No farewells, no explanations to friends,
nothing that should hold out to his sad soul any faintest hope of a
return to this garret, this toil, which now seemed to him more heaven
than ever before. Thus this Adam, left his paradise, clinging to his
Eve.
It was the day before Thanksgiving when Elkanah arrived at home. Will
any one blame him, if he felt little thankful? if the thought of the
Thanksgiving turkey was like to choke him, and the very idea of giving
thanks seemed to him a bitter satire? Poor fellow! he forgot that there
were other hearts to whom Thanksgiving turkey seemed little tempting.
The Cape folk are not demonstrative. They have warm hearts, but the old
Puritan ice has never quite melted away from the outer shell.
"Well, Elkanah, glad to see you, boy!" said his father, looking up from
his corner by the stove; "how's things in New York?" Father and son had
not met for three years. But, going out into the kitchen, he received a
warm grasp of the hand, and his mother said, in her low, sweet voice,
"I knew you'd come.
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