The San Francisco call., 1896-11-08
Tale OF How the First Sewing Machine
Came Tboapd the Ship

When the sewing machine came aboard
there was excitement fore and aft. 1t was
: one OF the small hand affairs capable of
being locked up in a diddy box, but its
advent was looked upon with suspicion.
fauoy White, the old quartermaster on the
prloge, looked atthe thing long and steadily
through his glass as it approached in
the launch, and concluding that it was
one OF the gunner's new electric affairs for
torpedo firing, did not report it to the
officer of the deck. w lite had been at see
so long that the shore had become terra
incognita to him, and the great world had
speeued on leaving him befogged, as il
were, inside the bul Iarks of the ship. In
fact the word had been passed along that
Paddy had come to the frigate di ectly
from the ark, and his s'last discharge" >"
which he exhibited upon enlistment, was
signed: NOAH,
Captain commanding.
Albeit when Paddy White died in the
sick bay of sheer old age a strange solemn
looking bird was seen sitting on the end
OF the flying boom, and the men said it
was the dead mans old shipmate, the
dove, come to take him away to the land
where olive branches grow in perennial
beauty.
So Ships Tailor O'Keefe carried his pur-
chase over the eangway after the m master--
alarms had first examined the machine
to see if it was not loaded in some man
ner with an alcoholic mixture or other
: liquid explosive dangerous to the circula-
tory systems of sailors. Sake Fisher
stood on the break of the to gallant fore
castle, naTrating 10 an interested audi
ence the story of his sisters only venture
into matrimony. Her husband was a
western ocean packet man that she had
run afoul of along the East River docks,
he said, and she had such vicious tongue
and temper that the poor fellow cleared
out for sea before they had got home from
the church.
He was lost off the Horn and his ghost
hovered around her forever after, buzzing
its wedding experience in the ears of
every body, which kept her from marrying
again. According to Saxie's statement
she is widow in Fiddler's Green now.
When Fisher saw the sewing machine
he knocked off his family history and
lifted up hisyoice in an observation ca leu
lated TO bring disrepute upon the tailor
property. 1t had caused idleness, extrava-
gance and the love of dress to the females
OF his race and the same disastrous effect
would soon be noticed among the crew.
They would get too nice in their personal
tastes ior good, plain, ready-made pay
masters clothing and the ship would be
crowded with the clattering affairs. As
for him, no tie-ties, gil-gies or gingerbread
work would adorn his uniform.
Signal Quariermaster Michael Donovan
was sittinS on chest alongside of the
mizzenmast patching one of his flags 1t
was the British ensign, and as Michael, in
whose veins some OF Erin's best blood
coursed warmly, had no great love for
those colors, he was handling the bit Of
bunting as though there was profanity
for him in the touch. As he looked up at
the object of the unusual hubbub he con-
tinued his sewing, and in his preoccupa-
tion stitched the hated emblem OF
Queen Victoria to the leg of his volumn-
Gus trousers. Starting up suddenly to
cross the deck he stumbled over the big
ensign that was dragging around his feet.
When Nike found that he was by his
own act made part and parcel of the
Kingdom OF Great Britain, if not Ireland.
he was furious. He tore the flag from his
person, ripping it in pieces-which cost
him whole days extra work repairing
lt-and swore huge deep-sea oaths that he