The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1892-09-23
A FORTUNATE ERROR.
The 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. Up curled
the smoke. and through it the captain
looked ruefully Al the neat package
that lay on the table.
What fool / was 10 buy that" lac
thought. ''Old scxtaut was plenty
good enough. though I've had il nine
years Bought it in Liverpool when /
was second mate in the Julia A. Smith.
And now I've put out months earn
ings for a ncy" one. What possessed me
| don't know
And 50 the captain went on.
Now Capt. Sprowl was not, as you
might think from the name, a bald
headed old man with bushy whiskers.
No, names are very misleading. In
stead. hc was tall and slender, with
sandy muStache, ana had not gray
hair in his head.
lie 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" puffed the captain, nothing
70 do now but to get rid of the Old sex
tant. l should 60 ashore mex: 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
newspaper-a Globc-which he had
read through and through on his last
trip ont.
The very thing said ne. IN put
notice in the paper: 'SeNtant FOR sale
cheap and if somebody doesn't bite at
it | miss my guess"
The next morning the only thing the
captain could see in the paper was this:
SENTANT FOR sale BY ship captain, nearly
- Ne" and IN perfect order Viii De sold cheap
Address q II, Globe office.
And now my Story'S begun.
Eta Rourne had been at work in
millinery store in Boston for nearly
two years. She and her older sister
Annie had learned the trade with the
village milliner down in kenne bunk
But Annie. who had long been the
belle of the village, got married and
Eta concluded 10 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 a confidential clerk.
One sunday she saw in the Globe this
advertisement:
ENoR SALE-Jones' Premier typewriter at half
Il price. been used less than = month; IL per
feet order. Address o Il, Globe orice
Eta Bourne. being Maine Yankee,
knew a bargain when she saw il. She
wanted to own her own typewriter, and
so she wrote brief note addressed to
20 -, Globe Office" asking where the
machine could be seen, and dropped IL
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 ~" he read it 80 Al" and
put il in the pigeon hole as such.
That was a 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 tie course of our lives.come
about from just such little happenings.
For il was that very day that Capt.
Sprowl advertised his seNtaut for sale.
And Capt. Sprowl was 20 Al"
Now, the tall captain was q very
busy man, and il was late that after
noon before he went To the office 10
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
IL 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 IL
you ask more you need not reply TO
this. Send address, stating where ma
chine can be seen, to III. f. Bourne, 40
Winter street"
Well" soliloquized the captain,
I've got one answer, anyhow. But
what does woman want of a sextant
for this is certainly a woman's writ
ing! She seems to be in earnest
though. And fifty dollars. Conscience!
! never expected To get more than
twenty-five dollars. Well, she'll have
to come on board, 1 suppose, so I'll
send her my address. And standing at
the pnblic desk he wrote:
II. r BOURNE =
Dear Miss-Iours In reply 10 advertisement
in the Globe is Ut hand Please call on me on
board the bark Edna Dunn, Constitution wharf
between two and six.
EDWIN r. SPRowL, Captain.
The next afternoon about four n trim
little figure walked rapidly over the
rough planks of Constitution wharf.
Its queer place to find a second
-