Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1906-07-25
THE GIRL WITH THE
B0NNY BROWN HAIR
tOriginal.l

my, dScu eight
"No. don't" protested his little sister.
III tell you about storm in which
we were all saved"
"That'n be nice" said the girl.
I'VE left Naples on the 18th OF No
vember with twenty passengers.
Among them was girl who seemed to
be alone There was character enough
in her face for II dozen heroines. She
had brown hair, and when | first saw
her ii was tied up with a bonny blue
ribbon like the girl in the song | 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 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 | ever saw at sea. The waves
time one fell on us l 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 at once, so that we
couldn't spare men to repair the deck,
and they couldn't repair it in such
storm anyway. The best we could do
IL
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 | left the companion
way | saw the most terrible sight inn
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, | 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 a game Of
pussy wants cornerI'
II was SO encouraged by her GOODNESS
scheme, however ludicrous. Turning,
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 rs cool as the men. Come,
let's have a game of pussy wants a
corner
The girl and each backed up
against 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 Il rush TO change cor
ners | let the boy in purposely and
kept out Of a corner for some time,
every now and then dragging some one
into the game. In five minutes we had
all the ablebodied people in II, and the
game was in full swing. | made a
Luz re 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 | 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 Il mer-
maid. Then | dived with a swash I'M
der the table and, coming up, slid into
n vacant corner.
"All this was very well, but we
couldn't keep il UP forever. We did
so as long as we could; then the girl
whispered in my ear as | passed her.
Blind mans buzz l whipped out my
eyes, taking care that a place was
left for me TO see through This gave
me fine opportunity to put myself
into ludicrous positions, and in few
minutes | was playing my part amid
shouts of laughter. Suddenly l heard
the cap'n's gruff voice roar down the
companionway with the strength of
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 i'm my
life, a great big steamer on our port
quarter coming right for us.
1--WE were all safely transferred, and
our own ship drifted away. She kept
sinking lower and lower till at last,
half an hour after leaving her, we saw
her go down. Close call, wasn't it?'