Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-06-19
sOuTH. MALLTNGFORD.
Two Birds with one stone.
..Mhat,s the time now ~

''Whats the time now ?"
S'Nigh upon twelve o'clock, hang it
ALL And this little beggar's all I've got
to show for it. It's out-and-out too bad,
pom my sacred word"
So speaks, with pardonable irritation,
Captain Charles D, skipper of the
Danube steamer Mary, bound from
Constantinople' to Gelatz and Ibralia,and
at present lying in Yarna roads, with no
immediate prospect of getting off again.
The Captain, an inyeterate sportsman,
has improved the opportunity by taking
his gun ashore, and, after three hours
tramp under real Turkish sun, through
a. never ending swamp, has at length
succeeded in bagging a kingfisher.a lit
tie larger than an oyster, which |, with
fine touch of practical irony, am stuffing
into small envelope by way of game
bag.
''Eight your pipe, and let us cook our
game, Captain, suggested |, consoling-
ly; ''it'll just fit nicely into the bowl"
The agrieved sportsman only answers
by grunt /; and, hating upon the rising
ground, Git the term may be applied to
an eminence about as high as the crown
of hat) we survey each others appear
ance, which the skipper concisely defines
as ''all mud, barrin the wet, and all wet
barrin the scratches"
''Now, sir, +" observes he at last, with
that bitter grin wherewith John Bull
settles down to the enjoyment of good,
genuine grievance, this, you see, is
Bulgaria. How do you like it ?"
"Well," answered /, Il should call it
the devils earthly paridise.
The Captain chuckles in grim APPROX
al and in truth, the epigram is not so
unjust as such criticisms generally are.
The great roadstead, elbowing its way
between the high, broken ridges that run
inland from the sea, has left only mar
row strip of level ground upon which
Bulgarian enterprise has piled the reek-
ing, pestilential town of Varna
A horrible place is Varna. Dirty
houses, tenanted by dirty men; dirty
streets, haunted by dirty dogs nothing
doing, and nothing expected to be done;
sentries doing on their posts trades
men asleep at their shop doors beggars
snoring upon the hot pavements the
very houses leaning towards each other
across the narrow, filthy, rubbish-block-
ed streets, az if they were nodding to
sleep likewise The tall, narrow-eyed
buildings stand up gaunt and bare in the
glistening sunshine the gray, unending
swamp looms drearily in the back
ground to right and left rises the huge
black wall of the encircing mountains;
and on a narrow plateau between the city
andthe sea appear long ranks of low, green
hillocks, showing where many a brave
fellow, who looked lengingly forward to
his first glimpse of the Russian helmets.
was cut down ingloriously by the unseen
blow of an enemy more deadly than the
bullets of MenschikOff or the cannon of
Todleben.
"Well, anyhow, there's the station
right ,ahead, says the skipper at length;
land the station masters chum o mine
and he's sure to be there now so | vote
we 60 and have yarn with him, and
a drop o. summit to drink.
No sooner said than done: and, few
minutes later we were standing at the
door of little rabbit-hutch midway
down the huge platform, receiving a
boisterous welcome from a big, bearded,
iolly-looking man in a rough wear-and-
tear suit of plaid In trice we were all
chatting away like old friends, and abus-
ing the country, the people, the climate,
and our surroundings generally, with
heart and soul
The station-master, in particular. takes
a gloomy pleasure in assuring us that
this ere Earna-Rustchuck line amt
worth that; that the entertainments as
rotten as squashed watermelon, and
one O. these fine days it will Just come
down flop and have to be done over
again"
''Well, III tell you what" remarks
our new acquaintance at length, "Ill be
through with my work before long, and
there amt no hurry for youto go aboard.
S'pose you step up to my old 'ooman
(you know the road, Charley and tell
her to give you mouthful o. summit.
and say III be up alter bit"
Up the hillside we trudged according
", the skipper leading the way. and are
not long in reaching trim little cot
tage with a small garden in front of it
looking indescribably pretty beside the
miserable novels that surround it-at
the door of which, with her two children
beside her, sits our new friends wife,
knitting stockings with might and main.
She is a fresh, Comely, acknowledging
woman, apparently on the right side of
forty, with a snug, fireside expression;
but close observer may detect on the
broad, smooth forehead and round, ROSY
cheeks the faint but indellible impress Of
former suffering; and through the ring
of her voice, full and CHEEKY though it
be, runs an undertone of melancholy,
telling of time in the distant past when
such sadness was only too habitual.
While the sllipper-who is evidently
an old acquaintance-is inquiring after
the many common friends. and being
good-humoredly chdffed upon his 'look-
in so nice and clean" | begin, as usual.
by making friends with the children
fine sturdy little fellows of seven and
five years respectfully, with the health
and vigor of the good old Anglo-Saxon
breed in every line of their sunburnt
faces AS the elder perches himself on
my knee the wind losses back his hair
and discloses a frightful scar across the
temple, which (knowing the innate pro-
penslty of the ordinary woman to gossip
ad libitum about the accidents and all
ments of her BROOD | rightly deem it a
fit subject of inquiry.
''This young mans been in the wars,
see. How did he come by that mark,
if it's not a rude question ?"
We'll, he con1ed.by it in queer way
enough, and that's the truth but its
reether a long story"
''Never mind-lets have it. A good
story can't be too long" i
age aye i-you must hear that
yarn the, skipper chimes in, who is
plainly 10 IL the whole history. ''Pitch
US theyarn, old girl It's you as ought
to tell il by rights, .seein' twas you as
did it all.
"Well, wait till we get mouthful O
grub, responds our hostress, who is al
ready deep in a big, hospitable-looking
cupboard, ''We amt got nothin' very
grand to give you, but you are heartily
welcome to what there is"
The table is soon spread and the
master of the house coming in .oppor-
timely, we fall to with a will
The skipper, amid general laughter.
produces his kingfisher as "a standby
for supper" As soon as we have finish
ed | again remind my hostess of the
story, and she began as follows:
well, you see, bout two years ago