Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1916-03-03

use your own words. which is any
thing and everything except splendid
Why. with all that wonderful strength,
have you not done something? There
was nothing TO stop you. nothing that
could stop you. What was wrong?
Did you lack ambition? Did you fall
under temptation? What was the mat
ter? What was the matter?"
He had lifted his eyes to me at the
commencement of my outburst. and
followed me complacently until had
done and stood before him breathless
and dismayed. He waited moment,
as though seeking where to begin. and
then said:
Hump, do you know the parable
of the sower who went forth to SOW?
If you will remember, some OF the
seed fell upon stony places. where
there was not much earth. and forth
with they sprung up because they had
no deepness of earth. And when the
sun was up they were scorched. and
because they had no root they with
cred away. And some fell among
thorns. and the thorns sprung up and
choked them"
"Well?" ! said.
"Well?" he queried. half petulantly.
1T was not well. | was one of those
seeds"
He dropped his head to the scale
and resumed the copying. finished
my work and had opened the door to
leave. when he spoke to me.
Hump. if you will look on the west
coast of the map of Norway you will
see an indentation called Romsdal
ford. | was born within a hundred
miles of that stretch of water. But
was not born Norwegian. | am a
Dane. My father and mother were
that bleak blight of land on the west
coast | do not know. | never heard.
Outside of that there is nothing mys-
FERROUS. They were poor people and
unlettered. They came of genera
tons of poor. unlettered people-peas
ants of the sea. who sowed their sons
on the waves as has been their Gus
tom since time began. There is no
more to tell"
But there is" ! objected. 1T is
still obscure to ne"
What can / tell your" he demand
ed, with recrudescence of fierceness.
"Of the meagerness of a child's life?
of fish diet and coarse living? of 60
| ing out with the boats from the time
could crawl? of my brothers. who
went away one by one to the deep-sea
farming and never came back? of my
self. unable to read or write. cabin-bOv
at the mature age of ten on the coast
wise. old-country ships? of the rough
fare and rougher usage. where kicks
and blows were bed and breakfast and
took the place of speech. and fear and
! hatred and pain were my only soul
| experiences? | do not care to remem
Der A madness comes up in my brain
even now as ! think of it. But there
were coastwise shippers I would have
returned and killed when a mans
strength came to me. only the lines
| of my life were cast at the time In
other places. | did return. not long
ago. but unfortunately the shippers
were dead. all but one. a mate in the
old days. a skipper when | met him
and when | left him a cripple who
would never walk again"
But you who read Spencer and
Darwin and have never seen the inside
of a school. how did you learn t.
read and writer" | queried.
In the English merchant service
Cabin-boy at twelve. ships boy at four
teen. ordinary seaman at sixteen. able
seaman at seventeen. and cock Of thu
fo'csle. infinite ambition and infinite
loneliness. receiving neither help moi
sympathy. did il all for myself-nav
igation. mathematics, science, litera
ture. and what not. And of what U.s.
has it been? Master and owner Of {
ship at the top of my life. as you saw
when | am beginning to diminish ant
die. Paltry. isn't it? And when thu
sun was up | was scorched. and be
cause had no root I withered away.
But history tells Of slaves whit
rose to the purple" chided.
And history tells of opportunities
that came to the slaves who rose I,
the purple" he answered grimly. IN,
man makes opportunity. All the grea
men ever did was to know it when 1
came to them. The Corsican knew.
have dreamed as greatly as the Corsi
can. | should have known the oppor
tunity. but 1t never came. The thorn
sprung up and choked me. And
Hump. | can tell you that you know
more about me than any living man
except my own brother"
And what is he? And where 4
he?"
Master OF the steamship Macedo
MIA. seal hunter" was the answer