The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1886-05-22
NO. "A
PICKING UPA TRAMP.

thy which is unnatural for to take
advantage off,
"Dld anybody ever take adyan.
tage of you in that way ?" said a
listener.
"They did. was a sailin' on a
lumber hooker outen Chicago
over to the east shore. We made
the trip over in two days. One
AFTERNOON, as we was beatin' agin |
a light wind across, and benz
long way from port, the mate he
sees suthin' as looks like a ever.
green bush dead to windward,
growin' outen the water. 1t was
mighty Gurus, and Capt. Lauphere,
as was of n scientific turn, he says
the saplin's been washed away by
the June freshet, and it's the sile
onto the roots of it which floats il
cen up, when he knowed there
never wasn't no sile in Michigan
but sand. The bush was a driftin'
afore the breeze, and bimeby We
sees it was stickiu' up into the
bow of n dugout, and the Captain
he didn't say no more about tho
sile onto lis roots.
"The next tack We fetched il
fair on the weather bow. Long
before We was anyways near to it
the Captain sees u man lynn onto
the bottom of the dugout, lookin'
as If he was dead. We luffed up
bit to oncet, and bein' as Capt.
Lanphere was a pretty fair sailor
for fresh water galoot, we lost
head way with that 'ere dugout
under the lee forechains.
"'llist him on deck careful says
the Captain, and we picks him up
very tender like and lays him in
tarpanlin. His cheeks was that
sunken that ef it hadn't been for
the color as was in his nose we'd
never knowed he was alive. The
Captain he feels of his heart and
finds IL is beatin', and then says
to him:
"Shipmate, can you hear meYi
"The man he raised one of his
lean, long fingers o bit and shakes
his head aud moves his lips as il
tryin' to say suthin' and couldn't
make 1t.
{ "Try it again, shipmate. WhaI
9 is itf' said the Captain, as HI
bends hisself clusser down ant
i, puts his ear to the maa's mouth
!. The lips they moved agin, and tn
Captain rose up.
"'Boys,' he says, the mans
h dyin' of thirst. He wants drinl
Bring out that bottle of rye frs
n to warm him up
a "It's one o. them blamed idjit
e from salt water as thinks the lake
a is branches of the ocean and nc
ct to drink said the mate. II
= didn't have no regards for sal
!. water sailormen. All the same W
was all desperitly interested in tn
Il unfortunate individual as was
= driftin' around without no navigi
a tor, and the cook he brings out
quart bottle of remarkable fin
grog. The Captain he tells th
man what TO expect, and the
pours q swallow into him. Th
!, man works bis jaws bit then u
comes one o. them lank hands
4 hisin and clasps the bottle an
hists II SO as to make Ter gurgl
as the juice poured down his necl
II was astonishin'. He done il
admiration. When he stopped f
breath there weren't nary gurgI
10 left into that 'ere bottle, and thu
1f ere corpse as was a starvin' fC
n. drink was that bilin' drunk 9
i. made us all sick with envy.
Is "The Captain he lowed it woul
1t be the death Of the man, but aftC
10 he'd tried to dance like a blood
st heathin, and couldn't because /
r. was loaded too heavy, we laid hi
d into the lee scuppers, got the jill
G. over to windward, paid the hea
IN off, and stood on our course, fu
it and by"
,e swell p said the listener.
III "Git well2 In course be di'
IN He was a gittin' well when "
picked him up. He was bIoou
in tramp as had got drunk
Pentwater, as is jest beyant Lift
Pint Sauble, the port as we wa
la headin' for, and some lads as foun
st him asleep behind lumber pi
in dumped him into an lnjun's du
out. stuck up the bush and shove
him into the stream, which 1t W.
ie boomin' from a freshet. He W.
k, Jest waited out to us and INF
s glory without a effort of his own
" 1t Makes No Difference.