The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-11-15
ASAILOR'S DAUGHTER

III had been rechrlstened My Lady
Dabchicl" such a shudder went through her.
an extra puff of wind would have blown her
sunshade on to the tide and hoated it into
the Medina. As you may see by the mention
Of the word sunshine, the countess was no
marine maniac She did yachting, but she
loved birmingham and Goodwood; liked sit
ting down and strolling, and carriage gowns.
She herself, though unaware of the fact, was
known by her intimate friends-very much
30 by her enemies-as Lady Toilette"
That morning, aboard her husbands yacht
the Lamphore, her maid had had a terrible
time of it. Although ones things get blown
about and spoilt, that's no reason why
should 60 about like a savage mean a
laundress or something" 'No, my DEAR"
said the earl, looking out eastward as if he
could see the Meteor coming past the Overs.
The noble yachtman had that far-away look
of a man who is always on salt water.
"Eveline can do as she pleases l am told
that when she went up the Blackwater with
that horrid Lefoy girl she actually wore
sea boots and tramped over the mud. call
1t indelicate-almost immoral" Her lady
ship shook her head and sighed deeply. The
sigh was almost as loud as the first puff of
q coming breeze.
"Eveline is a good girl, though eccentric"
hdlu Tue ldbucl, WIN was iluCL illOTe lHleE-
ested in watching a smart hand engaged in
hamemring a shilling into a ring on the point
of a parlin-spike. The earl was partial to
wearing these chefs-d' oeuvre of nautical
handicraft
And, my DEAR" the countess would say,
"and he would smoke pipes all the day il
would let him. That is the advantage of be-
ing brought up in the gunroom; and--Eve-
line takes after him"
"She took to the water" so her father
said, like duck; and do you know, Smith,"
the earl was chatting with his skipper
chat girl knows the channel chart as well
as any master going. She took that one
rater Of hers through the Overland route to
Dover in a good deal more than capful OF
wind, can tell you. And what an ear she's
got! Do you remember how she caught the
sound of the Dungeness syren? And didn't
she win the small boat cup at Shoreham?
Yet | never saw girl better gowned when
she chooses to be-"
Alas! the countess had another source OF
grief Her daughter was blighted with a
peculiar mania for singing marine ballads
The earl was particularly partial, like all
good sailors and gentlemen, TO Wrapping
Old Stairs" and Tom Bowling" But,
facilis descensus, the frank, pretty Eveline,
like some other yachting sportswomen, was
not above taking up with some time-honored
"chatty," by the aid of which many main
sail has to be hoisted. The countess, one
luckess day, had caught her daughter sing
ing to herself:
j once knew a captain who didn't know
his name,
Heigo ho etc.
The peeress almost flew, only was too
stout to fly; almost rushed, only was too dig
nifed to rush, to her noble husband
THAT dreadful girl sings the most dread
full songs!-a sort of horrid grooming, some
thing about blowing man down"
"Bless my SOUL" said the old yachtsman's
viking, "the men used to sing it off Cape
Coast years agone. l know it, BE he
black man, white, or a brown ,"
His daughter had come up on deck, and
her fresh voice joined in with her fathers.
The skipper, unable to restrain his sympa-
thetic feelings, joined in with a roar that
might have served for an amateur syren's.
When the next verse began
Then up came the shark with his ugly fin
voice was heard joining in from the sea.
The countess swept away like wrathful
Zenobia. The hands nearest were obliged
to look over the bulwarks to hide their grin
ming faces.
Below, the countess almost speeches.
with disgust, said aloud:
"And some person actually joined in from
the water"
The highly-polished steward thinking to
improve the occasion, remarked
81 think it was the dock in his new rater."
"The world is coming to an end, said the
countess, solemnly.
In the afternoon in the Squadron Garden
the countess was consoling herself with the
thought that her gown was exquisite, and
that her companion was royal highness.
The r. H. was hardly sympathetic Still
she remarked;
Fancy her singing that! Why, it's what
the sailors call 'chanty' It's quite good
fun when you're hauling in a dinghy"
The lady of Quentin Durward shuddered,
albeit the words were spoken by possible
future empress. "Why, my boys sing the
very thing; so do the girls" and with a
smile, and perhaps slight suggestion of
blush, 81 don't know but what | haven't
done it myself. / once told the poor car,
who was so fond of doing feats of strength
how this kind of singing helped. And, dear
! Lady Quentin-it is liberty, know, but
don't you think that you are just little
hard on poor Eveline and that dear little
John Ranlan-he's four inches shorter than
a
"There is enough salt water in the fam.
Ily already. The earl actually cuts up his
own tobacco with caspknife. ! do not
like young Ranlan. lie shall not sail with
her in that horrid boat, no matter who's
with them. ] do not understand the CIR"
"There she is, and with another girl-one
of the Lefroys, l suppose" The expert
enced eye of the royal lady could tell the
rake Of craft half mile of. How well
th0y handle it! The little girl with her must
have good muscles to have twisted the main.
sail-most hands would have taken more
than third of the time"
81 told that wicked girl to be with me
here" sighed the countess,
Mamma proposes, ct cetera," answered
the royalty, and the lady smiled in some.
what suspicious fashion
"Those girls are mad" Lady Quentin Dur.
ward flustered with annoyance, or, as some
one remarked professionally, LADY Toi
lette's in irons
And she has dared to stop away all this