The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-07-27
THE CAPTAINS STORY
a Queer Occurrence That Cured
Him Of His Superstitions.

"Well, sir" said the old captain to
me-a retired shipmaster, with the
gaze OF a vulture under the apparently
sleepy lid, and face full of lines and
discoloration like the wrinkling of
currents in the CLASSY swathes of
dead calm on some dingy spread of
water of the West African coast
had always been bit superstitious up
TO then, but / own that that job cured
me. But it made me see also that it
isn't reasonable to be too cOutemptu-
GUS Of ones fellow-creatures who be-
lieve in spirits and manifestations of
which there is no organ, sense or quail
ity in the human body to take notice
OF, saving credulity. 1t comes to this,
sir human nature never gets beyond
n certain pass. We sail to that point,
and then the wind shifts, and we drop
nstern. From time to time it is put
into us to think fOolishly. that the
thoughtful among us may understand
how little ahead of the old folks we
are in spite Of our discoveries. I've
watched this fad OF ghosts among us
of late the growth of societies which
aim TO enlarge mems knowledge of
what doesn't exist, and it takes me
back to the days when l was young
'un, when there were still witches in
the country, and old women were
duclled or drowned for sailing athwart
the moonlight on broomsticks. We
were a bit coarser then in our super
stitions than now, made our
ghosts hags instead OF spirits OF beau
ty, fed from candles in turnips, and
reckoned that when old Bogey wanted
us he arrived down the chimney. But
the quality remains the same. II is
only frightened in these times, pol
ished up, and made to look in other
ways finer. Now, however, to give
you my yarn:
Il was master Of a ship of eight
hundred tons. We were loaded with
general cargo, bound to the East In
dies. 1t was many years ago, when
ships companies were numerous, part
ly through the cOmpulsion of the nav
igation laws, partly because owners
wanted their ships TO keep afOat,
partly because you wouldn't have got
sailors TO ship il there had not been
hands to do the work. And my com
plement numbered between forty and
forty-fve men. In crowd OF this
kind one doesn't take particular no
tice. When the crew are few you
come to know your Jims, Joes and
Toms as you come to know your dogs
nj home, or as a man who is worth
only few shillings is not only con-
scious Of what he has in his pocket,
but can tell you the character of the
coins also. We were without passen-
gers, simply a well-manned csrgo YES
sci, all Of the olden time, though a
handsome boat in her way, frigate
built, painted ports, wide channels,
great black tops, the yards square
enough to serve u line-of-battle ship,
and the royals when mast-headed. sit
ting close against the trucks-the
properest topping-Off, to my taste, to
the fabric Of full-rigged ship. We
had been out fortnight, when in the
afternoon there came on a sudden
squall. The fore and mizzen toppal-
liant sails were clewed up, with hand
standing by at the main topgallant
halliards. noticed some figures in
the fore rigging going aloft to roll up
the sail there, and then on a sudden
there was a Commotion, a running of
men forward and a gathering Of them
into a heap around something. told
the mate to 60 and see what was the
matter. He returned with the news
that man in the act of going aloft
had fallen dead on the deck of the
rail. We were without a doctor, and
all hands looked to me in a case of
this kind. ! walked to where the
man lay and found him to be an able
seaman an old, yellow-haired man,
whose face had before taken notice
of for the CHASTITY complexion of il q; a
sort OF duszy. parchment-like hue, the
colon. of sailors dun that's been too
long in the coppers. The lids were