Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1883-06-21
CAPTAIN CROFT AND HIS MOTHER.

|
| Poor Maggie went to bed.
-HdrGGret E. SdRQster, in Outli's Companion
CAPTAIN CROFT AND HIS MOTHER.
Well, never saw anything like that
| Captain Crofts round that old lady in all
my life. He's dancing attendance from
morning till night, and, sakes alive! if
he ism tying ON her sun-bonnet for her.
Well, never! Wonder what 'twould
seem like to have my Billy grown up to
be as attentive as that? and the voice,
half scornful at first, took on longing,
yearning expression, suggestive of tear
full eyes, at the mention of ''my Billy"
The speaker, Mrs. BOwles, lived in
Seaport, usually spoken of as u fishing
village, owing to the fact that many
fishermen had lived there in years gone
by; but the town was an old one, and
possessing great natural attractions,
and being suburban town, many fine
residences now graced its winding
| avenues.
About two years before, a weather.
| a sailor, had bought tasteful little cot
tage near the beach. This he had fitted
up, beautiticd and embellished. until
Mrs. Harris declared it to be 'spcrfect
pink of place"
Over this pretty house Cap'n, Sam, as
| the boys had learned to call the genial
man, had installed his white-haired
mother as mistress and chief, and a more
attentive, loving son, it would appear,
had never lived.
In small barn at the rear of the cot
tage was kept a fine, steady horse, and
low basket carriage, and every fair
day the Captain and his mother ''went
abroad" as Mrs. Bowles expressed it,
on long, pleasant drives.
| As we have limited, Cap'n Sam was
great favorite among the boys of the
place. Who else would harness up the
sturdy horse into big wagon, and give
them such grand drives upon occasionp
Then the great hickory and chestnut
trees at the foot of his lot were free for
the boys to visit as often as they liked,
only they must never damage in any
way the fine old branches; but when it
came to spinning yarn, ah, then! who
SO beguiling, nay. SO perfectly bewitch-
ing, as the sea-bronzed man.
1t had long ago become a subject for
harmless bantering among the boys. and
rather relished than otherwise by the
Captain, that he was gallant and I'M
ceasingly attentive to his sweetheart
MY fair old sweetheart" he had once
in their hearing called his mother, and
they, of course, lively little wretches that
they were, would never forget it.
But one day the boys, quite little
crowd of them, found their old Cap'n
Sam on the rocks at the beach. There
were breakers that afternoon, and par
ticularly at such times it was favOrite
diversion with the seafaring man - sit
high on the rocky beach and watch his
''second love- the sounding sea.
twas aJ times like these the boys de-
lighted to find their old friend, and
coax him for one OF their "heart's
delights" which he well knew meant a
story of tempestuous seas or foreign
lands.
But on this particular afternoon the
Captain was brooding somberly, a habit
he often had when by himself, and
this time he couldn't throw off the
mood. even at the approach of the mer-
~ boys.
In va II the better reared Of them BAN
tered, declaring he had lifting, but
never mind, they expected to be Tilted
themselves in time to GOMEZ while the
less mannerly Billy Bowles guessed
"there'd been a caudle lecture at
home"
At length, partly emerging from his
brown study, the Captain said, soberly:
boys, do you know what I've been
trying to do every day for the last two
years?'
Oh. why, for certain they knew all
about it, they-the merry youngsters of
the town.
s.Been a-courtin', chiefly, Jimmy Hol-
lis observed, while Freddie Hollis re-
marked, ''he'd worn himself all out a.
pettin' his sweetheart"
That last opinion evidently struck the
tender spot, and the boys found that for
once Cap'n Sam was in no mood for
Jokes or banter, and being very quick 70
see which way the wind blew, the kind
sailor few minutes later addressed to a
row of very serious young faces what one
boy afterwards termed a "a perfec' brick
of a sermon.
.sBovs,'' he said, '.I've been trying
every day of my life for the last two
years to straighten out furrows-and /
can't do it!.''
One boy turned his head in surprise
towards the Captains neatly-kept
place.
: "Oh I don't mean that kind, lad.
don't mean land burrows, continued
the Captain, so soberly that the at
tention of the boys became breathlcss
as he went on:
"When was a lad about the age of
you boys, l was what they called
hard case;' not exactly bad or vicious,
but maynard and wild. Well. my dear
old mother used to coax, pray and
punish-my father was dead, making
it all the harder for her, but she never
got impatient. How in the world she
bore with all my stubborn, vexing ways
so patiently viii always be to me one
of the mysteries in life. knew it was
troubling her, knew it was changing
FER pr try face, mixing i look anxious
md Oh. After ayhie, thing Of 81
!: c Etraint. rcn away, went off to sea;
:rd rough time FAD OF it ct first.
Stl, / liked tie water. ard H. cl
Il urleyiny srolnl rom pl c, to pa e.
Tien l sett'el down to bu Inc . in