Red River prospector. (Red River, Taos County, N.M.) 1900-190?, 1902-12-04
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1NllIllllIllW IiIlllIIlIn INNS

aeteeeaaaeees - aaeete Naeeeese~
What do l think bout girls learn
in to swim2' asked Captain Knowles,
as he Strengthened up from the barrel
in which he had been sailing fish.
Wall. I'm free to say considerable
more'n l used to, You know my girl,
'Cedy?"
Her you picked out O. that wreck
on the rips five years come March?"
said n Of the cleaners at the board
behind him. yes, l was round here
at the time. Furriner, want she?"
Sort o. furriner,' answered Cap
tain Knowles. said her name was
Mercedy; had 1t worked on her
clothes with pretty folds. Wall, me
an my wife was %cornered bout her.
trainin'. Our two big girls, Lily an
Sue, was likely workers; could hist a
bushel O. CLANS to their shoulders, set
a lobster pot, an spear cells; but 'Cedy
now I'm not sayin' she was lazy,
mind She was spry's a kildee, an
would work like a tide-race by starts,
but she was unaccountable. We'd
saved a few books an papers from diff
'runt wrecks, an she fastened herself
to 'em like a barnacle. We tried to do
by her jest as well as we did by our
own girls. But law! we couldn't keep
up with her more'n a stormy petrol
could live in a barnyard. She learned
them books by heart, an she made
plans for goin' off to school, and
swim! l seed that girl swim a mile
fore she was thirteen-fact! Beats all
how things are in some folks, an ag'in
amt in other. For all we live nigh
the water, my wife an Lily an Sue
can't swim a stroke"
But what's that got to do with girls
in gen'ral learnin' to swim?" asked a
new man %curiously.
"Ye amt heered 'Cedy's story. Ye
see, we live in Gooseb'ry Island, ten
miles from the nearest mainland pint,
an we haven t but one boat. One day
last fall me an Tom Ed'ards-he's my
girl Lizy's husband now, ye know
we went out to the rips fshin'. Blue
fish was bitin' hard, an we counted
on stayin' two or three days. We took
the fish to the pint for saltin'. 1t was
cheaper to ship to Boston from there
than 'twould "a been from G%ooseb'ry.
wall, on the second day, Tom Ed
ards riz up in the boat of a suddin
an shaded his eyes. 'Thar's summat
off to stabbo'rds Cap'n,' he says. An
with that / riz up an shaded my eyes
too. But we could only make it out
to be some wreckage risin' an fallin'
on the waves, so we went back to fish.
in. Pretty soon Tom Ed'ards hoped
up ag'in Of a suddin' an shaded his
eyes as before. It's somebody swim
min, Cap'n,' he says. So we pulled
our boat for it in a hurry, an'-wall
what dye think? Twas my girl 'Cedy
out there lookin' for us. Fact!" al
he saw the %incredulous expression OF
the new mans face. "Ye see, my wife
was took with an awful bad SPELL
dyin', seemed like. The girls didn't
know what to do, an thar want nc
boat to go for a doctor with, so 'Cedy
Jest kicked off her shoes an jumped
into a bathin' suit she had, an start
ed. She was too beat out to speak al
fust, but soon's she could we hurried
to the pint an got a doctor. HI
stayed with us all night an dosed my
wife, an the next day she was al
right ag'in. But the doctor said if hex
been two hours later, she'd a died
sure"
"H'm!" said the new man, still in
credulously. How far was it, an
how old is 'Cedy?"
-Four miles an more, an 'Cedy wal
Jest fifteen an a half at the time"
'Wall, why didn't they fly a signal
Ye could see one four miles"
From the rips?" s%cornfully. "a
guess ye don't now how spray fiieI
round thar when the seas choppy. W,
couldn't have seed a signal ten foo
square"
His shoulders once more sloped ovei
the barrel, and for some time h
worked on in silence. Then the new
man said apologetically: Where's
'Cedy now?"
Boston," shortly, "studyin' like
tide-race. An l wouldn't wonder,
with a trace of amazement in hi
voice, 'if she made most as much o
herself as my two big girls, Lily an
Sue, who are workers, for all she's 81
dif'runt."-Frank H. Sweet, in Ladies
World.