“Yes; but what makes you ask that?”
“Because, if you think there’s eggs enough in that kettle, you’re very much mistaken.”
“There’s half a bushel in the buttery,” said his father. “They’ll stay your stomachs, and after dinner I’ll kill a fat wether I’ve got in the barn.”
The captain could not well have given stronger evidence of hospitality and glad welcome than by his resolve to kill a wether, that would afford double the wool which could be sheared from an ordinary sheep, as will be evident if we reflect a moment upon the state of affairs at that period. Before the war of the revolution, when the British government was imposing onerous taxes upon our fathers, prohibiting American manufactures, and endeavoring to compel them to purchase those of the mother country, they not only threw the tea overboard, but in every way attempted to clothe themselves, that they might be independent of Great Britain. In order to be provided with material for cloth, the people of Massachusetts resolved to eat no lamb, and not a butcher dared to offer any for sale. Bounties were offered for wolves, flocks of sheep were increased by every possible means, great quantities of flax were raised, and every household was transposed into a manufactory, where wool and flax were carded, spun, and wove, and colored with barks and roots found in the woods.
“Save your money, and save your country,” became a proverb.
After the war, and at the period of our tale, when the country was oppressed with debt, and its infant manufactures were struggling for existence, when Great Britain, while excluding us from her West India ports, was deluging the country with her manufactures in order to effectually crush our own, all true patriots, and the government to the extent that lay in its power, strove to sustain the old spirit of independence, and raise wool and flax. Captain Rhines very rarely, and Uncle Isaac never, killed a lamb; but on this occasion the glad father was willing to slaughter even a wether.
Evil kills the home-feeling; virtue deepens and strengthens it. The fact that the presence of these boys added so much to the happiness of home, and that they were so happy to get home, was a fine tribute both to their heart and principles.
CHAPTER VI.
TELLING AND HEARING THE NEWS.
“What’s the news, father?” asked John, when the protracted meal was at length finished. “Who’s dead? who’s married?”
“Are all well on the island?” interposed Charlie.