Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Lost And Saved ; Or, Nellie Powers, The Missionary's Daughter.
favoured with fair winds ancl fair weather , and was now leaping over the billows on the grand old Pacific Ocean . The sailors bad begun to look back on the storm at the cape as a thing of the past ; baring struggled with many before , they had become used to these great freaks of nature . Yet as they gathered around the forecastle on a pleasant evening they would refer to it as one of the worst they bad ever seen , and many were the incidents in their history which were suggested ancl relatedwhen their attention was called to the stormby the
, , absence of the foretopmagt or the vacant berth of Jack Wright . Such an event as the loss of a man often leaves a deep impression on the mind of even the most stout-hearted sailor . Their natural superstition often overcomes their otherwise fearless bearing , and the loose flapping of a sail or the creaking of the shrouds woidd often be construed into a wailing of the dead . On the evening in which we find them sailing before a fair wind , ancl under a fair
sky , on the deep undulating bosom of the Pacific , Peter , who had just been relieved from the wheel , bad gone forward , and , taking out his pipe , had selected a seat among the crew . His mind was on the ghost of Jack Wright , which Barney Eisley had claimed to have seen many times since that eveutftd night , and be looked up to his companions and said , — ¦ " 'Twas a sad thing tho loss of Jack Wright . " The young sailor spoken of , although a green hand , was a young man of good disposition , and quite a favourite among bis
sliipmates . " Barney says ho has seen his ghost walkin' the fok-sail deck on several occasions lately , " said Peter . ' " Now don't ye go for to believe all ye hear about ghosts , shipmates . I don't believe be seed any ghost at all , but his own ghost-like shudder , " declared Dick Flynn , a man who prided himself on his knowledge of things in general , and philosophy ancl astronomy in particular . Dick never lost an opportunity to express his opinion on the
revolution of the spheres or anything else out of the reach of the minds of ordinary sailors . It was his wont to claim that although he had not much education he had a great deal of natural talent for such things , ancl that would go a good deal further than a lifetime of study woidd with some people . Some men , he said , had studied all their lives ancl then didn't begin to know as much as a man with a little natural ability . He said sailing a vessel by a book was a fair example of the difference between talent and
study . What would a book sailor know when a sharp squall struck the vessel , he would ask ? why , nothing at all ; while be was turning over the leaves to find the chapter beaded "Squalls , " the natural sailor would have the ship prepared for the storm . He made it a point to contradict all the established theories of the movements of our globe . No one could make him believe the world was round ; he had sailed all over it , and in his discussions he made a strong point of saying , " Most of those fellers who claimed it were spectacle-eyed professors who sat in their rooms at home and told people of it , and they were just geese enough to believe it all . "
Dick Flynn had once been in Boston , and while there he had listened to the words of an eminent divine , who was addressing a seamen ' s meeting ; he had heard him say that if all the world was against one man he should stand up for what he knew to be rig ht , and that a man who had the moral courage to come ont against the many in the advancement of his opinion was greater than he who storms a city . These words , coming as they did from a great mind , were deeply imbedded in the memory of Dick
Flynn , who had misconstrued them , ancl thereafter bad lost no opportunit y to be the one against the many . So he continued to say , "Don ' t you go for to believe in ghosts , shipmates . " But this advice of Dick Flyim ' s ' did not impress the men very much , for they had always noticed that when ghosts were mentioned Dick Flynn was the man who showed the most trepidation . " So don't ' believe in hostsMrPhilosopher" said Peter"You
you g , . , . never saw one perhaps . Well , in my opinion there are many other things you never saw , ancl one of them is an ounce of common sense . I'll venture you have more reason to believe you lave no senses than to believe that no one ever saw a spirit . Now I saw a ghost once , I did , and what I saw I knows , so you can let j-our mind rest on that subject . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Lost And Saved ; Or, Nellie Powers, The Missionary's Daughter.
favoured with fair winds ancl fair weather , and was now leaping over the billows on the grand old Pacific Ocean . The sailors bad begun to look back on the storm at the cape as a thing of the past ; baring struggled with many before , they had become used to these great freaks of nature . Yet as they gathered around the forecastle on a pleasant evening they would refer to it as one of the worst they bad ever seen , and many were the incidents in their history which were suggested ancl relatedwhen their attention was called to the stormby the
, , absence of the foretopmagt or the vacant berth of Jack Wright . Such an event as the loss of a man often leaves a deep impression on the mind of even the most stout-hearted sailor . Their natural superstition often overcomes their otherwise fearless bearing , and the loose flapping of a sail or the creaking of the shrouds woidd often be construed into a wailing of the dead . On the evening in which we find them sailing before a fair wind , ancl under a fair
sky , on the deep undulating bosom of the Pacific , Peter , who had just been relieved from the wheel , bad gone forward , and , taking out his pipe , had selected a seat among the crew . His mind was on the ghost of Jack Wright , which Barney Eisley had claimed to have seen many times since that eveutftd night , and be looked up to his companions and said , — ¦ " 'Twas a sad thing tho loss of Jack Wright . " The young sailor spoken of , although a green hand , was a young man of good disposition , and quite a favourite among bis
sliipmates . " Barney says ho has seen his ghost walkin' the fok-sail deck on several occasions lately , " said Peter . ' " Now don't ye go for to believe all ye hear about ghosts , shipmates . I don't believe be seed any ghost at all , but his own ghost-like shudder , " declared Dick Flynn , a man who prided himself on his knowledge of things in general , and philosophy ancl astronomy in particular . Dick never lost an opportunity to express his opinion on the
revolution of the spheres or anything else out of the reach of the minds of ordinary sailors . It was his wont to claim that although he had not much education he had a great deal of natural talent for such things , ancl that would go a good deal further than a lifetime of study woidd with some people . Some men , he said , had studied all their lives ancl then didn't begin to know as much as a man with a little natural ability . He said sailing a vessel by a book was a fair example of the difference between talent and
study . What would a book sailor know when a sharp squall struck the vessel , he would ask ? why , nothing at all ; while be was turning over the leaves to find the chapter beaded "Squalls , " the natural sailor would have the ship prepared for the storm . He made it a point to contradict all the established theories of the movements of our globe . No one could make him believe the world was round ; he had sailed all over it , and in his discussions he made a strong point of saying , " Most of those fellers who claimed it were spectacle-eyed professors who sat in their rooms at home and told people of it , and they were just geese enough to believe it all . "
Dick Flynn had once been in Boston , and while there he had listened to the words of an eminent divine , who was addressing a seamen ' s meeting ; he had heard him say that if all the world was against one man he should stand up for what he knew to be rig ht , and that a man who had the moral courage to come ont against the many in the advancement of his opinion was greater than he who storms a city . These words , coming as they did from a great mind , were deeply imbedded in the memory of Dick
Flynn , who had misconstrued them , ancl thereafter bad lost no opportunit y to be the one against the many . So he continued to say , "Don ' t you go for to believe in ghosts , shipmates . " But this advice of Dick Flyim ' s ' did not impress the men very much , for they had always noticed that when ghosts were mentioned Dick Flynn was the man who showed the most trepidation . " So don't ' believe in hostsMrPhilosopher" said Peter"You
you g , . , . never saw one perhaps . Well , in my opinion there are many other things you never saw , ancl one of them is an ounce of common sense . I'll venture you have more reason to believe you lave no senses than to believe that no one ever saw a spirit . Now I saw a ghost once , I did , and what I saw I knows , so you can let j-our mind rest on that subject . "