The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-02-17
A. Romance OF tiae Sca--Tse Story OF
n n EcmGfc Sailor.

Si,a has served before tie mast u! sescia'
H,;t.>,, sfifas. Her scX having .cc'i q" 'a9,
dis.oyngc.i. She found herself nj "'aseow a,''
q, 'o.t:;co.:s again a!JoGtf!c ''iHe tae 'Sso,
ri, was 30 sail. As M o!d sa'toi sue haa
cone to the shippin:-nastc: OF me pcit,
aud he irough: her case betcfc the
managers of the Anchor Line, who
rave her free passage nome. turing
t,,a massage have had many conversations
VIII, our romantic feilow-travelier, and l
s,,b;oiu M account OF her story as nearly
PC rvssi!.,e in licr own words. She is nine
teen vesls old, of medium size, with play
OF hUunor about her eyes that partially re-
deems the plalnnsss OF her determined,
somewhat masculine face. SO high has she
le,a female virtue through all her 'icIssl-
tuties that when n Storage passenger OF
Tie Victoria ias,litcd wonlan in her pre-
sence two or three days ago she very CALMLY
s,sI;cs out from the shoulder and Knocked
him down.
"a;y name she says, ais Maggie arm.
strong. thor.:, | called myself Billy when
nj, on pa!taloons. l was born i'll tue Sta'c
OF New Jclscy, America. My father Is
farmer i've mics from Trenton, ana he has
tod INC i hundred times that l could 20
more work than any man. was always OF
o wild. passionate nature. I used TO hate
men when wsS at home. / thought tl:cy
ought rot to get more wages than women,
and often wished I was man. Ny mother
died eight years ago, and lett another little
sister and NE. Father kept hotlsckceper
pnti! was aolc to do his work, which did
ii! .hc LIST Of last april, wncn he TOOK
notion to get married. Th:s new wife he
cot ia New York. She clmc 10 our house
and thought to rule me and cvcrytAins; but
I soon taught her her mistake. / left the
house and went and hired out alta ncisalor.
in: farmers. My father came after me and
s ok nc home, and stayed eight days, lead
il. a cat.and dog lite with my stcpnother.
j Thought could not endure Tat long, 50
took a strange notion into my head. WAS
up stains one day, ulorg with one Of my
Ec,iooI,nates. | was engaged cleaning and
fltiag my fathers clothes; and said to her
t;!al il was to dress myself in his clothes
he would hayo job TO find ne. She
laughed, and said he would. There was
silence between us for few minutes, ana
without saying anything more about 1t 10
he. | secretly determined to try ii. AT
O'Clock that night, or The next morning
m.au, went up stairs and dressed myself
in nv fathers CLOTHES. took the scissors
and cut nly hair as short Is could, and
then went down stairs again and took SO
ont Of one Of the bureaG-drawcrS, for |
knew it was 10 Use going away without
money. Then l went 10 the stationand took
the 400 train for New York. wandered
About the city good ,Qcal, stopping at Il
small hotel in Warren street, think. !
hadn't begun TO make UP my mind what to
do, for had never Eeen III New YORK be-
fore, when one Of those runners hailed
I'D >ypptal 10 shin n freltrIt
steiner, which he said was going
to London and back to New York in !.
month. That seemed to suit ine, ~ | was
curious to see London. He shipped me as
enGincc.'S steward. l never WAS Sca-SicS
upco--!n fact, ! never WAS 30 we'll before iii
nv life - have Dccn 1t sen. always used
t. nave jersey headaches in the summertime
mt ..olne. No more ftycri,EnesS now. All
the engineers were very well pleased With
nv work. But they iuiornIed me that the
ship was nol going back - New York, hut
10 Cii.r:,, when she lett London. 80 l was
discharged, ct my own request. IL London,
tho nead engineer presenting me With ten
sh!ii:r1s Tor being good, clean !au. with
this and ny wages (i!lccn shilling }and what
was lcit OF my tm cpty-iive dollars L wa ell
allied 10 live il London tGryc weeks. wet
iii urer The ert3; city and saw 20 cua Ci
things. AS soon i | learned that the
steamer WAS going to China | made Up lily
niinu t!at had cot 10 get back 10 America
as q sailor, if l ever got lack at all. So /
used, daring my spare hours on the steamer,
t. l.acticc going aiotl, or i! they were stow
lug sails or doing anything of the kind, | was
sure 10 lie on hand. | Used to go into the
wnccl-housc, too, and learn to steer, and he
fore we cot 10 the banks oi Newfoundland
kp@w hi the ccsnpa.5.
When, therefore, shipped on board tie
bark Princess, bound for Mildlcsboro', /;
was not ~ III uppgeutice, but rs III
ordinary SEAMAN, for two pounds five
sh.lings Il month. l had bought u
SAILORS chest and recruited my sailor ward
lohc with set Of oi-skins. These had
taken from the Sailors Home boarding
house to the torecas!ie of the Princess, and
my life rs Il common tar began. There were
only eight of us i'll the lorecastlc, and as
was always first to rect the tomails and fur
the suiali sails in n gale OF wind, we gol
along very well. was discharged, finally
VITA the rest at Midd!esaoro after three
weeks run. Then thought l should like
TO see Shields, whc.i Is only six miles distant.
went there aid tried to ship again
E':t here arose Il great diflicul;y. Uli-
TO tana!ciy / hid lost my Gi,cAarsc. The
captain OF ba!N, the Esk,illc Of " hitby,
bocna Tor ltiy, would ttku lie as al
apprentice, but not us an ordinary seaman--
IHSs:.I Is, not at ErSt, for he did talk" ne VIXEN
he found that he could not yet any appren-
tees. We left Shields loaded with coal for
Genoa. We had head winds and bad Wet
psin tue English channel. but the Medi-
Ytur!aucan was tar enough t. make up for it.
We were in Genoa nine weeks in oil. and it
WAS after we had been there six weeks that
] was found out not to be n man. 1t hap
pened In this way: There was brute of
sailor III the torecastle who was always i'm
posing on me. When we were shoycliing
coal in the hold he made me ill two
baskets to his one. l was telling
this to the rest of the crew after
we were done work. he gave me the lie,
and the result was q lnock-dowp fight be-
tween lis. lie was the bigger, and he got
the letter OF me, and began crying This
led to suspicious Of my sex. stoully nan-
tai,ied that was q man, but it was no Use.
The affair got to the captains ears. Now,
the captains wife was on board, aud to him
and her ! was at last forced to confess NY
whole story. was soon habltcd as woman
again, ana engaged Us stewardeSs in tbe cabin
Tor the bomewsrd run. Stopping some
weeks ut Malaga for cargo, the bark landed
tiaaisy 1T Aberdeen, whence came by train
TO Glasgow"
: During the passage from Glasgow to New
i York the hero and heroine of tile foregoing
story has conducted herself in quiet, mod-
3 est way--except in the matter OF knocking
doNn the Storage passenger for insulting Il
woman and, Us for that. you never saw q
!! uujrfff. t,r mo1rStap knock down in your Hfa