Morgan County democrat. (Versailles, Mo.) 1900-1906, 1905-05-19
TIE SAILOR senator
EARLY ADVENTURES OF HON.
GEORGE c. PERKINS, GOLDEN
GATE STATESMAN.
Relates First Successes-Pivotal De-
cisions Which Launched Him
on the Floodtide of
Fortune.
By George c. Perkins.

MO ONE, and least of all a sailor
IN man. can LOOK back over his life
and fail to realize the truth of Shakes
peare's wise and famous words:
.'There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the Hood. leads on to for
tune;
Omitted, all the voy age of their life
Is bound in shadows and In miseries."
In glancing back over the log of my
own voyage of life | see in my minds
eye again many a threatening tempest
and recall more than one treacherous
current that seemed to bear me toward
the rocks, and | remember fair gales
and smiling seas that stretched like a
royal road to my haven. Many a lucky
and timely turn Of the wheel shifted
buifeting winds into hearty helpmates.
Tides ebbed and flowed, bearing good
and ill-seeming good that was in reali-
ty i'll, and i'll that long afterward | found
was good. Blu the momentous step OF
my life. the tlood tide that led to my
modest share of good fortune, happened
when | was not yet II years of age. The
tide led me to California and left me on
that happy shore, where so many years
Vi kly lie nave DttU spent, anu WHtl'
the ties were knitted that will not part
while life lasts.
Experiences al Sea.
! had been to sea for a number of
years before | took fortunes hoodtide
around Cape Horn. | had been in sew
ersl ships. with good and bad masters
an mates. Some few shipmates | had
Tat I'D NIB, M 80; oil d, ,ln;, I,,,.te bo,,te
OF gold; and it was one of these, bear
in the suspicious name of Harry Fair
brother, who caused me to go to Cali
fOrlia.
We were shipmates in the new ship
Lizzie Thompson, Capt. Oliver Smith.
She sailed from my native village,
ke~nnebunkport, for st. Johns, N. b.,
to load lumber for Dublin. She was a
new ship, finished in winter, and after
sailing her seams warped, she split
the oakum" and sprung a leak. Some
of the men mutinied. They declared the
ship would never reach Dublin, and de-
manGed that she be put about. The
mate--a powerful. clustering fellow
knocked half a dozen of them into the
scuppers, but SO many of them mutinied
that the skipper was forced % put back
to st. Johns. The o~bstreperous w.ilors
were sent ashore. On board were three
young fellows who were already heartily
sick Of the sea. They begged me to set
them ashore. One night We slid down a
rope to the dingy and went ashore, and
{ never saw them again-that is, not
&C. 30 years or more, when one of them
r.,1a into my fttipa In Tho canitpl ot Cor-
ramento, where | was serving as gov
arnor, and wanted to know if I was the
Glenn Perkins who had helped to put him
ashore. ! was.
Getting a new carSc. we sailed again,
discharged at Dublin and went to Liver
pool. where We took on a cargo of salt
for New Orleans. All this time Fair
brother. who was much older than !,
was telling me stories Of California. He
had been on the American river and had
picked up gold, he said, in 40 and so,
ant wanted to return. The ambition
: Of my life was to own a schooner and
60 trading in the South seas.
why. lad" he said. you come with
me to California, and in six months We'll
get enough gold in the mines to buy
a schooner
Gradually | made up my mind to go
Reaching New Orleans, we shipped on q
little bark called the Cotton Planter for
New York. | can remember as well as
yesterday the old sailors boarding
house in Cherry street where | left my
shipmate while ! made a brief visit tC
my mother down in Maine. My mother
ard sisters would not listen to my go
ing to California. 1t was the end of the
world, and I was only 16. Blu | was
bound to go. Tearing myself away, l re.
,urned to New York,
Sailed for California.
There occurred perhaps the trifling in
cident that determined the course of my
life. | found Fairbrother, who haC
shipped in the clipper ship Galatea
Capt. Barbour, for San Francisco, anC
the ship was ready to sail. They hat
32 men and seven boys-all the hand.
they wanted. Fairbrother said he wa.
sorry | had been too late, went to tn,
wharf and stepped aboard the Galatea
The mate glowered upon me.
"Do you want another boy" asked
mo" he replied. 1--WE don't wan
any more ID boys. You get over tn
rail"
hung about the wharf all day.
made up my mind to go on that ship /
had to stow away. Finally the mas
ter went aboard, and | stepped afte
him,