The Hickman courier., 1872-11-09
HOW TWENTY PRECIOUS YEARS
WERE WASTED.


They had como, little group Of
friendly faces to watch me off, wish
waving handkerchiefs and kindly
good-byes and stood on the stern
nodding and waving back, till the
steamer swept down the river out OF
their sight.
1 knew | should have their pray
ers that the great sea might be gen
tic with me; | knew they would
watch the weather and look for the
telegram of the arrival of our ship;
yet 1 knew | was taking nothing
from their lives and that they each
would go home hardly missing me
SO it was with no great wrench OF
heart that saw the pilot put off
from us, and took the last look at
my native shores.
/ During most of the passage | was
Just comfortably sea-sick-so l sat
all the day long in 2 reclining chair
on deck, watching the white caps on
the purple and green and blue
waves that mounted and fell, down
and up, up and down, away out to
the far horizon. | saw the shining
nautiluses float by, and now and
then n whale, or shoal ofporpoise,
or a sail, speeding white and full
across the water. / saw also a good
many other things nearer by; for !
didn't put my eyes in my pocket
along with my short sighted glasses;
and nobody was much likely to
mind a middle-aged woman in hood
and waterproof
The first thing | saw was a young
/ girl with dark eyes and brown hair,
/ that rippled itself into tangle of
rough curls whenever she took off
her net. She wss not so very pret-
ty, nor so very brilliant. but there
was piquant charm about her that
attracted half the passengers before
the first day was over. By the end
of the second day everybody, from
the captain to the ships surgeon,
from the surgeon to the cabin-bOy,
was eager to show her attention;
and every one was met by the same
genial smile and lively retort.
She won her way at once into my
heart by the kindly thought that
led her to bring little relishes from
the table to tempt my sickly appe-
tite, and to soothe my forehead
with bay water and gentle touches
of her shapely brown hands, where
great emerald glittered encircled
by diamonds. Very soon she got
into the habit of drawing her rug
beside my chair, and sitting on the
deck leaning against me, so that 1
might "pet her, as she said.
This was how it happened that
my quiet, out-of the way corner
came to be the centre of the life
and gayiety and romance of the
whole shipboard.
1t seemed this young girl, Rosa
Armour, was an ony child, ard an
orphan, going to an uncle in Ger
many, her nearest kin.
"Dear heart, | hope her uncle
will be wise as well as loving" said
| to myself often; for she seemed
too fragile a bubble of humanity to
drift on through life alone.
The tips of her brown curls were
lighter than the rest and here and
there were little bright touches all
over her hair, as though the sun was
shining in spots on 1t. One morn
ing sat coiling these CLEANS of sun
shine around my fingers, aud watch
ing a flock of Mother Carey's chick
ems skim restiessly over the restless
water, thinking these thoughts about
Rosa, and having her soft presence
alone to myself for a few moments.
Not many, however; soon, up came a
New Zealander; of course there was
New Zealander, or an Australian
on our boat.
"You are very lowly, Miss Ar
mour," said he. "Let me bring you
chair.
"Thank you; prefer to sit here
on my rug, and have Miss Wells pet
me- replied Rosa, turning up her
eyes languidly. The deck is my
favorite seat, if 1 can only have an
excuse to sit on it.
"But you need something over
you," persisted the New Zealander,
going away and coming back direct
ly with his own heavy gray wrap.
Then he seated himself on a low
camp-stool beside her, folding the
wrap over the two. s'I never saw
so rough a sea as this all the wav
from Honolulu to San Francisco" !"
said he, looking out upon the gentle
swell OF the lazy-mounting waves.
" Roughp cried Miss Armour. sI
am sure the ocean is as smooth as
mill-pondY'
"Oh but not as compared to the
Pacific-peaceful; it was rightly
named. We have never such gales
on that as sweep the Atlantic, but
only tie gentIest westerly breezes.
The New Zealander shivered as he
spoke, and drew his wrap closer over
his knees. F" We have the most
charming climate in New Zealand, !"
he went on; we are never too hot,
and never too cold. In fact, we
never think of the weather And
the soil is the most fertile in the
world"
Pity it is such an out-of-the-way
part of the earth that nobody can
live there, said Miss Armour.
Beg your pardon, miss; thers
are several English towns of thirty
thousand inhabitants each; and we
never think of ourselves as being
out-of-the-way, but rather feel sorry
for those who live so far off," re-
turned the other, bending his tall
figure earnestly forward.