Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1914-01-08
A SailO orr
Yarn
1t Involves a Strange
Coincidence
BY +. a. mitchell

have no object in making up this yarn
or any part Of ii. know that a sail
Urs yarn is generally well stretched,
and don't deny that many II time on
The fo'c'Slc I've made up things myself,
but that was to help my mates pass
the time We didn't have any story
books. ana some Of us couldn't have
read 'cm if we had, so we just made
up stories Of our own.
! But this is different There are
! things about it too serious for Il made
up yarn. I'll admit that none Of the
| happenings ! ever told of or listened to
on the foc'Sle were harder to believe
! than this one, but since | haven't
made it up Pm not responsible for
| that
| Jennie Kline and | were brought up
| at the same place on the coast, and
! both of us were used to boats from
| the day we were born. our parents
were able to send us to school. and
since we were about the same age we
| went To school together No such thing
as love occurred to me till | was six
| teen years old-Jcnnie was fifteen
and Tom IIobSon came home from Il
cruise dressed in sailor toys and was
mighty fine looking fellow. He was
| tWcnty-onc years Old, and since Jennie
| was passing from childhood to woman
hood he took a fancy to her. He was
| the first man who ever paid her any
attention, and she was mighty we'll
pleased
| | complained to her about her going
50 much with lIobSon. and yet it
seemed scnSclcss for me to do so. |
hadn't appropriated her, True, she and
| seemed to belong to each other, but
there was no reason why it should al
ways be So Jennie took my com
plants seriously. She didn't like the
idea Of any break between us any
more than | did. She said she didn't
see why we shouldn't he the same as
we always had been, and yet she knew
better. She knew that change had
come over the boy and girl condition
that had existed, and we were enter
ing upon something different
IIobson stayed ashore for some time,
during which there was Il sort of
rivalry between him and me. Jennie
wouldn't give up his attentions to
| please me; indeed, | didn't ask her to
do so. | only let her see that every
time she was with Hobson was like
sticking Il knife into me. 1t hurt her
| perhaps, almost as much as it did me-
but there was nothing to do in the
me tnr tVhV oh N ch
fuse lIobSon's attentions, no sense in
her combining her associations to one
boy not yet seventeen years old.
When my rival went to sea again it
was as third mate of a vessel. The
night before he sailed he was with
Jennie. | didn't know what passed be-
tween them, but after he had gone
Jennie seemed very much changed.
Whether he had made love to her and
she was pining for him, whether she
didn't know If she wanted to tie up 10
him or to me | couldn't find out If she
knew what was troubling her she kept
! it to herself, I've often thought ii was
| a kind OF indeciSion
| After this. instead of being ingcnu.
| Gus with me, rs she had been. she was
| freaky. Sometimes she would be very
| friendly, or atfectionate rather, and
| sometimes she would be the reverse.
| My father about this time told me that
| it was time for me to be doing some
! thing, and since the only thing for me
to do was on the water | shipped for
Il voyage When | said goodby to Ien-
ME she held on to my hand n long
! while, and ii seemed that she couldn't
bear to part with me. | asked her If
she would be the same to me when |
came back that she had always been,
but she didn't give me any answer
whatever.
From this time Jennie had an easier
job of 1t. since IIobson and l were not
ut home ut the same time. When |
came back from my first voyage |
heard that he had been there and that
he and Jennie had been great deal
together. Jennie seemed mighty glad
to see me back. | kissed her, hut in
stead of taking 1t as II kiss from Il
lover it seemed to give her little
shock
This coming and going continued for
several years, during which became
an officer. IIohson kept coming and
going rs we'll, and finally, returning
from one OF my voyages. heard he
had got n ship. He was now Captain
Ilohson, while | was plain Mr., Gibbs.
He was twcnty-four years old, while
l was but nineteen
| fancy it was llobson's higher and
more lucrative position that induced
JcunieS family to bring their influence
to bear upon her to marry him. AZ
any rate when | sailed the next time
She threw her arms around me. and II
seemed she would never let me go
took II for granted that | had won and
went away very happy, Alas. 1t was
Ia goodby, She had promised her par
Ients that she would say yes to Hobsor
when he returned from his next voy
tage