St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-27

lively hustle and commotion of sea life.
the tinkling of the bells, the CHEEKY
trIll of the boatswain's pipe, the hoarse
singing OUT of the sailors as they
hauled taut the braces and the thousand
and one interesting sights and sounds
of existence on shipboard.
At lIss brilliant idea struck him.
He would make his house and sur
r0undings as nautical as possible. Ii
he couldn't live on ship, there were at
least some of the paraphernalia of
vessel that might with propriety. as he
thought, be introduced into his Jersey
estate. The first thing he did was to
order lower mast and topmast from a
New York shlpyard, spars such as
would be suitable for hundred-tOn
schooner. These were shipped to Par
anus. and with them came gang of
riggers with all the tools Of their trade.
The skipper was now in his element.
1t would have done your heart good to
watch the old man bossing those rig
gers round. In the center of the front
lawn deep hole was dug, in which TO
step the mast. and with the aid of a
pair of shears and a double purchase,
the spar was got on end. The
shrouds and backstays were set
up TO iron eyebOlts imbedded
III solid masonry, and after sending mp
| ging till eydrything looked ''ship shape
and Bristol fashion," the old man
thought the general appearance of
| things would be nightly improved by
having a lower yard alOft. Accordingly
he had one rugged with truss, lifts and
braces, for all the world like the main
yard of full-rigged ship--fOot ropes,
Flemish horses, jackStays and all. After
tarring down the rigging and giving
| the SparS three coats of paint, Squaring
the yard and hosting the stars and
stripes to the tOpmast truck, the skip
| per mustered all hands, treated them
each to a second mates nip of New
| England rum and paid them off. The
Triggers gave him three hearty cheers,
| for they knew he WIS a tip-tOp old
| chap, and returned to their loft on
| South street.
Next day Capt. Qauckenboss went to
| New York and bought a compass. bin
nacle, anchor light, two small side
| lights. fog horn, ships bell, barometer,
thermometer, a ships log book and one
| of those ingenious marine clocks that
strike the bells every half hour. He
also procured 100 fathOms of rafting
stuff, spun yarn, marine, half a dozen
blocks and a small steering wheel,
| ordering everything to he shipped by
freight to Paramus. Then. with
merry expression on his tanned and
weather-beaten cOuntenance, he went
back to his Jersey possessions as lively
as two year-Old.
When he got home he had an inter
view with the local carpenter, and got
him to build sort of charthOuSe OH the
lawn abaft the mast, with compani Oil
| ladder leading to the top, which was
| inclOsed in a brass rail. Here he rugged
up his pinnacle and his bell. He also
had stanchiOns ami ridge ropes put up,
to which he spread an awning on hot
days. The interior of the charthouSe
reSembled the StaterOOm or ship. 1t
was finished in mahogany, and had an
upper and lower bunk, little table in
| the center, and a swinging tray, with
| decanter of rum and box of cigars,
suspended from the ceiling. In book
case was the shippers little nautical
library. containing, among other vol
umeS. his" NOrie'S EpitOme, 1.-THE Sailors
| HornhOok" and a nautical almanac"
| There also reDOsed his sextantand chro-
nOmeter. After hanging his barometer
and thermometer and the clock that
struck the bells to the bulkhead ne pre-
pared to enjoy life after his own
fashion. And he might have been
there today had it not been for events
which he did not foresee.
The captain spent nearly all his time
in the charthOuse. He slept there, as a
rule, for he couldn't take kindly to big
! Oaken fOur-pOSJer, a relic of Revolution
airy days, which lent dignity TO the best
bedroom. He realized that he was like
the prOverblal dog of antiquity-toO old
| TO learn new tricks.
His daily routine was something like
! this: He used to turn out at O'Clock
1 in the morning, his faithful Manuel
| a 0OtfE1A "a
hard tack. Then he would superintend
Manuel as he rugged the awning aud
| polished the DraSswork. This task was
always finished before o'clock. when
the skipper would strike eight bells and
hoist up the ensign. Then he would
pipe to breakfast. Manuel, like all ma
tives of Portugal, was born cook. His
Spanish omelettes were divine, and his
curried chicken gaStrOnOmic dream of
delight. The captain used to amuse
himself after breakfast by recording in
his log his barOmetric and Their
mCmetric observations. the force
and direction of the wind and such
other meteorological data as he thought
wee valuable and interesting. This
would take him until IL o'clock, when
he would summon Manuel to him and
with the stereOtyped remark that 1.-The
sun was over the foreyard" would fill
q
aud take few drops in a wine glass
himself. After indulging in pipe he
used TO go ION deck" with his seXtant
and take an observation of the sun with
| the aid of an artificial horizon. When
the sun got on the meridian he used to
say to Manuel: Make it eight bells"
After he had done this he would go be-
low and work up his observations while
the young Portuguese poured the mer-
curry out of the trough into the iron bot
tie.
The skipper took his dinner at l
O'Clock, and, after a pipe, enjoyed his
nap under the awning. Then gentle
walk around the farm would give him
all appetite for supper, which was
served at sunset. after colOrS had been
hauled down. In ordinary weather the
skipper took his time from the Govern
Or's Island gun, which could be plainly
| heard at Paramus, but when the wind
blew so hard from the northwest that
the gun was inaudIble, the chronometer
was relied upon. Before he turned in,
| Capt. Peter regularly read chapter of
the Bible, and, as he led good life, his
slumberS were sound.
But there is always something to dis
turb the equilibrium of poor mortals.
| Ashore it is sometimes MOSQUITOES,
while atloat it is cOckroacheS. But mos
| QultOeS and cOckrOacheS, however an
nOying, are not half 50 bad as the two
legged scorpions in the shape of human
beings that go round seeking whom
they may devour.
On an Inflated day the skipper bought
a fine. sturdy horse and strong wagon.
His ideas of driving were primitive in
the extreme, and, when they were put
in practice, were destined to create
4 big sensation within a radius of ten
miles from his house. He made up his
mind that he would introduce new
wrinkle" in the art of driving suitable
for retired sea captain vino had worked
| his way aft by way of the hawsepipes.
So. calling in the village carpenter, the
j three of them set to work and rugged the
little steering wheel in the front of the
/ MagOn Then he tackled the harness