Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1892-09-17
4 FORTUNATE MISTAKE L.

looked ruefully at a neat package that
lay on the table.
What a focl was to buy that, he
thought. "Oll sextant was plenty good
enough, though have had it nine years
Bought it in Liverpool when was second
mate of the Julia a. Smith. And now
| lave put out a months earnings for
new one What possessed me l don't
know"
And SO the Captain went on.
Now Capt. Sprowl was not, as you
might think from the name, bald
headed old man with bushy whlskers.
No, names are very misleading. ln-
stead, he was tall and slender, with
sandy mustnche, and had not gray hair
in his head He came from Maine, and
although but thirty years old, he had
l.en for six years Captain of the Edna
Dunn. nc,,. lying at Constitution wharf
it. 30 ton discharging her cargo OF SUI
gan
well, puffed the Captain, nothing
tn do now but to get rid of the old sex
taut. ! should go ashore next trip II
had two spxtants to navigate BY MUST
work the old one off on some landiuDDef
" somebody.
The package was lying on an old news
paper " which he had read through ana
rough on his last trip out.
The very thing!" said he. I'll put
notice in the paper-'Sextant for sale,
cheap and if somebody doesn't bite at 1t
l miss my guess.
The next morning the only thing the
Captain could see in the paper was TINS:
Sextant for sale by ship captain. nearly
new and ia perfect order; Will be solo cheap
Address O4l. Globe Office.
And now my story's begun.
Eta Bourne had been at work in
millinery store in Boston for nearly two
wears She and her older sister Annie
had learned the trade with the village
nliiner down in Kennebunk.
But Annie, who had long been the belle
of tine village, got married, and Eta con-
clu,ed to try her fortune i'll Boston.
Sine was full of ambition.
So it fell that in her two years in the
millinery store she studied shorthand
ami t, ,prwriing, with the intention OF
fitting herself to be confidential clerk.
One Sunday she saw this advertise
ment:
Fer Sale Jones's Premier Typewriter at
half price: been used less than month; in
,crfect order. Address o., Al Globe Office.
Eta b urne, being Maine Yankee,
knew bargain when she saw it. She
wanted to own a typewriter, and SO she
wrote brief note addressed to 80, At
Globe Office" asking where the machine
.oud be seen, and dropped it into the
l.tler-box as she went to work Monday
IN + ing.
Now, | said at tie beginning that the
~ :vrrtising clerk was to blame. Per-
APPS the mistake was partly that of Eta
/; ,urne. At any rate it will never be
kIiu,Nn.
The clerk was sorting the replies and
IaI,'iug them in their appropriate boxes.
| When he came to Eta Bourne's letter to
20 A." he read it 80 Al" and put it in
| th,' pjgeonhole as such.
That was "A very, very little mistake, of
:: use, but you who have noticed how
l,ii.gs go in this world of ours have dis
covered that the most serious changes i'll
| r.c course of our lives come about from
| just such little happenings.
| For it was that very day that Captain
Sprowl advertised his sextant for sale.
| and Captain Sprowl was 80 Al. ."
Now the tall Captain was very busy
man. and it was late that afternoon be-
fore he went to the office to gather in
toe replies from people who were anx-
iuus to buy a sextant.
But the sextant market was apparently
rather dull for all the clerk could give
| him was one solitary letter. The Cap
tain tore the envelope open and tossed
| it aside
Il saw your advertisement in the
| Giobe, read the Captain. II wish to
buy good second hand machine of
Standard make, and if the one you offer
is in perfect repair and the price is salts
factory, perhaps we can trade. But l
can not give more than $50, and if you
ask more you need not reply to this.
Send your address, stating where ma
cline can be seen, to H. E. Bourne, 450
! Winter street.
We'll, " soliloquized the Captain, "Pve
got one answer, anyhow. But what does
a woman want of sextant-for this is
certainly woman's writing! She seems
TO be in earnest, though. And $5O'
| Conscience! l never expected to get
more than $25. Well, she'll have to come
ON board, | suppose, so I'll send her my
address," And standinz at the public
desk he wrote:
II. f. Bourne
DEAR Mlss:-Yours in reply to my adver'
tscmcnt in the Globe is at hani. Please call
ON m. on board the bark Edna Dunn, Consti
tuition wharf, between and g.
EDWIN r. SpRowL, Captain.
The next afternoon about trim lit
tie figure walked rapidly over the rough
hanks of Constitution wharf.
Its queer place to find secondhand
Typewriter" thought Eta Bourne, "but
lsuppose the captain got tired of it, ol
couldn't use it because the vessel pitched
So or something like that"
5 saw the gilt letters, Edna Dunn.
A fat. baldhcaded man with little
Aiagham apron on looked out the door o.
a brxlisr house in the middle of the yes
SCI.
\ broad plank extended from th'
,hurf across the bulwarks. The man IL
> t." apron came forward.
Il wish to see Capt. Sprowl," sai(
size.
Yes, MIN. Come right aboard, min
ON that there plank, MIN. The Captain