Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1896-06-04

~ caught the ocean
swell of Sandy Hook, nothing had
been farther from my thoughts
than a voyage round the Horn.
A trip by balloon, an exploration
of African wilds, or or n raid on the
north pole would have seemed proPo-
sition rs feasible as this venture to the
southwark, to q young physician strug-
Cling Intellectually to prove that the
community had need Of him and that
the years of preparation for his profess
sion had not been thrown away.
It was chance the first that Capt ABB
ner Peck should come back from
voyage to the west coast to find the
wife of his bosom in failing health, and
tc resolve to take her with him on his
next run to the farther side of the sis
ter continent. 1t was chance the Sec
ond that, in his anxiety for his spouse,
the skipper should decide to ship q sur
geon; rs part owner of the Mary Peck,
he was entitled to some luxuries. 1t
was chance the third that the captain
and l, Alfred Morris, NJ. d., should meet
land city in which was striving to earn
my daily bread; and it may have been
chance the fourth that we fraternized
with uncommon cordially. The sea-
man told me something OF his plans;
l confided to him the story OF few
skirmishes of my uphill fight. The talk
ended in his making definite PROPOSE
%<~o ii
and accepted it in IL. In going to sea
gave up little. A few patients, chronic
as to maladics and uncertain us to pay
ments, would be forced to seek new
medical adviser; in exchange for them,
/ bargaincd for passage on fine ship,
forgctfu.ncss of the landlord bugbcar,
and pay sufficient to supply spending
money ut the ports we might touch at
and to bring me home with little
loose silver in my pockets.
Once the die was cast, the thought of
the voyage filled me with glcc; for it
offered n first prospect OF adventure,
though from boyhood mine had been an
existence of vicssitudcs. Lcftan orphan
in childhood, had grown up into my
teens under the care of an uncle, an
elderly bachelor, who treated me with
Il mixture of the fondncss he felt for
kinsfolk and the distrust he manifested
toward those dcbarred from the suf-
fragc by circumstances of age or sex.
He did not understand children, and he
feared women. He owned small fac
tory in Rodneytown, a village on the
New England coast which had closed
its days of progress about the middle
of the century, but which still main
tanned activity enough to keep it alive.
My uncle seldom attempted to inter-
fcre with my amusements, which, as it
happened, generally took NE out of his
sight and hearing, thereby, no doubt,
gaining his tacit approval. | was IL
rather solitary little fellow in those
days, with a liking for prowling about
the fields and along the beach or pad
ding crazy taft up and down the
shallow tidal streams in which the
neighborhood abounded, and on the
banks of the largest of which Rodney
town was built. Behind the village
rose a long low ridge, and beyond that
in turn was n rolling country, well
wooded and fairly fertile. Between the
ridge and the beach stretched lowlands
fringed on the seward side with salt
marshes, and penetrated in many places
by the tidal creeks of which mention
has been made. For farming purposes
the lowlands were of little value, and at
no time had they many dwcllers. In
fact, to this day there is scarcely habi-
tation to be found from one end of the
plain to the other, though little way
up the slope of the ridge which bounds
it are several clusters of farmhouses.
found fascination of a kind, in this
waste region, which seemed to belong
hardly more to the land than to the sea;
and 1 spent many happy days exploring
it. Here and there, rising from the
marsh, were rocky hillocks, steep
sided, and dotted with dwarfed trees
and bushes wherever, by accident, suf
ficient soil had collected to give the
roots a covering. On one of these islands
as they may be called for want of q
better term-I discovered Il house, old,
and long untenanted, but not dilapi-
dated. Why it's builder had chosen it's
site as he had was not to be explained,
for he had long been dead and buried;
but his work remained to prove that
he, like most of his contemporaries, had
been an honest constructor This old
house enchanted my fancy. TO the
cast it commanded a view of the bay,
broad eXpanse OF water sheltered from
ocean gales by long cape juttng out
from the mainland some miles to the
south and then curving SO as to extend
almost parallel with the line of the
inner beach. To the west was the plain,
and beyond it the ridge. To the north
and south was the amphibious region
where marsh and dry land joined. But
the great attraction of the place was
it's isolation. Nobody dreamed of in
vading my retreat, and there l could
imagine myself monarch of all sur
veyed, ruling n realm so deserted that
the very loneliness of it, for which l
loved it, sometimes terrified me.
My uncle'a death, cutting short my
stay in Rodncytown, led to my removal
to the far different scenes of small
city in central Illinois. where dwelt an
other of my fathers brothers, child
less widower. He was an austere man,
intensely practical, and well calculated
TO cure me of the romantic moods had
learned to cherish, had we but come to
terms OF affection. tnluckily however,