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About Nebraska advertiser. (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1882)
1. 4 cbntsltn Advertiser. a. W, FAtRBnOTHER 00,, Projriitori. CALVF.MT. : : NEHRASKV 01iAND.(OTIIEIV 8 GARDEN. A fltinny spot of boyhood yours Was Kninilmii's Kimlen oldon: Itfl trwmuioo rnru cornea tloitlnir back O or forty Bummer's Koldon. I boo tlio yellow marigold Tlio frltiift-d 'ehlny-astcr"-Arid iiiornlnff-fflnri -a, pink and rod, And whito lino alabaster. The peony, with wcajth of bloora J ho patch of Htripcd Krascs- Xho fpur-o clocks and I.onilon-prldcs, And pinks in fragrant musses. Tlio lllno. stand'nir by tho door, Wiu ono of that collection And alwayn showed a wealth of bloom Intlnioof "town olcotlon." ThA poppy, too, wa not forjrot, Nor crimson prlnco's-fenthor On. what a Hwanip ol beauty raro Wus growing up together! And when tho early blossoms cimio, Our garden patoh ndornlug, How Joyfully I watched Tor thorn Lueh friiiftaiiee-ladon tiiurnlng. All through tho lonsr. bright summer days It proved a homo of pleasure I or humming birds and butturlllus, 'i hut sought its hidden treasure. Hut clip who planted thorn Is gone i wh -ro bright ons greet tho eomor, J)'l where the ilowors richly bloom Through an eternal summer. ISmUin Transcript. "LALYDQUIST; A Story of the Land and Sea. JJY WALTEIt 11ESVNT AND JAMBS MCE, IN ALL THE YKAIl HOU.VU. CIlAI'TKIt LX. the onnATOoni) i.vck ohoaitvin iioi.stius. The clumsy cheat of Captain Hor lindcr brought homo to Lai the sail truth that nobody, except herself and perhaps Captain Ilolstius, believed Hex could -till be living. Even tho doctor of the Aryan, who called every time tho ship came home, frankly told her that he could not think it possible for him to be anywhere near tho track of ships without being heard of. The Company had sent to evory port touched by Pacific traders, and to every mission ary station, nskiiHj that inquiry should bo made, but nothing had been heard. All the world had given him up. Thuro came a time when anxiety became intol erable, with results to nerve and brain which might have been expected had Lai'.- friends possessed any acquaintance with tlio diseases of the imagination. " I must do something," she said ono day to Captain Ilolstius, who remon strated with her for doing too much " 1 must bo working. J cannot eit still. All day 1 think of Hex all night I see Rex waiting on the shore of some far oil' land, looking at me with reproachful oyesyvhich ask why 1 do not .send some ono tT. take him away. In my dreams I try to make him understand" alas! ho will not .hear me, and only shakes his head wlfen J toll him that one man is looking for him now, and another will follow after." Captain Ilolstius, slowly coming to the conclusion that tho girl was falling into a low condition, began to cast about, in his thoughtful way, for a rem edy, lie took a voyage to Norway to think about it. Very much to Lai's astonishment ho reappeared a month latter, without his ship. IIo told her, looking a little ashamed of himself, that ho liad come by steamer, and that ho had made a lit tle plan which, with her permission, ho would unfold to her. " I diew the shortest straw," ho said; "otherwise I should havo gone long ago. Now, without waiting for Captain Wattles, who may be an honest man or ho may may not bo " "Not be," echoed tho Patriarch. " I moan to go at once." Lai clasped her hands. "Hut there is another thing," ho went on. " Lai, my dear, it isn't good for you to sit hear waiting; it isn't good for you to be looking upon that imago all day long as well as all night." " It never leaves mo now, sho cried, the tears in her eyes. "Why, I seo him now, as I see him always while you are talking while we tiro all sitting hero." Indeed, to tho girl's eyes, tho figure stood out clear and distinct. "See!" she said, "a low beach with palm-trees, such as you read to mo about last year. He is on tho sands, gazing out to sea. His eyes moot mine, 'h, Rex Jtox! how can 1 help you? What can I do foryouP" Captain Ilolstius shuddered. It seemed as if he, too, saw this vision. Captain Zaohariason said that mtim micking was apt to spread in a family like measles. " Then, Lai, dear," said Captain Ilolstius " hear my plan. 1 havo Bold Uiy share in tho ship. 1 havo got a good prico for it throe hundred pounds. am ready to start to-morrow. Hut I ear that when I am gono you will sit loro and griovo worso because I shall lot bo here to comfort you. It is tho waiting that is bad. So " ho hesitated here, but his blue oyos met Lai's with nn honest and loyal look "so, my dear, you must' trust yourself to mo, and wo will go together and look for him." "Go with youP" "Yes; go with mo. With my throo hundred pounds wo can get put from port to port, or pay the Captain of a trader to sail among tho Carolines with us on bonrd. I daresay it will borough, but ship Captains of all kinds aro mon to bo trustou, you know, and I shall bo with you. You will call mo your broth er, and I shall call you my sister if you liko." To go with him! Actually to sail away across the soa in quest of hor lov er! To feol that tho distanco between thorn was daily growing loss! This seemed at., lirst eight an iuipoasiblo thing, vnoro unreal than tho vision of poor Rex. To bo sure such a plan would not bo settled in a.day.. It was necessary to got permission from Mrs. Rydquist, whoso imagination would npt at first rise to tho Platonic height of a supposed brotherhood. Sho began by: saying that it was an insult to tho memory of her husband, and that a danghtor of hers should go off in broad (h light wa3 not what sho had oxpeetedor honed. Sho also said that if Lai was like other girls she would long sinco havo gone into decent crapes and shown resignation to tho will of Heaven. That fair warning with un mistakable signs had been given hor; that, after all, sho was no worse oil' than hor mother; with more to the sanucf fent. Finally, if Lai ehoosd to go'away on a wild-gooso chase, sho would not, for howpart, throw any obstacle in tho way, but shosupposod'that her daughter intended to marry Captain Ilolstius whothpr.sho picked up Rex or not. " Ho ought, my dear," said Captain Zaehariascn, meaning tho Norwcogco, "to havo been a navp.1 chaplain, sueli is his goodness of heart. And as gentle as a lamb, and of such aro tho" kingdom of Heaven. You may trust yourself to him as it wore unto n Bishop's apron. And if 'twill Ho you any good, my pret ty, to sail the salt seas o'er in search of him who may bo for aught wo know, but wo hope he isn't, lying snug at tho bottom, why tike and up and go. As for tho Captains, I'll keep 'em in order, and with authority to give a month's warning, I'll sit in tho kitchen every morning and keep 'em at it. Your mother can go on goin' on just tho same with her teapot and hor clean handker chiefs." This was very good of tho old man, and in tho end ho showed himself equal to tho task, so that Rydquist' s fell off but little iu reputation while Lai was away. As for; what people might say, it was very well known in Rotherlntho who ami of what sort was Lai Rydquist, and why she was going away. If unkind things were spoken, those who spoko them might go to regions of ill-repute, said tho Captains in discussion. How the good fellows passed round the hat to buy Lai a kit complete; how Captain Zaehariason discovered that ho had a whole bag full of golden sover eigns which he did not want, and would never want: how it w:is unanimously re solved that Dick must go with them; how the officers of the Aryan for their share provided the passage-money to San Franci&co and back for this poor fellow; how the Director of the Compa ny, who had come with the Secretary to seo the "muminicking," heard of it, and sneaked to KothcrTiilho unknown to anybody with a purse full of bank-notes and a word of good wishes for tho girl; how everybody grew amazingly kind and thoughtful, not allowing Lai to be put upon or worried, so that servants did what they ought to do without being looked after, and meals went on being served at proper times, and tho Cap tains left off bringing things that wanted buttons; how Mrs. Rydquist for the lirst time in her life received supernatural signs of encouragement; and how they went on board at last, accompanied by all the Captains these things belong to tho great volumes of tho things unwrit ten. All was done at last, and they were in the Channel steaming against a head wind and a chopping sea. They wore second-class passengers, of course; money must not bo wasted. Rut what mattered rough accommodation? All the way across to Now York on tho Rolling Forties thoy had head winds and rough seas. Yet what mat tered bad weather? It began with a gale from tho southwest in tho Irish Sea, which bucketed the ship about all tho way from tho Mersey to Queens town. The sailors stamped about tho deck all night, and there was a never ending yo-ho-ing with tho dashing and splashing of tho waves over the deok. '1 ho engines groaned aloud at tho work they wore called upon to do; tho ship rolled and pitched without ceasing; tho passengers were mostly groaning in their cabins, and thoso who could get out could get no fresh air except on the companion, for it was impossible to go on deck; everything was cold, wet and uncomfortable. Yet there was one glad heart on board who minded nothing of tho weather. It was the heart of tho girl who was going in quest of' hor lover; so that every moment brought them nearer to him, what mattered for rough weather? Resides, Lai was not sea-sick, nor was hor companion, as by profession forbidden that weakness. When thoy left Qucenstown, the galo, which had been southwest, became northwest, which was rather worso for them, bocauso it was colder. And this galo was kept up for thoir bonofit tho whole way aoross, so that thoy had no easy moment, nor did tho ship once cease her 1)1 tinging through angry waters, nor did the sun shine upon them at all, nor did tho fiddles leavo tho tablos, nor woro tho docks dry for a mo ment. Yet what mattered wind and rain and foul weather? For every moment brought tho girl noaror to her lost lover. When Lai stood on tho rolling deck, clinging to tho arm of Captain Ilolstius, aud looked across tho gray waters lead on and dull beneath tho cloudy sky, it was with a joy in hor heart which lent them sunshine. " I see Rox no longer in my dreams," sho said; "what does that mean?" "It means, Lai," replied Captain Ilolstius, who boliovod profoundly that tho vision was sont direct by Provi donco, "that ho is satisfied, because ho knowa that you aro coming." Somo of tho pasaongcrs perceiving that hero waa an extremely pretty girl? accompanied by a brothor brothers aro not generally loath to transfer their sisters to tho caro of those who can appreoiato them more highly en deavored to mako acquaintance, but in vain. Then, tho voyago having passed through liko a dream, thoy landed at New York, and another began irt tho long journey across the continent amoncr people whoso ways and speech wore strange. This is a journey made over land, and thero was no more endurance other than that of -patlonce. Rut it is a long and tedious journey which oven the ordinary traveler finds weary, while to Lai, lohg ing to begin the voyago of search, It xvns well-nigh intolerable. Some of tho passengers began to remark this beau tiful girl with eyes that looked always westward as the train plowed on Its westward way. She spoKO little with her companion, who was not her hus band, and did not seem to be her broth or. Rut from time to timo he unrolled a chart for her, and thoy followed a route upon the ocean, talking in un dertones. Then these passengers be came curious, aud ono or two of them, Indies, broke through tho American ro- bitvu toward strangers aim spoke to tho English girl, and discovered that she was a girl with a story of surpassing in terest. Sho made friends with these ladies, and after a while sho told them her story, and how tho man with whom she traveled was not hor brother at all, and not oven her cousin, but her very true and faithful friend, her lover, more loyal than Amadis do Gaul, who had sold all that he had and brought tlio money to her that she might go herself to seek her sweetheart. 'Ami then sho told what rea-on she had to believe that Rex was living, and pointed to the Malay who hail brought tho message from the sea, and was as faithful to bet as any bull-dog. They pressed her hands and kissed her; they wished her God-speed upon her errand, and thoy wondered what hero this lover of hers could be, since, for his sake, she could accept without offer of reward tho sorvice, the work, the very fortune of so good and unsel fish a man. IIo was no hero, in truth, poor Rox! nor was he, I think, so good a man as Captain Ilolstius; but ho was her sweet heart, and sho had given him her word. "Yet, although she talked, although the journey was shortened by the sym pathy of these kind friends, it was like the voyage, a strange and unreal dream; it was a dream to bo standing in the sunshine of California; a dream to look upon tho broad Pacific; a dream that IiOr hrnflinr kImoi! lnuidi lmv wWli thoughtful eyes aud parted lips, looking across me ocean on wnicn tneir quest was to be made. "Yes, Lai," he murmured, pointing where westward lie tho lands we call Far East, "yonder, over tho water, aro the Coral Islands. They are scattered across the sea for thousands of miles, and on ono of them sits Captain Armi ger. Doubt not, my dear, that we -hall Now it came to pass that the thing for which a certain English girl, accompa nied by a Norwegian sea-Captain, had enmo to San Francisco became noised abroad in the city, and even got into the papors, and interviewers called upon Captain Ilolstius hogging for particulars, which he supplied, saying naught of his own sacrifices, nor of tho money, and how it was obtained. The story, dn'ssed up in newspaper fashion, made a very pretty column of news. It was copied, with fresh dress ing up, into the New York papers, and accounts of it, with many additional de tails, nil liicrhlv (Iriinintin worn tivino. nutted by the various New York corre spondentsall of whom are eminent novelists to the London papers. Tho story was copied from them by all tho country and colonial papers, whence it camo that tho story of Lai's voyajfo, and tho reason of it, bceamo known, in garbled form, nil over tho English-speaking world. Rut, as a groat quantity of most interesting and exciting things, in cluding the Irish discussion, havo happened during this year, public in terest in the voyago was not Mislainoii, and it was presently forgotten, and no body inquired into tho sequel. This, indeed, is tho fate of most in teresting stories as told by the papers. An excellent opening leails to nothing. Rut tho report of hor doings was of great service to Lai in San Francisco. In this wise. Anion"1 those who came to gee tho beautiful English girl in search of hor sweetheart was a lady with whom she had traveled from New York, and to whom she limf told her story. This lady brought hor husbaud. lie was a rich man just then, although ho had re cently spent a winter and spring in Europe. A financial operation, wliich was to havo been a Ronanza boom, has sinco then smashed him up; but ho is beginning again in excellent heart, none tho worse for tho check, and is so gen orous a man that ho deserves to mako another pilo. Ho is, bosides, o full of courago, resource, quickness and in genuity that ho is quito certain to mako rt. Also, ho is. so extravagant that ho will most assuredly loso it again. "Miss Rydquist," ho said, "my wife has told mo your story. Roliovo mo, young lady, you havo everybody's pro found sympathy, and I am hero, not out of curiosity, bocauso 1 am not a press mani but to toll you that perhaps I can bo Of some holp to you if you Willi let mo.y , "Myjdoar," said his wife, Intorrupt-5 ing, " wo-do not know yet, whether you will lot us holp yov, and wo are rather afraid of offering. May wo ask whether whether you aro sure you aro rich enough for what may turn out a long, and exponstvo yoyagePJ,' . t ; " Indeed," said Lai, "1 do not know. Captain Ilolstius sold his share iu a ship, and thnt brought in a good doal of monoy, and othor friends helped us, and I think wo havo about five hundred pounds left." "That is a good Bum to begin with, said tho American. Now, young lady, is your Vour brother what is reckoned a smart sailor?" Oh yes." Ltd was qulto suro about this. "Even body in the Commercial Docks always said ho was ono of tho best .seamen nlloat." "So I should think. Now thon. A week or two ago so that it soonis prqvmeiuiiu i nan to tiiKo over a wo might help you, my dear. My 'litis band does not care where his ship is laKen to. nor where t I'rtflllltr tinlinnfini nci olm l?(i. ..!,. ,....,,. ' . ......... -un. .in iv ni.iimn, imp .station, occupies a conn .am au.. iiu s in Uiu bay,,anil,you can hunong tho Carolines; if vou loon at ner. iiuisuo litis no suippor. ,. vou will see thnt it is " iNow, said Ills wife. " you see how lore she trades. If it harbor there lay tho missionary sehoon tlila accident of your or, and a brig trading in beeho do mor. Id have sold hor. If She had returned from a cruise amonr had not been for arrival, ho woul C aptain Ilolstius pleaes, lie can take U,0 western islands. However, she hti(l tho command, and sail wherever ho hoard nothing of any such whito man pleases. ... I living among the natives. Nor could Ihiswasapiooo of most astonishing the missionaries help. They knew of good fortune, because It inado them por- nonn who answered at all to the deserlp feetly independent. And, on tho other tj(, of Rex. Hut thero woro many hand, It was not quite liko accepting a pl,UT.s where tho. were not permitted to bonelit and giving nothing in roturn, be- i,u,d, the people being suspicious and cause there was tho trading which might jealous; and tlioro weie other places bo done J where traders had set the people against In the end thero wns little profit from them so that thoy were sullon and would this source, as will bo seen. Lrivo no information. Thero was a Iherefore they ncccptciUliooflor with white man, more than one whito man, grateful hearts. livinir nnionir the islands in the irroiit j H' (iilvn ninr thoy woro sailing across the b'luo waters in a ship wofl manned, well found, and seaworthy. With them was a male who was able to interpret. Then began the time which will for ever seem to Lai tho longest and yet the snortesi in ner me, tor every moriiinj; am-igiiuu anu sam: -would nun tne evening wore hero!' and evening sho ..l....!l i i i ,.,r l.t . .." longcii lor mu noi morning, j no days were tedious and the nights were long. Now that they wero all over,1 and a memory of the past, she recalls them, ono by one, each with its little tiny inci dent to mark and separate it from tlio rest, and remembers all, with ovory hour, saying: This was the fortieth day before we foundnini," and "Thirty days after this day wo camo to tho island of my Rex." The voyage, after two or three days of bree.e, was across a smooth sea, with a fair wind. Lai remembers tho hot sun, tho awning rigged up aft for her, the pleasant seat that Captain Ilolstius arranged for her, where sho lay listen ing to the plash of tho water against the ship's .side, rolling easily with tho long waes of tho Pacific, watching tlio whvto sails filled out, while the morning passed slowly on, marked by the strik ing of tho bells. It seemed, day after day, as her eye laj- upon the broad stretch of waters, that they were quite alone in tlio world; all the rest was a dream; tho creation meant nothing but a boundless ocean, and a single ship sailing slowly aoross it. In the evening, after sunset, tho slars came out stars sh had never seen bo fore. They are no brighter, these stars of the equator, than those of the North. They are not so bright; but, seen in tho cloudless sky from the deck of tho ship, thoy seemed brighter, clearer, nearer. Under thoir light, in the silence of tho night, the girl's heart was lifted, while her companion stood beside her and spoko out of his own fullness, noblo thoughts about great deeds. Sho folt humbled, yet not lowered. She had nover known this man before; she never suspected, while ho sat grave and silent among the other Captains, how his brain was liko a well undeliled, a spring of sweet water, charged with thoughts that only come to the best among us, and then only in times of meditation and solitude. Thinking of those nights, she would now, but tor tho sako of Rox, fain bo oneo more leaning over tlio tr.u'rnil, listening to the slow and measured words of this gentle Norweegco. As for Dick, he knew perfectly what thoy left England for, and why thoy came aooard this ship. At night, when they got into warm latitudes, ho lay coileu in) on deck, for'ard; all day long ho stood in the bows, and gazed out to sea, looking for tlio land where thoy wero fast ashore. It matters little about tho (totalis of tho voyage. The first land they mado was Oaliu, one of the sandwich Islands. They put in at Honolulu and took in fresh provisions. Then thoy sailed again aoross a lonely stretch of ocean, wliere tlioro aro no islands, wliero thoy hailed no vessel, and where tho ocoan soundings are deepest. Thon they camo into seas studded with groups of islands most beautiful to look upon. Hut they stayed not at any, and still Dick stood in tho bows and kept his watch. Sometimes his face would light up as lie saw, far away, low down in tho horizon, a bank of land, which might have boon a cloud. IIo would point to it, gazo patiently till ho could make it out, aud then, as if disappointed, would turn away and take no more interest in it. If you look at a map you will porccivo that thero lies, north of Now Guinea, a broad open soa, two thousand miles long, and five or six hundred in breadth. This soa is shut in by a group of islands, groat and small, on tlio south, and another group,- all small, on tho north. There aro thousands of these islands. No one over goes to thorn ox Copt missionaries, ships in tho beclio do mor trade, and "black-birders." On s0mo of them aro found beach-combers, men who mako thoir way, no ono knows how, from islo to islo, who aro whito by birth, but Polynesian in habita and customs, as ignorant as Pagans, as destituto of morals ant1 culture as the savages among whom tho,- live. Thoy havo long since imparted thoir own vices to tho people, and, as a matter ot courso, learned tho niitivu vloos. Thoy . aro tho mon who havo relnpsod intd barbarism. All over tho world there1 aro found such men, thoy livo among tho lands whore civdi.od mon havo boon, but where they do not live. Ovi somo of these islands aro missionary sta tions with missionary ships. It wa9 among thoso islands thnt thoy oxpectod to laid their castaway, or at least to hoar something of h in. And first Captain Ilolstius nut his helm tin for nn) of Kusale, whore tnero is a station of tho American mission. Kusaio, besides being a missionary 'ai situation look at tho conmanit ho ly easy of access for the surrounding islands. Unfortunately, however, com munication between is limited. In tho ' nloll of Hogoleu. There was a white man who had lived for thlrtv voars on .ugunor, and had grown up a family of hisky sons and daughters. There woro one or two more, but thoy woro all old sailors, deserters at first, who had run awayfrom their ships, and settled down 111 II lift! nf iiriifihlit ifin llliilm' tint tviii'tii ---" : - v.... ...... v.. ..v.... .. tropical sun, doing nothing amom- the ' puoplo who were contented to do noth- uig uub in oreaino uiu air anu live moir years and then die. One of them, an old beach-comber o. Kusaio, who know as much as any man can know of this great archipelago, gavo them advice. He said that it was very unlikely a castaway would bo killed oven by jealous or revengeful islanders. No doubt ho was living with the natives, but the difficulty might to got him away; that the temper of tho people had been greatly altered for the worso by tho pi ratical kidnaping of English, Chilian and Spanish ships, mid he warned them wherever they landed to go with the ut most show ol confidence, and to con coal their arms, wliich thoy must how ever carry. From Kusaio thoy sailed to Ponapo, where the American missionaries havo another station. Here they stayed a day or two on shore, and were hospi tably entertained by the good people of the station, their wives making much of Lai, and presenting her with all man ner of strange fruit and (lowers. Hero the girl for tho first timo partly eompro hondod what beautiful places 'lio about this world of ours, and how one can never rightly comprehend the fullness of this earth which declareth every where the glory of ils Maker. Thero are old mysterious buildings at Ponapo, tho builders of which belong to a raeo long sinco extinct, their meaning as long since forgotten as tho people who designed them, They stand among tho woods, liko tho deserted cities and tem ples of Central America, a riddle insolu ble. As Lai stood beside thoso mystori ous buildings with an old missionary, ho told her how, thousands of years before, tlioro was a race of people ainonir thoso ...-V... i- 1 .1 - .1 ,.!.,.. j islands who built great temples to thoir I unknown gods, carved idols, and howed 1 the rock into massive shapes, and who then passed away into silence and ob l livion, leaving a mystery behind them, I whose secret no one will ever discover. Lai thought tho man who told her this, I tho man who had spent contentedly fifty I yoars in tlio endeavor to teach tho sav I ages, who now dwelt hero, nioro mar velous and more to bo admired than these mysterious remains, but then sho was no archii'ologisl. Then with more good wishes, again thoy put out to son. Thoy wero now in the very heart of tho Carolino Archipelago. Nearly every day brought them in sight of somo island. Dick, the Malay, in the bows, would spring to his feet and gazo in tently while tho laud slowly grow boforo them and assumed definite proportions. Then he would sit down again, as if dis appointed, and shako his head, taking no more interest iu tlio place. Hut, in deed, thoy could not possibly have reached tho island thoy sought. That must be much further to the west, some where near tho Pelow Islands. "See, Lai," said Captain Ilolstius for tho hundredth timo over the chart, "if Rex was right as to the current and the wind, ho may havo landed at any ono of tho Uliea Islands, or on the Swedes, or porhaps tho Philip Islands, but 1 cannot think that ho drifted further east. If ho was wrong about the currents, wliich is not likely, ho may bo on ono of tho Pelows, or on one of tho islands south of Yap. If ho had landod on Yap itself, he would havo been sont homo in ono of tho Hamburg ships long ago. Let us try them all. For many weeks thoy sailed upon thoso smooth and sunny waters, sending ashore at every islet, and learning noth ing. Lapped in tlio soft airs of tho Pa cific, the ship sailed slowly, making from ono island to another. Lai lay idly on tho deck, saying to horsolf, as each land camo in sight: "Haply wo may find him hero." Rut thoy did not find him, and so thoy saitod away, to mako a fresh attompt. Docs it help to namo tho places vfhorc thoy touched? You may find tfiom oh tho map. to be continued