St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-07-24
WHEN THE SCHOOL-MA'A1S
CAH En-


nc he was always doing. Not that he
was a Judge or ever had been, but it
elbows how q name will stick to a sea-
faring man through life, for the judges
baptismal name was William. Some
one called him judge in the days when
he sailed before the mast, and it 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 CharlevoiX as dry as it
was before the launch day. Men were
at work on a plank slung over the side
shilling green paint into the seams
with the recklessness rightfully belong
ing to drunken sailors.
A woman passed along the opposite
side of the street. She was listening
TO the clatter Of the mallets and did
not see the judge as he stood erect, hat
in hand and bowling like Beau Brum-
mel. The other men giggled bit, not
because a woman was a rare thing on
Goose island, but wholly at the judge.
"That is the bravest woman who
ever stepped over the side Of any craft
afoat or on the bottom of the lake."
said the judge as he slipped back to
his place on the edge of the drydock
and began to stroke his beard, which
had more gray hair than black in it.
"She-that is to say, that lady-doesn't
look afraid of anything, not even the
water out of the river" But the Judge
paid no attention to the remark of the
first mate.
"The Mary Ann Of Charlevoix was
not so pretty then as she was at first"
said the judge half to himself, "but she
was just as seaworthy as 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 a schoolteacher
and asked me what we would charge
to take a 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, and l 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
meat and things when there broke
loose a regular babel at the gangplank,
and there they came tripping aboard
with valises and bandboxes and UNI
brellas and packages and no telling
what. Just nine came, and we had no
trouble slowing IT, a away in the
cabin, my room and the mates room.
But two more came, and then, just as
1t was getting dark, two more came.
THAT made thirteen!
"As result l had to go out and pick
up new crew in the hope of getting
under way before the kind of cargo |
carried was known, but l 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 off 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
female lunatic asylum had broken out
on the Mary Ann.
Eat? They could eat anything. l
believe they would have fattened on
fricassee Of rope ends. Oh, it 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 minutely 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 to the course.
when the first night came, the man
dollns and guitars came on deck, and
Tor 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
IL 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
thls schoolma'am, so we will pass up
until we are north of Little Manitou
llSht and four nights out. There came
a good fresh wind that rocked the Mary
Ann like cradle. Cots on the deck
We're showed in, and the girls were be-
ginning to regret leaving their moth
ers One by one they dashed out Of
The cabin and clutched wildly at the
rail- Like specters, they made their
way along the decks until the 10 were
lhere, barefooted, bareheaded and
clothed in loose robes of white. We
turned the ships head against the wind
and waited.
Just as daylight was showing the