Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1913-02-26
A Singular Call
II Came From One Who Had
Seemed Ungrateful
By F. TOWNSEND SMITH

| was starting for the office OF the
| Henderson Wrecking company, by
whom was employed as a diver,
when a boy stepped up to me and
handed me a telegram:
| Alec is caught in the Chaplain reservoir.
Come quickly and get him out
MABEL.
/ ran for the station to take a train
for Chaplain aud found one made up
TO start in twenty minutes. But 1t
seemed an hour before ! was rolling
out of the station on a fifty minute
| trip. While am making 1t | will tell
how came to receive the telegram.
| | received a common school educa-
| ton. One day in the school yard l
saw one of the boys take doll from
little girl, and. holding 1t by its legs.
he smashed its china head against the
| hard. sandy ground. | walked up to
| the boy and without saying a word
stamped his face. OF course there was
q fight, at which | got the credit of
having thrasbed my antagonist. But
| this was rather because the boy |
fought was In the habit of doing mean
/
| than for any advantage / gained over
| him.
The little girl whom i had befriend.
ed surprised me after the fight by max
| Ing face at me. Children are but I'M
grown men and women. and l suppose
my resenting her Ill treatment was like
Interfering In family feuds. for every
/ ,haA n rnf N
| tyranny in the case of those who are
fond of each other is liable to result
disastrously to the protector. Refrain
Ing from showing any feeling at the
girls ingratitude, | walked off with
my hands In my pockets. whistling a
tune tc make it appear that it was
| matter of no consequence.
| During the rest of my school days l
| had the modification to experience the
| Ill will of both this boy and girl, both
of whom seemed TO have taken a dis
| like to me. 1t was a period when We
were passing out Of childhood into
youth, and for the several years re-
manning before we finished school
something about the girl knew not
what-was growing upon me. Her
treatment of me panied me-indeed, l
would have given my best tennis rack
ct for a smile from her. When our
| last term at school was finished found
myself in love with her. True, l was
but sixteen years old and she fifteen.
but my experience in the matter has
proved that the younger the person
the more violent the love.
1t was very distressing for me to see
girl whom l had befriended and
| whom i loved not only showing repul-
sion for me, but lavishing her admira-
| ton upon the boy whose malicious
treatment of her l had punished. But
/ In matters of the heart one never
knows what a woman will do, and q
man is not much more to be depended
upon. Be this as it may, / saw my
love grow to womanhood lavishing her
affection on the person who had out Of
pure deviltry smashed her doll. think
that as q child her turning against me
was natural AS woman 1t may have
been encouraged by my rival
| Fate threw the three of US together
not only as children. but after we had
become men and women. The girl l
and ! attended their wedding, though
rather as her guest than his, for my
intimacy was always rather with her
family than his. There was GOODNESS
between me and him that never wore
off. Whether his betrothed and after
ward his wife suspected my feelings
for her l did not know. But / did
know that after her marriage she treat
ed me in a much more friendly man.
ner than before.
About the time we finished school
and were ready to go to work ship
was sunk in the harbor on which we
| lived, and divers were sent down to
put the chains under whereby to raise
her. There can be nothing more in
teresting to boy than man dressed
In diving suit going under water,
| while those above pump air down to
him. We boys were constantly on
hand watching the process, and the
consequence of it all was that several
of us determined to adopt diving as a
trade.
This brings me to my telegram. 1t
was from Mabel Granger, the wife of
Alec Granger. tine two in whose child
fish companlonship / had interfered
many years before to my discontinue.
Alec and / had been divers ever since
we left school, and now he, having
been caught in dangerous position,
his wife had called on me to save him.
During my journey to Chaplain could
not drive from my mind that scene in
the school, Mabel standing with her
headless doll Rugged to her bosom,
making face at me as / moved away,
while Alec was brushing the dirt OF
his clothes with his hands.
| Furthermore. there was every reason
to believe that what was called upon
| to do | would do at the risk of my