, and a little gold ring in each of his
ears. He was in the prime of life, and had been so often wet with salted
water and dried by salted winds that he looked as though he might last
forever.

"He had ceased to sail in ships, because his last vessel, of which he
had been part-owner, had positively declined to sail any longer under
him. When this misguided craft decided to go to the bottom of the sea,
Captain Abner, in a little boat, accompanied by his crew, betook himself
to the surface of the land, and there he determined to stay for the rest
of his life. His home was on the sea-shore. In the summer-time he fished
and took people out to sail in his boat; and in the cold weather he
generally devoted himself to putting things into his house, or arranging
or rearranging the things already there. He himself was his family, and
therefore there was no difference of opinion as to the ordering of that
household.

"The house was divided through the middle by a narrow hallway; that part
to the right as one entered the front door was called by Captain Abner
the 'bachelor side,' while the portion to the left he designated as the
'married side.' The right half might have suggested a forecastle, and
was neat and clean, with sanded floors and everything coiled up and
stowed away in true shipshape fashion. But the other half was viewed by
Captain Abner as something in the quarter-deck style. Exactly half the
hall was carpeted, and the little parlor opening from it was also
carpeted, painted, and papered, and filled with a great variety of
furniture and ornaments which the captain had picked up by sea and land.
Everything was very pretty and tasteful, according to the captain's
ideas of taste and art, and everything was sacred; no collector could
have bought anything out of that little parlor, no matter how much money
he might offer.

"This parlor and the room above had been furnished, decorated, and
ornamented for the future mistress of Captain Abner's household, and he
was ready to dedicate them to her services whenever he should be so
lucky as to find her. So far, as he sometimes expressed himself, he had
not had a chance to sing out, 'There she blows!'

"One afternoon, when Captain Abner was engaged in dusting the ornaments
in the parlor, his good friend Samuel Twitty stood in the doorway and
accosted him. Sam Twitty had been mate to Captain Abner, and as he had
always been accustomed to stand by his captain, he stood by him w