The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1907-07-11
! AMariae Wandering Jew


tOriginall
Since steam has largely taken the
place Of sail on the ocean l doubt ff
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 Dreadnaught. Among our
crew was Seth Hawkins, an old salt |
Of forty. We considered him a Methu-
selah, tall, thin man with profusion |
of little red curls. He was very reli-
gious, observing all the commandments
scrupulously except the ninth, Thou
shalt not bear false Witness" and in
this he sinned only in spinning yarns,
which he always vowed were real hap
penings. One starlight Eight 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 was 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 leavin' 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 bow
could he have got to America, where
he's turned up often. unless he crossed
an ocean? Leastaways I've seen him
myself, and on the water too.
Il first shipped on the Mark Matthews
| on a voyage around the Horn to take in
hides on the west coast Of South Amer
lea. 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 length. All of n
| suddent heered BELL 1t struck four
times. AS soon as it stopped our bell
struck too. Then the fog thinned a lit
tie, and just about half the ships
length from us was the oldest iookin'
craft ever clapped eyes cn. She was
awful high in the poop. low in the
waist and had head Oh her bow like
that Of sea sarpent. She had two
masts like schooner, and the sails
was hung on 'em like they put 'em 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 figur' of an old man.
I couldn't tell you how old he looked,
but there was somethin' about him
that reminded me Of a people long
passed away. He was Jew and the
Jewiest loolSin' Jew ever see. He
was wrapped In a cloak that looked
like a monks frock. The melancholy
way he stared out O. them blinkers o
his'n was enough to send cur yelpin
to his kennel They was like the eyes
of sick man as hadn't slept durin' a
thousand year voyage. There wasn't
bit O. co or in his cheeks unless you
call the leathery look O the hides We've
got below color, and it seemed IS if I
could see right through his CHASTITY lips
to the few teeth that was left in his
jaws. He hadn't any hat OIL, and
wasn't near enough to see just what
his hair was like, except that he had
mighty little. But somethin' was
a-movin' on his skull that looked like
worms. Whether 1t was worms or
hair couldn't see, but 1t must n been
worms, for there wasn't the ghost of a
breeze to move even the finest hairs.
He stood there lookin' at us without
any interest in them melancholy eyes
o. his'n, and the only motion he made
was with his skinny hands, pourin'
some silver coins from one hand to
t'other. Every oncet in awhile he'd
make as IL to throw the silver away,
but he couldn't, and every time he tried
and failed his face would take on an
expression Of awful renorse.
"While I was lookin' at him the two
ships was so slowly driftin' apart that
nobody could see 'em move. The other
, craft was gettin' in our stern. The
, Jews blinkers was movin' about, never
restin' on anything for more'n half a
+ second till suddenly they struck oul
+ stern Then there was the worst fright
: come into 'em ever see on any mans
: face, not even mutineer once saw
: hung when he caught sight O the moose
! danglin' from the yardarm.
r "What did he see? Didn't tell 70,
: our ship was the Mark Matthews? The
+ name, o. course, was on the stern
t Some O. the letters was faded, and tht
i What the Jew saw was the names 0
e two O. the. apostles. Mark and Mat
E thew.
], ..Then for the first time it struck MI
!. who he was. He was the wanderin
Jew. AS soon as he saw the names Q
them two old friends O his'n he wa
throwed on his beam ends. You see
I he was one O. the twelve in good ant
:, regular standin' till he betrayed hi
+ master for them thirty pieces O. silver
a To be brought face to face with tw,
b Of the disciples after couple O thou
!. sand years wanderin' must "a brougl,
s back unpleasant remembrances.
t by this time felt So bad for til
e poor old sinner that wanted to Civ
8 him somethin' to warm him up. ra
. below, got seme grog In a can and ra
back, expectin' to swing it over to til
Jew ut the end Of rope. But when
got on deck the strange lookin' Graf
s had disappeared In the fog
+ ."But where she'd drifted to was