Reply To: The Ballards
Cyrus is my favorite of Ephraim and Martha’s children. He is mute since age twelve because of diphtheria. Outside the Ballards, he is pitied and thought dimwitted. “Women look at him as though he’s stupid. Simply because he cannot speak. They fear it is an illness. That it’s catching. Some affliction that could be passed on to their children.” In spite of that, he is a good, strong, kind-hearted and intelligent man. Usually grinning with good cheer, but with a wall around his heart. Because of being mute, he will probably never marry or have children of his own. His greatest desire is to go to sea, but that will not happen.
Ephraim tells Martha he is glad she chose him. Martha thinks that Ephraim did the choosing. He states that he did the courting. “Any man worth his salt knows it’s a woman who does the choosing. And any who thinks differently is a fool.” This is played out with Dolly who finds Barnabas Lambard attractive at first sight, choosing him before she even knew him. But her stubbornness almost destroys that chance for love when Barnabas arrives to arrest her brother Cyrus and she tells Barnabas that if he arrests Cyrus, she will never speak to him again. “Not one time. Ever.” Then she slaps him. Because she has inserted herself into a court matter is disappointing to Barnabas. But Barnabas is content to bide his time because he knows he’s won her heart.
