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THECRUISECF7KE“S!APPY THOUGHT"
"TALES OB' TEN TRAVELERS"* SERIES.
By EDGAR L. WAKEMAN.
•(Copyright. 1-iH. All rights reserved
Traveling perforce by sea in winter
along the farthest Maine coast, the eye
constantly rests upon a wild and dreary
lino of shore. B'or stores of miles not a
hamlet and scarcely a lonely habitation
can be discerned. Here and then at long
intervals a ghostly lighthouse, perched
upon some drear, storm beaten, sea gir
dled rook or grewsome promontory, may
be seen: but this only serves to hint of
ever present danger or to intensify the
shuddering consciousness of unusual des
olation.
The havoc and terror along these win
ter shores almost reach malignancy. Once
driven in behind these foam-mantled,
granite headlands for shelter, quieler
waters may be reached, backed by beet
ling mountainous crags; but few friendly
folk, cabins or hamiets are found to suc
cor or welcome the mariner in distress.
From the sea all seems as if the spirit of
desolation bad retired here, impatient of
its own maddening power, fora winter's
fury. and. wild and distraught, had chal
lenged the sea to mortal combat.
Awful are these struggles between
Ocean and shore. There is scarcely ces
sation of battle. Mountain waves, as if
led by fierce and plume-tossed hosts,
charge and charge thunderously through j
hitter day and wildei night upon black- ■
faced ledge and headland, flayed by cutting
winds and swathed in ghostly fog while
the hoarse mutterings of battle are end
less wailing undertones to the shrieks of
storm beaten sea fowl, whirling and
skirling aoove. as if mad in sympathy
with the trem< ndous elemental conflicts.
But when the winter's rigors have
passed anti the fury of the tempests is
spent, what magical change has come!
Murmurous sea pulses on welcoming
Shore. Sat apery has givtn place to
gentlest peace. Kelp and sea-urchins
grow anti nestle at the foot of every
ledge Innumerable islands, bathed in
balmy, sea spent airs, bloom with shrub
and jern and tower. Countless ioves
rest between islets and crags, mirroring
only radiant skits, inviting to most ven
turesome quest, and safe for shallop,
dory, soon or even lightest canoe
In far nooks, behind emerald-crowned
era vs. lovingly nost.e ton built homes;
and here aud there, circling landward,
in-simre and on outlj ing b aches, groups
of tinner's huts picturesquely touch the
very water's edge. Barefoot women are
drying and mending seines; a thousand
brown weirs line the shores like hosts of
russet spears.
Steamer and sail and balmy winds,
every wht re at sea; beauty and interest
and delight, everywhere toward the
mighty land of pines! and for stores and
scores of miles along-shore, to Arcardian
laud where Hies the red cross of St.
George, glint of Ushers sail, sound of
fisher's song, voices of lisher's wife and
little ones, min.-ltd with glad calls of land
and water fowl, homing in the headland
nooks or island crags; with sunny days,
star-lit nights and the ceaseless whisper
ings of favoring gales and songs of the
joyous sea.
At the furthermost reach of this shore
inside the American boundary, lies the
ant ient city of Eastport, girdled by the
noble Passamaquadd.v Ha.\ Beside it. to
the west, a long arm of the sea, the Cobs
cook Bay, cuts through crags and isles
for nearly a score of miles to the uorlb,
breaking at last into two tiny estuaries,
fed by murmurous rivulets from the pine
clad hills beyond.
On one side of these streams, beueath
centuries-old elms and native pines, strag
gles a long, winding, half-country road
and village street, one side of which,
where the sea-arm stops, breaking away
to the water's edge in grassy curves, in
little'out-.utting tilts of mottled black
and gray stoue, or again in shingly,
shelving beach.
Seine sand fishing-gear hang from outer
cottage walls, or arc stretched like dry
ing sea moss U| on the lencts and the
rocks Dismantled 'Quoddy boats lie
half drawn upon the shore. A crumbling
and ghostly old mill s.ands at oue stream
mouth, and a tumbledown rockery, where
the gleaming sardines are sometimes
packed, leans against the friendly bank
of the other. The upturned hull of an
ancient schooner, graying and blistering
in storm and shine, in a dark silhouette
between It is now a boat mender's hut,
where the children come and play, aud
the ancient mariners of the place bask in
the sun and spin their yarns while look
ing out upon tin- waters of the seldom
sa:!-fieekod silent tax
This hamlet is s,eepy old Pembroke
town. “The head of the tide," it is called
by sea-wise Pembroke folk; a folk savored
and flavored 1 ss by the lives and ways ol
the old-lash on_d farm folk among' the
hills behind, than by all the lore and
witchery of the sm. filtered through gen
erations into their lives and thought and
speech, from the riotous of sea captains
retired here, sailing skippers bold, who
have cruised in ail known and unknown
waters; who still prefer salt beef and
coos’ tongues to the moNt savory of shore
viands: who have taught their Brazilian
parrots m beaky voices to call their
garden-making neighbors "land-lub
bers;" who now and then veil
to their mumbling old wives, "Bake
me a pan o' biscuit, that'll crack an' snap
like ga-f top sa'l sheet blocks!" who keep
their old ship chronometers beside their
bunks, and never suddenly awaken from
an afternoon doze without bellowing,
"Mate, how's she headin'!" and who,
providing you can demonstrate becoming
reverence, though they arc always sus
picious of your decorum, will spin such
yarns as will make you know that the
ocean o' to-day is but a mean millpond
beside the may slic ocean of tlieir day and
time, while you long for the amazing fer
tility of their genius.
Rare old skippers and brave are they,
sailing over and over with the log of
memory the old courses, querulous and
rheumatic, raspy-voiced and childish in
likes and dreads, yet ever snug and tidy
in their home harbor at the head of the
tide, in olden Pembroke town; though a
trifle hesitant and unsteady in their reck
oning toward the sailors snug harbor of
the infinite Beyond.
On this early September day, of not so
many years ago, three little, grizzled, old
sea captains were closeted in the boat
mender’s hut on the shore in front of Pem
broke hamlet. A rakish little single
masted schooner. “Happy Thought,"
rocked saucily in the oiling above the in
coming tide, as if impatient of her moor
ings ; while old and young women, chil
dren, a few old. old men leaning on
crutches and sticks, and even country
folk In wagons halting beside the single
village highway, were scattered in
curious groups between the shore and the
.street
" Pears like they're mighty sly 'bout
their doin's," whispered one woman to
the other women around her.
"Mebbo i's sly bimess they're on.’’
creaked another. “Hc-arn said how as
they did do a little piratin' in their
younger days.'
“Never bin theirsel's" ventured a third 1
“since they lost Viney."
"Well. 1 jess tell ye,” piped an old man
on crutches, shaking om- of them ibru.it-
Inpiy at the group, "thar wasn’t etiny left
In i'embroke like Viney"
'Messas well fur Pembroke, mebbee.
va, the spiteful retort
“\c menu jess us well fur you vviminea
folks 1" returned the old man. warming
with his subject. “Ye're like a passed o'
cuttlefish when a gal's good names foun
derin'at iveeti \or inky tongues. But ye
only foul yesel s when ye raise ycr voice
again Vinev. She had a right ter go. if
she wanted ter. She'd a right ter stay, it
she wanted ter!'.
The oal man was so vehement that Ills
impetuous words turned the tide in the
absent Viney's favor at once.
“She was th‘ best schoolroom ever cum
to our district," bridled up a farmwife
from a near wagon “She'd foot it six
rniies. in 'n' out; chop her own wood an'
build her own lire; wasn't Above swepin*
out the s'hoolhouse, nuther; an' then,
arter tigh tin" sense inter them younguns'
heads ail day. she'd set up all night
nussin' tli' sick. Mebbo she war'll good
'nuif fur Pembroke." this with mighty
scorn, “but she was good "naff fur plain
folks out our way!"
"Well, Viney was handy with her
needle, ’ admitted one old lady with
trembling head.
" N’ handier with a boat than enny
man at til' head o' th' tide." rembered
another.
] "What waen't she handy at?” re
sumed the old man on crutches, beating
i the sand and shingle to emphasize his
I words.
"She could cook like a Malayun,” offered
an old salt in evidence.
"She cud work like a nigger;” insisted
the farmwifefrom the wagon.
•She cud pray powerfuler ’n' th’ pas
son;" insisted Clamdigger Ike. who had
sat unmov ed under the droppings of the
sanctuary all his hard old life.
*”N’ cuan’t she sing purty! Oh, my!”
ventured one of the bravest of the bare
legged Pembroke lads
•‘Sing!—sing! Well, rayther!” snorted
the old man on crutches. "Thar's whar
i th' hull trouble come Th’ Salvashun
I band cudn’t git a mite in edgewise, drum
; ‘n’ all, wh# Viney Jetsum jess hera'd
j and haw’d a leetle, n' opened them, purty
j lips. Why, that gai worked her skin t'
j th’ bones, keerin' fur them three Cap
tings." jerking his head toward the hut.
“ N what’d shegit? Not nuthin'. What'd
she ax ’em fur —them that's got more
money 'n' this hull town?”
No one answered and the sympathetic
oracle resumed. <
“What was it? Jess a pesky orgin. or
melodyun, fur th’ Sund .v School. D'.ve
sp ose they'd do that little! Not much.
Said their wheezin’ old ’eordeou 'n' their
yelpin’ old Addle was a darn’d sight more
music n' Pembroke bed a right t’ git; 'n'
then when that colleger feller cum long,
vacationin’ two year ago—'n' a likely fel
ler he wur-’n' took a lectio pity on
Viney,’n’sent her a orgin from Bosting
they jess up n" sold it out o' spite!”
“Said’tvvuz puttin'onlikely notions in
her bead. I hoerd 'em say us much:" in
terrupted the stone-mason's wife, imme
diately snapping her lips together aud
slowly nodding her head.
“Yes,” continued hoof thecrutches tri
umphantly, “an’ then Viney lit out. But
don’t you forgit it. feller citizens, Viney
lit out on her own money ; her own hard
earned money. She didn’t light out with
no colleger, neither. I'll jess bet my next
quarter’s pension money agin all them
Captiugs's got. that wherever Viuey Jet
sum is, she's workin’ uu’ siegin' an’
prayin', iess as stoddy as she did in Pem
broke. Darn my hide! Them cantakerous
old Captings ought ter be a buntin' tier
'stead o’ sailin’ away for their health; n’
if 1 had toy way, they'd bring her back t’
Pembroke, ’pologizin' all the way, or I'd
scuttle their Happy Thought, for ’em,
outside 'Quoddy Head!”
“’Taint no such town 'thout her, as
’twaz!” sighed clam-digger Ike.
"No sech town! No town at all!”
sputtered the old man, stumping up and
down and around and among his listeners,
while making the sparks fly from the
gritty rock and shingle with the iron fer
rules of his crutches. "No more spelliu's
down . uodonashun parties fur th’ parson :
no singin' school; no more clambakes: no
quiltin s ; no picknickin"; no revivalin';
no nuih’n! N' them three critters done
it—pshaw!”
The tender hearted old fellow could
contain himself no longer; and with a
fierce shake of the crutch at tho hut and
the gayly rocking "Happy Thought"
stumped vigorously away up the highway
to his little cottage beside the mill.
"Them three critters done it;" said the
farmwife responsively, as her wagon
started away on its homeward journey
among the hills.
"Them three critters done it, sure;”
echoed clam-digger Ike. skimming bits of
slivered rock like a scudding sea-fowl
along the surface of the creeping tide.
Unconscious and unheeding of Pem
broke criticism, though full of important
secresy in their movements, the three an
cient skippers, still locked vvithiu the
hut, were holding the most solemn con
clave of their lives.
) They were alike as the almost flowing
blue trousers that envelope! their re
speclive shrivelled legs; the blue pea
jackets upon their bent old backs; tho
iluffv gray shirts beneath: the huge
black kerchiefs dangling from under
spaniel-eared collars, over which poured
strikingly alike cascades of white aud
shaggy beards, which seemed to leave but
little room for reddened noses, beady
eyes and wrinkled foreheads, as it
blended into shaggy white eyebrows and
shaggy white hair, running like wreaths
of well-hackled hemp from the napes of
their scraggy necks up over their hairy
ears, nicely defining little, round spaces of
red and shiny scalp, all precisely as if cut
from the same patchwork pattern; and
still as alike as the ancient sou'vvesters
they grasped in their left hands, for their
light hands laid together in a solemn lit
tle wrinkly and knotted pile on the top of
an extinct sheet iron stove.
"Vinoy's got to be got,” said Captain
Ben’amine Ballast, with force and feeling.
"T.iat's what we re here fur," assented
Captain Rudolph Rudder.
"By fair means fu foul;" added Captain
Timothy Tacker, with a determined little
twist of his head.
"I picked her up c‘Ten a wreck, good ez
ndenr water, long'tood fifty-four, six,
west, lat'iood forty-five, two, north, when
sailin' th’ ’Nancy Mary.' twenty year
ago;" resumed Captain Ballast.
“Tharaboutadmitted his two com
panions.
“We all quit sailin' an’ cum t’ Pern
broae, lur snug harbor, next year."
“N" lumped our shares ‘u‘ dunnage *n'
divided Viney, a fortnight arter;" insisted
the other two, sticking for historic accu
racy and their rights in the absent waif
of the sea.
"Then vve called her Viney, kase she
wuz seech a tender an' twinin’ little
critter—”
" "N" Jetsum. kase she wuz. jetsum, ’n’
hadn’t tother name," interrupted ( apt.
Rudder.
"’N,’ brought her up-"
"Arter dead reek uin’,” observed Capt.
Tacker with decision.
" N vve got 'long 'thought ary squall nr
foul weather with her eddyeashun an'
sing tV. till that pesky Boston colleger
cum eanoein' an geologizin' round IV:u
broke."
•Makin' up tor us, to make up ter
Viney." added Capt. Rudder with an in
dignant snort.
■ Ef he'd made up ter Viney like a man.
1 wouldn't minded, though vve has our
rights," continued Capt Ballast mourn
fully: "but he jess clawed an' edged an'
canted an' jigged an' di'dn t liar down
under full sail,Tike a well-meaniu’ craft.”
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, MARCH 4. 1894.
“.S’ gin her a shifting cargo o' onlikely
notions." snapped Capt. Tacker.
i "Told her mebbo she wuz sumboddy
i else than Viney Jetstin. n' sent her tiiat
cussed orgin. ' growled Capt. Rudder. .
"Yes. an’arter she slipped anchor an'
stole out' o' harbor, vve nabbed his tei'-
gram t' V inoy ler cum ter his folks, ez
thar wuz planners an' tilings thar, an’
they"e help her find ef she warn't Flot
sam stead o' Jetsam, with jess th’ signa
i ter. ■( ieoioger,* at the tail-en! o' the
j message."
I "Damn a man ennyhow that dassn't
| sign his vvritin'!" roared Capt. 'l acker.
"Speakin' "bout signin'," continued
Capt. Ballast wit ii increased solemnity,
“vvi re 'tout ter sign our compact"
"Sign, seal an’ deliver;” suggested
Capt. Kuddt r
•■Th'art’clt s o'our comrae' sez we re
ter build th' Happy Thought."
"Single-master, sixty ton burth'n.
That's done, n’ thar sue is!” interjected
Capt. Tacker, with a look of pride
through the old ship hull's window.
Share an' share alike; finin' an flttin'
alike: grub an' grub alike: with ex try
cabin fur Viuey, when we git her.
Them's done; but let 'em stan' in th'
art'cles:" said Capt. Ballast judicially.
“Let em stall’ jess ez they’s writ.”
"N" pack away th' dunnage o' *Th'
Three Captings Rest,’ in i’embroae, till
'Happy Thought s' cruises’ ended.”
"Xhet's done, ship-shape, too.”
•■'N set sail from Pembroke, without
ary but oue port—that's Viney.” This
from Capt. Rudder.
"When sail in.' Cap'n an Cap'n about,”
continued Capt. Ballast; crew an' crew
about, an’ cook an’ cook about."
"Ev'rything turn an' turn about;” ac
cede l the other two decidedly.
Ilf ary one mut'nies, lie loses his share
in ‘Happy Thought’ an' Viney, an' snug
harbors in some other |>ort, th rest o’ his
ual ral life.”
"Fur th’ resto' his nat’ral life!” echoed
Capts Rudder and Tacker with evident
agitation.
"Th' ‘Happy Thought' must cruise in
all points whar tliar’s goin's on an’ sing
in'.”
"Whar thar's goin's on an’ singin’.”
“An 1 never quit huntin’fur Viney Jet
sum.”
"Never quit huntin’.”
*”N’ find th’ college whar th’colleger
hails from, ’n sass th’ capting.”
“’N’ sass th’ capting.”
”’N’ lick th' geologer.”
“Lick th' geologer.’-
•”N' then git Viuey.”
“Git Viney.”
“Peradventur’ Viney ain't got sud
d'n’,” here Cant. Ballast’s voice failed
him for a moment, “an’ ennything hap
peas to one on us. 'tother two's owners o’
th’ schooner an’ Viney, share an’ share
alike.”
"Share an' share, ekal in both.”
“Peradventur’ Vinoy’s a iong, long
time a-gittin', an' ennything happens ter
two on u," Capt. Ballast quite broke
down at this point, and Capt. Rudder
took up the thread of the compact.
■Peradventur two on us slips our moor
in's fur th’ last port, then ”
"Then tlx last capting,” concluded
Capt. Tacker, as Capt. Rudder found he
could go no farther, "gits the hull three's
dunnage, cash, th’ "Happy Thought,’ an'
keeps on huntin’ an’ cruisin’, till Viney
JetsunYs brought safe to port!”
"Amen !” said ('apt. Ballast dolefully.
“Amen 1” responded Capts. Rudder and
Tacker.
And not until that moment did they
move their honest right hands from tho
stove top. and then only to sign, with
wheezing breath and labored movement,
tho compact whose articles of faith and
purpose wore to bind them together to
the end.
This done, they marched out of the
little hut; clambered into their yawl:
rowed silently to their rocking craft,
where everything was in instant readi
ness for the cruise; boarded the Happy
Thought, loosed her single line ana made
sail in a quie; and orderly way. as became
the old marine s they were; and. with a
few subdued farewells to Pembroke folk,
which were answered back heartily
enough from the shore, floated hopefully
put at the turn of the tide towards
'Quoddy Head Light and the sea.
To these little old prilgritns of second
childhood and the sea. there was almost
the reckless and joyous elation of youth
in tlieir cruise in the "Happy Thought,”
entirely aside from the real object of
their quest. How they ate and “yarned
it” by day and slept by day and night!
How their stiffened joints relaxed and the
warm old blood of the good old days went
boundiug and thrilling through their
clogged and feeble veins 1 With what de
light they recalled each islet, cove, head
land, bay, tide eddy and threatening reef,
along the matchless coast of Maine!
How they hailed passing steamers,
'“spoke" far-off ships, and bandied rugged
sailors greetings to crews of lugger, bark,
brig, skiff and laboring dory or freighted
smack.’ And how they traced again and
again in each pulsing of the air, each film
of ghostly fog, each bearing of the con
stellations ana in every shale and color
ing of the waters, as a returned lovor will
gloat upon faintest lights in his lady's
eyes and face, for the oldert hints of ocean
moods they knew and loved!
They circled Grand Manan. They loit
ered at ancient Machiasport. * They
thieaded the islands of Narragnagus
Bay. They cruised idly about Schoodic
Point. They floated under the shadows
of grim Mount Desert, recalling the mys
teries of the "Black B'og." coming to the
great resort of Bar Harbor as to a won
drous. instant-built city of a dream: and
here they first awakened from their hey
dev idling to a realization of the nature of
their search; for surely there were
"singin's and goin's on” where come
thousands of rival parvenus with their
dollars, diamonds and dawling dairyings
beside old Frenchman's Bay.
The vast caravansaries, the splendid
architecture, the dazzling shops, the be
wildering casinos, the great sliovv-drives
with their dog carts, cut-unders,
barouches? phaetons, chaises, tally-ho
coaches and their silver ana gold trim
mings and crests, the gorgeous yachts
and launches, the amazing uniforms and
liveries, the brilliant rival Jetcs, and the
endless battle for precedence in loud dis
play with its implacable ferocities, sub
dued and frightened them. They edged
into this place, slunk into that: trembled
before an entrance here peered into win
dows there: groped along by-streets lined
with their pretty villas, trudged the
grand avenues in the dust of the wheels;
and scanned every maiden's face, lady's
or serving-woman's, until they became
the momentary laughing-stock of all the
brilliant throng; but nowhere was the
face they sought.
Tiien they went away, with but one
kindly memory in their sinking hearts.
A young fellow of pleasant face and merry
eyes had boarded their craft. Ho sailed
with them in and out of tho maze of
islands. He brought them to his own
curious launch as guests; his "Happy
Thoughtcrs," lie called them there, and
everywhere among his friends. He
humored their simple ways, feuded
them indeed from much jostling and in
solence; and. as they left Bar Harbor,
steamed alongside their craft, telling
them that if thes sailed as far as New
port. they must surely find him out. for
he would beat home iu a fortnight, at
Spra.yeroft Villa.
"Any one will tell you where that is."
vve.e his cheery parting words. "Just
->-.v you are Charlie's Bar tlarnor friends.
If I'm not there, sister will be: and she’s
a regular bimeou light t.> jolly old tars
like you. Why she was born on the
water, too! Sir 'll be glad to see you.
G'joi-by, and God bless you. ‘Hupp,
Though ter.,,' all!”
This one little bond of human sympathy
held their eause sure and true through
disappointment after disappointment—at
Bristol, at Bath, at Portland, at Old
Orchard Beach, at Clou ester, at Marble
bead, at Naliaut; bringing them at last
to the fine old city of Boston, perplexed
and disheartened. but still determined,
as they paused for their bearings beneath
the noble Cambridge eims.
The directions given them bv grave
young men in cap and gown . the instruct
ors to whom they vver • seDt with curious
and conscientiously repealed messages of
student raillery and cheer: the class
rooms they were bid leu to enter on sober
assurances that the “Capting" was await
ing the.m there: and the hearty invita
tions they received to oin the "Vanity
crew." remained pirn-ant reminiscences
of Harvard undergriduate life long after
the crew of the “Happy Thought" had
departed: but they br ughttbe three old
captains finally face to face with the dean
in no amiable frame of mind.
Be you th’ Capting inquired Cap
tain Ballast, with flashing eyes and a
sweep of his arm end sou'wester as com
prehensive as the curriculum of Harvard
itself.
"J am the dean. What can Ido for you,
my dear fellows!”
He was a man of mild speech, and
seern< and to mellifluous!;,' breathe his words
instead of utter them : but he did no more
than glance for an instant from his writ
ing upon his desk. •
"No 'good fellers about it!" roared
Captain Ballast, bringing his companions
into line "This'er. 's Capting Rudder.
This un's Capting Tucker; an’ I’m Cap
ting Ballast; schooner 'Happy Thought;’
sixteen days outen Pembroke. That's
who we be, Capting Dean”'
"I presume you are in search of the cus
tom house,” returned the dean pleas
antly.
"Not a bit of it. We’re searchin' fur
Viney Jetsum. an’ we're—”
"Goin'ter have her too!” exclaimed
Captain Rudder, coming jiointedly to the
help of his friend.
“Ah! Quite right: quite right,” re
plied the dean musingly.
“See here. Captain Dean, none o’ yer
tackin' and flounderin'. Bring him right
in; right afore us. Stan' him right thar,
on that ar sou'wester "here Captain Bal
last slammed his storm-beaten head cov
ering into the middle of the room: sprang
upon it: leaped back into line with his
friends: and fumingly awaited the turn
of events.
"He's got ter git licked, right here!”
hoarsely asserted Captain Rudder, as he
grasped Captain Tacker's hand.
“Wh.v gentlemen, there must be some
mistake;” said the dean soothingly, but
rising from his chair in alarm. "Who is
this party that has so offended you! And
what about the young woman you wish?”
He was now evidently so wholly disin
genuous and sincere that all three of the
captains pressed forward with fervid ex
planations. Capt. Ballast waved them
back with.“ It's fur me ter keep our com
pae' here;” and then ominously began:
"It's our gal, Viney. we're arter. Capt.
Dean; one as us loves better 'n' our very
lives! Your colleger cum eanoein’ ’n’
geologin' down ter Pembroko two year
ago, July last.”
The dean here seated himself at his
desk and began turning over the leaves of
the university records.
"Capt. Dean, that .ar shark hadn't been
gone a month, afore our Viney slipped her
moorin's an’ stole out o' home port.”
There was genuine sympathy in the
dean's face now, as he asked the captains
if they remembered the young gentle
man's name. They consulted in whispers
for a moment, when Capt. Ballast replied:
"Not rightly, sir; but it had a ‘Dick’
an' sunthn’ like ’gearin.' inter it.”
“V ou see, gentlemen, resumed the dean
kindly, .between mumbled repetitions
of "Richard?” “Richard?” and "Gear
ing,” “Geary,” “Gear." while running his
linger and eye carefully from top to bot
tom of the long, closely written pages;
•it is very difficult indeed to get at a mat
ter like this in a moment amongt hou
sands of graduates’ names.
“Thousands!” echoed the three cap
tains completoly appalled.
"Thousands?—thousands like that crit
ter turned outen hero, to oanoe it an' geo
loger it up an' down the coast o’ this ken
try I” shouted Capt. Ballast, while the
three seafaring men began pacing the
apartment dejectedly.
But at this moment their rueful faces
brightened at the dean’s methodic words.
"Ah here we have it at last—Richard
Tredgear.”
There old grizzled and trembling heads
were beside the dean’s in an instant.
"Graduated with the highest honors
June, ’B9. Twent.y-six years of age.
Father, manufacturer. Residence, New
York. Vacation address, Newport. I
think," said the dean, relapsing into his
unruffled manner and writing the name
and address upon a slip of paper, which
Capt. Ballast aud his companions eagerly
exclaimed, “that young Mr. Tredgear is
quite likely to be found in Newport at
this season of the year.”
The little old men hurriedly clapped on
their son's westers with cherry, “Why
that's Charlie's port. He’ll help us!”
and gruff "Thank ye. sirs!” while hasten
ing to the dcor. through which they
trundled away; but not until Capt. Bal
last had returned, pushed his shaggy
head inside the room, and given the Har
vard factotum a parting broadside of vig
orous speech.
"It'll jesschang th’ lat'tood'n' long'tood
o' th’ disturbance, an' ye might as well
know that, Capting Dean. Don’t ye let
loose enny more o’ them collegers down
our way. Pembroke’s sick ou 'em. Ef ye
do, ’iT they're missin’, an' ye're huntin'
on 'em up. jess bring 'long grapplers an’
cum rigged out fur dredgin'in Cobscook
Bay; fur thar's whar yell find what’s lef’
on 'em, Capting Dean!" With which,
while the bland listener gently nodded
his head and continued writing ealmiv
and measuredly upon his desk, sorely
tried Cant. Ballast slammed the good
dean's door, and puffed and snorted after
his companions beneath the shadowy
Cambridge elms.
On the sunny morning of the third day
after the meeting of the three Pembroke
captains, and the dean of Harvard Uni
versity, a handsome little schooner was
seen rounding Sakomet Point, to the east
of the anfeient seaport of Nevoort. Like
a bird with black body and white wings,
it circled gracefully to tho north and
around the dove-edge where throngs of
bathers disported in the waves of the
most beautiful beach upon American
shores. It seo.ncd to hover aud linger
near, while three little oldsailors upon its
deck scanned the surf am} bathers vvuh
huge and ancient glasses.
Then the craft stood out past Ochre
Point and Spouting Rock; crept here and
there, almost inquiringly, among launches,
yachts, cat-boats and yawls; sailed
slowly around past Grave's Point, Castle
Hill and Fort Adams, coming at last be
tween Goat Island and the villa and elm
crowned shore into Newport harbor;
when the "Happy Thought" was made
snug and fast, about mid-day. alongside
Loug Wharf, where the squatty, red
faced, hoarse-voiced cat-boat skippers
sun themselves like fattening turtles at
the edge of some deep lagoon, and o f
which are anchored hundreds of the most
wonderful old, stumpy aud powerful eat
yaivls to be found along the whole New
England coast.
"By George, this is jolly!" sang out a
merry voice they knew ; and in a moment
more Charlie, their young Bar Harbor
friend, was vociferously greeting the
three captains upon the wharf. "Grand
luck, too' Father aud mother in New
Torn. All the nobs away Dick—’’ here
the three captains winced—“and Lavinia
o l in a cat-boat to Cormorant Rock for
spx-imcns. Why. 'Happy Though tecs'
t oiU, it couldn't be jollier! tho
whole blessed spraveroft to ourselves!
Come on : t ome on. No backing out now.
Up you go!” All this as he half pulled
bail rushed the de ighto! old salts along
the wharf to the street-end. where ho
called a carriage, hustle! the captains
into it, sprang in beside them, ordered the
coachman to drive them to Hpra.vcroft
\ ilia : and then away they were whirled
through the shaded streets uud stately
avenues of the finest summer city of
homes in all the wide, wide world
It was a bewildering experience to
Capts. Ballast. Rudder and Tacker.
Never ha! they seen such wea.,h of
flower aud plant and shrub; such velvety
lawns, such statues, grot and fountains:
such won irons gaoles. corbels, gargoyles,
clus ered chimneys, balconies and colon
nades: such glorious conservatories, su-h
gnve and quiet serving-folk who never
even smiled at their te 1 lowing wonder
ment, their strange attire, their ancient
jokes, an! century-old songs: for Char.ie,
master who.lv of Spra.yeroft at this hour,
had Sot them hard by a dainty lunch, had
cheered them with praise and encourage
ment, warmed them with his father's
mellowest port: and. sitting at table with
radiant face, was vigorously thrumming
a banjo accompaniment to the
most wonderful song that Newport
ever heard—led by Capt. Ballast and
followed, rather than joined, by Capt.
Rudder in a sonorous bass and Capt.
Tacker in a piping treble. It was a ballad
left over from the seafaring men of the
last century: the only one t hese cruisers
ever knew or sung; and it was a reasona
ble thing that it was roaringly and
hravely done:
Ye parliaments of England, ye lords and
esquires, too.
Const.t-r well what you re about and what
you mean to do
You're now at war with yankees. and you will
rue the day
That you roused the Sons of Liberty in North
A mer-y-kay!
"Gemini twins! Here, sis," exclaimed a
tail, line-looking young feliow to his
young lady companion at the door of
spray croft Villa, "quijkl tell Bob to take
these things up to my room. I don't want
to lose any of that. One of Charlie s
larks!'’ He quickly stepped into the
breakfast room with, “Charlie, can’t you
introduce a fellow to your sea-far —1”
The sentence was never finished; for in
an instant the captains of the Happy
'Fought had Richard Tredgear pinned to
the floor.
Charlie Tredgear pulled and hauled at
them, shouting, “Happy Thougbters—
hold on!”
“We’re holdin' on!”
The servants rushed in' Lavinia Tred
gear rushed in. They all finally got the
four upon their feet.
“W’har s Viney?” came hoarsely from
Capt. Ballast's trembling lips.
"Whar's Viney?” roared and piped
Captains Rudder and Tacker, flaming
with excitement and revenge.
“Why—you—dear—silly—old—Pem-
broke-wild—geese!” laughed and
shrieked Lavinia Tredgear. I’m Viney—
Viney Jetsum Lavinia Flotsam Tredgear!
Dick’s my brother!—Charlie's my broth
er! We were all wrecked; mother and
and father and all. coming home from the
Azores. Somebody picked them up. And
you. you stingy, old, darling Captain Bal
last, that wouldn't lot me have an organ !
—you saved me!” And theu between
laughter and tears she " poo red ’ and fet
tled up Dick, who retired to re arrange
his toilet, and hugged the three captains
by turn and altogether; Charlie pirou
etted, banjo in hand, vowing it was the
jolliest lark of all his life; while the three
old captains took their scoldings and hug
gings witu mannings and whimperiuys of
dumbfounded, penitential joy.
And so ended the cruise of the “Happy
Thought:” at least its cruise of quest.
When not speeding over the blue waters
of the Sound, or sailing to far Pembroke,
behind the headlands of Maine, it is still
saucily rocking and dipping on the tides
of Newport harbor; while the gossips of
the lovely, leafy city by the sea do say,
with divers portentous nods, that “the
Tredgear heiress will never, never make a
match, so long as those devoted but out
landish ’Happy Thoughters’ are allowed
to hang around.”
THE STORY OF WOMAN.
A Scholarly Woman’s Lecture Sets Our
Bab to Thinking.
The Sugar Plumbs of Life—How
Womankind Touches Man’s Heart.
What Goes to Make TTp a True Wo
man’s Life—A Devoted Wife and
Mother Far Better Than a Woman
Versed in Greek and Latin-
New York, March 3.—She was a very
clever woman. Everybody said that, so
it must be so. What everybody says
always is the truth. She knew more
about astronomy and mechanics, and peo
ple's souls and politics, and books and
pictures, and the whys of everything,
than I had ever believed one person could
know. She was very learned. And she
had elected to talk about something that,
no matter what it was, always drifted
into telling how women were treated like
dolls and how sugar plums were given to
them. She quoted from the Greek, which
nobody understood, and it made me think
of Aspasia. She was very glib with Latin,
and that brought to the front a prayer
book in my mind. She said harsh Ger
man words, but they made me think of
the German haus-frau. And then, as she
wandered off into English, told of the po
sition of woman, there arose before me a
sweet feminine figure surrounded by little
children, all waiting to welcome to his
home the man of the family. I know this
wasn't what she intended, but it was the
way it came to me. And when she finished
up with a erand firework exhibition of
words, she said, "we do not wish sugar
plumbs,” I feit my head aching, and was
glad it was all over. Everybody congrat
ulated her, and said how much good she
was doing. I was too small for her to
notice, and so she didn't miss the pleasant
words that, perhaps, I ought to have said,
but I went home and wondered.
E.m EULOGIZES WOMAN.
There was a bright fire, and I and a
poor old friend in the shape of a doer, who
was beginning to lose his teeth, but who
wasloving and affectionate, and who, when
he raised his soft eyes to mine, seemed to
say, "My friend, what do you think about
it all!" Knowing he could read what I
thought—that's where dogs are greater
than men—l patted him on the head, and
together vve looked at the fire, and read
the story of woman. Thought I, “it may
be great to be so learned, that one is able
to speak Greek and Latin, and to be a
walking encyclopaedia; but isn’t it more
to be able to convey in the language vve all
speak, the something that means help and
sympathy! And is it wrong to want to have
tiie sugar plumbs of life? Do you know
what they are! I'll tell you. If you ara
a woman, they are the words of approba
tion, of loving approbation, from the man
whom you have elected to bo master of
your heart and hearth. They are the
gladsome thanks of little children. They
arc the kindly words from friends to
whom you have been able to give a help
ing hand. It is worth while to be only a
woman, and to get the sugar plums of
life It is a thousand times more worth
having, is this position of being only a
woman, than to be that woman who
stands before the public, and, lessoniug
her womanhood, thinks the applause of
the common crowd is desirable.
Fiho is very apt, to talk a tout the work
of woman sho did the other nigh* when I
heard her, and she doesn't stop to think
about woman. She talks verv learnodlv
about the physical side of woman, anil
she hasn't ITains enough to reali.c that a
woman is swift of foot that she may get
the more quickly io those who need her:
that she is soft ot hand that she may
touch the sick and the sore more gently
than would a man: that shiv is clear o'f
eye because she must see when
her heart and body are in conflict,
and must help decide which is
fight: that she is small of stature
because, in her own way, she dossen't at
tack a man's brain, but she touches his
heart Indeed, that a woman physically
is built to be only a woman. That’s all.
And why shouldn’t she have the sugar
plums! They are hers b.v right; and the
sugar plums are so sweet. The thanks,
the thought, the loving word, the little
gift, the persuasive touch, aud the kiss of
love makeup the sugar plums of a wo
man's life and make her better, stronger
and more capable of living as only a wo
man should.
mother’s gentle influence.
Does your boy child come to you and
weep out his little troubles because you
understand Greek'; t think not It is
because you are his mother and lie kmws
you will soothe him and make him hap
pier. aud when you see the tears dried,
and the brightness come back to his eyes,
you have gotten the sugar plum that
some women thing so little worth having.
And when the man you love, aud to
whom you belong comes to you,
tired and worn out with the fight
against the world, and finds with you
rest and consolation, does he ask you
whether you know anything about me
chanics! You know he doesn't. He
comes to you because you are a woman,
the woman he loves and who loves him,
and when, by some womanly spell, you
have made him forget, for a little while,
the trials and tribulations, then he says,
either by look or by word, how much he
appreciates you; would you give up that
sugar plum for the sake of standing be
fore a mob and having their vulgar, un
sympathetic applause!
This great lecturer objected to one
being only a woman, and yet. in the fire
light, my dear old chum and I seemed to
see a woman we both known She is clad
in the habit of the order to which she
belongs; she did not enter an ignorant
girl; she had loved and lost, had suffered
aud knew what suffering meant, and she
had givcu up her life to the care of those
who were in pain. It isn’t a pleasant
work. You and I read about nursing,
and it sounds like a romance, but really it
means taking care of those who are irri
table, consoling those who refuse consola
tion, bathing and washing tired, worn bod
ies, and never being certain that the sick
one is pleased. In this woman's case it
means going to whoever is poor and calls
for her. Her name is never published in
a religious paper, she is never held up as a
model, but day in and day out she brings
comfort to the sick and the poor, and it
seems to us as we look in the fire that she
has done more in this work than the
woman who can read the New Testament
in Greek, or who scoffs at the Bible in
Latin. And this one. this poor sister, is
only a woman who is living what she
believes to be right.
THE SELF-SACRIFICING WOMAN.
Her face fadps away and another one
comes, bright snd smiling, courageous and
truthful. That's a woman many people
know ; a woman to whom many people go
for encouragement; a woman who is
envied and admired; and yet, she is a
woman who bears her burden as only a
a woman can. Once in a while her hus
band disappears, and the world at large
hears that he has gone to the Mediter
ranean, or to Florida, or Paris. And only
this woman knows that those months
are passed in a mad house, and that
that is the fate waiting her only
son. This man loved her, married her,
and never told her of his awful heri
tage until she was his wife. At first she
thought she could not bear it, but because
she loved him, because she was only a
woman, she did. And to my mind, there
is no woman in the world who is so good.
And in the tire I see her as a martyr, but
the fire light brightens, and around her
head is the crown of glory that will
surely be hors. I don't think she knows
the first letter of the Greek alphabet; I
am sure she is not interested in politics.
She is only a woman who is loving and
brave, who hides her cross from the
multitude, and lives out her life as best
she can.
There comes another one. and when he
sees her face, my little dog barks with de
light. She is the woman that the lecturer
would scorn. She married the man she
loved. She bore him children; she
knows that he is absolutely unfaithful to
her, aud yet she lives her life, makes her
children love her, unconsciously forces
her husband’s respect, und hides'the pain
that she has to endure. It is like a can
cer—one doesn’t tell about it. It tries to
eat away her heart, and she quiets it with
a salve of loving kindness. Some day, I
know, I am sure, her hus
band will come back to her.
This learned lecturer would gsay
that he wasn't worth having, but the
woman whoso face is in the fire, she who
is only a woman, will remember theninpty
and nine who are safe, and welcome back
the one who was lost. Only women can
do this. God built them that way. He
made their hearts just a little tenderer
when he made their brains a little
weaker. He made them just a little
sweeter when He made them physically
a little less strong. He gave them a curi
ous insight when he gave them less rea
son, and He gave them His consideration
and sympathy when He made them only
woman.
THE WOMAN WHO TOILS.
But the learned lady wouldn’t agree
with me; she thinks it is a great thing to
know a deal, and go out into the world
and work, as she would put it, on the
same level with man. Bark bitterly! un
friend. that's right. A woman can’t
work on the same level wit-h men. Not
while she is a woman. She is either
much better or much worse than he is.
and then, too, neither I nor my four
legged friend believe that women were in
tended to work out in the world. This
old world has gotten so bad and so wicked
that it forces, many times, women to be
the bread-winners I think it a great
thing that they can doit it, but I don’t
think it a great thing that they
have to do it. You and I, who are bound
by some chance to see the vvork-a-day
world, know that for our daughters vve
would not wish the life of toil; that vve
would rather see them wives and moth
ers. and that every time we hear of an
other woman who has had to become the
bread winner, vve give a sigh of sympa
thy. My friend, the lecturer, wouldn't
agree with me. She would call this sick
ly sentiment, but it isn't. I have never
met a woman yet who had to earn her
own living, and who did it, who did not
wish that she wasn’t being taken care of
by a man who could protect her, love her,
and give her all the sugarplums of life.
Oh, they will deny it; plenty of them,
especially to young ones, who are very
enthusiastic. They think the approbation
of the world at large means much. My
dear, loving. big-hearted girl, you who
talk about your life-work and the books
you will write, and the pictures you will
paint, take my word for it. that there is
no applause equal to the caress, or the
word from someone who loves you. A
very great woman. Elizabeth'Barrett
Browning, said this in wonderful words
many years ago, and what she said then
is true now, for truth is the same yester
day, to-day and forever.
THE SYMPATHETIC WOMAN.
Only a woman! Oh, it isn't such a bad
thing. Looked at even from the outside,
it is being more graceful than men, with
daintier ways and finer belongings; it is
a creature who. with tact, makes pleas
ant chatter aud merry laughter: it is
something that men couldn't do without
if they wanted to. It's the one who is
closest to a man in his sorrow or in his
joy; and when a man is overwhelmingly
happy because be has succeeded in some
thing, he wants a woman s lips to :on
gratulate him, a woman's arms to be
around his neck, aud a woman's eyes to
look happiness into his. He don t care
whether that woman knows anything
about mechanics, in fuel, he vvoulu much
rather she didn't. What an awful thing
it would be if all the women were like
the learned lecturer! The knowledge of
Greek doesn't teach one how to make a
home; the knowledge of Latin doesn’t
tench one how to make one's bo’s -m
girls find home the pleasantest plaV •
mother the nest companion: and know
edceof mechanics doesn't teach one t-,. t
nor will chemistry result in mat on -
dinner table a feast of material ani V 8
tal delight.
Greek. Latin, mechanics, all m av be
gcod to know, but there are some i t
are so much greater. To know how m
forgive, to forget, and to remember
creator a thousand times. To know h, v
to appreciate a kindness, to blot ou- a
slight and to be gracious and lovin •
greater a million times. To be on i t
woman with all that that means is ’-h.f
greatest of all. ' aß
The novel slipped from my hands lone
ago. The fire is a bed of bright ashes
but my four-legged friend has u o rr
ceased to read my heart, and when l c .-
up to leave him. he wags his tail -.vi'h
great sympathy, and nis eyes serin - 0
say: “It is worth while, even if you - ire
only a woman, make the best of, and tiia
best of it is a great deal."
WBI DO I LOVE TOU.
Not because you know anything r
doubt if you do BUt because you are
just a woman anejr my friend and we can
look into each other's hearts and read
what is there. And if I had fallen and
hurt myself, T should know that when I
wished to be soothed and taken care of I
wouldn't want somebody who understood
Greek or who preached in Latin. I sin, a
want only a woman who would be trader
and kind to me. who would bind up m v
hurt, and who would understand !;• !
meant, aud in the only way I know how
I should call for my friend and co-rp.m’
ion- Bad.
DAbWAY’S
PELLS,
Always Reliable.
Purely Vegetable,
Possess properties the most extraordinary
in restoring health. They stimu ate to
healthy action the various organs, the natural
conditions of which are so necessary for
health, grapple with and neutralize the im
purities, driving them completely out ot ths
system.
RADWAY’S PILLS
Have Long Been Acknowledged
as the Best Cure for
SICK HEADACHE,
FEMALE COMPLAINTS,
INDIGESTION,
BILIOUSNESS,
CONSTIPATION,
DYSPEPSIA,
—ASD
All Disorders of the Liver.
t3T*FuU printed dire-tions in each box: 25
cents a box Sold by all druggists.
RADWAY & CO., 32 Warren street, N. Y,
HARDWARE.
HARDWARE,
Bar, Band and Hoop Iron,
WAGON MATERIAL,
Navaf Stores Suppfies.
FOR SALK BY
EDWARD LOVELL'S SONS
155 BROUGHTON AND 138-140 STATE STS.
The Steamer Alpha,
E. F. DANIELS, Master,
On and after SUNDAY, Oct. IS. will
change her Schedule as follows:
Leave Savannah. Tuesday 9am
Leave Beaufort. Wednesday Bam
Leave Savannah. Thursday 11 a m
Leave Beaufort. Friday Sam
The steamer will stop at Blullton on both
trips each way
For further information apply to
C. H. MKDLOCK, Agent
FLOUR.
C **e. pTV
• 4/*, try
Ur./ 9 fa p.
p yS^,i
Sa: e
A/,
CHARLES F.P REM DERG AST
(Successor to R. 1L Footman & Cos.)
fite, Mato cm an imik
11K BAY STREET,
O’ext West of the Cotton Exchange!
Telephone call No. 34. SAVANNAH. GA.
RAILROADS.
ohm MMto am-
SCHEDULE FOR
isieci Hope, Montgomery and flu way SiGitons
SUM DAY T4KIE.
CARS RUN AS FOLLOWS:
Leave Holton street 9:0 7 a. m.; leave Isle of
Hope 8:17 a. ra.; leave Bay street 10, 11 a. iu .
12 noon. 1. 2. 3.4, 5. 6. 7 and Bp. m.. running
direct trorn Bay street to Isle ol Hope, J.R' 1
9:ur trom juoiton street, a id !i i.*> 3 i ’
from -econ l avenue, connect with the steam
cars at Sandiiy.
Loave isle of Hope 11:15 a. m.. 12:15. 1 >'
2:15. 3:15. 4:15. 5:15. 6:15. 7:15. 8:15 and 9 P n ' J -
Cars from Thunderoolt to Isle of Hope every
hour after 2 -vo p. in. until 6p. m. ,
Leave Montgomery e lb, ii a. ra., 2ami op
m. uc nn* c* \ln Hlectric cars at unfitly
Leave Isle of Hope for 1 hunderholt at -
and hourly afterwards until *5:30 p in.
Cl iY AN L> V .SUKUANII’I <
IF you want good material anrl work, oner
your lithographed aud printed stationery
acd blank book* fiom Morning New*, bava*
nah., Ga.