Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-06-13
A ROMANCE OF THE SEA.
BY GEORGE ROGERS HOWELL.


April the fifteenth, 1S48, at Southannp-
ton on the east end of Long Island. The
air IS vocal with the piping of million
tadpoles in the swampy grounds west of
the homesteads of the main street of the
village. 1t is the first sure herald of
spring. A maiden 1.-THE and fair steps out
from one of the many cosy farmhouses,
and takes her way to the Academy hall,
where the weekly singing-school is held
under the instruction of portly man
with flute to lead the sopranos. Let us
enter the home she has left. A man in
middle age has just laid down the semi
weekly Spectator which he had been read
ing aloud and turns slowly his gaze upon
his wife, who is engaged in mending the
family stockings. He has weary, anxious
look before he breaks the silence.
'Well, mother, do you see what we
can do to save the old homestead"
SIS it as bad as that, fatherI should
think you could borrow the money of
some of the neighbors. 1t is only five
hundred dollars"
~ know, but we can't touch Henry's
money in the bank for months yet, sup
posing the ship and crew are lost; and
hate to go begging for a loan, and, be-
sides, who has the money to lend except
the Squire? And you know how he feels
toward me2"
"Well, it is not due until June and
the Lord will find way Ihave trusted
Him too long to give up now"
The husband answered only with q
sigh. Mr.. Mitchell had been injured by
a fall some fifteen years before, and ever
since, though able to carry on his farm
ing business, had never been able to do
an able-bodied mans days work. Two
years before he had lost by fire barn
with its contents of hay, grain and horses,
and could only get the money to rebuild
and stock by securing a loan with mort
gage on the homestead. This he thought
was safe enough as the sum might be
| partly obtained from the sale of his crops
and partly by assistance from his son,
then at sea as second mate of the whaler
Ticonderoga, OF Sag Harbor. But crops
had been small, and the ship was long
overdue, and fears were general of her
having foundered in gale.
While the good people in this troubled
house were discussing their hopes and
fears, let us enter another of the village
residences. The squire and his wife also
are alone. One son, their first born, is
the Captain of the missing whaler; the
other, a bright young man not yet year
out of college, has gone to the singing
school with his sister. Nellie Gelston is
the light of that household, and her fa-
ther, the village squire, as the people
call, in familiar language, the resident
justice of the peace, has not yet learned
to look with friendly eye on the suitors
that have sought to take her from the
paternal home to another. She loves, and
her lover is a particularly Objectionable
match in the eyes of her father. He is
the second mate OF. the Ticonderog&.
The fathers objections are not personal
but arise from family considerations.
What they are may be learned from the
conversation now taking place between
the squire and his wife.
4. "But, said good Mrs. Gelston, "you
should not reckon it fault in Hiram that
he was partially disabled by an accident
that might have happened to you or any
one along the street."
"No, not a fault, but misfortune.
don't wish Nellie allied with an unlucky
family. And besides, there's that ever
lasting dispute about the boundary of the
woodlot at Sebonac You know Hiram
claims long strip of my woodland heav-
lily timbered. We neither of us are will,
ing to get into a regular fight over it,and
so neither of us cuts there. All the
same, the old lines in the deeds run ovel
by compass put the strip in my land, an6
he obstinately clings to an old stone he
claims is corner stone which may have
been there for ages before white mar
ever came here. And then, there is thai
COW he bought of me and claims he paic
for to Marshall just before he went to sea
II he did, why didn't Marshall tell me O
it or hand it over9"
"Why, you know, the ship had beer
ready and waiting for a fair wind to g,
out of the harbor for three days, and tn
very next morning after Mr.. Mitchell
paid, as he said he did, a messenger cam
up early from the harbor and hurried thl
men off. In the hurry probably Marshal
forgot all about it. think we will hav
to wait till the ship comes in before W
can believe Hiram would tell lie TO
twenty-five dollars"
eyes, if the ship ever does como in,
said the Squire, testify. Gas to Mar
shall's marrying Bertha Mitchell, that
his own affair. Bertha is nice girl an,
he can take care of her. But our Nelli
i cannot, as feel now, give her t
Henry until at least he is better able t
support her.
"Well, he is doing well so far, an
Nellie is satisfied Don't you think sh
ought to have something to say in th
choice of her husband2"
TO this the squire found no answer o
nand and lapsed into a moody silence.