A Little Maid of Province Town

  CHAPTER XVI

  THE MAY PARTY

  "A May-day party, eh?" said Elder Haven, when Anne and Amanda told him ofthe plan. "Why, I think it an excellent idea. It will surely be a pleasantsight to see the children dance about the May-pole, and I shall like wellto come."

  After Elder Haven had approved the parents could find nothing wrong in theidea, and all the children went Maying for arbutus and trailing evergreensto wind about the pole.

  Early on the morning of May-day Amos and Jimmie were at the spring with along smooth pole. The other children soon followed them, and Mrs.Starkweather came to show them how to fasten the wreath at the top and thelong strings covered with vines and blossoms which Anne and Amanda, withthe help of Mrs. Stoddard and the Starkweather boys, had made ready theday before.

  "We used often to dance about a May-pole when I was a girl in Barnstable,"said Mrs. Starkweather. "To be sure it is an old English custom, and justnow England does not seem our friend, but 'Tis a pleasant custom that wedo well to follow. I know a little song that we all used to sing as wetook hold of the bright streamers."

  "I know that song," said Dannie; "you call it 'May Song.'"

  "Why, yes," said Mrs. Starkweather, "I'm sure all my boys know it. I'vesung them all to sleep by it; and 'Tis one I sing about my work, for 'Tisa cheerful and a merry lilt."

  "It goes this way," said Dannie, and began to sing:

  "Birds in the tree; Humming of bees, Wind singing over the sea; Happy May-days, Now do we praise, As we dance gladly round the May tree."

  As Dannie sang his mother and brothers joined in with him, and the otherchildren listened in delight.

  "Can you not sing it when we do 'dance round the May tree,' AuntStarkweather?" asked Anne; "and if Dannie will sing it over to us a fewtimes I am sure that we can all sing it, and then Elder Haven can hearus."

  Dannie liked to sing, and he sang the little verse over and over againuntil all the children knew it, and until his mother said that they mustall run home and make themselves tidy, and then come back, as the dancearound the May-pole was to be at two o'clock.

  "I do wish that Uncle Enos could see it," said Anne, as she put on her newwhite pinafore over her plaid dress, and fastened the coral beads aroundher neck; "I know well he would like to hear the song."

  "The boats went out early and may get in in good time," said Aunt Martha.

  "Mrs. Starkweather says that there is always a Queen of the May--a littlegirl whom the other children choose to wear a wreath on her head, andwhatever the Queen tells them to do they must do all May-day," said Anne,as she and Mrs. Stoddard walked toward the spring, "but I do think theother children have forgotten all about it."

  "What makes the children want to choose one to obey, I wonder," said Mrs.Stoddard, smiling down at Anne.

  "It must be because 'Tis a little girl whom they all like, and who isalways kind and pleasant to the other children," said Anne. "If 'twas aKing of the May we would all want Jimmie Starkweather; but there are notso many girls as boys."

  The other children were all at the spring with bunches and wreaths offlowers, and Anne was surprised to see that a mound of sand had beenheaped up and covered with pine boughs.

  "What is that for?" she asked.

  "That's a throne for the Queen," said Dannie Starkweather.

  Mrs. Cary and Mrs. Starkweather were talking with the children, and asAnne came near they formed into a little circle round her, joining handsand singing:

  "Our May-queen, Queen of the May, We're ready to serve you All this bright day."

  Then Willie Starkweather, who was only four years old, took Anne's handand led her to the "throne" and said, "You mutht thit down, Anne," forWillie lisped, "and I'll put the crown on."

  So Anne sat down on the pine-covered sand-heap, and Willie put a wreath offragrant arbutus on her head.

  Captain Enos, hurrying up from the shore, thought it the prettiest sighthe had ever seen. The tall pole, covered with green vines and brightblossoms, the children forming in a circle round Anne, and the pleasantMay skies over all, seemed to the sailor to make a picture worthremembering.

  Then came the dance round the May-pole and the song. By this time, theother men had come up from the shore; Elder Haven was there, and every onein the little settlement had gathered at the spring. It was a circle ofhappy faces, and when the time came for them all to start for their homes,each one said that Province Town had never seen so pretty a sight.

  "'Tis something we shall like to think about," said Elder Haven to JimmieStarkweather, as the two walked toward the Elder's house.

  Anne was sure that it was the happiest day in her life. "I wish my fathercould have seen me, Aunt Martha," she said, as they walked toward home."'Twould please him well to know the children like me. 'Tis only a yearsince they did scorn me at the spring."

  "You must forget about that, Anne," said Aunt Martha. "They chose you forQueen because you have been a pleasant child. You see, it matters not whatthey said before they knew you."

  "Aunt Martha!" exclaimed Anne, suddenly looking up toward the harbor,"see! There are two big ships coming down the bay."

  "We are not to be in peace long," said Mrs. Stoddard. "They are comingstraight to anchorage."

  Every one soon knew that the "Somerset" was back again, and now theEnglish sailors took no trouble to be civil. They laid hands on provisionsof all sorts, but nevertheless they brought good news.

  William Trull found a chance to tell Captain Enos that the Americans hadwon the battle at Lexington. "We'll be in harbor here but a day or two,"he added; "we must be back to watch the Americans at Charlestown." And,sure enough, the next morning the big ships had sailed away again, takingwith them many things that the little settlement could ill spare.

  As the summer days lengthened, Anne longed more and more for some news ofher father. The battle of Bunker Hill had brought another triumph to theAmericans, but the English vessels still cruised about the coast, makingthe fishermen careful about going far from shore.

  "Uncle Enos, could we not go to Boston again and find my father?" Annewould ask, and Captain Enos would grow serious and shake his head, and sayit would be too great a risk to undertake. So Anne helped Aunt Martha withthe work of the house, played with her doll under the pine trees, andwandered about the shore with Amanda, but always thinking of her absentfather, and wishing that she might go and find him.

  "I am past nine years old. If I was a boy, I could sail a boat to Boston,"she said to Amanda one day, as they went down to the beach to watch thefishing-boats come in.

  "Yes," agreed Amanda; "I guess that Amos could sail a boat to Bostonbefore he was nine."

  "Then he could sail one there now," exclaimed Anne. "Oh, Amanda, wouldn'tAmos sail us to Boston to find my father? Uncle Enos will not; he says'Tis not safe. But surely the English would not hurt two little girls anda boy. Would Amos be afraid?"

  "Afraid of what?" Amos had come up beside them, and the sound of his voicemade them jump.

  "Afraid to sail a boat to Boston," explained Anne.

  "That would be easy enough," declared the boy, "and I would like well toget the chance to sail father's 'Peggy' to Boston."

  "Will you, Amos? And take Amanda and me with you to find my father? I willtake all the blame, indeed I will. And if we find him and bring him back,they will all think you a brave boy, Amos."

  "They will not let us start," said Amos. "We'd have to put off in thenight. But I'll do it. You girls must bring along something to eat, andwe'll start at midnight."

  "When?" asked Anne.

  "To-night," answered the boy. "Why, 'twill be a greater adventure than anyboy of this settlement ever had. If we make Boston, I may be made prisonerby the British," and Amos looked as happy over the prospect as Anne did atthe thought of finding her father.
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  "Mistress Stoddard will not be pleased," cautioned Amanda.

  "She did not greatly blame me before," said Anne. "She knows I want muchto see my father, and Uncle Enos does not want to go. If we sail safelythere and home, it will save Uncle Enos trouble. He will not have to gohimself."

  "Should we see Rose Freeman?" asked Amanda.

  "It may be," said Anne.

  "I would like well to go, if we could see her," Amanda said thoughtfully.

  Amos was now full of plans for the trip. There would be a favoring tide atmidnight, and he was sure they could sail out of the harbor and be well ontheir way by morning; and, giving the girls many cautions about being onthe shore at the right time, he went happily off to look over the sloop"Peggy," and to wonder what Jimmie Starkweather would say if he knew thathe, Amos, was going to sail a boat straight up to Boston!