Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-12-06

sh1vering, fled away; 1eaping from billow
| to billow as they rose, and tossed their
white arms about her, fain to drag her
down and hold her to oceans heaying
| breast.
The rigging tautened, and the huge sails
| Tapped in thunder as the Harpoon sped
| upon her course, and all around was great
ness and the present majesty of power.
| Augusta looked aloft and sighed, she knew
not why. The swift blood of youth coursed
through her veins, and she rejoiced ex-
ceedingly that life and all its possibilities
| yet lay before her. But a little more of
that dreadful place and they would have
| lain behind. Her days would have been
numbered before she scarce had time to
strike blow in the great human struo0la
that RACES ceaseless1y from age to age
The voice Of her genius would have been
| hushed just as its notes began to thrill,
and her message would never have been
spoken in the world. But now Time was
once more before her, and OH the nearness
of Death had taught her the unspeakable
| value of that one asset on which we car
rely-Life. Not, indeed, that life for which
so many ive-the life led for self, and
having for its principle, if not its only end.
| the qualification of the desires of self; but
an altogether higher life-a life devoted to
| telling that which her keen instinct knew
was truth, and, however imperfectly,
painting with the pigments of her noble
| art those visions of beauty which some
times seemed to rest upon her soul like
shadows from the heaven of our hopes.
Three months have passed-three long
| months of tossing waters and ever-present
winds. The Harpoon, shaping her course
for Norfolk, in the United States, had
made but a poor passage of it. She got
into the southeast trades, and all went
well till they made St. Paul's Rocks, where
| they were detained by the doldrums and
variable winds. Afterward she passed
into the northeast trades, and then further
| north, met a series of westerly gales, that
! ultimately drove her to the Azores, JUST
as her crew were getting very short Of
water and provisions. And here Augusta
| bid farewell to her friend the Yankee skip
per; for the whaler that had saved her life
| and Dicks, after refitting once more, set
| sail upon its almost endless voyage. She
stood on the breakwater at Ponta Delga-
| da, and watched the Harpoon drop past
The men recognized her and cheered lusti-
| ly, and Captain Thomas took off his hat
for the entire ships company, down to the
cabin boy, were head over heels in love
with Augusta; and the extraordinary Of
| ferings that they made her, on parting,
most Of them connected in some way or
other with that noble animal, the whale
sufficed to fill a good-sHed packing case
Augusta waved her handkerchief to them
in answer; but she could not see much of
| 11o,. f,,ll
She had had quite enough of the Harpoon
and yet she was 10th to say farewell TO her,
| for her days on board had in many re-
spects been restful and happy ones, they
had given her space and time to brace her
self up before she plunged once more into
the struggle of active life Besides, she
had throughout been treated with that I'M
varying kindness and consideration for
which the American people are Justly not
ed in their dealings with all persons in
misfortune.
But Augusta was not the only person
who with sorrow watched the departure
of the Harpoon. First, there was little
Dick, who had acquired fine Yankee
| drawl, and grown quite half an inch on
board of her, and who fairly howled when
his particular friend, remarkably fierce
and grisly looking boatswain, brought him
as a parting offering a large whales tooth,
| patiently carved by himself with a spirited
| picture of their rescue on Kerguelen Land
| Then there was Mrs Thomas herself
| When they finally reached the island of
| ST. Michael, in the Azores, Augusta had
offered to pay fifty pounds, being half of
the hundred sovereigns given to her by
Mr.. MeeSon, to Captain Thomas as a pass
| age fee, knowing that he was by no
means overburdened with the goods of
| this world. But he StOutly declined to
| touch farthing, saying that it would be
unlucky to take money from a castaway.
Augusta as stoutly insisted; and, finally,
a compromise was come to. Mrs. Thomas
was anxious, being seized with that acute
| species of Inconsistencies from which Suf-
] folk people are no more exempt than other
! folk, to visit the land where she was born
| and the people midst whom she was bred
up. But this she could not well afford to
do. Therefore Augustas proffered fifty
| pounds was appropriated to this purpose,
and Mrs. Thomas stopped with Augusta
at Ponta Delgada, waiting for the London
and West India Line Packet to take them
! to Southampton.
So it came to pass that they stood to-
/ gether on the Ponta Delgada brealzwateI
and together saw the Harpoon sail off to-
ward the setting sun.
Then came soft dreamy fortnight in
the fair island of St Michael, where Ma
ture is ever as bride, and never reaches
the stage of the hard-worked, toil-worn
mother, 1ank and lean With The burden q
maternity The mental act of looking
back to this time in after years always re-
| called to Augustus senses the odor OF
orange blossoms, and the sight of the rich
| pomegranate bloom blushing the roses
| down. 1t was a pleasant time, for the
English Consul there most Hospitality en-
| tertained them-with much more personal
enthusiasm indeed than he generally con-
| sidered it necessary to show toward ship
| wrecked voyagers-a class of people OF
! whom consular representatives abroad
| must get rather tired with their eternal
misfortunes and their perennial want OF
| clothes. Indeed, the only drawback to
her enjoyment was that the Consul, gal
| liant ex-naval officer with red hair, equally
| charmed by her adventures, her literary
| fame, and her person, showed decided
| disposition to fall in love with her, and a
| red-haired and therefore ardent naval Off
| Ger is, under those circumstances, a some
| what alarming parsonage. But the time
went on without anything serious happen
ing; and, at last, one morning after break
fast man came running up with the in
| formation that the mail was in sight.
And so Augusta took an affectionate
| farewell of the golden-haired Consul, who
| gazed at her through his eyeglass and
| sighed when he thought of what might
have been in the sweet by and by; and the