The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1882-04-20

this was very shortly after young Armi-
ger departure.
Whatyo want, my hearty said .
Captain Borlinder, ''is a Jolly husband, |
that what you want; and the best hus-
band you can have is a sailor"
Lal was accustomed to propositions |
Of this kind, though not always con
veyed in language so downright, hav-
ing already refused fOur-and-twenty |
Captains, and laughed at half-a-dOzen |
more, who lamented their previous /
marriages for her sake, and would have
even seen themselves widowers with |
resignation.
"Why a sailor, Captain Borlinder?'
Because a sailor is not always run
ming after your heels like a tame cat
and a puppy-dOg. He goes to sea, and
is out of sight; he leaves you the house
to yourself; and when he comes home
again he is always in a good temper. A
sailor ashore is easy, contented and hap
py-go-lucky."
1T certainly would be Something
said Lal, ''always to have a good-tem
pered husband"
"a sailor for me, says you," con-
/ tinued the Captain, warming to his
work. "That's right; and if a sailor,
! quartermaster is better than able sea-
man; mate is better than quartermaster.
| Wherefore, skipper is better than mate;
and if skipper, why not Nick Borlinder?
Eh! Why not Nick BoTlinderP"
And he stuck his thumbs in his waist
coat-pockets, and looked irresistible ten
derness, so that he was greatly shocked
when Lal laughed in his face, and in
formed him that she could not possibly
become Mrs. Borlinder
He went away in great Indignation,
and presently hearing about Rex Armi-
ger and his successful courtship, first de-
cared that he would break the neck of
that young man as soon as he could get
a chance, and then found fault with his
own eyes because he had not struck at
once and proposed when the idea first
came into his head Lost! and all for
want of little pluck. Lost! because
the moment his back was turned this
young iackanapes, no better than a sec
Ond mate in steamer, cut in, saw his
chance, and snapped her up.
For two voyages be reflected on the
nature of women. He said to himself
that out of sight, out of mind, and she
would very likely forget all about the
boy. He therefore resolved on trying
the effect of bribery, and came Offering
rare gifts, consisting principally of an
octave of sherry.
Lal accepted it graciOusly, and set it
up in the Captains room, where every
body fell to tapping it up until it was all
gone.
Then Lal refused the donor a second
time So the sherry was clean thrown
] % n1,I vrrasfaI Much haffn1s hoH 4
made it rum for his own consumption
We know what happened next, and
none rejOiced more cordially than Cap
tain BOrlinder over his rivals death.
When a reasonable time, as he
thought, had elapsed, he renewed his
offer with effusion, and was indignant
ly, even scornfully, refused. He con-
, cluded that he had another rival, prob
/ ably some fellow with more money, and
he looked about him and made guarded
inquiries. He could find no one likely
J to be a rival except Captain HOlstius,
who appeared to be a poor religious
, creature, not worth the jealousy of =
lusty English sailor; and, later on, he
discovered that certain American
, Captain called Barnabas B. Wattles who
came and went, having no ship of his
I OWL, anu YET always 4lll u DuSilltS5,
was certainly rival.
. Captain Wattles puzzled him, be
, cause, so far as he could see, La
/ was no kinder to him than to himself
! Always there was present to his mine
that vision of himself the landlord o.
a proprietor of Rydquist's, counting on
the money in the front parlor over ,
r pipe and a cool glass Of rum-and-water
while Lal looked after the dinners anC
Y made out the bills.
"Binsr he thought eyes; they
should be bills with a profit in them
{ too, when he was proprietorn'
, Rage possessed his soul as the tint
1 went on and he got no nearer the at
/ tainment of his object He could no
4 converse with the girl, partly becausD
: she avoided him, and partly because h,
a had nothing to say. Worst of all, sh'
4 told him when he ventured once mort
L to remark that Jolly sailor, namely
q Nick BOrlinder, would restore her I,
! happiness, that if he ever dared to pro
/ pose such a thing again he would n,
5 longer be admitted to Rydquist's, bu
|. might stay aboard his own ship in tn
! London Docks, or find a house at Pop
Is lar. Fear Of being sent to Poplar KEEP
him quiet.
r. There remained the third suitor
Captain Barnabas B. Wattles.
4 When he made the acquaintance O
e Lal, a skipper without a ship, it was il
I the year eighteen hundred and seventy
{. seven He was an American by birth
o, hailing, in fact, from the town O
q Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and h
o. was always full of business, the nature O
q which no man knew. He was quite un
g like the jovial Nick Borlinder, and, in
/. deed, resembled the typical British ia
T. in no respect whatever. For he was
g slight spare man, with sharp feature
and hairless cheek. He was not, cel
9, tainly, admitted to the privileges G
IS Rydquist' s, but he visited when hi
h business brought him to London, an
N sat of an evening in the Captains rOor
q drinking with any who would otie
D. gratuitOUs grog; at other times he wa
p fond of saying thathe was temperanC
II man, and went without grog rather tina
d pay for it himself. rTr s
10 He first came when Lal was Waitin
for that letter from Rex which neve
.e came; he learned the whole story; an
4, either did not Immediately fall in love
e. like the more indammable Borlindel
"a being a man of prudence and fOrthOught
m else he refrained from speech, even froI
e. the good words of cOurtship. But b
Ie came often; by speaking gently, an
W without mention of love and marriage
4 h., .-t.l1s-InI e-iavII,r. ,.o1aFinr,e rrrif