The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-09-02
BROKERS' BAY.
BY w. CLARK RUSSELL.

.EANAA W AA@I HN-ANA N.N 1877 ~ ~ -
vain, and the reason why I call II by any othe
name than IL bears will. when you read thi
story, be as clear as the mud in the water tina
brims to the base Of Brokers' cliffs. Brokers
Bay is a fine. curvinR sweep Of land. For hoy
many centuries the sea has been sneskingl
ebbing from II who can imagine? The time ha
been when the galleon and the carrack strainet
at their hempen ground tackle at anchors sI
fethoms deep where the white windmill nov
stands. within musket shot OF the Crown an,
Anchor. and where the church spire darts tn,
CLEAN of its weathercock above the green hud
die Of dwarf trees near the little vicarage.
About fifty years ago a company Of e~nterpris
ing souls took IL into their heads TO reclaim
some Of the land which the subtly and cease
lessly ebbing sea, rising and falling with moon
like regularity, yet receding ever, though no
ticeable only in spans OF half centuries, wa,
leaving behind 1t. They armed themselves with
the necessary legal powers, they subscribed al
the capital they considered needful. and by
processes OF enhancing, draining, manuring
and the like. they succeeded in raising wheat
and grass, vegetables and flowers, where. since
and long before the days OF the painted Briton,
shuddering In the November blast, or perspiring
away his small clothes under the July sun,
nothing had fourished but the dab and the crab
Yet the speculation on the whole was q failure.
1t was q pathetic achievement in It's way, and
those concerned In IL deserved well of the ma
ton; for, IL II be n fine thing to bleed for ones
country, how much finer must 1t be TO add to It's
dimensions, to enlarge It's latitude and longi-
tude, and extend the home sovereignty of the
monarch who happens to be seated on the
throne at the time. Yet. though q pretty con-
siderable village stood hard by the reclaimed
land, houses did not increase. The builder,
whose Christian name is Jerry. came down to
Brokers' Bay and took a look around, and went
home again and did nothing. He was not to be
decoyed, he said. Brokers' Bay was not the
right sort of place TO start a town In, he thought.
There was too much mud, Mr.. Jerry consid-
cred. He calculated that when the water
was out there was a full mile and three
quarters Of slime. Oh, yes. while the
slime was still Shiny It reflected the
sky Just the same as II 1t had been water. and It
took a noble blood-red countenance OF a hot
sunset evening, when the sky was q pink gleam-
ing streak just under the horizon, and 1t was
very pleasing In that sort of way. But what
were the doctors going TO say about all that
mud, and what opportunities would a waste of
slush, extending one and three-quarter miles at
ebb tide. provide the local historian with when
he came to write n guide book and invent Roman
and early English names for the immediate dis
trict, and deal with the salubriousness Of the
climate and give an analysis of the drinking
water? And what about the bathingp There
was none. And what length Of pier would be
wanted IL the seward end OF II was to be perma-
nently water washed2
The reclaimed land was divided into lots for
building; but nobody built. The soil continued
to be cultivated, nevertheless. Two market
gardeners did very well out Of II. A butcher
rented thirty acres of the pasture land; the re-
mainder was variously dealt with in NAL ways
for growing purposes.
Now Tint atrotch ~ LAND bod haan rooIot,,a1
some fifteen years when a certain master
mariner, whom l will call Capt. Carey, arrived
at the adjacent village with the intention of
taking a view OF the Brokers' Bay foreshore.
News that good land was cheap hereabouts had
reached him up at Blyth. He had unexpectedly
come into a little fortune, had Capt. Carey. For
years he had followed the coasting trade, work.
ing his way out through the forescuttlo into the
Captains cabin. and after thirty years of
seafaring, rendered more and more uncom-
Portable by gloomy anticipations of the work
mouse IN mis- old age, he had been enriched by
the will Of an Australian aunt, the amount
being something between &c 1900 and a1O. 900.
Capt. Carey had sprung from q west country
stock his wife was a west country woman. and
when they came into the Australian legacy they
determined to break up their little home at
Blyth and settle somewhere on western soil. So
Capt. Carey came to Brokers' Bay. and with
him travelled his giant son. a youth OF pro-
digious muscle, but of weak intellect. A second
Titan son was at sea, working his way toward
the quarterback aboard an East lndiaman.
Capt. Carey = survey of the Brokers foreshore
him on purchasing n plot of land
soil. lie bought four acres at a very low figure
indeed. and then ordered a small house to be
a putt IN the midst OF MS little estate. His wife
witted son at the adjacent village, and there the
family dwelt at the sign Of the Seven Bells while
4 hn hnIIln as ltItlIinD
II was quickly put together, and was then gay
with a green balcony and it had motherly lub-
boats. dangling at cranes. and the en-
trance was embellished with a singular porch
who had recoilected seeing something Of the
at Lisbon when he had gone as a boy on a
Capt. Carey loved seclusion. Like most re-
tired mariners, he hated TO be overlooked. This
fondness for privacy, which grows out of a habit
sea, and no 5ver-ths-way. The master
p a vessel lives in a cabin all alone
81 the ship. He measures his quarter
deck IN lonely walks: no eyes slittering above
havior as a man, his Judgment as a seaman, but
not his mode OF life as a private individual, are
st p,Issi ashore ey afi nir q srs long p mepsf, of w comm a @s az
sea he carries with him a strong love of privacy
and much resolution OF retirement. 4 great
by solitary seamen, who pass their time in
looking through a telescope At the horizon, in
- NN'hk NiAi lNoi ihNh vi thtlt oNhN ", 4
IN smoking pipes at the LuRger Inn or at the
sign or the Lord Nelson, and turning in at night
and turning out In the morning.
To provide against being overlooked In case
others should build hard by, Capt. Carey walled
his little estate of four acres with a regular
bulk head Of a fence, handsomely spiked on top.
and too tall for even his giant son TO peer over
ln tiptOe. In a few months the house WAS
being papered, and in all ways completed;
was then furnished and the ground fenced.
Capt. Carey and his family now took possession
n their new home. There was first Of all Capt,
,arey, then Mrs, Carey. next the giant young
'arey who had been known up In Blyth by the
Of Mothar Carey's chicken, and last Mrs.
'arey's niece, q stout, active girl of 20, who
helped Mrs. Carey in cooking and looking after
he house; for Carey, having been robbed while
absent on a cOasting voyage. OF a new coat, a
'oft hat, a meerschaum pipe, and a few other
rifles by a maid OF all work, had sworn in hide
rus orecastle-language never again TO keep an
lther servant.
This happy family OF Careys were very well
pleased with their new home. Old Carey was
lever weary OF stepping out Of doors 10 look at
MS house. He seemed TO find something fresh
o admire every time he cast his eyes over the
tttle building. He and his son planted potatoes,