The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1878-05-04

smoothly and as noiselessly as the
spindle of a lady's sewing machine.
| From that l passed into the fire
blazing like mad under twelve i'm
mense boilers, which generated pow
er of steam equal to the labor of 5000
| horses. Dark and swarthy the fire
! demons moved busily to and fro, con-
stantly feeding the Unsuitable mon
ster, night and day, whose cry was
still for more, more, more! Into those
red hungry jaws weut a hundred tons
of coal each day the mere food of
| this Leviathan representing more
| tonnage than the entire measurement
of the largest ships of forty years ago.
Tremendous pistons! Titanic arms
of steel rose and fell like feathers,
but with the terrible certainty of
fate, seeming to say to old Ocean,
Resist me if you dare" as the iron
PROV tore the resisting waves apart,
and the great steamer swept on like
a sea-gull i'll its flight.
AS we steamed down the beautiful
bay, salutes and cheers came to us
from all the passing vessels. Captain
Kennedy stood up on the bridge,
quietly surveying the scene, for while
the pilot was in command, he was alb
solved from all responsibility. The
face of the Captain was hard and
bronzed, the deep lines telling OF
years of struggle with ocean waves.
and ocean storms. He seems to fill
the idea of the perfect model sailor.
The features were clean cut, the eye
bright and clear, the mouth strong
and tirm, the port erect, and looking
in his frank face, you said to yourself,
there is q man to trust in life or
DEATH" Near him stood his chief Off
Ger, Mr.. Condron, ii man fit to stand
by Caesar and give direction; and
anxiously fitting abont the ship, with
a gay bouquet in his buttouhole, was
the handsome purser, Mr.. Bridge, the
embodiment of polteness and
urbanity. The fist night at sea is
always a troublesome one, and al
though old Ocean was as smooth as
a mill-pond, the ladies as general
thing retired early to their state
rooms, to give the unstable nature of
their footing, their private and dis
tinguished consideration. Next day,
Sunday, tile solemn tolling of the bell
announced the call for prayer. The
crew, got up in their Sunday rig,
marched into the main saloon. The
passengers generally assembled, ex-
cept here and there heather, out
side tile pale of the church, aud final
ly the captain, attended by his Off
GERS, came in, aud reyerently laying
his cap on tfe table, he opened his
prayer book, and in a voice beauti-
fully modulated, commenced the SOL
emn service of the Church of Eng
land. | felt that my character was at
stake. / eagerly seized a prayer
book, and commenced reading at the
first place | struck. The captain aud
the rest of the congregation kept
hobbing about from one part of the
book to the other, and made fran
tic attempt to follow him. When he
began on the Litany, l was wading
through Paul's Epistie to the Cor
inthians, and at the prayer for Her
Most Gracious Majesty and all the
Royal Family, l got entangled up
with the Baptism of Infants, and the
Burial Service of the Dead When
the final blessing was announced, |
had reached the index, and was look
ing in vain for So Hold the Fort" and
the " Sweet Bye-and Bye,n whose in-
spring strains had clleered my droop-
ing spirits in the long, long ago.
My fellow passengers appeared to
be evenly divided between men of
business and pleasure. One was an
enterprising Yankee from Boston,
who had invented wonderful ma
chine for making wooden shoes; and
he was now on his way to Finland to
establish factory the Hon. Angus
tus X. L. Rosemary Bobbs, of Bob
bington 'all, Willis, and two dogs; MI.
Stuffington Roxby Stubbs,. Cheese
monger; a very dull, leather headed
sort of person, who was all the time
sending for the steward to bring him
!" something to heat. At night,
when everybody else had retired, he
would have the steward sent for, and
tell him he wanted "suack or sum-
NUT" What will you 'av, Mr..
Stubbs ~ inquired the obliging waiter.
"Oh, / don't want much, y he replied
"'av you got bit of cold beef q" /"
+" Yes, sir. /" Well, | take that, a
little bit of tongue, few sardines-
just toss us up chop if you can, and
that, with couple of bottles of beer
and a snack of bread and cheese, |
think I'll do and, John, don't forget
the pickles-Cross and Blackwell's
hif you 'av' 'em About four O'Clock |
in the morning l was awakened with
cry fora doctor. Stubbs was i'll. He WAS
afraid he had contracted some con-
tagious disease in America. A mon
ster dose of castor oil, however, af- |
forded him only temporary relief,
for the next night again he went for
eorned beef and lobster salad; and
when the second call for the doctor
came, | wished that the fate of Jonah
had overtaken him, or that he had |
r. i