The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-05-21

beautiful creeters,' so our old man al
ways said when tellin' the yarn, as ever
were SEEM
swell, sir, I needn't for to tell you
that sailors is the bashfulest folks in
the world, and neither our old man nor
the t'other skipper could say word if
it was to save 'em. The gals stood a
waitin' for q explanation, and the two
shippers stood sheepishly, not KNOWN
what to say. At last one of the gals
asked what it all meant, and then our
old man, though he were dead mashed
with her as asked, mustered up courage
for to say, 1t are all mistake, marin,
and it'll be a lesson for me all the days
of my life never to steer my boat by any
other mans compass; but this here
chap up and tells me as he know'd of q
good hotel, 1 bein' here a week and
KNOWN nothin' of it, and like a muff l
/ comes with him, and we fetches up
here a-rousin' you out of your beds at
an unseemly hour, though for the mat
ter of that it amt yet gone four bells,
and SO amt very Late
You see, ladies' this other skipper
chimes in, SO I've heerd our old man
tell. 'we're strangers here, bein' skip
pers of the two craft down at the dock,
and time hangin' heavy onto our hands
we thought game or two of billiard
would be about jonnuck, and bein' told
as the hotel are up this way
"' see,' says one of the gals, you
mistook the street; the hotel, or what
passes for one in this little place, are
two streets below
"Jist then there come in old chap
as were the father of one of the gals
and the uncle of the other, and the
thing had to be all explained to him,
and he invited the two shippers for to
sit down, and they done so, and was
soon draw'd out for to spin some yarns
as to gales of wind as they'd seen and
dangers they'd been into, and by and
by the gals got the pianny agoin' and it
were eight bells afore they come away,
our old man always bein' willin' for to
swear as he foated down to the ship
through the air, never touchin' the
ground at all.
81 suppose there never weren't no
better cook. and steward than we had
onto our ship, and the dinner as they
got up when the old man invited this
old chap and the gals and the Collector
of the Port and his wife and one or two
others, jist to give 'em countenance,
were thing to be remembered. The
loadin' went on slowly, in consequence
of rise in the market, the chap as had
chartered the ship bein' agent for the
French Government, not bein' able to
buy at the price he were limited to, and
under ordinary circumstances our old
man would have fumed and fretted at
bein' KEEP all of his lay days; but he
were that far gone that l RELY believe
he would have stayed there forever if
he could. And the t'other skipper were
jist about as bad, and half of their time
were Civ to these cousins at their
house, and t'other half the gals was
down aboard of the ship. Wimmcn are
always dreadful soft onto sailor men
under all circumstances, but here were
two country gals, as hadn't had much
pick OF men nohow, and went dead off
to onct. The old chap, hows' ever,
didn't begin to half like it. He were a
widderer and he needed this darter for
. housekeeper, and the t'other gal had
been trusted to him by her parents, as
lived in another part of the State, and
he didn't feel authorized for to let her
jine with rovin' skipper as were here
to-day and would be gone tomorrow,
and mayhap never come back. So. you
see, he jist puts the kybosh onto all this
love-makin' and tells our old man and
the t'other skipper as they must sheer
off.
''But bless your soul, sir, you know
enough about SIGH things to know as
opposition in SIGH cases only makes mat
ters worse, and as they couldn't meet
openly, they met all the more by stealth
and on the sly.
"There never yet were woman, sir,
as wouldn't help on an affair of this
kind, no matter what the consequences
we're, and so the stevedore's wife en-
tered into it heart and soul, and her
house were made the place of meetin',
the old daddy believin' as his command
would be sufficient for the gals, and
never dreamin' that they would disobey
him.
"As I said fust of, arter loadin' to
fifteen feet, we had to drop down four
niles. takin' the rest of the cargo from
lighters, and then begun my trouble
some connection with this courtin'
scrape. Every night so soon as it were
lark the gig were called away. and the
Did man, dressed in his best. would be
pulled up to the landin' and would 60
off for to meet his gal, either at the
house or somewhere else.
He had choosed us as a picked crew of
steady men that he could depend on,
md always Civ us glass of grog on
andin' and another when we got back |
% the ship. It were the old chaps |
larter as he were sweet onto, while the |
other skipper were mashed onto the
cousin, and us two boats crews was a |