The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-07-22
afterward on the benches BY the inn


In and cmoked long pipes In the kitchen
with Muster Simon. and slowly evolved
bets and matches. And once or twice
In the summer months a company of
pilgrims would arrlve-Queer literary
men in velveteen coats. who examined
all the rooms and furniture as though
they meant to make q bid for the inn
complete; who talked with outtaindish
toagues and ordered expensive dinners,
and usually paid for them next MORN
ing. rather to Master Simon's surprise.
1t ar:,sared that there was once. In the
time OF Master Simon's grandfather. n
certain po;-boy at the Flowing Source
who ran off into the world arid became a
great poet; ami these pilgrlmages were
made In his hcnor. Master Simon
found this story somehow very credit
able to himself and came In time to
take almost as much pride in 1t ,as In
his pigeons and broiled salmon. Regu-
larry after dinGer on these occasion he
would exhibit an old pewter pint-pot
with verse. scratched upon it.
as he a2serted-by the poets own hard.
And the pilgrims felgned credulity ac-
cord!ng as they valued Master Simon's
opinion Of their intelligence.
But most welcome of all We're the
merchant captains from Ponteglos.
among whom custom had made 1t n
point of honor to report themselves at
the Flowing Source within twenty-four
hours after dropping anchor by Ponte-
CLOS Quay. When or why or how the
custom arose nobody was old enough to
remember. but master mariner would
as soon have thought of sailing with
out log or lead-line as OF putting In and
out of Ponteglos without tasting Mas
ter Simon's ale-"calling for orders"
as they put 1t. Master Simon had never
climbed sea-Going ship except to
shake hands with a friend and wish
good voyage and return to shore with
parlor We're lined with charts of such
very remote part of the world. and his
shelves with such quantity OF for
eign china and marine curlosities, and
he spoke so famliarly OF Galapagos,
Batavia. Cape Verde, the Horn, the
Straits of Magellan and So forth. and
would bring his telescope so knowingly
to bear on the gilt weather-cock over
Ponteg!os church tower, that until you
knew the truth You would have sworn
half his life had been spent on the quar-
terdeck. And while the sea captains
serious men, attired In blue cloth, wear
ing rings In their ears--sat and smoked
CANISTER and other other queer tobac-
cos in painted china pipes, and talked
of countries whose very names coz
jured up visions of parrots, and carved
idols, and sharks, and brown natives
in flashing canoes. Master Simon would
put shrewd question or two and wag
his head over the answers as a man
who hears just what he expected. And
sometimes toward the close of the sit
ting, if ne knew his company very we'll.
he would reward them with his favorite
and only song. "The Golden Vanitee:"
"a ship have got In the North Coun.ree,
And l had her chrstened the Golden
Nanitee:
o, fear she'll be taken by a Spanish
Cal-a-lee
As she sails by the lowlands lowe
In some hazy way he had persuaded
himself that the Spanish galleon of the
ballad was tIhe very ship whose timbers
| overarched him and the audience; and
for the moment. being himself inverted
$50 to speak, by the potency of his own
singing, he blew out his chest and
| l'tra1dled out his thick calves and
screwed up his eyes. quite as If his roof
| tree were right-side up once more in
blue water, and he on deck beside the
wea:her-rail. But the mood began to
pass as soon as he locked the front
door behind his guests. and Ann the
cook poured him ou1 his last cup OF
mulled ale and withdrew with the sauce
pan. And another noon would find him
seated under his house-front, his eyes
half-closed, his attention divided be-
tween tine whisper of the tide and the
murmur in the pigeon-cots overhead
his body at ease and his soul content
His was a happy life-or had been. but
for two crumpled rose leaves. To be-
| gin with, there We're those COMPOUNDED
pot-boys. 1t puzzled Master Simon al
most as much as 1t annoyed him; he
paid fair wages and passed for n good
employer; but he could not keep a pot.
boy for twelve months. As a matter OF
fact, know the river to have been al
the bottom Of the mischtef-the river
and perhaps the talk OF the ship cap.
tains. It might satisfy Master Simon
| to sit and watch the salmon passing ly
In autumn toward their spawning beds
and rubbing. as they went. their scales
against his larding-stage to clear them
Of the sea-lice; to watch them and tl1eil
young passing seaward in the spring
to watch and wait and spread his nets
in the due season. But for the youngs-
| ters this running water was a con.
start lure-the song Of u and the dim.
| pie on H. 1t coaxed them, as II cOaxed
| the old gal1eon, to lean over and listen
And the moment that listening became
| intolerable. they were off. Only one
Of them--the poet before mentioned
had ever expressed any desire to return
and revisit
"The shining levels and the dazzled wave
Emerging from his covert of green woods
Old heronrIes, and wales mysterious.
Lost between uplands where the harvest
ers
Pause in the swathe, shading their eyes
TO watch
| some HttIe tTHueT StediIHs up iTOU Std'
| Themselves In sunset. she a twilight
ghost
Parting the twilt woods. -
All, loving God,
Grant In the end this world may slip ava,
with whisper OF that water by the bow!
OF such bark. bearing me home-th,
Breaking the gloom like klngiishers, THY
heights
Wearing the dear rough faces Of my kin"
I doubt II me meant 1t. any more thar
Virgil meant his "humlna amen sill
vasque ingkorius." At any rate the pub
lic knew what was due to itself, and
when the time came. gave the man q
handsome funeral In Westminster Alb
bey. Among his pall-bearers walked