Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1882-04-12
TEE COPPERNG PET.

TEE COPPERING PET.
was wandering through the suburbs
of one of our smallest and most venera-
bic seaport towns, when 1 came upon
the graveyard. One of the graves par
ticularly attracted my attention. 1t was
covered by !srge and fiat stone, which
bore an inscription reading as follows:
."Here lies the body and worldly SUBJ
stance of Captain William Mereen, a
skipper of this port. and father of Polly
Mereen who sailed from here in the Cop
pering Pet in June, 1869. In 1901 he
was born in this town, where he died in
1871. The body shall remain here until
resurrected by the last trumpet, and the
worldly substance shall stay with it until
his daughter Polly shall raise this stone
and take from under it her own"
As / was turning away from the grave
l saw on the road an elderly man ap-
preaching. 1 had met him before. He
was a weather beaten parsonage, with
a seataring demeanor. and his name was
Wonderment Sanchez. L saw he was IN
q hurry, but 1 stopped him and asked
if lie could explain the inscription on
this tomb.
sIt's GURUS" he said, ''that you
should ask me such thing at this time.
The Copperin' Pet is lynn off the bar;
I've been watchin' fur her fur years,
and l can't be mistook in her. She'll
come over at high water, and I've been
to hunt our pilots, but all three of EN-
have gone up the river fishing. I'm no
pilot, but I'm going over to the Pet in
my boat. The Captain ought to know
the bar, fur he was raised here, and per-
haps he'll bring her In himself If you
like I'll take YOU out with me, and I'll
tell YOU all about that tombstone on the
way"
1 replied that nothing would please
me better, and in fifteen minutes We
were rowing over the harbor toward the
bar,
Billy Mereen," said Wonderment.
''was an old friend of mine. He made
nany voyages and brought back many
GURUS things, principally made out of
whales jaw bones. He had great llk-
ing for such matters, and he'd had his
own bones made of whales Jaws if he
could done it. He had enc child,
named Polly, and her mother 0ied when
she was little. Nine years ago. when
Polly was eighteen, she married young
Alba, Of this town. and sailed away, as
is stated on tha. stone. Two years after
that the old man died, and he left all he
had to Polly. As I've been told, every
thin WAS turned into money, which was
put into an iron box, and buried under
l.. Aa,a-I,nr 30 4
he LETT, the money is to wait there fur
her fur hundred years, fur some of the
women Nereens live a long time. If
she don't come fur it In the hundred
years, the money is to be given to the
oldest man IN the town, and when he
dies to the Oldest one left, and so on
until it's all gone.
l thought old Billy Mereen was the
most foolish testatNr L had yet heard of,
but did not say SO. Isuggested how
ever, that the iron box might be stolen.
''Some folks think, said the old man,
THAT there's nothIn' much IN that box,
and some folks thinks there'sl lots. But
however 'ts, there's no man In this town
would touch that grave"
was greatly interested In this story,
and was almost as anxious as old Won
deIment himself to get out to the Cop
pering Pet and see what would come of
1t all.
We were soon out to sea, and as We
approached the vessel l saw that Won
derment had not been mistaken. Her
name, the Coppering Pet, was painted
in fresh white letters on her bow. As
sha Law n hafnra q r,,n1arata hraaza xra
were soon on board.
When we reached the deck Wonder
ment asked for the Captain.
'.All right, sirl" said sailor, "she is
coming"
She! The old man and opened wide
our eyes, but none too wide for the
sigh. we saw. Up short companion
way there stepped a young woman, who,
with a quick and sea trimmed step,
came toward us. She wore a close fit
ting dress of blue and a broad straw
hat.
why, if this isn't Wonderment y
she exclaimed, advancing toward the
old man with outstretched hands.
"Tm real glad to see you, Polly,
said Wonderment; "You're looking
finely. And how's-"
..He is not living" said Polly, quiet
ly. 81 am so glad you come on board.
This is your friend. L suppose"
Wonderment introduced me.
Come into the cabin" she said,
"and Will tell you everything that has
happened"
When two glasses of grog had been
brought, Polly told her story. 1t was
not q very long one. Her husband had
died about three years after they flrst
sailed away in the Coppering Pet.
Ihls happened when thew were In the
Japanese seas. She would have sold
the vessel and returned to her home,
but she found it was not easy to make
suitable arrangements of this kind and
then, before any pan could be carried
out she heard of her fathers death.
When she recovered from this new shock
she did not want to come home, and If
she sold her vessel, she felt that she
would have no abiding place In this
world, so she determined to keep the
Coppering Pet, the only home she had.
and having a competent mate and
good crew, and being accompanied by
middle aged Scotch woman, who acted
as both maid and companion, she had
sailed and traded In those Eastern wat
ers until few months ago, when she
had determined to see once more her
native town.
While Captain Polly was speaking
had watched her closely. She was really
q very handsome woman and her face
VAS yerv little sunburned
sAnd now," she said, Il want to hear
every thing that has happened here.