Year: 1872

to the same thing, as it does with most OF


us In most things), and find her knitting


needles for her, and set her up easy with


her shawls in the sunny spots among the
| piles. Jib set almost as much by the
skipper as the old lady did herself. He


and Griggs had run this coast together,


master and mate, some half dozen years


they always were agreeable to one another s


women folks; at least Griggs would have
been, no doubt, but Jib hadn't any himself
not living woman He courted a girl
once down our way, up to Squam; she was
washed off the rocks at Little Good harbor,
at picnic, one day; [ never heard of any
other. Before the trip was over. l was
glad OF it, to- I've heard that's where
Griggs got the name of that schooner, but
l can't say. All | know is, that was the
given name of the young woman-Pansie !;
and she was painted about the time Of the
funeral. Griggs was a polite fellow about
such things


| don't believe you'll ever see a nicer
day, sir, this side of heaven, than | saw


abroad the Pansie on Saturday, the 18th
day Of December, 1889. 1t blew from
SOU sou west as softly as a woman singing
to a baby. There were clouds, few Of
them, OF color like mother f-pear curling
at the edges like shell, and the noon


warmed up warm as a May day overhead.
Some Of the boys went in for a swim, it
looked so warm. The old lady sat on
deck without her extra shawls, and the skip
per was afraid she'd take cold.


You'll be in Boston to morrow, God
willing, mother" says the skipper (the
skipper was pious man at times, a Meth
odisti, and Ia be sorry to take you in all
hoarsed up keziah would think [ hadn' t
taken good care of you"


Upon this the old lady pipes up again:


Z" My son will take me into Boston to NOR
row. Keziah's children have got the whoop-
ing cough, and she thought she'd like to
see me -


noticed Griggs putting on her shawl for
her halfthe afternoon the old lady dropped
it off, and dropped it off finally Jib
HanckO got a little shingle-nail and pin
ned 1t together for her through the fringe


1t was on toward five o'clock that saw
the mate stand talking in a confidential way
alone IN the stern with the skipper. Ex-
cept when under orders he was on very
confidential terms with Griggs. He mods,
and Griggs mods, and Hancko points to
the sou east, and the skipper mods again,
and walks the deck a bit, and stops to ask
the old lady how she feels, and back again
to the mate; but | couldn't make head
nor tail Of them until six o'clock, when
we got an order to tack and put into
Gloucester over night.


The captain didn't like the looks Of the
sou east thought there was an ugliness,
more or less, in it maybe there was mis-
chief ahead, and maybe there wasn't; hav-
ing his mother aboard he thought he'd be
on the safe side; any way there was the
order Into GlOuchestcr over night. We
got it round among Us, by degrees, as we
rounded Eastern Point-it's never any
nonsense rounding Eastern Poiut-and
sulky enough we were about it too. One
Of the lads had a young one with the Group
in Boston, he'd counted on seeing by Sun
day night. Couple ofem had tickets to a
dance IN a mariners tavern. Most of 'em
wanted liquor. One of 'em his name was
Ben Bumper, said 50 D-n the old lady :"


Next minute he lay on deck for it, fiat
as a griddle-cake, He didn't count on the
mates being round when he made the
observation Jib Hancko was a little man
with a squint eye; but when his blood was
up he looked more like a likeness I've
seen Of Giant Despair, in a book called
the Pilgrim Progress, than any other man
alive | ever come across. Well, so we
put into port, and anchOred-iust about
there: no, little further to your right
Just beyond that red bouy where you see
the very young gentleman's dory tied to
fish and the young lady in the red jacket
screeching at the bait. That was about
half past six. 1t had freshened up a little,
but no more than you'd except of any
high spirited December evening Half
dozen Of the lads wanted to put over into
Fresh Water Cove for lark but Griggs
was obstinate as a mule: he kept all hands
aboard and mad as hornets


We had neghbors plenty by 9 o'clock
but none too many. There's always ship
ping enough runs in for a nights lodging
to Glouchester; alwayws was eyed in those
days. Griggs brought the old lady up
to see the lights of the harbor-by which
we ment the town there same as we mean
it now-and the twinkle Of the shipping,
red blood and green as grass, to star
board and to port while sailing in and the
pale fame color of the lanterns swinging
on the anchored craft But the old lady
only said she'd rather her son would take
her into Boston, and she was afraid her
daughters children would sit up late for
her, and that was very bad for children
with the whooping cough.


1t was about midnight that the blow
stood up-about midnight between the
and the Sunday of the 18th and
the 10Th days of December, 1899. From
that hour until Tuesday morning there
was no rest in the heavens above, nor the
earth beneath, nor the waters under the
earth, for the soul nor for the body Of any
of them that 60 out on ships and down
into the sea along this Massachusetts
coast and though L say it that shouldn't
being good citizen, and voting the straight
republican ticket year in and out, it's the
awfulest, crnelest, coldest coast | ever
trusted to the mercy of, or the honor of or
the fellow-feeling of from the time l first
set foot on ship-board to this day.


If you look over the eastern light there
you'll see how it must have struck that
sheer wall of rock on the fresh water side
1t struck as straight as an arrow from the
SOU east. And as sharp. 1t was more
the sharpness than the heft at the begin
ming. 1t snowei little, too, in a sleety
way; that's the worry of gale. ia
rather it would rain deluge


Howsoever, being at anchor, and in port,
we thought no more of it than to own the
skipper knew his business as we'll as we
did, and to chaf Ben Bumper on that
little remark of his concerning the old
lady, at spare minutes, until the morning