The Van Buren press., 1896-02-08
A SEA HERO.
How Harry, the Cabin Boy,
Atoned for His Sin.f@

| about Bath, Me-, and her ships must,
necessarily, know the Reaper. She is
one of those trim-looking craft that
Fenimore Cooper might naturally have
| pictured for his Skinner of the Seas.
| Bulky of hull shaped like Il sword
fish, with wings of enormous spread,
there was a time when the Reaper had
| more "quiclz work. about her frame
than the twenty periaguas built into
q single craft of which the great
| American author used to tell.
Few who were anywhere near Bath
on a certain day during the centen-
NAL year can ever forget with what en-
| thusiasm the Reaper.wa consigned to
her native element gshe won distinc-
ton on the high seas from the very
start, and when it was not in winning
races or carrying notable cargoes it
was in rescuing some poor wretch cling
ing to a piece of timber. 1t is only
few years since the Reaper arrived
here the winner of a 15,000-mile race
around Cape Horn from Astoria, Ore.
| Her competitor ON this occasion was
the sturdy and speedy bark Western
! Belle. The sum of 81 900 was stalied
on this event, and the Reaper took
the prize.
But the Reaper is now in trouble,
and her many friends will be glad to
learn that the marine doctor entertains
hopes of her recovery. She is at Port
land, where she arrived the other day
badly broken down in health and
spirits, after the longest and rough
est passage in her experience, from
ocean to ocean, and that is saying a
great deal for a craft that has doubled
the cape as many times as has the
Reaper.
Not only were her hull and wings
badly crippled, but she lost a little
hero, and those who remained on the
battling craft were a struggling, enact
ated exhausted and starving lot when
the vessel finally reached the head of
the Columbia river. The story might
never have been known on this side had
not the nine-year-old daughter of Capt.
| Young, the master of the vessel, writ
ten briefly of the same to Mrs. ii. w.
Morris, of Brooklyn. The little girls
name is Henrietta, and she accompan-
led her mother 70 the Pacific coast
in the Reaper. Henrietta is a sea
nymph, if there ever was one. She
loves the sea as she loves her doll, and
not only can she spin yarn as well as
any of the fo'k'sle hands, but she can
write an interesting one, too.
There never was a tougher lot
of "hands" collected at the instance of
any shipping master than that which
tumblcd aboard the Reaper as she lay
in the stream off Liberty island last
May.
Hardly had the ship got off shore
from Sandy Hook when the mates dis
covered that half q dozen of the sailors
who had been singed as A. BIS were as
green as the sheathing on the ships
bottom Some masters believe in in
PRODUCING a capstan bar on occasions of
this kind but Capt Young is a humane
man, and, with a sigh, he simply logged
the men, and determined to put up
with bad bargain.
The mess or cabin boy who went in
the ship was known to the officers as
Harry. He had never been to sea be-
fore, although he told Capt. Young
when he came on board that he had
made deep water voyage in an English
bark. He was a good lad for a time, and
it was not necessary to ask any ques-
tions to discover that at one time he had
felt the influences of good mothers
hand. He was only Is years old, rather
tall for his age, with full, open face,
light curly hair and blue eyes that
rivaled the clearness of the sea itself.
Somehow or other he evinced fond
ness for that little water sprite Hen
Tietta Immediately after she came
aboard. 1t was one of those attach
ments that an older brother forms for
his little sister, and at the beginning of
the passage he made frequent trips be-
tween the cabin and the headquarters
of Charley Noble TO get some dainty for
his little queen. But after the ship had
been at sea seven weeks it was noticed
that Harry was irregular in his habits
and that his devotion "to the little
woman aft" was not as marked as il
should be. The lad BAD had much oc-
casion to associate with the men in the
usual course of events, and presently
his conferences with the green hands be.
came so frequent and pronounced that
Capt. Young was obliged to reprovt
him.
1t was like casting water on a ducks
back, though. These men seemed tc
have some unknown power over the boy
but the extent of this power vas not
learned until the stewardess one dag
discovered that somebody was stealing
) the condensed milk A watch was
maintained, but still the milk continued
to disappear, and finally the butter be.
gan to take French leave. Then the
flour followed to keep it company, and
was soon joined by the sugar. Thosc
whose duties called them aft began tC
suspect one another, but never for /;
moment was n thought given TO thu
honesty of Harry Little Henriett;
vouched for him, and that was enough
He had told her repeatedly that his am
bition was TO grow up good, brav,
! man that be might command a majestic
, ship like the Reaper, and on Sunday
afternoons, when he pored over the liz
tie tinger-stained Bible that some Chris
tim mother had given him as an heir
loom and read aloud therefrom to th,
girl, Harry was watched with envy