The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-06-30

NarcissuS Brown was most eStl
mable young man Of studious hab
its His father, a tradesman, la,
taken pride in giving him liberia
education. At the age Of - years
therefore. Narcissus had finished Iii
education and had become philos
opher.
But youth is tickle. An ardent i'm
agination and restless instincts worke
their way, and three months late
Narcissus became poet.
Gather" said he, one day, II fee
within me the poetic instinct. l am I
poet!' :.
"yery WELL my son." said the pa
ternal Brown, ''be poet if you will
So much the better, too," he added
with proud fondness, "because it vii
vex Green, the grocer. His son is ;
writer, but he only writes prose.
So Narcissus became poet. Every
day he. wandered off to the little vii.
lagos near his native city, and there
eommuned with nature The dusty
trees which lined the roadside moved
him to poetry, and even the windmills
stirred his soul.
'Ah," he would sentimentally say,
'how Romantic they look! See the
whitesails glinting in the sun like
those of fair galleon gliding over
the waves to some far-off shore"
The sea! He had never thought OF
the sea before. The idea suddenly
flashed across his brain.
"Ah," he mused, 'the sea! The
bright, blue, boundless ocean! That is
the place for poet. What is there
poetic in THE humdrum life ashore?
On the ocean man struggles with ma
ture; he combats the elements; he de-
Ties the storm. shall 60 to sea"
He returned to the paternal shop
aud declared his intention. But his
father only yielded after much per-
suasion. At last he consented and
made up package Of fancy dry goods
which he thought would sell well at
the colonies. To this he added a
purse, some tears and his blessing,
and Nareissus started for the nearest
seaport.
There lie repaired to the house Of a
cousin. resident Of the place; he
stated his intention and asked for ad-
vice. The cousin was well acquainted
With the captain of brig which was
about to sail for Martinique, and Sc
cured him q passage aboard Of her.
Narcissus experienced slight
shock when he heard the name Of the
vessel.
III it were only little more poet
icalr' he thought. The Undine, or
me Mermaid, or something like that
But the Sarah Annr' And he asked
me captains name. When told it was
smith. he almost tainted. He was to
sMi aboard of the brig Sarah Ann,
omlth, master. He would have will
mgly given larger sum if the cap
tain had had a nautical name.
However, there was no help for it
ln passage money was paid. So the
ssxt day, accompanied by his cousin,
10 look boat and went on board the
oafah Ann, to see what she looked
NE On the way out the water was
ssery rough, the boat was small, and
Aafc'ssus at once hoped and feared
,ome notwithstanding romantic.
ont he only got seasick.
when he reached the deck he cast
IN eager glance around upon the hardy
sons OF the sea. Most Of them were
-ssabbing the deck after getting in
/ cargo, and there were several engaged
= washing and hanging ont shirts
upon the rigging to dry. With an ex-
clamation of disgust, Narcissus turned
sway.
They only neod Gatirons to be
w,sherwomen," said he.
However, lie descended to the cap
:a'n 3 cabin. That individual was talk
.ag toa stout, thick set man, and
"saed to Narcissus aud his cousin to
..a' themselves. They did so, and
Satclssus Immediately began to in
sIect Inc cabin. 10 his disgust he
.Sano It was a prosaic little room, with
uasarpet, chairs. table aud pictures on
.ae walls-exactly like a room Oh
~; saote. sNarcissus sighed and turned
= !" .ssesupon the captain. His ideal
'ae nan who was to brave the ele-
lents aud command a turbulent crew
vas az follows: A mariner OF giant
s1sme at least siy feet; u mnsslvc
ssaa; ,flsrco eyes;s voice OF awc-in-
ufins qualities. He looked ut Cap
.'n Smith and saw that nc was
.aoft thip nan abou. sc years of
~ ~ va sEtsnsly polite iu his
ssansfs: b woss a Wig. and he took
sa .ifA !mposs!b!e to describe the
.esss q fsslIss tbs. swept over
ssesasn. yksn B. b,st!A ills insig-
ssm p2sssnsgs
80 'ottyNsal aao w~s talking to