The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1868-11-19
From the Atlantic Monthly. ]
KENTUCKY'S GHOST.
CONCLUDED.

had ever spoke ABOUT nls loIks sllce ne
came aboard.
"She was asleep down in the south
chamber" says he. 81 got out the
window. There was one white shirt
she'd made for meetin' and such. I've
never worn it out here, l had mt the
heart. 1t has a collar and some cuffs,
you know. She had headache making
of it. She's been follering me round
all day, sewing on that shirt. When
/ come in she would look up bright like
and smiling. Fathers dead. There
amt nobody but me. All day long
she's been follering of me round"
So then he gets up, and joins the lads,
and tries to sing little; but he comes
back very still and sits down. We
could see the fickery light upon the
boys faces, and on the rigging, and on
the eap,n, who was damning the bo'sen
little aft.
"Jake," says he quite low, "look
here. I've been thinking. Do you
reckon there's chap here-just one,
perhaps-who's said his prayers since
he came abroad 7"
"Noy' said l quite short: for I'd
have bet nay head on it.
| can remember, as if it was this
morning, just how the question sounded,
and the answer. | can't seem to put
it into words how it came all over me.
The wind was turning brisk, and we'd
Just eascd her with a few reefsi Bob
Smart, out furling the flying jib, got
soaked; me and the boy sitting silent,
were spattered. l remember watching
the curve of the great swells, mahogony
color, with the tip of white, and think
ing how like it was to big creature
Kissing and foaming at the mouth, and
thinking all at once something about
Him holding of the sea in balance
and not word bespoke to beg his favor
respectful since we weighed our anchor,
and the cap'n yonder calling on Him
lust that minute to send the Madonna
to the bottom, if the bo'sen hadn't dis.
obeyed his orders about the squaring O.
the after-yards.
"'From his Affecshunate mother who
prays, For you evry day, Amen,'
whispers Kentucky, presently, very
soft. "The books tore up. Mr.. Whit.
marsh wadded his old gun with it. But
| remember"
Then said he; "1ts most bedtime tC
home. She's setting in little rocking
ehair,-a green one. There's a fire, anC
the dog. She sets all by herself"
Then he begins again: "She has tt
bring in her own wood now. There
a gray ribbon on her cap. When sh,
goes to meetin' she wears a gray bun
net, She's drawed the curtains anC
the door is locked But she thinks II
be coming home sorry some day,-pn
sure she thinks I'll be coming hom,
sorry"
Just then there comes the order
"Port watch ahoy! Tumble up ther
lively!' so l turns out, and the la
turns in, and the night settles down {
little black, and my hands and hea
are full Next day it blows a clean, a
but bank of gray, very thin and still
about the size of that cloud you Sc
through the side window, Tom, ,--whic
lay just abeam of us.
The sea, l thought, looked like
great purple pin-cushion, with a mas
or two stuck in on the horizon for tn
pins. "Jake's poetry" the boys sal
that was.
BY noon that little gray bank ha
grown up thick, like wall. By sur
down the cap'n let his liquor alone, an
kept the deck. By night we were i
| chop-seas, with very ugly wind.
"Steer small, there!" cries Viii
] marsh, growing hot about the ace,-fc
we made terribly crooked wake, wit
: a broad sheer, and the old hull straine
: heavily, -''steer small there, tell yor
Mind your eye now, McCallum, wit
your foresail! Furl the royals! Sen
down the royalsl Cheerily, men
Where's that lubber Kentf Up wit
you, lively now!"
/. Kentucky sprang forward at the o.
der, then stopped short. Anybody
knows royal from an anchor wouldn
have blamed the lad. I'll take oat
, to It it's no play for an old tar, stot
and full in size, sending down th
y royals in a gale like thati let alone
boy of fteen year on bis first voyage
if But the mate takes to swearing {
e would have turned parson faint
hear HIM, and Kent shoots away up
the great mast swinging like pend
, Ium to and fro, and the reef-poin
: swapping; and the blocks creating, an
} the sails tapping to that extent as yc
? wouldn't consider possible unless you
! been before the mast yourself. 1t r
o minded me of evil birds I've read {
that stun a man with their wing