Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1892-07-21
A FORTUNATE ERROR.
Inc Happy Sequel That Grew Out
of Little Mistake,

! Capt. Sprowl threw his hat ON the
bed and sat down in his easy chair in
the cabin to light his pipe. 0p curled
the smoke, and through it the captain
looked ruefully at the neat package
that lay on the table.
What fool was to buy that" he
Thought. "Old sextant was plenty
good enough, though I've had II nine
years. Bought it in Liverpool when |
was second mate in the Julia A. Smith.
And now I've put out a months earn
1ngs for new one. What possessed me
don't know"
And so-the captain went on.
Now Capt Sprowl was not rs you
might think from the name, bald
headed old man with bushy whiskers.
No, names nre very misleading. In
stead, he was tall and slender, with a
sandy mustachc, and hud not 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, dischargine
her cargo of sugar.
We'll" pulled the captain, nothing
to do now but to get rid of the old sex
tant. should go ashore next trip if
had two seStants to navigate by. Must
work the old one off on some landlub-
Der or somebody"
The package was lying on an old
newspaper--a Globe-which he had
read through and through on his last
trip ont.
"The very thingl" said he "I'll put
q notice Ia tho paper: 'Sextant for sale
cheap and If somebody doesn't bite ut
1t miss my guess
The next morning the only thing the
captain could see in the paper was this:
SExTAET for sale by ship captain, nearly
- new and IN perfect order; will be sold cheap
Address 0 Al, Globe ONCE
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:
Tor SALE-Jones' Premier typewriter at half
j. price been used less than month; IN per-
feet order Address o AZ, Globe office.
Eta Bourne, being Maine Yankee,
knew a bargain when she saw it. She
wanted to own her own typewriter and
so she wrote a 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 20 47'',he read it 20 AL" 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 livcscome
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
we're 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.
II saw your advertisement in the
Globe, read the captain. II wish to buy
good secondhand machine of standard
make and if the one you offer is in
nerfect repair and the price is satisfac-
tory, perhaps we can trade. But can
not give more than fifty dollars ard If
Won ask more you need not reply to
mis- Send address, stating where ma
chine can be seen, to II. &. Bourne 4oo
Winter street"
"Well," soliloquized the captain,
nrve got enc answer, anyhow But
,yhat does a woman want OF sextant
for this is certainly woman's writ
moi She seems to be in earnest
.hourh. And fifty dollarsl Conscieneel
never expected to get more than
twenty-five dollars. Well she'll have ,.,,
- como on board, | suppose, SO III
scad her my address. And standing at
the public desk he wrote