Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1888-12-21

Etf L I'M III .iiip o4IGuC anu SIOOmy-
AihIH WY Only the hOarse CUR
INPF.zG Cling of the stream
fltering through the Shiny piles I'M
derneath the pier, only the distant
swash of a paddle broke upon the
monotonOus cracking of chains and
cables, the same big, stiff ones that Cd
Tom Saunders had seen make fast the
newly arrived bark at nightfall. He had
been striding up and down the bare
deck Of the dusky canal boat to keep
himself warm ever since the stranger
had doomed up on the other side of the
pier. He had heard screaming in the
Slip beyond the whistle Of the tug boat
that had brough her in, and seen the
bustling little craft steam away with
the sparks and smoke from her tunnel
leaving a luminous trail in the dark.
From that the gloom had been thicker
about the pier and the damp mist roll
ing up from the bay had wrapped the
shipping in a shroud of moisture There
had been a CHATTER of voices for a while
on the big bark, and he had been half
conscious of fitting lights and hoarse sea
orders but all these had ceased long ago
and now the black hull Of the new arrival
rose up in the gloom, solemn and silent,
with her masts slightly tilted off and
lantern forward cleaning like a dim
yellow star.
Old Tom Saunders paced the deck of
the dingy hulk he was on, with his pipe
gripped fast between his teeth and his
hands slowed away down IN the pockets
of his threadbare pea-jacket. The bat
tered and decaying boat was no shabDier
and more wOe-tegOne than the man.
Old Tom he was by virtue of the years
that had turned his few Struggling
II oil Of
burrows across his face. Familiarly Old
Tom among the wharf men, who knew
him as such ever since he had come along
on the Old canal boat, a broken down
man with flavor of better times about
him. FacetiousIy Old Tom, in conse-
qucnce of the fOndness for the tipple
of that name which, it was limited, had
dragged him down to his present low
estate. Old Tom Saunders had once
been burly. and he was still big man,
but he had lost all his flesh. His face
looked like worn parchment, and had
that cOlOrless, bleached-out appearance
which a life Of constant excuses begets.
There was also that nervous twitching
about the lips and that aimIess wander
ing Of the fingers which betoken a con
atitution unstrung and shattered.
$50 this IS Christmas Eve eh?" NUT
tered Old Tom with a snort that was
half groan. christmas Eve, and nary
a bite in the locker nor nickel in the
pocket It's blasted hard-blaSted hard
for man that's seen better days"
He crunched the pipestem between his
teeth and made another round of the
deck, but stopped when he had reached
the old place again.
"There's some as 'ud say twas mis-
fOrtin did it. And some as 'ud croak
bout ill-luck. 'Twusn't neither. Twas
rum. Rum and me own mulishness. IF
[ dadn't driv that boy away, he'd be now
maxim good Twin for her, no matter
what | WIS about and she wouldn't be
IN there dyin'-dyin' for bite to eat"
AS he spoke he glanced at the little
pokey hole in the cabin, where a faint
light gGmmered, and turned again to the
dark line of The water front.
'She was never the same after he went
away-never the same bouncing gal that
used to 'liven up the old house like
sunbeam. Twas that TUX all the go out
O. her. And l had to get t. work and
blame her for sulkin' when her heart wus
breakin'."
He took the pipe from his mouth and
absently showed it in his pocket.
cit might a been all right" he went
on. ut might "a been all right eff
AoNAu CdlIlctl Oh d. I1I I'LL uOuSC dilu
shop and everything went to smash.
But l had to keep a-goin' while the
money lasted, and now-now," he
repeated with a solemn inclination of the
head, Its gone"
He swung about to resume his lone
some walk. but the glimmer in the cabin
brought him to a standstill
"She's there" he said, and there was
sorrow and remorse in his voice ''Shes
there nussin' his baby and thinkin' of it's
father; maybe cryin' her eyes out about
him. And she a dyin' by inches"
The rumble of wagon came from the
land side, and the sound of a horn away
off in the streets sent down to the silent
WharVeS q reminder of the holiday iOllitV