The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1897-11-05
miScellancnn5
THE OLD-MA CAPTAIN.

THE OLD-MAlD CAPTAIN.
| have been going to sea these TWEEN
tN-iive years. said the Stewardess of
an American cOastwise steamer, one
afternoon. as she sat sewing in the
coZy ladies' cabin of the vessel to
which she belonged, and yet | was
never wrecked. No ship | have been
on ever lost so much as Il spar while
was aboard. Yes my life has been
very commonplace. There has been
10 romance connected with it. Stop,
though; | did play very small part
i'll u romance once. That happened
fully twenty years ago. l sometimes
wonder if it wasn't all a dream. 1t
seems stranger TO lie now than 1t did
even then The stewardess paused,
with IA PARKWAY look III her eyes.
when | was young | went on sail
ing vessels instead of steamers" she
continued. About twenty years ago
| visited some friends in the country
after a voyage. and then | came to
New York to find ship. The agent
went to told me that i could go as
stewardess Oh a ship bound to Aus
good man, but he's Il regular old maid.
said | didn't mind old maids, and SO
it was settled that was to go with the
old maid captain The next day
went aboard and reported to my new
captain. He was called Harris. He
was short and very slightly built, with
mild gray eyes, but with full, heavy
black beard. Heseemed about thirty
five years old. His hands were small
and delicate, and his voice was high
and just a tritle shriil, and he walked
up and down the deck with a mincing
sort of gait. Thinks |. Captain
Harris, if you wasn't ID skipper you d
have made a tirst-rate single woman
/ regularly despised him until the
first storm came on. Then he went on
| deck and handled the ship i'll such a
way that | saw he was the best navi-
gator had ever sailed under. After
| lnat began to think better of the old
maid captain. | never saw II captain
SO considerable of his men, If one of
them was the least biz sick. the cap
tain would 90 into the forecastle and
look after him as tenderly AS any
nurse. And when the weather was
bad, he would not let the mates make
the men do any work that wasn't
really necessary, The mates used to
make fun of the captain behind his
back for being SO considerate of his
men, but mellow thought it was
good trait in him.
Il began to watch the captain close.
ly, and | soon made up my mind that
there was some mystery about that
man. Once on pleasant evening l
came on deck and saw the captain
looking at the red sunset with tears in
his eyes. Another time, when thought
he was Oh deck, l went into the after
cabin for something, and | found him
there. What do you think he was
doing? Why, he was sewing, and cry
ing into the bargain. They are right
in calling you the old maid captain
thinks l.
1.-The mate, Mr.. Wood, was tall,
fine looking down-easter. The cap
tain seemed to like him, but thought
how much he must envy his size and
strength. The captain, though, was
much the smarter man of the two.
The mate somehow, seemed to take a
fancy to me. ! was young in those
DAYS. He was always running into
the cabin on some preteXt to see me.
But | never encouraged him. You
see was engaged to be the mate of
another mate; and that mate, poor
fellow, was lost at sea a few years
afterward. Although the captain
didn't seem to care much about me.
That used to puzzle me.
"Oue pleasant evening wnen | went
on deck ! saw the captain standing
aft, looking admiringly at the mate,
who was sitting at the Starboard gang
way. When the captain saw Inc come
on deck he gave me Il sort OF suspicious
look, and when the mate came up to
me and began to make himself agree
able, although, as | said before, had
not given him any encouragement
glanced again at the captain, and
there was AN angry snap i'll his eyes.
H. did not like TO see the mate and
me together That was plain. But
why should he object TO it, so long as
he didn't seem to care for HE himself?
| tried to hit on some reason for this,
but soon gave the whole thing up as
too deep for me.
lone morning when we were in the
South Pacific, some one cried out that
there was a small boat with Severa!
people in it in sight on the lee bow,
We bore away for the boat, and pretty
soon it was alongside the ship. Five
men and little boy climbed up from
the boat to our deck, and we gave
them warm welcome. The boy
couldn't have been day over eight
wears old. He was 4 bright-lookiug
little fellow, with long curly hair.
Captain Harris took to him at once
He carried the child into the after
cabin and put him in his own berth,
and took him something to eat, while
the rescued men were telling us how
they came to be in the open boat
They belonged to = OarGue which was
bound to New York, but had sprung
leak and had foundered the day be-
fore The crew left the vessel in two
boats just before she went down, but
when she did GO under she swamped
one of the boats, and the captain and
seven of the men were thrown into
the water and drowned. The other
boat with the mate in charge, managed
to keep afloat until we came up with
it.
The mate of the wrecked vessel,
Mr.. Bradley, was gray haired, rough
looking man, but he seemed to have IA
kind heart. Fairly in the evening,
when he was sitting in the forward
cabin with the second mate and my
self, he told us that the little boy who
was still in the after cabin with Cap
tain Harris, had been shipwrecked
twice before. The little fellow was
the son of a sea captain, and had been
going to sea with his father and
mother ever since he was borne
About four years before, when the
ship on which the sea going family
were, was nearing the English Chan
mel, heavy fog set III. The second
mate was i'll charge of the deck, and
the captain, with his wife and the boy