Litchfield enquirer., 1873-05-01
n deck two days later than any other

on oeck two oays iasef tnah any oshoI lady.
 Oh those dreadful days which follow ed It was comfort to hear later that veterans who had made dozens of voyages had suceupbed as abiectly as we. Every thing was contrary-the winds and the 1 waves, and the machinery of our old ark, which ground and bored and gnashed and l grated its horrid screw till it's iron en- 1 tered our souls and minced our very senses.
 1 Our bags, maps, brushes, etc, etc, took to themselves wings and gyrated through the upper air (if air there was in | that stifiing state-room), while lower down tue doom of China thou art, and unto China shalt thou return, seemed likely to be visited upon everything breakable. ..
 Even little Moses, who with her moth- CT shared my state-room, usually present ed herself to my aching vision as flying cherub pursued by venomous table and toilet-ware. or as jolly little caryatid moving and grinning at us from under tumbling bedding and baggage.
 !" It was regular lark to the little minx, l for she was never i'll the least sick through it all.
 1 Nothing came amiss to her, not even one specially spiteful lurch of the vessel which sent Reynolds right out of her berth (the upper) on top of her as she sat on the floor dosing her doll for the mea- sles, and with the next turn of the satanic screw artistically added me to the pile.
 Nobody was able to come near us ex- cept the stewardess, who brought in two or three times day tray full of horrible smells,-no taste nor even substance did the things seem to have,- only awfully ponderable smell
 1 However, after many sickening efforts and ignominIous defeats, at last sat up long enough for good little Reynolds to brush out my wig, add, thanks perhaps to the champagne MT. Livingstone sent me, mustered sufficient of my native de- pravity to decline Charley Coates's grave l ly paternal suggestion that should per init him to take me on deck, and before his very face accepted Mir. Livingstone's g 1 subsequent offer, and marched off with l the airs and graces of a boiled owl, my dear
 Ugh how loathe that Frances Win 1 throp.
 Although had been the last among the lady-passengers to give way to mat de mer, yet was first to rally, and abused my privileges. shall not catalogue my absurdities for you, my mother-confessor. Only poor Reynolds, who sat decorously by with her sewing, on deck or in sa- loon as happened to prefer, could the l whole tale unfold, and she has promised to keep it a profound nuisance'-as one eff papa's clients begged him to do with 8 confidential communication.
 But there is one crowning achievement that you are to hear, and you alone. If that malicious papa of mine were not be- yond your reach, I would not for the world trust even you with it. Don't you dare tell him even in your hundredth year, or he will make life amburden for a little innocent amusement at his expense. You solemnly promlse? We'll on the 9th day out, mamma and Mrs. Coates ven- tured for the first time to creep into the lower cabin, and were enjoying their con- valescence after a sickly fashion with sev- eral other semi-revlved passengers. Reynolds had gone into the steerage to l nnrse a nnnr ynnng woman whose hJE1e | dead baby had had Q sea-burial the night before, and I, feeling not Q little com punctious for late misdemeanors, tried to 1 condone by meek devotions to the inva- | lids at such odd moments as could spare from looking after little Moses who seemed to have taken in that morning all 1 the mischievousness which I had laid aside.
 1 had just settled down to a game of cribbage with Mrs. Coates, when I dis covered that our borrowed baby was prov ing herself anything but a we1lspring of pleasure in that solemn circle. She is an | irresistible little mimic, and in pursuit of her vocation she was trotting about from sofa to sofa, enacting with her doll one act drama with such vivid effect that even l I was made uncomfortable and snatched her out of the room, in the midst of a comically infectious spasm, lest feebler l folk than I should suffer hopeless re- lapse.
 Virtuously resisting MT. Livingstone's entreaties that would go on deck, took the little sinner into my state room, think ing that pent-up Utica would best confne her powers and my good resolutions. It happened to be @ calm day, the only one of the entire voyage, and the steward had oponed the headlight to air the room. Now that odd little good-for-nothing win dow had been & constant griev ance to me, as lay ill in my berth and was assured three times day by the stewardess, in reply to my entreaties for breath of air, that cit wouldn't do no more than nothink at alr to touch it; and so, although I am not in the least curious in my disposition, you know, yet when saw this tabooed and therefore fascinating thing gaping at me, naturally climbed up and craned was disappointed. Nothing but water the addition of carbonic acid gas to make it exhilarating.
 However, I looked up and down and all abroad, in the hope that something cheery in the shape of a sea-serpent or Mother Carys chicken would be vouchsafed me. Then fell to meditating, and waves and clouds and good deal of time drifted by before returned to full consciousness of the present.
 l The thought of my little charge, and the infinite amount of mischief which her long silence probably symbolized, startled me from my reverie, and with one last glance at the watery prospect from my novel position, prepared to retreat. But, horor of horrors when I tried to draw back that ll-conditioned pate of mine. it wouldn't come
 suppose if I had only been calm and composed like your Serene Gentleness, I might have got out as easily as got in but was greatly futtered and frightened, l more struggled the more my head seem ed to swell.
 I shouted and shrieked, but the ghoul- ish old screw went growing, crunching on, and the waves Tapped the sides of the vessel and swallowed all my cries.
 Then fourished my arms and feet vio. lently, hoping to frighten little Moses into calling help, but no help came. l N0u x,a,1 v,opEoxy ~~orI xv<,,, xn<ro rs7 my situation at that moment as immense ly droll, and nothing more? An can feel this instant the freshening of the wind on my cheek, and hear the plash oi the water as it crept nearer, and nearer and nearer, and see the terrible clouds skurrying along the sky to hurl a tempest upon my poor little hopelessly pinioned head
 Yet it is very odd what thoughts may come into ones mind at the most solemn moment. Tn the midst of the tears which