St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-08-13
by John Fleming Wilson.
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CAMUEL TWIZZLE took off his
- cap with both hands and bowed
with Difference. That's Mrs. Nudge, y
he explained to me, as he restored the
cap to his head. And that big chap
alongside her is Capt. Nudge, of the
tug B.. Walsh"
HE must have good eyesight to
have picked that little woman in a
crowd and married her." l said with
q fatuous attempt to be humorous.
Twizzle looked at me severely. Men
With good eyes sometimes sit on a
tack. Mrs. Nudge is fine woman and
terrible strong minded, if she is no
bigger than a flitterbug." -.
l grew more respectful and gazed
after the towering Nudge and his con-
sort. He looks as il it would take
more than q strong mind to keep him
In submission" I ventured. "Do you
mean to hint that Mrs. Nudge is the
skipper? Does that fellow take orders
from his wife,"
Twizzle swept up handful of beard
and rubbed the end of his nose there.
with. Suddenly, without Fremont
tory chuckle, his eyes shut, his mouth
opened, and there issued a roar hilari-
Gus, volumnious, magnificent. It ceased
as abruptly as 1t had begun, and Capt.
Twizzle successfully closed his mouth
opened his eyes, and gazed at me ap-
preciatively through those moist orbs
Then, with startling precipitancy, he
emitted a second resounding roar, In
stantly thereafter to resume an ex-
aggerated solemnity. was about to
ask the occasion of such singular emo
ton when he laid his thick hand on
my shoulder to signify, took 1t, that
he was on the point Of speech. But
memory seemed too strong for him,
and he was once more overwhelmed,
ut the end OF the ebu1lition falling into
an air Of dignified melancholy. Before
I could protest against my exclusion
from the joke, Twizzle measured OF
ON the forehnger of his left hand the
first two joints and looked at
me as If matters had been made plain
to the dullest. When my perplexity
showed on my face, he said, quaver-
ingly, She's no bigger than that.
Mudge's a whale. But she's tremen-
dously strong minded. Twizzle wagged
his head, stopped, fixed his eyes on the
opposite bank of Oakland creek, and
gave vent to fourth and most terrif-
&c roar which drew upon us the cordial
Of several shipwrights. This
relief seemed final. Twizzle pulled
down his waistcoat, wiped his eyes.
swung one stumpy leg over the
corner of a big timber 1--WE were OBJ
the calkers' progress on his
new steam schooner, the Airy BelD,
and plucked at his beard as If to draw
from its luxuriant Jungle the matter
of his story. II saw that bit of wom-
an show her strong-mfndedness, and
I was there when Nudge caved in. 1t
was worth seeing. used to run TO
Puget sound ports" he reminded me.
Nudge was skipper Of the sternwheel-
er Swan, scandalous craft with
permanent list to port on account OF
4 leak in her starboard water tank.
This marine scarecrow traded up and
down from Tacoma to Quartermaster
harbor, vashon and Seattle, packing
loggers' supplies and landing groceries
1t any place where there was a stove
to cook 'em. In those days Nudge
was up to his hair in debt, drank him
self ugly every afternoon, and abused
his wife. Look at him now. He don't
touch liquor; he's got property here
In Oakland, and helps his wife over the
muddy spots. All because she was
Twizzle insisted.
''Lemme tell you what she did once.
It was the time she fetched him."
Go on" I urged, when the captain
showed symptoms Of vehement hilar-
lty again; "go on and tell me-
'It was in '94," he said, "and IT
God had let a pin drop you'd ha'
heard it all over the sound, times were
70 dull. I was finicking between there
and the Columbia river while and
then my coaster was laid up, on ac-
count of no freight offering. So
took the masters berth on the lorna
do, running three trips a week from
Port Townsend to Tacoma. We used
10 overhaul the Swan every day or so,
from back door to back door,
With Nudge drunk and growing in the
pilot house, and Mrs. Nudge selling
groceries, in the after-cabin to the is
land people. Yes, sir, you could buy
from a needle to bay steer
On that Swan, and II Mrs. Nudge
hadn't got it in stock she'd fetch Il
10 you from town next trip.
Pretty soon 1 got acquainted and
tound Madge was ill-using the Little
nite-not beating her or anything Ike