Milford chronicle., 1925-05-01
By WALLACE IRWIN

The slow going paddle-Wheel freighters
had succumbed to railway competition.
A few boats still piled their philosophic
way up to Cincinnati or down to the
hot ports along the Big Water. Where
gallant steamboat captains once burned
the hams out of the galley or the chairs
out Of the saloon to generate steam for
the record-brealdng runs, two or three
antediluvian passenger steamers loafed
back and forth, carrying those who
couldn' t afford to go by rail and didn't
value their time highly.
Admah always loved the WharVes.
He came to them as naturally as any
home-bound spirit comes to gaze over
broad waters. Not that the River was
so wide at this pOint-from where he
stood he could dimly see the opposite
shore, not many miles from where the
Holtzes Originated-but the sight of
shipping, even on so small a scale, gave
him sense of adventure, of freedom
from his hateful self. He sat on a pile
of empty chicken-crates and counted
the boats he knew. Two Wharves
below, a giant picture Of Liberty |
painted on her Wheel-box, rode the |
St. Augusta; every moonlit night in |
summer she started steam calliope |
over her engine room to playing Su-
vance River while she pulled out with
a load Of bargain tourists for a dance at
Duck Grove. The little snub-nosed
Alexander had just bumped Wharf
Number Three; she was a ferry-boat
and, for a quarter of dollar, would
have carried Admah back to the land
of his origin.
But he sat motiOnless on his empty
chicken crates, his mind in a fog.
Other coOps, not empty, exuded
Squawks and f1Ops and flying feathers;
of broilers, sprightly in youth,
awaited their turn in the hold, where !
they were all too soon to be carried, !
looping and noisy, on their death !
Journey up the stream. Tied to Wharf
Number One, on which he dreamed !
lnder midsummer haze, lay the :
Senator clay, awaiting her afternoon
rip to Cincinnati. She was a big side G
ancient and undaunted; ac- {
'Ording to family legend an uncle.
lafayette Holtz by name, had once
commanded the Senator Clay and had 4
accumulated a small fortune in the
lays when riverboat captains were men g
o be reckoned with. Admah had often q
'assed the old Holtz house, a sturdy q
'ourgeois of stone, on an questionable +
nd Of Inness Street. IF Uncle Lafe !,
till lived he had moved away. Little r
egroes played in the seedy front yard.
For long time the young man sat
n Wharf Number One, discontented p
18th his life, unwilling to go home and II
eport another failure. Out in the vel =,
wv river the busy water-life stirred
i'm headily; he had read about ships
nat went to sea and saw nothing but Y, "
et horizons for months and months u
@. whalers. There was a man "
AIMED Herman Melville whose books Il
3 had found in the open shelves Of the -"
ublic Library; he had told about az
1e-legged skipper who bumped into a ~ ~
'eat white whale and lost ship, crew H' Il,
Id everything except one sailor who ", W
to be an author. Admah's
1oWledge ofgeOgraphy, gained through 49,
olen hours in the Public Library, was y
1even. New York, he fancied, was ~ ~
with the ocean. That was a LII
an-go to New York and ship as a
ilor before the mast. He relished La
at phrase before the mast" He
ould have liked to go to war the
~ Eddie Sticks uncle did, but the pli
'anish war was over. There was lo7
thing for it but the sea. China, tt
aybe, or the Indian Ocean. ley
A stealthy flutter in the crates lust Sp
ok Of him attracted his attention to
title red pullet who had escaped her lee
yelling death-house and was stroIling We
about, singing to herself and thu
clzing at occasional grains of corn. het
lmah became at once sympathetic. the
10 open road was ahead Of her; only tho
: stupid faith in human motives pre-
nted flight and the enjoyment Of a MI,
Le old age. Leaning far back, the 1-e,
ilosophical observer had just raised nm,
hand for stealthy, "Shoo" when
)lum-back roustabout came crouch
ly around the crates, and with all
skill Of hunting animal, pounced 9
On the little red runaway. He did .
Job with experienced hands; not a sid
lawk, scarcely a futter. One set of Nh
gers had grasped his fowl around the lon
*, the other had stilled the fopping ing
lgs. A second later the chicken was bro
completely hidden under his coat
It Admah could have sworn that no
lence had occurred, that he had oOl
rely slept and dreamed murder.