Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-05-06
THE OLD MAID CAPTAIN.
The Little Romance Which the Stewardess
Told
New York Times.


Told
New York Times.
II have been going to sea these twenty
five years." said the stewardess of an
American cOastwise steamer, one after
noon recently, as she sat sewing in the
COSY ladies' cabin of the vessel to which
she belonged, 'Eand yet was never wreck
ed, nor has ship [ have been on lost so
much as a spar while was aboard. Yes,
nv life has been a very commonplace one.
There has been no rOmanceS in any way
connected with it-stOp, though, L did
play a very small part in a romance once.
That happened fully twenty years ago,
and now it seems like a dream. l some
times wonder if it wasn't after all dream.
1t seems stranger to me now than it did
even then" The worthy stewardess
paused and far-away look in her eyes
showed that she was indulg1ng in retro
spectiOn.
'sWhen [ was young [ went on sailing
vessels instead of steamboats," continued
the stewardness. about twenty years
agO-that was when | was yOung-I visit
ed some friends in the country after a
voyage, and then [ come to New York to
find a ship. The agent [ went to told me
that / could go as stewardess on ship
bound to Australia. The skipper said
he, is good man, but he's regular old
maid. [ said that [ didn't mind old
maids, and so it was settled that [ was to
go with the old maid captain The next
day [ went aboard and reported to my
new captain, who was called Harris. The
captain was short and rather slightly
built, with mild gray eyes, but with full,
heavy black beard. He seemed about 30
years old. His hands were small and detr-
cate, and his voice was high and just
trife shrill and he walked up and down
the deck with q mincing sort of a gait
Thinks I, Capt. Harris, if you wasn't
skipper you'd have made frst-rate SIN
ole woman; 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 [ had ever sailed
under. Then [ began to think better Of
the old maid ecaptain. | saw never a.cap-
tain so cOnsiderat of his men. If one of
them was the least bit sick, the captain
would go into the fOrecastle and attend
to him as tenderly as any nurse. And
when the 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 some mystery
about that man. Once on a pleasant
evening | came on deck and saw the cap
tain looking at the red sunset with tears
in his eyes. At another time, when I
thought he was on deck, I went into the
after cabin for something. l found him
there. What do you think he was doing?
Why, he was sewing and crying into the
bargain.
'sThey are right in calling you the old
maid captain thinks I.
'sThe mate, Mr. Wood, was tall fine
looking down Easter about 30 years old.
The captain seemed to like him, but
thought how he must envy him his size
and strength. The captain, though, was
much the smaller man of the two. The
mate somehow, seemed to take fancy to
me-fOr as [ said [ was young in those
days. He was always running into the
cabin on some pretext to talk to me. But
[ never encouraged him. You see | was
engaged to be the mate of another mate,
and that mate poor fellow, was lost at sea
few years afterward. Although the cap
tain didn't seem to care much about me-
he didn't fancy the mates taking liking
to me. That used to puzzle me. One
pleasant evening when | went on deck |
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 he gave me
a sort of suspicious look, and when the
mate came up to me and began to make
himself agreeable, although, as [ said be-
fore, had not given him any encourage
ment, [ glanced again at the captain and
there was an angry snap in his eyes. He
did not like to see the man and me to-
gether. That was plain. But why should
he object to it as long as he didn't seem
to care for me himself? 1 tried to hit on
some reason for this, but [ soon gave the
whole thing up as a mystery too deep for
me to attempt to solve.
"One morning when we we re in the
South Pacific some one cried out that
there was a.sman boat with several people
in it in sight on the lee bow. We bore
away for the boat, which in short time
was alongside the ship. Five men and a
little boy climbed up from the boat to our
deck and we gave them a warm welcome.
The little boy couldn't have been a day
over years old. He was a bright little
fellow, with long curly hair. Capt. Har-
ris took to him at once. He carried the
little fellow into the after cabin and put
him in his own berth, and took him some
thing to eat while the rescued men were
telling US how they came to be in an open
boat.
''They belonged to a bark which was
bound for New York, but had sprung
leak and had foundered the day before.
The crew left the vessel in two boats just
before she vessel went down, but when
she did go under she swamped one of the