Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1872-05-17
HOW I MARRIED THE CAPTAIN.

L had never had an adventure.
think most people counted me a very
quiet girl, drifted like sea-shell into a
corner of the great world. The tides
passed over my head there was ship
wreck and disaster; there was sailing
out of argosies; there was dancing and
music among the <oyagers butnothing
surged me up out of my sea-swept
niche. Poor Elizabeth Grey l said
aloud, will the tide ever reach you.
All this sea talk, / think, grew out of
the little pink dress | was sewing on
that morning. Rosy Fox was going to
Europe, and this was one of a dozen or
two tiny dresses | had made for her
Going to Europe! Rosy-a little pratt
Ting thing that didn't yet know one
street from another in her native city.
What would she do in Europe-what
would Europe do for her? But for me the
very thought seemed like a glimpse of
heaven sweet, forbidden glimpse; :;
for what had / to do with change, or
pleasure, or excitement?
A seamtress, orderly, exemplary-an
orphan who had decently buried her
| mother, and who creditably supported
her little brother at jschool--such was
my brief outward record SIS
This morning a strange restlessn ess
beset me; an unaccountable yearning,
like wooing whiff of ocean air, beck
oned me away. Why should stay and
vegetate in one spot forever? Could I
not earn my living elsewhere as we'll as
here? Did not folks use needles in
Kamtchatka and in New Zealand
Could | not take my sewing to another
market? 8 + .s--1es = 's'.'- ''- ~ e1-
.-. The. thought stood on the verge of
my mind, hovering, timorous, unreal,
its wing poised for flight. / had no
money. The vision vanished, and in
the gray after-light my patch looked
dustier, darker, more straitened than
ever. A
But this was not to be day like
other days. It stands apart in my
memory now, Illuminating that whole
year, as l have seen a clump of cardinal
flowers illumine a whole gray meadow.
A knock came at the open door of my
room, and it was flung back sharp and
suddenly. Very few visitors ever
climbed to my little third-story apart
ment; seldom any one but testy
Madame Padwelle, for whom worked.
This could not be the madame's foot
fall, SO heavy and brisk. l looked up,
and there stood Capt. David, my
mothers old friend.
A tall, big-boned, grizzled man, quick,
decided, and full of vigor as Northern
pine, with flavor of old-time quaint
ness about him-a thrifty, well-to-do
man, whose ship had carried freight
into almost every port on the globe, but
chiefly to the West Indies. o s15
I had not seen the captain since l
was little girl, but l knew his face and
figure instantly. The tall hat he
wore when in landsman's rig, the red
bandana he hourished, were things of
memory. Many an odd sea-shell had
he brought me, and many dainty from
far.off lands had shown his remembrance
of my mother His sharp gray eye was
full of kindly humanity; | remem-
bered that eye, and how it had stood to
me in childhood for illimitable geo.
graphical knowledge, glimpses of polar
seas and fathomless waters, and all the
unspeakable mysteries of the unknown
world. e~e
Well, my little girl, how's all the
folks?' said the captain, taking off his
steeple-crowned hat as he entered. A1
The familiar voice, the hearty grasp
of his muscular hand, took me back to
my sgirlhood again; for an instant it
seemed as if my mother were living, and
all the weight of care and loneliness
were lifted from my shoulders. Only
an instant. The tears gathered in my
eyes, and said, abruptly,
/" There are no folks, captain" q
The captains scountenance fell. He
seemed inwardly to reproye himself for
his hasty pleasantly, recollecting that
this was the time for conventional
solemnity. Seating himself with GIN
gerly care ON one of my slim-legged
chairs, he wiped his forehead with his
red bandana. 2+
I know, 1 know" he said, uneasily.
u mean-how's Jim ?' with hasty
clutch at the name, as if to save himself
from further mishap.
"Oh," said ], cheerfully, anxious to
put him at his ease, ''Jim's doing
iamously. He'll take the prize in Ian.
guages at his school next year." M
And you are working yourself to
death to stuff the lad with Greek and
Latin 2"
I fell to laughing. "No, captain; not
exactly. But Jim's too smart and too
good to be kept in the city, and | have
to be away SO much Of the time sewing"
sgVn., loat~ I.1~o co:J H.