Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-10-20
1t did.
Women like a masterful man.

|
Dear old Jack" said she, musingly,
"he is quite right. We have both been
very silly. 1 will telegraph from Chi
coutimi." And she pressed the letter to
her lips again and again. This wanton
waste Of tenderness was put to an end
by the letter itself slipping. from her
hand and falling into the water.
"Never mindw said she, resignedly,
at is written herer' at the same time
putting her hand over the spot where
the chief organ of circulation is To-
Gated.
The sun was sinking in the west as
the boat swung out from the long pier
at Riviere du Loup. All the glorified
tints Of fanciful nature We're taken as
a matter of course by the little woman
leaning over the rail. Why shouldn't
nature put on holiday attire? Wasn't
that ugly quarrel at an end and wasn't
Jack coming on next week to make her
his own little wife? Dear Jack! he
wasn't half so much to blame as she,
after all. But 1t had taught her a les.
son never, never to let another cloud
come between them.
Everything was perfection on that
wonderful river. Wasn't Jack coming
next week to put an end to that hideous
misunderstanding, etc. When WON
an gets into this state Of mind, the only
thing to do is to wait patiently till she
gets out of it.
Unfortunately for Mary this consum-
nation devoutly to be deprecated was
only too near at hand. The morning
dawned, dull and desolate, The steamer
lay at the wharf at Chicoutimi. At
least the captain said it was Chicou-
timi. If he had said Constantinople
there would have been no ocular evil
dence to disprove his statement, so
persistently did the landscape hide it.
self in the thick gray fog.
Even more dismal and desolate than
her surroundings was the heart Of our
little woman. In her transport of the
night before she had paid but scanty
attention to the address given in Jacks
letter. 1t was only in the morning.
when she realized that she had com.
pletely forgotten it, that its Importance
dawned upon her. To the hopeful sug-
gestions of her friend she answered
stonily:
"a dispatch simply addressed to his
name in Chicago would never reach
him. He will be gone before I can
write to the Commandant. No, it is
too late. l have tried to think-for
hours-and-I can't"
Gradually she became aware of
voices near her; one clear, high-pitched,
commanding attention; the other, soft
and suggestive; The Fall River man
and the Kankakee boy were just be.
hind her, deep in conversation. For
the first time in his short life the boy
was asking as many questions as he
pleased, without any fear of rebuff.
For the first time in long while the
man had found an apprecative listener.
"Have you ever seen ship" said
the boy. "Not any kind Of craft, but
a regular out and outer"
The man modestly admitted that he
had seen several thousand of the very
largest calibre. Here was a mine of
knowledge too precious to be neglected.
The boy, who knew something of engi-
neering, Immediately proceeded to sink
shaft. In half an hour he had eX-
tracted several tons of ore, in shape
of Information about ships, barks,
barkentines, briggs, schooners and
sloops.
"How many guns does line of bat
tleship carry? What is the difference
between ship of war and sloop of
war? What is a corvette"
The quick percussion of questions
was abruptly checked. A little woman
who had been sitting near them so
quietly that they had not noticed her
at all suddenly jumped to her feet and
stood before them, eXclaiming: "Oh.
thank you so much! Where is the tele-
graph office" And hardly waiting to
be told, she darted off, appeared in an
instant on the wharf, and then van
ished behind the curtain of fog that
screened the steep hillside.
''She got the cart before the heEse,"
said the Fall River man. did you
notice that she thanked me before
told her where the office was"
'Bet your life she did," answered the
boy in his gentle, amiable way. 'Is
there any definite number of ships in
a squadron?'
And so they went on with their talk.
And Mary wrote Come" with q
trembling hand on yellow telegraph
blank, addressed to Lieutenant John
Crownnshield, Hotel Corvette, Chi
cagO, Illinois.
And the next week there was a quiet
little wedding ut Caconna, where o
tall, dignified officer in Her Majesty's
Navy was married to pretty little
Yankee woman in a perfect furry of
joyous eXcitemcnt-New York News.
Chicago IA Great Inland Port.
That Chicago is a great shipping cen.
| fro almost eVprVGnn knows RIIt thst