Year: 1877

NcN YIN IIlIcS.


A few days since bold New Bedford
sea-captain and his wife sailed for Eu
rope in boat of little less than two
tons measurement OF course he has
been called by every newspaper in the
country a wonderfully bold and reckless
man. There is no doubt that these cpl
thets rightly belong to him; but, never
theless, the mere fact that he has at
tempted to cross the Atlantic in a small
sail-boat does not prove that he is cx-
ceptionally brave. If his boat is pro
perly built for the special service re-
quired Of her, she will probably carry
him safely across the Atlantic At this
season he may expect fresh westerly
possible thunderstorm while in the Gulf
Stream, he will probably escape any Sc
we're gales. Even if he does meet with
bad weather he can safely ride it out
with the help of a drag. He will be
long time at sea, but that he will safely
reach his port Of destination there is lit
tie doubt. His boat is much better fit
ted to navigate the Atlantic than were
the vessels of Columbus, and in point
of safety is probably quite the peer of
a modern Atlantic steamship. He is
certainly the boldest man now living
but the mere fact of his going to sea
in small boat does not prove him to be
such. 1t is when we reflect that he has
voluntarily shut himself up with his
wife for at least forty days on board Of
a boat twenty feet long, that we are
compelled to recognize his unique bra
very, and to perceive in his wife a wo-
man Of uneXampled and utter reckless
ness


We may grant that the captain and
his wife are extremely devoted one to
another, and have hitherto lived togcth-
er in perfect peace. Still, they have
never tried the experiment Of living to-
gether for forty days without the posi-
bility of escaping from one anothers
presence. While residing in New Bed
ford the captain could always walk to
the post office and refresh himself with
cloves whenever there was the slightest
cloud on the domestic horizon. and, in
like manner, his wife could always visit
neighbor when her husband showed Il
disposition to express those views in re
gard to buttons which have a tendency
to cast gloom over the happiest home
Whenever the captain sat and silently
drummed with his fingers on the table
until his wife felt as if she could per-
fectly fly" the back yard was always
open to her, wherein to calm her mind
by meditating upon the best method Of
inducing the family dog to abstain from
hunting moles in the strawberry bed -
and when she herself pointed out to her
husband at too great length the duty in
regard to splitting kindling-wood, he
could always affect to see man disap-
pearing around the corner who owed
him five dollars, and whom it was neces-
sary for him to overtake without a mo-
ments delay. Married people living on
by timely flights. When Nature placed
men 5 stores and offices down town and
their homes up town, she evidently in
tended to furnish those occasions for
the temporary separation of man and
wife which render welded love possible
1t may be confidently said that there is
no real necessity for Il man to shoot his
wife, or for a wife to poison her hus-
band, SO long as they live where the man
can flee from the shadow Of the coming
stove-lld, and the woman can escape to
her neighbor at the first cracking that
betokens crash of the Third Command
ment. OF course, this is not precisely an
axiom, but it may be accepted as a rule
which in nearly all cases may be safely
followed.


The New Bedford captain has laid in
full supplies of food and water, but it is
for him to provide those fre=
quent absences from the society Of his
wife which alone could save both him
and her from entertaining homicidal
thoughts When. goaded by the refusal
of the galley fire to burn, she begins an
exhaustive analysis Of the captains
character, and gradually shows that he
is brutal and loathsome tyrant, he will
be compelled to listen. There is not a
nook or corner of the boat to which the
clear tones of an earnest woman will not
penetrate. When, in his turn, he finds
the coffee somewhat too cold, and there
upon expresses with all the resources Of
forcible language at the command Of an
sailor. the conviction that
there is no crime, from murder up to
frying beefsteak, of which she is not ca
pable, she must either listen or jump
overheard.


1t may be urged that an affectionate
couple will never proceed to such
lengths of argument even in the confn-
ed space of a sail-boat. OF course they
will not suddenly and simultaneously
perceive each others atrocity. but they
will reach that point in time For the
first two days they will be atfectionate
and happy. On the third day the cap
tain will find that a sunburnt nose does
not add to his wife's attractiveness, and
she will ask herself if it is possible fora
woman to respect man who uses tobac-
co. On the fourth day they will feel
that married life is failure and before
the first week of the voyage is over they
will even wish that they were dead
Having once entered upon an enterprise
which demands an amount of bravery
never yet displayed by any married man
the captain will doubtless bring his wife
safe to land. but as soon as the little
vessel reaches the dock 4 man and wo-
will be seen flying in opposite directions,
the man seeking the shortest route to
Siberia and the wife taking passage in
the first steamer that will bring her back
to the land where there is yet room
enough for successful matrlmony, and
where there are divorce laws that soothe
the broken heart