Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1872-05-25

| The sea, the sea, the beautiful sea, i,
a swindle life on the ocean wave is {
| fraud; home on the rolling deep, {
humbug, while the people who go down
upon the great waters in ships must be
hard up for q place to 20. | know
whereof | speak, and it is with a spirit
chsstened 10y atiliction and body
Inundated 10y untold woes, that dc
most Solemnly asseverate the billow, the
billow, the bounding pillows, to be an
imro:ition
Going TO Europe, hey, old boy p
said Muttonhead. We'll, be sure you
take one OF the German lines of steam.
ers. Splendid table, quick trip,
and then they land you right in the
heart of the continent. Ever so much
better than going on an English line"
Singularly enough | listened to the
words of the immaculate idiot and acted
upon them. More remarkable, how
ever, is the fact that he was right, in
the main, and | now cry amen to a
goodly share cf what he said. You see
by taking German steamer, which
touches at England, you are enabled to
go ashore, and be rid of the accursed
cradle of the deep, full two days earlier
than you had originally intended. With
a crushed spirit, all men of sense do
just this very thing-a thing which
could not be conveniently achieved by
any other line. 1t would not be exactly
pleasant to leave an English bound craft
two days before she reached ner desti-
nation, unless ones powers of watery
pedestranism laid over those of poor,
old, doubling st. Peter.
The first day after the vessel had
slipped away from her moorings and
turned her Teutonic nose toward sun
rise. | spent in silent communion.
Alone in my closet wrestled with ad-
vecsity, porting tenderly over the mys-
teres of a slop- basin.
The second day was fairer than a day
IN June perfect bridal of the sea and
Ky. Proudly footed the deck in
spected the compass talked Ned Bunt.
line lingo to myself, and allowed that
what | did not know about navigation
would not work up into very exten-
sive book.
The next day was an uneasy one to
the bosom of old ocean, and with tur-
bulent stomach | returned like dog to
my-slop- basin.
Toward evening the waves thumped
savasely against the ships sides, and
the huge vessel rolled with the alacrity
Of a treadmill. Gradually there grew
upon me the idea that if this sort of thing
held on much longer | might receive
peremptory invitation to do little
deep sea sounding on my own hook
With viscera like unto swill bucket,
and a head dancing with the combined
aches Of 10000 drunks, | cravled. out
upon deck and besought the captain,
by all bis hopes of a bright hereafter,
to tell me if there was any danger.
Ignorant groveler upon dry land,
can you not see that this is only good,
spanking breeze? This! Why, this is
glorious weather" | meandered sadly
back again.
The next morning the waters swept
over the deck, and the tempest roared
like crowd OF base ball spectators
when a tayorilc batter makes a home
run. Again | struggled toward the cap
tain, and again impIored his opinion of
the weather.
" Yes, a little roughish, perhaps, but
God bless you, sr--hc didn't say bless
you-l have seen thous md breezes a
thousand times heavier than this"
, On the following day the hatches
were all battcned down. None Of the
passengers were allowed to so on deck,
if, indeed, any of them could have rev.
eled in imhecility so supreme as to have
undertaken the Job. The winds bel
lowed like million bulls of Bashan;
the waters ratified with deafening ham
merngs against and over the boat. and
the boat itself seemed suddenly TO have
become affected with the idea that II
well-reguated steamship should sail
keel uppermost.
Again essayed the captain. caught
his dormitory, preparatory to going
outside, where he was to be lashed to
the rigging for the next half dozen
hours
" Friedrich, am glad you settled
your property upon shore on your old
mother before the last trip, for if this
devilish gale continues twelve houls
longer, it IS certain to knock this boat
TO pieces, and never soul of us will
live to tell the story"
lie thought | couldn't Deutsch
spraeche", the dolt, but | understood
their clumsy cultural, and was happy.
My nautical Judgment was vindicated,
and, creeping back to my bunk, |
slept sweetly for the first night of the
trip.
The storm was good enough, during
the night, to let up a little, and al.
though its ugliness was such, the entire
trip, as to make it an even thing
whether we would steer into Plymouth
bow or stern foremost, it was still an
improvement over the remarkable
frskiness of the preceding days.
London Correspondence Of the Chicago
Times.
Kindly COmmiserate.