The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-07-15
A FORTUNATE ERROR.
The Happy Sequel That Grew Cut
Of q Little Mistake.

| Iuo happy O0Quei 1hSG 1T6" wi
Of Little Mistake.
Capt. Sprowl threw his hat OF the
| bed and sat down in his easy chair in
the cabin to light his pipe. Up curle6
the smoke, and through it the captain
looked ruefully at the neat package
that lay on the table.
What a fool was to buy that" he
| thought ''Old sextant was plenty
! good enough. though I've had it nine
years. Bought it in Liverpool when
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, as you
might think from the name, bald.
headed old man with bushy whiskers.
No, names are very misleading In
stead, he was tall and slender, with a
sandy mustache, and had not a 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 sex
tant I should go ashore next trip if |
had two sextants to navigate by. Must
work the old one off on some landlub-
Der or some body"
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. 'I'll put
notice in the paper: 'Sextant for sale
cheap and if some body doesn't bite at
it miss my guess"
The next morning the only thing the
captain could see in the paper was this:
CE1TANT for sale By ship captain, nearly
~ new and IN perfect Oroer; will be sold cheap.
Address o Al, Globe ofice.
And now my story's begun.
Eta Bourne had been at work in a
millinery store in Boston for nearly
two years. She and her older sister
Annie had learned the trade with the
village milliner down in Kennebunk.
But Annie, who had long been the
belle of the village, got married and
Eta concluded to try her fortune in
in Boston.
She was full Of ambition.
So it fell that, in 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
advertisement:
EoR SALE-Jones' Premier typewriter at half
Il price; been used less than month; IN per-
feet order. Address o AZ, Globe Office.
Eta Bourne, being Maine Yankee,
knew bargain when she saw it. She
wanted to own her own typewriter, and
SO she wrote brief note addressed to
20 AZ, 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 30 A. he read it 80 A." 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'com
about from just such little happenings.
For it was that very day that Capt.
Sprowl advertised his sextant for sale.
And Capt. Sprowl was 80 Al"
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 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 upon the table.
Il saw your advertisement in the
Globe, " read the captain. Il wish to buy
a 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 / can
not give more than fifty dollars; ard If
you ask more you need not reply 20
this Send address. stating where ma
chine can be seen, to II. L Bourne, $50
Winter street"
Well" solnoquized the captain,
i've got one answer, anyhow. But
what does woman want OF sextant
for this is certainly a wonan's writ
ing, She seems to be in earnest
though And fifty dollars! Conscience!
1 never expected to get more than
twenty-five dollars. Wen. she'll have
to come on board. suppose, so I'll
send her my address And standing -
the public desk he wrote:
e 2 BOURNE
Dear Aiss-Yours Il reply 20 advertisement
In the Globe = a. had Please cal on ne On
board the bark Edna Duan Constitution wharf
between tIe ard SIX
EDETS 2 SPEoTL@ Captain
The next afternoon about four trirn
lite figure walked rapidly over tae
rough pianks Of Constitution wharf
TVS : queer place 20 lnd a second (
hand typewriter. thought Eta Bourne,
''but I suppose the captain got tired ct I
Il, or couldn't use j: because the vessel +
pitched SO or something ike tina.