The Delaware farmer., 1883-09-21

other decorations would be his besides
were 1t not that he is as modest as he is
brave, and holds that saving a fellow
creatures life is a duty, and MOTTO use
his own words-an affair to go and make
a fuss about.
Humphrey Cheal has two sons
George. the elder. Harry Reeds bosom
friend and partner. a stalwart young fell
low on whom the Honorable Society of
the Elder Brethren of Trinity House
have already conferred the certificate for
pilotage duty in the Estuary; and little
Jim, the younger, blue-eyed urehin of
fourteen, who can handle oar or tiller
with any lad of his age and weight in the
village. 1t had been a somewhat tender
point with Humphrey, in his earlier life,
that his family had numbered no daugh-
ter; but this suficiency had since been
supplied, his sister-in-law Rachel-now,
alas widow-having brought into the
world little Rachel, who in due course
had grown to be the very apple of her
uncle's eye. To her, the most lovable
maid in all Cherbury, the gentle reader
has been already introduced under the
ietty.
"'Tis a cruel, cruel task is parting" I
she sighs, as she wends her way up the !
lane by Humphreys side, "and 'twould |
break my heart, uncle, if this voyage
were not Harry's last p
"Right you be, my bonny lamb, right
you be. Parting is a heavy business at
best, an that's Bible truth" assents
"But then, you know, we
mustn't take on when we're rightin sight
O. port, so to speak, " he continues in a
more CHEEKY tone. "Why, bless my
heart, shouldn't feel a bit surprised if
you were to anchor up there an tell me,
Is peart as mebbe, that Harry had gone
md bespoke ?, Sheldrake's Cottages,
fore he started I" 1
Aye, bless the lad that he did, I'M t
lie; bespoke the cottage, and what's
lOre, bespoke the pig F! Just the plump
st little chap I'Ye seen this many day G
as round an soft an beautiful as-as-" h
Ter eyes beam softly over the retrospect, s
nd the simile is lost. g
I'm main glad to hear it, my lass, il
Humphrey, thoughtfully; n
for there's no denyin' that I'd wish to "
,e thee settled all comfortable, if so be C
lat any other change in the family is p
come about. I've heared folks talkin' E
deal O. late, my dear; couplin' your b.
others name with that O. Farmer Cor 81
N" "
A merry laugh issues spontaneously m
1m Rachers lips. "His very words, 81
lcIe; Harry's very words Heared g'
ks couplin' Rachel CheaTs name WI be
at of Tom Gordonp But he thought SO
e Rachel Cheal was me, uncle-me. lu
not mother" And over the recollec- til
N she laughs the tears back into her
es. yc
Humphrey laughs too; and thus, wi
lghing and chatting, the old coast in
ardsman and the maid Rachel make pi
cir way out of the lane, and disappear res
the direction of the little cottage on da
g North Down. wi
Rachel's lover has reached sid
rwich Harbor and joined his ship, the ba,
sting brig Auld Reekie, which sets .Tir
on the morrow morn for the port of
erdeen. With fair breezes from the wo
tn and west she makes a good run of ba,
loads her cargo Of granite, and again &c
is port. By this time the summer fac
waned, and the period of the au- boc
IN equinox is at hand. At sunrise on Re,
fourth day of her homeward voyage frie
brig encounters strong head winds for
n the southeast; before sunset it is ter7
wing half gale, and an hour after deli
d-with her foresail in ribbons has
her foreyard in splinters-she has meC
about, and is making a last blind ef- late
to run for the mouth of the Tees. he
grim object, to the seafaring eye. is nee
Aud Reekie. For five-and-fortv his
rs, fair weather and foul, she has littl
/ knocking up and down the east in a
It of Great Britain in search of a inte
ihood-now carrying wood, now hav,
now stone-and a storm beaten. ava
he'd up, unseaworthy old hulk she Fl
s, through all her three coats of tion
t. To catch sight of the line where Har
the Plimsoll mark would be, the tile
rver, it was averred, would have to poth
on himself couple of bOat's-lengths pulls
er weather-beam; and even then If his G
d be necessary for a good stiff boat