Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1872-05-16
gruffly. "what doyou live on? Shirts


pretty pink dress. 1t glowed in the
sunshine, its founces and frillings trem-
bling about like superabundantgro growth
of petals.
The captain eyed it approvingly.
Pretty enough" he said. Its got all
your color in it, my little girl"
1t was long since had heard any one
express kindly interest in me, and the
words thrilled me with a strange feel
ing, intense, exquisite, allied to pain.
You ought to have a change of air."
said the captain, seeing l made no an
swer.
The pretty dress seemed freighted
with the visions had had while max
ing it. Rosy glimpses out of the mat
| ter-of-course drudgery, the dingy and
ashen hue of my habitual life, opened
out of its folds.
"Captain," said 1, abruptly, as I laid
it carefully away, chow much does it
cost to 60 to the West Indies?"
By steam?'
"No; in your ship"
"Oh," said the captain, "I'm not
fitted up for passengers. A tight little
craft enough, but only to carry freight.
| Why? Know any one going ?"
! al am. Captain, let me be freight.
Stow me away in the hatch or anywhere,
only let me goi See, have thirty dol
lars to pay my passages" and held up
my pnrse. !" Jim's quarters all paid
tooW
"The moneys an immense tempta-
tion," said the captain, eying the slim
purse ehumorously- immense. Knight
! lay by on it after one or two more
voyages"
"And, captain, you know I've a cousin
out there somewhere-an engineer or
something on plantation"
cay, that way blows the wind, does
it? Well, well, my child, I'll think
about it. it might do you no harm,
and, as you say, you might marry the
engineer when you find him."
"Now, captain, you know L never said
thatw
"No? Well, it puts bit of color
| into your cheeks, Lisbeth, and that's a
good thing to see, however it comes.
| I'll think about it, child. It's poor
travelling in a freight vessel, but many's
the trip the wife and l took together
when she was living"
Long ago the captain had lost his
young wife, year or two after their
marriage. 1 had never seen her; but
the captains faithful remembrance
of her was pleasant. She was a sort
of sanity recollection to him, bright
ening and sweetening his ruele life,
and keeping her niche in his heart for
| ever.
Three days passed. 1 waited, 1
sewed, pricked my fingers perhaps a
little more than usual; l looked out Of
the window possibly little oftener.
| Madame Padwelle scolded me, Ma
dame Padwelle coaxed me, and finally,
in a huff, madame paid me up and left,
severely intimating that she would be
glad to employ me again when l " felt
like work."
Then came the captain.
swell ?" queried l.
"Well," answered he, "you'll find it
close quarters and pretty hot voyage;
but there's deck room."
Deck room 1t was just the one
thing wanted-and then l knew that
the captain had consented.
shall not tell you much about that
voyage. 1t stands yet in my mind in
the same relation as dream-vague
without sharpness of outline, with nc
separation of periods of time; one big
bountiful remembI ance of a season OF
infinite rest, when, adrift between all
and ocean, l seemed without bodily
entity for the things that had marked
my identity hitherto had been, but
were no longer.
was not seasick. A strange, vision
like sensation wrapped me about, {
faint tness as of spirit coming newl,
to life in a new world having left
the old incumbrance of the flesh, will
the old cares, far away on the farawa.
shore.
There was nothing to do-that is
nothing for ME to do-no living to get
no exertion to make. / seemed an atom
) in the great sea of sky and water; thu
great Good was taking care of me, anC
the great ocean clasping me in its infn
ite arms ofpeace.
} / was treated like a lady-a rare ano
delicious thing to one Injured to har,
usage and to earning her bread in a bi.
bustling city. When the intense hea
/ made me ill, and the rosy-cheeket
> mates wife, who had been nay eonpan
; ion hitherto, succumbed to it also, tn
captain took care of me himself. Some
} times he carried me in his strong arm
up to the hammock swinging on deck
r sometimes he brought me with his owl
l cruel. At odd times, when nothini
else called him, he furnished up hi
3 rusty stock of schooling, and read m
S some queer old sea-story resurrecte'
from the depths of his big woode1
p chest. Rough, brown, and burly, tn
0 sailors were all my friends; the
t pointed out the dolphins and porpoises
i and scared me with the prospect c
5 whales or imaginary sharks. Thei
y dark faces and sturdy forms made
y solid background to my dream-lanc
and gave it a picturesque touch {
reality.
e But by-and- by all this came to an enc
r Out of the dream land voyage we sale
T. in IN dream-la land itself
Il One morning went up on deck, ant
i behold the gates of paradise seeme
d open to me.
is The vessel lay anchored in lovel
harbor. Sapphjre-blue shone the w
Y. ter, edged where it touched the beac
" with line of Iace-like foam. Beyon
If rose hill above hill, crowned wit
glowing foliage and arched by the azul
to sky.
lg At the foot of these hills clustered
n g,oup of long, low, fat-roofed building
unlike any 1 had ever seen. The
to seemed to have grown out of the SAN
i'd soil that nourished the cocoa and pail
waving above them. Intense colo
OF vivid, jewel-like, shone everywhel