The Portland daily press., 1865-02-06
MISCELLANY.
A Lonc-Drawn-out Sailor.

We had In the saucy little Nonpareil, down
g g South there on blockade service, the longest,
- iaIhiest, siimmest sample Of humanity that
gsn : ever went to sea, or-anywhere else. But
sals then he was useful in Ills way-Bsn Burnhod
was. He could reach in forty places where
any other man of our crew would nave 70
climb; and our commander used % say mat
Ben could paint mastheads and reeve on sig
nal haiyards without going aioft. Our quar-
termaster went fathom ahead OF that, and
swore that Long Ben could wade anywhere
o a over the whole Bahama Banks without wetting
ZIP. Z One day, when Ben had the wheel, the Cap
aa tain happening to be in faeetious huInor, said
& 4 e man; - tssegf+
.s's .Bsnl is all that length of yours natural
mo, sir. Got pulled out that wayp re-
piled Ben, sententiously. q
,,sss.i .,,o Pulled out, Benl Pulled outI how was
81 . that? Let's have the yarn, my man.
~ save ave. sir ~ and Ben Let us have II, Just
as soemny as ever gospel was retaise sad .hos z
ssIJo ia York State, where was raised, tney
a mats lots Of maple sugar, and my father used
tomake more'n anybody else Ipout where we
lived Our sugar camp was out In the open
'il sort Of woods back OF the house, and three
Of ms bows used to take it watch. and watch
nights. biin' The sap we'd gathered through
gssg8 soOs night, when was bout twelve years
g. = old IL come my turn to bile down; and as
was amazin' fond of eggs Il hooked bout two
the sap.
Wnen ia been out there din away pout
s s an hour and had jest got all my eggs cooked,
and coolin' In an old tin pan, heered father
comm whistin', long up through the woods.
s.ssasz.a" It a splendid moonlight night, warm
weather, bare ground and bout the last Of
sugar maxim, and we bad three or four big
hogsheads that we'd been STORM sap in, a little
ways from the kittles
81 grabbed the pan of eggs, and waddled off
g2aTas fast as could, and hid myself In one of
them hogsheads that was empty. You see,
sir, I was real chunk them days-tat as q
swoodchuck, and wider'n I was long.
'1~-'Ns The old nah he come Up, and poked round
the Camp spell, without seeming to miss me,
and keepin' on whstlin' all the time. After
~ while he come along to the hogsheads iwhere
aslls was ma, and takin' up the head that stood
leanlu agn saplin, and druv the iron hoops
down solid And then he went whistlin, off
,issg home, eavin' me headed up in the hogshead
iasalao After feeln' rouAd spell, i found the
f bung and kicked 1t out, SOS could breath;
- and then. after eatin' my eggs, I went to
TO Z sleep. and didn't wake up till the sun was
eng gu more'n two hours high. 81 is1l shllaM
ilof ~s, Il heerd trampin' round, and peepin' out
OF the hole, could see a lot of cattle and
's'Ae horses browsin' round the camp After a
while three year old colt come snoopin'
3qs51 round the hogshead and BY and by he backed
up so that his long switch tail hung right
down agn my air-hole. nv lasg eao aot -
load III gathered in thecolt,s tall little by little,
gloh SO quietly that he didn't feel it. till had the
whole OF the tail hauled in. Then took two
turns with the tall round both haAds and
givin' it two or three rousin' jerks, that fright
ened the colt into fits, he went tearn' of
90. through the timber like struck Dolphin, with
the big hogshead bobbin' and Vaughn about
llialoe iiastto his tail issa v.iaB sssara. ON
aspect that colt was goin a trife EASTERN
chain lightin', when he happenedtc 90 between
two young trees where the hogshead wodidn't
pass, and was sRatched slap through the
bung holeI = -
~ sThat's what stretched me out this way,
all csirpTaea ~
Ben got "pulled out" again on account Of
gsoa that yarn, for the Nonpareils christened him
- directly "Ben Bungholep m sssrs 4 H.