The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-08-06
How She
Proposed
By F. A. Mitchell


old fisherman. They remind me most
OF crab. If you expect a woman to
move for'ard she goes back; if you ex-
pect her to go back she goes fOr'ard.
And if you don't know which way
she's soin' she moves sideways.
Anyway, the only gal l was ever
stuck on went that sort of gait as
long as | knew her as gal. She was
the daughter of man who owned one
OF the best farms ten miles back Of the
coast and with lot o money in bank
Phoebe was the only child Of her par
ents. and it was .ginerally suspicioned
that when the old man died she'd git
it all.
Il was husky young feller in those
days and was in my element when in
my boat She was single sticker
with a jib. and reckon knew how to
sail her.
II was fishin' in those days, but in
midsummer We was shut off from
takin' Holsters, and the mackerel are
hard to get. Now and then got
chance TO take out sailin parties
When Phoebe came down she always
had money her dad had given her for
spendin', and she used to invite sailin
! parties to go out with her. My boat
seemed to be her favorite, though my
reputation for sailin' in a fog or at
night might have had somethin' to do
with it. At any rate, Phoebe always
| bon \
"She was mighty fond O. the water,
Phoebe was, and when she had nothin
else to do would come down to the
dock and Just loaf around. One morn
in she came down when l was startin'
out to place my nets.
"'If you'd like to go with me to the
fishin' grounGs' | said, you're wei
come I'm comm back after placin'
the nets, and III bring you right here
'She looked doubtful, but mighty
sudden she jumps down on to the deck.
| / lOosed the painter and pushed of
There was good breeze, and we sailed
along in the sunlight
"Maybe ! wasn't happy younker.
Talk about work, it want work at all,
| 0llhOuSh IL was Il AlN III uOcUe
was gay and pert as a little red sQuir-
rel. l took her out to the fshin'
grounds to the lee Of Black island and
brought her back in time for noon din
ner, and she seemed to have enjoyed
herself better'n when we had sailin'
| parties aboard
after that Phoebe used to 60 ont
Upfth n ,rpnI lnol Tho I'm nj
ways full O. boats, and she often hailed
/; friends O. hers. Sometimes they tried
to persuade her to leave me and go
with them, but she wouldn't. She told
me she liked 1t better to have the
/ whole run Of the boat than sittin' bolt
| upright In crowd ranged around the
, gunwale.
when we went out in the mornin'
the bay was usually quiet, but II we
came back in the afternoon there was
apt to be stiff wind that kicked n
sea which made a small boat uncom-
Portable. One morning Phoebe came
down to the dock with lunch box and
asked If ! was goin' to the f1shin'
grounds. | knew by the box that she
calculated to make day Of it, so
said l was goin' and wouldn't come
back till afternoon. That suited her
She got aboard and we sailed away
That afternoon the wind came on to
blow fiercer than l had ever known 1t
except in a regular storm. In order to
make a straight course for home we
had to take the wind and sea on the
fOr'ard quarter, which wasn't comfort
able, SEEM that the boat soon was
half full o water and we was both
wet as drowneded rats. But this wasn't
the wust Of It, 1t blowed harder and
harder, and after awhile l almost Won
dered II so small boat would live In
such gale.
phoebe sat down, backed by the
cabin, watchin' me. There's somep'n
for a woman to look at in husky man
fghtin' wind and waves, and l could
see admiration in Phoebe's face. She
didn't seem a bit afraid, SO long as i
was at the tiller.
when l luffed up to the pier and
saw Phoebe jump up on to it 1 felt
big relief. She stood up there, smilin'
at me, and she says:
That's a sail as is a sail Not one
Of your little pleasure excursions for
wimmin and children
Just So says /, hopin' I'd never
git caught ag'in In such blow with a
gal aboard, especially that gal.
by this time was desprit In love
with Phoebe, and / was miserable, for
1t warn't to be expected that would
ever speak the word to rich farmers
daughter, ! bein' nothin' but a fisher
man. maxim little or nothin
September was comm on. Phoebe
tole me to come up to the house, where |
she was, and she would settle some ac- |
counts there was between us. I went, |
and she had 1t all figured out that she |
owed me S1.37.
"She went upstairs to git the money, |
and she stayed so long that at last | |
looked around for somep'n to interest /
me. I got up and walked about the