Newspaper Page Text
Per Year.
Vol. XXIX.
A Young
Commander
“Is that the chap we shipped un¬
der? Why, he hasn't grown a
heard yet."
^“Nevertheless he ie the skipper
of this craft, and a right smart one,
too, as you'll find out if you cruise
many months aboard of her,"
“That may be, but I'd rather see
a man on the quarter deck than a
boy."
* “What's the difference if the boy
has a man's head on his shoulders?
It isn't always those who have lived
the longest in this world that know
the most, as I have found out. Our
skipper and I were shipmates on
the voyage that he jumped from be¬
fore the mast to the quarter deck,”
} “Don't see how he could do it,"
grumbled the one addressed as Tom.
► “It was this way," began Bill
Becket that same evening in the
“do^ watch" when he and his com?
pajiion Tom, who was also a boat
steer*?, were leaning idly over the the
feather rail, gazing out on vast
expanse of water* over which their
vessel was bounding before a fair
wind.
• “It's little over four years now
since I joined the B&ce Horse down
in one of the Kanaka islands. I
had run away from another ship
and had 'beach combed' it (nautical
parlance for tramp) until I got a
chance in the Race Horse. We were
going north to cruise in the Okhotsk
tea. The skipper was before the
mast then. He was a chap that
didn't have to see a thing don*
more than twice before he could do
it himself.
f “I handled the harpoons in the
mate's boat, and little Blue Fin, as
ewe called our cap'n that is now,
pulled the bow oar in the same
craft. One morning just a little aft¬
er daylight the lookout in the cross-
trees raised a school of sperm
whales. We had a pretty stiff
breeze the night before, and the sea
was stiU running high. We lowered
Sway. mate**, however, second mate's our three and third's. boats—
“'I'll take that fellow up to
wind'ard!' called our officer as be
pointed to a big whale that was
playing around on the outside of
the school as though he was and placed calves
there to protect the cows
that were huddled together in the
middle from any danger.
a * Look out, Bill,' says the mate
to me as he stood grasping the
steering oar. 'Look out, man, and
don't miss him. There's a good
hundred barrels there/
a * Aye, aye, sir/ said I. %ay me
on close enough, and I'll drive Doth
irons into him clear to the beefe-
eta/
“There was no danger but what
he'd do it, for the fellow didn't
know what it was to be afraid of a
whale. I wasn't going to take any
chances, so I waited till the boat al¬
most touched the big brute, then I
let fly both harpoon*, one after an¬
other, and sung out. 'Stern all!'
(When the boys were backing so as
to give the whale room to play, I
went aft to change places with the
mate, and he walked forward to his
elation in the bow to kill the fish
with a lance.
“Now, this whale tiiat was one of
those kind of fellows take hjs
medicine easy at first, but fights
like fury before he hTsts his red
flag. He didn't 'sound,' but lay and
wallowed for a minuts or two, then
began to swing round so as to get
eifcht of us.
“ 'He’s going to give us a tussle,'
celled the mate.
! «< Aye, aye; I he's a fighter/ says L
“Then caught sight of Blue
Fin's face. All the other chaps
Nrere glancing over their shoulders
and beginning to get a little shaky,
but he sat on bis thwart with bis
hand grasping the oax. just as quiet
and unconcerned as if he were in a
skiff on a mill pond and not within
half a cable’s length of a mad bull
sperm that threatened to send him
and his shipmates an^minute. to Davy Jones'
locker at
V M ‘SUajmS te Juidbf the
The Toccoa Record.
Toccoa, Georgia, October 3 1902.
mate, ‘lie's coming for us r
“Now, you know there's no boat
quick enough to get out of the way
of a whale when he makes a rush, so
the only thing to do is to leave her.
The other man sprang to their feet,
but the boy still sat there, and I
began fright. to think he was paralyzed
with
«< Stand up to jump, Blue Fin!' I
called. 'And when you go leap
from straight him/ for the beggar and not
“The lad smiled and nodded his
(head and, standing up, unshipped held
bis oar from the thole pin, it
ready and faced about.
“Then the whale started.
" 'J ump !' yelled the mate.
“The next instant we. were all
floundering around in the water,
while the bull caught the boat in
his mouth, crushed it to pieces and
sounded.
“The third mate, who bad just
killed one small chap, was not far
away, so he came and picked
all but the mate. We never saw him
afterward. He must have been
fouled in the lines and gone down.
“We got two out of the school,
but all hands felt sad at the loss of
the officer. I couldn't help telling
our through skipper how cool Blue Fin was
the whole thing, and when
he shoved the officers ahead he rat¬
ed his own boat steerer third mate
and ordered Blue Fin to take charge
of the irons in his craft,
“I tel} ypu the boy was proud
enough, but he had nerve and good
luck, to whaler. both of which This are destined everything
a was to
be an unfortunate voyage for the
After Guards. The whales were
plenty in the Okhotsk sea, and there
was hardly a day but what we were
outing “One in or trying out blubber.
afternoon the cap'n lowered
away for a 'right' whale, Our boat
was close alongside, but the skipper
sung out:
M ( Don't you meddle with him;
he's my fish!' So of course we
hung back, only standing by to lend
a hand in case we were needed.
“Blue Fin made a pretty dart,
He hurled his first iron about six
feet aft the bow hole, and the other
low he planted rolled. in the belly as the fel¬
It was a deathblow,
but before the whale began to spout
blood he brought his flukes around,
caught the boat before the boys
could baok out of the way and stove
her to pieces. We pulled in and
picked *old man* up Just the crew. he I'grabbed going down, the
as was
and when I hauled him up I saw
that he was hurt badly and was un¬
conscious. He was smashed up in a
frightful manner and never recov¬
ered.
“Next morning at eight bells we
launched the dead body of the
cap'n from the starb'd gangway,
while the fish that had killed him
was moored with chains to the port
side of the ship. Poor Blue Fin
felt awful bad, and he kept mourn¬
ing as the mate read the burial serv¬
ice, saying:
"'Oh, if I hadn't struck the
whale that last blow! 'Twas the
second iron that touched his “life,"
and our cap'n's too/
“But , shipmate," went on the
boat steerer, “it was to be, and it's
the way of the world, I suppose.
One man mounts to a position
through the ship death built of another, just the
as a new is to take
place of a craft that has found a bed
on the rocks "
“Yes, there's a great deal of
truth in what you say # Bill. But
how was it that your cap'n's loss
rated Blue Fin skipper ?”
“He of wasn't the word, skipper but 'twas in every this
sense
way: The officers that were left
were the same as you and I—good
sailors and good whalers—but they
knew nothing of navigation. Blue
Fin, of all our company, was the
only one who could handle * quad-
rant or ^ork up a Mght. As I
said, the whales were plenty, and we
didn’t want to leave the grounds
tUl the ice drove us out, for we were
making money, so we finished our
crime, and wnen we reached Hono-
lulu we were full to the hatches with
k° na *
There was some talk . .. of . shipping v . .
another man to take the vessel
fewne* but th&agent and the Amerit
“flood Will to All Men.’
can consul said, *11 mat young man
knew enough to bring the craft
safely out of the Okhotsk sea, he
knows enough to find his way to
New Bedford.' They just engaged
another mate 'by the run/ who wa 3
a navigator, and gave the boy
charge of the ship.
“We made a quick passage around
the Horn, and the owners were so
much pleased with Blue Fin that
they gave him command of the Race
Horse on the next voyage, and while
away on that cruise they built him
this one here, the Grampus, and
that's how the lad became skipper
so young. It goes to prove the truth
of what I said a few moments a §°>
that 'it's not always gray hairs
which cover the wisest head/ A
boy is sometimes morq fit to com¬
mand than a man who has seen
twice or thrice his number of
years."
* The Wedding Ring.
A long time ago the wedding
ring was worn on the forefinger ana
was thickly studded with precious
stones. old pictures People who have seen the
of the Madonna in
Rome will remember that in one or
two of them there is a glistening
ring hand, qn the forefinger of her right
but with Christianity came
the wearing of the wedding ring on
the third finger rather than the
first.
The old story of there being a
vein that runs from that finger to
the heart is nonsense. Its use orig¬
inated in this way; The priest first
put it on the thumb, saying, “In the
name of the Father:" on the fore¬
finger, Son;" adding, “In tne name of the
on the second finger, repeat¬
ing, “In tiie name of the Holy
Ghost," and on the third finger,
ending stayed. with “Amen." And there It
Softening of the Brain,
Although worry and disappoint¬
ment are leading contributing causes
of softening of the brain, the disease
very commonly declares itself inde¬
pendently of such conditions and as
flammatory the mere result changes of associated progressive with in¬
other forms of continuous and ex¬
acting mental strain, Not infre-
the quently also the exact opposite ia
case, as the malady is very com¬
mon in the lower and nonintel-*
lectual classes.
All the varied phenomena of grad¬
ual mental decline, numbed energy,
paralytic seizures, incoherency of
speech, aphasic attack and general
progressive weakness explain “the
dying at the top," so dreaded by all.
More distressing still is the fact that
the general inflammation of the
brain tissues, always present, is of
slow development, unrelentingly pro¬
gressive and eventually fatal. Some¬
times years elapse before the long
desired end comes. •
Money Lenders In Europe.
The continental monts de piete
had their origin in the Italian mon-
ti di pieta, large numbers of which
were founded in Italy throughout
the sixteenth century and the ob¬
jects of which were in the first in¬
stance essentially charitable, the
avowed purpose of the institution
being effect of to counteract Lending the injurious
usury by money
on deposits at an almost infinites¬
imal rate of interest. The Francis¬
can monks were the first to lend
money on goods, and in 1515 they
were allowed by the pope to receive
a moderate amount of interest. But
In process of time the Italian monti
di pieta became extensive banking
corporations, which were occasion¬
forcea ally plundered or half ruined by
loans exacted by tyrannical
princes and sometimes brought to
entire collapse by injudicious finan¬
cial speculations. — London Tele-
graph.
8un 8pots
« And what ^ to ^ the 8ubject of
oar lecture tomorrow night, pro-
« Welb my dear young lady y can
^rdly hope it will have much in¬
^t for yon. I shall lecture on
g p 0 tg
«o b , but that’s of the greatest in-
terest to me. I shall certainly come.,
tenktea.» You're no idea hotr I suffer from,
— ------- — - —- '
Successor to Toccoa Times and Toccoa News.
SALT STARVATION.
As Bad as Thirst or Hunger, Although
In a Different Way.
A well known authority asserts
that whenever the annual eonsump-
tion of salt falls below twenty
pounds per head of the population
the public health is likely to suffer.
In regions of the earth where salt
is scarce the article is regarded as a
substance of great value. Salt star-
vation is, in its way, as distressing
as thirst or hunger, although it
shows itself in a different way.
The want of salt does not produce
a definite disease, but reduces the
vitality of the body as a whole, so
that the persons deprived of fit will
fall more readily victims to prevail-
ing epidemics as well as epidemic
maladies.
But, as many ask, wild beasts do
not have salt supplied to them, yet
they manage to exist in fairly good
form and if left alone probably die
of old age, full of years and sweet
memories of juicy missioiaries eat¬
en without salt. Well, even wild
beasts take advantage of salt when
they can get it, hut the reason why
they can do without it better than
we is that they eat their food whole
and unprepared.
We use salt because there are salts
in our food in its unrefined state, as
nature prepares it, before it is
skinned ana boned and peeled and
cooked, and we must replace these
6alts or our bodies not be fully
benefited by what we eat. We use
salt also because our blood contains
it; likewise our muscles, our nerves
and, indeed, our whole bodies, and
it gets used up during the life proc¬
esses constantly being carried on
within us.
But the salt contained in natural
foods and that required for our liv¬
ing bodies is not “common” salt,
but a combination of that substance
with phosphates and other things
which are even more necessary and
more natural than common salt it¬
self.—Medical Press,
Mineral Wax.
The day of the wax candle is su
posed to nave gone by with the a
vent of paraffin, gas and electric
light, yet as a matter of fact an
enormous number are used every
year all over the world. But the
wax candle of today is not the wax
candle of our grandfethers' day,
says Cassell's Magazine.
The busy bee is as busy as ever,
but very little of the wax he se¬
cretes is made into candles. Min-
eral wax has taken the place of bees-
wax and is dug from the ground in
Utah and California in the United
States and in Wales, Galicia and
Roumania in Europe. When found,
it has a dark, rich brown color,
slightly greenish and translucent in
thin films, but when refined it re-
semble8 well bleached beeewax.
The w T ax mines of eastern Galicia
form one of the most curious fields
of industry imaginable. They are
situated around Boryslaw, which is
also the center of the eastern oil
district of that part of Austria.
The wax lies in beds like clay at
depths of from 350 to 600 feet,
Shafts are sunk to the beds.
Tree Trunks and Branches.
It is a general impression that
the trunks of trees lengthen, but
this is not the case. The trunk of a
tree, being once formed, does not
lengthen a fraction, no matter if it
lives to a hundred years. A branch
from a trunk that ia now, 6ay, six
feet from the ground will have the
center of that branch still six feet
from the ground no matter how
many years elapse. If branches are
therefore too low, they had better
be cut off at once.
Again, it is worth remembering in
cutting off branches that they
should always be cut close to the
trunk or to any main branch, so
that the wound may heal over. If
the branch is very large, so that the
wound is likely to take several years
to heal over, it is better to paint it,
in order to keep the water from ret-
ting the wood until it is properly
healed. More good trees are spoiled
through leaving an inch or two of
stump to a cut off branch than peo¬
ple have any idea of.
No. 38
FIRST COAL OIL LAMPS. «
Some Rare Heirlooms In Posseselo
of a Georgetown Family. j
A family living in Georgetown/
looms who have left taken them by care of long old heir-j
a line of*
ancestors, number have in their possession^ rare!
a that are exceedingly
tion and curious. The objecta in earli-^ ques-^
are specimens of the two The*
est coal oil lamps invented.
mind of man runs very much in a
® gro ' and a i though b he .
‘“ XlOU3 • f , “ ?* , ange “ d i
r P rogr «“'|
there are few thmg9 that anno I him1
ni( ™?’ ,J
^ rs ,* C ? a 01 am P? °* M w , ^ lc . ^
* • * !^ ^
11 ^ ttl i 11 as a 8 P ecll ^ ei b w **.
ma< jj °* ^rasa, . uni . tat ion of d
candle and candlestick, even to
imitation painting the of the upper former. part white in
The in¬
terior of this imitation candle held
the oil, the wick—a small affair;
the same, in fact, that was used in
ture candles—emerging in the head from an aper¬
of the metal can¬
dle, just as in the real one. Such a
thing as a chimney or shade was
unknown.
A short time after this lamp ap¬
peared some other person invented 1
a coal oil lamp made of glass, in im¬
itation of a very large candlestick. 1
The middle part swelled out into
something like a globe, in which the!
oil was placed. It took some five or.
six inventions before the coal oil 3
lamp became what it is today. The
Georgetown family has a specimen^
of the second lamp invented as well
as the first.
These first coal oil lamps are to¬
day rarer even than candlesticks,
for the reason that only a few were;
made, the improvement being so
rapid that the first awkward imita-|
tion of a candle had hardly reached^
the market before some other per-’
son began inventing lamps, eacn a;
little more like the coal oil lamp of<
today than the first, until the in¬
vention was perfected. The speci¬
mens in question are some of tha
first ever brought to America at a
time when they were a curiosity and*
when every one used candles.—
Washington Post.
**°P Ceugh Wark atf tha
, ^ ,
««
Helping the Preaoher.
In a volume of reminiscences the
writer, Mrs. Bagot, tells of a visit
she made with her father, a British
admiral, to St. Helena many years
ago. The governor was a very com-
ic “On person apparently. She writes:
Sunday we were taken down
to church in J ames Town. The gov-
ernor asked us into his square pew,
in which was a small table with a
bottle of eau de cologne upon it.
Immediately after I had entered the
pew the governor in a loud voice
said, 'Dab your face over with eau
de cologne, Miss Percy/ During the
service he made all the responses in
a stentorian voice. During the eer-
mon when he approved of what the
preacher said he stood up and ex-
claimed:'Verygood! Amen!' 'Very
proper indeed! Amen!' with em¬
phasis. We could not help shaking
kith laughter/'
Bridges In China.
Most ancient Chinese bridges are
only wide enough to allow the pas-
sage of two mounted men, railings
on each side serving to insure the
traveler's safety. It is thought
highly probable that the mission-
aries who first reported on the early
suspension bridges of China, and
who, of corns#, gave some idea of
their plan or construction, were
really the cause of that unique
species of bridge building being
adopted by western nations.
-
A Peculiar River.
Unique properties are possessed
by the river Tinto, in Spain. It
petrifies the sand of ita bed, and if
a stone falls in the stream and
alights upon another, in a few
months they unite and become one
stone.___ Fish cannot live ia its
waters.
«•