The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1908-10-14

The following story is true in all
its details, real names alone being
omitted for obvious reasons.
Henry Bradford left his Old Colony
home on a bright summer day to seek
his fortune in New York.
He had the best wishes of every
body, for he was decent boy, and all
who knew him liked his manly ways.
But he found the metropolis tough
proposition. The fierce, pushing, fight
for-life workseekers iostled and
crowded him beyond all his previous
conceptions. and he, not having the
faculty Of retaliating in kind, found
himself pushed to the wall.
He get employment, it is true, but
he could not hold it for any length of
time, owing largely to his lack OF
knowledge of urban conditions, and
also to much bad luck.
So, after four years struggle, he
gave It up and acknowledged himself
beaten. The struggle had been con-
tinuous and altogether one-sided and
as he SAT- upon the stringpiece of an
East river pier, it was borne in upon
him that he had made as good a fight
as he knew how. And lost!
And now, when Failure had com.
pletely enveloped him in her somber
cloak, he felt there was nothing else
to do but to return to the old town.
There, at least, he could live, and he
among those who knew him and would
sympathize with him. OF the two dol
lars which he possessed, one dollar
would pay his fare to Providence, and
1t would be small matter for him to
walk the intervening miles to his old
home.
This plan he carried into effect, and
the evening of an early October day
found him in Plymouth, which adjoined
his home town. He was tired, footsore
and discouraged. Plymouth always
held a fascination for him, and he be-
took himself to the Burial hill and
there, on lonely bench, he looked
down upon the lights of Market
square, to the riding-lights of few
craft lying at anchor in the harbor
and further, to that great light on
the Gurnet whose effulgent rays
guided and warned local and coast
wise mariners. Long he sat and
brooded. One by one the lights were
eXtinguished, and as the town went
to sleep he felt the necessity of doing
likewise. He stumbled down the mar
row path to Market square, across the
main street and, as though drawn by
some magnet, to the waters edge.
hn wit ife, i,,oy,
gate, which shields Plymouth Rock
from the vandal and the relic hunter,
reared it's head. Everything was ia
miliar to Henry. yet his eye dwelt
longingly on each object. Here was a
short strip of pebbly beach, and drawn
high up on it was a fisherman's dory.
The boat contained pair of oars, a
sprit-sail and mast, coiled seine, and,
in the stern, small breaker of fresh
water. Without hesitation he stepped
aboard, and, adjusting the thwarts and
oars and arranging the sail so that it
would act as a cover for him, he lay
down and in two minutes was sound
asleep.
Henry Bradford was a sound sleep
er, a very sound sleeper, else this
strOy might never have been written
He knew naught of the stealthy rise of
the tide nor of the lift of the dory as
she became water borne, nor did he
know that in his earlier arrangements
he had loosened the noosed painter
from the bowlder over which it had
been slippedf. He did not feel the
impact of the gentle southwest wind
which waited the dory slowly but sure
ly to the point of the beach,
The outgoing tide in Plymouth har-
Dor is much like mill-race as it hur-
ries to the greater waters of Barn
stable bay.
Henry Bradford slept the sleep of
utter WEAKNESS. The dory is, per-
haps, the best sea boat ever designed,
and will stand more wind and weather
and sloppy seas than any other small
craft If he was somewhat jostled
and shaken it only served to accentu-
ate a deeper sleep. But there are
some happenings of nature which no
man, sleeping or waking, may allow to
pass unnoticed. AS he slept, giant
hand seemed to reach from intinity
and, graspng his frail boat, carry it
and him up, up, up till all the world
became dark, and then, without warm
ing, dropped him into an abyss so deep
and awful that it seemed as though a
cleft in solid earth had been opened
to engulf him forever.
Henry Bradford aWOke with chat
terlnS teeth and staring eyes, to find
his boat being lifted again by the
mighty hand of his dream. His rudelv
aroused senses appraised him of the
situation. He knew himself to be in
the dory, and he also realized that the
dory was afloat and contending with
a phase OF ocean disturbance with
which he was not familiar. The next
uplift was of much less volume than
its predecessor, and after three or
four minor fluctuations he felt that
his boat was rising and falling to the
normal Atlantic swell. The air was
heavy, damp and clammy, and was
filled with many odors difficult of de-
scription, but all of the briny sea. He
cautiously raised himself to a stand |
ing position and surveyed the horizon, !
The arc of sea and Sky before him
was utterly blank. AS he slowly swung
his body TO complete his view of the |
horizon, he saw On his starboard quar-
ter, and we'll astern of him. the we'll |
known CLEAN OF Race point light. At |