The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-12-10
CMnrsToPHER sHAPPY, cABMAN.

CaRIsTOPHER sHAPPY, CABMAN.
Christopher Shappy was SLOW" Glow.
ness" and gloom hung like thunder
cloud over the very atmosphere that sur
grounded him; it flnttered in despair from
every rag in his catered clothes; it tore
at the heart in his attenuated frame, and
bDlted through rents of his battered hat,
. very carnival of wretchedness. Seated
$2n his box OF IL p. M, the rosy lights OF
(a great saloon glowed down upon him,
and the hum OF many voices poured into
his ear, bnt the listless Jehu twirled his
Hemnans OF o whip, and chewed the cud
1rollickea with the blatant discord of the
can-can, and, re-echoed with the cries of
the kenOt man; there was rattle of
''chips," o clihk of glasses. and tumult
of calls from the game keepers; but,
igazipg cat the revelers, he only felt
clover. and gloomier. Kit Shappy was
"busted." Ehe pristine glory of once
wonderful vehicle struggled in the dark
ness OF total eclipse; Lively Turtle, the
object OF his idolatry, the whilom chal-
llenger OF universal envy and admiration,
had descended through different stages
1of seediness and short rations to skele-
ton. Long, lean and lank, in o coat
scarce thick enough for q new born colt,
with startling ribs, and great knobs of
ijoints. the picturesof equine misanthropy,
aDGsnt calculated to inspire courage. His
Owner looked wistfully at the ragged our
tains. the damp unwholesome cushions,
and in the general aspect of ricketiness
and decay; visions of a phantom horse
3and shadowy; cab, crushed out every
hope. The tide of prosperity was fairly
and strongly at the ebb, and whatever
Ievidence of wealth or responsibility the
early days of the voyage might have
shown, he was now in the chops of the
ohannel and on his beam ends. Yellow
fever, sweeping like simeon, broke on
his family at the very outset, and that
stress Of bad weather told.
When youngster of ten, wakes up on
|a sultry August morning, to find his
dearest of kin in two yellow corpses, and
all his worldly wealth represented by q
yellow half sovereign; when he looks
flor the last time on luxury. through the
jtear-dimmed vista of q crowded cemete-
|ry; and turns like young bear with all
his troubles before him, to world fur
better supplied with kicks than ha'pence;
ione would not expect much eagerness on
1eA0 Phko va uio uhdOI HIAGSIs, VI
a very prosperous voyage. Cookie shells
don't often live in q sea like this. The
Of q landlord who cast him
adrift, and the swells and lubbers jostling
Iin his wake, didn't even hope for it.
'Shappy, however. was not of the swamp
Eng sort Piratical, as the little craft
soon became, and squally as the weather
very often proved, this dingy on the
ocean of life rode it out. He made O
short cruise in the newspaper business,
with mnch piping to punishment, and
little piping to grub. He enjoyed the
usual knock-down arguments of newsboy
ibullies, and tho usual throwing of dice
cn street corners. He sat in the cock
lofts of the theatres and gloated over the
''shivering of timbers" in ''Black Eyed
Susan" OF his moral training. perhaps
the least that is said is best. A believer
lin the transmigration of souls. and the
lpurloiner of surreptitious maps on
idoor-sill, very rarely sail in the same
boat. Seated on his box now, Shappy
3couldn't explain the Apostolic succession
ff his life depended on it.
All this, however, didn't prevent q
brief voyage in the tumbler washing
business, with one meal day from the II
pollock lunch and plenty Of exercise in
fsetting up ten-pins. Though various
bruises brought returns to neither crew
fnor owner, Shappy clung to his coin.
Tied by q string to his pipe-stem of
neck, the neck grew brown and bearded,
and the breast that held it thick with
hair; but the money was cherished like
}n Persian amulet. It might be two dol
lars and half to others, but to Shappy
]it was fortune, family, the link that
bound him to tho past. Another incident
1in that reckless career gave the story q
3grimmer significance. and made tho
luckless man clutch nervously at his reins.
Past the era of tumbler washing and far
into o time when "a lunch boy and pan
itryman, he donned the slop-shop jacket
and trowsers, there appeared on that
jvagrnnt horizon brown haired, bright
Dyed, slip-shod girl, Who wonders in
]that hopeless cruise lie flched and
33hoarded for her sake? Who wonders
that those two waits. battling for exist
!ence in the ever whirling cddes. joined
hands to breast the waves together? For
3sune, be she never so coqaettish, some
,times wears smile for the yonng, and.
ithnnks to her tenderness, q day arrived
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