The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-08-17
THE GIRL WITH THE
BONNY BROWN HAIR
IOriginal.1

I'LL YOU ever sd az sea- Se'AA Ao1
my, aged eight.
"No, DON'T" protested his little sister.
"Fll tell you about storm in which
we were all saved"
'That'll be NICE" said the girl.
1--WE left Naples on the 4th of NO
vember with twenty passengers.
Among them was girl who seemed to
be alone. There was character enough
in her face for a dozen herOines. She
had brown hair, and when I first saw
her it was tied up with a bonny blue
ribbon like the girl in the song. l was
second mate, and whenever she came
on deck the cap'n was sure to growl at
me for some neglect Of duty. But
didn't mind it so long as / could see
the girl with brown hair.
I'VE haG pleasant weather in the
Mediterranean. but we'd no sooner left
Gibraltar than a 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 new
er rise from under it. 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 ut once, so that we
couldn't spare men to repair the deck,
and thnu Hn1IIIn't If in SIJcl q
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.
1.-THE first single person l 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. 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 corner?"'
Il was so encouraged by her GOODNESS
that 1 would have Joined her in any
said to the passengers:
"'We're coming out of this, but you
people are spelling your chances by
demoralizing the crew with your bowls.
We must have something to do, and
we will be as cool as the men. Come
let's have game of pussy wants a
corner
''Tbe girl and l each backed up
against a stanchiOn, 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 and | made a rush to change cor
ners l let the boy in purposely and
kept out of q corner for some time
every now and 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 l made a
lunge for corner. fell purpOsely
against 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 I never missed an opportll-
nifty for doing something comical. nor
Gid the girl. Her hair came down, and
cnce when the water by the rolling OF
the ship was thrown all together she
swan and shouted that she was a mer-
maid. Then l dived with a swash IN
der the table and, coming up. slid into
a vacant corner.
"An this was very we'll. but we
couldn't keep it 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 place was
left for me to see through. This gave
me fine opportunity to put myself
into ludicrcus positions. and in a few
minutes l was playing my part amid
shouts of laughter. Suddenly 1 heard
the cap'n's gruff voice roar down the
companionway with the strength of a
fog horn:
"'Steamer aheadv
81 tore the handkerchief off my head
and dashed on deck. knowing that crit
ical work was to be done getting in
touch with the coming ship. AS the
storm was the biggest the sight before
me was the gladdeSt ever saw in my
life, a great big steamer on our port
quarter coming right for u.s.
Eve were all safely transferred, and
our own ship drifted away. She kept
sinking lower and lower till at last