The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-02-21
ABOARD THE LUGGER.

man and his wife. The woman went first,
and the husband took chill at her graves
edge. when he stood bare-headed in a
flashing shower. The loose earth crumbled
under his feet, trickling over, and dropped
on her coffin-lid. Through two long
nights he lay on his bed without sleeping
and listened to this sound. At first it ran
in his ears perpetually. but afterwards he
heard il at intervals only in the pauses of
acute suffering. On the seventh day he
died of pleuro-pneumonia, and on the
tenth (aSunday) they buried him. For just
50 years the dead man had been minister of
the Independent chapel on the hill, and had
laid down his pastorate two years before,
on his golden wedding day. Consequently
there was a funeral sermon, and the young
man, his successor, chose III. Samuel i;23,
for his text: Lovely and pleasant in
their lives, and in their death they were
not divided" Himself newly married
man he waxed dithyrambic on the sus-
tanned affection and accord of the de-
parted couple. Truly" he wound up,
'ssuch marriages as theirs were made in
heaven" And could they have heard, the
two bodies in the cemetery had not denied
it; but the woman, after the fashion of
women, would have qualified the young
minister's assertion in her secret heart.
When, at the close of the year 1899, Rev.
Samuel Bax visited Troy for the first time
to preach his trial sermon at Salem chapel,
he arrived by Bontigo's van late on Sat
urday night and departed again for Ply
mouth at O'Clock on Monday morning.
He had just turned q, and looked younger,
and the zeal of his calling was strong upon
him. Moreover, he was shaken with ner-
vous anxiety for the success of his sermon,
so that it is no marvel if he carried away
but blurred and misty impressions of the
little port and the congregation that sat
beneath him that morning, ostensibly
reverent, but actually on the prunce for
heresy or any sign of weakness. Their
impressions, at any rate, were sharp
enough. They counted his thumps upon
the desk noted his one reference to "the
original Greek" saw and remembered the
flush of his young face and the glow in his
eye as he hammered the doctrine of the
redemption out of original sin. The dea-
cons fixed the subject of these trial SER
mons, and had chosen original sin, on the
ground that good beginning was half the
battle. The maids in the congregation
knew beforehand that he was unmarried
and came out of the chapel knowing also
that his eyes were brown, that his hair had
reddish tinge in certain lights; that one of
his cuffs was frayed slightly; but his black
coat had scarcely been worn dozen times /;
with other trifles. They loitered by
the chapel door until he came out, in COM
pany with Deacon Snowden. who was con-
veying him off to dinner. The deacon on
week days was harbor master of the port
and on Sundays afforded himself roasted
duck for dinner. Lizzie Snowden walked
at her fathers right hand. She was a
slightly, bloodless blonde, tall, with a
pretty complexion, and hair upon which it
was rumored she could SIT if she were SO
minded. The girls watched the young
preacher and his entertainers as they
moved down the hill, the deacon talking,
and his daughter turning her head aside,
as if it were merely in the section of the
world situated on her right hand that she
took the least interest.
That's to show zen the big plait," COM
mented one of the group behind. HE
can't turn his head her way, but 1t stares
ZEN in the face"
can her features look best from the left
side, as everybody knows"
al reckon. if he's chosen minister, that
Lizzie III have ZEN" said a tall, lanky girl.
She was apprenticed to a dressmaker and
engaged to a young tiDsmith. Having
laid aside ambition on her own account
she flung in this remark as an apple of dis
cord.
"Tenifer HosKen has a chance. He's
fair-skinned hissel', and Lizzie's too near
his own color. Blacks mate is white, as
they say"
There's Sue Tregraine. She'll have
more money than either when her father
dies"
what, marry one o. Ruan ~ the speaker
Uttered despitefully.
why not?"
The only answer was a shrug. Ruan is
small town that faces Troy across the
diminutive harbor, or, perhaps, | should
say that Troy looks down upon 1t at this
slight distance. When Trojan speaks of
it he says, ACROSS the water" with as
much implied contempt as though he
meant Botany bay. There is no cogent
reason for this, except that the poorer class
At Ruan earns its livelihood by fishing. In
the eyes of its neighbors the shadow of
this lonely calling is cast upwards upon
its Weather inhabitants. Troy depends on
commerce, and employs these Weather
men of Ruan TO build ships for it. Further
it would hardly condescend. In the days
in which | write intermarriage between
the towns was almost unheard of, and even
now 1t is rare. Yet they are connected by
penny ferry.
Her fathers ship builder" urged Sue
Iregraine's supporter.
He might as well keep crab pots, for all
the chance she'll have
Now there was q Ruan girl standing Just
outside this group, and she heard what
was said. Her name was Nance Trewartha
and her father was a fisherman. who did
In fact keep crab pots. Moreover. she was
his only child and helped him at his trade.
She could handle a boat as well as a man
she knew every sea mark up and down
the coast for forty miles, she could
cut up bait. and her hands were horny
with handling ropes from her child
hood. But on Sundays she wore gloves
and came across the ferry to chanel. and
was as wise as any OF her sex She had
known before coming ont of her pew that
the young minister had n weil-shaped
back to his head and gold ring on his
little finger with somebody's hair in the
coliet, under = crystal. She was dark,
straight and issom of figure. with ripe
lips and ewes as black IS slnes and she
hoped that the hair in the minister's ring
was his mothers. She was well aware
Of her social interiority; but-the truth
may be told-she chose to forget it
that morning and to wonder what this
young man would he like as husband.
She had looked up into his face during
sermon time, devourins his boyish fca-
lures, noticing his refined accent. mark
ing every gesture. Certainly he was
comely and desirable. As he walked
down the hill by Deacon Snowdeu's side,
she was perfectly conscious of the longing
in her heart, but prepared To put a stop 10
1t. and GO home 10 dinner as soon as he
had turned the corner and passed ont of
sight. Then came that unhappy remark
about the crab-pots, She hit her lin for a
moment, turned and walked slowly of
towards the ferry, flll Of thought
2 h~oe weeks later Rev samuel Rax re-