1 ... it started in the Spring of 1840....in the little village of Maple Harbour ... down sea from Boston ... 2 "Hurry up, Mrs. Morton! The 'Lucy Foster's' coming in!" 3 "- Anson's coming home!" 4 "'What will the weddin' breakfast be? Codfish cakes and a cup o' tea!'" 5 "Anson's coming, Father -- Anson's coming!" 6 "Seminary ain't changed him much, I'm feared! - Arrivin' in shirt sleeves and see-sawin' up and down!" 7 "Fine parson he's like to make! - Allus hankerin' for the sea and horn- pipin' around!" 8 "You have forgotten the dignity of your trust, nephew!" 9 "If ye can slip away - old time fish fry down to our shack!" 10 "-- down at the old hulk --" 11 "Are you sure, Peter -- is Anson embracing the ministry in his heart ... does he feel Called?" 12 "There's a kind of Destiny in such things - - not directed by you or me." 13 "My darling - how proud I'll be the day I see you in my father's pulpit!" 14 "Always love me, Mary - always!" 15 "Nor'-easter!" 16 "Dive into that -- while his aunts and uncles is fryin'!" 17 "Zeke thinks he's the champeen belt-buster in these parts -- let's see!" 18 "Tumble out! - Ship in distress off Bleaker's Woe!" 19 "I knew bad luck 'ud follow - with such as her on board!" 20 "Better if they'd let her drown!" 21 "If it ain't old Holybones! - Skipped out without payin' me once - so he did!" 22 "Who is this - woman?" 23 "Waterfront Jezebel they jist chased out o' Boston, sir - - name's Bess Morgan!" 24 "Let her be cared for in the village jail - - where she belongs." 25 "She'll be cared for like a human being --!" 26 "Are you utterly mad? - Get that trull out of here!" 27 "You can't demand that, uncle - - she's in no condition to be moved!" 28 "They say she started doin' a bare legged dance - soon's he got her there!" 29 "Widow Pepkin's right - reg'lar orgy was goin' on, 's what I heard!" 30 "We ladies of Heavenly Aid Society is goin' to take steps right away -" 31 "That woman's flesh has snared him!" 32 "Yes, Bess Morgan, that's me! Why don't you hold your nose like the other brimstone sniffers?" 33 "No use talking like that - we're just trying to help you." 34 "That makes me a little scared! -- My step-pa helped me once --" 35 "A good thing the baby died!" 36 "Do you understand -- damn good thing the baby died!" 37 "Well -- have you come to your senses?" 38 "Answer me!" 39 "You can't judge this woman - - you don't know what she's suffered - - or why she's - - what she is!" 40 "You and your kind - in private heavens of your own - damning - damning - damning!" 41 "Christian charity!" 42 "I saw you nip 'em off Widow Pepkin's line! She'd be right pleased to know what's goin' in 'em!" 43 "When d'ye aim to be leavin'?" 44 "Soon's I can!" 45 "Stage to Boston goes Wednesday." 46 "They'd skin me alive - ever I went back to Boston -" 47 "It'll take ye t' places in between." 48 "Anson! - Tell me the things they're saying aren't true!" 49 "Then, you'll listen to your uncle? - - He knows best what to do with - such women!" 50 "What has she done to us that we should push her farther down?" 51 "They'll take your pulpit away from you." 52 "If I turn this poor girl out - they'll take me back to the fold?" 53 "If that's your idea of God and His mercy - it isn't mine." 54 "I'd rather believe there is no God!" 55 "Anson! - This scarlet woman is stealing your soul!" 56 "You little fool! - A real man loves you - - and you'd toss his love away for a pack of hollerin' gospel wolves." 57 "If I ever had a love like that - I wouldn't care where my poor little soul was goin'!" 58 The town's condemned - 59 "I wonder if they wouldn't take me on that ship yonder --" 60 "No harm tryin'." 61 "I could cook - if they ain't too particular!" 62 "- but you don't know where the ship is going!" 63 "What's the difference? -- All places are alike to me!" 64 "Here's a surer way of gettin' on board - than talkin' cookin'." 65 "What ship? Where bound?" 66 "The good ship, 'Panther' - bound for Rio - where nightingales sing always!" 67 "Ungallant would I be indeed to refuse a lady passage!" 68 "Do you need an able- bodied seaman?" 69 "So - you wish to be near - my new passenger!" 70 "No - there's nothing to keep me ashore - and I long for the sea." 71 "He's gone, Mary - I guess the sea called him louder and kinder - than Maple Harbour did." 72 Southward sailed the "Panther" - - out of the reach of all things known - - into seas where anything can happen - 73 "All this -- sort of makes you feel clean, doesn't it?" 74 "You'll never know what you've done for me, Mister Campbell - sort of think I'll believe in things again." 75 "Promise me you'll keep on thinking that way -" 76 "You ain't bound for Rio, matey! You're on a convict ship - and a hot packet she is!" 77 "Yes, a sad cargo - sick souls - - for the salt mines on the 'Islands of the Blest'." 78 "It's branding day, me blue-eyed boy - - and you'll help with the fire." 79 "Oh, you're going to find me the merriest fellow!" 80 "Always?" 81 "No -- sometimes I'm sad - and need little girls like you to make me merry." 82 "My birdlet understands, I'm sure." 83 Toward the bottom of the earth - - while hot winds sang in the "Panther's" rigging - - 84 "See the old rascal creep- snakin' the wren! She'd best give in - or --" 85 "Last trip was a gal who wouldn't -- 'Into th' hold with 'er,' sez 'e -- and down she went to the convicts!" 86 "Too bad! - But little boys should learn to knock!" 87 "- there's no help, Bess - he's going to send you - down - down - down -" 88 "- he won't send me down - I promise you - by God!" 89 "There's no God anywhere - this is the Devil's world!" 90 "It ain't so, Mister Campbell -- it ain't so!" 91 "Yar! - The Devil's kiss on yer back - - his mark on me hand!" 92 "It ain't so, Mister Campbell -- it ain't so!" 93 "The ships just pass, don't they, Zeke?" 94 "If he can only think of me without hating me - that's all I ask." 95 Another day -- and the "Panther" with her dismal freight ends her long journey to the "Islands of the Blest". 96 Each man a number -- each tag a man! 97 "I've told you and told you - - you're never goin' to touch me - you slime-jowled skunk!" 98 "Choose, my dear -- it's either me tonight -- or tomorrow - the guards about the salt mines!" 99 "Why can't you let me alone - ain't I a right to my body-- ain't I a right to be decent?" 100 "I've got this far, and I ain't goin' back, Mister Captain-- never!" 101 "No - no, my merry Captain - I ain't never - goin' back -" 102 "-- so -- 'cause I couldn't fight him any longer -- I --" 103 One twilight-- a strange ship came sailing into Maple Harbor-- 104 "Ship comin' in-- big square rigger off Bleaker's Woe!" 105 "It's Anson! I know by the trimmin' of her sails!" 106 "Think of him daring to come back! - Purty nervy, I call it!" 107 "So you flaunt that woman's name in our very faces?" 108 "I've brought Bess Morgan back to you." 109 "Take her and be off - you and your trull ship!" 110 "- she ask only that you listen for a little while." 111 "Dyin' ain't so hard - Mister Campbell - I'm awful happy I kept that promise." 112 "It's gettin' - awful dark - won't you - pray for me?" 113 "It seems brighter now - you're prayin', ain't you?" 114 "'Gentle Jesus meek and mild Listen to a little child, Pity my simplicity Suffer me to come to Thee.'" 115 "'Fain would I to Thee be brought, Gracious God forbid it not. In the kingdom of Thy grace Give a little child a place.'" 116 "--and those who watched cried aloud -- at the great light on her face -- at the peace in her soul...." 117 "-- in that black pit, among sinners, with Bess Morgan's dying hand to guide me -- I found Him who taught me to pray --" 118 "....Calling me to sail His seas - carry His word - to the hearts of men." 119 "I've been wrong, Anson." 120 .... and this is how the first gospel ship came into being .... in the little village of Maple Harbour .... down sea from Boston ....Home