The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-10-27
ONE TRAGEDY OF THE SEA.

| 1nls was what She saw: A sandy
strip Of land running out into the bay,
covered with low growth of ''sad
grass" interpreted with patches OF
huckleberry bushes; beyond, a bril-.
liantly blue thread of water dividing
it from the sand dunes and ocean
beach, and on the nearer side of the
point of land glistened the dancing
| wavelets of Shinnecock bay. Mrs. B.,
who had been watching the white sail
OF the boat which contained her boys
until it rounded the point, turned to
the Indian woman whom she had en-
gagged to wash the windows of the little
cottage she rented for the summer, and
said: THAT is your reservation, isn't
1T ?" pointing to the rest of the PENN
sula, Oh which were number of gray
cabins, half hidden by the thick foliage
OF silver poplars. "And those, sup
pose, are your houses; but what are the
white objects near the end of that LONE
~, isolated point 2''
"reminiscences" answered the woman
laconically; and then, after a pause,
during which she had breathed on a
pane and then polished it with a dry
cloth, after the manner of her kind,
she continued: my husband lies
bhOiCs anu OWclNc OtueTS Vi OuT
folks-the best men of the revolution,
all drowned together over yonder in
tie ocean on one awful night" And
takiDg up her pail she proceeded to the
next window.
But Mrs. B.'s sympathy and curiosi-
~ were aroused, and she followed her.
Would you mind telling me about
It p SD" asked kindly, 'or is it too
painful ?n
The half breed turned. showing a face
tragic with the woe of two oppressed
nationalities added to her own
troubles. IF Mrs. B. would like to
hear about it," she said, using the third
person, as her people are won't to do.
Il will tell it." And she began:
SIN old days the reservation men used
to be good sailors, and the captains of
the whalers thought a heap of 'em.
Give Inc Shinuecock Indian every
time said Captain White, of Green
point; but now they amt worth much;
that is, the younger men amt. Sea.
faring is about over as a trade, and
our race never took to farming. often
says kerosene has done us O heap o.
harm, for before coal oil came in whal.
in paid we'll.
"Thirty years ago, as 1 was saying.
all the older men on the reservation
used to be sailors Chat is, the best of
'em. the poorer ones didn't do much OF
anything even in those days, and when
they were ashore they would turn their
hands to anything on the water
Oysterin', loading vessels on the north
side, and such like. Well, that week
good many of our men were at home,
md nr1n MI oh in n fno OF.
came around hard and fast on the
beach at Southampton. Nobody was
nurt, but there she was stuck faster
than a fly on sticky paper, and there
was nothin' for it but to take off her
get the Shinnecocks,' they told the
captain, in the village. They are the
men for your money So they sent
oyer and engaged fourteen, my hus
band among 'em. Wasn't glad
though, that he should get the job
and never saw him again. 1t was
calm weather when they started, and
some of us went over to the beach to
see them eff. The captain of the Cir.
cassian Chat was the name of the ship
had his boats there, and said he would
bring 'em back that night to sleep ard
take 'em back the next morning. We
heard tell afterward from a sailor
who was saved, for we never saw one
OF our men alive again, that toward
svenin' it look rainy, and the captain
says, says he, You fellers had better
stay aboard tonight to begin work
early in the mornin';' but our folks
objected. 'Twasn't in the contract.
they said, and no more it wasn't; but
th1 M in ho~an 70 farri1n1o
md said not man should leave the
ship.
Ihey didn't come back to supper,
out we didn't feel no cause to be
frightened; we surmised how it wuZ,
Dut somehow l couldn't feel easy.
After had got the children to sleep, ]
brew an apron over my head, and run
over to my next neighbours whose man
nad gone, too. The wind was blowing
hard and wet from the sea, and ! could
not see q star. When got to Sally's
found her outside her house, in the
dark.
feel sorter uneasy she said, and
am right glad to see you. Don't you
think there's going to be a storm p and
Just then a great gust of rain and wind
look us off our feet. Well, that was
the beginning of it, and goodness,
what time we had Cryin, and pray
IN the whole night through. The
other women were just as skeered as
we were, and some OF 'em come over to
jine US, sayin' they couldn't sleep.
1.-The winds dead southeast, any
aow,' remember one of them said,
and that's u comfort. They can't
blow out to sea, anyhow; it's bound to
bring them in. And so it did, for when
the black sky turned to gray we heard
the gallopin' of horse in the distance.
WHATS that p we cried, and list.
ered in fear. 1t came nearer and near
er. never hear horse gallop now
without thinking of that terrible
dawn, when through the southeasterly
gale man from the life saving station
brought over the awful news. The big
steamer had foundered in the storm,
and all hands were lost
when he left the tide had turned,
and the dead bodies were comm
ashore on the beach. Every one OF
our men drownded. Yes, those be
their tom bstones, those white specks
out there on that point"
1T was very long ago." said Mrs.
B.. She cauld actually think OF
nothing more comforting to say. The
tragedy was too appalling.
Yes, it was good while ago." re-
heated the colored woman, going back
to her work.
Nigh Oh to twenty-five years ago, /
guess, but l can remember it as fresh
as yesterday" and again she fell to
scrubbing.
That evening Mrs. b. sat on her
veranda, over the bay, and the roar OF
the ocean took on a sadder meaning
as she looked over at the white points
on the lonely sandy strip of land and
thought of the tragic story told her
that morning.