The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1906-11-21
AMarine Wandering Jew,

.LoriginaI.,

place Of sail on the ocean / doubt IL
the sailors yarn Is what it was fifty
years ago when the Black Ball line Of
clipper ships sped between the occident
and the orient In my younger days
I was but lad--I sailed before the
mast in the Dreadnanght. Among our
crew was Seth Hawkins, an old salt
Of forty. We considered him q Methu-
selah. a tall, thin man with profuslon
OF little red curls. He was very reli-
gious. observing all the commandments
scrupulously except the ninth, eThou
shalt not bear false Witness and in
this he sinned only in spinning yarns,
which he always vowed were real hap
penings. One starlight night on the
forecastle while we were lounging
about the capstan he gave us the fol-
lowing:
you've all heard lot about Judas
Iscariot, who WINS cursed with havin'
to live forever and wanderin' all over
the world, at one time bein' seen In
Egypt, another In France, and SO on,
always leavln' trail OF misfortune In
his wake. But don't believe any Of
you has ever hearn about his sailin' the
seas. There's no sense In this. for how
could he have got to America, where
he's turircd UP often, unless he crossed
an ocean, Leastaways I've seen him
myself, and On the water roo.
Il frst shipped on the Mark Matthews
on a voyage around the Horn to take in
hides on the west coast Of South Amer
len, we was layin in the doldrums
one evenin' Just before four bells. a
thick fog WAS all about us, and we
couldn't see cables ler-tl All or a
suddent / hecred a bell. 1t struck four
times AS aeon as ii stopped our bell
struck too. Then the fog thinned d lit
tie, and just about half the ships
length from US was the oldest loodn'
craft ever clapped eyes on She was
awful high III the poop, low in the
waist and had head on her bow Ike
that OF sea sarpent She had two
masts Ike schooner, and the sails
was hung on EN- like they put EN- on
Chinese junks. OF course they hung
limp like ourn.
"she was head-on. and the fog didn't
let us see abaft the fo'mast. On the
forecastle stood the flgur' Of an old man.
| couldn't tell you how old he looked,
but there was somethln' about him
that reminded me Of a. people hong
passed away. He was a Jew and the
Jewiest looSin' lew | ever see lie
was wrapped in a cloak that looked
like a monks frock. The melancholy
way he stared out o them bllnkers O
his'n was enough to send a cur yelpin'
70 his kennel. They was like the eyes
Of a sick rhaa as hadn't slept durin' a
thousand year voyage. There wasn't
bit o. color In his cheeks unless you
call the leathery look o the hides we've
got below color, and it seemed as IL
could see right through his CHASTITY lips
to the few teeth that was left in his
! jaws He hadn't any hat on, and |
wasn't near enough TO sea just whit
his hair was Ike, except that he, had
mighty little. But somethin' was
a-movin' on his skull that looked like
worms. Whether It was worms or
hair couldn't see, but ii must "a been
worms, for there wasn't the ghost OF a
breeze to move even the finest hairs.
lie stood there lookin at us without
any interest In them melancholy eyes
o. his'n, and the only motion he made
was with bis skinny hands, pourin'
some silver coins from one hand 70
tother. Every oncet in awhile he'd
make as IL to throw the silver away,
but he couldn't, and every time be tried
apd failed his face would take on an
expression of awful remorse.
"while was lookin' at him the two
ships was so slowly driftin' apart that
nobody could see 'em move. The other
craft wus eettin' in our stern. The
Jews blinkers was movin' about, never
restln' on anything for more'n half a
second till suddenly they struck our
stern Then there was the worst fright
come into EN- ever see on any mans
face, not even a mutlneer I once saw
hung when he caught sight o. the moose
danglin from the ysrdarm.
what did he seer Didn't tell you
our ship was the Mark Matthews7 The
name. o ccsIrse, was on the stern
Some o. the letters was faded, and The
's IN Matthews was pretty nigh gone
What the jew saw was the names o
two O the apostles, Mark and Mat
thew
Then for the FIRST time it struck me
who he was. He was the wanderin
Jew. AS soon as he saw the names o
thom two old friends O his'n he was
throwed On his beam ends. You see
he was one O the twelve in good and
regular standln' iii he betrayed his
master for them thirty pieces O. silver
10 be brought face 20 face with two
Of The disciples after a couple O thou.
sand years. wnndcrin must "a brought
back unpleasant remembrances.
"By this time felt SO bad for the
poor old sinner that I wanted to give
him somethln' to warm him up ran
below. got some grog in can and ran
back, expectIn' to swing Ii over to the
l lee ~ 80 =. Ttf4f tFh