"
"That's so," said Captain Eli. "You've put it fair. I
suppose if we did keep a child all night, we'd have to have some
sort of a woman within hail in case of a sudden blow."
Captain Cephas sniffed. "What's the good of talkin'?" said
he. "There ain't no child, and there ain't no woman that you
could hire to sit all night on my front step or on your front
step, a-waitin' to be piped on deck in case of croup."
"No," said Captain Eli. "I don't suppose there's any child
in this village that ain't goin' to be provided with a Christmas
tree or a Christmas stockin', or perhaps both--except, now I come
to think of it, that little gal that was brought down here with
her mother last summer, and has been kept by Mrs. Crumley sence
her mother died."
"And won't be kept much longer," said Captain Cephas, "fer
I've hearn Mrs. Crumley say she couldn't afford it."
"That's so," said Captain Eli. "If she can't afford to keep
the little gal, she can't afford to give no Christmas trees nor
stockin's, and so it seems to me, cap'n, that that little gal
would be a pretty good child to help us keep Christmas."
"You're all the time forgettin'," said the other, "that
nuther of us can keep a child all night."
Captain Eli seated himself, and looked ponderingly into the
fire. "You're right, cap'n," said he. "We'd have to ship some
woman to take care of her. Of course, it wouldn't be no use to
ask Mrs. Crumley?"
Captain Cephas laughed.
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