Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1862-12-14
MY AUST'S STORY.

/ M5A-a lnt CSista waa one OF the preEtiesb OF
ali lfetls fsiIy-like women. As girl, her
beauty must have beon something wonderfully
distracting, She was once the belle OF q
famous and quaint old ,sea-tog0, full of fortunes
made in foreign trade, prize-money, and kind
of traffic, thought honorable enough some years
ago, but now held in such Reproduction, that
prefer not to mention them.
My aunt was very little. When wsa ten
years old, | was the biggest Well Imight be,
| for man could span her waist with his two
hands, and ehe vGs more like marvellous dol,
or stray fairy, than "a mortal woTaau. Her fees
| iittlcnees and elegance. FerhAf 81 she did not
wear nice shoes and stockings, and may be she
did not hold up her black brocsde dsintily on
the slightest provocation. All! bug her hAnds;
how small, and white, snddelicato they were,
| with rosy-tipped, tapering fingers Shelooked
| all the more petite and wonderful in her deli
cate preltinees, for always dressing In black,
which brought out her pale, lDly-like beauty
aud blonde hair, with great distinctness. Her
| deep blue eyes seemed to look through things
and people. All this made me little In awe
Of Aunt Calists, though loved her with the
romantic, Feverentisl love of boyhccd. as If shs
were lovely princess, enchanted or other
wise.
A childless widow, my Aunt Callsta had
lived with US since l could remember, She
vas older than my mother, but no one could
have told her age from her looks, for her ain
gulsr beauty seemed to have 1t in no element ol
decay. We lived inland among the hills, ant
all knew Of the ocean was from my books Of
geography, spd' the pictures and Voyages II
Aunt Cslista's rooms, and Robinson Cfusoe -
But dreamed mach of the yTes, built mimic
ships, and waited with impatience until shoulI
be old enough to run away like the aforesaid
Robinson, who has, perhaps, done more to hell
Britannia rule the waves, than all her Drake
end Nelson's.
forgot--theTa Eas another source CT inform
alton, better than all the rest, My Aunt Ca
, lsta had been born In sigh. of the sea. She hs
seen the great chips sail In and out Of the hsi
, Dor of her native town. She hsd picked u
beautiful shell and pebbles on the beach, an
sometimes ehe helped me to call my littl
! squsdrops on our duck-pond, and told me man
. a sea-story she had heard or read
"Aunt Cslista," said l ene dsy, when "
were sitting under the willows by the water side
: watching my last achievements 10 naval srchi
J teo!use, es II danced over the billows--th
bllows of the duck .pond-"were you ever o
the great blue sea, with only tho sky aud cloud
above you, and the water all around, out {
sight of land-nothing bus the ship, In tb
middle Of the scar"
: A shadow passed over her pale and loVel
face, as one as.d. with soft tenderness;
eyes, dear, / have been at sea where th
ship was the only human thing In sight, and th
n center Of the great circle Of the horizon, whel
y the blue eky and blue ocean mingle on eve'
8 side" ciiH NEWi
.. 30, how grandg exclaimed, With my boz
y ish enthusiasm. "Do, dearess aunt, tell me q
: about your voyage7"
a. She did not ansEeI Tor moment, and
y wondered what could be the matter with j
- ever. cheerful Aunt Callsts. But tbs ssdne
passed awsy, and she said: ra
ri ayes, i will tell you sll about IT, Yo
st grandfather was o merchant, and owned maj
r ships. He sent them to the West Indies, &
ed East Indies, and sometimes to China. Low
the sea and the ships. My father used 60 allc
ebous TO sail or had come in from long voya
sIe es. / sometimes took such little presents
"a. board 80 sailors like, and they said l woJ
a. give them lucky voyage. They did not Il
10, get me and brought mo many q nsoe press
bi, from beyond the seas. --f
%, zone day we viaited O new ship and to0nt
W. new captain, whom had never seen before.
Thought him very handsome, but young
such a trust; butI found that he was good u
honorable. He had been in the navy. A grt
misfortune to his family had made il necesaa
SF for him to leave the service and accept
ads higher pay Of, merchantmen. After one
,oi Oh two voyages ne became acqus!ntsd, and
md came to love mo peter than all the world,
III, oBut mS father did not love ham 30 well
~. another peryon did--at least, he Gid NOT W
DsS me to love him. It was only in the interv
=. OF long voyages that I saw him, and when
bus time for his arrival drew near, and the ship,
so me 40 richly freightsd, was due, Ispent ma
M q hours Ia the observatory on the top Of 4
,les house, sweeping the line of tie horizon, wit
9Si long spy glass, and watching for the little
sSy "a, NAL Gag that alone knew OF, and that swo
W. tell me he was coming. So you see, my de
'ere that was we'll acquainted with the sea.
w. "One day, this brave, good Captain, who
won my heart, asked my father for my hand
z He could have nothing. against him. tn
< could not be q better OF btaver man.
Was nobility ilself--hut was my father1i
and pride, and he WAS ambitious. l u