Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1895-02-02
TOUGH But TRUE.
The Captains Story Was as Good as the
Biggest Kind of Lie.

The Captains Story Was as Good as the
Biggest Kind of Lie.
1t is extremely difficult to tell a lie.
Falsifying is as easy as to roll down a
CREASED plane But n sublime lie, in
which one hand touches the stars and
the other dives down through the
earth and comes out the other side,
that requires genius. | remember in
my youthful days having an immense
respect for George because he could not
tell lie. AS advanced l found that
to do so he would have required the
brilliancy of Hamilton, the astuteness
of Robert Morris and the cleverness of
Franklin-which he did not have--but
was simply the well-shaped marble
Washington we know to-day.
The difficulty consists in the fact
that truth no longer confines herself to
her proper realm of probability. She
takes to herself such unlimitable
bounds that the most brazen-cymbaled
lie possible to be conceived, dreamed
or manufactured has, metaphorically
physically and spiritually, taken a
back seat. N
am led to these reflections by some
remarks of my friend, Capt. Ebenezer
Luffhard. 1t seems truly sad that the
world has changed so much that man
can no longer tell lie without its be-
ing detected as the truth.
We were speaking of the launching
of ships.
"Do you know" said the captain,
that down in the Caribbee islands
people build ships up on top of an old
volcano? Yes, sir: thousan' feet 'bove
sea level. Yes, sir, Dutchmen. An
blowed if they don't launch 'em, too. "
A smile went around the circle which
made the glasses jump on the table. 1t
was an incredulous smile.
But by the tarnel eels! I've seen
em. A lot of Dutchmen. Live in a
crater. Thousan' feet up. An SO steep
you have to go up steps cut in the rock
to get to it. An they built ships there
in the crater o. volcano. An what's
more, not stick of timber grows on
the blasted place"
Now, cap" ventured one of his
hearers. Fur be it from me to say q
gentlman an old skipper, like meself,
amt confnin' hisself to the truth. An
I've of'en herd tell of folk, long the
Bay o. Fundy, buildin' ships way off in
the woods, noways nigh the water
But thar the tide rises sixty feet an
launches them ships as slick as though
they was built in a ship yard. But
dash my skin, if ever herd of tide
risin' thousan' feet! How do they
launch them ere boats?"
Lower 'em down the rocks, clear
into deep water. I'm son of a sea
cook, if havn't seen them Dutchmer
lower 'em down-thousan' feet!"
chuckled over one of the captains
best. What was my disgust to subse
quently find in Down the Islands,
! by William Agnew Patton, page 30
the name of this remarkable spot il
Sata, small Dutch island, rising ou
of tile sea in sheer walls of rock. Tha
the inhabitants really live one Thousand
feet up in the air, in the crater of al
extinct volcano, Mr.. Patton says in hi
very interesting book:
THE people of Saba are celebrated
throughout the Caribbean islands TO
the fishing boats they build in crate
the oldest places imaginable for
shipyard. When the boats are ready t,
be. launched they are lowered dow
the overhanging precipices into tn
sea. There is no timber growing ol
the island, no beach from which t.
launch boat when it is built, no har
Dor to shelter one when launched, ant
yet these Dutch West Indians profit b.
their trade of ship-building and cruise
all about the Caribbean archipelago il
the staunch, seaworthy craft they con
struct in the hollow of crater on tn
top of their mountain colony"
Alas! the captain had but told us tn
truth. Let us charitably conclude tina
he thought the story so improbabl
that it would answer as well as lie
Philadelphia Times.
A Good Bows Experience.