The hot
midsummer sun makes prisons of these small islands that are a
paradise in early June, with their cool springs and short thick-
growing grass. On a larger island, farther out to sea, my
entertaining companion showed me with glee the small houses of two
farmers who shared the island between them, and declared that for
three generations the people had not spoken to each other even in
times of sickness or death or birth. "When the news come that the
war was over, one of 'em knew it a week, and never stepped across
his wall to tell the other," she said. "There, they enjoy it;
they've got to have somethin' to interest 'em in such a place; 'tis
a good deal more tryin' to be tied to folks you don't like than
'tis to be alone. Each of 'em tell the neighbors their wrongs;
plenty likes to hear and tell again; them as fetch a bone'll carry
one, an' so they keep the fight a-goin'. I must say I like variety
myself; some folks washes Monday an' irons Tuesday the whole year
round, even if the circus is goin' by!"
A long time before we landed at Green Island we could see the
small white house, standing high like a beacon, where Mrs.
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