Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1890-01-08
LITTLE MISS MUFFET.

Courage shows Itself unexpectedly IN many
different ways and places. have seen men
who had been brave soldiers turn pale when
they sat in dentists chair, and have seen
women who would scream at the sight Of
mouse bear without groan the pain of
terrible surgical operation
The other day, in an old station on the New
Jersey coast, l saw queerly shaped boat
which reminded me Of something that hap
pened to me once
Some years ago took passage in large
emigrant ship, the Ayrshire, for this coun-
try had been at the University of Edin-
burgh, and was inpatient to reach home.
There were on board over three hundred EN-
igrant passengers in the Storage, and sixty
seven passengers in the cabin.
One of the cabin passengers was an in
valid, very small, delicate young girl Of
twenty years, attended by her mother and
nurse She was not patient sufferer. Her
medicine was always too sweet or too sour;
her pillows were too hard or too soft and at
the sound Of the wind or a peal of thunder
she would tremble and cry like child from
fear.
There were two young men in the cabin be
sides myself, and / am afraid that they found
a good deal of amusement in provoking her
terrors by telling horrible stories of corpse
lights on the rigging, or of sharks and devil
fish and other sea monsters, or the sailors
yarn Of che great shadow of fish which fell
lows a ship on which is human being APP
pointed soon to die. She used to stand by
the hour at the stern Of the ship looking
down into the cool, green depths to SEQ if the
shadow pursued her
Her nervous system was shaken by long
suffering, and / sympathized with her; but
the other men voted her nuisance. They
were strong and full Of health and fun, and
thought 1t hardship that the cabin should
be, so they said, turned into a hospital ward,
with bottles and pillows
One OF them, Frank Lowe, had served in
the French army in Algiers, out Of sheer love
Of excitement and adventure; the other, Der
nard Knott, had been volunteer in the
United States army during the civil war. So
you see that, notwithstanding their unfeeling
behavior toward the invalid girl, they we're
not towards
It was one day near the end Of the voyage,
and we hoped to see land on the morrow.
Early in the evening Knott and Lowe and
went down into the cabin, as the fog was Sc
heavy that in the darkness we could scarcely
see one anothers faces on deck. The lamps
we1s lighted, and we sat down at the table
I took up my book; the other men began tc
play donninoes
Miss Murray, the invalid, was lying on q
sofa, knitting, as usual at some white fluffy
stuff. The young men called the poor glr
| Miss Muffet to each other because she was Sc
| tiny and because she was always scared anc
shuddering at some fancied object Of terror
SeJ in the woodwork at one end Of the So
loon was a long mirror, and draped about i
were some faded red and gold curtains O
uloreen. Mrs. Murray, who was a chatty
cheerful little body, called our attention Il
the drops Of moisture on the glass.
"You cannot see your face in it." she said
"The fog must be very heavy"
Where are wei asked Lowe. "Did tn
captain work up our position this eveningr
YES said Knott "He figured it out b,
th@dead reckoning, Of course But believ
he does not know amy more than do wher
we arer
noticed that Knott had no jokes to max
that evening, and that he was restless
Throwing down a book that he had caugh
up, he paced up and down the cabin.
There was much shouting and tramplin
on deck, but supposed that the crew wer
reefing sail in anticipation Of a storm, an
paid little attention to the commotion over
head.
Suddenly it seemed to me as If every bon
in my body had been wrenched. foun
myself on my hands and knees, with tn
floor Of the cabin rising like g steep wall b
fore me- Then / saw a queer thing. n
mirror broke obliquely from corner TO CO
ner, and through the rent came torrent
foul bilge water. People have describe
the wreckage OF vessel In a storm at sea
magnificent, terrible spectacle, but that
all that saw at the moment Of its occurrenI
the mirror parting in the middle and Il
; bilge water pouring into the room.
But that was enough ! knew that Il
J ship was doomed
!, The mate. Sanders, stood In the doorway.
"What b thisr' yelled Knott
1.-THE ship has struck bar and is going
piecesln the mate answered "An hands (
} deckln
He spoke pretty much as he might ha'
I talked if he were giving an order to no
/ stone decks; yet knew that be had wife
home, and a child whom he had never see
but had hoped 70 see on the morrow. Z
GOODNESS was habit, you sec.
don't know how we got on deck. We M
helped the three women up, OF course tn
Z was habit, too. Good habits tell in q tir
like that Just as much as they do in an eve
ing party in a drawing room on shore.
The Ayrshire was on the great sandb
which lies off the whole New Jersey Goa
7 Hundreds Of ships used 10 be wrecked thel
q Before tho hfe-saving service was establish
u the New Jersey shore vas strewn with wrec
: age.
The emigrants were swarming on the decl
Q A fearful surf broke over US continual
, The ship was irremovably settled in t
}. sands, but il was rocked incesantly by t
waves. All around US vas the impenetrat
n grayness OF the fog, through which came {
q terrific thunder OF the eakers on the shol
Il 1t drowned the shrieks Of the women a
n even the hoarse shouts of the captains trul
J. pet
Surely we are on land" piped Mrs. Nj
ray, Gloss beside me- The ship is FAST
q "On a bar said tho mate.
From the moment OF her striking the
was no chance of saving the vessel, viii
was rapidly going to pieces. The paSsenge
a and crew wer hildled ON her quarter dec
u Three boats ssse launched, but before o
< Of them cc'iid be manned they were swe
AVA IA. lers IN the storm.