Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-06
TWO OF A TRADE.
A Story of Society with an Evident Moral
for People who Travel.

A fayorite steamship OF the White Star
Line is in the act Of leaving her wharf at
New York for a summer trip across the
Atlantic, with every berth engaged. The
bell warning .'all for the shOre'' has ceased
( The Irrepressible straggleT-whO answers
on these occasions to the inevitable Derby
dOg-has been hustled along the gangwav
which the deck hands will have off in an
other moment, when the hand-kissing,
handkerchief-waying crowd on the planks
is parted as by bOmb-shell, and man
carrying small valise rushes through
with loud Hold Oni'' and Just manages
to scramble on board. He is a remarka-
bic MANN that cOmpany-and Immedi-
ately becomes an object Of interest and
wonder. His ''butternut trousers" are
| tucked into huge boots reaching almost
up to his knees and bearing Ito the ini-
tlated pictorial history Of their own.
They are red with the mud Of the Sierras,
white with the dust Of travel, black with
the dust Of the New York long shore the
/ dirtiest dirt in the world J, and polished 10
a bright bronze where they have gripped
/ the saddle. Hewears a rough-dried white
/ shirt without any collar, an old blue fan
I mel Norfolk jacket, and a SLOUGH hat the
/ original color of which has long ceased to
/ be determinable. But he sings out that
/ 'HOld On.' in the tone of a commander
I ln-chlef, and when he raises his sOmbrerO
I in apology to some ladies who had been
I disturbed by his irregular entrance very
| remarkable head is disclosed. The pas
| sengers shrink from him right and left, as
/ though he were some dangerous animal,
| and a steward rushes up with '''Ere
I now! secOnd-class passengers"
[ For all answer this man hands him his
I valise a brand-new one) saying, take
/ that to No. 142 and then come back and
/ show me the way to the bathroom He
/ follows the wondering waiter a step or
I two, whispers something in his ear and
I apparently, shakes hands with him. Opin-
\ ions differ as to whether he is digger from
( Leadyille, a Mormon elder, an escaped
/ convict or a Texan cowboy and the
/ important question-What is to be done
| with him at table?-being a frst-class
Z passenger-ar
The Captains cabin on deck is engaged
I by the wife and two children Of senator
/ Hiram j. Nickersen, and her bosom friend
/ Mrs. PlOYer-a young widow in her sec
I ond year of cOlOrs and one of the most ac-
1 cOmplished flirts in the United States.
1 The Hon. Hiram j. has a sleeping berth
| in another part Of the ship.
Now Mrs. Nickersen, though provided
with nurse, had, as usual, to take care
OF that PERSONS charges in the supreme
/ moment Of departure, and SO the sensa-
| tiOnal appearance OF that picturesque but
I doubtful stranger was lost upon her. He
/ had, therefore, to be described
"My DEAR said Cora Plover, "he IS like
Mckee Rankin in 'the Danites,' but hand
somer. He has lovely long brown hair
| passed behind his ears and rolling over
his collar. beautiful beard, just shade
lighter, and violet eyes, with a snap in
them. II l could paint I'd take him as
model for the Archangel Gabriel. What
is 'cowboy|" This to the Senator,
who informed her that male persons Of
whatever age who tend cattle in Texas
are called cowboys" and are ga very
rough crowd"
we shall see at dinner" observed the
widow. '.Pve told the purser to put him
opposite us. He was so glad-poor man -
The coWboyW exclaimed her friend.
''No, the purser. lie was e. his wits
end where 70 put him. Everybody had
been declaring that they wouldn't sit near
him.
With dinner came disenchantment. The
lovely brown hair, the flowing beard and
the violet eyes with a snap in them, were
indeed there, but the picturesque attire
had been replaced by a suit Of unmistaka-
bly, ready-made clothes, which did not fit
him, and made him look from the chin
downwards like a very common person.
HE is not a cowboy" Cora whispered
to the Senator. Gle eats his soup like a
well-bred man."
Flush! He'll hear YOU"
The warning came not a moment too
soon, for the violet eyes were on her, and
there was a snap in them.
Served with fish, he clutched his fork as
though it were dagger, plunged it into
his portion of red snapper, tore off NOR
sci which he deliberately placed on the
point of his knife and so passed it to d.
gesti0n! Having finished, he mopped up
the sauce with a bit Of bread and ate it!
Then he looked at the beautiful widow
again and wiped his. mouth with his pocket
handkerchief
''My test is a true one" she sighed, as
he left the table. she is a cowboy"
The next morning, whilst going below
to get a book out of the library, she tripped
upon the slippery brass edging of the COM
panion stairs and fell headlong into the
arms Of man who was just coming out
OF the smOking-rOOm.
ooh, thanks so much" she gasped,
when he had placed her on a settee; II
should have been hurt awfully if-I can
not think what made me fall"
Il can" he replied; sit was the peg
heels on your boOts.''
''Ahl" she exclaimed; ''you are an En-
glishman, thenY'
81 am an Englishman,' he replied; 'but
why the then|
eve Americans" she said Americans
''call these'-shOwing for an instant the
point of delicately shod little foot
shoes
"Nothing that comes above the instep is
a shoe," he persisted.
''If you were to 90 into any store in
New York and AK for boots, they'd show
you-well, things such as you wore yes
terday."
"Ah! you noticed my boots?7
Gust as | noticed the funnel, or the
mainmast, or anything else one cannot
help seeing," she replied carelessly.
"Were you going down for anything l
can get youY' he asked
81 wanted something 10 read"
"YOu can't read on board ship. Your
eye runs over a lot OF words, but it is not
reading. If / could go to those people on
deck who have books in their hands and
say, stop right where you are and tell me
what the last six lines were about
not one in ten could answer. You seem
to be a good sailor-cOme up and talk to
me-"
She looked at his shoes. The ends were
three inches broad and the instep was ar
tificially wrinkled. The ends of his ''pants''
were sprung out over the foot and stlffened
after fashion that made her shudder.
His vesthad hideOus fancy buttons and the
cuffs Of his coat bore vulgar elaboration
of braid.
Could she-accustomed to the homage
of golden youth in its most strict tense
brush skirts with this distressing suit?
The butternut trousers and the SLOUGH hat
were the right things in their way. She
could have been seen with him in them.
A queen might talk with a cowboy i'm cow
boys dress, because he did not pretend to
be anything else than a cowboy, and was
spoken to as such. But here was pre-
tence and failure.
She hesitated.
81 think understand" he said, noticing
her embarrassment. ave have not been
we can be, as | know no one on board.
My name is Turner, and | was christened
James. My father is a farmer in Hamp-
shire, has rather a large place there, but
l am younger son and had to look out
for myself. Pve been silver mining in
Nevada and have made my pile, not a
very lofty one, but enough-for me-"
If in his dress some hideous errors fail,
Look in his face and you'll forgive them all.
Some such paraphrase of the famous
cOuplet must have passed through Cora
PlOver's mind. She looked in his face as
he spoke and met the violet eyes without
any snap in them now, listened TO the
soft but well-toned voice, and-gave in.
He was an Englishman; that accounted for
ahY amount of eccentricity. She was
Cora Plover, and could lay down the law
to everybody that was anybody on board
that ship.
SgTf Won wish IL - che ranIiad. and On