"STAR" TALES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7890, 21 December 1903, Page 4

"STAR" TALES.

THE FOUNDLING; , ( I (By F. T. BULLEN.) John Morris, of Birkenhead, went to sea ; fn 1848 as deck boy on board the fine old j East Indiaman British Sovereign, bound to ■"* Calcutta. It couid not be said of him that lie was an interesting personality — just an .ordinary boy, one of a large family whose i»' ieveral mouths were hard to fill ; a boy who j Jelt that the sooner he learned bow to fill \ his own mouth the letter for all concerned ; jm quiet, self-contained boy vrho made up his tttind that the sea offered the "most eligible jOpening for him, and, having done so, ff <jalmly made his way on board of the neax- ? 1 «t snip and offered bis services. They !.* "were accepted — at five shillings a month itf Hfftge — such things being easy in those days S fwhile almost impossible now, and ten days 'J Wfter he was outwaid-bound, busily learning y his new profession, while his father and 7J mother were wondering what had become of j |v&im, not too severely, for there were thir|s/ $pen left to wonder over — that is, how to 1 fceep them alive. John never enlightened J them ; dimly he felt that he bad done his | ipart in freeing tbem from the burden of his upkeep, and dismissed the subject from his , « 'Blind, or what served him in lieu of a mind. ** Unnatural brute!" I fancy some indignant Reader saying. Pardon me, gentle sir ov * madam, you cannot gather grapes of : fchorns, or figs of thistles. That is ortho- '^». tfocc theology from the highest source ; it is Wlso common-senso. John Morris knew Mf naught of the finer humanities ; from his •arliest consciousness he saw that the battle of lifo demanded all his energies, that - selfishness was a power beyond all others sirithin> bis ken, and that the best thing anyone could do was to look out for himself. l^.t least, that was the immediate result of liis upbringing, if one may dignify the scramble by so stately and cumbrous a r k of speech. | John Morris was favoured by nature with •/ Several qualities that make lor suocess in .' the battle of life up to a certain noint, unL less the accident intervenes which makes 7 jof soch men millionaires. He was stubti hptn as * mule, quick to learn (the two . JMifai'gs are net really antagonistic, as gen•wily supposed), sturdy in body, keeping ? few own counsels, and took tbe greatest de- '■ ( fight of his life, which boasted few plea- ' sore*, in seeing his work well done. Ifl he , jnrept a deck he loved to see it perfectly dost free; if he tarred a shroud, a "hol,i- --£ dfcy" unobserved by the mate would semid ' Idm painfully and Stickily aloft after dark ' to cot«t it; and if he were sent to splice ; fr rope, tlie newrer it approached — the splice, t J Wean — to what the original rope was r fcafore breaking, tbo greater his delight. Of I (Hntiment he had no trace. Tbe gorgeous l pageantry of sky and sea. all round tbs ifl EWorld never mad© him puff at hig pipe a breath quicker, and the simple tunes sung ~i in tbe dog-watch, which made men choke s find sniff, left bis withers unwrung. / So be grew up to be the highest expresi' wpn of a British sailorman, an A.B. worth g_py money, but in nowise to be paid more " than the current rate. He seldom sailed -' In the same ship two voyages in succession, \ Wing like most sailors a lover of change, ■nd although he was often offered a bosun's berth, he always refused it with acorn, being one of the type of men who r jfear responsibility of any kind, and, therefore, make many protestations that they do jiot want it. But his influence for {good, as far as his business went, was incalculable. Hundreds and hundreds of young seamen owed tbeir training to him, i for while as unsociable as can possibly be \ imagined, be did take a sombre delight in I teaching all he knew of sea-lore, as much delight as he would have felt disgust had •ny man beaten him in the race for the - leather earing of a. topsail. to be reefed! im f, fc gale of wind. " At night in his watch on f- Ideek, when neither wheel nor lookout claimed him, he would sit steadily smoking laid apparently thinking (I don't believe he ■was t Sinking at all), but never saying a word* except in answer to a question, and ! only in. a deep monosyllabio growl. When *"" ' he reached London, for which port he al- \ irays made, whatever his port of discharge, Ite leisurely packed his "donkey," his bag quid bis bed, and when- all his shipmates ', tad cleared out in tow of some of the inSomerable sharks wbich used to infest tbe 4ook&, he would saunter out, hire a four%beel«d cab and drive leisurely down to his •id boarding-house mistress in Cable Street, •where, no matter lfrhajt the pressure of t Ihixineeß, room was always found for bim. K His life ashore was a compromise between B Ibe godly seaman's who goes home and xcK turns to" sea when his money is. done, and K the rapscallion whose diversions in the tr fiigUtiway and its environs have scandalised,Hr ibo many tender-hearted people. He 'had a' Hi Jfasouriw pub., where he took his i-um and H^Eter sedately ; at stated intervals he disreturning as if he had' only been minutes away, but he was never seen drunk. He never owed a penny to anyR body, and, in consequence, no man (or wof- man) asked hin_ any inconvenient questions. !j. So he came and went from and to the uttermost ends of the earth, -gastrins through •wilder, stranger happenings than have been br will be told in books, and burying them in bis 'bosom, never saying a word about Jfhem to any. '[ At forty-five years of age, those who adl \ _nired and watched him, themselves un'ir i , noticed, saw that he became addicted) more _ and more to frequenting "the galley in his (fan ous ships, and that to cooks he unbent i fcg he had never unbent 'before. All sorts of conclusions were arrived at but the right one, which was that John, beginning' to feel V^he drag of tbe years at his loins, was cast- * Jng about for some way of lengthening bis lifo at sejL He bad saved — at who knows ; irhat sacrifice of rough pleasures, from his pitiful pav — some £600, quite unknown to ijny but himself and the authorities at the y~ Savings Bank. But he knew how short a ' distance on life's way that would go, and ~ bo was securing, as far as his limited business intelligence knew how, his future ;' fcgainst tlhat awful bugbear of the sailor — \ the workhouse. As I have before noted, tie waa a man of ereat tenacity of purpose — stubborn as a mule, I called it — 'but as yre grow older Aye are apt to modify our youtnful aad crude definitions ; and so, to those who knew bim, there was little wonder in his appearing a voyage later as a foll-fledged cook. He was no worse than the. ordinary sailor's cook of those days,

nay, rather better, since his life-long habit of Wat ness and cleanness clung to him, and thc.«e be virtues pre-eminently desiderated in the galley. To none did he confide the grim fact that bis change had been mainly due to a premonition of failure in his back, a searing pain across his soldiers as he sprang to his work, a- disinclination to "rise to the occasion." Good folks whose future is assured, sp;>xe of your charity a thought to the. man who, only able to live on his earnings, feels his sole capital, his life, waning and cannot economise. However, John Morris became a oook, and;, as cooks go, or went, in the mercantile ! marine, a good 1 bne, not given to bragging over his past, greatness or justifying every j failure by some specious excuse. Him the ' crews loved, trusted and excused, albeit he was no more companionable than ever. And so four not unhappy years passed, more pleasantly, he realised, than before, beof the all night in: with tlie lack of vigour to meet it the " nil h_vnd» " oall bad crown hateful. So John went slowly down the slope of Eld, nor looked for aug&t but a snu<? harbour presently when the swiftly gliding years bad brought him to the non-wage-earning point. His taciturnity gained him respect, for even at sea more than ashore the silent man gets credit for an abundance of Wisdom be seldom possesses. What he thought of things in general no man knew — he was not even given to depreciating the present generation of seafarers by comparison witb the post, a most uncommon virtue with sailors. But one •thing I feel must be explained' before going any further — the reason why John Morris nt forty-five years of age felt his powers foiling so' tbat "he must needs seek a less exhausting employment. May I say at once that a. foremast- hand at forty is old. The commonplace hardships of the sea life are co severe that the fo'c'sle man cannot endure tbem long and retain his vigour. I bwng no indictment against shipowners, not ■believing that it is possible to make the sailor's lifo what one would like it to be^ and pay dividends. But it is only necessary to see how hale, vigorous and lonerlived sailors become after rising to be offimeta, providing tbey ara. careful m«v w understand that there must be something radically wrong in the conditions of the "common" sailor's life at sea. Enough, however, of preliminary description of John Morris. One never-to-be-for-gotten voyage, in bis forty-ninth, year, lie returned from the Chincha Islands titer a round trip of fourteen months with a payday Of £70, augmented by the sale of his slush t-o £585, and his grim face looked as nearly pleasant as it poesiblv could be when he stepped' out of Tower Hill shipping offioe into the bitter gloom of a November evening, as. he remembered that his little board now totalled nearly £500, unknown to all but himself and the bank people. Straight down the highway he fared, unheeding the blandishments of either sex, quick to discern a homeward-bounder, and turned up Wells> Street, full of, for him. pleasant, thoughts. By this time it was quite dark, apart from the foul fog which clung clammily to the palate, and seemed to invite the perpetration of evil deeds. Proceeding warily, and keenly alive to the possibility of felonious assault, John suddenly stumbled over- a large parcel on the pavement, from which at the impact a thin wail arose. In after years John often recalled how that feeble cry permeated bis whole being with a sharp," yet not altogether painful, sensation. He stopped, stooped, raised the bundle, felt it move, and now, fully alive to its meaning, hurried to his lodgings, narrowly escaping assault by prowling natives several times on bis journey.' He reached his goal almost exhausted, for the last five hundred yards or so filled him with a strange dread lest the life at his breast should be quenched ere be arrived at a place of shelter for it. Handing it to- his landlady, be gasped: " Look out for it ; it's a kid ; must be nearly dead ; found it on tbe pavement in Wells Street ; be quick." She was quick. In two minutes she disclosed, freed from its wrappings, a sweet-faced baby girl of about eight months, well nourished and clean, but poorly clad, and with no clue as to its origin. John watched with hungry eyes the deftmovements of his old landlady as she oared for the waif ; foe felt in every fibre of bis being the potency of that helpless, wail which arose; his heart thumped furiously, bis throat felt choked up, and dimly the other half of his brain wondered why. All unconsciously he bad met with the satisfaction for the fierce need of his soul, but he did not know this. How oould be? With aa eagerness marvellous to behold in contrast witb his normal stplidity, he superintended every detail of his landlady's dealing with the waif, much to tbe old lady's secret amusement. "An' what are ye goin' to do witb ber?" said the old lady that night when "she" \ had been finally relegated to & tiny im- } provised nest in the landlady's room. To ! her intense amazement he replied withI out hesitation: "I'm goin' t' keep her. She's the first bit o" bright 'at's come into my life, an' by sih's goin' t' stay there, if I can manage it." So it was arranged. Money was no object. Mrs Mcx was to keep the baby arid see it wanted for nothing during bis absence ; sbe was to ! spare no outlay to keep it clean, healthy and happy, and, if anybody made inquiries, ; they were to be given no auswer. John bad all bis life been an honest man; inI deed, be had few temptations to be otherI wise ; but the quaint laws of " floteam, jetsam and lagan" bad never appealed to him any more than do tbe Customs duties to the average man. It must also be remembered that bis instincts were quite primitive, and that if he did right he did not know why. But all unknown to himself a force bad come into bis lif 3 which had changed its entire current. Hitherto bis thoughts, his energies had been concentrated upon the Utile hoard which was to maintain him when he could no longer work, and no chord of affection in his heart bad ever been touched. Now, that puling babe filled his horizon, and every desire of bis heart was towards ber, although tbis he himself hardly realised. In due time he sailed again, having put in his allotted period ashore, according to the rule he bad laid down' He was cook of the Morialta, bound for Adelaide, one o* the famous wool clippers of tbe bygone days, of whose speed sailors delight to yam, and whose graceful shapes used to | deck tbe wharves of Port Adelaide under j the flag of Eider, Smith and Co. But his departure was attended with such pangs ' as ho had never known before, A thousand times he reiterated his caution to Mrs Mex. ! Silently and in secret he dropped tears, the first since his babyhood, on the face of the babe that held his heart-strings in ber tiny clutch, and towing, down the Thames » was conscious of an entirely new set of aen-

sations, one whicli he had scoffod at innumerable times before as being unworthy of a man. Also, he became more companionable, especially witn the married men, never giving his own secret away, but full of curious questions about their families, the ailments of oluldren, the methods of their upbringing, etc., until he began to be looked upon as a man with a mania for j children, and had to reply " No " some thousands of times to the question as to whether he was a married man. It would be pleasant, but perhaps (to others) not a very interesting task to trace him through the next ten years. As a psychological study in the development of sn soul it would doubtless be useful, but not otherwise. For he had not adventures ; his ships came and went with the utmost regularity, he never had a day's ill-health, nor did any trouble arise on board involving him. But his spells at home, always cut ihort at a, month by the haunting fear of hr,mg without mou9y. doubly potential now, were glimpses ol Elysium. I wish that «ome of our base prophets and heralds of the innate depravity of all mankind could bave seen John Morris, seafarer and intimate with every form of moral evil, without a. touch of Christianity to leaven his humanity, carrying: his Mary, as he had called the waif, aa far afield as Hyde Park or Epping Forest, and providing for all her Infantile needs. I can hardly trust myself to speak of the infinite love and tenderness lavished on that small, sunny bead by tbe hard, bitter old sea cook. I s can only sum it up by saying that, bad she then died, he would have fallen dead, too, alain as if by a Mauser bullet by the reflex action of his tremendous "love. Thus, in the evening- of his days, life became altogether changed for Jolm Morris, Only he felt that gradually the partings from his wee Mary wero becortiing unbearable. Her crying at the dock head when his ships were towing out made him feel as if die he must, although he well knew how faithful was the ward kept by Mra Mcx of Cable Street over his treasure. And gradually, hazily, there aro6e in his mind the skeleton of a scheme for securing as long as life might last what he felt would be the acme of human happiness. In his younger days he had been before the masrfc fn some " copra-men " from Sydney, sailing among the lovely islands of the Southern Seas in search of the oil-bearing fruit of tbe ripe cocoanut. pear shell and beche de .mer. And on those voyages he had oftentimes seen lonely islets, uninhabited, yet capable of supporting a couple of families in comfort, owned by no one, ready for occupation. And he had often said to himself that thus would he end his days. Witb the sweet mellow sunshine filtering down j through tb* lattice of green leaves above, i with the lullaby of the swell melting npon | tbe shore, with tbe ultramarine of the Pacific topped by the snow of the breakers lapping the reefs, and all created things * content -jnst to be or to cease b<?imr. so would he exist for his few remaining dar,-.. That there wae another side to tbis idyllic 1 picture never occurred to him. Nor would he have cared if it bad. Stronger and ever stronger there arose in bis mind tbe prospect of a sojourn for life's autumn among those isles with bis baby, just there to lie and let life ebb away. But -when her future came to be considered he showed his human selfishness by shirking the question. However, has hand was forced. He came home from Calcutta one bitter February afternoon, and, leaving his dunnage to be sent after him, fled, as was his use, to tbe spot of all others on earth to him (most dear. He reached the house panting with 'eagerness, like a young lover tp embrace bis mistress, flushed and excited for all bis fifty-eight years. Bu* the appearance of the mean dwelling struck bim with a deeper ohill than the raw wind moaning down th© unlovely thoroughfare. In Mrs Mex's time aia air of leatness and cleanliness had always pervaded the bouse, spotless curtains at the narrow windows, andi cleanly whitened sills and doorsteps, . showing bow incessant wae the war wag>ed within against the grim© of Shad'well $ut now all looked dirty, neg lected and forlorn. The building echoed hollow to his (furious knock, and in th<? silence which succeeded be oould hejy thr pitiful wailing of a child. It made him teel ready to tear down the wall, »nd he dealt another shower of blows with the knocker. His band had hairdly left it when the door flew open, and a blowsy womanthing, with bare arms, unkempt hair and flushed face, confronted hi<m. With a volley of oaths sbe began to demand his right to batter at her door so, but something in his eyes restrained her, and she allowed him to stride past her into the honse, only muttering curses when he bad gone. Straight to the familiar room he went, and there in squalor untellable, stench aad filth, he found- his treasure^ wasted almost to a skeleton, and clad, in a single horrible rag, while her skin was nearly black. He leapt at her like a madman, snatched her bo his breast, the heart shattering tears dropping hotly upon hex faoe, while sbe clung to his bosom in an agony of love and relief from present trouble. • The storm passed, but he wa s changed. Never before had such an experience been his, and although faint shadows of fear that something of the kind would happen during one of his long absence, had occasionally flitted over his placid mind, be never encouraged them, and his mental horizon was soon clear again. New, however, be felt that be could never part with Mary again. And for ber sake be became astute, wary, business-like. InwamJly a voloano smouldered, but outwardly be was ice. Calling the woman, be demanded an explanation, at the same time giving her fully to understand his right to have it. She told bim, I witb lying tears, a maudlin story of poverty and sickness, how Mr* Mcx had died and ieft ' her, a sister of the good old woman, witb a burden of debt, no lodgers acd the coild to keep. She bad struggled on for five months, but was proposing removal to the workhouse next week. And a little money now might, yes, it would, put all straight, etc. John listened in silence, only clutching Mary tighter, »nd sifting the grains of truth from tbe mountains <rf lying chaff quite easily. "When she' paused for breath be said quietly, "Go an' get samo grub at onoe ; here's five shilhn's. But first of all, eggs, and milk and bread." She took the money, still snivelling, and with . a twist to her mane, snatching up a frowsy shawl, disappeared. He sat on, the child sinking to sleep in his arms, conquering his disguest at the filth and the smell as saalors mu«t Patiently he waited till the woman reappeared, stinking of rum, but bringing the child's food. . Then dismissing tbe woman again for «« the rest of tbe axramts," as she called it [ be softly laid! bis darling down in bis cocvt , and busied himself preparing her a dainty ,

little meal. As he had fully expected, the woman did not ivtm-iv-the fiery drink had roused an unquenchable tliii.st, whicli had led her rapidly down tli? >-u;op road which ends temporarily in the support of stalwart policemen and a crowd of iioggajd wastrels us escort to the door of the polioe station. He, meanwhile, was happy. Ho fed his j little one, saw her drop to sleep again, met his messenger at the lour witli _ tiy 1 dunnage, and before bedtime was sitting in a clean lodging in the l<Umt India Dock Rood, his darling, washed ;>nd wrapped in a. snowy nightgown, sleeping peacefully in the next room, while he calmly ate an excellent meal and pondered over his plans for the Immediate future. First of all, as to finance — he reckoned that his board now amounted to nearly £800, for he ha^sinoo Mary's arrival been moie frugal than ever, and had also been exceptionally fortunate in getting good ships for long, steady voyages. A broken voyage he had never made. A' passage to Sydney could certainly be worked if he should have to wait a month or so for it, and Mary's fare would be trifling. The thought of having her at sea with him made him choke again. Yes — it could be managed, and after? Well, he knew he could find out at Sydney, or if not there from Auckland, where the island of bis dreams lay. And gleefully he calculated in his mind a list of necessities for their use while there. With a perfect pang of delight he anticipated bis joy of at last, under skies of endless summer, having the perpetual company of the one being on earth he had ever loved— loved, too, with an affection as 'pure as his maker's. To many men the hindrances ahd unforseen obstacles of the next six weeks would have proved fatal to the scheme. But John came of a dogged stock that, face to face with difficulties or even impossibilities, sets its teeth' and pushes on, making no resolutions, feeling no special call but just the impossibility of giving up. And, therefore, it came to pass that the splendid Romanoff, towing down- the river om April 5, for Sydney, had a happy cook in her galley, who kept slipping out of it, not to fv&e upon the wondrous panorama of ather Thames gliding swiftly by, but to peer aft for a glimpse of a Bweet little face framed in a tangle of brown hair. If •he caught one as tlie child was tended by the motherly stewardess, his whole face lit up with a smile that transfigured it; if he did not he went doggedly baok to his pots amd pans and thought of the next glimpse. Down as far as the latitude of Cape St Rogue the lovely clipper had a passage almost idyllic in its pleasantness. But then, as »he sailed into the southern winter, her good fortune seemed to leave her, and a terrible buffeting began which she felt aa those fast ships always must do— we cannot combine the sea-kindliness of a lightship with the speed of a clipper. But she was built as all the ships of that wonderful • line were, that is to say, with an incomparable fidelity and skill. So that? beyond a few minor casualties, such as a derelict hencoop or so, a couple of broken legs and a dozen sails blown from the bolt ropes, she was.no worse. John, however, was filled with amazement. Never before in all his sea oareer ..had he cared to anticipate what might happen, and except for what he considered as personal oomfort, it didn't matter to him what the weather was. It was all in the bargain. Now he flinched at every sea, he lay awake at night listening to tne Weird noises of the hands as they wrestled -with the mighty sails far up in the dark night, and he felt his heart reaching out for some assuranoe of safety • from a higher power. But that he did not understand. Compensation in some measure he did receive when in the second dog watch during short spells of fine weather, he brought Mary forward into the galley, and permitted a few of the better sort from among the hands to attend her levee. Even then he was jealous lest stay of them should receive any of that love which he wanted all his, and nothing gave him greater pleasure than to see her, when one of the fellows held out his arms in invitation to her to come, shrink back and nestle olosely uader his arm, saying petulantly, "I don't want you; want my dear daddy." Never surely did storm-beaten wanderer welcome with suoh deep delight the wellknown points of the haven where he fain would be as did John when, the tempestuous passage over, the Romanoff entered the Heads of Port Jackson and was towed peacefully to the well-known White Star berth on tbe , starboard' hand entering Circular Quay. His duties ceasing as soon as she was moored, the master offered him food wages by the day to fill the post of oook pending the engagement of a substitute; but no, he felt 'that a great part of his journey still lay before 'aim, andi he oould afford to lose no time. So rescuing Mary from tbe embraces of her many admkers, and transferring to his capacious pockets the gifts she was loaded with, he bore her off in triumph to a quiet house in Margaret Street, and once more had her all to 'himself. His seafaring instinot warned him that the hardest patt of his task had now to be undertaken. For, although he had a fairly definite idea of where he wanted to go, and of what he must take with tbem, he knew his educational limitations, and how, unless he proved that he possessad means, no one would deal with him, while if he did he ran great danger of being robbed. However, it never occurred' to him to doubt the achievement of hia purpose, and so he went steadily to work accumulating such things for their use ac he feit necessary, and at the same time keeping a wary eye upon the departure of vessels for the islands. At the end of three week's fate favoured liim co far that he became acquainted with a Sootch seaman who commanded and partly owned a pretty brigantine called the Lady Head. This man wanted the stern, steady old seaman to come with him as cook and steward, and laid his plans accordingly. In this way old John learned all he wanted to know about tbe island trade, the position of his goal, the 'best way of keeping up communication, with civdisatioti, and