The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-05-21
A JOVIAL PASSENGER.
Covering q Rogue's Tricks with a
Pleasant Smile.

1t was lovely afternoon toward the
close of September when we weighed
anchor and sailed out Of the river Mer-
sey, bound for Melbourne. We had q
good ship-..Janet's Pridc"-loaded
were fourteen passengers, and take
them all in all, pleasanter lot never
steered across the stormy seas.
There were three old gentlemen who
were going out to share their fortunes,
come what might, and which. poor old
souls, they seemed to think fashioned
in the brightest colors. long before the
English coast was out of sight.
Then there was solitary old gentle
man, who, judging from the general
tone of his conversation, was seeking
the new world for the ostensible pur-
pose of finding fault with it.
There were young married couples,
all full Of hope and activity. bent upon
making a new home far away from
their native land.
There were also very jolly elderly
brother and sister, ncitherof whom had
ever entered into the bonds of matri.
D1ony, but, instead, had stuck by each
other through life.
There were three old Australian set
tiers, who had been over to have peer
ut the old country, and who We're now
returning to the land which, to them
through long communion, had become
the dearest to them of all others
"Home, sweet Homer'
Lastly, though not least, there was a
solitary passenger, who soon became
the pet of all on board. lie was man
of eight and twenty years of age, pos
sessing very clear complexion, a very
handsome, long, flowing beard and q
very silky mustache.
His name was Reginald Moore. His
given reason for taking this sea voyage
was the delicate state of his health.
There was not the least doubt that the
poor fellows chest was considerably
affected, for his voice, though charm
ingly sweet, was one of the weakest
ever remember hearing: and it had a
certain hollowness in its sound that.
in my mind, is invariably associated
with that terrible disease commonly
termed consumption. He always wore
q thick muller round his neck to pro-
tcct his throat and chest.
In all MY expcrience-and it has been
q pretty wide onc-I never knew any
one with SO many friends and such un-
divided esteem, in SO short a time, as
Reginald Moore. There was not, | be-
lieve, a sailor on board who did not en-
terrain the warmest possible liking for
him.
As for the passengers, they never
seemed so happy as when listening to
his amusing anecdotes, of which he
seemed to possess an ineXhaustible
store. And this delicate young English
paragon of passengers had made his
conquest over all our hearts before we
had been three weeks at sea.
lie was, too, such clever fellow with
his hands. He could cut and shape you
anything out of a piece of wood. from
an oyster to an elephant, and at max
ing models of ships never met with
his equal. He was. besides, such ;
kind and considerate fellow toward hi.
fellow-passengers.
When the three elderly gentlemen
who imagined their fortunes made were
afflicted with sca-sickness he was thu
first to come forward and help then
about while they slowly recovered. lii
would insist upon their taking his arm
weak as he was himself, and he would
lead them about on deck, with firm
ness that spoke volumes in favor of hi.
''sea-legs."
do not remember any voyage ever
passing SO quickly as the one when the
pleasant passenger was on board.
could, with infinite pleasure, make q
long pause at this juncture in thu
thread of my story, to dwell upon ths
pleasant memories I still retain O
Reginald Moore.
We were within weeks sail Of Mel
bourne. Mr.. Moore had all but com
pleted model of the ''Janet's Pride,
which he purposed presenting to Inc
the night before we landed.
Now. he worked at the model prin
sipslly on deck, aud, strangely enough