Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-11-01

and boiler tubes up, was on a new ant
patent system.
/ Four hundred feet and more she meas
ured from stem to stern, and in that space
were crowded and packed all the luxurie.
| of palace and all the conyeniences Of an
American hotel. She was a beautiful and
wonderful thing to look on as, with hel
| holds full Of costly merchandise and hel
decks crowded with her living freight Of
! about d thousand human beings, she
steamed slowly out to sea, as though 10th
| to leave the land where she was born. But
| presently she seemed to gather up her en-
ergies and to grow conscious Of the thous
| ands and thousands of miles of wide toss
| ing water which stretched between her
| and the far-off harbor where her mighty
| heart should cease from beating and be
| for a while at rest. Quicker and quicker
she sped along and spurned the churning
water from her swift sides. She was run
ming under full head Of steam now, and
| the coast line Of England grew f&int and
! low in the faint, low light, till at last it
! almost vanished from the gaze of tall,
| slim girl who stood forward, clinging to
! the starboard bulwark netting and look.
| ing with deep gray eyes across the waste
| of waters. Presently Augusta, for it was
| she, could see the shore no more, and
UurpaQ to watch the other passengers and
! think. She was sad at heart, poor girl,
and felt what she Was-a very waif upon
| the sea of life. Not that she had much to
regret upon the vanished coast line. A
little grave with a white cross over it
that was all. She had left no friends to
weep for her, none. But even as she
thought it a recollection rose up in her
mind of Eustace Nelson's pleasant hand
some face, and or his kind words, and
| with it came q pang as she reflected that,
in all probability, she would never see the
one nor hear the other again. Why, she
wondered, had he not come to see her
| again? She would have liked to bid him
! goodbye" and had half mind to send
/ him note and tell him of her going.
| This, on second thought, however, she had
| decided not to do; for one thing, she did
not know his address, and-Well, there was
an end of it.
| Could she by the means Of clairvoyance
have seen Eustace's face and heard his
words, she would have regretted her de-
| cision. For even as that great vessel
plunged on her fierce way right into the
heart of the gathering darkness he was
in the little street in Birmingham
''Gone!'' he was saying. ''NLiss Smith
ers gone to New Zealand! What is her adj
dress?"
''She didn't leave no address, SIR" re-
piled the dirty maid-of-all-work, with a
grin ''She went from here two days ago,
and was going on to the ship in London -
what was the name of the Ship" he
asks, in despair.
''Kan-Kon-Conge replies the
girl in triumph and shuts the door in his
face.
Poor Eustace he had gone to London to
try and get some employment, and having
| after some difficulty succeeded in obtain
ing billet as reader in Latin, French, and
English, to apublishing house of good re-
pute at the salary of $50 year, he had
| hurried back to Birmingham for the sole
purpose Of seeing Miss Augusta Smithers,
with whom, if the whole truth must be
told, he had, to his credit be it said, fallen
| deeply, truly, and violently in love. In
deed, so far was he in this way gone that
he had determined to make all the pro-
gress that he could, and, if he thought
| that there was any prospect of success, to
declare his passion. This was, perhaps, a
little premature; but then in these mat
tiers people are apt to be more premature
than is generally supposed. Human ma
ture is very swift in coming to conclusions
in matters in which that strange mixture
we call the affections is involved, perhaps
because, although the conclusion is not
altogether a pleasing one, the affections,
at any rate in the beginning, are largely
dependent on the senses.
~
London to Birmingham to WOO ones gray
eyed mistress, in third-class carriage, too,
and find her gone to New Zealand. whittier
circumstances prevented him from follow
ing her. without leaving a word or a line,
or even an address behind her. It was
too bad. Well, there was no remedy in
the matter; so he walked to the railway
station, and groaned and sWore all the way
back to London.
Augusta, on board the Kangaroo, was,
however, in utter ignorance of this act of
devotion on the part of her admirer; indeed
she did not even know that he was her ad-
mirer. Feeling curious sinking sensa-
ton within her, she was about to go below
to her cabin which she shared with lady's
maid, not knowing whether to attribute
it to sentimental qualms incidental to her
lonely departure from the land of her birth
or to other qualms connected with first
experience of life upon the ocean wave
About that moment, however, a burly
quartermaster addressed her in gruff tones
and informed her that if she wanted to
see the last Of "hold Halbion," she had
better go aft a bit, and look over the port
side and she would see the something or
other light. Accordingly, more to prove
to herself that she was not seasick than
for any other reason, she did so; and,
standing as far aft as the second-class
passengers were allowed to go, stared at
the quick flashes of the lighthouse as, sec
ond by second, they sent their message
across the great waste Of sea.
AS she stood there holding on to a
stanchion to steady herself, for the vessel,
large as she was, had begun to get bit of
a roll on, she was suddenly aware of a
bulky figure of a man, which came run
ming, or rather reeling against the bull
warks alongside of her, where it-or rather
he-was instantly and violently sick, Au-
gusta was, not unnaturally, almost horri-
fed into following the figures example,
when, suddenly growing faint or from
some other cause, it loosed its hold and
rolled into the scuppers, where it lay feebly
swearing. Augusta, obeying tender i'm
pulse of humanity, hurried forward and
stretched out the hand of succor, and
presently, between her help and that Of
the bulwark nettings, the man struggled
TO his feet. AS he did so, his face came
close to hers and in the dim light she re-
cognized the fat coarse features, now
blanched with misery, of Mr.. Meeson, the
publisher. There was no doubt about it,
If was her enemy: the man whose behavior