Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1906-10-17
THE GIRL WITH TIE
BONNY BROWN HAIR
lOriginal.]


"Grandpa, tell us about the worst
storm you ever saw at sea-" sad Tom
my, aged eight.
NO DON'T protested his little sister.
"I'll tell you about a storm in which
we were all saved"
"Thatn be nice" said the girl.
I'VE left Naples on the 4th of No
rember with twenty passengers.
Among them was girl who seemed to
be alone. There was character enough
In her face for u dozen heroines. She
had brown hair, and when l first saw
her 1t was tied up with a bonny blue
ribbon like the girl in the song. I was
second mate, and whenever she came
on deck the cap'n was sure to growl at
me for some neglect Of duty. But l
didn't mind it so long as l could see
the girl with brown hair.
I'VE had pleasant weather in the
Mediterranean, but we'd no sooner left
Gibraltar than nor'easter began to
blow which developed into the worst
storm l ever saw at sea. The waves
struck US with such force that every
time one fell on us | thought we'd nev-
er rise from under 1t. AT last one big
ger than the rest struck us and stove
in a portion of the deck. We had all
we could do to keep the ships head in
the right direction, and the pumps
must be manned at once. so that we
couldn't spare men to repair the deck,
and they couldn't repair it in such a
storm anyway The best we could do
was to cover the gap with a sail, but
the next big wave that came showed
the canvas down like tissue paper.
"There was such an uproar among the
passengers that the cap'n told me to go
down into the cabin and try to quiet
'em. AS soon as l left the companion
way l saw the most terrible sight i'm
aginable. Some of 'em were praying,
some holding on to stanchions, white
as ghosts, while the water, knee deep,
swashed with the rolling of the ship.
Some of 'em had got up on to the table
that ran the length of the cabin to
escape the water.
"The first single person | saw was
the girl with the bonny brown hair.
She was helping an old woman to keep
from being dashed against things when
the ship lurched. AS soon as she saw
me she beckoned me to come to her
and said:
"These people are in the condition
of children, and, having taught chill
dren, l know how important it Is to
keep their minds occupied. Can't we
find something to turn their attention.
Propose something
"'What do you say to game of
pussy wants a cornerY'
Il was so encouraged by her coolness
that I would have Joined her in any
scheme, however ludicrous. Turning, l
said to the passengers:
"'We're coming out of this, but you
people are spelling your chances by
demoralizng the crew with your howls.
We must have something to do, and
we viii he as cool as the men Come,
lets have n game of pussy wants a
corner
THE girl and l each backed up
against a stanebion, and another man
and another woman presently did the
same. A young boy Of fifteen was in
duced to come into the game, and the
girl aud | made II rush To change cor
hers. | let the boy in purposely ana
kept out Of corner for some time
every now aud then dragging some one
into the game. In five minutes we had
all the ablebodied people in it, and the
game was In full swing I made a
lunge for corner fell purposely
against a cabin wave and got up
drenched. Several persons laughed.
The next time anything ludicrous hap
pened more laughed, and finally every
body in and some out of the game were
laughing. l never missed an opportu-
nifty for doing something comical, nor
did the girl. Her hair came down, and
once when the water by the rolling Of
the ship was thrown all together she
swan and shouted that she was a mer-
maid. Then 1 diyed with swash I'M
der the table and, coming up, slid into
vacant corner.
"All this was very well, but we
couldn't keep 1t up forever. We did
so as long as we could; then the girl
whispered In my ear as l passed her,
Blind mans buff I whipped out my
handkerchief, and she tied it over my
eyes, taking care that a place was
left for me to see through. This gave
me fine opportunity to put myself
into Iudirpa51c paeifipDc and In fav,y