St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-05-20
learly we prize the beautiful girls.
Smilinpso sweet
THE FAREWELL KISS.

i e .
For once in his life John Winthrop
did not kiss his wife before starting for
his fishing boat, the Martha Jane. He
had observed the custom ever since they
were married, but on this particular
morning they had Quarreled over some
tritie, and he left the house without the
parting kiss.
He had not gone very far before he
repented of his anger and retraced his
steps to the cottage. He saw his wife
seated silently by the window crying
softly to herself. In moment he had
clasped her in his arms and imprinted
Oh her lips the farewell kiss, while she
smiled i'll reconciliation.
John Winthrop joined the other fish
ermen with light heart. He worked
hard and succeeded in making several
large hauls. So busy was he that he did
not notice dark cloud sweeping toward
the boat from the northwest.
When the storm broke, however,
Winthrop and his two men were not en-
tlrely unprepared for 1t, and he decided
to run the Martha Jane out to sea and
thus avoid being driven On the sands
and reefs along shore.
The storm would probably last but an
hour or two, he thought, and then he
could make for home later than usual,
but soon enough to prevent his wife
from suffering much anxiety,
The storm, however, proved to be
more than passing hurricane. While
it diminished somewhat in fury it con-
tanned sufficient energy to prevent any
hope of the fisherman's sloOp being able
to tack in contrary direction, and the
MI nh nfx ~, ~
with the gale.
Night came ON, with the Martha Jane
still bounding before the wind far out
on the broad Atlantic. At times it
seemed that the stout little boat would
surely be engulfed; but, thanks to skill
full steering, she rode securely, rising
like a think of life from the seething
valley of waters to the crest of mount
ain billow, only to sink again in an
other vast furrOw of the ocean.
1t was long night. 1t seemed as if
dawn would never come. John stood at
the wheel or at the bow the wearisome
ness and keeping up the courage of his
men with enlivening and hopeful re-
marks. But while his attention to
duty never tagged, his mind was far
away in old NantOwn, and he often
thanked God that he had not left that
morning without the parting kiss. )9
Midnight passed-so John Winthrop's
watch told him: but all was still black
as midnight. The glimmer of the Ian
tern was hardly visible from the deck.
The only relief to the intense darkness
was the phosphorescent CLEAN ofythe
boiling foam. Only the direction of the
storm and the waves could be told. As
to all else human precautions were
powerless.
With no more warning than the light
ming stroke gives to it's victim, the
crash came. There was grinding
noise, a smothered cry for help, and the
Martha Jane sank into the depths of the
boiling ocean. aa
AT the moment OF the crash John
Winthrop instinctively grasped a chain,
whose links swung loosely against him.
He could not see, but he could feel that
it was the anchor chain of vessel. He
was pulled on board. His companions
was useless to think of any attempt at
rescue.
The vessel whic ran down the Martha
Jane was bodnd from Bristol to the
coast of Africa. Winthrop was carried
to Sierra Leone. Too self-reliant to ask
for assistance from others, he accepted
the first opportunity to get employment
as sailor GU brig running to Scot
land. Thence, with the earnings of the
passage, he took the first train home.
Let us go back to the cottage at Nam
town. 1t is needless to describe the
anxiety of the young wife when she
She did not sleep that night, and, like
her husband far off on the raging ocean,
she thanked Heaven repeatedly that,
whether lost or among the living, he
had not gone in the morning without
the parting token of wife's affection.
AS days, weeks and months passed,
and no tidingS came of John, Martha be-
gan to loose the hope that he might pos
sibly have been picked up by passing
vessel and carried to a distant shore.
Bnt still her loving heart refused to give
him up as dead, and morning and
evening she looked with longing eyes
toward the broad ocean which, she be-
lieved, held the secret of her loved
ones fate.
In due time a little stranger arrived
to claim her devotion and divide her
love with the absent husband and
father. 1t was called John Win
throp, Jr.
1t was crisp, clear evening in De-
cember. Martha was sitting in her
cosy cottage, looking out at the beach
ana the stars which glnted on the
peaceful winter sea. Her babe was in
her arms. Her face was pale, but per-
hapS fairer even than before it had been
impressed by the Christening influence
of grief.
A shadow passed the window. There
was knock at the door-an Old-time.
familiar knock.
Martha's heart was in her throat. She
did not wait for the woman who had
been her companion for several weeks
to answer the call. She opened the door,
and in moment she and the baby were
in the arms of her husband.
Il little thought" he said, as he con-
Guided at the supper table his long and
interesting story, that so many months
would pass before l would clasp, nv
wife in my arms again. 1t will be a
lifelong lesson to me, whatever differ
ence we may have, never to go out for
the day, for toll or for pleasure, without
parting kiss