Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-12-23

saying, boys, about gaining the whole
world and losing ones own soul. Well,
| gained then my soul, though lost my
fortune. And it was all through my sis
ter's grapes"
Now Uncle Dick was in the habit of
talking nOnsense-aC least Aunt Emma
considered it such. In his long solitude
he was accustomed to let his thoughts
run underground, as it were, for a good
while, when they would make remark,
apropOS of nothing. which greatly puz-
zled matter-Of-fact people, or those who
liked elegant small-talk, of which he
had absolutely none.
"YOur sisters grapes ?" repeated one
of us, with great astOnishment. "Then
you had a sister? Where is she now ?"
Uncle Dick looked up at the blue sky
intensely blue it was that day, as
deep and measureless as infnity. where
is she? l don't know; / wish did. But
He knows, and shall find out some
time" Then be added, briefly. MY sis
ter Lily died of consumption when she
was fifteen. and about ten years old"
And what about her grapes? Is it a
Story-a true story"
not believe it. Some might even laugh
at it, and don't like to be laughed at.
No, don't mind; it can't harm me. I'll
tell you, boys, if you like to hear. 1t
may be a good lesson for some of you"
We did not much care for lessons" but
we liked story; so we begged Uncle
Dick to tell us this one from the very
beginning.
No, not from tho beginning, which
could benefit neither you nor me-" said
Uncle Dick, gravely. I'll take up my
tale from the point l mentioned, when 1
found myself at midnight on deck of the
Colorado Australian steamer, bound for
London, fast going down. And she went
down."
"You with herr"
Not exactly, or how could | be here
sitting quietly fishing? which seems odd
when L think of the hurly-burly of that
night. 1t had come quite suddenly af-
ter long spell of fair weather, which
we found SO dull that We began drink
ing, smoking, gambling, and even fight
ing now and then; for we were a rough
lot, mostly 'diggers' who, like myself,
had worked a claim or half claim, at
Ballarat-worked it so well that they
soon found they had made foJtune, SO
determined to go to Europe and spend
it.
81 thought l would do the same. 1
was quite young, yet | had amaSSed as
much money as manya poor fellow-a
clergyman. or a soldier, or an author
can scrape together in lifetime; and
l wanted to spend it in seeing life.
Hitherto l had seen nothing at all-is
civilization, that is. l never had the
least bit of fun until l ran away from
home seven years before; and very little
fun after, for it was all hard work. Now,
having been so lucky as to make my for
tune, l meant to use it in enjoying my
self.
81 had never enjoyed home very much.
My people, good aS they were, were
rather dull, or at least L thought them
so. They always bothered me about
duty till l hated the very sound of the
word. They called my fun mischief; {;
my mischief they considered a crime; so
| slipped away from them, and after
letter or two 1 gradually let them go, or
fancied they were letting me go, and
forgot almost their very existence. 1
might have been waif ami stray drift
ed ashore from the sea or dropped from
the clouds, so little did feel as if had
any one belonging to me. My relations,
even my parents, had all melted out of
my mind for weeks l sometimes never
once thought of them-never remem-
bered that had father, or mother, or
brothers. Lily had been my only sister,
and she died."
Uncle Dick stopped moment, then
continued:
81 don't wish, boys, to put myself for
ward as worse than l was, or better.
People find their own level pretty well
in this world. It's no good either to
puff yourself up as saint, or go about
crying yourself down as miserable sin
ner. In either case you think a great
deal too much about yourself, which
is as harmful thing as can happen to
any man.
Certainly l was no worse than my
neighbors, and no better. l liked every
body, and most people liked me. trOu-
bled nobody, and nobody troubled me. ]
meant to go on that principle when
got back into civilization, to spend my
money, and have my fling. Possibly l
might run down to see the old folks at
home,' whom we diggers were rather
fond of singing about. At least never
did, and they formed no part of my mo-
tive for coming to England. 1 came
simply and solely to amuse myself.
81 had just turned in with the rest
not drunk, as good many of US were
that night, but merry One hour after,
we turned out, and stood facing one
another-and facing death. A sudden
hurricane had risen; one of our masts
had gone overheard; we had sprung a
leak; and work as we might at the
pumps, the Captain said he believed we
should sink or go to pieces before morn
ing. He had been drunk too, which per-
haps accounted for our disaster, in
good ship and the safe open sea; but he
was sober enough now. He did his best,
and when hope was over, said he should
go to the bottom with his ship And
he went. l took his watch to his wild
ow; he gave it me before he jumped
overheard, poor fellow.
"Well boys, what was 1 going to tell
you? l forget" said Uncle Dick, draw
ing his long brown hand across his fore
head. "Oh, about the ship Colorado 60
ing down, and all the poor wretches
fighting for their lives in the boats-Or
out of them, which was about an equal
chance. We could just see one another
in the starlight or the white CLEAN of
the waves-grOups of struggling men
(happily there was not a woman a
on board), some paralyzed and 81
lent, others shrieking with terror, some
sobbing and praying, others only ours
E., I, ,,-l,t oh all
straight going-or hoped to go-seemed
to be the last thing we ever thought of.
We only thought of life, dear life-Our
own lives-nobOdy else's.
people say that a shipwreck brings
out human nature in all Its brutality:
every man for himself, and God-no,
not God, but the devil--for us ALL l
found it so. To see those men, old,
young, and middle-aged, some clothed,
some half-naked, but all clinging to
II L 81 Il. 4. l.