Read "Rugged Water" by Joseph C. Lincoln online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The joyful surprise of Mrs. Gammon's arrival--joyful to every one with one possible, even probable, exception--furnished the distraction for which Homer had been hoping. The surfmen at Setuckit Station forgot for the time their discontent and incipient rebellion and laughed and joked and behaved more than ever like school children. Their treatment of Seleucus was that of a group of sympathetic friends congratulating a comrade upon his good fortune. They were so kind and thoughtful and so ready to suggest opportunities for him to be with his wife. If he happened to be busy at some task not immediately in the line of duty one of them was certain to offer to take it off his hands. For example: "Now, now, Seleucus," urged Phinney, "there ain't any need for you to be stayin' in here paintin' that door. Let me do it for you. You run over and see Jemima. She's lonesome, I'll bet. You cruise right along and cheer her up."
Mr. Gammon, dripping paint brush in hand, was not as grateful as he should have been.