The Portland daily press., 1891-08-21
TATTOOEU THE PKINCEs
Two Distinguished Britishers FItaed
for a Museum.
New York Journal. l

have made the acquaintance of such
quaint, clever old retired sea captain,
with great black eyes and snow white
hair and mustache. He had been the
world over several times, and there
seems to be nothing nor nobody which
and whom he has not seen or known.
Just now we are SO intimate newspa-
per intimate-with the Prince of Wales
and his doings perhaps an anecdote
which the captain told me of George,
the princes second son, may be amusing.
The captain some years ago was in
San Francisco with his ship. 1t was
chartered by big manufacturing COM
pany to go to New South Wales, where
the captain was to buy 1900 tons of
certain celebrated bituminous coal.
He arrived safely and put up at the
finest hotel in Sydney. At this hotel
were staying the Duke of Edinburgh,
with his nephew, son of the Prince of
Wales, and young Gladstone, nephew
of the great statesman. They were then
taking trip around the world, the boys
in the care of the Duke of Edinburgh,
who commanded the ship
My sea captain made their acquaint-
ance and dined with them the first day
of his arrival. He told the boys some Of
the jolliest stories and they took to each
other immensely, but strange to say, he
did not catch vestige of them for the
next two weeks.
One day they appeared again suddenly,
seized the captain by the hand and in
sisted upon his going Immediately to
join them in glass Of champagne in
honor of the meeting.
"Where on earth have you been hid
ing% asked the captain.
"In bed" answered the prince, with a
sound, half groan half chuckle, land
it's all the fault of that long legged
beast, Tom Nolan"
Then young Gladstone put in a naughty
word and raped out:
eyes, the beggar declared that we
would heal up in one day. I'd like to
thrash him, but his back is yard across,
and l could not knock him down, you
know, if I tried"
TATTooED WITH "FAsT DYE"
"What the dickens did he do to your"
"Why, see here" said the prince, and
the captain, putting on his spectacles,
discovered that the princes under lip
had been tattooed with the royal "broad
arrow" while young Gladstone's lip was
similarly decorated with an anchor, two
lovely "fast dye" embellishments which
would last all their lives.
Choking with suppressed laughter the
captain said, 1.-THE old salt has done his
work well, but this need not have kent
you in bed two weeks"
"Oh, bless you, no." said the prince.
"but, you know, he coaxed us into hav-
ing dolphins and merlnaids and notices.
pretty much all over us, and oh, it's
abominable, you know, for we were soon
laid out as stiff as ramrods and bowling
with pain. 1t don't matter, now it's all
over" added the prince rather ruefully,
"but, by Georgei I'll never be caught in
such trumpery scrape again"
"Nor l." chimed in young Gladstone,
with an emphatic bang of his fist on the
table; "but the worst of it is, you know,
that we shall be dancing and flirting at
balls and praying in church with all
these ridiculous mermaids and idiotic
what-a-call-ems prancing round with us
all along the line. George has made a
royal jackass of himself, and ann
"a radical jackass," laughed the cap
tain. Sand the signs of it will last for
ever. You will have to dance and pray
and offer yourselves to your sweethearts,
mermaids and all, for better, for worse"
Then he made solemn grimace at
them and they all burst out laughing
and the boys invited him to inspect the
splendid ship, in which they were steam
ing over the world, and while there the
captain put the youngest up to playing
some high jinks upon the old sailor who
had persuaded them to be tattooed-by
way of an awful retribution.
THE MARKS REMAINED.
A day or two after the great ship
steamed away, and the captain, having
loaded the ship with the coal he was to
get, set sail for California.
Some years after he was in Yokohama
and left it at night by getting on board
a ship bound for California. In the
morning he rose early to watch the fast
receding shores of Japan. A tall, hand
some young man came out of his state
room at the same moment in his dress
ing robe. "Hallop he cried, "why, if
here amt my dear old captainl How
are your So glad to meet you againr' +
The puzzled captain looked at the,
young man in vain hope to recognize,
him, when the other, lifting splendid
mustache, disclosed tattooed anchor,
on his lip.
"Oh, now know you! You are Glad
stone. What big, good looking fellow
you are, to be sure"
"All you see of me-" laughed the
other. my friends, the mermaids and
notices still cling closer than brother,
and under my clothes I'm show for
your circus friend, Barnum."
And then they went over the New
south Wales adventure and had amost
enjoyable, jolly chat together