The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-07-24
A FORTUNATE ERROR.
Tho Happy Sequel That Grow Out
Of a Little Mistake.

Capt. Sprowl threw his hat on the
bed and sat down in his easy chair in
the cabin to light his pipe. Up curlcd
,he smoke, and through it the captain
looked ruefully at the neat puclzayc
that lay on the table.
What a fool was to buy that" ne
thought. "Old seXtant was plenty
good enough, though I've had it nine
years Bought it i'll Liverpool when l
was second mate in the Julia A. Smith.
And now I've put out a months earn
ings for new one. What possessed me
] don't know
And SO the captain went on.
Now Capt. Sprowl was not, us you
might think from the name, a bald
headed old man with bushy whislkers.
No, names are very misleading In
stead, he was tall and slender, with a
sandy mustache, and had not Il gray
hair in his head.
He came from Maine, and, although
but thirty years old. he had been for
six years captain of the bark Edna
Dunn, which was now lying at Consti-
tuition wharf in Boston, discharging
her cargo of sugar.
We'll" pulled the captain, nothing
TO do now but to get rid of the old sen
tant should go ashore next trip if 1
had two seXtants to navigate by. Must
work the old one off OH some landlub-
Der OF somebody
The package was lying ON an old
newspapers Globe-which he had
read through and through ON his last
trip out.
The very thing" said he iii put
q notice in the paper: 'Sextant for sale
cheap, and if somebody doesn't bite at
1t miss my guess"
The next morning the only thing the
captain could see in the paper was this:
SExTANT for sale by o ship captain. nearly
Address Al, Globe ofice.
And now my story's begun
Eta Bourne had been at work in n
millinery store in Boston for nearly
two years. She and her older sister
Annie had learned the trade with the
village milliner down in Kenncbunk.
But Annie, who had long been the
,elle of the village, got married and
Eta concluded to try her fortune in
In Boston.
She was full of ambition
So it fell that, III her two years in the
millinery store, she studied shorthand
and typewriting, with the intention of
fitting herself to be confidential clerk
One Sunday she saw in the Globe this
advertisements:
EoR SALE-Jones' Premier typewriter at half
price; been used less than MONTH IN per-
feet order. Address o so Globe Office
Eta Bourne, being Maine Yankee,
knew bargain when she saw it. She
wanted to own her own typewriter, and
SO she wrote a brief note addressed to
20 Al, Globe Office" asking where the
machine could be seen, and dropped it
into the letter box as she went to work
Monday morning.
The clerk was sorting the replies and
putting them in their appropriate
boxes. When he came to Eta Bourne's
letter to 80 81" he read it so a1,~ and
put it in the pigeon hole as such.
That was very, very little mistake,
of course; but you who have noticed
how things go IN this world of ours
have discovered that the most serious
changes in the course of our lives come
about from just such little happenings.
For it was that very day that Capt
Sprowl advertised his sextant for sale.
And Capt Sprowl was 20 A."
Now, the tall captain was a very
busy man, and it was Late that after
noon before he went to the Office to
gather in the replies from people who
were anxious to buy sextant. But
the scXtant 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 upon the table.
IL saw your advertisement in the
Globe, read the captain 81 wish to buy
good secondhand machine of standard
make and if the one you offer is in
perfect repair and the price is satisfac-
tory. perhaps we can trade. But cam
not give more than fifty dSllars; ard if
you ask more you need not reply to
this. Send address. stating where ma
chine can be seen, to II. E. Bourne, $50
Winter street"
"Wcll," soliloquized the captain,
''I've got one answer, anyhow. But
what does woman want OF a sextant
for this is certainly woman's writ
ing. She seems to be in earnest
though And fifty dollars! Consciencel
never expected to get more than
twenty-five dollars. Well, she'll have
TO come on hoard, suppose, so I'll
send her my address. And standing at
t1,.. r,,l>l;o Joe1- la xx,roto,