Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-06-24

sailor to a waiter in Water street reStau-
rant.
"Aye, aye, SIR replied the waiter, tax
ing the captain IS measure and marking him
mentally for a plate of corned beef and cab
bage. s'What shall 1 bring alongside %
'Bring me dish of Marblehead turkey,
and look alive" repeated the customer, who
a moment later was deep in the mysteries
of baked beans.
CHATS new name for beans, isn't it ?''
inquired person at the same table.
My father called 'en So" replied the
skipper 'I'm Beverly man myself, and
we consider that aour beens lie trifle
closer to the wind when close hauled than
on the east coast. Beans is the mainstay
of New England folks. They talks about
fish maxim brains; tell ye it's BEANS
Why, Lord bless ye! Look around here in
New York. Look at your prosperous
Americans. They're most of 'em bean-eat-
in Yankees. Deprive Down-Easter of
his beans, and l tell We you hit him where
the copper's off. Ever hear the story of
Capt Elder Mugridge? No? Wall, he
was elder and skipper both-a mighty pious
man-and once he took a trip as far as New
York; big thing for him. Wall, they got
struck with contrary winds, and bowed off
shore about fifty miles. Along comes one
of these Cunarders, and seein' the schooner
hyin her colors union down in distress,
they slows up and sends off boat, and af-
ter hard pull in heavy sea-way they
halls the schooner, and the mate sings aout:
Schooner ahoy Ye sinkin' p Not quite
so bad, sing aout the elder, but we're aout
O. beans. Kin We let us have potY' Wall,
they say that mate nearly bust his wind
pipe swearin'. There was poetry writ on
that added the skipper.
ssBy yourself?'' asked the listener.
s'Wall, I.tell ye," replied the captain,
''between you and me it was writ by chap
by the name of Jumper in the Sailors Own
Book in Gloucester, but ordinary, when |
spins the yarn, it's supposed Pm the one
that writ it. Some o. the lines wants lin
and overhaulin', but it IS wot they call ank
verse. 1t goes likes this =
A ship once crossing over the
I tell the story as twas told tome
Made hundred miles or from shore,
When craft was one day seen~that bore
Heb flag reversed, while 'gainst the mast
The torn sails fiuttered as the wind rushed
last.
'Out with the boat!" the captain cried,
And the seamen darted over the side;
Thei- oars fell in with regular dip.
As they rapidly neared the silent ship.
When they reached the deck a sight met their
eyes,
Which made them start with fearful sur.
prise.
All around on the deck Che crew were lying,
And grooming aloud as tho they were dying
The captain alone on q hen coop sat,
With his face in his hands and q weed On his
hat;
He gazed on them al with blooa-shot eye,
And the crew looked up with hear-rending
sigh.
''Say, why do you raise the flag of distress,
A nd sit around deck in idleness?
Are you out of food +? Have you used up your
water?
Have you got the plague? Or what is the mat
ter ?'
1--WE came from Beverly, and that signal
means,
That for full thles days we've been out of
beams"
"That's poetry wot is poetry" said the
skipper, shut food never bothered me
much. l was always lookin aout for fish,
and I've got the name of lingering the big
gest fish agoin'. I brought a halibut into
Boston once that weighed over 600 pounds.
l reckon that beats the deck. I've seen
seven halibut that weighed 1.732 pounds
taken by the schooner John Dove in 1871"
''What was the largest Goldfish you ever
caught?" asked the listener.
Hundred and four pounds, was the re-
ply, sand it was over five foot long. But
Capt. Martin, of Gloucester, caught the
biggest that ever heard ON. 1t weighed
III pounds. I've caught lobster that
weighed 20 pounds, and a horse mackerel
weighing 600 pounds. once tackled onto
the biggist fish in the world" continued
the skipper.
"a whale?'' asked the other.
"a whale amt fish, retorted the man
devil fish-one O. these ere broadside fell
lows thirty foot across all beam, and draw
in abaout six inches. We was lynn in har-
Dor, when see big ripple movin' araound,
and thnkin' it big horse mackerel I
jumps into the boat and gifts the lads to
pull near it, and when alongside losses
the iron into it, and Lord bless ye! Il
thought the hull reef was arisin'. A fish
riz that looked like the vessel herself, and
in minute we was a-rushin' daown the
channel in Il way that was caution TO sin
ners. The channel went around an island,
and as we came around the second time the
fish went right for the brig. see we was
a-goin' to hit, and sings aout, "Cut the
rope but the man didn't have any knife.
Cast it off says |. It's spliced to the
painter says he, and under water That
minute we struck. The fish dove under
the brig, and we, not beln' able to dive,
kind O. telescoped. The dingy just smashed
all to pieces. We fell int the water, and
was hauled aboard by the hands, and the
pieces kept comm up all day.
"The fish? Wall, / reckon he's a-goin' |
yet. Some of 'em are thirty feet across,
and have kind o. horn at the head, and Of |
ten git foul O anchor and chains, land hauls |
vessels along just as if they was boats
New York San.
Donft Give Up Yet.
1t doesn't follow that patient will die
because the doctors have given him up"