Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
148
The Country of the Pointed Firs
·
Sarah Orne Jewett
49
X.
Where
Pennyroyal
Grew
WE
WERE
a
little
late
to
dinner,
but
Mrs.
Blackett
and
Mrs.
Todd
were
lenient,
and
we
all
took
our
places
after
William
had
paused
to
wash
his
hands,
like
a
pious
Brahmin,
at
the
well,
and
put
on
a
neat
blue
coat
which
he
took
from
a
peg
behind
the
kitchen
door.
Then
he
resolutely
asked
a
blessing
in
words
that
I
could
not
hear,
and
we
ate
the
chowder
and
were
thankful.
The
kitten
went
round
and
round
the
table,
quite
erect,
and,
holding
on
by
her
fierce
young
claws,
she
stopped
to
mew
with
pathos
at
each
elbow,
or
darted
off
to
the
open
door
when
a
song
sparrow
forgot
himself
and
lit
in
the
grass
too
near.
William
did
not
talk
much,
but
his
sister
Todd
occupied
the
time
and
told
all
the
news
there
was
to
tell
of
Dunnet
Landing
and
its
coasts,
while
the
old
mother
listened
with
delight.
Her
hospitality
was
something
exquisite;
she
had
the
gift
which
so
many
women
lack,
of
being
able
to
make
themselves
and
their
houses
belong
entirely
to
a
guest's
pleasure,--that
charming
surrender
for
the
moment
of
themselves
and
whatever
belongs
to
them,
so
that
they
make
a
part
of
one's
own
life
that
can
never
be
forgotten.
Tact
is
after
all
a
kind
of
mindreading,
and
my
hostess
held
the
golden
gift.
Sympathy
is
of
the
mind
as
well
as
the
heart,
and
Mrs.
Blackett's
world
and
mine
were
one
from
the
moment
we
met.
Besides,
she
had
that
final,
that
highest
gift
of
heaven,
a
perfect
self-forgetfulness.
Sometimes,
as
I
watched
her
eager,
sweet
old
face,
I
wondered
why
she
had
been
set
to
shine
on
this
lonely
island
of
the
northern
coast.
It
must
have
been
to
keep
the
balance
true,
and
make
up
to
all
her
scattered
and
depending
neighbors
for
other
things
which
they
may
have
lacked.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
