Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-08-22
A STORYOF THE SEA.

81s & T- y
When ] was eleven years old my
mother died and my father decided to
60 to Australia. + was his only child,
and he was by no means ovefburdened
with money. He was master plumb
er, and he set out for Sidney under
contract. Three months after our ar
rival he married again, and it was not
SIX weeks before my step. mother
pushed me into the street. I was
undersized and sickly, but I never
gave her the slightest cause for even
harsh word. She simply took an
aversion to me, and somehow her
hatred came to be reflected in my
father He saw me thrown out on
the world with hardlysa protest and
tvo dagslater, when he met me inthe
street, he gave me about eight shillings
in money and advised me to set up as
a bootblack and newsboy. I should
probably have followed his sugges.
tions had I not on that same day
CHANGED to fall in with couple of lads
who were planning to stow themselves
away aboard of an English brig called
the Charles H. Churchill. They were
boys who had ran way from home or
been thrown over like myself, and the
idea was that they could do better in
England. i was in nvited to Join, and
when our plans had been laid there
were four of US ofIabout the same age.
We looked the brig over, found that
we could get aboard, and made our
arrangements.
One night, when the brig was near
ly ready for sea, I stole aboard, carry.
ing about two quarts of water and
four pounds of bread and meat. This
was the share l was to furnish. l was
to be first aboard, slip down the mid.
ship hatch, and the others were to fol.
low at brief intervals. A fire on
board ship few hundred feet away
drew the crew Of the brig aft. and
got aboard without risk. The hold
was nearly full Of bags, barrels and
boxes, and after waiting few min.
utes made my way over these to.
ward the bow, and found avery com.
sortable place on lot Of dry hides.
1 remained awake and alert for two
hours, and then fell asleep without
realizing that / was bit sleepy. II
was morning when I awoke, and as
the sailors were at work below I dared
not move or call out. 1 figured that
my companions were in hiding around
me, and so rested easy through the
day, sleeping most of the tine. At
about sundown ! telt the ship under
motion, and an hour later the matches
were closed and / was in midnight
darkness. l had matches and a stub
of candle, and, after striking light,
1 moved around and whistlsd5 and
called to my companions AI could
make my way over the freight pretty
easily in any direction, and I. would
not give up that Twas alone until 4
had searched for full hour. Then
was positive that l was alone; the
others had either backed out or had
been bafled ,. in their attempt to get
aboard. II was much upset at the dis.
covery, and crawled back to bed and
cried myself to sleep. 1t had been
agreed among us boys that we should
keep secreted three days after sailing.
None of US anticipated any trouble
when we should make our presence
known. I had no way of computing
time as it was night all the time in the
hold, but after my bread and water
had been used upland | was hungry
and thirsty, I decided that the three
days were up. Crawling to the cover
Of the hatch / knocked on ii and
shouted, and after a while it was
opened and was helped out. 1t was
9 o'clock on the morning of the fourth
day. The first word from the captain
was q curse, and his first act was to
swing me about the deck by the hair.
Then he called for a rope and beat
me until I tainted away, and while
lying unconscious he and the first
mate kicked me several times. When
I came to6I wasA ordered forward
amongths men They gave me kind
words, ssatisfed my hunger and thitst,
and hoped that the worst was over
It was not, however. At about noon
l was called aft, and after the captain
had interrogated me as to my identity
and why | had selected his vessel, he
gave me another beating and turned
me over to the mate with the words:
You can have him now and 1 hope
you'll kill him before the week is
out
AYE, sir, leave that 10 m j, was
the reply. H'lI find a.dczen ways to
make him wishEhe'd never been born.
II had committed an offense, but
nothing deserving such punishment as
I received Tor the next three days. /
was fogged, kicked. -cuffed and NAL,
treated in evArvss vav cantain and