Litchfield enquirer., 1878-06-13
The Nautical Young Man.

IL is tolu o1 CnaC OlSLlngulSeQ Sol0ler, SIT
 Philip Sidney, that being about to wash his hands after hard-fought battle, he had just taken up the soap and turned on the warm wa ter, when he perceived particularly grimy sol- dier at his side. Handing the soap to the sol dier, with the now historic words, Thy ne- cessity is yet greater than mine," Sir Philip turned away, and went, unwashed, to his vir- tucus couch. Cold and cynical indeed must be the man who can read this anecdote with out thrill of admiration and sudden mist of tears.
 The experience of boating party in our harbor one Sunday early in May deserves to be set forth, since it cannot fail to teach the valuable lesson that people should not pretend to know what they dc not know, unless, of course, they are lawyers and are required to give legal opinions without consulting the au- thoritles There is a young man residing in this city who, until recently, was in the habit of spending his Sundays on the south shore of Staten Island. He is rather unobiectionable young man, but he has fondness for being regaded as an authority on aquatic sports People who do not know him very intimately firmly believe that he is yachtsman of great experience, and even these who know that he does not own yacht and who never personal ly saw him on board any vessel exceps Stat en Island Ferry boat think that he is an ac- complished and fearless sailor, and always ap- ply to him for information as to ocean steam ships, naval vessels, yacht races, rowing match es, and subjects connected with the canal bus mess.
 On the Sunday in question he was sitting on the piazza of Staten Island cottage, convers- ing enthusiastically with seven young ladies and three young men of the delights of yachting. Neither of the three young men had ever been in sail boat of any kind, and the seven young ladies were, of course, as ignorant of nau- tical matters as a French naval officer Pres ently, one of the ladies expressed the ardent wish that MT. Withers-the nautical young man-could take them out for sail, and all the party echoed the wish and asserted that a sail would be perfectly splendid. Mir. With CTS himself greatly regretted that he had not thought to hire boat a G5t%Gp % pc5 5n fa5fd sIt5f when there was such a nice breeze blowing. Just then casual small boy, who was listen ing to the conversation, remarked that there was big cat boat near by which could be hired for the day, and volunteered to seek out the owner of the boat and hire. MT. Withers began to object that perhaps the ladies might suffer from sea-sickness, but his objection was overruled, and he was assured that under the care of so skillful sailor every one would feel perfectly we'll and happy.
 It was with many misgivings that the nauti- cal young man accompanied the party to the boat Luckily, the owner was at hand and acceded to Mir. Withers' apparently careless re- mark that the sail might as we'll be got up while he ran back to the house for his other coat Thus, when Mr. Withers returned he found that the boat was ready to be cast off, and that all that remained for him to do was to take the helm and to order the boatman to shove her off.
 There was nice fresh breeze and the boat bafo # ;r tba oF The young ladies were delighted, and amused themselves by singing lively and secular songs. Mr. Withers stood at the helm and was sur prised to find that managing a boat was so much easier than he had supposed it would be. The three other young men were secretly filled with envy, but as they knew nothing whatev- CT about boats, they could not venture to criti clse MT. Withers' seananship.
 The breeze freshened, and as the boat reach the middle of the bay it began to roll heavily. About the same time the sky grew dark, and the fishing boats began to seek shelter. One of the young men remarked that it was about time to ''put about,'' which sentiment was warmly echoed by everybody except Mr. With ers That unfortunate man undoubtedly would have desired to ''put about" eRly he had net the remotest idea of the nature of that maneu- vre. The young ladies still sang songs, but it was noticed that they now confined themselves to the melodies of Messrs. Moody and SankeY, which they sang in a subdued and serious tone.
 Fresher grew the breeze, and the young la dies grew more and more alarmed. Again and again was the suggestion made that they ought to "put about, but MT. Withers main- tained painful silence. Presently fishing boat drove rapidly by them, and the skipper loudly suggested that unless they wanted to visit some unknown locality, vaguely des- cribed as the property of one David Jones, they had better put in reef and run for the lee of the shore Accordingly a demand was made upon MT. Withers that he shouldim- mediately adopt the fisherman's advice. To the utter cOnsternation of the company, Mir. Withers replied that if anybody knew anything about managing the boat he did not care to do it any longer; that, in fact, he knew nothing about sail-boats, and that he had never been in one before. Whereupon he abandoned the helm, and leaning ever the side of the boat communed with nature for several consecutive minutes.
 By dint of cutting away every rope that seemed to hold anything, the three young men managed to get the sail down. They then got out the oars, and after one hour of hard labor, during which MT. Withers lay in the bottom of the boat, tormented by his conscience and his stomach, they managed to reach cove mile or so west of Sandy Hook. The boat was made fast, and the entire party set cut on foot for the Shrewsbury River, leaving Mir. With CTS physical and mental wreck behind them. How and when he reached the city no one knows, but it is certain that he has since re- turned to business and that he carefully shuns all his old acquaintances to whom he once used to boast of his pretended seamanship.
 This teaches that it is always wise to be honest, if thereby we can avoid getting inte difficulties with unaccustomed sail-boats. ts.-N
 F. Times