The Schooner Bay Home for Invalid and Indigent Seamen

The Circus Comes to Town

Chapter 8:

Fortuna had been as surprised as anyone to be asked to head the "Committee to Raise Funds for the Enlargement of Schooner Bay". Nevertheless, she accepted the job and jumped right into it.

Naturally, she asked her husband to join the committee, as well as Captain Gregg, A.A. Cooper, Mrs. Muir, Reverend and Mrs. Whitman, and Mrs. Pierce of "Pierce and Long's Ladies Emporium". Mrs. Beatrice (or "Bea") Pierce was an excellent businesswoman and every woman in the town frequented her clothing shop. Consequently, she knew everyone and all their gossip. Thaddeus joked that if gentle persuasion didn't encourage donations, Bea's ability to lace a corset to extremely small proportions would seal the deal.

Not one to let grass grow under her feet, Fortuna called the first committee meeting for the next night after she and her husband had been to Gull Cottage. She seated her guests in her home's large library, asked Agnes Whitman to take minutes and opened the meeting by asking the members of the committee to show their dedication to the cause by pledging a generous amount to the cause. Only Captain Gregg was exempt, for obvious reasons. She told the committee that she and Thaddeus were donating $2000 a piece. Quickly the others added their contributions and within 15 minutes had raised $7150.

"Excellent! Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. With this nest egg we can begin to hold some events. I would suggest organizing a ladies' tea and a gentlemen's night as quickly as possible. Perhaps we can persuade the New England Excelsior Circus to allow us to use their last night as a benefit show. Is anyone willing to volunteer to speak to their General Manager about the possibility?"

Bea Pierce raised her hand. "I can go visit him tomorrow. I'd go first thing in the morning, but I hear that actors, artists and, circus folk don't get up very early in the day." She said this with a straight face, but there was a little gleam in her eye that indicated that she knew it was moderately funny. "If he agrees, and allows us to reprint his circus flyers, I will immediately go to the printer and have him rush out handbills announcing the benefit performance. Perhaps we could find a few children to hand them out."

"Wonderful ideas, Bea!" exclaimed Fortuna. "Does anyone have any other suggestions?"

Mrs. Muir raised a hand. "How about a bake sale on the small wharf on Sunday after church. People will be walking by there, so we'll have an audience."

"And," interjected Captain Gregg, "it will be after the morning's church service and before lunch. People will definitely think that some pies or cakes would be the perfect thing to bring home."

"Well, if they are anything like me, the sweets would be finished by the time I got home!" Mr. Cooper said laughingly.

"Then we should sell lemonade as well," stated Agnes Whitman.

Mr. Cooper turned to Thaddeus Grover who was sitting on his right and whispered, "It would be better if they sold hard cider at the very least. Not that selling an alcoholic beverage right after a church service is correct, but this is for charity!"

Considering that the committee had made a good start, Fortuna closed the meeting.

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The next morning the Town Council plus Fortuna Figg Grover, Captain Gregg and an unknown tall, thin man met. Fortuna was asked to give a summary of her committee's meeting the evening before and the men of the council were very pleased with their start. They were a little surprised when she asked them for their donations after her presentation, but since she pointed out that the committee had donated a generous sum of money, the council members could do no less. Since the Reverend Whitman and Mr. Cooper had already participated the night before, it was left to the rest of the men in the room to open their pockets. They were not as well off as most of Fortuna's committee was, but they raised an additional $500.

Justice of the Peace Turner announced that Fortuna was being very effective in her fundraising, but she need not stay for the rest of the meeting. She took umbrage at her dismissal and pointedly remarked that if her committee was to have goals, she would need to know what the town's plans were. Since no one could rebut her logic, she stayed put and took out a small pad and a pencil in a filigreed silver pencil holder. Captain Gregg mused to himself, with a grin, that for once Fortuna's air of entitlement served her (and the town) well.

Next, Mr. Turner announced that the county had given them two weeks to provide a proposal. Not only did this not give them much time to raise funds for the bid, but it meant that time was of the essence in putting together a proposal that was legally correct. Schooner Bay had a lawyer practicing in the town, one Thomas Quinton. Mr. Quinton, however, was over seventy years of age. He was an excellent attorney, but due to his advanced years, he was quite slow and deliberate. With a beak-like nose and large, dark eyes, he both looked and moved like a turtle. Clearly, the town needed someone who was better suited to the task, and Mr. Turner had taken the initiative of inviting a new and young attorney who had recently settled in neighboring Keystone to come to speak to the council members.

"Gentlemen...and lady, I have taken the opportunity to invite Zebulon Peevy to join us this morning. He will discuss, in general, the legal issues which we will need to address in our proposal. If we are all in agreement, we have the funds," and here Turner nodded at Fortuna, "to hire him to be our lawyer."

Peevy stood, looking like a very thin rail post. In fact, with a beard, he could have been Abraham Lincoln's brother. He cleared his throat, feeling somewhat nervous in front of the group, but then settled into his talk. He knew the laws pertaining to the land issue, which he explained in detail. He also spoke generally about how Schooner Bay had certain rights, either already delineated or implied that would bear on their submission. He expressed his feeling that if the town was able to raise a respectable amount of money, the county would have to give them special consideration.

At the completion of his talk, Mr. Turner asked Peevy and Fortuna to step out of the room for a few moments.

"I believe that Mr. Peevy would make an excellent legal representative for Schooner Bay. His rates are reasonable. Would anyone care to make a motion to hire him?"

Henry Callan, the farrier made the motion, and seconded it. Mr. Turner called the vote and Zebulon Peevy was unanimously voted in as the lawyer representing the town before the county commissioners.

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After getting some rest the day before, Ada was able to give a solid performance and maintained her position as the closing act. Her mind was still preoccupied by her meeting with Nate, however. After she removed her costume and all the makeup, she decided to write him a letter, which she sent as soon as she could the next morning:

"Dear Mr. Douglas,

"Thank you for your visit of Wednesday afternoon. By the time you receive this letter, it will be Friday and my mother will be arriving early the following morning, with the circus packing up and leaving on Sunday afternoon. I do hope that you are willing to meet her, because I believe that we both deserve some answers from. If however, you cannot bring yourself to confront her, I hope that you will come to the fairgrounds later so that I can say goodbye in person.

"I am very thankful that we were able to meet and speak a bit and if you don't mind, I would like very much to correspond with you.

"Respectfully yours,

"Ada Seaver"

Nate held the letter in his hand just hours after it was posted. He had been going back and forth in his mind about meeting Alma again. He was fairly sure he knew the truth of the situation and her confirmation wasn't really necessary to him. But, he thought, Ada needed to hear for herself from her mother, and it might be a help to the young woman if he were there. With her letter in hand declaring her desire to maintain contact with him, Nate thought that she might feel better to have a steady and benevolent hand besides her.

He made arrangements to go down to the fairgrounds in the late afternoon, just before Ada would have to prepare for the evening's performance. She was glad to see him again and even more glad that he would meet Alma with her. He also wanted to ask her about her future with the circus.

"Do you think," he began, "that you'll be doing your act in the distant future, or would you like to settle down somewhere?"

Ada chewed her lip as she thought a bit. "I had always assumed that I would perform as long as I was able. I like being independent and not reliant on anyone else, able to make my own decisions and deal with the consequences of them without anyone criticizing me. And I have friends among the other circus folk, even though we all come and go to different companies all the time. Still and all, there might be something to be said for staying in one place longer than a week or two. Of course, there'd have to be a good reason...or the right person...to make me want to sink roots into the ground."

"But there's been no one yet?" Nate asked.

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High above the fairgrounds, Zebulon Peevy walked with Captain Gregg, past Gull Cottage to the plot of land that Abner Washington and associates proposed to purchase. Zebulon took out a small note pad wrote some things in it as he walked around.

"Nice piece of land here," he said. "Pleasant view, nearby beach, road already laid out and looks like there's enough land here for a respectable-sized hotel with a lawn to sit out on. I can certainly see why they'd want to buy it."

The Captain, who had yet to reveal that he was a sprit, responded to the younger man. "Indeed. It's an excellent location. It's only drawback for a hotel is that it is farther from town than the current Majestic is."

"Has the land been surveyed?" Peevy asked.

"Not that I am aware of. Of course, Mr. Washington may have had it done privately."

Peevy noted that in his little book. "I will look into that immediately. For now, I think I've seen all I need to see. I'll be staying at the Inn until Saturday if you wish to reach me. Thank you very much for escorting me up here, Captain."

They parted company at Gull Cottage and Zebulon continued down Gregg Road back to town. As he passed the fairgrounds, the took in the circus, which he had paid little attention to on the walk up. He looked at the posters and the banners depicting the circus acts. He also noticed an older man and a young woman talking back between the circus tent and some wagons. The woman was quite attractive, he noticed. He wondered if she were a performer. If he went back to the Inn immediately, he could have his supper and attend the evening's performance.

At the side of the circus tent, Nate gently laid his hand on Ada's arm. "Aye, it is important to hear from your mother just what's what, but more so for you than for me. I'm sure in my mind what game she played, and I've made my peace with it, but that is the way of old folk. We have less time to think of revenge and the like. It makes you more forgiving when your time on this Earth is limited." Ada looked up at the old seaman with surprise. "No, no!" Nate laughed. "I'm hale and hearty and still have some days left. But at my age, each is one less that I have to set things right between me and the universe. However, you likely are still sorting out the wrongs done to you and the wrongs done by you. Whether I see Alma again is of little consequence to me, but I think it would be best if I was with you for this, ahem, discussion."

Zebulon had enjoyed the circus performance very much that evening. He was happy to find out that the woman he had glimpsed that afternoon was indeed, the exotic "Aida, Egyptian Princess of Fire" and as pretty up close as he'd imagined her to be. He had never thought to be so bold before, but he found his feet leading him outside after the performance to circus folks' wagons. He hoped that he could find Aida and thank her for her thrilling act, although this was something that he had never contemplated doing any time before in his life. The Fates were smiling on him that night because he literally walked into her as she left the circus tent. Zebulon stuttered for a moment before he pulled himself together and introduced himself. Ada had long ago learned to be alert to men who viewed women like her as being loose, but Mr. Peevy was in no way one of those "slick" and "practiced" fellows. She found herself smiling at his slight awkwardness. He was disappointed when she informed him that there was only one more day left in the circus's stay before they moved on to Bangor and then back down toward Massachusetts and Boston.

"I hope I'm not being forward, Miss Aida," he began before she interrupted him.

"It's really Ada. Ada Seaver."

He smiled and continued, "...Miss Ada. But I hope you wouldn't think me too forward if I came to see you perform again tomorrow night, and perhaps in Bangor? Or, perhaps we could correspond, if you think that is more appropriate?"

Ada had to stop herself from laughing, fearing that the earnest young lawyer would think that she was laughing at him. In his own innocent way, Zebulon was charming and definitely quite different from the men who usually approached her.

"Please, come again tomorrow night and we can speak after the performance. My mother will be here as well."