Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1901-08-16
When The School
ma ans Sailed.
BY HARRY
A. ARMSTRONG.
Observation-Disclosures ..

was a judge or ever had been. but il
shows how Il name will stick To sea
faring man through life. for the Judge :
baptiSmal name was William Some
one called him Judge in the days when
he sailed before the mast. and il stuck
TO him always. like his white hat.
Here the judge SAT with the calking
hammers Gathering away around him
like spring frogs and the Keel of the
Mary Ann of CharleVoX aS dry as il
was before the launch day Men were
at work on plank slung over the side
splling green paint into the seams
with the rccklesSncss rightfully belong
ing TO drunken sailors.
woman PASSED along the opposite
side of the street she was listening
10 the claticr of the malletS and did
not see the Judge aS he stood erect. hat
in hand and bowing like Beau Brum-
mel. The other men gigglcd a bit. not
because woman was a rare thing on
Goose island but wholly at the judge.
"That is the bravcSt WOMAN who
ever stepped over the side of am craft
afoat or on the bottom of the 1ake."
said the judge aS he Slipped back 10
his place on the edge of the drydock
and began 10 stroke his beard. which
had more gray hair Than black in it.
"She- that is 10 say, thar lady -doeSn' [
look afraid of anything, not even the
water ont OF the river" E.ut the Judge
paid no attention 10 the remark Of the
first mate
The Mary Ann Of CharleyoiX was
not 50 pretty then as she was at first, a"
said the judge half to himself, but she
was just as Seawortby rs any OF the
bigger vessels going up and down the
lake under their own steam. When
the June vacations came. the Mary Ann
lay here IN the river without a thing
TO DO. Along came schoolteacher
and asked me what we would charge
TO take half dozen or so young ladies
sailing up the lake to the Thousand
Islands and bring them safely back
to Chicago
Now, that was a new kind Of a
cargo, aud | had TO scratch my head
quite bit before making a price. All
right. sir she said. We Will come
down tomorrow And SO they came.
Every mothers son of Us was carrying
provisions and getting a stock of fresh
meats and things when there broke
loose a regular babel at the gangplank,
and there they came tripping aboard
with valises and bandboXes and UNI
brelas and packages and 40 telling
what Just nine came, and We had no
trouble slowing them away in the
cabin. my room and the mates room.
But two more came. aud then, just as
II was getting dark, two more came.
THAT made thirteen,
AS result had 10 20 out and picl.
up a new crew In the hope of getting
under way before the kind of cargo
carried was known, but forgot this
day was Friday Something got tan
gled with the lines, or the anchor chain
was rusted. or the wheel had TO be
fixed. The Mary Ann Rugged the
wharf till after midnight, when we ran
up a light, and a tug came alongside
and towed us out into the lake. The
young women were all up as we glided
along past the big elevator and the
shadows of the mast swept across the
fields Of salt barrels and on into the
broader basin beyond the life saving
station.
Eve threw of the lines Of the tug,
and there was such a shouting the
lookout at the life saving station would
have been excused if he had thought a
female lunatic asylum had broken out
on the Mary Ann.
Eat? They could eat anything.
believe they would have fattened on
fricassee Of rope ends Oh. il was a
jolly lot that drew up to the first
breakfast. and the cabin boys had TO
make several trips TO the scullery be-
fore the meal was done. Before noon
they had mlnutely examined every
thing from the rock ballast in the hold
TO the little flags whipping at the mast
heads. They even wanted TO steer, and
sometimes the quartermaster would
| let them The ship would huff. and
the outfit would laugh and grab at
masts and coils Of rope as the boat
rolled back 10 the course.
"When the first night came. the man
dOlinS ana guitars came on deck, ana
for hours the voices Of women were
mingled with the trembling melody Of
the strings That, too, came TO an end
along about midnight, and the whole
/ 10 pulled cots out upon the deck and
slept there.
"But | might go on and on about that
voyage and not get to the point about
this schoolma'am. so we viii pass up
until we are north Of Little Manitou
light and four nights out. There came
good fresh wind that rocked the Mary
Ann like a cradle. Cots on the deck
were showed In. and the girls were he
ginning to regret leaving their moth
r3 One 10y one they dashed out Of
The cabin and clutched wildly at the