooked17 little windows of the quaint18 old village streets.
Mrs. Reynolds and Cousin Esther had not only the same great-grandmothers but also the same insatiable curiosity about the small and seemingly unimportant details of everyday life. Perhaps it was something that had been bred in the bones of the original Nantucket Islanders when, in old days, they had been cut off from the world for months at a time and their own affairs and the affairs of their neighbors were of all importance because of the fact that the affairs of the nation were stale long before they were brought to their ears. The fact that Amanda Bartlett had broken her best Canton china teapot was a current event while the news that the men of Boston had thrown the tea into the bay at the famous Boston Tea Party was days old before they heard of it.
The telegram telling of Tim’s accident had thrown Mrs. Reynolds and Cousin Esther Sylvester into a great state of excitement. Not only were they very uneasy about their darling boy but they did so want to know how and when and where the accident had occurred. Who had rescued him? Which leg was broken, etc., etc., etc. Who were the mysterious persons who had sent the lengthy19 telegram, evidently not at all counting the cost? How did they happen to be at Hurricane Island? Were they white people? If so, why did they say their yacht was named such a strange outlandish name, “Boojum!” Surely the telegraph operator must have got it wrong. Perhaps they were Fiji Islanders and not white persons after all. At any rate, they had rescued the beloved Tim and were bearing him home in the yacht with the exotic name and the ladies were determined20 to be as nice to them as could be.
“Cousin Esther, you had better make extra preparations and be ready for guests,” suggested Mrs. Reynolds. “You know how Mr. Reynolds loses his head when he begins to invite.”
“Certainly, Cousin Lucia. I have baked three kinds of pies and have a cold joint21 in the larder22. I calculate there will be food enough for all the Boojummers likely to land,” said Miss Sylvester with some stiffness of manner. She did not at all like suggestions from her cousin-mistress.
Up the quiet, shady street of Nantucket Town came the Boojummers. Mr. Reynolds led the way with Mr. Wing. Then came the stretcher bearers, Breck and Jack23, the grinning Tim borne lightly between them. The others flocked around the point of interest not certain they should not have stayed away and let Tim have his home-coming without such a crowd, but when this had been suggested, Mr. Reynolds made so many protestations there was nothing to do but tag along.
“Well, when you come right down to it,” said Mabel, “I guess there isn’t anybody to leave out. Father must go to receive thanks for being near by with the ‘Boojum.’ Of course, Jack and Breck must go to carry Tim; Frances must go because she found him, and Jane must go because she helped carry him; Ellen must go to look after Jack, and—”
“And you and Charlie must go along to do the head work,” teased Jane.
“Exactly! Charlie must look after the legal aspect of the case and I must look after Charlie.”
“Here they come! Here they come!” cried Mrs. Reynolds, peeping through the living-room window.
“Yes, and it’s a good thing I baked three kinds of pies,” asserted Cousin Esther, grimly. “I’ll be bound Mr. Reynolds has invited them to dinner.”
“How pale my Tim looks! I’m afraid I’m going to cry, Cousin Esther, although I know how he hates for me to.”
“Don’t do it, Cousin Lucia, don’t do it! Remember Great-great-Aunt Patience who never shed a tear even when they brought home her three boys all drowned off Sankity. Here’s the smelling-salts. Now bear up!”
Tim was pale in spite of a summer’s tan. The stretcher bearers were as careful as possible, but every little jolt24 was painful to the fractured hip8.
“It hurts I know,” whispered Frances.
“Not much, but thank you for thinking about it, all the same.” Tim had been wondering if any of them realized how much it did hurt.
“Just think how Jane and I bumped you and be thankful our skirts are where they are instead of stretched on oars26 and you swung in the middle.”
“I wonder if Mother is going to weep over me. Poor Mother! It does her good to cry, but Cousin Esther is so stern with her when she gives way. Of course I’m not crazy about being cried over, but I can stand it for the good of the cause. I can stand anything better than Mother’s suppressed expression. There she is! Yes, she has her suppressed expression!”
Mrs. Reynolds came slowly from the door. Her instinct was to fly to her son and throw herself on him, take his red head in her arms and weep, but, remembering Great-great-Aunt Patience, she held on to herself, knowing full well the stern Cousin Esther was looking at her from the small-paned window.
The mother bent27 over her boy, giving him a restrained peck. But he put his arms around her and drew her close.
“Come on, old lady, and don’t be so Coffinish. Give us what our Southern friends call a ‘sho nuf’ kiss.”
That was too much for poor Mrs. Reynolds. Not only did she give Tim a “sho nuf” kiss but added to it a genuine hug, while the tears fell fast. What did she care after all for old Great-great-Aunt Patience and her strength of character that kept her from shedding tears even if her three sons were drowned off Sankity?
“That’s something like!” declared Tim. “Now you won’t have to get a headache from restrained emotion. Never mind Cousin Esther. She will forget it by the time she makes enough pies for all of us.”
Tim then proceeded, with the help of his father, to introduce all the Boojummers to his mother. After the formal introduction, he began with the utmost patience to give a detailed28 account of the accident to the eager ladies, Cousin Esther having joined them in the living room where the stretcher bearers had deposited their burden on a long, low couch.
“And this is the one who found me,” indicating Frances.
“Do tell!” from Miss Esther.
“Now tell me how you found him,” from Mrs. Reynolds. “How you found him and what you were doing there and how you happened to look behind the rock—everything! everything! Don’t leave out a thing.”
Frances proceeded with the narrative29. When she got to the place where she went after Jane, her insatiate hostess exclaimed:
“And you tell me what you were doing and what you thought and what you said; please, Jane!”
With a twinkle in her eye, Jane took up the tale which seemed like a game of consequences. The improvised30 stretcher made its appearance in the story and the distracted mother looked eagerly about as though expecting the stretcher to tell all it knew.
“Now this is where the petticoats come in!” exclaimed Mr. Reynolds. “What did I tell you?”
“You made a stretcher out of the oars and your skirts? Remarkable31! Wonderful! What kind of skirts?”
“These we are wearing!” Frances and Jane sounded like a Greek chorus.
“Those identical ones?”
“The same!”
Cousin Esther, who was standing32 next to Frances, picked up a piece of her skirt between thumb and forefinger33 and examined it critically.
“What they call khaki nowadays,” she said sententiously. “It is really a kind of lightweight sail cloth.”
“And the oars! What kind of oars? I do wish I might have seen the oars.”
“Here’s one of them,” grinned Tim. “I’ve been lying on it all the way here and mighty34 uncomfortable it was, but I felt I must produce it.” He proceeded to roll over a bit and pull gingerly at a little red oar25 that had been concealed35 up to that moment. “Here it is. Exhibit B! Now proceed!”
“No wonder you were making faces as we came long,” scolded Frances. “Why didn’t you let me carry the oar? It wasn’t very good for a broken hip.”
“Excuse me, please,” put in Breck. “But none of this is very good for a broken hip. I’m not much of a doctor, but I’m the only one you have had as yet and I really must insist, Mrs. Reynolds, upon my patient’s being put to bed and a real surgeon being called in to pass on my work.”
“Oh, thunder, Breck! Not before grub!” grumbled36 Tim.
All of them laughed at this and Mrs. Reynolds cried a little more.
“Now you are my own boy again,” she laughed through her tears.
“You remind me, Mother, of Tennyson’s lines,” quoted Mr. Reynolds:
“Home they brought her warrior37 dead;
She nor swooned, nor uttered cry.
All her maidens38, watching, said,
‘She must weep or she will die.’”
“It seems to more like Sawyer’s parody39 on Tennyson,” suggested Frances:
“Home they brought her sailor son,
Grown a man across the sea,
Tall and broad and black of beard,
And hoarse40 of voice as man may be.
Hand to shake and mouth to kiss,
Both he offered e’re he spoke41;
But she said, ‘What man is this
Comes to play a sorry joke?’
Then they praised him, called him ‘smart.’
‘Tightest lad that ever stept.’
But her son she did not know,
And she neither smiled nor wept.
Rose a nurse of ninety years,
Set a pigeon-pie in sight;
She saw him eat—‘’Tis he! ’Tis he!’
She knew him by his appetite!”
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1
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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retinue
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| n.侍从；随员 | |
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hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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amassing
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| v.积累，积聚( amass的现在分词 ) | |
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whit
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| n.一点，丝毫 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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reminder
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| n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示 | |
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sperm
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| n.精子，精液 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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larder
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| n.食物贮藏室，食品橱 | |
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23
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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jolt
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| v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸 | |
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oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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improvised
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| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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31
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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32
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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37
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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39
parody
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| n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文 | |
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40
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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41
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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