The Republican journal., 1871-02-23
THERE SHE BLOWS"

Down on Nantucket Island ali the male in
habitants are seataring men. They are Whal-
crs, absent for years, at home only for
weeks. But during these brief intervals from
toll, these hardy sons of the salt sea tell over
tho dangcrsthey havelpasscd ;the hair-breadth
escapes, when whales proved unruly or the
wind blew great guns. The boys of the
island listen with rapt attention and open
ears to these yarns, and inwardly resolve that
they will 60 on whaling voyage when they
get to be men The whole island is oily and
nautical. Over all the female inhabitants
there hangs cloud of anxiety. Many a
fond, fearful wife, lies awake and trembling
all night, as she hears the wild wind sweep
ing down upon the island, as if to carry
it from its moorings, and then off upon the
water lashing the waves to fury. She thinks
of the loved one far, far away, perhaps
wrecked, or his white bones bleaching upon
some desert coast The duties of the clergy
men of the island are largely those Of vista
ton, to give personal consolation to the
pentunian widows.
1t was a sunny afternoon on Nantucket,
when Rev Mr. Cheerful called upon Mrs
Bohstay, whose husband, an old whaler, had
just sailed for the ''spermy city, Of the broad
Pacific sea. Mrs. Bobstay was low down in
her mind, and required a cheering word from
the good man. On the contrary, her son,
eight years old, Jack Bobstay, by name, was
full of nerve and hope. The old man had
filled his sons mind with sea yarns sufficient
ly thrilling for dime novel, and the lad
nightly dreamed of spearing whales, of reef
ing ice,plated sails off the -boisterous
Cape Horn, of taking in," ''trying out, "
etc. all of which he had heard his father talk
and swear about. Many an eighty barrel
whale had Jack captured while sleeping
snugly in his little bed which his father had
triced up hammock fashion.
The scene was a quite one; the dominic
was earnest in his low words of comfort; the
mother, her heart upon the outspread ocean
which she could see stretching away south.
ward to where the good ship Oiltub disap
peared against the lowering sky, listened at
tentively, gracefully. Jack, on q little stool
sat drinking in the warm sunshine, which
streamed gloriously in through the oper
door. The good man had his heart in the
work he calmed the fears Of the sorrowing
wife. told her of the help and comfort she
had in her boy Jack, who would soon be a
man, and was about to place a soothing eli
max upon his words of consolation, by an
appeal to the throne of grace, when denou
ment of the most startling character burst
upon the prevailing serenity like a fatal bolt
from Il smiling sky.
III listening inc lMOCnof niu ufOppcu Hel
knitting-a stocking just begun-the ball OF
yarn lay in her lap unheeded. All unnotced
Jack pulled out several fathoms, and coleC
it with sailor-like precision upon the floor
That done, a new thought struck him. 4
large carving fork lay upon the table. Jacl
secured it. He ran the prongs through thu
newly begun stocking. Then, just as Rev
Mr.. Cheerful was about to kneel Jack poise(
his ingeniously impromptu har
poon. Placing the left foot forward, as HI
had heard his father having done, he drove
the harpoon with all his force at the uncon
scious cat sleeping in the sun. His aim wa
true; he struck the feline, as his father woul'
have termed it, Just "abaft starboard for'ar'
tluke."
Persons sleeping in rooms with sheds ada
cent, which are nightly frequented by cats
can possibly imagine the yell that rose iron
that half-impaled Tabby. She sprang to he
feet, darted out the door, her speed running
out the coiled yarn rapidly, while above he
screams, rose the voice of the delighted bo
whalor ''pay out, mother; thunder and light
ming, pay out; there she blows" The atti
tudc, the flashing eye, the startled dominic
the crushed look of the troubled mother, al
presented q picture the effect of which stitle'
the intended prayer. The minister ran off
and Jack Z" coiled in," while the mothe
mourned over the emphatic demonstration o
the bias of the boys mind. This was year
ago. and Jack is now paying out' in tn
chill north Pacific waters Henry War
4 Beecher.