Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-05-08
THE OLD MAID CAPTAIN
THE LITTLE ROMANCE WHICH THE STEW
ARDESS TOLD.

d TOLD.
81 have been going to sea these
twenty-five years." said the stewardess
of an American coastwise steamer, one
afternoon recently, as she sat sewing
in the coy ladies' cabin Of the vessel
to which she belongs, land yet I was
wrecked, nor has a ship i have
been on lost so much as a spar while /
was aboard. Yes, my life has been a
very commonplace me-. There has
been no in any way connected
with it-stop, though, l did play a very
small part in a a once That
happened full twenty years ago, and
now it seems like a dream; ! some
times wonder if it wasn't after all a
dream. 1t seems stranger to me now
than 1t did even then" The worthy
stewardess paused and a far-away look
in her ayes showed that she was in
dulging in retrospection.
y "When l was young l went on sail
ing vessels instead of steamboats,"
continued the stewardess. about
twenty years ago-that was when l
was young--I visited some friends in
the country after a voyage, and then l
came to New York to find a ship. The
agent that | went to informed me that
1 could go as stewardess on a ship
bound to Australia. The skipper
said he, is a good man but a regular
old maid / said that l didn't mind
old maids, and so it was settled that /
was to 60 with the old maid captain.
The next day / went aboard and re.
ported to my new captain, who was
called Harris. The captain was short
and rather slightly built, with mild
gray eyes, but with a full, heavy
black beard. He seemed about thirty
five years old. His hands we're small
and delicate, and his voice was high
and just q trifie shrill, and he walked
up and down the deck with a mincing
sort of gait. Thinks /, "Capt. Harris,
il you wasn't a skipper you'd have
made a first-rate single woman" l
regularly despised him until the first
storm came on. Then, he went on
deck and handled the ship in such a
way that | could not but admit that he
was the best navigator l had aver
sailed under. Then l began to think
better of the old maid captain. / never
saw a captain so c~onsiderate OF his
mon. If n of them was the least bit
sick, the captain would 60 into the
f~orecastle and attend to him as ten
weather was bad he would not allow
the mates to make the men do any
work that wasn't really necessary.
The mates used to make fun of the
captain behind his back for being SO
considerate of his men, but somehow I
thought it was a good trait in him. /
began to watch the captain closely,
and l soon made up my mind that
there WAS come mystery about that
nan Once on a pleasant evening l
came on deck and saw the captain
looking at the red sunset with tears in
his eyes. At another time, when I
thought he was on deck, l went into
the after cabin for something. found
him there. What do you think he was
doingp Why, he vas sewing, and cry
ing into the bargain. They are right
in calling you the old maid captain"
thinks /.
"The mate Mr.. Wood, was a tall.
fine looking, down easter about SIS
years old. The captain seemed to like
him, but l thought how he must envy
his size and strength. The captain,
though, was much the smaller man of
the two. The mate. somehow, seemed
to take a fancy to me-for as l said l
was young in those days. He was al
ways running into the cabin on some
pretext to talk to me. You see
i was engaged to be the mate of an
other ship, and that mate, poor fellow,
was lost at sea a few years afterward.
Although the captain didn't seem to
think very much about me, he didn't
fancy the mates taking a liking to me.
That used to puzzle me One pleasant
evening when l went on deck l saw
the captain, who stood aft, looking
admiringly at the mate. who was sitting
at the starboard gangway. When the
captain saw me come on deck no gave
me q sort of suspicious look, and when
the mate came up to me and began to
make himself agreeable. although, as
/ said before, l had not given him any
encouragement, 1 glanced again at the
captain and there was an angry snap
in his eyes. He did not like to see the
man and me together. That was
plain. But why should he object to
1t as long "a he didn't seem to care for
me HIMSELF / tried to hit on some
reason for this, but l soon gave the