The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1891-07-16
A "Kfcker,, of the Sea.
Way back in the fiftieS-

way DdCk III the UICl6S|
Hold on. now-don't told your paper up
this is not going to be B. c. 225 fairy
tale, so help me Dan Webster. Sh-h-h!
dent speak all at once! WANT AN EXACT
DATE? By the goloshes of my ancestors,
this is the acme of inQuisitiveness. Now,
STE here, IS. you bring your pendulum of
speech to a full stop! No. do not care to
have clairvoyant assist me in hunting up
the lost date; but can hold such a seance
over that piece of anatomy of yours that
we'll, order your sarcophagus in time. Now
be seated every mothers son of you, and
hear me twang my Tyre.
l was fortunate enough to accompany
my father and mother on my first voyage
to the tropics. on board the elizabeth" a
clipper ship of five hundred tons, built by
my fathers orders in Machias specially for
this trade. The trip was to be one of great
interest Touching first on the Isthmus of
Panama. to discharge our cargo, sailing
afterwards latter taking in as ballast one
thousand bags of ivory nutS) to the coast of
Mexico for complete and miscellaneous
cargo consisting of rubber. hides and log
wood We were then to proceed to the
English Channel ''for Orders"-which
meant, that, on entering those waters orders
would be sent out to us by the consigneeS
to proceed to the point OF destination to
discharge our cargo. This clause is always
specified in charter parties of vessels plying
between Europe and the tropics-the reason
being that often the market of one port is
found to be more advantageous for the sale
of the cargo than another.
John Armstrong was sad sea dog-a
veritable old tar of the sea. He had more
liberty allowed him than any other man on
board ship, on account of having been on
four years cruise in the China seas and Oh
thessame man Ofwar in which my father
had been an ensign. This. together with
the love he bore him, was sufficient for the
entire family to stand a great deal from
John. But as an encOnOmiZer of the truth
-W-h-e-w! When father would go on deck
and notice lull in the wind, he would send
forward to inquire if John Armstrong was
or had been telling any of his outrageous
yarns. l actually saw the copper-rivets
knock their heads together in agony, after
hearing his experience with band of saw
ages off Patagonia. And when he told us
how in '52 he had straddled the back of the
sea-serpent, off Madagascar. to save HIM
self from shipwreck. our penant flew
down the halyards and saluted him.
But how about his kicking? There was
MT man, of the twenty eight who COM
posed the crew, that did not swear that the
Elizabeth" was the most comfortable and
best victualled craft that sailed between the
Gulf of Mexico and the Indian Ocean. But
not so with John Armstrong. Why, he
went so far as to kick because the eye-bolt
swivel of the wndward anchor was one.
sixteenth smaller in circumference than the
ones he had been accustomed to through
life. In fact he kicked against everything
that existed between truck and keel, and
larly, three times day. about his grub;
and insisted on having. instead of ''that
sIush," his salt beef and 'gravy" (black
strap and duff. He said that this WAS
food. At last the day of reckoning came,
and sooner than he expected it.
The poor cook had time and time again
complained to mother (he did not dare to
approach father) about Johns actions; and
sure that as soon as we reached the Chan
mel he would run away. Mother told him
to be patient, that she had a scheme on
hand by which she hoped to smooth Johns
temper. ''Ah, nam. yer don't know yer
man, man," She told him to kill one of
the turkeys on the following day-she at.
tending to the stuffing-and to serve it to
the men at the noon mess.
The boatswain's whistle blew at noon
and the men rushed down to grub. The
turkey had been placed at the head of the
table, Johns favOrite seat. When he sat
down, and saw the bird before him, look
of blank astonishment crepted over his face.
He looked at the boys around him as if to
inquire what all this meant. Then he be-
came red in the face, and putting out his
cheeks he beloved out "Cook, ahoy!
What do you mean you blankety blank idiot
by putting this carcass before me? Too