The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-09-12

and skipper, to chance corners. Dur
ing fall and spring he uses the Min
nie-named for his young sister-as
fishing boat. The fishing in stormy
months keeps Absalom in practice
for sudden pe1ils of that terrible
coast and maintains in him that
nerve which is as remarkable as his
volubility.
OF his adventures he loves to talk,
though many are scarcely important
enough to warrant the detail i'll
which he imparts them. But, small
or great, he tumbles them out almost
necessarily as some landmark brings
them to his memory. Thus on my
first trip with him last summer he
poured forth this tale of Norman's
Woe:
Now there's Norman's Woe, ;" he
began, waving his free hand toward
brown mound of rock that seemed
part of the north shore near the en-
trance to Gloucester bay. "Once |
had a tight pinch right there The
wind was a living gale, and"--
"Normans WoeW l interrupted.
Yes certainly. AS l was saying,
there was more than half gale
"Do you mean to say there's a real
Norman's Woe-the very Norman's
Woe where Longfellows schooner
Hesperus was wreckedp
Looks real enough, don't it, But
none of the LongfellOws long this
coast lost no schooner, so fur's |
know. Abes no sailor, nor yet Hiram,
and Pete, him that lives back of
Mingo's beach-why, Pete
"And that's really Norman's WoeY
l cried. We'll, of the millions who
have learned the ballad at school,
how few imagine it refers to a real
reef It's peaceful enough today. 1
say, skipper, won't you run in and
give me a good look at it?"
Certainly, certainly" said Absa-
lom, and put the Minnie about al
most as easy as a bird turns.
Close past the buoy bearing the
fog bell we ran in. Now it was ST.
lent. And was this the bell that
knelled in the ears of the Hesperus
skipper as he looked on his little
daughter bound to the mast and
"steered for the open sea-"
Absalom's eyes fell on the fog bell.
"You were loud enough that day !"
he shouted, shaking his fist at it,
Lord, how that bell did clank !
You hain't got no idea of what that
coast is in gale from sea. The Woe
was all a smother of breakers clear
up, for the tide was high. The roll
ers looked like they'd roar over into
the cove behind.
well, sir, my sister and met
her l named this boat for-had been
out north yonder fishing, for she was
ON her holidays and me engaged with
no party for the day, and she'd been
teaching school spring and winter
AS the wind kept rising, we ran for
Gloucester bay. 1t was in August
Just about this time, too; but the
blow was fit for October-only warm
er. And as we staggered round the
point yonder what should we see but
canoe
"a dory could scarce live in such
a sea, but there was that young cha
in about here He was riding fir
padding straight into the face of tue
waves, flung up till you could =
half his keel-then he'd slide out Of
sight down the trough so you'd think
he'd never come up again.
AN open cancer says you. Great
skeesicks, do you suppose any Ope
canoe could "a lived therel No; she
was divided into bulkheads and deck
ed tight-so l learned after all was
done. No sinking her. He was too
smart to let her be rolled over. The
danger waa that she'd be blown
ashore and smashed to kindling and
the life pounded out of him on Nor
mans Woe 1t turned out he'd
come in rising sea clear away from
Brian island, and now his strength
was petering out just in front of the
Woe
''All his work was to keep off the
rock till he'd get chance to run for
Oll DtttSli III llNttl Cl NflOllNtS
ter. But twas no go. The reef was
bound to have him. The gale was
more against him every minute and
so the tide was too,
"When l catched sight of that ca
noe, l wasn't noways pleased. There
was Round Rock shoal and Dog ban
for the Minnie Mincheever to get
past to anchor safely. Twas wet and
hungry and mad, and my sister was
crosser'n me, for she'd wanted me tC
start in an hour earlier. Scared
Geewhitaker, mol She can sail q
boat with any man on this coast.
what made her'n me mad was tc
, see the Woe would get that canoe il
10 minutes if we didn't. There
wasn't another rag of sail out bur
our'n l couldn't think what haC
possessed the man to be canoeing IL
such weather He'd "a drifted ashore
in two minutes If he gave the wine