The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-04-10
FEATHERSTONE'S HERO.

FEATHERSTONE'S HERO.
ABOUT the time it happened, Little
Tins had been at Featherstone School
year, | think; though l may be mis-
taken-1 have so much to remember
since l began to grow old. There are
all the boys who were at Featherstone
in my day, the looks of the blessed old
school itself, with the many-windowed
buildings, the weather-stained belfrv,
where the gulls made nests, the neat,
trim Fairgrounds, and the whole broad
ocean surging along Cumberland Beach,
only mile away-all this must never
forget. For what would be the good
fortune of being a boy if one could not
have his schOol-fellows to remember;
the home they had in common, and the
glorious old days when he and they
woke up on the bright, sunshiny morn
ings, without thing to do in the world
beside coming lesson or two? Then
there is the master-though il took us
some time to find out just what noble,
generous man he was; and the masters
kind, motherly wife, who cared for us
boys when we were sick, and who
brought Billy Wilson through a des-
perate struggle with the typhoid fever,
when everybody said he would die.
Who of us will ever forget the quiet,
sleepy afternoons we passed in that
large, still school-room, studying our
illustrated histories and Biographies;
listening to the old clock beating away,
as if it were the pulse of the place; and
looking out wistfully through the deep
windows at the sails heaving in sight
now and then on the glimmering
ocean? Or, will any of us forget the
days when it stOrmed, and the sea
threw its spray away up to our win
dows. and at night rumbled over the
beach like guns, keeping us awake for
hours? And, finally, whenever we look
at the sea, are there any of us who will
not recall Little Tins?
What an odd-looking little chap he
was, to be sure, when he first came to
the school! The boys laughed at his
name-Littlefeld Tins; and called him
"Gran' ther'' because he appeared SO
oldfashioned. Then somebody began
to nickname him Little Tins, and we
all took it up. He was not so very
small in stature, however; only slim
and poor. His face was freckled, his
hair red, and he had large hands, that
looked rs though he had always been
used to very hard work. One of the
boys said that the master had brought
him from poor-farm: but we never
found out whether that was really the
truth. All we knew about him was
that he had no parents and was kept at
the school to do the chores. When the
biggest boy shook him, one day, be-
cause he refused to fag, he sat down
and cried; said he wished he was dead.
He never had any friends, and we
might kill him, if we wanted to; he
didn't care, he said. Some of the bows
only laughed at that and told him he
hadn't any pluck. Afterward he kept
away from us all as much as he could,
and studied his lessons alone. ssr
But the day came, at last, however,
when we found out what a brave heart
Little Tins had; and then, of course,
we wondered that it had taken us so
long to discover the fact. 1t was some
time in the spring-a dark, cold, rainy
day, when the sea had been made wild
by the high wind. The most of us had
remained indoors all the afternoon;
and, when evening came, we gathered
around the open fire at the end of our
long dormitory and took turns telling
the sea stories we had read. Oh! YOU
may believe it was just the jolliest
comfort in the world! To hear Billy
Wilson telling about his fathers cruise
to Bombay, while you were watching
that great heap of a fire cracking and
darling up light flames, and listening
to the storm beating the windows and
the surf laundering against the shore.
was worth great deal, can tell you.
And what noise the wind and the
waves did make that night! It was as
much as anyone could do to catch a
wink of sleep; and l recollect how l
lay awake ever so long, fancying ttat 1
could hear voices outdoor CRYING and
calling to u.s.. suppose / must have
been dreaming an hour or two, though.
before | really did hear anything; be-
cause l sprang up startled and con-
fused when that loud boom and rumble
broke above the noise of the storm.
"What was that, Ludgatep', wh;s.
pered little Tom Duffield, frightened:
and then in a moment everybody in the
OAAAoOAy va" ciVuAS up IN O0u, want
ing 10 know what had happened.
George Jennings crept out to the end
window and pulled up the curtain,
just as another crash made us Jump,
and we caught glimpse of flash
in the distance, bursting the darkness
apart.
cts ship ON the reef, fellows!'
called out three or four at once.
There was q general scramble for
our clothes, and then we crowded
about the window and waited for an
other flash. But before it came the
master opened the door, lantern In hand.
"You hear those guns, boysP There's
a ship on the reef, and they are firino
for help. Put on your great coats and
come right down to the Cliff. We
must do everything in our power to aid
them"
He meant, of course, the larger bows
Bob Nichols, John Sawyer and Ed
Williams; but the others of us went
with them. Before ANYBODY could
have counted hundred, we were all
running down the road to the cliff. az
fast as we could 90. 1t was about
three O'Clock in the morning, and " as
dark as pocket" The wind had
lulled considerably, and the rain had
ceased altogether; yet there was q