The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-01-09

save child. And I'll stick to it. and
would give all the baccy | have if a
drop of the juice would keep Billy
alive"
His stomach won't stand it. He
is not, ye see, accustomed to it, }" sagely
remarked another.
III tell ye, boys" said Thomas,
the carpenter, who had not yet spoken,
say you, Wallace. TO give US a scrape
Of yer ovid fiddle, and we might get
up dance around Billy! Eth? 1t
would open his eyes and make him
laugh.
There vas no difference Of opinion
as to the wisdom and propriety of this
proposal
Billy all this time>was utterly IN
c0ncious, poor little fellow, Of the
pan -forecastle synod which was con-
sulting about him, with his trials and
pleasures. But he seemed well and
not unhappy, though He alone who
feeds the sparrows In the winters
cold or the sea birds on the stormy
waves. could tell how it could be so!
The cabin-bo rejoiced in nursing
him and putting him to sleep; it so
reminded him of his home in the glen,
to see which again he was counting
the hours. The steward fed the child
with his contrivances of eggs, to which
he added weak, very weak, brandy
and water.
Linnen and flannel had been freely
given by the Captain to clothe Billy,
and he himself undertook the duty of
sponging him with lukewarm water
every day. And so the little thing
sucked IT'S lips and gave sundry groans
and grunts, and often sharp cries,
prolonged sometimes into continued
screams, in which its little tongue
vibrated in its mouth, and which SO
alarmed even the crew that faces at
times might be seen peering down the
companion stairs, asking what allied
Billy. Daily he was aired on deck,
and daily each sailor insisted on hav-
ing the honor Of carrying him, and it
was indeed a sight to see those
japanned faces chirruping and smirk-
ing to the unseen treasure rolled up
very navigation of the ship was at
1t was not unfrequent to hear such
remarks as these: :" | say. Tom, easy
with that rope" or, Don't make
such Gathering on deck" or, "Heave
in that yard handy, for Billy is sleep
ing" And one would express his
delight at the fine breeze and the
prospect O. sighting land soon, be-
cause they would get nurse for Bill
ly;" or suggest that the reef in the
topsails, taken in an hour before,
might be shaken out, and half a
knot more got out of her for Bill"
His influence went so far at last that
one remarked, There's no bias
phemy in this ship as | have heard.
The Captain has dropped it for the
sake of Billy, and we're all following
his example, eh?" The men seemed
really to have become more cheerful
in their work,-for the Captain was
mother to Billy. and more kind
to each other from their common SYM
pathies with Billy. Mothers long
dead, or mothers expecting them
home, brothers and sisters whom they
had played with long ago, all the sof-
tening membranes of childhood,
the only though often a poor
one-in many wild and rough life,
all these and such-like healthy
thoughts were unconsciously suggest
ed by Billy. Even a bird driven in
its weakness away from land to their
ship for refuge, would have quickened
in them kindly feelings, -thanks to
the presence of this child. cast at their
feet like waif of~the wild sea.