The Delta independent., 1897-04-21

l. 3
E6 March day when
N she spread her
Nm broad wings and
y caught the ocean
swell of Sandy Hook, nothing had
been farther from my thoughts
than q voyage round the Horn.
A trip by balloon. an exploration
of African wilds, or or a raid on the
north pole would have seemed a propo-
sition as feasible as this venture to the
southwark, to 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.
1t was chance the first that Capt. Abb
ner Peck should come back from u
voyage to the west coast to find the
wife of his bosom in failing health, and
t. 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 sur
geon; as part owner of the Mary Peck,
he was entitled to some luxuries. 1t
was chance the third that the captain
and /, Alfred Morris, NJ. D., should meet
ut the house of friend in the New Eng
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;
/ confided to him the story OF a few
skirmishes of my uphill fight. The talk
ended in his milking definite PROPOSE
ton. I asked 4s hours to consider it
and accepted it in IL. In going to sea
gave up little. A few patients. chronic
as to malndies and uncertain as to pay
inents, would be forced to seek n new
bargained for passage on fine ship,
forgctfusncss Of the landlord bughear.
and pay sufficient to supply spending
money 1T the ports we might touch at
and to bring me home with o little
loose silver in my pockets.
Once the die was cast, the thought of
the voyage filed me with glce; for 1t
offered n first prospect of adventure,
though from boyhootl mine had been All
existence of ofvicissitutes. Left an orphan
in childhood, had grown up into my
teens under the care of an uncle, m
elderly bachelor, who treated me with
a mixture of the fondness he felt for
kinsfolk and the distrust he manifested
toward those debarred from the suf-
frsge by circumstances of age or sex.
He did not understand children, and he
feared women. He owned n small fnc-
tory in Rodneytown, q village on tho
New England coast which had closed
60 6~vo rrf n, hn iHAvo
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 me out of his
sight and hearing, thereby, no doubt.
gaining his tacit approval. I was
rather solitary little fellow in those
days. with n liking for prowling about
the fields and along the beach or pad
ding q crazy Iaft up and down the
shallow tidal streams in which tho
neighborhood abounded, and on tho
banks of the largest of which Isoinoy-
town was built. Behind the village
rosc q long low ridge, and beyond that
in turn was rolling country, well
wooded and fairly fertile. Between tho
ridge and the beach stretched lowlands
fringed 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 lowlanJs were of little value, and at
no time Ind they many dwellers. In
fact, to this day there is scarcely n habi-
tation to be found from one end of the
plain to the other, though little way
<,HN hx., Il ox.,I ;nh tpr.vrrdl
it are several clusters of farmhouses.
found a fascination of kind, in this
waste region, which seemed to belong
hardly more to the land than to the sea;
and 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
Ioots q covering. On one of these islands
-as they may be called for want of o
better term-I discovered q house, old,
and long untenanted, but not dilapi-
dated. Why its builder had chosen its
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 n view of the bay, .
broad expsnse Of water sheltered from
ocean gales by . long cape jutting out
from the mainland some miles TO the
south aud then curving 20 - TO extend
almost parallel with the line Of the
inner beach. To the west was the plain,
and beyond II the ridge. To the north
and south was tho amphibious region
where marsh and dry land joined. But
the great attraction of the place WAS