That ever any one did see;
I need no pets when he is by
To make the days and hours fly,
For any bird or beast or fish
I want he'll be whene'er I wish.
For instance, if I chance to want
A safe and gentle elephant,
He'll fasten on his own big nose
One of my long black woollen hose,
And on his hands and bended knees
Is elephantine as you please,
And truly seems to like the sport
Of eating peanuts by the quart.
Then, when I want the lion's roar,
He'll go behind my bedroom door
And growl until I sometimes fear
The King of Beasts is really near;
But when he finds my courage dim
He peeps out, and I know it's him.
And he can meow just like a cat--
No Tom can beat my pa at that--
And when he yowls and dabs and spits,
It sends us all off into fits,
So like it seems that every mouse
Packs up his things and leaves the house.
Then, when he barks, the passers-by
Look all about with fearsome eye,
And hurry off with scurrying feet
To walk upon some other street,
Because they think some dog is there
To rush out at 'em from his lair.
And oh, 'twould make you children laugh
When daddy plays the big giraffe.
He'll take his collar off, you know,
And stretch his neck an inch or so,
And look down on you from above,
His eyes so soft and full of love,
That, as you watched them, you would think
From a giraffe he'd learned to blink.
'Tis as a dolphin though that he
Is strongest as it seems to me,
And I don't know much finer fun
Than sitting in the noonday sun
Upon the beach and watching pop,
As in the ocean he goes flop,
And makes us children think that he's
A porpoise from across the seas.
And when he takes a tin tube out,
And blows up water through the spout,
The stupidest can hardly fail
To think they see a great big whale!
And that is why I say to you
My pa's a perfect dandy zoo,
The very best menagerie
That ever you or I did see,
And what is finest, let me say,
_There never is a cent of pay!_
GASTON V. DRAKE.
THE BOY WRECKERS.
BY W. O. STODDARD.
CHAPTER III.
THE WRECK ON THE BAR.
It was something tremendous for a young landsman to find himself away
out at sea in a three-cornered boat. Captain Kroom noticed Sam's look
and said:
"This 'ere isn't any mill-pond, eh? Well, my boy, all I'm afraid of is
that it'll be a dead calm before we can get there and back again. What I
hate is a calm. I got stuck in one once for more'n a month. It's next
thing to being wrecked."
"She's a hard boat to row," said Pete; and he spoke of the _Elephant_.
Sam did not say anything, but it seemed to him that the face of the
Atlantic might wear its pleasantest expression when it had no wrinkles
at all. He would even have been willing to row a little. The _Elephant_
thus far had wind enough in her sail for a boat of her size, and the
stranded ship could be seen pretty well without any glass. So the
Captain put the "binocular" back into its case and returned it to the
valise. Before he did so, however, he had looked across the sea long and
carefully, and he remarked:
"She's a-standing straight up, and the tugs are trying to pull her off.
Guess she isn't going to break up."
Sam felt better the moment he could again take an interest in the
wrecking business. After all, the ocean was reasonably good-tempered
that morning, and the terrible lines of surf were now far behind him. He
understood, too, that shallow water extended to a long distance out, and
that the _Elephant_ was in very good hands.
"He knows all about the weather," Pete told him; and the 'longshore boy
appeared to feel altogether at home.
According to him, they were now in the very best cruising-ground for
blue-fish, and even mackerel, but the Captain did not encourage trying
their luck. Nearer, nearer sped the _Elephant_, and at last Sam ventured
to remark:
"I guess it's just as you said. Is she on a rock?"
"Nary rock," growled the Captain. "But I'm worse puzzled than ever 'bout
the valise. This isn't the _Narragansett_. This is the _Goshawk_, and
she's from Liverpool. If we haven't come away out here for nothing!
Anyhow, I'll hail her."
It occurred to Sam that it was not needful to go close to the ship to
make them hear the trumpetlike voice with which the Captain demanded,
"What ship is that?"
"Keep away! No loafers wanted!" came back loudly.
"Stuck in the mud, are ye?" thundered the Captain. "Some lubbers don't
know how to handle a ship. I want to get some word of the
_Narragansett_, Captain Silas Pickering, New Haven. Can any of you
wreckers tell me--"
"Mate, hold on; it's old Captain Kroom."
"I say, Kroom," shouted another voice from the deck of the _Goshawk_,
"Pickering's on board. The insurance men are in charge of this craft.
That feller's nothing but her old mate. There's been more thieves--"
"Come aboard, Kroom," broke in the mate. "You're all right, but we've
had the worst kind of luck."
"No, you haven't," returned Kroom, as the _Elephant_ swept alongside the
_Goshawk_. "I've been worse wrecked than you are. Why, you are going to
save the hull and cargo!"
"That's so," said the mate, leaning over the rail; "but we lost all our
sticks. Everything that was on deck. Pickering? We took him on at
Liverpool. His ship had to be refixed, and the owners sold her, and he
won't go aboard a steamer if he can help it."
"I guess there's the right stuff in him, then," said Captain Kroom, with
energy; but the mate went on:
"He's awful, though. Some fellers came aboard soon after we struck, and
they stole his kit, and there's lots of things missing. He's been
sittin' 'round with a gun on his lap ever since, watching for thieves."
"Kroom," came loudly from behind the mate, "what do you want of me?"
The Captain said nothing, but he held up the valise, while Pete did the
same with the trousers of the blue suit.
"Where'd you get 'em?" gasped the mate.
"Trolled for 'em," responded Kroom; but he added a pretty full
explanation.
A very tall, gaunt old man was now leaning over the rail near the mate,
and he did not interrupt, but when the Captain finished his account he
took his hat off and held it out.
"Kroom," he said, "you can beat me spinning yarns. That stuff was on
deck, and they pitched it overboard to get it away. I bought that tackle
in London. Found the clothes below in my cabin, and rolled the tackle up
in 'em. Don't know why. It was all stolen day before yesterday. My other
luggage went in a tug this morning. Are you and the young chaps coming
aboard?"
"Want to, boys?" asked Kroom. "There isn't anything worth seeing."
"Guess not," said Pete. "I'll hand him up the valise and things."
"I'd rather go home," said Sam.
"No, you needn't hand it up," said Captain Pickering. "I'm coming ashore
with you. I won't be landed in a tug-boat if I can help it. I'd a'most
rather swim."
"Just my thinking," rolled out at the stern of the _Elephant_. "I quit
the sea on account of 'em--all sorts of steamers. I'm a sailor, I am. I
don't want anything to do with steam."
"Fact!" whispered Pete to Sam. "He hates even a railroad. Everything but
the old kind of ships."
[Illustration: THE START HOMEWARD FROM THE WRECK.]
Captain Pickering did not bring any gun with him. Nothing but a small
satchel. He came down over the side of the _Goshawk_ by a rope, and Sam
felt a little queer to perceive what an addition the tall, brawny old
seaman made to the load to be carried by the _Elephant_. Hardly had he
taken his seat in the middle of the boat before the wind was in her sail
and her head was turned landward.
"It's comin' on a calm," said Pickering, "but we may get there first."
"Not across the bay," replied Kroom; "but we may get inside the bar.
That was an old trick of the thieves with that spar for a buoy. No use
to search their boat, you know. I've known it tried in all sorts of
places."
"They reckoned on getting it again alongshore?" asked Pickering.
"Yes," replied Kroom; "but they didn't reckon on the tide through the
inlet. Our bay-men pick up stuff all the while that came in that way.
It's all right. Dry as a bone."
"Of course it is," said Pickering. "I say, boy, if that suit fits you,
keep it. You and he can have some of the tackle."
That meant Pete and Sam, and they were ready to say "Thank you, sir";
but they were a great deal more ready to keep still while the two old
sailors talked about the storm which had stranded the _Goshawk_, and
about other storms they had known. It must have been quite a hurricane;
but even before it was fully described, Captain Pickering had his valise
open, and was slowly looking over some of its contents. Log-books,
log-books, log-books. Sam knew what they were now, and he would have
given something to know what was in them.
"That's one of the _Narragansett_'s," said its owner, laying it down. "I
sailed her for six years. One trip was 'round the world. Last ship I'll
ever have. She was an old one. They're not buildin' many more of those
prime clippers we used to have. It's all steam nowadays. I can't do
anything with steam, Kroom. Can you?"
"I don't want any," replied the Captain. "It's taking the place of
horses, too, on land. That and 'lectricity and these 'ere two-wheeled
things they call cycles. I wouldn't any more ride one of 'em--"
"Did you ever ride a horse?" asked Pickering. "I did once; but I didn't
know how to steer him, and we made a losin' voyage of it."
"Well," said the Captain, "I can drive. Kind o' drive. But I'd rather
have some other feller navigate, as a rule. I'm most at home in a boat.
Watch now. We'll be in the breakers in less'n five minutes."
"Good boat," remarked Captain Pickering. "But we're too many in her."
Nevertheless, he talked right along about ships, as cool as a cucumber,
even when the _Elephant_ was making her dangerous way through the blind
channel. "Glad you know where it is," he said to Kroom. "I'd ha' swamped
her tryin' to find it. We're nigh half full o' water anyhow."
That was what had troubled Sam, for again and again the tossing waves of
the channel had washed over in, and he and Pete had been baling their
best. Not that Pete appeared to be troubled, and he had remarked to
their passenger: "Captain Kroom knows every channel around this bay.
He'll get through."
So he did, and they were now inside of the breakers, between them and
the bar. Right ahead of them, moreover, was another cat-boat, twice as
large as the _Elephant_, with four men in it.
"There they are!" exclaimed Pickering. "The very chaps that came aboard
the _Goshawk_ this morning. Reckon they'd been there before, too. Tell
you what, Kroom, they're hunting for that spar-buoy, to get the things
they hung to it."
"They won't get 'em," growled Kroom. "But every man of 'em belongs on
the other side o' the bay. They are oyster and clam dredgers. Some of
our fishermen are born wreckers, sure's you live. Anything they can take
off a stranded ship is fair game to them."
"I guess so," said Pickering. "They thought they'd made a good find this
time. That valise'd ha' been a fortune to 'em, chronometers and all.
Glad you struck it."
"Sam hooked it," said Pete, "but it was Captain Kroom pulled it in. Sam
thought he had the biggest kind of fish."
"Hullo, Captain!" came from the other boat. "Have ye had any luck?"
"Not any," responded Kroom. "But I want to get inside before it's calm."
"That there wreck out there's a Britisher," said the boatman. "They'll
get her off. We haven't struck a fish to-day. We're goin' on in."
They were only out there fishing, all innocent, therefore, but they let
the _Elephant_ keep away a little, or they kept away from her.
"Wonder what they've picked up?" muttered Pickering.
"Look back," replied Kroom. "Don't you see something?"
"I do!" whispered Sam to Pete. "It's something white--"
"Right in the wake of their boat," said Kroom. "They must ha' let go of
it just as we came out of the channel."
"That's it!" said Pickering. "That's where those life-preservers went
to. One of 'em makes a better buoy-mark than any spar would."
"Captain," put in Pete, "that one isn't hitched to anything; it's
running right along on the tide. It's loose."
"Fact!" exclaimed Kroom. "You've pretty good eyes, Pete. I saw 'em. They
didn't pull up anything, but they tried to. It only broke loose,
whatever it was."
"No, you don't!" said Pickering, sharply. "It's hitched on the bottom
again. They saw us coming, and they let go. That's all."
"Get out your lines, boys," shouted Kroom. "We'll try for blue-fish, up
and down here," and then he added, to the men in the other boat: "I
won't go home empty-handed. Why don't you fellers throw a hook?"
"No use, Captain," came back. "We may get some weakfish in the inlet,
but you'll only throw away time."
"We've got all the time there is," said Captain Kroom; but Sam and Pete
were making haste, and when the _Elephant_ tacked again their lines were
out.
"Shouldn't wonder if they were kind o' mad," remarked Pickering. "But
there was more'n one life-preserver on deck. They can hunt for the
others."
"That's what they'll do," said Kroom; "but this one's follerin' us.
Whatever is hitched to it'll anchor it in shoal water. Things have to go
over the bar and into the bay at high tide. They know that, and they
think they can wait."
The wide spread of water between the surf and the beach was now
comparatively smooth, with long low waves playing lazily across it.
There might be fish there, but most likely not, the Captain said, and it
ought not to arouse any suspicions of the wreckers that he wanted to try
it.
They sailed ahead for the inlet, but Pete may have been correct when he
told his shipmates, old and young:
"They're a-watching us. They mean to see if we're just after fish."
"There comes that thing!" exclaimed Sam; but Pickering caught his arm.
"Don't you point, boy! Don't anybody look at it! Fish away. I guess it
isn't worth much, but they needn't see us get it."
The _Elephant_ had not begun her remarkable voyage very early in the
day, and more time had passed than her boy crew were aware of. Her
commander, however, had kept track of the tides and the hours, like the
sharp old fisherman that he was.
"We went out with the tide," he said to Pickering. "It's turned to run
in now. Those chaps'll wait for that stuff at the other end of the
inlet. I don't want 'em to guess that we know a thing about it; but
it'll be good and dark before we get home."
"My folks know I went fishing," said Sam. "They won't care."
"Mine won't, if they learn that I'm with Captain Kroom," said Pete.
"They know he doesn't come home early-- Hullo! Blue-fish!"
He had struck one; he pulled it in rapidly, but, the moment it came
within reach, Captain Kroom seized it and stood straight up in the boat,
hailing the wreckers with:
"Luck! Four-pounder!"
"All right!" came faintly back over the water. "It's all you'll get."
"Guess not," grumbled Pickering. "But I wish I knew if they had anything
from the _Goshawk_ in their boat. There was another lot of chaps there,
just like 'em."
"We can't help it if they have," said Kroom. "Do you know, they're not a
bad kind of chap. Honest as the day on shore. Wouldn't cheat you in the
weight of a fish. It was just so with the Cornish wreckers that
plundered me once."
"Never was wrecked in my life," replied Pickering. "This _Goshawk_
business wasn't mine. I wasn't in charge of the ship. It doesn't count."
"Well," said Kroom, "I wasn't ever wrecked after I got to be Captain.
Most of mine came younger. I went to sea when I was a little feller.
What I hate around a wreck is sharks."
If he was just about to tell a shark story, his chance for it was
spoiled. He had a line of his own out now, and the next instant he
exclaimed:
"Pete! Pickering! Take care of the boat while I get him in. 'Tisn't any
blue-fish this time!"
The _Elephant_ yawed and leaned over dangerously before Captain
Pickering could get to the tiller, but Pete let the sail swing out like
a tiptop young boatman.
"Just in time!" he said. "Sam, the Captain's got a big one!"
It was indeed a fish, but the flurry of excitement on board the
_Elephant_ had not escaped eyes that were watching her. One eye, the
right eye of a pretty sharp pair, had been squinting through a
pocket-telescope, such as coast-wise men of that sort are very apt to
carry.
"Boys," exclaimed its owner, "old Kroom has found something. Come on!"
The next moment that cat-boat, with the four wreckers in it, was tacking
as straight a course as it could make toward the _Elephant_.
"Meet 'em, Pickering," thundered Captain Kroom. "I'm bringing him in.
They mustn't guess we are after anything but fish."
"They won't," said Pickering, "not if you can show 'em a prime
sea-bass."
"That's what it is, Sam," said Pete. "I told you this was the place to
get 'em. If he doesn't know all about fish!"
The Captain was putting out his strength as well as his knowledge just
now. A less-experienced fisherman might have lost that splendid bass,
hooking him with only blue-fish tackle. It was well, too, to have
Pickering in charge of the _Elephant_, for she ran into rougher water
while the fish-fight went on.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]
The All-Connecticut Interscholastic Football Team for 1896 is as
follows:
J. B. PORTER, _New Britain High-School_ end.
P. F. MCDONOUGH, _New Britain High-School_ tackle.
PAUL THOMPSON, _Hillhouse H.-S._ guard.
E. W. SMITH, _Hartford H.-S._ centre.
R. B. HIXON, _Hotchkiss School_ guard.
T. L. MONTAGUE, _Hotchkiss School_ tackle.
NORMAN GILLETTE, _Hartford H.-S._ end.
F. R. STURTEVANT, _Hart. H.-S._ quarter-back.
E. A. STRONG, _Hartford H.-S._ half-back.
H. C. LANE, _Meriden H.-S._ half-back.
PETER O'DONNELL, _New Brit. H.-S._ full-back.
The substitutes are: J. R. Smith, Norwich Free Academy, end; T. F.
Flannery, New Britain H.-S., tackle; F. A. Wheeler, Bridgeport H.-S.,
guard; Ernest Towers, New Britain H.-S., centre; J. E. Meehan, New
Britain H.-S., quarter-back; Godfrey Brinley, New Britain H.-S.,
half-back; J. D. Lucas, Norwich Free Academy, full-back.
[Illustration: NORMAN GILLETTE, End.]
[Illustration: P. F. McDONOUGH, Tackle.]
[Illustration: E. W. SMITH, Centre.]
[Illustration: T. L. MONTAGUE, Tackle.]
[Illustration: J. B. PORTER, End.]
[Illustration: R. B. HIXON, Guard and Captain.]
[Illustration: PAUL THOMPSON, Guard.]
[Illustration: F. R. STURTEVANT, Quarter-back.]
[Illustration: H. C. LANE, Half-back.]
[Illustration: E. A. STRONG, Half-back.]
[Illustration: PETER O'DONNELL, Full-back.]
In selecting these players care has been taken to look over very
carefully the work of the men on the weaker teams. The requirements of
each man are "sand," experience, and physical endurance.
For centre, E. W. Smith, of Hartford, is undoubtedly the best man
playing at that position among the schools of Connecticut. He plays a
very fast game, is good at making holes, tackles well, and follows the
ball every time. R. B. Hixon, of the Hotchkiss School, is beyond doubt
the best guard of the schools. He has played every year since he has
been in school. He understands the game thoroughly, and has a
magnificent physique, which virtually makes him a "stone wall." Thompson
of Hillhouse H.-S. is better than Wheeler of Bridgeport, because he is
more strategic and quicker on his feet. He can get through the line very
nearly every time, and gets in a great many tackles. He is also very
good on the defence.
T. L. Montague, of Hotchkiss School, and P. F. McDonough, of New
Britain, are easily chosen for tackles. Both run well with the ball,
hold their man well, and are good in getting through and making tackles.
Flannery of New Britain runs well with the ball and holds his man, but
is not so good at tackling as either Montague or McDonough.
J. B. Porter, of New Britain, is beyond doubt the best among the ends.
He is an almost sure tackler, and is down the field every time on a
punt. Norman Gillette, of Hartford, has been chosen for the other end,
because he breaks up interference well and gets hold of his man nearly
every time. J. R. Smith is good, but too often lets his man go after
making a tackle.
For quarter-back it is hard to choose between F. R. Sturtevant, of
Hartford, and J. E. Meehan, of New Britain. Both play the game for all
it is worth. In passing and tackling Sturtevant surpasses Meehan, but
Meehan gets into the interference a great deal better than Sturtevant.
On the whole, however, taking in the important points of strategy and
command of men, Sturtevant may be ranked as the better player.
It is extremely difficult to pick out the half-backs. H. C. Lane, of
Meriden, is one of the finest players that ever played in the League. He
runs extremely hard and fast, and tackles superbly. The difficulty came
in choosing the other half-back. For this position E. A. Strong, of
Hartford, and Godfrey Brinley, of New Britain, are the best men. Brinley
runs very fast around the end and displays a great deal of "sand," but
he has always been assisted with first-class interference. Strong, on
the other hand, has as much, if not more, "sand" as Brinley. He runs
fast, and knows how to interfere with his hands, and if he had had such
good interference as Brinley did, I think his runs would have been as
long.
For full-back the choice lies between Peter O'Donnell, of New Britain,
and J. D. Lucas, of Norwich. Lucas does not hit the line as hard as
O'Donnell, but fully equals him in tackling and punting. O'Donnell has a
better knowledge of the game.
For captain of this team R. B. Hixon, of Hotchkiss, should have the
honor. The team he was captain of is one of the best teams playing
football among the schools this year. He has plenty of experience, and a
good control over his men.
The financial side of the Interscholastic football season in Connecticut
seems to have been very successful this year, for the statement of
receipts and expenditures as made out by the treasurer shows that there
is $400 in the treasury. This does not include the total profit from all
the games, as the managers of the Association hold back each year $100,
for incidental expenses the next season.
The profits of this year--that is, the $400--are to be divided among the
eight elevens that made up the membership of the Association, each
school to receive $50. I have gone into this detail in order that I
might introduce a rather startling quotation from the Meriden _Journal_.
It is to be hoped that this paper does not represent the Connecticut
idea of sportsmanship. At any rate, the Meriden _Journal_ avers that the
division of the spoils is not quite just. It argues that Meriden and New
Britain, having played for the championship at New Haven, deserve to
receive more money than the other teams of the League. It cannot
understand why Suffield, who was only admitted to the Association this
year, and forfeited its scheduled match against Norwich, should have the
same amount of cash as any other team.
As a remedy for this state of affairs the _Journal_ suggests that the
two elevens which came together for the final championship contest
divide fifty per cent. of the net receipts for the season, the elevens
in the semi-finals thirty per cent., and the elevens which figured in
the opening games only, twenty per cent. If this is not advocating the
playing of football for money, and is not thus a direct propaganda of
professionalism, I don't know what is. If the editor of the Meriden
_Journal_ believes that the schoolboys in his neighborhood are playing
football for the prize-money to be divided at the end of the year I am
sure he is very much mistaken in his men.
Nevertheless, any such statement as this, especially when given currency
in the city of the team that stood second in the League, is exceedingly
injurious not only to the reputation of that team and school but to the
entire Connecticut Association. Many persons who read this, and who do
not know that the _Journal_ is discussing a subject in which its
ignorance is made evident by what it says, will believe that
interscholastic sport is being carried forward on a money basis.
Everybody knows, of course, that no enterprise, not even sport in the
truest amateur spirit, can be carried on without the expenditure of some
money. The railroads will not carry amateurs free of charge, nor will
tailors furnish them with football suits for nothing. Therefore it is
necessary that the Association have some revenue. This is usually
obtained in one of two ways, either by subscriptions levied in the
various schools or by charging admission-fees at the more important
games. The latter is in many respects the better, because it distributes
the taxation over a greater number of people.
If, however, at the end of the year it is found that the revenues are
greater than the expenses, the treasurer of the Association should
profit by this knowledge to do away with certain features of taxation
the next year; for his endeavor should be to collect only just the
amount of money that is needed to defray the legitimate expenses of the
several football teams under his care.