Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-04-23

about the town.
The town has its nominal government, like
other towns; its selectmen and its town meet
ing, and other like machinery; but everybody
knows that the real seat of government lies In
the upper house. The meetings of this repub-
lican House of Lords are held in the best room
of ..Bannister's" the one inn of the town. Ii is
q pleasant. roomy old structure. built IN the
Island fashion, with wide windows and plenty
of thenl and with a rallied platform on its nat
topped roof. from which IN former days the
women of the house used to watch for the COM
ing of the whaling feet.
There Is little watching now on the Island.
No ships come into that wonderful harbor,
once thronged with sails. The great wharves
rot silently and fall apart; a few old hulks rot
quietly beside them. Two or three fishing
smacks. a coal schooner or two-these are all
one sees now from the roof or the windows Of
Bannister's.
But the men who sit together in the upper
room still look out Of the windows a great deal,
because from them they can see the harbor and
beyond il the sea. and the sea Is what they love
best TO look at. for the greater part of their
lives has been spent on 1t. Old sea captains
II needs but one glance to tell Of what the
Upper House is composed: Men with faces that
might have been carved out of mahogany,
wrinklsd and scanned and beaten into strange
lines by wind and weather; with gray or white
hair, for the most part, and shaggy boards. yet
with Keen. bright eyes winch are used 10 LOOK
ing. and. what Is not always the same thing, to
seeing what they look at.
Though most o. them 90 to sea no more,
they keep with care their sea-going aspect;
they wear pea jackets with huge horn buttons,
heavy sea boots and never fail to don their
sou westers in bad weather. The room in
which they sit is well suited to them. On the
broad window seats lie spy glasses and tele-
scopes OF all kinds. The walls are hung with
sea trophies.
90 - 81,
sharp blade of a sword fish; there a pair of
walrus tusks. there again, the beautiful horn
of the narwhal, like wonderful lance of ivory,
fit weapon for King Olaf for Eric the Red.
In the doorway stands whales jaw. great
arch ten feet high. under which all must pass.
with thoughts of Jonah. As for corals and
shells, there Is no end of them, for the upper
room is a museum as well as a place OF
convention, and here the captains love to
bring their choicest treasures. keeping only
the second best to adorn the chimney piece of
their home parlor.
In a great arm chair. facing a seward win
dow, sits the patriarch of the Upper House. old
Abram Bannlster. His grandfather had built
the inn himself. his grandsons now keep it.
Every morning. winter and summer. Jake and
Bill hist the old captain cut of bed. put him
IN his chair and wheel him into the great room;
then they give him spy glass to hold In his
hand and leave him till dinner time. The cap
tains begin to struggle in about o'clock. when
their morning chores are done. They greet
the white. old man with never-failing cordial
ality. He Is the pride of the Upper House.
They are never tired of asking him how old he
Is. nor OF hearing him reply in his feeble,
CHEEKY pipe:
.Ninety-nine year. and risin' a hundred"
He sleeps a good deal of the day. and in
waking never fails to cry out, Thar she
blowsr'
Whersupon. one Of the captains promptly re-
plies. Where away" and the patriarch SAYS:
har hnu md zrro Irb. forer aa.Il
about lt and plays with his spy glass.
When the captains are assembled in sufficient
number they discuss tine affairs of the town.
talk over this or that question. and decide
what the ',se-leckmenN ought to do about It
Woe to the selectmen who should dare to op-
pose the decision of the Upper House, Some
thing dreadful would happen to them: but. rs
they never have opposed it, one cannot tell
what form the punishment would take.
Now II fell on day that the captains were
sitting together spinning yarns, was their
custom when business was over. The present
and the immediate future provided for. it was
their delight to plunge into the past. and
bring up the marvellous treasures hidden in
that great sea- Capt. Zeno Pye was telling
about the loss of the Sabra in the year 1907.
His father had been On the vessel. and Capt
Zeno sometimes forgot that il was not himself.
SO often had he told the story. The other cap
tains. sitting like so many yelled prophets.
each shrouded in his cloud of smoke listened
..
making mental note of any slight variation,
OF word or infection. in the familiar narrative
ANY one Of them could have told 1t in his
sleep, but il was Capt Zenos story. and it was
one Of the unwritten laws of the Upper House
that no captain should tell anothers story.
So" said Capt. Zeno-he was a little wal
nut-faced man with sharp black eyes and a dry
and rasplng utterance-''so they maxim
good sallln with fair wind. on the 18th day
OF october, when all of "a student the lookout
sung OUT
Thar she blows broke in Capt Abram, in
his piping treble.
Where away" responded Capt. Silas Riggs,
promptly.
Weather bow" said the old man. and fell
silent again. All looked at Capt Zeno, who
smiled approximately.
w on erful. amt liz" he said. meditatively
"he knows that pint. Cap'n Abram does as
well as do. Wal, as l was sayin', they struck
q school o whales on the weather bow sure
enough; sperms they was. and likely lookin'
fur as they could see. Three boats put of
and my father. bein' mate at that tins, had
one of EN-. He sighted sixty barrel bull and
was puIlin' for him for dear life, when an old
COW come by with her calf. and when she saw
She boat she dove and one eend o. the fiuke
struck EN- amidships, and stove a hole in EN-
Wal That kerwumpussed 'em. We see. Moth
In for 1t but TO pub back to the
ship, and set to work on repairs
My father called the carpenters and give
'em their job. an then he looked after the
school, and cussed a little. mebbe. for all he
vas a perfessor, To think he was losin' ali the
fun. Ali of Student he seed a whale leave
the school. turn round and make straight for
the ship. he didn't think nothin' of 1t. 'cept
he see twas the biggest bull his eyes had ever
come across. Big! Wall Twas like an island
father used to say. He'd heerd tell of 230-
barrel whales along back in the Seventeens
and he calc lated this might be one of 'em left
over. He see the critter was comm pooty
nigh, aud he sung out for a harpoon, thinkin
he might KIT a shy after all; when. 10 We! that
whale took a start an come through tine water
AXE shot out of gun. and struck the ship
just forrard of the toreehains.
Wal. slr.they was knocked consid' able eend-
ways. tell ye- Father was dumfoundered for
minute, and the ships crew with him. what
with the surprise ont. and the everlastin'
shakIn At Civ EN-, too. But father never let
has wits go without string tied to 'em. and in
. minute he ordered all hands to the pumps to
See If she had sprung leak. She he'd sir; she
was siLkin; and father run up the sign for the
boats to come back He turned round from
rurnin up that signal. and you may call ME a
Jerseyman. IL the whale wasn't comm for 'em
agln, head on and all sails DRAWN Before
father could sing out he struck 'em again.
pooty nigh the same place. with q crash tina.
sent every man jack sprawlin' on his face. Wal,
sr: twas boats then. can tel We. and no time
TO lose neither. Th'other boats KEN back ard
took EN- aboard. and IN five minutes time the
Sabry down with her nose and up with her
heels. and down she went to Dayy Yes sir,