The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-10-17

on my life insurance, L snOveu ne
, through. And here We is. Clipper
! and -class-all throagh-that is, Lot
, isp
"But two hundred and fifty dollars
J And Rome and Naples, and return3 Yor
can't do it."
He looked cunningly at me moment
"Kan't doitp I've done it."
"Done it?"
"Wall, about the same reckon, I've
figgered it out. Figgers don't lie.
amt no Cooks tourist /; I kin see Cool
and give him pints. I tell you I've fig
gered it out to a cent, and I've money tc
spare. OF course I don't reckon tc
travel with Loo. She'll go first-class.
But I'll be near her, if it's in the steer
age of ship, or in the baggage car of 6
railroad. I don't need much in the way
of grub or clothes, and now and then
kin pick up job. Perl apps you disre-
member that row I had down in the en-.
gine-room, when they chucked me oui
Of it?"
could not help looking at him with
astonishment there was evidently only
pleasant memory in his mind. Yet ]
I recalled that I felt indignant for him
and his daughter.
"Well, that fool of chief engineer
gave me Job the other day. And ef
hadn't Just forced my way down, and
talked sassy ct him, and criticised his
macheen, he'd .hev never knowed !
knowed eccentric from wagon wheel.
Do you see the pintP"
I thought I began to see it. But I
could not help asking what his daughter
thought of travelling in this inferior
way.
He laughed. "When I was gettin'
up some pints from them books Of travel,
I read her proverb or saying outer one
O. them, that only princes and fools and
Americans travelled first-class.' You see
1 told her it didn't say women for
they naturally would ride first-class-
and American gals being princesses,
didn't count. Don't you sees"
If did not quite follow his logic, nor
see my way clearly into his daughters
acquiescence through this speech, some
light may be thrown upon it from his
next utterance. I had risen with some
vague words of congratulation on his
success, and was about to leave him,
when he called me back.
"Did I tell ye," he said, cautiously
looking around, yet with emile of still
ed enjoyment in his face, "did I tell ye
what that gal-my darter-sed to me ?
No, didn't tell ye-nor no one else
afore. Come herel"
He made me draw down closely into
the shadow and secrecy of the round
house.
"That night that told my gal she
should go abroad, seq to her, quite
clipper like and free, Il say, Loo-ey,' sez
I, yell be goin' for to marry some O.
them counts, or dukes, or potentates, ]
reckon, and yell leave the old man.
And she sez, sez she, looking me squar
in the eye-did ye ever notiss that gals
eyer"
"she has fine eyes," replied, eau
tiously.
"They is ez clean as fresh milk pan,
and ez bright. Nothing sticks to 'em.
Eh ?"
You are right"
"Well, she looks up at me this way -
here he achieved a vile imitation of his
daughters modest glance, not at all like
her :" and looking at me, she eez quiet
ly: That's what I'm goin' for, and to
improve my mind He ! he he It's
fack ! To marry nobleman, and i'm
prove her mind Ha ha ! ha !"
The evident enjoyment that he took in
this. and the quiet ignoring of anything
of a moral quality in his daughters SEN
timents, or in his thus confiding them
to strangers ear, again upset all my
theories. may say here that it is one
of the evidences of original character,
that it is apt to battle all prognosis from
a mere observers standpoint. But re-
called it some months after.
We parted in England. It is not ne
cessary, in this brief chronicle, to repeat
the various stories of "Uncle Joshua"
as the younger and more frivolous of
our passengers called him, nor that two
thirds of the stories repeated were utter
ly at variance with my estimate of the
add that I was also doubtful of the ac-
curacy of my own estimate. But one
quality was always dominant-his resist
less, dogged pertinacity and calm i'm
perturbabilityl "He asked Miss
Montmorris if she minded singin' a
little in the second cabin to liven it up,
and added, as an inducement, that they
don't know good music from bad," said
Jack Walker to me. "And when he
mended the broken lock of my trunk, he
abtholutely propothed to me to athk
couthin Grace if thee didn't want a
'koorier to travel with her to do me-
chanics,' provided thee would take
charge of that dreadfully deaf-and-dumb
daughter of his. Wothnt it funny?
Really, he'th one of your characters"
said the youngest Miss Montmorris to
me as we made our adieus on the
steamer.
I am afraid he is not, although he
was good enough afterward to establish
one or two of my theories regarding
him. I was enabled to assist him once
in an alteration he had with a cabman
regarding the fare of his daughter, the
cabman retaining distinct impression
that the father had also ridden in some
obscure way in or upon the same cab
as he undoubtedly had. 1 heard that
he had forced his way into a certain
great house in England, and that he had
been ANONYMOUSLY rejected, but I also
heard that ample apologies had been
made to certain quiet modest daughter
of his who was without on the lawn, and
that also q certain Parsonage, whom I
approach, even in this vague way, with
a capital letter. had graciously taken a
fancy to the poor child, and had invited
her to reception.
But this is only hearsay evidence. So
also is the story which met me in Paris,
that he had been up with his daughter
in the captiye balloon. and that at an ele-