Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-05-07
THE OLD MAID CAPTAIN.

Tho Little Romance Which tho Steward
ess Told.
From N. Y. Times.
II have been going to sea these rs
years." said the stewardess Of an
American coastwise steamer, one aft
ernoon recently, as she sat sewing in
the coy ladies' cabin of the vessel to
which she belonged, "and yet I was
never wrecked, nor has a ship l.. have
been on lost so much as q spar while
l was aboard. Yes, my life has been
a very commonplace one. There has
been no romance in any way connect
ed with it; stop though, l did not
play a very small part in a romance
once. That happened fully 20 years
ago, and now it seems like a dream;
sometimes wonder if it wasn't after
all a dream. It seems stranger to me
now than it did even then" The
worthy stewardess paused and a far
away look in her eyes showed that
she was INDUCING in etrospection.
"When Twas young I went on sail
ing vessels instead Of steamers" con-
tinued the stewardess. "About 20
years ago-that was when I was
young-I visited some friends in the
country after a voyage, and then I
came to New York to find a ship. The
agent went to told me that could
go as stewardess on a ship bound to
Australia. THE skipper said he, 'is
a good man, but he's a regular old
maid I said that I didn't mind old
maids, and so it was settled that l
was to go with the Fold maid captain
The next day 1 went aboard and re:
ported to my. new captain who was
called Harris. The captain was short
and rather slight built, with mild gray
eyes, but with a full, heavy black
beard. He seemed about 35 years
old. His hands were small and deli
cate, and his voice was high and just
a trifle shrill, and he walked up and
down the deck with a mincing sort Of
gait. Thinks l., Captain Harris, if
you wasn't a skipper you'd have
made a first rate single woman I
regularly despised him until the first
storm came on. Then he went on deck.
and handled the ship in such a. way
that l could not but admit that he
was the best navigator I had ever
sailed under. Then began to think
better of the old maid captain. new
er saw captain so considerate of his
men. II one Of them was the least bit
sick the captain would go into the
forecastle and attend to him as ten
derby 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
considerable Of his men, but somehow
I thought it was good trait'in him.
1 began to watch the captain closely
and soon made up my mind that
there was g. mystery about that man.
Once on a pleasant evening I 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, went into the after-cab-
in for something. I found him there.
What do you think he was doing?
Why, he was sewing and crying into
the bargain. They are right in calling
you the old maid captain thinks /.
''The mate, Mr.. Wood, was tall,
fine looking down-easter about 35
years old. The captain seemed to
like him, but l thoug ht how much he
must envy his size and strength.
The captain, though, was much
the smarter man of the Two. The
mate, somehow, seemed to take q
fancy to me-for, as l said, was
young in those days. He was always
running into tho cabin on some pre-
text to see nae. But ! never encours
aged him. You see l was engaged to'
be the mate, of another mate; and
that mate, poor fellow, was lost at
sea q few years afterward. Although
the captain didn't seem to care much
about me, he didn't fancy the mates
taking a. liking to me. That used to
puzzle me. One pleasant evening when
I went on deck I saw the captain, who
stood aft, looking admiringly at the
mate, who was sitting at the star
board 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 before i had not given him any
encouragement, Iglanced again at the
captain and there was an angry snap
in his eyes. He did not like to see
the mate and me together. That was
plain. But why should he object to
It SO long as he didn't seem to care
for me himself. I tried to hit on
some reason for this, but soon gave
the whole thing up as q mystery too
deep for me to attempt to solve. ,..:.
One morning when we were in the
South Pacific some one cried out that
there was q small boat with several
people in it in sight on the lee bow.
We bore away for the boat, which in
a short time was alongside the ship;
Five men and q little boy climbed up
from the boat. to our deck, and we
gave them a warm welcome. The lit
tie boy couldn't have been a day over
eight years old. He was bright-look-
ing little fellow, with long curly hair.
Capt. Harris took to HIM at once.
He carried the little fellow into the