The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-11-16

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the point where the thorny foot-path o
youth broadens into the smooth high
way of maturity looked almost inter
mipable to him, as to all of us at hi
age, though after we have passed then
they look brief enough. Such project
and visions naturally incapacitateC
Nick for business, so much so, indeed
that foggings were his daily e1
periences.
One day, after particularly sounC
castigation, Nick made desperate re
solve. There was q French frigate il
the harbor, bound for Tahiti, anC
aboard of her was a man tatooed al
over with beautiful blue and red an
chors and ships and flags and wOmer
with fishs' tails and numberless othel
designs which were as a sealed mystery
to Nick, but which he supposed a voy
age would make him quite familiar
with This living panorama of marine
wonders had excited the boys admira
ton from the first, and he had done al
in his power by presents of fruit, etc,
to win his friendship. So well did he
succeed that the sailor offered to SNUG
gle him aboard the vessel, secrete hin
till she sailed, and then, when it was
too late TO do any thing about it, intro
duce him to the Captain. This function
airy, the sailor intimated, would be
likely to give him a fOgging which
would quite eclipse any thing of his ex.
perience in that line, but he was con-
vinced that all would thereafter be Sc
rene. Nick accepted the sailors prop.
osition, and was soon lying in a partie-
ularly inconvenient corner of the hold,
in utter darkness and in the
midst of an uncomfortably smelling
cargo. Nobody discovered him,
though the search for him extended
even to the vessel in which he was hid
den, and his friend, the polychromatic
sailor, kept him well supplied with food
and water. In day or two the frigate
sailed, and as soon as she was out OF
sight of land Nick was brought on deck
by his patron, who presented him to
the Captain as a stow-away. Tha:
worthy at once knocked Nick down,
then hauled him up by the collar with
an enthusiasm which segregated it from
the rest of his coat, and beat him til
his arm ached. Then he swore at Nick
for half an hour in a blood-chilling
manner, but as the oaths were all in
French they did not hurt. He was then
ordered into the maintop to cool off,
and as he sat there above the pitching
deck and began to be sea-sick, he won
dered whether the charms of ga life on
the ocean wave" had not been little
exaggerated. After day or two, which
he passed as much out of the Captain S
range of vision as possible, Nick was
installed as cabin-boy, and gained his
first nautical knowledge in polishing
the Captains shoes, securing up his
epaulets and sword and carrying his
spittoon around, getting an oc-
casional fogging from his
patron-who had pleasant
vein of humor, and flogged Nick in &C
cordance with his stated idea that the
rope wouldn't do him any hurt, and
might do him good, and that if he was
not at the time doing any thing worthy
of stripes it was probable that he soon
would be, and it might not then be con-
venient to chastise him. Besides these
bits of philosophy, Nick gained a very
good insight into the French language,
and by the time he reached Tahiti, 8
French possession, he could converse
in it with considerable fluency. He
made a great many friends among the
sailors, too, and, on the whole, when
the ship reached Tahiti he was rather
sorry the voyage was at an end, anC
looked with pleasure to the long jour
ney to France which the frigate was
soon to take. But this experience NicE
was destined never to enjoy, for wher
they reached the shore the Captain, who
like Mrs. John Gilpin, " had fruga
mind" gave him over to the care of {
French merchant in the town, repre-
senting himself to be the BOYS guard
an, and pocketing the money which the
trader offered in consideration of having
Nick bound out to him for term o
years.
Thus Nick found himself in reality ;
slave to this man, who, though calling
himself a merchant, was only little
dried-up old French store keeper, whC
sold rum and other such necessaries o
life to the natives, and performed a no
table part in the degradation and al
most complete humiliation of the PEG
pie which these fiery liquors and theil
consequent vices have caused. Such
man was, of course, a hard master, anC
Nick soon found that his escape from
service at home and his settlement il
Tahiti had been merely a leisurely
change from the frying-pan into The
fire. Besides compelling the boy to wal
on customers and do ali the drudgery
of the premises, in process of time hi
master installed him in the cuisine anC
initiated him in all the mysteries o
cooking, which, while they afterwarC
stood in good stead, were irksom
enough at the time, principally on &C
count Of the blows and malediction
which attended the instruction. Now
among the native patrons OF his mas
ter's groggery, there were several whit
people, one of whom, a gray haired AM
venerable looking Frenchman, had ap
paretly taken quite liking to Nick
and used often to converse with him
When drunk-which was a frequen
occurrence-he was particularly afable
and it was a practice of his to burs
into tears, and, Selling Nick's hand
swear that he was lad after his ow