The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1893-06-06
UGLY JIM.
His Kind Heart Under Cover OF q
Rough Coat.

His Kind Heart Under Cover Of q
Rough Coat.
"Ughl What night" was my In
voluntary exclamation, as l came on
deck just before eight bells twelve
o'clock on that night in March, 's6,
which fate had ordained / should never
forget had heard the cry of "All
hands on deelxl" beloved down the
fo'castle, the scurry of feet, the hoarse
command: "All hands aloft to shorten
sail Quick. lads, for your livesl' and
had bounced out of my berth, jerked
into my clothes and tumbled up the
companion-way to the slippery deck.
What was doing aboard the ship?
Well, by profession l am doctor and
by occupation rambler. Not that it
| is part of my business as doctor to
ramble; but, you know, doctors mis-
sion is to try to restore natures jewel,
health, and /, being doctor las said
before), was endeavoring to do my
duty to myself and find that which /
had studied hard to be able to restore
to others So there / was standing, or,
rather, trying to flor the northeast
gale nearly blew me off my feet, on
the quarterback of the little brig Jen-
ny Lind, bound from Liverpool to Que
bee. Horatio, wasn't it coldl And the
sharp sleet, driven hard before the
gale, seemed like a sandblast cutting
the gravestones for the poor chaps
who were to be that night laid for their
last rest, rocked in the cradle of the
deep"
''This is fearful night" l say to
the man at the wheel, and his answer
of AYE, aye, sir" comes through teeth
set as a wise With feet planted, or
rather, rooted to the deck, body bent
forward, eyes trying hard to make out
the canvas he cannot see, he moves
only as the orders shouted through
the trumpet come family to him:
lizard starboardi' Steady" Ease
her littlel" straining hard at the
wheel to put it port" or "starboard"
as is ordered, and between his white
lips growing back his AYE, aye, sirl"
By the ftful flicker of the pinnacle
lamp l see his face and know him to be
Jim Peters, the hardest man In the
crew Nobody liked him or would
have anything to do with him. He
was not prepossessing object to look
at His face had as much sociability
and kindness in it as a tombstone
Heavy, square jaw; large mouth; eyes
black, or rather, one eye, for large,
red scar running across his forehead
and down his left cheek back of his
ear took that eye along with it;
shaggy head of sandy hair and UNI
kempt beard did their part in his make
up of ugliness. / said nobody would
have anything to do with him. I'll
take that back, for there was one
aboard who pitied and tried to be
friendly to him. He was the ships
boy, nice, likely lad, good-looking
and smart and sailor, every inch of
him. There was one thing. about Jim,
however, which none could get back
of, and that was he was strong as an
OK and as good sailor as ever trod a
deck. He was the only man aboard
who could have held the wheel alone
in such night. On we drive, reel
and then plunge, and the little brig
comes out of the trough of the sea
and shakes herself and then leaps on
ward.
What's that cry for'd2 Jim starts,
and see his face pale, as with all his
mighty strength he puts the wheel to
port.
Hard, Jim, hard, down." comes
faint voice, and the captain comes rum
ming aft. You did well, Jim, but your
three times to port we're too late to
save her, for with sickening, CHASTITY
crash she strikes and commences to
settle rapidly. A rough hand grabs
my arm and deep voice growls:
tits the ice. doctor; jump for it,
jump for it.
Before can do SO, am taken off
nv feet; and the next moment l feel
myself going through the air; then a
sudden stop, and find myself on a
field of drifting ice.- turn to thank my
deliverer, and find it was Jim whose
clear head and strong arm had saved
me. / try to thank him, but he says
shortly: "I'd a done it by the ships
dog, doctor, as soon as ye, had he been
as handy" Nevertheless shake hands,
ana say u lew WOAQ6 W AAh4f ~ AAC
turns on his heels and joins his mates
straining their eyes to pierce the black
ness and see the little crafts last
plunge. Like bird whose wings fiut-
ter and then drop, her canvas shakes
and she dives, never to come up. The
crew sadly bid her farewell and even
grouty Jim says: 'Good-by. little 'un. {"
You folks ashore can't realize the fear
that came over us as the waters closed
over the little craft that bad been to
us our home, our ''all in all" A feel
ing of dreadful loneliness thrilled us as
through the inky darkness we tried to
read the expression in our companions
faces.
mentioned it was cold, but words
are inadequate to properly convey the
icy intensity, now that the blood which
had been quiclxened by the strain and
excitement had become normal Added
to the bitter cold was the chill of fear.
We drew close together to diagnosti-
cate our case Naturally we looked
to the captain for advice, and when
asked what we should do. he said,
tersely:
''Stick here till morning. Then we
can get our bearings, and shape our
course accordingly.
Now, when the brig stuck, we had
had a close call, and so had chance to
save nothing but what we stood in
The captains advice was excellent as
far as it went; but to stay where we
were, huddled together like so many
frightened sheep, meant certain death,
and the dawn, as it broke, would fall
UNDECIDED on fifteen frozen corpses
that, few hours before, had been the
crew of the little gallant Jenny Lind
Jim now came to the front, and, in his
rough. surly way, said: las how I've
made an observation of these here
parts, and ] calculate there is room
enough to move round in, provided you
fellers have BRAIN enough to do it. ("
We accordingly acted on his sugges-
ton, and Jim n; our head as pilot, we
commenced to ak around in a circle
thrashing our hands and endeavoring
to force the blood into greater activity
through our stiffening bodies. Almost
from the minute we landed on the ice
Jim had an eye always on Walter, the
ships boy, and now, as we commenced
our dreary rounds, he had him close be-
hind Oh, how cold and desolate it
was, going round and round and round
In that contracted space, moving like a
chain gang, with one hand on the
shoulder of the man In front, so as not
to lose one another; for, small as that
space was, the night was black and