The Irish standard., 1896-05-23

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H. ~ n company Of the
a stancsh clipper
49, i Mary Peck. bound
1 A. W. from New York to
@tsAk Valparaiso. A
flS9 y week before that
Nss9p bright windy
March day when
~k\ sho spread her
MN broad wings and
- caught the ocean
swell of Sandy Hook, nothing. had
been farther from my i. thoughts
than a voyage round the Horn.
IA trip by balloon, On exploration
Iof African wilds, OF or u raid on the
north pole would have seemed q pr6po-
sition as feasible as this venture to the
southwark, to a young physician strug-
.gling 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 IL
voyage to the west coast to find the
wife of his bosoar in failing health, and
t. resolve to take her with him On his
next run to the farther side Of the sis
ter continent. It tsas chance the Sec
ond THAT, in his anxiety for his spouse,
the skipper should decide to ship q sur
geon: as part owner of the Mary Peck,
he was entitled to some Injuries. It
was chance the third that the captain
and I. Alfred Morris, M. D., should meet
at the house of friend iii the New Eng
land city in which was striving tocarn
my daily bread; and it may have been
chance the fourth that we fraternized
with uncommon cordiality. The sea-
man told me something Of his plans;
I confided to him the story of few
skirrnishes Of my uphill fight. The talk
ended in his making definite PROPOSE
ton. asked 48 hours to consider it.
md accepted it in IL. In going to sea
/ gave up little. A few patients, chronic
as to ,maladies and uncertain as to pay-
ments, would be forced to seek q new
medical adviser; in exchange for them,
] bargained for passage on a fine ship,
forgetfu.ness of the landlord bugbear,
and pay sufficient to supply spending
money at the ports we might touch at
and to bring me home with q little
loose silver in my pockets. $40;
Once the die was cast, the thought of
the voyage filled me with glee; for it
offered q first prospect of adventure,
though from boyhood mine had been an
existence of vicissitudes. Leftan orphan
in childhood, had grown up into my
teens Under the care of an uncle, an
elderly bachelor, who treated me with
q mixture of the fondness he felt for
kinsfolk and the distrust he manifested,
toward those debarred from the suf-
frage by circumstances of age or sex.
He did not understand children, and he
feared women. He owned small fac
tory in Rodneytown, q 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-
fere with my amusements, which, as it
happened, generally took me out Ut his
sight and hearing, thereby, no doubt,
gaining his tacit approval. was a
rather solitary little fellow in those
days, with liking for providing about
the fields and along the beach or pad
ding crazy raft 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 a rolling country, well
wooded and fairly fertile. Between the
ridge and the beach stretched lowlands
ifringed on the seaward 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, dwellers. In
fact, to this day there is scarcely a 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 farm houses.
I found fascination of kind, in this
waste region, which SEEMED to belong
hardly more to the land than. to the.sea;.
and l 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-
fcient soil had collected to give the
roots covering. On one OF these islands
las they may be called for want Of a
better term-l discovered q house, old,
and long untenanted. but not dilapi-
dated. Why its 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 cont temp oraries, had
been an honest constructor. This old
house enchanted my fancy. 70 the
east it commanded view of the bay,
broad expanse OF water sheltered from
ocean gales by a long cape jutting out
from the mainland some miles to the
south and then curving so us to extend !
almost parallel with the line Of tho
inner beach. To the westwas the plain,
and beyond It the rid &C.. TO The north
and south was the aniphibious region
where marsh and dry land Joined :. But
the great attraction OF the place Wa