Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1853-03-02

small dog, who, before We had been ont eigh,
and twenty hours, became disgustel with ap,
pearances on deck, and went below, where he
lay coiled up in the corner Of the hold.
In the cabin were four berths;. philippe had
one, the butcher another, the stone. cutter and
wife lthey took turns--so did we all before we
! got to Jersey another. and myself the fourth
A stove and table filed up the middle. A
light wind hardly kept the sail full down the
Sound. At ten it was calm, and the canvas
tapped the mast At twelve we were dashing
ahead merrly, and sheets of foam flew from
the bow, all over the vessel wrung my
Scotch cap dry, and put it on for a night cap.
| and turned in. ..s. .r.
had not slept two hours before l commen-
ced dreaming, strange as it seems,s now that
come to write it down-about being in a tub
oe malt liquor; and had sunk SO low, that it
was just gurging i'll my ears, when l woke up:
| was as wet as if it had beer no dream. The
berth was soaking wet and had soaked through
three coats, and wet me to the skin, l stag
| gered on deck--it was no drer there. The
wind had hauled ahead, and the waves came
driving at us. and licked us over like hungry
dogs l can not describe the action of the lit
tie craft as she tossed and plunged, and then
| leaped down into dark trough of tLe howl
ing waves. 1t was dreadful--I could not bear
it. tried to take some of the water from me
and crawlcd below; and took one of the doctor s
pills. and turned my head to the wal. 49,.
| My thoughts were quick and active; for the
peltipgs of the wet, and but half admitted
sense of danger made me wakeful as the morn
ing; but my thoughts took one inevitable di.
rection; could have pleaded in period as
long as the longest in one Of Fenelon's sermons
and by half more eloquent, for a single halt
hour of quiet.
oh, We pleasant romanccrs about the
gay life upon the sea,-whose romances spend
themselves in dreams and in longngs l wish
you could have had the birth of this poor soul
for an hour. that night in the Ze' ra.
If a mans thoughts are not lively enough to
run away from his distress, at such time
there would be no hope for him--hc would &c
down in sorrow to the grave. Now, my
thoughts were frolicking through the green al.
leys of England. and cottages sweet as love
ever fancied d,-when was restored to presen,
conciousness, by the efforts made to breathe
an internal smoke, that filled the whole cabin
of the Zebra.
Pierre had coUe in, in his dreadnought, and
was building fire in the stove. Presently he
put over a pot of coffee; and when it had boil
ed, he genoursly offered it around at the birth,
| in fin lpnur I but tL tL,t1
had seen the same dipper passed. in hurried
manner from the birth of the stone cutters wifi,
to the door Of the gangway, in the first gim
mering of the morning.
No, thank ye-said I-too ungraciously
for after all, thought |, it is only suspicion
corroborated, must say, by the fact that tbs
stone-cutter himself sc.upulously abstained
The captain, however, dlank full dipper of il
and if he did not relish 1t so much as brandy
twas no falt of the dippcr, which was as good
a dipper, mechanically speaking. as one could
wish for.
But the stone cutters wife was not the only
one who proved unseaworthy; for there were
noises from the berth of the butcher below me
that sounded like anything else more than the
/ turning out OF cone.
By and by there was slight scuhe on deck
the captain was at the foot of the gaugway ,anG
Pierre at the top:-they passed down the
drenched cobbler, and set him up in the let
corner; he poor devil had not strength to say
anything. Next they handed down his wife
and set her up to windward as sort of boi
ster, to keep the Old fellow from tumbllne
against the stove, at each lurch of the vessel
Next, they passed down one of the cobbler'.
boys-then one of The cobbler's girls. grew III
easy but said nohing-I doubt if could hav,
said anything.
They kept on passing them down-frst {
boy then grl-then "A girl. and then boy
anil had counted nine. They filled the foo
like mat, homespun-I tried to smile at tn,
joke, but could not. Through all this, the
cobb'er had not said a word-uor one Of the
chidren--nor the butcher-nor the stone cut
ters wiie-nor but tn ought how it would b,
for there was no room now to pass about tn,
dipper; indeed / doubt if one Of them coule
have carried a steady hand.
Presently there was a low cry.
Ma, Ma, tell johnny
Poor dear how can he help it--said Ma
and the cobhler's wife made desperate ef
fort to clear spot beside her;--how could sh,
hope it, wedged in as they were?
The cobbler tried to recoil, but said not ;
word, though his mouth was full of bitterness
pour soul $50 was his lap.
Now it happened just then, that my Londo,
beaver, which was upon beam under the SIX,
light, lurchcd over and fell among them
would have got down to pick it up, if it hac
been worth ten guineas. So it went bobbin.
among them, striking one in the teeth, an.
another in the eyes, and once burying Johnny
to the shoulders. There was sufrocating or,
from under it, and by single pinch Of III,
thumb and finger, the co5bler's wife made
cooked hat of it still, fldttensd and shapeless i
went driving round, nor stopped till Pierr
picked it up, and jammed it into his locker
grew tired of all this. i do not like I.
confess to sea sickness but there was feelinI
at my heart (it may have been the stomach
as I'm no anatomist) which played the yer,
dickens with me. got upon deck-I neve
knew how-but have faint recollection O
three or four of the oblers children squalliu.
after me. as il they had been trodd en- on.
put an arm round the bulwarks, begged Pier
re to lay tarpaulin over me, for it was rain
ing in torrents, and looked out upon the sea
Now and then wave would rise close be
side the vessel, and gust tear off its Who'll,
beaded toy, and bring it-a long sheet of wate
cracking and scattering over me. woulc