The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-10-11
HIS NAME FORGOTTEN.

HIS NAME FORGOTTEN.
The cottage stood on high cliff over
looking the harbor, and toward the west.
far beyond two or three groups of small,
rocky islands-barrcn save for few
scrub oaks and vagrant pines-could BE-
seen the fine arc of the horizon circlins
through 40 or so degrees. The sun
had set half an hour before, and had left
the eastern sky all pallid from its pass
ing. The sea was silent and shining,
and faint glow Of silver at a certain
point showed where the moon was about
to rise. A ripping murmur came up
from the foot of the cliff.
They were talking Of the ocean. A
man who crossed over to Europe every
summer told of his experience during q
great storm, when he had seen one Of the
enormous Atlantic liners dashed about
like a toy ship in the eddy Of brook:
how the passengers had been ordered be-
low into the sitting saloons, and that
next morning, when fair weather had
come and they were allowed to go on
deck; how they had seen part Of the
great bridge shattered and torn, and were
told that three men had been washed
overheard during the night.
A lady who was of the company said
that the bravcst men were to be found
of certain British bluejacket who had
jumped overheard in midoccan to rescue
little girl who had fallen over the rail.
A morallst shifted the air disdainfully,
and remarked in an cx-cathedra sort OF
way that sailors were a bad lot; that on
shore they were always drunk, and at
sea only the seyerest discipline could con-
with the instincts of the brute rather
than'thee Intelligence of the human be-
ing, and. he added, turning to white
bearded gentleman who sat fondling a
spyglass., with his chair tilted back
against the wall. the captain here, who
mas had sailors under him, and who
sure"
NO. not entirely" was the quiet re-
spouse. No one spoke Immediately. and
the captain turned his glass over in his
hands, stroked it tenderly, while his eyes
were fastened upon that point in the
horizon where the disk of the moon was
slowly appearing-squeczed up from be-
low. as it were, between the sky and
the sea-then he said:
Our friend here is too general in his
condemnation of poor Jack AS a class
ne is, I'm afraid, little better than a
brute; but he is made so through force
OF CIRCUMSTANCES. The dangers that he
continually encounters, and for a mere
IS nigh strung and kept at an unnatural
pitch while at sea, and on his return to-.
shore is it to be wondered ut that he
should seek indulgence in RIGHTEOUSNESS
and intemperance-when he finds him.
self on land with his pockets full of
fy his passions? But the sailors l:fe il
not what it used to be, and although
with the gradual substitution of steam
for sail as a motive power has disan-
peared much of the romance and pic
turesqueness of a mariners existence.
on the whole, his moral condition has
been bettered, so that little by little his
position position is becoming that of skilled
laborer. with nearly the same privileges
and the same possibilities as his brothers
on land enjoy: He may never rise to
the captains berth of a great steamer.
but with attention to duty he can be-
come a fit subject for respect and pro-
ficient within the limitation of his craft.
Years ago the merchant marine pre-
ate, ambitious youth who entered the
service with the hope Of some day be-
coming the master of a ship. He picked
up foreign tongue or two, read contem-
porary history, wrote in his log every
day. studied navigation, and, above all,
remembered what he saw and read. The
captain of a clipper ship who himself
fine a specimen of manhood as you
would see anywhere. But such types
were to be found only in the merchant
marine or packet service, rarely in the
navy. The merchant captain was the
supreme head, the father of the family
that gathered day by day around his
board. Hardened, by service he was
RI lo6 hn
ed virtuous women as little lower than
the angels He was frank and open
with his old comrades Of the service; his
character was easy to read; he was
faithful in small as well as great things,
and no man ever had a truer friend.
1.-The dream Of nearly all these cap
tains was Of the day Of retirement,
when. in some ANTICIPATED seaport, they
should at last find rest ana peace among
their own. and in their summer even
ings sit in their little porticos-as sit
here-smoke their pipes, and-and-ani
tell their grandchildren the story Of
the sea-"
fully across the space Of water owe.
which the light of the moon was grad
ually> spreading itself, making his face
beam and lending sparkle to the tears
that stood in his eyes. He was think
ing perhaps Of those brave men dead and
gone whose bodies lie far under the sea
on beds of rock and tangled weed, with
calm. cold faces glistening like agate.
He, too, perhaps, had had his ambition.
The day of retirement had come and
passed. The quiet seaport, the cottage,
and the little garden were here, and in
the evening he smoked his pipe and told
tales of the ocean; but it was to
strangers that he spoke. S s ]. .. s
Somebody. the moralist, / think, babe.
us regard the beauty Of the night. His
words seemed to arouse the captain.
''Three years after the war" he began
Wabash, stationed for the time at
Charlestown. One day orders came from