“And says I, 'Father, I will.' And as I said this he faded out and was gone. I got right up, and run up on deck, and called out, ''Bout ship!' Mr. More—he was my mate then—stared at me as if he didn't believe his ears. ''Bout ship!' says I. 'I'm going to Gloucester.'
“Well, he put the ship about, and then came to me, and says, 'What the devil does this mean? We're way past Cape Ann. It's forty miles right back to Gloucester.'
“'Can't help it,' I said. 'To Gloucester I must go as quick as wind and water will carry me. I've thought of matters there that I must attend to, no matter what happens.'
“Well, Ben More and I were good friends always; but I tell you all that day he watched me, in a curious kind of way, to see if I weren't took with a fever, or suthin; and the men, they whispered and talked among themselves. You see, they all had their own reasons for wanting to be back to Thanksgiving, and it was hard on 'em.
“Well, it was just about sun up we got into Gloucester, and I went ashore. And there was mother, looking pretty poorly, jest making her fire, and getting on her kettle. When she saw me, she held up her hands, and burst out crying,—
“'Why, Sam, the Lord must 'a' sent you! I've time, and I've felt as if I couldn't hold our much longer.'
“'Well,' says I, 'mother, pack up your things, and come right aboard the sloop; for I've come to take you home, and take care of you: so put up your things.'
“Well, I took hold and helped her, and we put ben sick and all alone, having a drefful hard things together lively, and packed up her trunks, and tied up the bed and pillows and bedclothes, and took her rocking-chair and bureau and tables and chairs down to the sloop. And when I came down, bringing her and all her things, Ben More seemed to see what I was after; but how or why the idea came into my head I never told him. There's things that a man feels shy of tellin',' and I didn't want to talk about it.
“Well, when we was all aboard, the wind sprung up fair and steady, and we went on at a right spanking pace; and the fellows said the Harpswell girls had got hold of our rope, and was pulling us with all their might; and we came in all right the very day before Thanksgiving. And my wife was as glad to see mother as if she'd expected her, and fixed up the front-chamber for her, with a stove in't, and plenty of kindlings. And the children was all so glad to see grandma, and we had the best kind of a Thanksgiving!”
“Well,” said I, “nobody could say there wasn't any use in that spirit's coming (if spirit it was): it had a most practical purpose.”