Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-10-18
from the HOuDu Ia
FAR AT SEA.


sAb..e says, you'y e'been hard and
bitter mother to me- and yet it goes again
the grit to turn. ones back upon you. I've
toiled on, and lived hard, and yet you've
shown me cold, cruel face;' and as /
said that, feeling heartsick, leans my ell
bows on 1.-The s1delof the ship, and my chin
on my hands, and has long, long look at
the old country as we was leaying-per-
haps to see no more.
/ looked round, and there stood plenty,
tearfu-eyed and sad with all the lines Of
sorrow marked in their foreheads, while /
could see lips trembling and breasts work
ing with the pain they could hardly keep
down And then dent know how it was,
but It seemed to me thatwe thought togeth-
er the same sad things, and that | knew
their thoughts and they knew mine. There
was all the old life-plain as could be; and
then came the long, long struggle with sick
nessy and death, and want; and knew
that people said such poor folks should not
marry. and many another bitter word, as if
it was wrongful to love and be happy. The
wind yhistled through theropes above our
heads and the clouds seemed gathering, too,
in our hearts, for though the bitterness was
gone, could see plenty Of sorrow and sad
ness all around. '
"Won't do, my lad % / says rousing up,
and wethng both hands asif meant work ).
and then I gdes down in the steerage to try
and make things a bit comfortable, for you
see all the poor things were in a most miser-
able state. Some was i'll, some down-heart-
ed, somedrdnk and foolish, some drunk and
noisy, some drunk and quarrelsome. Then
there val children. crying and women scold-
ing, and altogether, it was anything but a
cheering prospect, for the night, for, as you
may say, werWereant shook down into shape
NGood time coming - II said cheerily;
and having no young ones of my own, set
to help them that had. l got hold of a
young shaver, -about two and a half,
should think, and he was a-letting go right
away as if he had all the trouble in the ship
in kiszprecious young head. But he soon
turned quiet playing with my knife, and
and an at once I finds as he'd made a ham
mock Of me, and had gone off sound as
church. During the next three days its
mother was very ill, poor thing, and | had
to regularly mind the little one, and did,
too. ''.2' .. ''his
"Well, It istn't very pleasant life in the
Storage of an emigrant ship, bound for
New Zealand specially if the weather's
bit rough; and SO we found it. For the
next morning when / went on deck, there
was a stiff breeze blowing, the ship heeling
over; and as I thought the night before, so
it was-there was nothing in sight but waves
all around. One sailor did point at some
thing which he said was home, but it might
have been q cloud. al
The fodrthynight had come, and as / lay
in my berth listening to the swish wash''
~ ho Inv, oocff ha cJd 0f
the Cracking and groaning of the tim
bers, and every now and then the heavy
bump of great wave against the side, l
couldnltzhelp thinking what a little there
was between us and death; and somehow
brother the serious thoughts that came kept
me awake.~,,> zs---
Itwas two bells, think they call it, for
they don't count time as we do ashore, when
at once I could hear as there was great
hustle up ON deck, where all through the
watches of the night everything's mostly
very quiet. Then there came good deal
of tramping about and running to and fro;
so gets out of my berth, slips on one or
two things, and goes cautiously up the lad
dersandi gets my head above the hatchway,
and then in a moment l saw what was up,
and it gave me such a shock that l nearly
let 20 my hold and fell back into the steer
age sThere was thick cloud Of smoke is
suing out from between the matches, right
in the centrei.of the ship and almost be-
fore could thoroughly realize it all, or
makesmyse1f asit was true, woman shrek
ing along@the deck in her night-dres and
calling out those fearful words on board
ship .. gss1ss
Fire fire! fire p' = - y
Hundreds of miles from land, standing on
few naile' together pieces of wood, and
and them burning beneath your feet. 3 + ~
couldn't help it; and my bitter feelings
being ill used came back, and I says to my
"Your usual luck, mate wouldn't be if
you weren't unfortunate. But never mind,
you have your chance, fire or water" And
then thought of danger, and ketches my
self such athump in the chest, andlrolls up
my sleeves, and goes up to the captain as
was busy giving his orders. .
"What shall | do ?" says,
"Pulhg !" he shouts; "and fetch dozen
Lord bless you! 1 had 'em up in no time
from amongst the crying women and child
rem; and I found time, too, 70 get the
women and children up on deckin the poop,
which was farthest from the matches, where
the smoke kept pouring out, besides which
the, wind took it away from them. II. Il,
There was plenty of shrieking and
screaming at first but they had got the
right man in the right place when they
choose that captain, for he runs to the poop,
where all the shiyering things was a stand
ing, and with few words he quiets them
Then he rus to the men as was scuffiing
about, here, there, and everywhere, and
then at'last he gets a line Of fellows with
buckets, lot more at the pumps, and some
more at the little engine as was there; and
whensalr'w was ready, and every man stand
ing still at his post, he gets with some more
to TIE hatchesapd -drags up couple, when
up rose regular pillar of smoke, with q
snaky, quiet movement, and in moment
every face was lit up, and there was quite
glare spreading far out to sea. Sails,
cQrdage, masts, everything seemed surned-to
gold. For moment l couldA help forget
ting the danger, and thinking what beau
tiful sight twas; when directly after there
was regular ringing cheer, the engine ana
pumps went S's elahg clang," and the water
was turned into the burning hold from
bucket and engine nozzle
How the water Kissed and spluttered
while volumes of smoke and steam rushed
up where it4had been all fame but mo-
ment before, and asawe saw this we cheered
out we'd nothing to cheer for it was only
the hre gaining strength; and then, as
though laughing at the water we poured in,
1t came -dashing and crawling, and licking
the edges Of the hatchways, and setting on
hre the tarpau!ins at the sides, and then it
began to Sho0t and lean mn If IN catch af