Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-01-10

Uub nb hlu u hutIt nbWf y
here.n The deacon, in the weekly
prayer-meeting at Brunswick, used TO
talk of the necessity of being tempted
of self;'' he seemed TO be in the way Of
it in the most literal manner at the
present moment. In few minutes he
was extended on the deck, the most ut
terly limp and detected of deacons, and
vowing with energy IL he "ever got out
o. this ere you wouldn't catch him
again" OF course, my chum and
were not seasick. We we're prosperous
young Sophomores in Bowdoin College,
and would have scorned TO ackuowl-
edge such a weakness. In fact, we
were in that happy state of self-opinion
where we surveyed everything in ere
alton rs birds do from above, and were
disposed to patronize everybody we
met, with pleasant conviction that
there was nothing worth knowing but
what we were likely to know, or worth
doing but what we could do.
Captain Stanwood liked us, and we
liked him; we patronized him, and he
was quietly amused at our patronage
and returned it in kind. He was good
! specimen of the sea-captain in those
early days in Maine; a man in middle
life, tall thin, wiry and active, full of
resource and shrewd mother wit; a
man very confident in his opinions, be-
cause his knowledge was all got at first
hand.-the result Of a careful use of his
own five senses. From his childhood
he had followed the seas, and as he
grew older made voyages to Archangel,
to Messina, to the West Indies, and
finally round the Horn; and, having
carried a very sharp and careful pair of
eyes, he had acquired not only a snug
competency of worldly goods. but q
large stock of facts and induetions
which stood him in stead of an educa-
tiom He was master of thriving
farm at Harpswell, and. being tethered
somewhat by love of wife and children,
was mostly stationary there, yet solaced
himself by running little schooner TO
Boston, and driving a thriving bit of
trade by the means. With that rever-
ence for learning which never deserts
the New Highlander, he liked us the
better for being oollegians, and amiably
conceded that there were things quite
worth knowing taught cup to Bruins
wick there" though he delighted now
and then TO show his superiority in
talking about what he knew better than
we. .... 't.
Jim Larned, the mate, was a lusty
youngster, n sisters son whom he had
takenlin training In the way he should
go. jim had already made voyage to
Liverpool and the East Indies, and felt
himself also quite an authority in his
own way.
The evenings were raw and cool, and
we generally gathered round the cabin
stove cracking walnuts, smoking and
telling stories, and having jolly time
generally. 1t is but due to those old
days to say that a most respectable Pu-
ritan flavor penetrated even the recesses
of those coasters - a sort of gentle Bible
and psalm-book aroma, so that there was
not a word or a joke among the men to
annoy the susceptibilities even of dea-
con. Our deacon, somewhat consoled
and amended, lay serene in his berth,
rather enjoying the yarns that we were
spinning. The web of course was many
colored,-of quaint and strange and
wonderful, and as the night wore on it
was dyed in certain weird ,tints of the
supernatural.
"Well," said Jim Larned, "folks
may say what they're amind to; there
are things that there's no sort o. way
o. 'countin1 fol-, things you've list got
to say. Well, here's suthin to work
that | don't know nothin' about; and
come to question any man up sharp,
you'll find he's seen lone thing o. that
sort himself; and this ere I'm going to
telrs My story:
-Four years ago went down to Aunt
Jerushy's, at Fair Haven. Her hus-
bands in the oysterin' business, and l
used to go out with him considerable.
Well, there was Bill Jones there, a real
bright fellow, one of your open-handed,
lively fellows, and he took fancy to
me and | to him, and he and struck
upsa friendship. He run an oyster
smack to New York, and did consid-
cradle good business for a young man.
Well, Bill had fellow on his, smack
that l never liked the looks of; he was
from the Malays, or some foreign crit
tur or other, spoke broken English, had
eyes set kind O. edgeways N his head; /;
homely as sin he was, and L always
mistrusted him. Bill, l used to say,
you look out for that fellow; don't you
trust him. If was you I'd ship him
off short metre But Bill he only
laughed. Why says he, / can get
double work for the same pay out O.
that fellow; and what do l care if he
amt handsomep l remember how
clipper an CHEEKY Bill looked when he
was sayin' that, just as he was going
down to New York with his load O.
oysters. Well, the next night was
sound asleep in Aunt Jerusha's front
chamber that opens towards the Sound,
and l was walked right clear out o.
sleep by Bills voice screaming to me.
| got up and run to the window and
looked out, and / heard il again,
plain as anything: Jim! Jim! Help!
helpr 1t wasn't a common cry
neither; it was screeched out as if
somebody was numbering him. l tell
you' it rung through my head for weeks
afterward.n
"Well, what came of it?' said my
chum, rs the narrator made pause,
and we all looked at him in silence.
"Well. as nigh as we can make it
out, that very night poor Bill 1OaS muir
dered by that very Malay feller; least
ways, his body was found in his boat.
He'd been stabbed, and all his money
and watch and things taken, and this
Malay was gone nobody knew where.
That all thatwas ever known about il. I"
"But surely" said my chum, who
was of very literal and rationalistic
turn Of, mind, sit couldn't have been
his voice you heard; he must have been
down to the other end Of the Sound,
close by New York, by that time"
-" Well,p said the mate, " all l know
is that was walked out of sleep by
Bilrs voice calling my name, screamI
ing in a real agony. 1t went through
me like lightning; and then | find he
was murdered that night Now, L
don't know anything about it. oI,know
4 heardihIn, calling me; nknow he was
murdered; but hot0 it was, or Vhqt it
was, or sVhy it was, / don't know.' y
"These ere college boys can tell ye,"