The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1906-12-27

,ested that it would do no harm if we
sked for ride. The editor is very
modest. he hated to ask a strange for
! ride but the lady of the house in
sisted, we swallowed our pride and
nailed the Captain. mo. he could
not take us. The Laura" was moi. a
passenger boat, he might accommo-
date man but there were no suitable
arrangements for women. With gal
lantry which has marked man since
Adam. we made few mild remarks
as to how it always went when you
had women along. Madame looked
so thoroughly disappointed and down
cast that the Captain took pity on
her. tOf course" he said. eff the
lady don't mind roughing it, it,would
be all right. = "I'm game" quoth
the lady. All right said the Cap
tain. Prudently we inquired where
he was going.
..Just over to Pascagoula Now
the Captain might just as we'll have
given his destination as Hula-Hula
for all we knew about it. But it is
not everyone who will admit his
ignorance off-hand and we never do
until we are cornered. so we said
that little "trip like that would be
just the thing. The engines of the
Laura were reversed and we walked
the plank to the deck.
1t was fine from the first minute of
it until the end. The little Laura
picked her way daintily through the
maze of big ships that doomed way up
above her and made her seem but
a pygmy among giants. Finally we
picked up couple of empty lumber
barges and off we went. The sun was
low and. soon it hung like ball of
fire on the horizon. The clouds were
red and gold and royal purple and the
waves reflected all the glory of the
dying day. There is no need to de-
scribe the sunset however. as no
place in the world are the sunsets
more gorgeous than they are right
here in good old Iowa. But back of
US. rapidly receding was the shore,
with the big green hotel, the busy
foreign looking pier. the long line
of the gay colors of the many beauti-
full homes along the beach. Ahead
the waters were green and gray with
dark lines where Sea Island and Ship
island lay before us. and white patch
es where the sails of the oyster
schooners rose and fell with the
waves.
1t was then that we found that Pas
cagoula as not just around the corner.
but was somewhere between fifty and
sixty miles away and that if we had
good luck we would get there by mid
night.
To tell the truth we cannot tell to
this day which we enjoyed the more,
the trip or the Captain. He was one
of the finest gentlemen we met while
we we're away. Capable. courteous.
well-informed. One could see that he
was man of force and action. man
born to command, to combat the ele.
ments. to defy fate if need be. Per.
haps it does not sound very romantic
to be the Captain of a little tug boat
patiently dragging lumber barge
from port to port. But the elemen
of danger is ever present along tn
coast as we'll as out to sea. The tn,
is never idle. Twentyfour hours
day che engines beat. 1t is the read
helper of all. When the big shi
, comes to port, it IS the tug that mus
, be it's helper and it guide. When
!, leave the haven the tug must az
: company it to the open sea. Whe
J, any craft is in trouble the tug mus
come to the rescue. For twenty year
E the longest time our Captain ha
f spent ashore was single month
and he shuddered when we told hi
a that the largest body of water we hs
a at home was the raging Boyer ar
. that at certain times of the year OF
could almost jump across it. W
a must say that we never enjoyed GU
! selves more than we did those fe
IS hours when we were Capt. Crosby
IS guests on the good tug Laura. Shou
!. we ever go to the south again we no
a to be able to find him and the Lau
.e and to persuade him to let US
f. with the boat and share with him t
at day or so the spirit of the life
IS leads. The ocean is not always quie
so coming up the bay at the mouth
ID the Pascagoula river we saw the lig
err house, partly destroyed by the gre
ig storm OF last fall. here the ligl
J. house keeper had dashed himself,
ed wife and baby to the tower and whe
D. they remained for rty-eight hou7
k. while the boats tried in vain to resc
ut them.
loo, IsI a,