Nogales international., 1932-08-17
First Installrslent

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Warm mist, filled with vague forms,
hung above the lower stretches OF the
Hudson.
A boy, his arms folded, leaned on the
cabin trunk of barge, the CGVcl'er, OF
HaverStraw.
"Gee-i" The boy kept repeat
ing the one word-"GeeT
/ His arms, bare to above the elbows,
were capable arms, Drowned by the
sun. His doubled fists were hard and
his face was freckled.
The barge carried way with her, as
the water slapped her low side, for the
Cayclier was at the stern end of tow.
Far ahead tug, little wooden put
fer, exhausted white vapor in her
struggle with the river. The last tow,
whipping about as the course was
changed tc avoid the ferries, seemed
the tail end of gigantic kite, some
times in view and sometimes lost to
sight.
A large black double-decker washed
by, her paddles drumming an energetic
tattoo On the sluggish river, her sharp
stem carving and curling the water into
an open greenish scar, her bows throw
ing off brave, white whiskers of seeth-
ing foam. Rows of lighted cabin
windows marched by him, square ports
e,1uding radiance and offering glimpses
of strange interior region Of flashing
Light and congested, breathing crowds.
A thought occurred to the. boy
how he wanted to know those people.
Their names must all be dif'rent.
But is there so many names?" He
spoke aloud, to himself, as he often
did. "They must be moren hundred
Il guess"
The boy was nearly sixteen. Still
the great gilt letters on the sides OF
ferry boats were unfathcma5le to him.
He searched his mind for meaning
but all letters were weird, mysterious.
W-H-E-E-L-I-N-G. His eyes traced the
similarity of form.
Down in the little cabin of the
CaUclicr, the boy, John Breen, often
lay in lis bunk, behind the dresser,
listening to Mother Breen reading
aloud, or half aloud, her lips moving,
Speaking out of the paper" Car tain
Dreen, who held all book learning in
contempt, listened on such occasions,
and smoked his pipe, shifting his short
legs about in uneasy fashion. his eyes
peering from under shaggy eyebrows.
Mother kin readP Johnny Breen al
ways said this to himself whenever he
thought of reading.
H. Johnny Breen had been around the
city many times, but each succeeding
trip around the Battery found him gaz-
ing in growing fascination toward the
piles Of buildings banked upon the
/, shore. He noted and remembered many
things about the city. The sharp metal
lie c!ang of fire engines, the clatter of
horses, iron-shod hoofs en- Belgian
blocks the harsh rattle Of elevated
trains--how fast they went /! Would he
ever ride in one?
Captain Breetl was dogmatic man,
close On sixty, squat, incapable man,
seeing but short distance through a
veil of red. Harriet Rreel, the woman
/ who married him, managed him. Six
teen years before, when the barge was
new, he accepted responsibility. The
owners preferred a married man. Har-
riet came on board the CGUclier. She
was an upstate girl. Breen rubbed his
/, eyes. but he was; ready to accept any
thing, even a wife, for she demanded
her papers. Four months later Breen
became the father of a son. He ac-
cepted this gift without undue ccm-
plant If he drank to excess, Mrs.
| Breen was not the one to complain.
7 The detachment, and strangeness OF
the broad river suited Harriet Breen.
! She sang to her baby boy. A calm in
sensibility possessed her. She was still
a handsome woman, twenty years
younger than the captain, when the
E,C Cczalier rounded the. Battery on that
misty evening in spring.
The years go fast on the river.
! John Breen became strong and cap
able barge hand, an expert swimmer,
"a great help and comfort to his mother.
+ Suddenly he had grown, grown alnloAt
over. night, bursting out of his cloth
[ ing. The fact that his laugh and q
| certain: trick Of paving through his
Eahairreminded her of another wild i'm
| petuous boy caused Harriet Breen to
flush. Johns father had been only a
few years older, when she came to
the Cavalier:
''We got to: put Johnny to school"
Mrs. !. Breen remarked to Captain
Breen, busy at the small coal stove,
turning a pan of biscuits with the hem
/; of her apron. E, :is
cali right, Mother, we'll send him,
when we lay up this year. He began
filling his pipe. ITS: getting mighty
thick .:.
Where we now?'' " .;:'.1<
Turned up of the East River.
I Them's the Fulton Ferry bells. I'll call
John" @ s.
Johnny, his eyes drawn into the
deepening blur Of the warm enVelop-
ing night, & hearing strange sounds,
thinking huge thoughts, heard the talk
below, coming up out Of the square of
1ioht How he loved his 'rnotherl He