Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-05-02
WANDERING WILLIE.

progress peculiar to that manner OF nav
igation. Perhaps its locomotion was un-
usually slow, for not only was the boat
eastward bound and therefore heavily
laden with the lumber it had shipped at
Buffalo, but it was Of decidedly grave
and sedate aspect generally and was so
extremely large, stolid and clumsy that
most Of its compeers were as fairy shall
lops beside it for grace and lightness.
1t was old-that is, old for q canalboat,
which carries grain five years, lumber
five years more and then is past its use
fulness-the paint was worn and bis
tered, and the gilt letters on the stern
were SO defaced by time that one could
with difficulty decipher the words, The
Wandering Willie.
Had any one read this inscription on
that September day he would have
thought it most absurd misnomer
"Willie" was unsuitably light and ten
der, while the epithet Wandering"
was surely i'll applied to vessel whose
migrations were strictly confined to the
long and narrow extent of canal But
perhaps it had seemed more fitting I'll
tie some so years ago when it had been
chosen for somewhat less ponderous
craft than the present possessor of the
name, when, too, the Erie canal was
new, vast and magnificent enterprise,
and voyage along its placid waters
seemed almost as memorable as trip
to Europe does to us now.
No one, however, bestowed any scru-
- 4l,o4
afternoon, for it was passing through
district very thinly settled. Now and
then distant farmhouse, with its red
rooted barns, gave touch Of human
interest to the landscape, and occasion
ally the boat crept slowly between wide
stubble fields lying warm and glow
ing under the late sun, as if full of a
pleasant consciousness of a summers
work well DONE But most of the time
the canal lay through vast woods, so
dense that oak and elm, beech and ma
pie leaves mingled together in indistin-
guishable confusion. The boat in these
leafy solitudes was as isolated as ship
at sea, but its loneliness was not desc
late, for it was broken by the twitter Of
many birds and by the sense of the in
tense life in the myriad growing trees
and vines.
There were five persons connected
with the boat. One man was lazily
guiding the mules some 900 feet ahead;
another was doing in the bow of the
boat; Jenny, young woman, was pre-
pairing supper on the forward part of the
deck; ayoung man was holding the till
Ell, and near him sat an elderly woman
knitting. These latter two saw in their
different ways much Of the beauty and
poetic possibilities of the scene. The
young man thought that ''far in forest
deeps unseen," such as these, Lancelot
and Guinevere had ridden side by side
and in just such bosky dells Orlando
and ROsalind did ''feet the time care
lessly, as they did i'll the golden world"
The woman, unfamiliar with the Ca
reers Of these distinguished personages,
merely put down her coarse knitting to
listen more intently to blackbird's pip
ing, or to inhale with underlined delight
the cool fresh odors Of the ferns and
MOSES, Or the warm breath of the fields.
Presently she broke long silence by
saying to her companions:
"You haven't told me bout that
there letter you got yist day"
GIVE been wanting to, but hardly
knew how to begin,' said the young
man, with an effort to speak lightly.
''It's from that banking firm in Chica-
go told you about. They offer me a
good position now and chance to rise.
l must make up my mind tonight. 1t
would be a great thing for me, mother. "
Until he spoke the last word one
would never have suspected the relation
between them. The young man looked
like gentleman. The straw hat pushed
back on his head revealed face at once
keen, thoughtful and refined. His suit
of blue flannel fitted him well and was
scrupulously neat. The woman wore a
calico dress and apron and gingham
sunbonnet. She was not much past mid
die life, but seemed rather older. Severe
and incessant labor had bent her frame,
as it had hardened and misshapen her
hands. But with that word mother as
a key an observer could have traced the !
latent resemblance i'll the two faces.
There were the same soft brown eyes
and wide brows, surmounted in one
case by thick, curly brown locks, in the
other by scanty gray ones. There We're |
the same square jaws and firm set lips |
that told Of indomitable energies and |
each countenance as it turned toward |
the other beamed with tender affection
make up yer mind, Joe?" the wom-
an said slowly, evidently startled. "You
don't mean that you air reely thinkin |
of it?''
'Mothern' he said with passionate |
earnestness he strove in vain to conceal, |
''you must see for yourself that I am |
not fitted for the life on canalboat. 1t |
is too quiet, too dull; it has 10 oppor-
tunities. I have seen and learned too |
much to settle down willingly to this
work. If I am to do nothing else than
this i'll the world, it was a mistake for |
you and father to send me to school and
college,
Don't say that, Joep cried his moth !
er in quick reproach. eyer father an |
yer gran father often felt 'shamed O. |
havin no eddication. They allus earned !
fair Hvin, to be sure, an had every !
body's good word. But it's a fine thing !
to have schoolin, an we was bound you
should have it. An we worked fur it,"
she concluded simply, but with a retro
spective sigh.
81 know you did" said Joe grateful
ly. "And know how you worked
like slaves, like tigers. 1 only meant
that it would be a mistake for me not
to get the best results from your work
and fathers and my own Out in the
world, mother! Oh, there's so much to
see and to do, SO much money to be
earned, SO many bright, pleasant people
e I--c--.o