Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-25
S. BARRING GOULD,
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
""CoURT ROYAL, ""JoHN HERRING,

I'm glad tha'rt better, lad. Come ma, If tina woant
ha' no tea, mebbe tha'n tax a sup o. tar
water"
By degrees Mr.. Pennycomequick got to un-
derstand how he had been rescued and where
he was.
The food had caught the Conquering Queen
coal barge some way below Mergatroyd, where
the land was fat and where accordingly the
water had spread and its violence was ex-
pended. 1t had snapped the cable that fast
ened the boat, and she had been carried on
down the canal She had not been lifted and
stranded beyond the banks but had gone along
with the current in the proper course. The
Conquering Queen was the property of Ann
Devils, who inhabited and managed her. along
with boy, gawky lad OF Is all legs and arms,
which became entangled among ropes and
chains, and stumbled over Jumps of coal and
mOoring posts, who never descended the ladder
without slipping and falling to the bottom in a
heap; and whose face and body, if not perpetu-
ally begrimed with coal dust, would have shown
blue with bruises.
Ann Devils had given up her berth to the
man she had drawn out of the water, and slept
the floor beside the clothing, bird-cage, cook
ing utensils, and literature sacred and pro-
fame.
''Sure sartain," said Mrs. Devils, "t'ull be a
long time wal (until) thar't better; and curias
it es, but all wor profezied 4 Tom Treddlehoyle
i hes predicshons for 1870 Jest yo listen till
this. November: All look for menny foakes
bein' brawt low. throo abaht-t' middle ia tend
a. t'munth: haviver. theaze good prospecht a.
her sooin lookin' up agean, if it is at they're
laid fat a. ther' back. Ties fortunate these
floods doant come offance (often) or we'd a.
be ruined. Look here lad, ahl clap pot
o'tstove an max thee poultices for thy joint" F"
si1-r Nv aiah
nycomequick in the cabin of the Conquering
Queen, in great pain, sometimes in delirium,
for he was attacked with rheumatic fever.
Throughout his illness he was attended inde-
fatigably by Ann Devils. She called in no
doctor. she procured no medicine. The sole
remedy she knew and favored, and which she
exhibited against all diseases, was tar water, a
remedy easily made on board the barge. of ma
terial always at hand.
Ann Devils was reduced to temporary mac
tivity by the destruction wrought by the food.
The canal was closed for repairs, and the re-
pairs were likely to consume many months.
Accordingly she could no longer ply between
the coal pits and the wharf on the Humber.
This enforced inactivity enabled her to devote
her undivided attention to her patient. She
had no house of her own-not an acre; no. not a
foot of garden ground of her own in any of the
various forms of ownership-freehold,c copy
hold or leasehold. She had no other home
than her barge. She paid no taxes-no rates;
the only charges that fell on her were the dues
levied at the locks. And Darn itr' said Ann,
THAT food will ha' sent up the dues like scald-
in water sends up t'momenter."
She belonged to no parish, came into no CEN
sus, was attached to no denomination, and was
identifiahle as a Yorkshire woman of the
West Riding only by her brogue. When the
fever quilted jeremiah PennycOmequick it
left him weak as child. He lay in the berth
powerless to rise, and long after his mind had
cleared his joints were swollen and painful.
He foresaw that many weeks, perhaps months,
must elapse before he regained his former
strength.
She did her best to amuse her patient as well
as to cure him. She read to him the richest
jokes out of Tom Tredd1ehoyle," and puzzled
him with questions from the same, compounded
as conundrums. But what interested him
chiefly was her account of herself.
She had been married. but that was nowt but
a scratch. she said. "Wunce1 thowt for sartain
sure ahd hev to give up to be Devils, and stick
to the Schofield.'
"schoheldr' said Mr.. Pennycomequick, and
passed his hand over his brow. His memory
to him. but he did not recollect when he had
heard it.
"Eh, lad, it wor thing of no consekans
Ah'll tell the t tale" For the benefit of south
country readers we will to some extent modify
the broad West Riding brogue.
at was na'lang that Earle and 1 were ac-
quainted-'
Earlier"
''Eh, every man has two names as he has two
legs and two arms and two eyes and ears. He
was called Earle Schofeld for sartain; and he
used to come and visit me in t. Conquering q
Queen. Ny mother was dead, and had left me
a tidy bit o. brass, for shoe was a saving woman,
an shoe had been cap'n. boatswain, steward
and all tot Conquering Queen ever sim my
father died All t'brass he and she had added
(earned) was kip in b there I wi'nt tell
thee, not that 1 mistrust thee but we're all
frail creatures, and terribly tempted. So there,
lad, this here pipe belonged to Earle. He wor
a bit O. gentleman, he wor. He'd niver been
in coil barge trading up an down t'canal
We'd famous scheme atwixt u.s. He was to
set up coil store an a hoffis by twarf at Hull
an he sed that he knew o. a chap as 'ud sell
t'good-wlll and all his custom for flOO And
Earle-be wor an uncommon clever hand
at account. He figured it a. up on a slate
and he showed me how great 'ud be our
profits. And he tod me that it wor the coil
marchants as got a. tprofits o. t'sale o. coils,
and got nobbut their crumbs, as 1 may say.
And he showed me how if he sold and carried
coils we'd be rich in no time, and after we'd
got married then 1 tow'd him where 1 ken
t'brass. didn't tell him before-belieYe me-
We were sitting on this deck. drawed up by
t'side o. t'wharf at Hull, as he showed a. that,
and as tow'd him where had my brass. Then
he took t'pipe he wor smoking out O. his mouth
and put it into mine, and sed 1 wor to kip it
aleet wall he came back, he'd go an deposit a
hundred pound, he sed, for t'good-will, and Sc
cure the hoffis at wunce. And let him take
all my brass, for sartain / thow't as we'd been
married for three weeks all war right, and what
was mine was his. He took t'brass and he
went ashore and tlast words he sed to me wor
Ann, keep t'pipe aleet wall retarn.' waited.
but from that day I've niver clapt eyes on
him."
"And your money!"
'Nor on that noather."
what a great rascal he must have beenr'
may, 1 won't say that. We're a. sinful creeturs.
and our temptations is terrible. Wot became
O. him Gamma say but for sure sartin he'd
mind to return to me, or he not ha tow'd me to
keep t'pipe aleet. Wha can tell, he may ha'
got drop o. liquor on Shore and ha' BEEN
robbed, and then ashamed to come back and tell
me; or he may have found t'chap none SO ready
to sell t'good-wiIl-and SO ha' gone about looik-
ing for summat else and not found it-or he
may ha' been took by them rampagin an
roarin' lions, as seek whom they can lock up-
the perlice. Nay! I'll not condemn him, and
allow that he wor a rascal, for what sez Tom
Treddlehoyle-
This world, we all nav, hez its ups and its daans
An shorter wi'r time keeps windin',
An day after day we are crost wir way
Then speak of man as 20 find him.
'But think you found him serve you badly
enough" said Mr.. Pennycomequick. from his
berth, ITO walk of with your savings and leave
you with nothing"
May not exactly" answered Anne. 'sThere
wor this pipe for wun, he left; and, y after a
pause there wer Jozeph. Tbairn came vera
comfortin' when / wer i tew aboot losing
ma brass. Besides, Z lad Joe, ha' been ov use
to me as much as / paid a lad afore shil-
ling a week, and he hev a. been tsame to me
for six years. If tina comes ia reckon at 50
weeks 1T year, that's Is pound 10 per hannum;
and for six year that mounts up to nigh on Ito
pound, which is a scoring of of Z account"
''And that is his pine you are smoking?"
"Ees, for sartaen. sed I'd kept aleet, and
if he comes back at T. end o. seven more year,