The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1876-03-23

sailors, sir, bully Dursciay, ~ We
used for to cali him, but yet, wher
the tryin' time come, there was sis
sailor men As said they'd be blowed
If they'd leave the ship till the old
man did, and they stayed and
drownded with him. Then there
were Captain Rathourn-some mer
don't have no friends, sir-he never
didn't have no enemies; everybody
loved him, and grieved when the
mizzen-mast of the Columbia and him
and his mates al went overheard 10.
gether. TheD were lots more, sir, o.
them old-time shippers, but they're
all gone, and here am | with my Ian.
tern and dog, a.watchin'. Would
you jist be good enough to let hin
fill this agin? Whatever else they
may be short in the other world
there'll be plenty Of chaps as knows
how for to handle ships to my sartair
knowledge.
But here l am a-mcanderin' along
like ship tryin' to beat agin' two
! knot current--she sails a lot, but
don't never make no headway.
didn't set out for to tell you abou,
/ these old shippers, nor yet the ships
nor vet the passengers what We had
on the trip outward, cause what
we're goin' to tell happened comm
home, only it we're the outward crowd
as brought it to my recollection, and
that's the way | know it were the
Yorkshire. l know we left Liver
pool in the summer time, goin' right
! out of dock and to sea without stop
PIN in the river, and afore dark We
discharged our pilot off the No'rwest
light. ship, and away we went down
channel fyin'.
i reckon it might have been some
where about the fourth day out, and
we had dreadful fine weather all the
time, that l were busy in the fore.
noon watch prickin' up a lot Of
sinnate, and all of sudden l takes
notice of couple Of youngsters, .
boy and gal, as was a-watchin' me
and a-seemin' very much interested
in my proceedin's. They was fun
ny lookin' couple; the boy bein'
about ten years old and the gal may
be eight. The young fellow we're a
dreadful old fashioned chap, and the
way he strutted up and down, with
the gal a-hangin' onto his arm, and
the way he talked when he spoke to
YOU, would a-made you think he
v ere forty if day.
Seein' him SO interested l jist Civ
him. the ball Of sinnate and show d
him kgx for to turn it so as to keep
it als vavs the proper shape, but afore
he would take it he leads the young
gal to the side and sits her down on
spare spar, sxyin' to her with full
forty-year-old manner, Nov, my
dear, sit down here for a bit, while
the man shows me how to make this
pretty ball. Well, / sits down by
her and l asks her how old she were,
and she said Eight, and how old
were her brother here and she said
Coin on eleven;' and was her par
en,s aboard? and she said mo, no
body but Nancy and who were
Nancy? and she said Nancy were
her big sister; and by this time the
young chaps arms had got tired and
he give me the ball of sinnate, and
tuckin' his sister under his arm he
sailed away aft, and as looked at
him . couldn't help thinkin', Hes
forty, if he's day
Well, sir, dogs and children was
always fond of me, and SO | soon got
mighty thick with this couple, and
the weather continuin' terrible line,
Almost every day, in the dog watches,
these here two would find me oat,
and ] got to spinnin' 'em some Of tho
most almighty twisters that ever were
heard of. These here yarns what l
spins you is of course true; but, Lord
love you, what l used for to tell these
here children was tho most awful
whoppers about phantom ships and
great fish with tremendous wings, as
come out of the water and flew at
the ships, breakin' their spars all to
pieces; and wonderful big whales as
would come up under ships and lift
'em clean out Of water: and these
kids, bless you, would take 'em oil
in, and would never git tired Of hear
in Of 'em, except sometimes Of q
night the little gal would 60 off to
sleep, layin' her little head down on
to my lap, while the youngster, as
as wide awake as black fish, would
continually keep askin' for more Of
'em, till l were clean beat out inven-
tin of 'em. What bothered me we're
to make out how these here two
could b: Of the same family as the
older gal. She we're as Irish as the
pigs in Drogheda, while no one in
the world would have ever said that
they come of the same stock; and as
for brogue, they hadn't bit Of it.
1t were all plain to me, however,
one night, when We had got to the
west'ard nigh up with the fifties, and
arter l had been a.spinnin' twisters
to these youngsters and they had
gone down below to bed, this here
old ral- which. nf conrss 7 hod Cof