Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-04-14
THE SURVIVAL OF
THE FITTEST.


fire, and the blazing circle Of light grew
to its old dimensions. We could see
the stars lodging back and forth be
hind the tops of the pines, and the lone
coyote who had a monopoly OF noises
down the gulch was indulging us
with temporary rest. The patriarch
occupied the seat of honor. a camp
stool, and the rest of us were ranged
on a tree trunk.
The patriarch looked al me. ''I'll dc
you the favor" he said, ''of filling my
pipe with your tObakky. Spekin' OF
sea yarns, that story of Jim's about
the icebcrgs that hunted in pairs. keep
in keen lookout to squeeze Il ship
caught without breeze. while the
polar bears sat by and laughed, was
tofbiy good. and the one you told about
the thing that could stand OH its head
on the floor of the ocean and flap the
face Of heaven with its tail, was purity
fair, yes. purity fair. But they war
Just yarns, plain yarns, neatly uDrav-
eled. And that makes me think of
what old Ahsalom Biggs used to say:
always tell the truth. my lad, if you're
a master smart hand at it.
''Absalom had distant relative-he
lived in Nantucket, and his brother was
anchored in Jamaiky-who bought and
sold everything. from queer shells "a
queer money. His brother was a smart
man, nigh as smart as AbsSlom him.
self. and he might have lived to be a
great one if they had given him plenty
of rope. As il was. lie war leetle too
high strung TO make a success Of life
Its queer how the furriners acquire
all of our improvements, even the art
of lynchn'.
'AbSalOm was master and sole pro
prletor of the good old tradn' brig.
Keep Mum. They war two Of a kind.
Absalom and the brig. Absalom wore
n suit of homespun that hung on him
like a sail wrapped around windmill.
and the brig was all right If she was
only as black as she was painted. for
she needed sprucin' up badly, but they
war both hard to beat in their decep-
tive lines. | reckon. The Keep Mum
was one of the best of her kind that
ever faded out of sight of a revenue
cutter. and AbSalom was entitled to a
patent right on lots of the tricks of his
trade. He was n quiet kind of man,
though he had good command of Ian
guage, rcsultin' from hard study of cir
Gus posters when he was lad. and
the Keep Mum sailed SO Silly that the
wind couldn't whistle through her rig
gin even.
Now, AbsalOm was a temperance
man from principle and interest,
though he wasn't particularly religious
and wOrshiped nothin'. SO far as l
know. except savin's banks. Never
taste the intoXicatin' cup, young man.
he used TO say: you might miss
chance 10 make dollar But just the
same. after his brother came aboard
at the end of my first trip to Kingston,
bringin' with him a mysterious air
(kind of strongly scented, Absalom
loaded the Keep Mum up with rum.
And such rum! In barrels, with rust
ed hoops and cobwebs clingin' round
'em. they hOisted 1t on board. The pir
ates that hid 1t n century before stored
nothin' weak. and every year added to
its strength. Our second mate, who
was n man of much liquid experience
ashore as well as at sea, took a cargo
of one cup. 1t was just three days be-
fore be could navigate, and-would you
believe iti-for two weeks after that
whenever he drea med of that rum at
night he'd wake up in the morniu'
tipSy-
"AnSafom was man VINO gInnce
over newspapers from curiosity ant
read trade Journals for profit. So
knew some;hin' extremely uncommon
was up when he spent a whole fore
noo1 porin' over a newspaper. with his
elbows on the table and his fingers
clufchcd In his hair; and when | heard
him chuckle. was Interested. Aisa-
lIm Biggs never wasted a chuckie. !
heard him say. as he went Out Of the
cahin: They're strong in the body. but
weak in the head
OF course. picked up the paper. II
told 4 story of an awful tribe of can.
nyba!s who resided on the west coast
of Afr,ky. 1t seemed they war tribe
OF regular bunko-sterers, for all the
who went there war in |
va Tiably taken in. Then the Queen Of |
England sent down gunboat, and the |
captain of the gunboat sent a man with |
n white flag and n proclamation in vio- |
lent language 10 these cannybals. But |
there was some misun1erstandin' o. OFT |
the matter, for the canny Dals ate both |
the gallant tar and the proclama ton.
II hurt the captains feelin's very much,
30 he landed most Of his force and /
went fter the heather. Alasi he didn't |
know EN-. ! disremember all Of tic |
e0ectig' lines the poet lasryate wrote !