Smyrna times., 1871-08-30
M sc eIIUW e o IL s.
How His Ship Came In.

| ran across what first struck me as very
singular genius on my road from Springfield
to Boston. This was stout, black -whiskered
man, who sat Immediately in front of me, and
who INDUCED, from time to time, in the most
strange and unaccountable mannuvres. Every
now and then he would get up and hurry away
to the narrow passage which leads to the door
IN these drawlng-roOm cars, and, when he
thought himself secure from observation, wouli
fall to laughing in the most violent manner,
and continue the healthful exercise until he
was as red In the face as a lobster As we
| neared Boston these demonstrations increased
in violence, save that the stranger no longer
ran away to laugh, but kept his seat and
chuckled to himself, with his chin deep down
| in his shirt-cOllar. But the changes that those
portmanteaus underwent! He moved them
here, there, everywhere he put them behind
him, in front of him, on each side Of him. He
was evidently getting ready to leave but, as
we were yet twenty-five miles from Boston, the
idea OF such early preparations was ridiculous.
| If we had entered the city then the mystery
would have remained unsolved but the stran-
! ger at last became so excited that he could
keep his seat no longer. Some one must help
him; and, as L was the nearest, he selected
me- Suddenly turning, as if | had asked
question, he said, rocking himself to and fro in
his chair in the meantime, slapping his legs,
and breathing hard:
Been gone three years -
"Ah p
"Yes been in Europe. Folks don't ex-
pect me for six months yet, but got through
and started | telegraphed them at the last
| station they've got it by this time"
And as he said this he rubbed his hands and
changed the portmanteaL on his left to the
right, and the one on the right to the left
again.
Got a wife p said I.
Yes? and three children" he returned !;
and he got up and folded his overcoat anew,
and hung it over the back of the seat.
" You are pretty nervous over the matter,
amt you y said, watching his fidgety move
ments.
"Well, 1 should think sor' he replied !:
:" hain't slept soundly for week. And do
you know, he went on, glancing around at
the passengers and speaking in low tone, "
am almost certain this train will run off the
track and break my neck before l get to Bos-
tOn.. Well, the fact is, have had too much
good luck for one man, lately. The thing
can't last tain't natural that it should, you
know. I've watched it. First it rains, then
1t shines, then it rains again. 1t rains so hard
you think it's never going to stop; then it
/ shines so bright you think it's always going to
3 shine; and, just as you re settled in either
belief, you are knocked over by a change, to
show you that you know nothing about it ~
We'll, according to your philosophy" said
L, you will continue to have sunshine, be-
cause you are expecting storm"
S It's curious" he returned; "but the only
9 thing which makes me think will get through
. safe, is because think | won't"
Well, that is curious" said l.
i YES" he replied. "Im a machinist-
n made discovery nobody belived in it spent
d all my money trying to bring it out-mortgag.
ed my home-all went. Everybody laughed
at me-everybody but my wife-spunky little
wOman-said she would work her fingers oa
before l should give it up. Went to England
!, no better there came within an ace of Jump
= ing off London Bridge. Went into shop t.
g earn money enough to come home with there
= : | met the man | wanted. To make a Ions
!. story short, I've brought $4,000 home with
}. me, and here [ am"
IT "Good for you I" exclaimed.
% YES, said he, "930,0OO; and the bes
>, of it is, my wife don't know anything abou
- it. I've fooled her so often, and disappointed
d her so much, that just concluded would say
l. nothing about this. When L got my money
% though, you better believe struck bee-lint
ii for home"
And now you will make her happy" sale
IS l.
Happy" he replied, why, you don
p know anything about it. She's worked like
X dog while have been gone, trying to supper
herself and the children decently. They paic
- her thirteen cents apiece for making coarse
q shirts and that's the way she'd live half tn,
II time. She'll come down there to the depot t,
v. meet me in gingham dress, and shawl
s. hundred years old, and she II think she dress
d. ed up. Oh she won't have no clothes afte
r. this-oh no, | guess notl
And with these words, which implied tina