The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-10-30

peared down one OF the dark turnlngs
whereabouts.
fastened after him, calling him by
name. but though I heard his quick steps
before me for little way, they were soon
swallowed up in the sound of other steps.
and when 1 reached the square in which
the chapel stands [ had lost all trace of
him.
A policeman was standing by the
churchyard railing, and of him / made in
quiries.
"What sort of a gent was he, sir?"
questioned the man.
"A tall, thin gentleman, very STABILITY
dressed-might be mistaken for tramp"
"Ah, sir. there's good many of that
sort living in this town." replied he. II
am afraid you will have some difficulty in
finding him."
Thus for a second time had heard his
footsteps dying away, knowing that L
should never listen for their drawing near
again.
wondered as walked OIL have won
dered before and since-whether Art, even
with capital A, is quite worth all the suf-
fering that is inflicted in her behalf
whether she and we are better for all the
scorning and the sneering all the envying
and the hating that is done in her name.
Jephson arrived about O'Clock, in the
ferry boat. We were made acquainted
with this fact by having our heads bumped
against the sides of the saloon.
Somebody or other always had their
head bumped whenever the ferry boat ar
rived. 1t was heavy and cumbersome
good punter. He admitted this frank
ly. which was creditable of him.
But he made no attempt to improve
himself; that is, where he was wrong. His
method was to arrange the punt before
starting in line with the point towards
which he wished to proceed. and then
push hard, without ever looking behind
him, until something suddenly stopped
him. This was sometimes the bank, some
times another boat, occasionally a steamer,
from six to dozen times day our ripar-
ian dwelling. That he never succeeded in
stav1ng the boat in speaks highly for the
man who built her.
One day he came down upon US with
tremendous crash. Amenda, our domes-
tic, was walking down the passage at the
moment, and the result to her was that
she received a violent blow first on the
left side of her head and then on the right.
She was accustomed to accept one bump
Is matter of course, and to regard it as
an intimation from the boy that he had
come; but this double knock annoyed her;
SO much style" was out of place in mere
ferry boy. Accordingly, she went out TO
him in state Of high indignation.
What do YOU think you are 2" she cried.
balancing accounts by boxing his ears first
on one side aud then on the other. "A
torpedo! What are you doing here at all ?
What do you want?"
~ don't want nothin'," explained the
boy: rubbing his head; i've brought
"a gent" said Amenda, looking round,
but seeing no one. "What CENT?"
"A stout gent in a straw at" answered
the boy, staring round him bewilderedly.
well, where is he?" asked Amenda.
81 dunno" replied the boy. in an awed
voice; "'e was standin' there, at the
other end of the punt, a smoking a cigar"
water and spent but Infatuated swimmer
struggled up between the house boat and
the bank.
''Oh. there e is!' cried the boy de-
lightedly, evidently much relieved in his
mind at this satisfactory solution of
the mystery; "'e must ha' tumbled off
the punt"
You're quite right, my lad, that's
just what he did do, and there's your fee
for assisting him to do it," Saying which
my dripping friend, who had now scram-
bied upon deck, leant over. and following
Amenda's excellent example, expressed
his feelings upon the boys head.
There was one comforting reflection
about the transaction as whole, and that
was that the ferry boy had at last received
a fit and proper reward for his services I
had often felt inclined to give him some
thing Of the same sort myself / think he
was, without exception. the most clumsy
and stupid boy / have ever come across,
and that is saying good deal.
His mother undertook that for three
and sixpence a week he should make
himself generally useful" to us for a
couple of hours every morning.
Those were the old iady's very words
and | repeated them to Amenda when l
introduced the boy to her.
This is James, Amenda." l said: ''he
will come down here every morning at 7,
and bring US our milk and the letters, and
from then till 8 he will make himself gen.
orally useful"
Amenda took stock of him:
1T will be change Of occupation for
him. sir" she remarked
After that, whenever some more than
usually stirring crash or blood-curdlng
bump would cause US to leap from our
seats and cry: What on earth has hap
pened?" Amenda would reply: "Oh,
it's only James, mum, making himself
generally useful"
Whatever he lifted he let fall: whatever
he touched ne upset; whatever he came
near-that was not fixture-he knocked
over; If it was a fixture, it knocked him
over. This was not carelessness; it
seemed to be natural gift. Never in his
life, / am convinced, had he carried a
bucketful of anything anywhere without
tumbiing over it before he got there.
One of his duties was to water
the flowers on the roof. Fortu.
uately-for the iiowers-nature that sum-
mer stood drinks with lavishmess suifi-
cient to satisfy the most confirmed vege-
table topper; otherwise every plant on our
boat would have died from droutb. Never
one drop OF water did they receive from
him. He WAS forever taking them water,
but he never arrived with it. As a rule
he upset the pail before he got it on the
boat at all. and this was the best thing
that could happen, because the water
went hack into the river and did no harm
10 any one. Sometimes. however, he
would succeed in landing il, and then the
chances were that he would spill it over
the deck or into the passage. Now and
again he would get half way up
the ladder before the accident oc-
CURED. Twice he nearly reached
the top; and once he actually did
gain the roof. What happened ur there
known. The boy himself, when picked
up, could explain nothing. Ii is supposed
that ne lost his head with the pride of the
achievement, and essayed feats that
neither his previous training nor his nat
ural abilities justified him in attempting.
However that may be. the fact remains
that the main body of the water came
down the kitchen chimney, and that the
hoy and the empty pail arrived together
on deck before they knew they had started.
When he could lind nothing else to dam
age, he would go out of his way 10 upse,
himself. He could not be sure of stepping
from his own punt on TO the boat with
safety. As often as not. he would catch
his foot in the chain or the punthole and
8F ~ h