Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-01-27

ana the Dubbllng and WasnlnS noise OF the
water over the side.
'''NO fear as TO her not being abandoned,
sir said one OF the men. AN empty cot
fin couldn't be more destitute of lfe.' |
I stepped TO the door of the deck-hOuse and
looked in. There was no appearance of
( injury here. 4 table went down it, with
! fixed chairs on one side and a locker on
/ the other, and on the port side was row
! Of cabins. i've Or six, ! think. The door
/ Of this deck-house swung open, and the
two men and peered IN, and then SAYS [:
/ III just step IN and see if l can come
across any papers belonging to her. for [
must tell you there was no name on her
bows, and whatever might have been writ
I ten on her stern was under wafer. But
scarce had L uttered the above Observa-
I ton, when a sort of thin, wailing cry
/ came from one of the cabins
4" Hell0p says one of my men, the crew
! have gone and left poor pussy behind
Pussyn says l, who had caught the
/ cry very clearly, and heard g note in it
/ there was no installing, that's no cat,
I lads Follow me-
/ "And l walked straight to the cabin
/ from which the sound appeared to come,
and opening the door saw just the kind OF
sight my mind seemed to have been pre-
/ pared, by the cry we had heard, to wit
ness. The catqn was bit of box with a
+ scUttle over the tOpmOst of a couple of
/ hunks. There were some female garments
l on the deck, along with an infants feed
ing bottle, broken, and few other dOmes-
tic odds and ends, only met with at sea
/ when there are women aboard. rs we
entered a second small, wailing cry came
from the upper bunk, and, on looking. we
spied dead woman in it, with her eight
arm cast round baby nine or ten months
old. 1t was impossible to tell thatshe
was dead till we drew close and saw the
I Shn
not more than 20 or p, her hair yellow.
and in life l don't doubt she had been
pretty enough, but new her face was so
strangely white that she might have passed
for figure worked in plaster of paris.
The baby was TOO young to situp; he lay
it was boy, sir-he lay Oh his dead moth
er's arm, giving now and then the queer
cry we had heard. the wall an infant ut
tiers after it has exhausted itself in crying
for hours. L picked him up out of the
bunk and found him wet through, and his
flesh like stone, for the cold. His mothers
clOthes-if the woman were his mother,
which l don't dOubt-were streaming wet,
too, and this made us suppose that she had
been driven from the deck by the washing
water, and had entered her cabin and had
lain down to die there.
1.-THE men spoke hurriedly about how it
came to pass that these two should be left
alone in the wreck. Who was she2 |
said there was no accounting for what
happened at sea. She might have been
the wife Ct the master. who was drowned
in the storm, and lett with no one to look
after her; or all hands might have per-
ished in getting the boats over; or the
crew might have forgotten her when they
put OF; there was no telling. There lay
the woman dead, / said and l gave the
baby to one OF the men named Nipper to
hold whilst pulled off my coat to wrap
the little chap up in, for he trembed like
a shivering bird with the cold, and kept
on waiting, as if our handling him and the
sound of our voices had put bit of life
into him. We looked hurrledly into the
other cabins, but.they were empty and we
could find no papers. There was no good !
bringing the dead mother along with US !
to bury; the ship she was IN was her
rightful coffin, and being very deep, with
her main matches open, | reckoned that |
the next bit Of sea that got up would sink (
the wreck fast enough. l don't say as l /
didn't humble prayer as L came away
holding the little chap. 1t was an affect /
ing sight to see that young woman living /
there so lonely-quite recently dead as !
We might snnnnsa nv Ter little one being /
alive; and when l took last peep at her /
l almost felt as if she knew that | was
taking her baby away from her. We |
handed the infant into the boat and showed 1
ing for us about half a mile to leeward.
"'What have you there, Mr. Roband?" /
sings out Capt. Blackett, leaning over the /
rail.
:. a baby, SIR [ answers, and I pulled
nv coat a bit open to let him see the little /
face inside.
hands Look SHARP and get aboard
Cali hands were locking over the side /
when | handed the baby up, and there
went deal of hoarse whispering among
the men as they pressed forW ard to see the
wait. l carried him to the Captain-the ]
worthiest man, sir, with the tenderest
heart that ever sailed Ship: he pulled
off his cap as if awed by the misery and
suffering that was typifed by the BARN,
and his eyes filled with tears as he gGZed
down upon it.
"'And the mother lies dead yonder,
Mr.. Boband?' says he, pointing to the
wreck.
Gay, sir says 1.
God receive herr says he. Dye IN
derstand the management of babies, Mr..
kopapu. ---, T an
o.Why have TWO OF my vv~, 'ii-
sUered but l was so much away at sea ,
when they were little ones that can't say
l ever had chance of watching what my
wife did to 'em to keep 'em healthy. But |
what we have to do with this baby says |
/, lis to feed him and get him warm at |
once
Then take him below-take him be-
low, Mr. ROband,' cries the Captain in !
tremulOuS voice. Give him your atten-
ton, ~ir, and never mind about your du- !
ties until you've got this poor little crea- |
ture into shipshape condition.
"Well. l carried him to my cabin, and |
sung out to the stewart to help me uudress !
ID 4l,a orh -
and delicate object alone unnerved me. |
I'd any day rather have the Job of taking /
in the masts of two thousand-tOn ship /
than the handling of a baby for ten |
minutes. Both the stewards and my /
fingers We're square-ended, and we had to |
be very careful in hauling off the safety
pins and clearing the little chap of the
things he was dressed in. He cried so
that was in an agony, making sure we
were hurting him; but the steward said:
No, | know the nature of infants; it
would be unnatural if they didn't cry; it's
a fashion their lungs have of growing
Are you sure? says l. 'Cock-sure,' says
he; haven't l seven of my own, Mr.. Rob
and?
"When the baby was wrapped up in
one of my flannel shirts, that being softer
than any blanket we had aboard; the
steward went and warmed some Swiss
milk at the gallery fire; and while l was
sitting waiting for the steward, with the
baby lying upon my knee, the Captain
comes in.
"'God help this poor little onep says
he; what age do you take him to be, Mr..
Roband%
- Not a year DID, says /.
'''NOt year oldr he cried; 'h0w Won
derful are the ways of Providence that
tiny bubble of humanity like this should
be left unframed by storm that, maybe,
has drowned all the rough and study fell
lows who filed the vessel. It's like see
! ing an iron ship beaten to pieces by seas
amid whose hOllOws you observe the little
/ stormy petrol securely flying
| The steward arrived with the warm
milk and spoon, and we turned to feed
| the baby. / tried my hand, but it was no
! good; couldn't get the milk down his
/ throat; it capsized down his neck, and his
| being ravenOus and crying made the job
more difficult. Here, give me hold, SIR
said the steward; so put the baby on his
knee. Well, he knew more about it than
| l, and got fair caulker of milk into the
! little 'um, and after bit the little chap
/ fell asleep, whereupOn he was laid
/ down in my bunk and there he was, quiet