The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1913-11-07
HER
PROPOSAL
A Story Of Fisher
Folk
By r. A. mitchell


The coast Of Maine Is dotted with
villages, snugly located In the little
eoves which dent the islands. forming
q continuous archipelago from Port
hnd to the bay Of Fundy. The men
- these villages fsh all the year round
except for a short q in midsum
ner. when they use the motorboats FOL
taking out sailing parties on various
excursions. for which they receive
good pay.
In one Of these villages lived two
fishermen whose ownership and man.
agement of u boat gave them the title
Ct captain. They were Captain Steve
Williams and Captain ,Enoch Brown
williams was older than Brown. but
hey were stanch friends. Both OF
them knew SO well the rocks and
.sAoals OF the coast in which they were
psed to Dish that they could sail around
them or between them In the darkest
night.
They set their nets just before dark.
ness fell upon the ocean and took them
II soon after dawn. It was a hard
He. this being exposed to the winds
and waves when others were asleep
and sleeping while others were awake.
but 30 long as they were young they
did not mind it-that is. when the
weather was fair. When 1t was
Stormy they did not 70 out to fsh. but
many q night a change would come.
and. being out. they were obliged to
endure the exposure till they could
make the cove from which they had
started.
Captain Steve williams was mar
-. ned. and many a time when storms
arose while he was out in his boat his
wife would lie awake dreading with
every shrek of the wind that 1t might
- blowing her husband on some sunk
a rock She would clasp her little
daughter. Edith. tightly to her breast
and mutter q prayer for the man ply.
ing his perilous vocation.
Captain Brown had no wife to pray
for him. He had passed the heyday
q youth and had not married. though
he could have won almost any of the
girls Of the village. He was q we'll
built III with a clear steel gray eye
an eye that bespoke courage and hon.
esty. But the winds and the spray had
begun to pillow burrows In his cheeks.
and q few gray hairs were beginning
to appear in his sandy hair.
When Edith Williams was q little
child she was sensible Of there being 8
great trouble In the family. A man
came to the house and took her father
away with him. her mother clinging t0
her husband. weeping. Edith did not
zee her father for some time: then he
came home. and the trouble seemed to
be over. It occurred when she was NJ
IN age in which children forget. but
she never forgot the scene Of her ia.
tiers being taken away. And there
was another cen she remembered,
her father holding one Of Captain
Browns hands while her mother held
the other. and they were talking to
him with great earnestness.
But both these scenes. though moi
forgotten. grew dim in her memory az
she grew away from them. Perhaps
they were dwarfed by others that were
present with her. Her father. who
was never the same a after the
misfortune that had come to him. be
gan to dread going out at night Or
the black ocean to gain a livelihood fO'
moss dependent upon him. And his
wife dreaded to have him 60 as mucl
- be dreaded going.
Edith wished that the fish would q
into the nets during the day AZ well al
during the night. She wished that bel
father could devote himself to some
ether calling. And yet when now
and then he would make u great hau
and dispose Of it for y large sun i
would not seem 20 dreadful after all
Ut least he would not 50 consider Il
himseIf.
And 20 the battle for life with tn,
winds and the waves went on. TIL,
two captains weathered every tempest
every fog. In which they were caught
At last q little germ 30 small that i
eould be seen only with q microscop.
ut into Captain Williams system ant
ABoctsd what the angry breakers roll
- over some half hidden rock wer,
powerless to do The fisherman dick
quietly In his bed.
He had wrurg from the sea enough
- pay tor the home In which he lived
besades . fund for an income BY which
living economically. his wife ant
daughter might keep the wolf from
~ door. But his wife could not hv,
without him. There was now nothing
- worry her. but when the wind bowl
q sat night. from force Of habit. sh'
would waken and think Of the iittl
at ont on the dark. heaving ocean
~ solitary man u II feeling hts wa.
- blind person. While she wa
SINKING away. q the slightest SCUM
- would start. inquirfng II II wer
~ ne melancholy foghorh or 4 gu
nosn ! sinking ship. md II the last 40
sEgWlals suse shs heard the thin clanR q
1GSkAnt beil buoy.
nth WA nov alone. There wer
%A<,y ren.~<~