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diff --git a/old/8redb10h.htm b/old/8redb10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4f1251 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8redb10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10970 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> +<TITLE>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Redburn. His First Voyage, by Herman Melville</TITLE> +<META HTTP-EQUIV="content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Herman Melville"> +<META NAME="Description" CONTENT="Mystery, Suspense, History, Gothic, Literature, Books, Arts"> +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +body {font-size:14; font-family:arial, garamond, helvetica, times; text-align:justify} +p {font-size:14; font-family:arial, garamond, helvetica, times; text-align:justify} +pre.poem {font-size:12; font-style: italic; font-family:arial, courier; text-align:center} +pre.chart {font-size:10; font-weight: bold; font-family:courier; text-align:center} +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> +<BODY bgcolor="white" alink="blue" vlink="blue" link="blue"> +<H1>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Redburn. His First Voyage, by Herman Melville</H1> + +<PRE> +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Redburn. His First Voyage + +Author: Herman Melville + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8118] +[This file was first posted on June 17, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, REDBURN. HIS FIRST VOYAGE *** + + + + +HTML version prepared by Blackmask Online <a href="http://www.blackmask.com">http://www.blackmask.com</a> and +re-formatted by Project Gutenberg Volunteers + + + +</PRE> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Redburn. His First Voyage, by Herman Melville</h1> + + +<HR> +<CENTER> +<h1>Redburn. His First Voyage</h1> +<h3>Herman Melville</h3> +</center> + +<UL> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_2">I. HOW WELLINGBOROUGH REDBURN'S TASTE FOR THE SEA +WAS BORN AND BRED IN HIM</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_3">II. REDBURN'S DEPARTURE FROM HOME</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_4">III. HE ARRIVES IN TOWN</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_5">IV. HOW HE DISPOSED OF HIS FOWLING-PIECE</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_6">V. HE PURCHASES HIS SEA-WARDROBE, AND ON A DISMAL +RAINY DAY PICKS UP HIS BOARD AND LODGING ALONG THE WHARVES</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_7">VI. HE IS INITIATED IN THE BUSINESS OF CLEANING +OUT THE PIG-PEN, AND SLUSHING DOWN THE TOP-MAST</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_8">VII. HE GETS TO SEA AND FEELS VERY BAD</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_9">VIII. HE IS PUT INTO THE LARBOARD WATCH; GETS +SEA-SICK; AND RELATES SOME OTHER OF HIS EXPERIENCES</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_10">IX. THE SAILORS BECOMING A LITTLE SOCIAL, REDBURN +CONVERSES WITH THEM</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_11">X. HE IS VERY MUCH FRIGHTENED; THE SAILORS ABUSE +HIM; AND HE BECOMES MISERABLE AND FORLORN</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_12">XI. HE HELPS WASH THE DECKS, AND THEN GOES TO +BREAKFAST</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_13">XII. HE GIVES SOME ACCOUNT OF ONE OF HIS +SHIPMATES CALLED JACKSON</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_14">XIII. HE HAS A FINE DAY AT SEA, BEGINS TO LIKE IT; +BUT CHANGES HIS MIND</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_15">XIV. HE CONTEMPLATES MAKING A SOCIAL CALL ON THE +CAPTAIN IN HIS CABIN</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_16">XV. THE MELANCHOLY STATE OF HIS WARDROBE</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_17">XVI. AT DEAD OF NIGHT HE IS SENT UP TO LOOSE THE +MAIN-SKYSAIL</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_18">XVII. THE COOK AND STEWARD</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_19">XVIII. HE ENDEAVORS TO IMPROVE HIS MIND; AND +TELLS OF ONE BLUNT AND HIS DREAM BOOK</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_20">XIX. A NARROW ESCAPE</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_21">XX. IN A FOG HE IS SET TO WORK AS A BELL-TOLLER, +AND BEHOLDS A HERD OF OCEAN-ELEPHANTS</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_22">XXI. A WHALEMAN AND A MAN-OF-WAR'S-MAN</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_23">XXII. THE HIGHLANDER PASSES A WRECK</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_24">XXIII. AN UNACCOUNTABLE CABIN-PASSENGER, AND A +MYSTERIOUS YOUNG LADY</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_25">XXIV. HE BEGINS TO HOP ABOUT IN THE RIGGING LIKE +A SAINT JAGO's MONKEY</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_26">XXV. QUARTER-DECK FURNITURE</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_27">XXVI. A SAILOR A JACK OF ALL TRADES</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_28">XXVII. HE GETS A PEEP AT IRELAND, AND AT LAST +ARRIVES AT LIVERPOOL</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_29">XXVIII. HE GOES TO SUPPER AT THE SIGN OF THE +BALTIMORE CLIPPER</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_30">XXIX. REDBURN DEFERENTIALLY DISCOURSES CONCERNING +THE PROSPECTS OF SAILORS</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_31">XXX. REDBURN GROWS INTOLERABLY FLAT AND STUPID +OVER SOME OUTLANDISH OLD GUIDE-BOOKS</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_32">XXXI. WITH HIS PROSY OLD GUIDE-BOOK, HE TAKES A +PROSY STROLL THROUGH THE TOWN</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_33">XXXII. THE DOCKS</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_34">XXXIII. THE SALT-DROGHERS, AND GERMAN EMIGRANT +SHIPS</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_35">XXXIV. THE IRRAWADDY</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_36">XXXV. GALLIOTS, COAST-OF-GUINEA-MAN, AND FLOATING +CHAPEL</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_37">XXXVI. THE OLD CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS, AND THE +DEAD-HOUSE</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_38">XXXVII. WHAT REDBURN SAW IN LAUNCELOTT'S-HEY </A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_39">XXXVIII. THE DOCK-WALL BEGGARS</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_40">XXXIX. THE BOOBLE-ALLEYS OF THE TOWN</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_41">XL. PLACARDS, BRASS-JEWELERS, TRUCK-HORSES, AND +STEAMERS</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_42">XLI. REDBURN ROVES ABOUT HTHER AND THITHER</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_43">XLII. HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE CROSS OLD GENTLEMAN</A> +</LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_44">XLIII. HE TAKES A DELIGHTFUL RAMBLE INTO THE +COUNTRY; AND MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THREE ADORABLE CHARMERS</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_45">XLIV. REDBURN INTRODUCES MASTER HARRY BOLTON TO +THE FAVORABLE CONSIDERATION OF THE READER</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_46">XLV. HARRY BOLTON KIDNAPS REDBURN, AND CARRIES +HIM OFF TO LONDON</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_47">XLVI. A MYSTERIOUS NIGHT IN LONDON</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_48">XLVII. HOMEWARD BOUND</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_49">XLVIII. A LIVING CORPSE</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_50">XLIX. CARLO</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_51">L. HARRY BOLTON AT SEA</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_52">LI. THE EMIGRANTS</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_53">LII. THE EMIGRANTS' KITCHEN</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_54">LIII. THE HORATII AND CURIATII</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_55">LIV. SOME SUPERIOR OLD NAIL-ROD AND PIG-TAIL</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_56">LVI. UNDER THE LEE OF THE LONG-BOAT, REDBURN AND +HARRY HOLD CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNION</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_57">LVII. ALMOST A FAMINE</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_58">LVIII. THOUGH THE HIGHLANDER PUTS INTO NO HARBOR +AS YET; SHE HERE AND THERE LEAVES MANY OF HER PASSENGERS BEHIND</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_59">LIX. THE LAST END OF JACKSON</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_60">LX. HOME AT LAST</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_61">LXI. REDBURN AND HABBY, ARM IN ARM, IN HARBOR</A></LI> +<LI><A HREF="#1_0_62">LXII. THE LAST THAT WAS EVER HEARD OF HARRY BOLTON</A> +</LI> +</UL> +<BR> +<PRE CLASS="POEM"> +Being the Sailor Boy +Confessions and Reminiscences +Of the Son-Of-A-Gentleman +In the Merchant Navy</PRE> +<P> </P> +<P> </P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_2">I. HOW WELLINGBOROUGH REDBURN'S +TASTE FOR THE SEA WAS BORN AND BRED IN HIM</A></H3> +<P>"Wellingborough, as you are going to sea, suppose you take this +shooting-jacket of mine along; it's just the thing—take it, it will <I> +save </I>the expense of another. You see, it's quite warm; fine long +skirts, stout horn buttons, and plenty of pockets."</P> +<P>Out of the goodness and simplicity of his heart, thus spoke my elder +brother to me, upon the <I>eve </I>of my departure for the seaport.</P> +<P>"And, Wellingborough," he added, "since we are both short of money, +and you want an outfit, and I <I>Have </I>none to <I>give, </I>you may +as well take my fowling-piece along, and sell it in New York for what +you can get.—Nay, take it; it's of no use to me now; I can't find it +in powder any more."</P> +<P>I was then but a boy. Some time previous my mother had removed from +New York to a pleasant village on the Hudson River, where we lived in a +small house, in a quiet way. Sad disappointments in several plans which +I had sketched for my future life; the necessity of doing something for +myself, united to a naturally roving disposition, had now conspired +within me, to send me to sea as a sailor.</P> +<P>For months previous I had been poring over old New York papers, +delightedly perusing the long columns of ship advertisements, all of +which possessed a strange, romantic charm to me. Over and over again I +devoured such announcements as the following:</P> +<BR> +<center> +<B>FOR BREMEN.</B> +</center> +<br> +<I> +The coppered and copper-fastened brig Leda, having nearly completed +her cargo, will sail for the above port on Tuesday the twentieth of May. +<br> +For freight or passage apply on board at Coenties Slip. +<br> +</I> +<P>To my young inland imagination every word in an advertisement like +this, suggested volumes of thought.</P> +<P>A <I>brig! </I>The very word summoned up the idea of a black, +sea-worn craft, with high, cozy bulwarks, and rakish masts and yards.</P> + +<P><I>Coppered and copper-fastened!</I></P> + +<p>That fairly smelt of the salt water! How different such vessels +must be from the wooden, one-masted, green-and-white-painted sloops, +that glided up and down the river before our house on the bank.</p> + +<P><I>Nearly completed her cargo!</I></P> + +<p>How momentous the announcement; suggesting ideas, too, of musty +bales, and cases of silks and satins, and filling me with contempt for +the vile deck-loads of hay and lumber, with which my river experience +was familiar.</p> + +<P><I>Will sail on Tuesday the 20th of May-and</I></P> + +the newspaper bore date the fifth of the month! Fifteen whole days +beforehand; think of that; what an important voyage it must be, that +the time of sailing was fixed upon so long beforehand; the river sloops +were not used to make such prospective announcements. + +<P><I>For freight or passage apply on board!</I></P> + +Think of going on board a coppered and copper-fastened brig, and +taking passage for Bremen! And who could be going to Bremen? No one but +foreigners, doubtless; men of dark complexions and jet-black whiskers, +who talked French. + +<P><I>Coenties Slip.</I></P> +<p> +Plenty more brigs and any quantity of ships must be lying there. +Coenties Slip must be somewhere near ranges of grim-looking warehouses, +with rusty iron doors and shutters, and tiled roofs; and old anchors +and chain-cable piled on the walk. Old-fashioned coffeehouses, also, +much abound in that neighborhood, with sunburnt sea-captains going in +and out, smoking cigars, and talking about Havanna, London, and +Calcutta.</p> +<P> +All these my imaginations were wonderfully assisted by certain +shadowy reminiscences of wharves, and warehouses, and shipping, with +which a residence in a seaport during early childhood had supplied me.</P> +<P> +Particularly, I remembered standing with my father on the wharf when +a large ship was getting under way, and rounding the head of the pier. +I remembered the <I>yo heave ho!</I> of the sailors, as they just +showed their woolen caps above the high bulwarks. I remembered how I +thought of their crossing the great ocean; and that that very ship, and +those very sailors, so near to me then, would after a time be actually +in Europe.</P> +<P> +Added to these reminiscences my father, now dead, had several times +crossed the Atlantic on business affairs, for he had been an importer +in Broad-street. And of winter evenings in New York, by the +well-remembered sea-coal fire in old Greenwich-street, he used to tell +my brother and me of the monstrous waves at sea, mountain high; of the +masts bending like twigs; and all about Havre, and Liverpool, and about +going up into the ball of St. Paul's in London. Indeed, during my early +life, most of my thoughts of the sea were connected with the land; but +with fine old lands, full of mossy cathedrals and churches, and long, +narrow, crooked streets without sidewalks, and lined with strange +houses. And especially I tried hard to think how such places must look +of rainy days and Saturday afternoons; and whether indeed they did have +rainy days and Saturdays there, just as we did here; and whether the +boys went to school there, and studied geography, and wore their shirt +collars turned over, and tied with a black ribbon; and whether their +papas allowed them to wear boots, instead of shoes, which I so much +disliked, for boots looked so manly.</P> +<P>As I grew older my thoughts took a larger flight, and I frequently +fell into long reveries about distant voyages and travels, and thought +how fine it would be, to be able to talk about remote and barbarous +countries; with what reverence and wonder people would regard me, if I +had just returned from the coast of Africa or New Zealand; how dark and +romantic my sunburnt cheeks would look; how I would bring home with me +foreign clothes of a rich fabric and princely make, and wear them up +and down the streets, and how grocers' boys would turn back their heads +to look at me, as I went by. For I very well remembered staring at a +man myself, who was pointed out to me by my aunt one Sunday in Church, +as the person who had been in Stony Arabia, and passed through strange +adventures there, all of which with my own eyes I had read in the book +which he wrote, an arid-looking book in a pale yellow cover.</P> +<P>"See what big eyes he has," whispered my aunt, "they got so big, +because when he was almost dead with famishing in the desert, he all at +once caught sight of a date tree, with the ripe fruit hanging on it."</P> +<P>Upon this, I stared at him till I thought his eyes were really of an +uncommon size, and stuck out from his head like those of a lobster. I +am sure my own eyes must have magnified as I stared. When church was +out, I wanted my aunt to take me along and follow the traveler home. +But she said the constables would take us up, if we did; and so I never +saw this wonderful Arabian traveler again. But he long haunted me; and +several times I dreamt of him, and thought his great eyes were grown +still larger and rounder; and once I had a vision of the date tree.</P> +<P>In course of time, my thoughts became more and more prone to dwell +upon foreign things; and in a thousand ways I sought to gratify my +tastes. We had several pieces of furniture in the house, which had been +brought from Europe. These I examined again and again, wondering where +the wood grew; whether the workmen who made them still survived, and +what they could be doing with themselves now.</P> +<P>Then we had several oil-paintings and rare old engravings of my +father's, which he himself had bought in Paris, hanging up in the +dining-room.</P> +<P>Two of these were sea-pieces. One represented a fat-looking, smoky +fishing-boat, with three whiskerandoes in red caps, and their browsers +legs rolled up, hauling in a seine. There was high French-like land in +one corner, and a tumble-down gray lighthouse surmounting it. The waves +were toasted brown, and the whole picture looked mellow and old. I used +to think a piece of it might taste good.</P> +<P>The other represented three old-fashioned French men-of-war with +high castles, like pagodas, on the bow and stern, such as you see in +Froissart; and snug little turrets on top of the mast, full of little +men, with something undefinable in their hands. All three were sailing +through a bright-blue sea, blue as Sicily skies; and they were leaning +over on their sides at a fearful angle; and they must have been going +very fast, for the white spray was about the bows like a snow-storm.</P> +<P>Then, we had two large green French portfolios of colored prints, +more than I could lift at that age. Every Saturday my brothers and +sisters used to get them out of the corner where they were kept, and +spreading them on the floor, gaze at them with never-failing delight.</P> +<P>They were of all sorts. Some were pictures of Versailles, its +masquerades, its drawing-rooms, its fountains, and courts, and gardens, +with long lines of thick foliage cut into fantastic doors and windows, +and towers and pinnacles. Others were rural scenes, full of fine skies, +pensive cows standing up to the knees in water, and shepherd-boys and +cottages in the distance, half concealed in vineyards and vines.</P> +<P>And others were pictures of natural history, representing +rhinoceroses and elephants and spotted tigers; and above all there was +a picture of a great whale, as big as a ship, stuck full of harpoons, +and three boats sailing after it as fast as they could fly.</P> +<P>Then, too, we had a large library-case, that stood in the hall; an +old brown library-case, tall as a small house; it had a sort of +basement, with large doors, and a lock and key; and higher up, there +were glass doors, through which might be seen long rows of old books, +that had been printed in Paris, and London, and Leipsic. There was a +fine library edition of the Spectator, in six large volumes with gilded +backs; and many a time I gazed at the word <I>"London" </I>on the +title-page. And there was a copy of D'Alembert in French, and I +wondered what a great man I would be, if by foreign travel I should +ever be able to read straight along without stopping, out of that book, +which now was a riddle to every one in the house but my father, whom I +so much liked to hear talk French, as he sometimes did to a servant we +had.</P> +<P>That servant, too, I used to gaze at with wonder; for in answer to +my incredulous cross-questions, he had over and over again assured me, +that he had really been born in Paris. But this I never entirely +believed; for it seemed so hard to comprehend, how a man who had been +born in a foreign country, could be dwelling with me in our house in +America.</P> +<P>As years passed on, this continual dwelling upon foreign +associations, bred in me a vague prophetic thought, that I was fated, +one day or other, to be a great voyager; and that just as my father +used to entertain strange gentlemen over their wine after dinner, I +would hereafter be telling my own adventures to an eager auditory. And +I have no doubt that this presentiment had something to do with +bringing about my subsequent rovings.</P> +<P>But that which perhaps more than any thing else, converted my vague +dreamings and longings into a definite purpose of seeking my fortune on +the sea, was an old-fashioned glass ship, about eighteen inches long, +and of French manufacture, which my father, some thirty years before, +had brought home from Hamburg as a present to a great-uncle of mine: +Senator Wellingborough, who had died a member of Congress in the days +of the old Constitution, and after whom I had the honor of being named. +Upon the decease of the Senator, the ship was returned to the donor.</P> +<P>It was kept in a square glass case, which was regularly dusted by +one of my sisters every morning, and stood on a little claw-footed +Dutch tea-table in one corner of the sitting-room. This ship, after +being the admiration of my father's visitors in the capital, became the +wonder and delight of all the people of the village where we now +resided, many of whom used to call upon my mother, for no other purpose +than to see the ship. And well did it repay the long and curious +examinations which they were accustomed to give it.</P> +<P>In the first place, every bit of it was glass, and that was a great +wonder of itself; because the masts, yards, and ropes were made to +resemble exactly the corresponding parts of a real vessel that could go +to sea. She carried two tiers of black guns all along her two decks; +and often I used to try to peep in at the portholes, to see what else +was inside; but the holes were so small, and it looked so very dark +indoors, that I could discover little or nothing; though, when I was +very little, I made no doubt, that if I could but once pry open the +hull, and break the glass all to pieces, I would infallibly light upon +something wonderful, perhaps some gold guineas, of which I have always +been in want, ever since I could remember. And often I used to feel a +sort of insane desire to be the death of the glass ship, case, and all, +in order to come at the plunder; and one day, throwing out some hint of +the kind to my sisters, they ran to my mother in a great clamor; and +after that, the ship was placed on the mantel-piece for a time, beyond +my reach, and until I should recover my reason.</P> +<P>I do not know how to account for this temporary madness of mine, +unless it was, that I had been reading in a story-book about Captain +Kidd's ship, that lay somewhere at the bottom of the Hudson near the +Highlands, full of gold as it could be; and that a company of men were +trying to dive down and get the treasure out of the hold, which no one +had ever thought of doing before, though there she had lain for almost +a hundred years.</P> +<P>Not to speak of the tall masts, and yards, and rigging of this +famous ship, among whose mazes of spun-glass I used to rove in +imagination, till I grew dizzy at the main-truck, I will only make +mention of the people on board of her. They, too, were all of glass, as +beautiful little glass sailors as any body ever saw, with hats and +shoes on, just like living men, and curious blue jackets with a sort of +ruffle round the bottom. Four or five of these sailors were very nimble +little chaps, and were mounting up the rigging with very long strides; +but for all that, they never gained a single inch in the year, as I can +take my oath.</P> +<P>Another sailor was sitting astride of the spanker-boom, with his +arms over his head, but I never could find out what that was for; a +second was in the fore-top, with a coil of glass rigging over his +shoulder; the cook, with a glass ax, was splitting wood near the +fore-hatch; the steward, in a glass apron, was hurrying toward the +cabin with a plate of glass pudding; and a glass dog, with a red mouth, +was barking at him; while the captain in a glass cap was smoking a +glass cigar on the quarterdeck. He was leaning against the bulwark, +with one hand to his head; perhaps he was unwell, for he looked very +glassy out of the eyes.</P> +<P>The name of this curious ship was <I>La Reine, </I>or The Queen, +which was painted on her stern where any one might read it, among a +crowd of glass dolphins and sea-horses carved there in a sort of +semicircle.</P> +<P>And this Queen rode undisputed mistress of a green glassy sea, some +of whose waves were breaking over her bow in a wild way, I can tell +you, and I used to be giving her up for lost and foundered every +moment, till I grew older, and perceived that she was not in the +slightest danger in the world.</P> +<P>A good deal of dust, and fuzzy stuff like down, had in the course of +many years worked through the joints of the case, in which the ship was +kept, so as to cover all the sea with a light dash of white, which if +any thing improved the general effect, for it looked like the foam and +froth raised by the terrible gale the good Queen was battling against.</P> +<P>So much for <I>La Reine. </I>We have her yet in the house, but many +of her glass spars and ropes are now sadly shattered and broken,—but I +will not have her mended; and her figurehead, a gallant warrior in a +cocked-hat, lies pitching headforemost down into the trough of a +calamitous sea under the bows—but I will not have him put on his legs +again, till I get on my own; for between him and me there is a secret +sympathy; and my sisters tell me, even yet, that he fell from his perch +the very day I left home to go to sea on this <I>my first voyage.</I></P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_3">II. REDBURN'S DEPARTURE FROM HOME</A></H3> +<P>It was with a heavy heart and full eyes, that my poor mother parted +with me; perhaps she thought me an erring and a willful boy, and +perhaps I was; but if I was, it had been a hardhearted world, and hard +times that had made me so. I had learned to think much and bitterly +before my time; all my young mounting dreams of glory had left me; and +at that early age, I was as unambitious as a man of sixty.</P> +<P>Yes, I will go to sea; cut my kind uncles and aunts, and +sympathizing patrons, and leave no heavy hearts but those in my own +home, and take none along but the one which aches in my bosom. Cold, +bitter cold as December, and bleak as its blasts, seemed the world then +to me; there is no misanthrope like a boy disappointed; and such was I, +with the warmth of me flogged out by adversity. But these thoughts are +bitter enough even now, for they have not yet gone quite away; and they +must be uncongenial enough to the reader; so no more of that, and let +me go on with my story.</P> +<P>"Yes, I will write you, dear mother, as soon as I can," murmured I, +as she charged me for the hundredth time, not fail to inform her of my +safe arrival in New York.</P> +<P>"And now Mary, Martha, and Jane, kiss me all round, dear sisters, +and then I am off. I'll be back in four months—it will be autumn then, +and we'll go into the woods after nuts, an I'll tell you all about +Europe. Good-by! good-by!"</P> +<P>So I broke loose from their arms, and not daring to look behind, ran +away as fast as I could, till I got to the corner where my brother was +waiting. He accompanied me part of the way to the place, where the +steamboat was to leave for New York; instilling into me much sage +advice above his age, for he was but eight years my senior, and warning +me again and again to take care of myself; and I solemnly promised I +would; for what cast-away will not promise to take of care himself, +when he sees that unless he himself does, no one else will.</P> +<P>We walked on in silence till I saw that his strength was giving +out,—he was in ill health then,—and with a mute grasp of the hand, +and a loud thump at the heart, we parted.</P> +<P>It was early on a raw, cold, damp morning toward the end of spring, +and the world was before me; stretching away a long muddy road, lined +with comfortable houses, whose inmates were taking their sunrise naps, +heedless of the wayfarer passing. The cold drops of drizzle trickled +down my leather cap, and mingled with a few hot tears on my cheeks.</P> +<P>I had the whole road to myself, for no one was yet stirring, and I +walked on, with a slouching, dogged gait. The gray shooting-jacket was +on my back, and from the end of my brother's rifle hung a small bundle +of my clothes. My fingers worked moodily at the stock and trigger, and +I thought that this indeed was the way to begin life, with a gun in +your hand!</P> +<P>Talk not of the bitterness of middle-age and after life; a boy can +feel all that, and much more, when upon his young soul the mildew has +fallen; and the fruit, which with others is only blasted after +ripeness, with him is nipped in the first blossom and bud. And never +again can such blights be made good; they strike in too deep, and leave +such a scar that the air of Paradise might not erase it. And it is a +hard and cruel thing thus in early youth to taste beforehand the pangs +which should be reserved for the stout time of manhood, when the +gristle has become bone, and we stand up and fight out our lives, as a +thing tried before and foreseen; for then we are veterans used to +sieges and battles, and not green recruits, recoiling at the first +shock of the encounter.</P> +<P>At last gaining the boat we pushed off, and away we steamed down the +Hudson. There were few passengers on board, the day was so unpleasant; +and they were mostly congregated in the after cabin round the stoves. +After breakfast, some of them went to reading: others took a nap on the +settees; and others sat in silent circles, speculating, no doubt, as to +who each other might be.</P> +<P>They were certainly a cheerless set, and to me they all looked +stony-eyed and heartless. I could not help it, I almost hated them; and +to avoid them, went on deck, but a storm of sleet drove me below. At +last I bethought me, that I had not procured a ticket, and going to the +captain's office to pay my passage and get one, was horror-struck to +find, that the price of passage had been suddenly raised that day, +owing to the other boats not running; so that I had not enough money to +pay for my fare. I had supposed it would be but a dollar, and only a +dollar did I have, whereas it was two. What was to be done? The boat +was off, and there was no backing out; so I determined to say nothing +to any body, and grimly wait until called upon for my fare.</P> +<P>The long weary day wore on till afternoon; one incessant storm raged +on deck; but after dinner the few passengers, waked up with their +roast-beef and mutton, became a little more sociable. Not with me, for +the scent and savor of poverty was upon me, and they all cast toward me +their evil eyes and cold suspicious glances, as I sat apart, though +among them. I felt that desperation and recklessness of poverty which +only a pauper knows. There was a mighty patch upon one leg of my +trowsers, neatly sewed on, for it had been executed by my mother, but +still very obvious and incontrovertible to the eye. This patch I had +hitherto studiously endeavored to hide with the ample skirts of my +shooting-jacket; but now I stretched out my leg boldly, and thrust the +patch under their noses, and looked at them so, that they soon looked +away, boy though I was. Perhaps the gun that I clenched frightened them +into respect; or there might have been something ugly in my eye; or my +teeth were white, and my jaws were set. For several hours, I sat gazing +at a jovial party seated round a mahogany table, with some crackers and +cheese, and wine and cigars. Their faces were flushed with the good +dinner they had eaten; and mine felt pale and wan with a long fast. If +I had presumed to offer to make one of their party; if I had told them +of my circumstances, and solicited something to refresh me, I very well +knew from the peculiar hollow ring of their laughter, they would have +had the waiters put me out of the cabin, for a beggar, who had no +business to be warming himself at their stove. And for that insult, +though only a conceit, I sat and gazed at them, putting up no petitions +for their prosperity. My whole soul was soured within me, and when at +last the captain's clerk, a slender young man, dressed in the height of +fashion, with a gold watch chain and broach, came round collecting the +tickets, I buttoned up my coat to the throat, clutched my gun, put on +my leather cap, and pulling it well down, stood up like a sentry before +him. He held out his hand, deeming any remark superfluous, as his +object in pausing before me must be obvious. But I stood motionless and +silent, and in a moment he saw how it was with me. I ought to have +spoken and told him the case, in plain, civil terms, and offered my +dollar, and then waited the event. But I felt too wicked for that. He +did not wait a great while, but spoke first himself; and in a gruff +voice, very unlike his urbane accents when accosting the wine and cigar +party, demanded my ticket. I replied that I had none. He then demanded +the money; and upon my answering that I had not enough, in a loud angry +voice that attracted all eyes, he ordered me out of the cabin into the +storm. The devil in me then mounted up from my soul, and spread over my +frame, till it tingled at my finger ends; and I muttered out my +resolution to stay where I was, in such a manner, that the ticket man +faltered back. "There's a dollar for you," I added, offering it.</P> +<P>"I want two," said he.</P> +<P>"Take that or nothing," I answered; "it is all I have."</P> +<P>I thought he would strike me. But, accepting the money, he contented +himself with saying something about sportsmen going on shooting +expeditions, without having money to pay their expenses; and hinted +that such chaps might better lay aside their fowling-pieces, and assume +the buck and saw. He then passed on, and left every eye fastened upon +me.</P> +<P>I stood their gazing some time, but at last could stand it no more. +I pushed my seat right up before the most insolent gazer, a short fat +man, with a plethora of cravat round his neck, and fixing my gaze on +his, gave him more gazes than he sent. This somewhat embarrassed him, +and he looked round for some one to take hold of me; but no one coming, +he pretended to be very busy counting the gilded wooden beams overhead. +I then turned to the next gazer, and clicking my gun-lock, deliberately +presented the piece at him.</P> +<P>Upon this, he overset his seat in his eagerness to get beyond my +range, for I had him point blank, full in the left eye; and several +persons starting to their feet, exclaimed that I must be crazy. So I +was at that time; for otherwise I know not how to account for my +demoniac feelings, of which I was afterward heartily ashamed, as I +ought to have been, indeed; and much more than that.</P> +<P>I then turned on my heel, and shouldering my fowling-piece and +bundle, marched on deck, and walked there through the dreary storm, +till I was wet through, and the boat touched the wharf at New York.</P> +<P>Such is boyhood.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_4">III. HE ARRIVES IN TOWN</A></H3> +<P>From the boat's bow, I jumped ashore, before she was secured, and +following my brother's directions, proceeded across the town toward St. +John's Park, to the house of a college friend of his, for whom I had a +letter.</P> +<P>It was a long walk; and I stepped in at a sort of grocery to get a +drink of water, where some six or eight rough looking fellows were +playing dominoes upon the counter, seated upon cheese boxes. They +winked, and asked what sort of sport I had had gunning on such a rainy +day, but I only gulped down my water and stalked off.</P> +<P>Dripping like a seal, I at last grounded arms at the doorway of my +brother's friend, rang the bell and inquired for him.</P> +<P>"What do you want?" said the servant, eying me as if I were a +housebreaker.</P> +<P>"I want to see your lord and master; show me into the parlor."</P> +<P>Upon this my host himself happened to make his appearance, and +seeing who I was, opened his hand and heart to me at once, and drew me +to his fireside; he had received a letter from my brother, and had +expected me that day.</P> +<P>The family were at tea; the fragrant herb filled the room with its +aroma; the brown toast was odoriferous; and everything pleasant and +charming. After a temporary warming, I was shown to a room, where I +changed my wet dress, an returning to the table, found that the +interval had been we improved by my hostess; a meal for a traveler was +spread and I laid into it sturdily. Every mouthful pushed the devil +that had been tormenting me all day farther and farther out of me, till +at last I entirely ejected him with three successive bowls of Bohea.</P> +<P>Magic of kind words, and kind deeds, and good tea! That night I went +to bed thinking the world pretty tolerable, after all; and I could +hardly believe that I had really acted that morning as I had, for I was +naturally of an easy and forbearing disposition; though when such a +disposition is temporarily roused, it is perhaps worse than a +cannibal's.</P> +<P>Next day, my brother's friend, whom I choose to call Mr. Jones, +accompanied me down to the docks among the shipping, in order to get me +a place. After a good deal of searching we lighted upon a ship for +Liverpool, and found the captain in the cabin; which was a very +handsome one, lined with mahogany and maple; and the steward, an +elegant looking mulatto in a gorgeous turban, was setting out on a sort +of sideboard some dinner service which looked like silver, but it was +only Britannia ware highly polished.</P> +<P>As soon as I clapped my eye on the captain, I thought myself he was +just the captain to suit me. He was a fine looking man, about forty, +splendidly dressed, with very black whiskers, and very white teeth, and +what I took to be a free, frank look out of a large hazel eye. I liked +him amazingly. He was promenading up and down the cabin, humming some +brisk air to himself when we entered.</P> +<P>"Good morning, sir," said my friend.</P> +<P>"Good morning, good morning, sir," said the captain. "Steward, +chairs for the gentlemen."</P> +<P>"Oh! never mind, sir," said Mr. Jones, rather taken aback by his +extreme civility. "I merely called to see whether you want a fine young +lad to go to sea with you. Here he is; he has long wanted to be a +sailor; and his friends have at last concluded to let him go for one +voyage, and see how he likes it."</P> +<P>"Ah! indeed!" said the captain, blandly, and looking where I stood. +"He's a fine fellow; I like him. So you want to be a sailor, my boy, do +you?" added he, affectionately patting my head. "It's a hard We, +though; a hard life."</P> +<P>But when I looked round at his comfortable, and almost luxurious +cabin, and then at his handsome care-free face, I thought he was only +trying to frighten me, and I answered, "Well, sir, I am ready to try +it."</P> +<P>"I hope he's a country lad, sir," said the captain to my friend, +"these city boys are sometimes hard cases."</P> +<P>"Oh! yes, he's from the country," was the reply, "and of a highly +respectable family; his great-uncle died a Senator."</P> +<P>"But his great-uncle don't want to go to sea too?" said the captain, +looking funny.</P> +<P>"Oh! no, oh, no!— Ha! ha!"</P> +<P>"Ha! ha!" echoed the captain.</P> +<P>A fine funny gentleman, thought I, not much fancying, however, his +levity concerning my great-uncle, he'll be cracking his jokes the whole +voyage; and so I afterward said to one of the riggers on board; but he +bade me look out, that he did not crack my head.</P> +<P>"Well, my lad," said the captain, "I suppose you know we haven't any +pastures and cows on board; you can't get any milk at sea, you know."</P> +<P>"Oh! I know all about that, sir; my father has crossed the ocean, if +I haven't."</P> +<P>"Yes," cried my friend, "his father, a gentleman of one of the first +families in America, crossed the Atlantic several times on important +business."</P> +<P>"Embassador extraordinary?" said the captain, looking funny again.</P> +<P>"Oh! no, he was a wealthy merchant."</P> +<P>"Ah! indeed;" said the captain, looking grave and bland again, "then +this fine lad is the son of a gentleman?"</P> +<P>"Certainly," said my friend, "and he's only going to sea for the +humor of it; they want to send him on his travels with a tutor, but he <I> +will </I>go to sea as a sailor."</P> +<P>The fact was, that my young friend (for he was only about +twenty-five) was not a very wise man; and this was a huge fib, which +out of the kindness of his heart, he told in my behalf, for the purpose +of creating a profound respect for me in the eyes of my future lord.</P> +<P>Upon being apprized, that I had willfully forborne taking the grand +tour with a tutor, in order to put my hand in a tar-bucket, the +handsome captain looked ten times more funny than ever; and said that <I> +he </I>himself would be my tutor, and take me on my travels, and pay +for the privilege.</P> +<P>"Ah!" said my friend, "that reminds me of business. Pray, captain, +how much do you generally pay a handsome young fellow like this?"</P> +<P>"Well," said the captain, looking grave and profound, "we are not so +particular about beauty, and we never give more than three dollars to a +green lad like Wellingborough here, that's your name, my boy? +Wellingborough Redburn!—Upon my soul, a fine sounding name."</P> +<P>"Why, captain," said Mr. Jones, quickly interrupting him, "that +won't pay for his clothing."</P> +<P>"But you know his highly respectable and wealthy relations will +doubtless see to all that," replied the captain, with his funny look +again.</P> +<P>"Oh! yes, I forgot that," said Mr. Jones, looking rather foolish. +"His friends will of course see to that."</P> +<P>"Of course," said the captain smiling.</P> +<P>"Of course," repeated Mr. Jones, looking ruefully at the patch on my +pantaloons, which just then I endeavored to hide with the skirt of my +shooting-jacket.</P> +<P>"You are quite a sportsman I see," said the captain, eying the great +buttons on my coat, upon each of which was a carved fox.</P> +<P>Upon this my benevolent friend thought that here was a grand +opportunity to befriend me.</P> +<P>"Yes, he's quite a sportsman," said he, "he's got a very valuable +fowling-piece at home, perhaps you would like to purchase it, captain, +to shoot gulls with at sea? It's cheap."</P> +<P>"Oh! no, he had better leave it with his relations," said the +captain, "so that he can go hunting again when he returns from England."</P> +<P>"Yes, perhaps that <I>would </I>be better, after all," said my +friend, pretending to fall into a profound musing, involving all sides +of the matter in hand. "Well, then, captain, you can only give the boy +three dollars a month, you say?"</P> +<P>"Only three dollars a month," said the captain.</P> +<P>"And I believe," said my friend, "that you generally give something +in advance, do you not?"</P> +<P>"Yes, that is sometimes the custom at the shipping offices," said +the captain, with a bow, "but in this case, as the boy has rich +relations, there will be no need of that, you know."</P> +<P>And thus, by his ill-advised, but well-meaning hints concerning the +respectability of my paternity, and the immense wealth of my relations, +did this really honest-hearted but foolish friend of mine, prevent me +from getting three dollars in advance, which I greatly needed. However, +I said nothing, though I thought the more; and particularly, how that +it would have been much better for me, to have gone on board alone, +accosted the captain on my own account, and told him the plain truth. +Poor people make a very poor business of it when they try to seem rich.</P> +<P>The arrangement being concluded, we bade the captain good morning; +and as we were about leaving the cabin, he smiled again, and said, +"Well, Redburn, my boy, you won't get home-sick before you sail, +because that will make you very sea-sick when you get to sea."</P> +<P>And with that he smiled very pleasantly, and bowed two or three +times, and told the steward to open the cabin-door, which the steward +did with a peculiar sort of grin on his face, and a slanting glance at +my shooting-jacket. And so we left.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_5">IV. HOW HE DISPOSED OF HIS +FOWLING-PIECE</A></H3> +<P>Next day I went alone to the shipping office to sign the articles, +and there I met a great crowd of sailors, who as soon as they found +what I was after, began to tip the wink all round, and I overheard a +fellow in a great flapping sou'wester cap say to another old tar in a +shaggy monkey-jacket, "Twig his coat, d'ye see the buttons, that chap +ain't going to sea in a merchantman, he's going to shoot whales. I say, +maty—look here—how d'ye sell them big buttons by the pound?"</P> +<P>"Give us one for a saucer, will ye?" said another.</P> +<P>"Let the youngster alone," said a third. "Come here, my little boy, +has your ma put up some sweetmeats for ye to take to sea?"</P> +<P>They are all witty dogs, thought I to myself, trying to make the +best of the matter, for I saw it would not do to resent what they said; +they can't mean any harm, though they are certainly very impudent; so I +tried to laugh off their banter, but as soon as ever I could, I put +down my name and beat a retreat.</P> +<P>On the morrow, the ship was advertised to sail. So the rest of that +day I spent in preparations. After in vain trying to sell my +fowling-piece for a fair price to chance customers, I was walking up +Chatham-street with it, when a curly-headed little man with a dark oily +face, and a hooked nose, like the pictures of Judas Iscariot, called to +me from a strange-looking shop, with three gilded balk hanging over it.</P> +<P>With a peculiar accent, as if he had been over-eating himself with +Indian-pudding or some other plushy compound, this curly-headed little +man very civilly invited me into his shop; and making a polite bow, and +bidding me many unnecessary good mornings, and remarking upon the fine +weather, begged t me to let him look at my fowling-piece. I handed it +to him in an instant, glad of the chance of disposing of it, and told +him that was just what I wanted.</P> +<P>"Ah!" said he, with his Indian-pudding accent again, which I will +not try to mimic, and abating his look of eagerness, "I thought it was +a better article, it's very old."</P> +<P>"Not," said I, starting in surprise, "it's not been used more than +three times; what will you give for it?"</P> +<P>"We don't <I>buy </I>any thing here," said he, suddenly looking very +indifferent, "this is a place where people <I>pawn </I>things." <I>Pawn </I> +being a word I had never heard before, I asked him what it meant; when +he replied, that when people wanted any money, they came to him with +their fowling-pieces, and got one third its value, and then left the +fowling-piece there, until they were able to pay back the money.</P> +<P>What a benevolent little old man, this must be, thought I, and how +very obliging.</P> +<P>"And pray," said I, "how much will you let me have for my gun, by +way of a pawn?"</P> +<P>"Well, I suppose it's worth six dollars, and seeing you're a boy, +I'll let you have three dollars upon it"</P> +<P>"No," exclaimed I, seizing the fowling-piece, "it's worth five times +that, I'll go somewhere else."</P> +<P>"Good morning, then," said he, "I hope you'll do better," and he +bowed me out as if he expected to see me again pretty soon.</P> +<P>I had not gone very far when I came across three more balls hanging +over a shop. In I went, and saw a long counter, with a sort of +picket-fence, running all along from end to end, and three little +holes, with three little old men standing inside of them, like +prisoners looking out of a jail. Back of the counter were all sorts of +things, piled up and labeled. Hats, and caps, and coats, and guns, and +swords, and canes, and chests, and planes, and books, and +writing-desks, and every thing else. And in a glass case were lots of +watches, and seals, chains, and rings, and breastpins, and all kinds of +trinkets. At one of the little holes, earnestly talking with one of the +hook-nosed men, was a thin woman in a faded silk gown and shawl, +holding a pale little girl by the hand. As I drew near, she spoke lower +in a whisper; and the man shook his head, and looked cross and rude; +and then some more words were exchanged over a miniature, and some +money was passed through the hole, and the woman and child shrank out +of the door.</P> +<P>I won't sell my gun to that man, thought I; and I passed on to the +next hole; and while waiting there to be served, an elderly man in a +high-waisted surtout, thrust a silver snuff-box through; and a young +man in a calico shirt and a shiny coat with a velvet collar presented a +silver watch; and a sheepish boy in a cloak took out a frying-pan; and +another little boy had a Bible; and all these things were thrust +through to the hook-nosed man, who seemed ready to hook any thing that +came along; so I had no doubt he would gladly hook my gun, for the long +picketed counter seemed like a great seine, that caught every variety +of fish.</P> +<P>At last I saw a chance, and crowded in for the hole; and in order to +be beforehand with a big man who just then came in, I pushed my gun +violently through the hole; upon which the hook-nosed man cried out, +thinking I was going to shoot him. But at last he took the gun, turned +it end for end, clicked the trigger three times, and then said, "one +dollar."</P> +<P>"What about one dollar?" said I.</P> +<P>"That's all I'll give," he replied.</P> +<P>"Well, what do you want?" and he turned to the next person. This was +a young man in a seedy red cravat and a pimply face, that looked as if +it was going to seed likewise, who, with a mysterious tapping of his +vest-pocket and other hints, made a great show of having something +confidential to communicate.</P> +<P>But the hook-nosed man spoke out very loud, and said, "None of that; +take it out. Got a stolen watch? We don't deal in them things here."</P> +<P>Upon this the young man flushed all over, and looked round to see +who had heard the pawnbroker; then he took something very small out of +his pocket, and keeping it hidden under his palm, pushed it into the +hole.</P> +<P>"Where did you get this ring?" said the pawnbroker.</P> +<P>"I want to pawn it," whispered the other, blushing all over again.</P> +<P>"What's your name?" said the pawnbroker, speaking very loud.</P> +<P>"How much will you give?" whispered the other in reply, leaning +over, and looking as if he wanted to hush up the pawnbroker.</P> +<P>At last the sum was agreed upon, when the man behind the counter +took a little ticket, and tying the ring to it began to write on the +ticket; all at once he asked the young man where he lived, a question +which embarrassed him very much; but at last he stammered out a certain +number in Broadway.</P> +<P>"That's the City Hotel: you don't live there," said the man, cruelly +glancing at the shabby coat before him.</P> +<P>"Oh! well," stammered the other blushing scarlet, "I thought this +was only a sort of form to go through; I don't like to tell where I do +live, for I ain't in the habit of going to pawnbrokers."</P> +<P>"You stole that ring, you know you did," roared out the hook-nosed +man, incensed at this slur upon his calling, and now seemingly bent on +damaging the young man's character for life. "I'm a good mind to call <I> +a. </I>constable; we don't take stolen goods here, I tell you."</P> +<P>All eyes were now fixed suspiciously upon this martyrized young man; +who looked ready to drop into the earth; and a poor woman in a +night-cap, with some baby-clothes in her hand, looked fearfully at +the pawnbroker, as if dreading to encounter such a terrible pattern of +integrity. At last the young man sunk off with his money, and looking +out of the window, I saw him go round the corner so sharply that he +knocked his elbow against the wall.</P> +<P>I waited a little longer, and saw several more served; and having +remarked that the hook-nosed men invariably fixed their own price upon +every thing, and if that was refused told the person to be off with +himself; I concluded that it would be of no use to try and get more +from them than they had offered; especially when I saw that they had a +great many fowling-pieces hanging up, and did not have particular +occasion for mine; and more than that, they must be very well off and +rich, to treat people so cavalierly.</P> +<P>My best plan then seemed to be to go right back to the curly-headed +pawnbroker, and take up with my first offer. But when I went back, +the curly-headed man was very busy about something else, and kept me +waiting a long time; at last I got a chance and told him I would take +the three dollars he had offered.</P> +<P>"Ought to have taken it when you could get it," he replied. "I won't +give but two dollars and a half for it now."</P> +<P>In vain I expostulated; he was not to be moved, so I pocketed the +money and departed.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_6">V. HE PURCHASES HIS SEA-WARDROBE, +AND ON A DISMAL RAINY DAY PICKS UP HIS BOARD AND LODGING ALONG THE +WHARVES</A></H3> +<P>The first thing I now did was to buy a little stationery, and keep +my promise to my mother, by writing her; and I also wrote to my brother +informing him of the voyage I purposed making, and indulging in some +romantic and misanthropic views of life, such as many boys in my +circumstances, are accustomed to do.</P> +<P>The rest of the two dollars and a half I laid out that very morning +in buying a red woolen shirt near Catharine Market, a tarpaulin hat, +which I got at an out-door stand near Peck Slip, a belt and jackknife, +and two or three trifles. After these purchases, I had only one penny +left, so I walked out to the end of the pier, and threw the penny into +the water. The reason why I did this, was because I somehow felt almost +desperate again, and didn't care what became of me. But if the penny +had been a dollar, I would have kept it.</P> +<P>I went home to dinner at Mr. Jones', and they welcomed me very +kindly, and Mrs. Jones kept my plate full all the time during dinner, +so that I had no chance to empty it. She seemed to see that I felt bad, +and thought plenty of pudding might help me. At any rate, I never felt +so bad yet but I could eat a good dinner. And once, years afterward, +when I expected to be killed every day, I remember my appetite was very +keen, and I said to myself, "Eat away, Wellingborough, while you can, +for this may be the last supper you will have."</P> +<P>After dinner I went into my room, locked the door carefully, and +hung a towel over the knob, so that no one could peep through the +keyhole, and then went to trying on my red woolen shirt before the +glass, to see what sort of a looking sailor I was going to make. As +soon as I got into the shirt I began to feel sort of warm and red about +the face, which I found was owing to the reflection of the dyed wool +upon my skin. After that, I took a pair of scissors and went to cutting +my hair, which was very long. I thought every little would help, in +making me a light hand to run aloft.</P> +<P>Next morning I bade my kind host and hostess good-by, and left the +house with my bundle, feeling somewhat misanthropical and desperate +again.</P> +<P>Before I reached the ship, it began to rain hard; and as soon as I +arrived at the wharf, it was plain that there would be no getting to +sea that day.</P> +<P>This was a great disappointment to me, for I did not want to return +to Mr. Jones' again after bidding them good-by; it would be so awkward. +So I concluded to go on board ship for the present.</P> +<P>When I reached the deck, I saw no one but a large man in a large +dripping pea-jacket, who was calking down the main-hatches.</P> +<P>"What do you want, Pillgarlic?" said he.</P> +<P>"I've shipped to sail in this ship," I replied, assuming a little +dignity, to chastise his familiarity.</P> +<P>"What for? a tailor?" said he, looking at my shooting jacket.</P> +<P>I answered that I was going as a "boy;" for so I was technically put +down on the articles.</P> +<P>"Well," said he, "have you got your traps aboard?"</P> +<P>I told him I didn't know there were any rats in the ship, and hadn't +brought any "trap."</P> +<P>At this he laughed out with a great guffaw, and said there must be +hay-seed in my hair.</P> +<P>This made me mad; but thinking he must be one of the sailors who was +going in the ship, I thought it wouldn't be wise to make an enemy of +him, so only asked him where the men slept in the vessel, for I wanted +to put my clothes away.</P> +<P> +<I>"Where's</I> your clothes?" said he.</p> +<P>"Here in my bundle," said I, holding it up.</P> +<P>"Well if that's all you've got," he cried, "you'd better chuck it +overboard. But go forward, go forward to the forecastle; that's the +place you'll live in aboard here."</P> +<P>And with that he directed me to a sort of hole in the deck in the +bow of the ship; but looking down, and seeing how dark it was, I asked +him for a light.</P> +<P>"Strike your eyes together and make one," said he, "we don't have +any lights here." So I groped my way down into the forecastle, which +smelt so bad of old ropes and tar, that it almost made me sick. After +waiting patiently, I began to see a little; and looking round, at last +perceived I was in a smoky looking place, with twelve wooden boxes +stuck round the sides. In some of these boxes were large chests, which +I at once supposed to belong to the sailors, who must have taken that +method of appropriating their "Trunks," as I afterward found these boxes +were called. And so it turned out.</P> +<P>After examining them for a while, I selected an empty one, and put +my bundle right in the middle of it, so that there might be no mistake +about my claim to the place, particularly as the bundle was so small.</P> +<P>This done, I was glad to get on deck; and learning to a certainty +that the ship would not sail till the next day, I resolved to go +ashore, and walk about till dark, and then return and sleep out the +night in the forecastle. So I walked about all over, till I was weary, +and went into a mean liquor shop to rest; for having my tarpaulin on, +and not looking very gentlemanly, I was afraid to go into any better +place, for fear of being driven out. Here I sat till I began to feel +very hungry; and seeing some doughnuts on the counter, I began to think +what a fool I had been, to throw away my last penny; for the doughnuts +were but a penny apiece, and they looked very plump, and fat, and +round. I never saw doughnuts look so enticing before; especially when a +negro came in, and ate one before my eyes. At last I thought I would +fill up a little by drinking a glass of water; having read somewhere +that this was a good plan to follow in a case like the present. I did +not feel thirsty, but only hungry; so had much ado to get down the +water; for it tasted warm; and the tumbler had an ugly flavor; the +negro had been drinking some spirits out of it just before.</P> +<P>I marched off again, every once in a while stopping to take in some +more water, and being very careful not to step into the same shop +twice, till night came on, and I found myself soaked through, for it +had been raining more or less all day. As I went to the ship, I could +not help thinking how lonesome it would be, to spend the whole night in +that damp and dark forecastle, without light or fire, and nothing to +lie on but the bare boards of my bunk. However, to drown all such +thoughts, I gulped down another glass of water, though I was wet enough +outside and in by this time; and trying to put on a bold look, as if I +had just been eating a hearty meal, I stepped aboard the ship.</P> +<P>The man in the big pea-jacket was not to be seen; but on going +forward I unexpectedly found a young lad there, about my own age; and +as soon as he opened his mouth I knew he was not an American. He talked +such a curious language though, half English and half gibberish, that I +knew not what to make of him; and was a little astonished, when he told +me he was an English boy, from Lancashire.</P> +<P>It seemed, he had come over from Liverpool in this very ship on her +last voyage, as a steerage passenger; but finding that he would have to +work very hard to get along in America, and getting home-sick into the +bargain, he had arranged with the captain to' work his passage back.</P> +<P>I was glad to have some company, and tried to get him conversing; +but found he was the most stupid and ignorant boy I had ever met with. +I asked him something about the river Thames; when he said that he +hadn't traveled any in America and didn't know any thing about the +rivers here. And when I told him the river Thames was in England, he +showed no surprise or shame at his ignorance, but only looked ten times +more stupid than before.</P> +<P>At last we went below into the forecastle, and both getting into the +same bunk, stretched ourselves out on the planks, and I tried my best +to get asleep. But though my companion soon began to snore very loud, +for me, I could not forget myself, owing to the horrid smell of the +place, my being so wet, cold, and hungry, and besides all that, I felt +damp and clammy about the heart. I lay turning over and over, listening +to the Lancashire boy's snoring, till at last I felt so, that I had to +go on deck; and there I walked till morning, which I thought would +never come.</P> +<P>As soon as I thought the groceries on the wharf would be open I left +the ship and went to make my breakfast of another glass of water. But +this made me very qualmish; and soon I felt sick as death; my head was +dizzy; and I went staggering along the walk, almost blind. At last I +dropt on a heap of chain-cable, and shutting my eyes hard, did my best +to rally myself, in which I succeeded, at last, enough to get up and +walk off. Then I thought that I had done wrong in not returning to my +friend's house the day before; and would have walked there now, as it +was, only it was at least three miles up town; too far for me to walk +in such a state, and I had no sixpence to ride in an omnibus.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_7">VI. HE IS INITIATED IN THE BUSINESS +OF CLEANING OUT THE PIG-PEN, AND SLUSHING DOWN THE TOP-MAST</A></H3> +<P>By the time I got back to the ship, every thing was in an uproar. +The pea-jacket man was there, ordering about a good many men in the +rigging, and people were bringing off chickens, and pigs, and beef, and +vegetables from the shore. Soon after, another man, in a striped calico +shirt, a short blue jacket and beaver hat, made his appearance, and +went to ordering about the man in the big pea-jacket; and at last the +captain came up the side, and began to order about both of them.</P> +<P>These two men turned out to be the first and second mates of the +ship.</P> +<P>Thinking to make friends with the second mate, I took out an old +tortoise-shell snuff-box of my father's, in which I had put a piece of +Cavendish tobacco, to look sailor-like, and offered the box to him very +politely. He stared at me a moment, and then exclaimed, "Do you think +we take snuff aboard here, youngster? no, no, no time for snuff-taking +at sea; don't let the 'old man' see that snuff-box; take my advice and +pitch it overboard as quick as you can."</P> +<P>I told him it was not snuff, but tobacco; when he said, he had +plenty of tobacco of his own, and never carried any such nonsense about +him as a tobacco-box. With that, he went off about his business, and +left me feeling foolish enough. But I had reason to be glad he had +acted thus, for if he had not, I think I should have offered my box to +the chief mate, who in that case, from what I afterward learned of him, +would have knocked me down, or done something else equally uncivil.</P> +<P>As I was standing looking round me, the chief mate approached in a +great hurry about something, and seeing me in his way, cried out, +"Ashore with you, you young loafer! There's no stealings here; sail +away, I tell you, with that shooting-jacket!"</P> +<P>Upon this I retreated, saying that I was going out in the ship as a +sailor.</P> +<P>"A sailor!" he cried, "a barber's clerk, you mean; <I>you </I>going +out in the ship? what, in that jacket? Hang me, I hope the old man +hasn't been shipping any more greenhorns like you—he'll make a +shipwreck of it if he has. But this is the way nowadays; to save a few +dollars in seamen's wages, they think nothing of shipping a parcel of +farmers and clodhoppers and baby-boys. What's your name, Pillgarlic?"</P> +<P>"Redburn," said I.</P> +<P>"A pretty handle to a man, that; scorch you to take hold of it; +haven't you got any other?"</P> +<P>"Wellingborough," said I.</P> +<P>"Worse yet. Who had the baptizing of ye? Why didn't they call you +Jack, or Jill, or something short and handy. But I'll baptize you over +again. D'ye hear, sir, henceforth your name is <I>Buttons. </I>And now +do you go, Buttons, and clean out that pig-pen in the long-boat; it has +not been cleaned out since last voyage. And bear a hand about it, d'ye +hear; there's them pigs there waiting to be put in; come, be off about +it, now."</P> +<P>Was this then the beginning of my sea-career? set to cleaning out a +pig-pen, the very first thing?</P> +<P>But I thought it best to say nothing; I had bound myself to obey +orders, and it was too late to retreat. So I only asked for a shovel, +or spade, or something else to work with.</P> +<P>"We don't dig gardens here," was the reply; "dig it out with your +teeth!"</P> +<P>After looking round, I found a stick and went to scraping out the +pen, which was awkward work enough, for another boat called the +"jolly-boat," was capsized right over the longboat, which brought them +almost close together. These two boats were in the middle of the deck. +I managed to crawl inside of the long-boat; and after barking my shins +against the seats, and bumping my head a good many times, I got along +to the stern, where the pig-pen was.</P> +<P>While I was hard at work a drunken sailor peeped in, and cried out +to his comrades, "Look here, my lads, what sort of a pig do you call +this? Hallo! inside there! what are you 'bout there? trying to stow +yourself away to steal a passage to Liverpool? Out of that! out of +that, I say." But just then the mate came along and ordered this +drunken rascal ashore.</P> +<P>The pig-pen being cleaned out, I was set to work picking up some +shavings, which lay about the deck; for there had been carpenters at +work on board. The mate ordered me to throw these shavings into the +long-boat at a particular place between two of the seats. But as I +found it hard work to push the shavings through in that place, and as +it looked wet there, I thought it would be better for the shavings as +well as myself, to thrust them where there was a larger opening and a +dry spot. While I was thus employed, the mate observing me, exclaimed +with an oath, "Didn't I tell you to put those shavings somewhere else? +Do what I tell you, now, Buttons, or mind your eye!"</P> +<P>Stifling my indignation at his rudeness, which by this time I found +was my only plan, I replied that that was not so good a place for the +shavings as that which I myself had selected, and asked him to tell me <I> +why </I>he wanted me to put them in the place he designated. Upon this, +he flew into a terrible rage, and without explanation reiterated his +order like a clap of thunder.</P> +<P>This was my first lesson in the discipline of the sea, and I never +forgot it. From that time I learned that sea-officers never gave +reasons for any thing they order to be done. It is enough that they +command it, so that the motto is, <I>"Obey orders, though you break +owners."</I></P> +<P>I now began to feel very faint and sick <I>again, </I>and longed for +the ship to be leaving the dock; for then I made no doubt we would soon +be having something to eat. But as yet, I saw none of the sailors on +board, and as for the men at work in the rigging, I found out that they +were <I>"riggers," </I>that is, men living ashore, who worked by the +day in getting ships ready for sea; and this I found out to my cost, +for yielding to the kind blandishment of one of these <I>riggers, I </I> +had swapped away my jackknife with him for a much poorer one of his +own, thinking to secure a sailor friend for the voyage. At last I +watched my chance, and while people's backs were turned, I seized a +carrot from several bunches lying on deck, and clapping it under the +skirts of my shooting-jacket, went forward to eat it; for I had often +eaten raw carrots, which taste something like chestnuts. This carrot +refreshed me a good deal, though at the expense of a little pain in my +stomach. Hardly had I disposed of it, when I heard the chief mate's +voice crying out for "Buttons." I ran after him, and received an order +to go aloft and "slush down the main-top mast."</P> +<P>This was all Greek to me, and after receiving the order, I stood +staring about me, wondering what it was that was to be done. But the +mate had turned on his heel, and made no explanations. At length I +followed after him, and asked what I must do.</P> +<P>"Didn't I tell you to slush down the main-top mast?" he shouted.</P> +<P>"You did," said I, "but I don't know what that means."</P> +<P>"Green as grass! a regular cabbage-head!" he exclaimed to himself. +"A fine time I'll have with such a greenhorn aboard. Look you, +youngster. Look up to that long pole there—d'ye see it? that piece of +a tree there, you timber-head—well—take this bucket here, and go up +the rigging—that rope-ladder there—do you understand?—and dab this +slush all over the mast, and look out for your head if one drop falls +on deck. Be off now, Buttons."</P> +<P>The eventful hour had arrived; for the first time in my life I was +to ascend a ship's mast. Had I been well and hearty, perhaps I should +have felt a little shaky at the thought; but as I was then, weak and +faint, the bare thought appalled me.</P> +<P>But there was no hanging back; it would look like cowardice, and I +could not bring myself to confess that I was suffering for want of +food; so rallying again, I took up the bucket.</P> +<P>It was a heavy bucket, with strong iron hoops, and might have held +perhaps two gallons. But it was only half full now of a sort of thick +lobbered gravy, which I afterward learned was boiled out of the salt +beef used by the sailors. Upon getting into the rigging, I found it was +no easy job to carry this heavy bucket up with me. The rope handle of +it was so slippery with grease, that although I twisted it several +times about my wrist, it would be still twirling round and round, and +slipping off. Spite of this, however, I managed to mount as far as the +"top," the clumsy bucket half the time straddling and swinging about +between my legs, and in momentary danger of capsizing. Arrived at the +"top," I came to a dead halt, and looked up. How to surmount that +overhanging impediment completely posed me for the time. But at last, +with much straining, I contrived to place my bucket in the "top;" and +then, trusting to Providence, swung myself up after it. The rest of the +road was comparatively easy; though whenever I incautiously looked down +toward the deck, my head spun round so from weakness, that I was +obliged to shut my eyes to recover myself. I do not remember much more. +I only recollect my safe return to the deck.</P> +<P>In a short time the bustle of the ship increased; the trunks of +cabin passengers arrived, and the chests and boxes of the steerage +passengers, besides baskets of wine and fruit for the captain.</P> +<P>At last we cast loose, and swinging out into the stream, came to +anchor, and hoisted the signal for sailing. Every thing, it seemed, was +on board but the crew; who in a few hours after, came off, one by one, +in Whitehall boats, their chests in the bow, and themselves lying back +in the stem like lords; and showing very plainly the complacency they +felt in keeping the whole ship waiting for their lordships.</P> +<P>"Ay, ay," muttered the chief mate, as they rolled out of then-boats +and swaggered on deck, "it's your turn now, but it will be mine before +long. Yaw about while you may, my hearties, I'll do the yawing after +the anchor's up."</P> +<P>Several of the sailors were very drunk, and one of them was lifted +on board insensible by his landlord, who carried him down below and +dumped him into a bunk. And two other sailors, as soon as they made +their appearance, immediately went below to sleep off the fumes of +their drink.</P> +<P>At last, all the crew being on board, word was passed to go to +dinner fore and aft, an order that made my heart jump with delight, for +now my long fast would be broken. But though the sailors, surfeited +with eating and drinking ashore, did not then touch the salt beef and +potatoes which the black cook handed down into the forecastle; and +though this left the whole allowance to me; to my surprise, I found +that I could eat little or nothing; for now I only felt deadly faint, +but not hungry.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_8">VII. HE GETS TO SEA AND FEELS VERY +BAD</A></H3> +<P>Every thing at last being in readiness, the pilot came on board, and +all hands were called to up anchor. While I worked at my bar, I could +not help observing how haggard the men looked, and how much they +suffered from this violent exercise, after the terrific dissipation in +which they had been indulging ashore. But I soon learnt that sailors +breathe nothing about such things, but strive their best to appear all +alive and hearty, though it comes very hard for many of them.</P> +<P>The anchor being secured, a steam tug-boat with a strong name, the +Hercules, took hold of us; and away we went past the long line of +shipping, and wharves, and warehouses; and rounded the green south +point of the island where the Battery is, and passed Governor's Island, +and pointed right out for the Narrows.</P> +<P>My heart was like lead, and I felt bad enough, Heaven knows; but +then, there was plenty of work to be done, which kept my thoughts from +becoming too much for me.</P> +<P>And I tried to think all the time, that I was going to England, and +that, before many months, I should have actually been there and home +again, telling my adventures to my brothers and sisters; and with what +delight they would listen, and how they would look up to me then, and +reverence my sayings; and how that even my elder brother would be +forced to treat me with great consideration, as having crossed the +Atlantic Ocean, which he had never done, and there was no probability +he ever would.</P> +<P>With such thoughts as these I endeavored to shake off my +heavy-heartedness; but it would not do at all; for this was only the +first day of the voyage, and many weeks, nay, several whole months must +elapse before the voyage was ended; and who could tell what might +happen to me; for when I looked up at the high, giddy masts, and +thought how often I must be going up and down them, I thought sure +enough that some luckless day or other, I would certainly fall +overboard and be drowned. And then, I thought of lying down at the +bottom of the sea, stark alone, with the great waves rolling over me, +and no one in the wide world knowing that I was there. And I thought +how much better and sweeter it must be, to be buried under the pleasant +hedge that bounded the sunny south side of our village grave-yard, +where every Sunday I had used to walk after church in the afternoon; +and I almost wished I was there now; yes, dead and buried in that +churchyard. All the time my eyes were filled with tears, and I kept +holding my breath, to choke down the sobs, for indeed I could not help +feeling as I did, and no doubt any boy in the world would have felt +just as I did then.</P> +<P>As the steamer carried us further and further down the bay, and we +passed ships lying at anchor, with men gazing at us and waving their +hats; and small boats with ladies in them waving their handkerchiefs; +and passed the green shore of Staten Island, and caught sight of so +many beautiful cottages all overrun with vines, and planted on the +beautiful fresh mossy hill-sides; oh! then I would have given any thing +if instead of sailing <I>out of </I>the bay, we were only coming <I> +into </I>it; if we had crossed the ocean and returned, gone over and +come back; and my heart leaped up in me like something alive when I +thought of really entering that bay at the end of the voyage. But that +was so far distant, that it seemed it could never be. No, never, never +more would I see New York again.</P> +<P>And what shocked me more than any thing else, was to hear some of +the sailors, while they were at work coiling away the hawsers, talking +about the boarding-houses they were going to, when they came back; and +how that some friends of theirs had promised to be on the wharf when +the ship returned, to take them and their chests right up to +Franklin-square where they lived; and how that they would have a good +dinner ready, and plenty of cigars and spirits out on the balcony. I +say this land of talking shocked me, for they did not seem to consider, +as I did, that before any thing like that could happen, we must cross +the great Atlantic Ocean, cross over from America to Europe and back +again, many thousand miles of foaming ocean.</P> +<P>At that time I did not know what to make of these sailors; but this +much I thought, that when they were boys, they could never have gone to +the Sunday School; for they swore so, it made my ears tingle, and used +words that I never could hear without a dreadful loathing.</P> +<P>And are these the men, I thought to myself, that I must live with so +long? these the men I am to eat with, and sleep with all the time? And +besides, I now began to see, that they were not going to be very kind +to me; but I will tell all about that when the proper time comes.</P> +<P>Now you must not think, that because all these things were passing +through my mind, that I had nothing to do but sit still and think; no, +no, I was hard at work: for as long as the steamer had hold of us, we +were very busy coiling away ropes and cables, and putting the decks in +order; which were littered all over with odds and ends of things that +had to be put away.</P> +<P>At last we got as far as the Narrows, which every body knows is the +entrance to New York Harbor from sea; and it may well be called the +Narrows, for when you go in or out, it seems like going in or out of a +doorway; and when you go out of these Narrows on a long voyage like +this of mine, it seems like going out into the broad highway, where not +a soul is to be seen. For far away and away, stretches the great +Atlantic Ocean; and all you can see beyond it where the sky comes down +to the water. It looks lonely and desolate enough, and I could hardly +believe, as I gazed around me, that there could be any land beyond, or +any place like Europe or England or Liverpool in the great wide world. +It seemed too strange, and wonderful, and altogether incredible, that +there could really be cities and towns and villages and green fields +and hedges and farm-yards and orchards, away over that wide blank of +sea, and away beyond the place where the sky came down to the water. +And to think of steering right out among those waves, and leaving the +bright land behind, and the dark night coming on, too, seemed wild and +foolhardy; and I looked with a sort of fear at the sailors standing by +me, who could be so thoughtless at such a time. But then I remembered, +how many times my own father had said he had crossed the ocean; and I +had never dreamed of such a thing as doubting him; for I always thought +him a marvelous being, infinitely purer and greater than I was, who +could not by any possibility do wrong, or say an untruth. Yet now, how +could I credit it, that he, my own father, whom I so well remembered; +had ever sailed out of these Narrows, and sailed right through the sky +and water line, and gone to England, and France, Liverpool, and +Marseilles. It was too wonderful to believe.</P> +<P>Now, on the right hand side of the Narrows as you go out, the land +is quite high; and on the top of a fine cliff is a great castle or +fort, all in ruins, and with the trees growing round it. It was built +by Governor Tompkins in the time of the last war with England, but was +never used, I believe, and so they left it to decay. I had visited the +place once when we lived in New York, as long ago almost as I could +remember, with my father, and an uncle of mine, an old sea-captain, +with white hair, who used to sail to a place called Archangel in +Russia, and who used to tell me that he was with Captain Langsdorff, +when Captain Langsdorff crossed over by land from the sea of Okotsk in +Asia to St. Petersburgh, drawn by large dogs in a sled. I mention this +of my uncle, because he was the very first sea-captain I had ever seen, +and his white hair and fine handsome florid face made so strong an +impression upon me, that I have never forgotten him, though I only saw +him during this one visit of his to New York, for he was lost in the +White Sea some years after.</P> +<P>But I meant to speak about the fort. It was a beautiful place, as I +remembered it, and very wonderful and romantic, too, as it appeared to +me, when I went there with my uncle. On the side away from the water +was a green grove of trees, very thick and shady; and through this +grove, in a sort of twilight you came to an arch in the wall of the +fort, dark as night; and going in, you groped about in long vaults, +twisting and turning on every side, till at last you caught a peep of +green grass and sunlight, and all at once came out in an open space in +the middle of the castle. And there you would see cows quietly grazing, +or ruminating under the shade of young trees, and perhaps a calf +frisking about, and trying to catch its own tail; and sheep clambering +among the mossy ruins, and cropping the little tufts of grass sprouting +out of the sides of the embrasures for cannon. And once I saw a black +goat with a long beard, and crumpled horns, standing with his forefeet +lifted high up on the topmost parapet, and looking to sea, as if he +were watching for a ship that was bringing over his cousin. I can see +him even now, and though I have changed since then, the black goat +looks just the same as ever; and so I suppose he would, if I live to be +as old as Methusaleh, and have as great a memory as he must have had. +Yes, the fort was a beautiful, quiet, charming spot. I should like to +build a little cottage in the middle of it, and live there all my life. +It was noon-day when I was there, in the month of June, and there was +little wind to stir the trees, and every thing looked as if it was +waiting for something, and the sky overhead was blue as my mother's +eye, and I was so glad and happy then. But I must not think of those +delightful days, before my father became a bankrupt, and died, and we +removed from the city; for when I think of those days, something rises +up in my throat and almost strangles me.</P> +<P>Now, as we sailed through the Narrows, I caught sight of that +beautiful fort on the cliff, and could not help contrasting my +situation now, with what it was when with my father and uncle I went +there so long ago. Then I never thought of working for my living, and +never knew that there were hard hearts in the world; and knew so little +of money, that when I bought a stick of candy, and laid down a +sixpence, I thought the confectioner returned five cents, only that I +might have money to buy something else, and not because the pennies +were my change, and therefore mine by good rights. How different my +idea of money now!</P> +<P>Then I was a schoolboy, and thought of going to college in time; and +had vague thoughts of becoming a great orator like Patrick Henry, whose +speeches I used to speak on the stage; but now, I was a poor friendless +boy, far away from my home, and voluntarily in the way of becoming a +miserable sailor for life. And what made it more bitter to me, was to +think of how well off were my cousins, who were happy and rich, and +lived at home with my uncles and aunts, with no thought of going to sea +for a living. I tried to think that it was all a dream, that I was not +where I was, not on board of a ship, but that I was at home again in +the city, with my father alive, and my mother bright and happy as she +used to be. But it would not do. I was indeed where I was, and here was +the ship, and there was the fort. So, after casting a last look at some +boys who were standing on the parapet, gazing off to sea, I turned away +heavily, and resolved not to look at the land any more.</P> +<P>About sunset we got fairly "outside," and well may it so be called; +for I felt thrust out of the world. Then the breeze began to blow, and +the sails were loosed, and hoisted; and after a while, the steamboat +left us, and for the first time I felt the ship roll, a strange feeling +enough, as if it were a great barrel in the water. Shortly after, I +observed a swift little schooner running across our bows, and +re-crossing again and again; and while I was wondering what she could +be, she suddenly lowered her sails, and two men took hold of a little +boat on her deck, and launched it overboard as if it had been a chip. +Then I noticed that our pilot, a red-faced man in a rough blue coat, +who to my astonishment had all this time been giving orders instead of +the captain, began to button up his coat to the throat, like a prudent +person about leaving a house at night in a lonely square, to go home; +and he left the giving orders to the chief mate, and stood apart +talking with the captain, and put his hand into his pocket, and gave +him some newspapers.</P> +<P>And in a few minutes, when we had stopped our headway, and allowed +the little boat to come alongside, he shook hands with the captain and +officers and bade them good-by, without saying a syllable of farewell +to me and the sailors; and so he went laughing over the side, and got +into the boat, and they pulled him off to the schooner, and then the +schooner made sail and glided under our stern, her men standing up and +waving their hats, and cheering; and that was the last we saw of +America.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_9">VIII. HE IS PUT INTO THE LARBOARD +WATCH; GETS SEA-SICK; AND RELATES SOME OTHER OF HIS EXPERIENCES</A></H3> +<P>It was now getting dark, when all at once the sailors were ordered +on the quarter-deck, and of course I went along with them.</P> +<P>What is to come now, thought I; but I soon found out. It seemed we +were going to be divided into watches. The chief mate began by +selecting a stout good-looking sailor for his watch; and then the +second mate's turn came to choose, and he also chose a stout +good-looking sailor. But it was not me;— no; and <I>I </I>noticed, as +they went on choosing, one after the other in regular rotation, that +both of the mates never so much as looked at me, but kept going round +among the rest, peering into their faces, for it was dusk, and telling +them not to hide themselves away so in their jackets. But the sailors, +especially the stout good-looking ones, seemed to make a point of +lounging as much out of the way as possible, and slouching their hats +over their eyes; and although it may only be a fancy of mine, <I>I </I> +certainly thought that they affected a sort of lordly indifference as +to whose watch they were going to be in; and did not think it worth +while to look any way anxious about the matter. And the very men who, a +few minutes before, had showed the most alacrity and promptitude in +jumping into the rigging and running aloft at the word of command, now +lounged against the bulwarks and most lazily; as if they were quite +sure, that by this time the officers must know who the best men were, +and they valued themselves well enough to be willing to put the +officers to the trouble of searching them out; for if they were worth +having, they were worth seeking.</P> +<P>At last they were all chosen but me; and it was the chief mate's +next turn to choose; though there could be little choosing in my case, +since <I>I </I>was a thirteener, and must, whether or no, go over to +the next column, like the odd figure you carry along when you do a sum +in addition.</P> +<P>"Well, Buttons," said the chief mate, "I thought I'd got rid of you. +And as it is, Mr. Rigs," he added, speaking to the second mate, "I +guess you had better take him into your watch;—there, I'll let you +have him, and then you'll be one stronger than me."</P> +<P>"No, I thank you," said Mr. Rigs.</P> +<P>"You had better," said the chief mate—"see, he's not a bad looking +chap—he's a little green, to be sure, but you were so once yourself, +you know, Rigs."</P> +<P>"No, I thank you," said the second mate again. "Take him +yourself—he's yours by good rights—I don't want him." And so they put +me in the chief mate's division, that is the larboard watch.</P> +<P>While this scene was going on, I felt shabby enough; there I stood, +just like a silly sheep, over whom two butchers are bargaining. Nothing +that had yet happened so forcibly reminded me of where I was, and what +I had come to. I was very glad when they sent us forward again.</P> +<P>As we were going forward, the second mate called one of the sailors +by name:-"You, Bill?" and Bill answered, "Sir?" just as if the second +mate was a born gentleman. It surprised me not a little, to see a man +in such a shabby, shaggy old jacket addressed so respectfully; but I +had been quite as much surprised when I heard the chief mate call him <I> +Mr. </I>Rigs during the scene on the quarter-deck; as if this <I>Mr. +Rigs </I>was a great merchant living in a marble house in Lafayette +Place. But I was not very long in finding out, that at sea all officers +are <I>Misters, </I>and would take it for an insult if any seaman +presumed to omit calling them so. And it is also one of their rights +and privileges to be called <I>sir </I>when addressed—Yes, <I>sir; No, +sir; Ay, ay, sir; </I>and they are as particular about being sirred as +so many knights and baronets; though their titles are not hereditary, +as is the case with the Sir Johns and Sir Joshuas in England. But so +far as the second mate is concerned, his tides are the only dignities +he enjoys; for, upon the whole, he leads a puppyish We indeed. He is +not deemed company at any time for the captain, though the chief mate +occasionally is, at least deck-company, though not in the cabin; and +besides this, the second mate has to breakfast, lunch, dine, and sup +off the leavings of the cabin table, and even the steward, who is +accountable to nobody but the captain, sometimes treats him cavalierly; +and he has to run aloft when topsails are reefed; and put his hand a +good way down into the tar-bucket; and keep the key of the boatswain's +locker, and fetch and carry balls of marline and seizing-stuff for the +sailors when at work in the rigging; besides doing many other things, +which a true-born baronet of any spirit would rather die and give up +his title than stand.</P> +<P>Having been divided into watches we were sent to supper; but I could +not eat any thing except a little biscuit, though I should have liked +to have some good tea; but as I had no pot to get it in, and was rather +nervous about asking the rough sailors to let me drink out of theirs; I +was obliged to go without a sip. I thought of going to the black cook +and begging a tin cup; but he looked so cross and ugly then, that the +sight of him almost frightened the idea out of me.</P> +<P>When supper was over, for they never talk about going to <I>tea </I> +aboard of a ship, the watch to which I belonged was called on deck; and +we were told it was for us to stand the first night watch, that is, +from eight o'clock till midnight.</P> +<P>I now began to feel unsettled and ill at ease about the stomach, as +if matters were all topsy-turvy there; and felt strange and giddy about +the head; and so I made no doubt that this was the beginning of that +dreadful thing, the sea-sickness. Feeling worse and worse, I told one +of the sailors how it was with me, and begged him to make my excuses +very civilly to the chief mate, for I thought I would go below and +spend the night in my bunk. But he only laughed at me, and said +something about my mother not being aware of my being out; which +enraged me not a little, that a man whom I had heard swear so terribly, +should dare to take such a holy name into his mouth. It seemed a sort +of blasphemy, and it seemed like dragging out the best and most +cherished secrets of my soul, for at that time the name of mother was +the center of all my heart's finest feelings, which ere that, I had +learned to keep secret, deep down in my being.</P> +<P>But I did not outwardly resent the sailor's words, for that would +have only made the matter worse.</P> +<P>Now this man was a Greenlander by birth, with a very white skin +where the sun had not burnt it, and handsome blue eyes placed wide +apart in his head, and a broad good-humored face, and plenty of curly +flaxen hair. He was not very tall, but exceedingly stout-built, though +active; and his back was as broad as a shield, and it was a great way +between his shoulders. He seemed to be a sort of lady's sailor, for in +his broken English he was always talking about the nice ladies of his +acquaintance in Stockholm and Copenhagen and a place he called the +Hook, which at first I fancied must be the place where lived the +hook-nosed men that caught fowling-pieces and every other article that +came along. He was dressed very tastefully, too, as if he knew he was a +good-looking fellow. He had on a new blue woolen Havre frock, with a +new silk handkerchief round his neck, passed through one of the +vertebral bones of a shark, highly polished and carved. His trowsers +were of clear white duck, and he sported a handsome pair of pumps, and +a tarpaulin hat bright as a looking-glass, with a long black ribbon +streaming behind, and getting entangled every now and then in the +rigging; and he had gold anchors in his ears, and a silver ring on one +of his fingers, which was very much worn and bent from pulling ropes +and other work on board ship. I thought he might better have left his +jewelry at home.</P> +<P>It was a long time before I could believe that this man was really +from Greenland, though he looked strange enough to me, then, to have +come from the moon; and he was full of stories about that distant +country; how they passed the winters there; and how bitter cold it was; +and how he used to go to bed and sleep twelve hours, and get up again +and run about, and go to bed again, and get up again—there was no +telling how many times, and all in one night; for in the winter time in +his country, he said, the nights were so many weeks long, that a +Greenland baby was sometimes three months old, before it could properly +be said to be a day old.</P> +<P>I had seen mention made of such things before, in books of voyages; +but that was only reading about them, just as you read the Arabian +Nights, which no one ever believes; for somehow, when I read about +these wonderful countries, I never used really to believe what I read, +but only thought it very strange, and a good deal too strange to be +altogether true; though I never thought the men who wrote the book +meant to tell lies. But I don't know exactly how to explain what I +mean; but this much I will say, that I never believed in Greenland till +I saw this Greenlander. And at first, hearing him talk about Greenland, +only made me still more incredulous. For what business had a man from +Greenland to be in my company? Why was he not at home among the +icebergs, and how could he stand a warm summer's sun, and not be melted +away? Besides, instead of icicles, there were ear-rings hanging from +his ears; and he did not wear bear-skins, and keep his hands in a huge +muff; things, which I could not help connecting with Greenland and all +Greenlanders.</P> +<P>But I was telling about my being sea-sick and wanting to retire for +the night. This Greenlander seeing I was ill, volunteered to turn +doctor and cure me; so going down into the forecastle, he came back +with a brown jug, like a molasses jug, and a little tin cannikin, and +as soon as the brown jug got near my nose, I needed no telling what was +in it, for it smelt like a still-house, and sure enough proved to be +full of Jamaica spirits.</P> +<P>"Now, Buttons," said he, "one little dose of this will be better for +you than a whole night's sleep; there, take that now, and then eat +seven or eight biscuits, and you'll feel as strong as the mainmast."</P> +<P>But I felt very little like doing as I was bid, for I had some +scruples about drinking spirits; and to tell the plain truth, for I am +not ashamed of it, I was a member of a society in the village where my +mother lived, called the Juvenile Total Abstinence Association, of +which my friend, Tom Legare, was president, secretary, and treasurer, +and kept the funds in a little purse that his cousin knit for him. +There was three and sixpence on hand, I believe, the last time he +brought in his accounts, on a May day, when we had a meeting in a grove +on the river-bank. Tom was a very honest treasurer, and never spent the +Society's money for peanuts; and besides all, was a fine, generous boy, +whom I much loved. But I must not talk about Tom now.</P> +<P>When the Greenlander came to me with his jug of medicine, I thanked +him as well as I could; for just then I was leaning with my mouth over +the side, feeling ready to die; but I managed to tell him I was under a +solemn obligation never to drink spirits upon any consideration +whatever; though, as I had a sort of presentiment that the spirits +would now, for once in my life, do me good, I began to feel sorry, that +when I signed the pledge of abstinence, I had not taken care to insert +a little clause, allowing me to drink spirits in case of sea-sickness. +And I would advise temperance people to attend to this matter in +future; and then if they come to go to sea, there will be no need of +breaking their pledges, which I am truly sorry to say was the case with +me. And a hard thing it was, too, thus to break a vow before unbroken; +especially as the Jamaica tasted any thing but agreeable, and indeed +burnt my mouth so, that I did not relish my meals for some time after. +Even when I had become quite well and strong again, I wondered how the +sailors could really like such stuff; but many of them had a jug of it, +besides the Greenlander, which they brought along to sea with them, <I> +to taper off with, </I>as they called it. But this tapering off did not +last very long, for the Jamaica was all gone on the second day, and the +jugs were tossed overboard. I wonder where they are now?</P> +<P>But to tell the truth, I found, in spite of its sharp taste, the +spirits I drank was just the thing I needed; but I suppose, if I could +have had a cup of nice hot coffee, it would have done quite as well, +and perhaps much better. But that was not to be had at that time of +night, or, indeed, at any other time; for the thing they called <I> +coffee, </I>which was given to us every morning at breakfast, was the +most curious tasting drink I ever drank, and tasted as little like +coffee, as it did like lemonade; though, to be sure, it was generally +as cold as lemonade, and I used to think the cook had an icehouse, and +dropt ice into his coffee. But what was more curious still, was the +different quality and taste of it on different mornings. Sometimes it +tasted fishy, as if it was a decoction of Dutch herrings; and then it +would taste very salty, as if some <I>old horse, </I>or sea-beef, had +been boiled in it; and then again it would taste a sort of cheesy, as +if the captain had sent his cheese-parings forward to make our coffee +of; and yet another time it would have such a very bad flavor, that I +was almost ready to think some old stocking-heels had been boiled in +it. What under heaven it was made of, that it had so many different bad +flavors, always remained a mystery; for when at work at his vocation, +our old cook used to keep himself close shut-up in his caboose, a +little cook-house, and never told any of his secrets.</P> +<P>Though a very serious character, as I shall hereafter show, he was +for all that, and perhaps for that identical reason, a very suspicious +looking sort of a cook, that I don't believe would ever succeed in +getting the cooking at Delmonico's in New York. It was well for him +that he was a black cook, for I have no doubt his color kept us from +seeing his dirty face! I never saw him wash but once, and that was at +one of his own soup pots one dark night when he thought no one saw him. +What induced him to be washing his face then, I never could find out; +but I suppose he must have suddenly waked up, after dreaming about some +real estate on his cheeks. As for his coffee, notwithstanding the +disagreeableness of its flavor, I always used to have a strange +curiosity every morning, to see what new taste it was going to have; +and though, sure enough, I never missed making a new discovery, and +adding another taste to my palate, I never found that there was any +change in the badness of the beverage, which always seemed the same in +that respect as before.</P> +<P>It may well be believed, then, that now when I was seasick, a cup of +such coffee as our old cook made would have done me no good, if indeed +it would not have come near making an end of me. And bad as it was, and +since it was not to be had at that time of night, as I said before, I +think I was excusable in taking something else in place of it, as I +did; and under the circumstances, it would be unhandsome of them, if my +fellow-members of the Temperance Society should reproach me for +breaking my bond, which I would not have done except in case of +necessity. But the evil effect of breaking one's bond upon any occasion +whatever, was witnessed in the present case; for it insidiously opened +the way to subsequent breaches of it, which though very slight, yet +carried no apology with them.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_10">IX. THE SAILORS BECOMING A LITTLE +SOCIAL, REDBURN CONVERSES WITH THEM</A></H3> +<P>The latter part of this first long watch that we stood was very +pleasant, so far as the weather was concerned. From being rather +cloudy, it became a soft moonlight; and the stars peeped out, plain +enough to count one by one; and there was a fine steady breeze; and it +was not very cold; and we were going through the water almost as smooth +as a sled sliding down hill. And what was still better, the wind held +so steady, that there was little running aloft, little pulling ropes, +and scarcely any thing disagreeable of that kind.</P> +<P>The chief mate kept walking up and down the quarter-deck, with a +lighted long-nine cigar in his mouth by way of a torch; and spoke but +few words to us the whole watch. He must have had a good deal of +thinking to attend to, which hi truth is the case with most seamen the +first night out of port, especially when they have thrown away their +money in foolish dissipation, and got very sick into the bargain. For +when ashore, many of these sea-officers are as wild and reckless in +their way, as the sailors they command.</P> +<P>While I stood watching the red cigar-end promenading up and down, +the mate suddenly stopped and gave an order, and the men sprang to obey +it. It was not much, only something about hoisting one of the sails a +little higher up on the mast. The men took hold of the rope, and began +pulling upon it; the foremost man of all setting up a song with no +words to it, only a strange musical rise and fall of notes. In the dark +night, and far out upon the lonely sea, it sounded wild enough, and +made me feel as I had sometimes felt, when in a twilight room a cousin +of mine, with black eyes, used to play some old German airs on the +piano. I almost looked round for goblins, and felt just a little bit +afraid. But I soon got used to this singing; for the sailors never +touched a rope without it. Sometimes, when no one happened to strike +up, and the pulling, whatever it might be, did not seem to be getting +forward very well, the mate would always say, <I>"Come, men, can't any +of you sing? Sing now, and raise the dead." </I>And then some one of +them would begin, and if every man's arms were as much relieved as mine +by the song, and he could pull as much better as I did, with such a +cheering accompaniment, I am sure the song was well worth the breath +expended on it. It is a great thing in a sailor to know how to sing +well, for he gets a great name by it from the officers, and a good deal +of popularity among his shipmates. Some sea-captains, before shipping a +man, always ask him whether he can sing out at a rope.</P> +<P>During the greater part of the watch, the sailors sat on the +windlass and told long stories of their adventures by sea and land, and +talked about Gibraltar, and Canton, and Valparaiso, and Bombay, just as +you and I would about Peck Slip and the Bowery. Every man of them +almost was a volume of Voyages and Travels round the World. And what +most struck me was that like books of voyages they often contradicted +each other, and would fall into long and violent disputes about who was +keeping the Foul Anchor tavern in Portsmouth at such a time; or whether +the King of Canton lived or did not live in Persia; or whether the +bar-maid of a particular house in Hamburg had black eyes or blue eyes; +with many other mooted points of that sort.</P> +<P>At last one of them went below and brought up a box of cigars from +his chest, for some sailors always provide little delicacies of that +kind, to break off the first shock of the salt water after laying idle +ashore; and also by way of <I>tapering off, </I>as I mentioned a little +while ago. But I wondered that they never carried any pies and tarts to +sea with them, instead of spirits and cigars.</P> +<P>Ned, for that was the man's name, split open the box with a blow of +his fist, and then handed it round along the windlass, just like a +waiter at a party, every one helping himself. But I was a member of an +Anti-Smoking Society that had been organized in our village by the +Principal of the Sunday School there, in conjunction with the +Temperance Association. So I did not smoke any then, though I did +afterward upon the voyage, I am sorry to say. Notwithstanding I +declined; with a good deal of unnecessary swearing, Ned assured me that +the cigars were real genuine Havannas; for he had been in Havanna, he +said, and had them made there under his own eye. According to his +account, he was very particular about his cigars and other things, and +never made any importations, for they were unsafe; but always made a +voyage himself direct to the place where any foreign thing was to be +had that he wanted. He went to Havre for his woolen shirts, to Panama +for his hats, to China for his silk handkerchiefs, and direct to +Calcutta for his cheroots; and as a great joker in the watch used to +say, no doubt he would at last have occasion to go to Russia for his +halter; the wit of which saying was presumed to be in the fact, that +the Russian hemp is the best; though that is not wit which needs +explaining.</P> +<P>By dint of the spirits which, besides stimulating my fainting +strength, united with the cool air of the sea to give me an appetite +for our hard biscuit; and also by dint of walking briskly up and down +the deck before the windlass, I had now recovered in good part from my +sickness, and finding the sailors all very pleasant and sociable, at +least among themselves, and seated smoking together like old cronies, +and nothing on earth to do but sit the watch out, I began to think that +they were a pretty good set of fellows after all, barring their +swearing and another ugly way of talking they had; and I thought I had +misconceived their true characters; for at the outset I had deemed them +such a parcel of wicked hard-hearted rascals that it would be a severe +affliction to associate with them.</P> +<P>Yes, I now began to look on them with a sort of incipient love; but +more with an eye of pity and compassion, as men of naturally gentle and +kind dispositions, whom only hardships, and neglect, and ill-usage had +made outcasts from good society; and not as villains who loved +wickedness for the sake of it, and would persist in wickedness, even in +Paradise, if they ever got there. And I called to mind a sermon I had +once heard in a church in behalf of sailors, when the preacher called +them strayed lambs from the fold, and compared them to poor lost +children, babes in the wood, orphans without fathers or mothers.</P> +<P>And I remembered reading in a magazine, called the Sailors' +Magazine, with a sea-blue cover, and a ship painted on the back, about +pious seamen who never swore, and paid over all their wages to the poor +heathen in India; and how that when they were too old to go to sea, +these pious old sailors found a delightful home for life in the +Hospital, where they had nothing to do, but prepare themselves for +their latter end. And I wondered whether there were any such good +sailors among my ship-mates; and observing that one of them laid on +deck apart from the rest, I thought to be sure he must be one of them: +so I did not disturb his devotions: but I was afterward shocked at +discovering that he was only fast asleep, with one of the brown jugs by +his side.</P> +<P>I forgot to mention by the way, that every once in a while, the men +went into one corner, where the chief mate could not see them, to take +a "swig at the halyards," as they called it; and this swigging at the +halyards it was, that enabled them "to taper off" handsomely, and no +doubt it was this, too, that had something to do with making them so +pleasant and sociable that night, for they were seldom so pleasant and +sociable afterward, and never treated me so kindly as they did then. +Yet this might have been owing to my being something of a stranger to +them, then; and our being just out of port. But that very night they +turned about, and taught me a bitter lesson; but all in good time.</P> +<P>I have said, that seeing how agreeable they were getting, and how +friendly their manner was, I began to feel a sort of compassion for +them, grounded on their sad conditions as amiable outcasts; and feeling +so warm an interest in them, and being full of pity, and being truly +desirous of benefiting them to the best of my poor powers, for I knew +they were but poor indeed, I made bold to ask one of them, whether he +was ever in the habit of going to church, when he was ashore, or +dropping in at the Floating Chapel I had seen lying off the dock in the +East River at New York; and whether he would think it too much of a +liberty, if I asked him, if he had any good books in his chest. He +stared a little at first, but marking what good language I used, seeing +my civil bearing toward him, he seemed for a moment to be filled with a +certain involuntary respect for me, and answered, that he had been to +church once, some ten or twelve years before, in London, and on a +week-day had helped to move the Floating Chapel round the Battery, from +the North River; and that was the only time he had seen it. For his +books, he said he did not know what I meant by good books; but if I +wanted the Newgate Calendar, and Pirate's Own, he could lend them to me.</P> +<P>When I heard this poor sailor talk in this manner, showing so +plainly his ignorance and absence of proper views of religion, I pitied +him more and more, and contrasting my own situation with his, I was +grateful that I was different from him; and I thought how pleasant it +was, to feel wiser and better than he could feel; though I was willing +to confess to myself, that it was not altogether my own good endeavors, +so much as my education, which I had received from others, that had +made me the upright and sensible boy I at that time thought myself to +be. And it was now, that I began to feel a good degree of complacency +and satisfaction in surveying my own character; for, before this, I had +previously associated with persons of a very discreet life, so that +there was little opportunity to magnify myself, by comparing myself +with my neighbors.</P> +<P>Thinking that my superiority to him in a moral way might sit +uneasily upon this sailor, I thought it would soften the matter down by +giving him a chance to show his own superiority to me, in a minor +thing; for I was far from being vain and conceited.</P> +<P>Having observed that at certain intervals a little bell was rung on +the quarter-deck by the man at the wheel; and that as soon as it was +heard, some one of the sailors forward struck a large bell which hung +on the forecastle; and having observed that how many times soever the +man astern rang his bell, the man forward struck his—tit for tat,—I +inquired of this Floating Chapel sailor, what all this ringing meant; +and whether, as the big bell hung right over the scuttle that went down +to the place where the watch below were sleeping, such a ringing every +little while would not tend to disturb them and beget unpleasant +dreams; and in asking these questions I was particular to address him +in a civil and condescending way, so as to show him very plainly that I +did not deem myself one whit better than he was, that is, taking all +things together, and not going into particulars. But to my great +surprise and mortification, he in the rudest land of manner laughed +aloud in my face, and called me a "Jimmy Dux," though that was not my +real name, and he must have known it; and also the "son of a farmer," +though as I have previously related, my father was a great merchant and +French importer in Broad-street in New York. And then he began to laugh +and joke about me, with the other sailors, till they all got round me, +and if I had not felt so terribly angry, I should certainly have felt +very much Eke a fool. But my being so angry prevented me from feeling +foolish, which is very lucky for people in a passion.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_11">X. HE IS VERY MUCH FRIGHTENED; THE +SAILORS ABUSE HIM; AND HE BECOMES MISERABLE AND FORLORN</A></H3> +<P>While the scene last described was going on, we were all startled by +a horrid groaning noise down in the forecastle; and all at once some +one came rushing up the scuttle in his shirt, clutching something in +his hand, and trembling and shrieking in the most frightful manner, so +that I thought one of the sailors must be murdered below.</P> +<P>But it all passed in a moment; and while we stood aghast at the +sight, and almost before we knew what it was, the shrieking man jumped +over the bows into the sea, and we saw him no more. Then there was a +great uproar; the sailors came running up on deck; and the chief mate +ran forward, and learning what had happened, began to yell out his +orders about the sails and yards; and we all went to pulling and +hauling the ropes, till at last the ship lay almost still on the water. +Then they loosed a boat, which kept pulling round the ship for more +than an hour, but they never caught sight of the man. It seemed that he +was one of the sailors who had been brought aboard dead drunk, and +tumbled into his bunk by his landlord; and there he had lain till now. +He must have suddenly waked up, I suppose, raging mad with the delirium +tremens, as the chief mate called it, and finding himself in a strange +silent place, and knowing not how he had got there, he rushed on deck, +and so, in a fit of frenzy, put an end to himself.</P> +<P>This event, happening at the dead of night, had a wonderfully solemn +and almost awful effect upon me. I would have given the whole world, +and the sun and moon, and all the stars in heaven, if they had been +mine, had I been safe back at Mr. Jones', or still better, in my home +on the Hudson River. I thought it an ill-omened voyage, and railed at +the folly which had sent me to sea, sore against the advice of my best +friends, that is to say, my mother and sisters.</P> +<P>Alas! poor Wellingborough, thought I, you will never see your home +any more. And in this melancholy mood I went below, when the watch had +expired, which happened soon after. But to my terror, I found that the +suicide had been occupying the very bunk which I had appropriated to +myself, and there was no other place for me to sleep in. The thought of +lying down there now, seemed too horrible to me, and what made it +worse, was the way in which the sailors spoke of my being frightened. +And they took this opportunity to tell me what a hard and wicked Me I +had entered upon, and how that such things happened frequently at sea, +and they were used to it. But I did not believe this; for when the +suicide came rushing and shrieking up the scuttle, they looked as +frightened as I did; and besides that, and what makes their being +frightened still plainer, is the fact, that if they had had any +presence of mind, they could have prevented his plunging overboard, +since he brushed right by them. However, they lay in then-bunks +smoking, and kept talking on some time in this strain, and advising me +as soon as ever I got home to pin my ears back, so as not to hold the +wind, and sail straight away into the interior of the country, and +never stop until deep in the bush, far off from the least running +brook, never mind how shallow, and out of sight of even the smallest +puddle of rainwater.</P> +<P>This kind of talking brought the tears into my eyes, for it was so +true and real, and the sailors who spoke it seemed so false-hearted and +insincere; but for all that, in spite of the sickness at my heart, it +made me mad, and stung me to the quick, that they should speak of me as +a poor trembling coward, who could never be brought to endure the +hardships of a sailor's life; for I felt myself trembling, and knew +that I was but a coward then, well enough, without their telling me of +it. And they did not say I was cowardly, because they perceived it in +me, but because they merely supposed I must be, judging, no doubt, from +their own secret thoughts about themselves; for I felt sure that the +suicide frightened them very badly. And at last, being provoked to +desperation by their taunts, I told them so to their faces; but I might +better have kept silent; for they now all united to abuse me. They +asked me what business I, a boy like me, had to go to sea, and take the +bread out of the mouth of honest sailors, and fill a good seaman's +place; and asked me whether I ever dreamed of becoming a captain, since +I was a gentleman with white hands; and if I ever <I>should </I>be, +they would like nothing better than to ship aboard my vessel and stir +up a mutiny. And one of them, whose name was Jackson, of whom I shall +have a good deal more to say by-and-by, said, I had better steer clear +of him ever after, for if ever I crossed his path, or got into his way, +he would be the death of me, and if ever I stumbled about in the +rigging near <I>him, </I>he would make nothing of pitching me +overboard; and that he swore too, with an oath. At first, all this +nearly stunned me, it was so unforeseen; and then I could not believe +that they meant what they said, or that they could be so cruel and +black-hearted. But how could I help seeing, that the men who could thus +talk to a poor, friendless boy, on the very first night of his voyage +to sea, must be capable of almost any enormity. I loathed, detested, +and hated them with all that was left of my bursting heart and soul, +and I thought myself the most forlorn and miserable wretch that ever +breathed. May I never be a man, thought I, if to be a boy is to be such +a wretch. And I wailed and wept, and my heart cracked within me, but +all the time I defied them through my teeth, and dared them to do their +worst.</P> +<P>At last they ceased talking and fell fast asleep, leaving me awake, +seated on a chest with my face bent over my knees between my hands. And +there I sat, till at length the dull beating against the ship's bows, +and the silence around soothed me down, and I fell asleep as I sat.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_12">XI. HE HELPS WASH THE DECKS, AND +THEN GOES TO BREAKFAST</A></H3> +<P>The next thing I knew, was the loud thumping of a handspike on deck +as the watch was called again. It was now four o'clock in the morning, +and when we got on deck the first signs of day were shining in the +east. The men were very sleepy, and sat down on the windlass without +speaking, and some of them nodded and nodded, till at last they fell +off like little boys in church during a drowsy sermon. At last it was +broad day, and an order was given to wash down the decks. A great tub +was dragged into the waist, and then one of the men went over into the +chains, and slipped in behind a band fastened to the shrouds, and +leaning over, began to swing a bucket into the sea by a long rope; and +in that way with much expertness and sleight of hand, he managed to +fill the tub in a very short time. Then the water began to splash about +all over the decks, and I began to think I should surely get my feet +wet, and catch my death of cold. So I went to the chief mate, and told +him I thought I would just step below, till this miserable wetting was +over; for I did not have any water-proof boots, and an aunt of mine had +died of consumption. But he only roared out for me to get a broom and +go to scrubbing, or he would prove a worse consumption to me than ever +got hold of my poor aunt. So I scrubbed away fore and aft, till my back +was almost broke, for the brooms had uncommon short handles, and we +were told to scrub hard.</P> +<P>At length the scrubbing being over, the mate began heaving buckets +of water about, to wash every thing clean, by way of finishing off. He +must have thought this fine sport, just as captains of fire engines +love to point the tube of their hose; for he kept me running after him +with full buckets of water, and sometimes chased a little chip all over +the deck, with a continued flood, till at last he sent it flying out of +a scupper-hole into the sea; when if he had only given me permission, I +could have picked it up in a trice, and dropped it overboard without +saying one word, and without wasting so much water. But he said there +was plenty of water in the ocean, and to spare; which was true enough, +but then I who had to trot after him with the buckets, had no more legs +and arms than I wanted for my own use.</P> +<P>I thought this washing down the decks was the most foolish thing in +the world, and besides that it was the most uncomfortable. It was worse +than my mother's house-cleanings at home, which I used to abominate so.</P> +<P>At eight o'clock the bell was struck, and we went to breakfast. And +now some of the worst of my troubles began. For not having had any +friend to tell me what I would want at sea, I had not provided myself, +as I should have done, with a good many things that a sailor needs; and +for my own part, it had never entered my mind, that sailors had no +table to sit down to, no cloth, or napkins, or tumblers, and had to +provide every thing themselves. But so it was.</P> +<P>The first thing they did was this. Every sailor went to the +cook-house with his tin pot, and got it filled with coffee; but of +course, having no pot, there was no coffee for me. And after that, a +sort of little tub called a "kid," was passed down into the forecastle, +filled with something they called "burgoo." This was like mush, made of +Indian corn, meal, and water. With the <I>"kid," a. </I>little tin +cannikin was passed down with molasses. Then the Jackson that I spoke +of before, put the kid between his knees, and began to pour in the +molasses, just like an old landlord mixing punch for a party. He +scooped out a little hole in the middle of the mush, to hold the +molasses; so it looked for all the world like a little black pool in +the Dismal Swamp of Virginia.</P> +<P>Then they all formed a circle round the kid; and one after the +other, with great regularity, dipped their spoons into the mush, and +after stirring them round a little in the molasses-pool, they swallowed +down their mouthfuls, and smacked their lips over it, as if it tasted +very good; which I have no doubt it did; but not having any spoon, I +wasn't sure.</P> +<P>I sat some time watching these proceedings, and wondering how polite +they were to each other; for, though there were a great many spoons to +only one dish, they never got entangled. At last, seeing that the mush +was getting thinner and thinner, and that it was getting low water, or +rather low molasses in the little pool, I ran on deck, and after +searching about, returned with a bit of stick; and thinking I had as +good a right as any one else to the mush and molasses, I worked my way +into the circle, intending to make one of the party. So I shoved in my +stick, and after twirling it about, was just managing to carry a little <I> +burgoo </I>toward my mouth, which had been for some time standing ready +open to receive it, when one of the sailors perceiving what I was +about, knocked the stick out of my hands, and asked me where I learned +my manners; Was that the way gentlemen eat in my country? Did they eat +their victuals with splinters of wood, and couldn't that wealthy +gentleman my father afford to buy his gentlemanly son a spoon?</P> +<P>All the rest joined in, and pronounced me an ill-bred, coarse, and +unmannerly youngster, who, if permitted to go on with such behavior as +that, would corrupt the whole crew, and make them no better than swine.</P> +<P>As I felt conscious that a stick was indeed a thing very unsuitable +to eat with, I did not say much to this, though it vexed me enough; but +remembering that I had seen one of the steerage passengers with a pan +and spoon in his hand eating his breakfast on the fore hatch, I now ran +on deck again, and to my great joy succeeded in borrowing his spoon, +for he had got through his meal, and down I came again, though at the +eleventh hour, and offered myself once more as a candidate.</P> +<P>But alas! there was little more of the Dismal Swamp left, and when I +reached over to the opposite end of the kid, I received a rap on the +knuckles from a spoon, and was told that I must help myself from my own +side, for that was the rule. But <I>my </I>side was scraped clean, so I +got no <I>burgoo </I>that morning.</P> +<P>But I made it up by eating some salt beef and biscuit, which I found +to be the invariable accompaniment of every meal; the sailors sitting +cross-legged on their chests in a circle, and breaking the hard +biscuit, very sociably, over each other's heads, which was very +convenient indeed, but gave me the headache, at least for the first +four or five days till I got used to it; and then I did not care much +about it, only it kept my hair full of crumbs; and I had forgot to +bring a fine comb and brush, so I used to shake my hair out to windward +over the bulwarks every evening.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_13">XII. HE GIVES SOME ACCOUNT OF ONE +OF HIS SHIPMATES CALLED JACKSON</A></H3> +<P>While we sat eating our beef and biscuit, two of the men got into a +dispute, about who had been sea-faring the longest; when Jackson, who +had mixed the <I>burgoo, </I>called upon them in a loud voice to cease +their clamor, for he would decide the matter for them. Of this sailor, +I shall have something more to say, as I get on with my narrative; so, +I will here try to describe him a little.</P> +<P>Did you ever see a man, with his hair shaved off, and just recovered +from the yellow fever? Well, just such a looking man was this sailor. +He was as yellow as gamboge, had no more whisker on his cheek, than I +have on my elbows. His hair had fallen out, and left him very bald, +except in the nape of his neck, and just behind the ears, where it was +stuck over with short little tufts, and looked like a worn-out +shoe-brush. His nose had broken down in the middle, and he squinted +with one eye, and did not look very straight out of the other. He +dressed a good deal like a Bowery boy; for he despised the ordinary +sailor-rig; wearing a pair of great over-all blue trowsers, fastened +with suspenders, and three red woolen shirts, one over the other; for +he was subject to the rheumatism, and was not in good health, he said; +and he had a large white wool hat, with a broad rolling brim. He was a +native of New York city, and had a good deal to say about <I> +highlanders, </I>and <I>rowdies, </I>whom he denounced as only good for +the gallows; but I thought he looked a good deal like a <I>highlander </I> +himself.</P> +<P>His name, as I have said, was Jackson; and he told us, he was a near +relation of General Jackson of New Orleans, and swore terribly, if any +one ventured to question what he asserted on that head. In fact he was +a great bully, and being the best seaman on board, and very overbearing +every way, all the men were afraid of him, and durst not contradict +him, or cross his path in any thing. And what made this more wonderful +was, that he was the weakest man, bodily, of the whole crew; and I have +no doubt that young and small as I was then, compared to what I am now, +I could have thrown him down. But he had such an overawing way with +him; such a deal of brass and impudence, such an unflinching face, and +withal was such a hideous looking mortal, that Satan himself would have +run from him. And besides all this, it was quite plain, that he was by +nature a marvelously clever, cunning man, though without education; and +understood human nature to a kink, and well knew whom he had to deal +with; and then, one glance of his squinting eye, was as good as a +knock-down, for it was the most deep, subtle, infernal looking eye, +that I ever saw lodged in a human head. I believe, that by good rights +it must have belonged to a wolf, or starved tiger; at any rate, I would +defy any oculist, to turn out a glass eye, half so cold, and snaky, and +deadly. It was a horrible thing; and I would give much to forget that I +have ever seen it; for it haunts me to this day.</P> +<P>It was impossible to tell how old this Jackson was; for he had no +beard, and no wrinkles, except small crowsfeet about the eyes. He might +have seen thirty, or perhaps fifty years. But according to his own +account, he had been to sea ever since he was eight years old, when he +first went as a cabin-boy in an Indiaman, and ran away at Calcutta. And +according to his own account, too, he had passed through every kind of +dissipation and abandonment in the worst parts of the world. He had +served in Portuguese slavers on the coast of Africa; and with a +diabolical relish used to tell of the <I>middle-passage, </I>where the +slaves were stowed, heel and point, like logs, and the suffocated and +dead were unmanacled, and weeded out from the living every morning, +before washing down the decks; how he had been in a slaving schooner, +which being chased by an English cruiser off Cape Verde, received three +shots in her hull, which raked through and through a whole file of +slaves, that were chained.</P> +<P>He would tell of lying in Batavia during a fever, when his ship lost +a man every few days, and how they went reeling ashore with the body, +and got still more intoxicated by way of precaution against the plague. +He would talk of finding a cobra-di-capello, or hooded snake, under his +pillow in India, when he slept ashore there. He would talk of sailors +being poisoned at Canton with drugged <I>"shampoo," </I>for the sake of +their money; and of the Malay ruffians, who stopped ships in the +straits of Caspar, and always saved the captain for the last, so as to +make him point out where the most valuable goods were stored.</P> +<P>His whole talk was of this land; full of piracies, plagues and +poisonings. And often he narrated many passages in his own individual +career, which were almost incredible, from the consideration that few +men could have plunged into such infamous vices, and clung to them so +long, without paying the death-penalty.</P> +<P>But in truth, he carried about with him the traces of these things, +and the mark of a fearful end nigh at hand; like that of King Antiochus +of Syria, who died a worse death, history says, than if he had been +stung out of the world by wasps and hornets.</P> +<P>Nothing was left of this Jackson but the foul lees and dregs of a +man; he was thin as a shadow; nothing but skin and bones; and sometimes +used to complain, that it hurt him to sit on the hard chests. And I +sometimes fancied, it was the consciousness of his miserable, +broken-down condition, and the prospect of soon dying like a dog, in +consequence of his sins, that made this poor wretch always eye me with +such malevolence as he did. For I was young and handsome, at least my +mother so thought me, and as soon as I became a little used to the sea, +and shook off my low spirits somewhat, I began to have my old color in +my cheeks, and, spite of misfortune, to appear well and hearty; whereas <I> +he </I>was being consumed by an incurable malady, that was eating up +his vitals, and was more fit for a hospital than a ship.</P> +<P>As I am sometimes by nature inclined to indulge in unauthorized +surmisings about the thoughts going on with regard to me, in the people +I meet; especially if I have reason to think they dislike me; I will +not put it down for a certainty that what I suspected concerning this +Jackson relative to his thoughts of me, was really the truth. But only +state my honest opinion, and how it struck me at the time; and even +now, I think I was not wrong. And indeed, unless it was so, how could I +account to myself, for the shudder that would run through me, when I +caught this man gazing at me, as I often did; for he was apt to be dumb +at times, and would sit with his eyes fixed, and his teeth set, like a +man in the moody madness.</P> +<P>I well remember the first time I saw him, and how I was startled at +his eye, which was even then fixed upon me. He was standing at the +ship's helm, being the first man that got there, when a steersman was +called for by the pilot; for this Jackson was always on the alert for +easy duties, and used to plead his delicate health as the reason for +assuming them, as he did; though I used to think, that for a man in +poor health, he was very swift on the legs; at least when a good place +was to be jumped to; though that might only have been a sort of +spasmodic exertion under strong inducements, which every one knows the +greatest invalids will sometimes show.</P> +<P>And though the sailors were always very bitter against any thing +like <I>sogering, </I>as they called it; that is, any thing that +savored of a desire to get rid of downright hard work; yet, I observed +that, though this Jackson was a notorious old <I>soger </I>the whole +voyage (I mean, in all things not perilous to do, from which he was far +from hanging back), and in truth was a great veteran that way, and one +who must have passed unhurt through many campaigns; yet, they never +presumed to call him to account in any way; or to let him so much as +think, what they thought of his conduct. But I often heard them call +him many hard names behind his back; and sometimes, too, when, perhaps, +they had just been tenderly inquiring after his health before his face. +They all stood in mortal fear of him; and cringed and fawned about him +like so many spaniels; and used to rub his back, after he was undressed +and lying in his bunk; and used to run up on deck to the cook-house, to +warm some cold coffee for him; and used to fill his pipe, and give him +chews of tobacco, and mend his jackets and trowsers; and used to watch, +and tend, and nurse him every way. And all the time, he would sit +scowling on them, and found fault with what they did; and I noticed, +that those who did the most for him, and cringed the most before him, +were the very ones he most abused; while two or three who held more +aloof, he treated with a little consideration.</P> +<P>It is not for me to say, what it was that made a whole ship's +company submit so to the whims of one poor miserable man like Jackson. +I only know that so it was; but I have no doubt, that if he had had a +blue eye in his head, or had had a different face from what he did +have, they would not have stood in such awe of him. And it astonished +me, to see that one of the seamen, a remarkably robust and good-humored +young man from Belfast in Ireland, was a person of no mark or influence +among the crew; but on the contrary was hooted at, and trampled upon, +and made a butt and laughing-stock; and more than all, was continually +being abused and snubbed by Jackson, who seemed to hate him cordially, +because of his great strength and fine person, and particularly because +of his red cheeks.</P> +<P>But then, this Belfast man, although he had shipped for an <I> +able-seaman, </I>was not much of a sailor; and that always lowers a man +in the eyes of a ship's company; I mean, when he ships for an <I> +able-seaman, </I>but is not able to do the duty of one. For sailors are +of three classes—<I>able-seaman, ordinary-seaman, </I>and <I>boys; </I> +and they receive different wages according to their rank. Generally, a +ship's company of twelve men will only have five or six able seamen, +who if they prove to understand their duty every way (and that is no +small matter either, as I shall hereafter show, perhaps), are looked up +to, and thought much of by the ordinary-seamen and boys, who reverence +their very pea-jackets, and lay up their sayings in their hearts.</P> +<P>But you must not think from this, that persons called <I>boys </I> +aboard merchant-ships are all youngsters, though to be sure, I myself +was called a <I>boy, </I>and a boy I was. No. In merchant-ships, a <I> +boy </I>means a green-hand, a landsman on his first voyage. And never +mind if he is old enough to be a grandfather, he is still called a <I> +boy; </I>and boys' work is put upon him.</P> +<P>But I am straying off from what I was going to say about Jackson's +putting an end to the dispute between the two sailors in the forecastle +after breakfast. After they had been disputing some time about who had +been to sea the longest, Jackson told them to stop talking; and then +bade one of them open his mouth; for, said he, I can tell a sailor's +age just like a horse's—by his teeth. So the man laughed, and opened +his mouth; and Jackson made him step out under the scuttle, where the +light came down from deck; and then made him throw his head back, while +he looked into it, and probed a little with his jackknife, like a +baboon peering into a junk-bottle. I trembled for the poor fellow, just +as if I had seen him under the hands of a crazy barber, making signs to +cut his throat, and he all the while sitting stock still, with the +lather on, to be shaved. For I watched Jackson's eye and saw it +snapping, and a sort of going in and out, very quick, as if it were +something like a forked tongue; and somehow, I felt as if he were +longing to kill the man; but at last he grew more composed, and after +concluding his examination, said, that the first man was the oldest +sailor, for the ends of his teeth were the evenest and most worn down; +which, he said, arose from eating so much hard sea-biscuit; and this +was the reason he could tell a sailor's age like a horse's.</P> +<P>At this, every body made merry, and looked at each other, as much as +to <I>say—come, boys, let's laugh; </I>and they did laugh; and +declared it was a rare joke.</P> +<P>This was always the way with them. They made a point of shouting +out, whenever Jackson said any thing with a grin; that being the sign +to them that he himself thought it funny; though I heard many good +jokes from others pass off without a smile; and once Jackson himself +(for, to tell the truth, he sometimes had a comical way with him, that +is, when his back did not ache) told a truly funny story, but with a +grave face; when, not knowing how he meant it, whether for a laugh or +otherwise, they all sat still, waiting what to do, and looking +perplexed enough; till at last Jackson roared out upon them for a +parcel of fools and idiots; and told them to their beards, how it was; +that he had purposely put on his grave face, to see whether they would +not look grave, too; even when he was telling something that ought to +split their sides. And with that, he flouted, and jeered at them, and +laughed them all to scorn; and broke out in such a rage, that his lips +began to glue together at the corners with a fine white foam.</P> +<P>He seemed to be full of hatred and gall against every thing and +every body in the world; as if all the world was one person, and had +done him some dreadful harm, that was rankling and festering in his +heart. Sometimes I thought he was really crazy; and often felt so +frightened at him, that I thought of going to the captain about it, and +telling him Jackson ought to be confined, lest he should do some +terrible thing at last. But upon second thoughts, I always gave it up; +for the captain would only have called me a fool, and sent me forward +again.</P> +<P>But you must not think that all the sailors were alike in abasing +themselves before this man. No: there were three or four who used to +stand up sometimes against him; and when he was absent at the wheel, +would plot against him among the other sailors, and tell them what a +shame and ignominy it was, that such a poor miserable wretch should be +such a tyrant over much better men than himself. And they begged and +conjured them as men, to put up with it no longer, but the very next +time, that Jackson presumed to play the dictator, that they should all +withstand him, and let him know his place. Two or three times nearly +all hands agreed to it, with the exception of those who used to slink +off during such discussions; and swore that they would not any more +submit to being ruled by Jackson. But when the time came to make good +their oaths, they were mum again, and let every thing go on the old +way; so that those who had put them up to it, had to bear all the brunt +of Jackson's wrath by themselves. And though these last would stick up +a little at first, and even mutter something about a fight to Jackson; +yet in the end, finding themselves unbefriended by the rest, they would +gradually become silent, and leave the field to the tyrant, who would +then fly out worse than ever, and dare them to do their worst, and jeer +at them for white-livered poltroons, who did not have a mouthful of +heart in them. At such times, there were no bounds to his contempt; and +indeed, all the time he seemed to have even more contempt than hatred, +for every body and every thing.</P> +<P>As for me, I was but a boy; and at any time aboard ship, a boy is +expected to keep quiet, do what he is bid, never presume to interfere, +and seldom to talk, unless spoken to. For merchant sailors have a great +idea of their dignity, and superiority to <I>greenhorns </I>and <I> +landsmen, </I>who know nothing about a ship; and they seem to think, +that an <I>able seaman </I>is a great man; at least a much greater man +than a little boy. And the able seamen in the Highlander had such grand +notions about their seamanship, that I almost thought that able seamen +received diplomas, like those given at colleges; and were made a sort <I> +A.M.S, </I>or <I>Masters of Arts.</I></P> +<P>But though I kept thus quiet, and had very little to say, and well +knew that my best plan was to get along peaceably with every body, and +indeed endure a good deal before showing fight, yet I could not avoid +Jackson's evil eye, nor escape his bitter enmity. And his being my foe, +set many of the rest against me; or at least they were afraid to speak +out for me before Jackson; so that at last I found myself a sort of +Ishmael in the ship, without a single friend or companion; and I began +to feel a hatred growing up in me against the whole crew—so much so, +that I prayed against it, that it might not master my heart completely, +and so make a fiend of me, something like Jackson.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_14">XII. HE HAS A FINE DAY AT SEA, +BEGINS TO LIKE IT; BUT CHANGES HIS MIND</A></H3> +<P>The second day out of port, the decks being washed down and +breakfast over, the watch was called, and the mate set us to work.</P> +<P>It was a very bright day. The sky and water were both of the same +deep hue; and the air felt warm and sunny; so that we threw off our +jackets. I could hardly believe that I was sailing in the same ship I +had been in during the night, when every thing had been so lonely and +dim; and I could hardly imagine that this was the same ocean, now so +beautiful and blue, that during part of the night-watch had rolled +along so black and forbidding.</P> +<P>There were little traces of sunny clouds all over the heavens; and +little fleeces of foam all over the sea; and the ship made a strange, +musical noise under her bows, as she glided along, with her sails all +still. It seemed a pity to go to work at such a time; and if we could +only have sat in the windlass again; or if they would have let me go +out on the bowsprit, and lay down between the <I>manropes </I>there, +and look over at the fish in the water, and think of home, I should +have been almost happy for a time.</P> +<P>I had now completely got over my sea-sickness, and felt very well; +at least in my body, though my heart was far from feeling right; so +that I could now look around me, and make observations.</P> +<P>And truly, though we were at sea, there was much to behold and +wonder at; to me, who was on my first voyage. What most amazed me was +the sight of the great ocean itself, for we were out of sight of land. +All round us, on both sides of the ship, ahead and astern, nothing was +to be seen but water-water—water; not a single glimpse of green shore, +not the smallest island, or speck of moss any where. Never did I +realize till now what the ocean was: how grand and majestic, how +solitary, and boundless, and beautiful and blue; for that day it gave +no tokens of squalls or hurricanes, such as I had heard my father tell +of; nor could I imagine, how any thing that seemed so playful and +placid, could be lashed into rage, and troubled into rolling avalanches +of foam, and great cascades of waves, such as I saw in the end.</P> +<P>As I looked at it so mild and sunny, I could not help calling to +mind my little brother's face, when he was sleeping an infant in the +cradle. It had just such a happy, careless, innocent look; and every +happy little wave seemed gamboling about like a thoughtless Little kid +in a pasture; and seemed to look up in your face as it passed, as if it +wanted to be patted and caressed. They seemed all live things with +hearts in them, that could feel; and I almost felt grieved, as we +sailed in among them, scattering them under our broad bows in +sun-flakes, and riding over them like a great elephant among lambs. +But what seemed perhaps the most strange to me of all, was a certain +wonderful rising and falling of the sea; I do not mean the waves +themselves, but a sort of wide heaving and swelling and sinking all +over the ocean. It was something I can not very well describe; but I +know very well what it was, and how it affected me. It made me almost +dizzy to look at it; and yet I could not keep my eyes off it, it seemed +so passing strange and wonderful.</P> +<P>I felt as if in a dream all the time; and when I could shut the ship +out, almost thought I was in some new, fairy world, and expected to +hear myself called to, out of the clear blue air, or from the depths of +the deep blue sea. But I did not have much leisure to indulge in such +thoughts; for the men were now getting some <I>stun'-sails </I>ready to +hoist aloft, as the wind was getting fairer and fairer for us; and +these stun'-sails are light canvas which are spread at such times, away +out beyond the ends of the yards, where they overhang the wide water, +like the wings of a great bird.</P> +<P>For my own part, I could do but little to help the rest, not knowing +the name of any thing, or the proper way to go about aught. Besides, I +felt very dreamy, as I said before; and did not exactly know where, or +what I was; every thing was so strange and new.</P> +<P>While the stun'-sails were lying all tumbled upon the deck, and the +sailors were fastening them to the booms, getting them ready to hoist, +the mate ordered me to do a great many simple things, none of which +could I comprehend, owing to the queer words he used; and then, seeing +me stand quite perplexed and confounded, he would roar out at me, and +call me all manner of names, and the sailors would laugh and wink to +each other, but durst not go farther than that, for fear of the mate, +who in his own presence would not let any body laugh at me but himself.</P> +<P>However, I tried to wake up as much as I could, and keep from +dreaming with my eyes open; and being, at bottom, a smart, apt lad, at +last I managed to learn a thing or two, so that I did not appear so +much like a fool as at first.</P> +<P>People who have never gone to sea for the first time as sailors, can +not imagine how puzzling and confounding it is. It must be like going +into a barbarous country, where they speak a strange dialect, arid +dress in strange clothes, and live in strange houses. For sailors have +their own names, even for things that are familiar ashore; and if you +call a thing by its shore name, you are laughed at for an ignoramus and +a landlubber. This first day I speak of, the mate having ordered me to +draw some water, I asked him where I was to get the pail; when I +thought I had committed some dreadful crime; for he flew into a great +passion, and said they never had any <I>pails </I>at sea, and then I +learned that they were always called <I>buckets. </I>And once I was +talking about sticking a little wooden peg into a bucket to stop a +leak, when he flew out again, and said there were no <I>pegs </I>at +sea, only <I>plugs. </I>And just so it was with every thing else.</P> +<P>But besides all this, there is such an infinite number of totally +new names of new things to learn, that at first it seemed impossible +for me to master them all. If you have ever seen a ship, you must have +remarked what a thicket of ropes there are; and how they all seemed +mixed and entangled together like a great skein of yarn. Now the very +smallest of these ropes has its own proper name, and many of them are +very lengthy, like the names of young royal princes, such as the <I> +starboard-main-top-gallant-bow-line, </I>or the <I> +larboard-fore-top-sail-clue-line.</I></P> +<P>I think it would not be a bad plan to have a grand new naming of a +ship's ropes, as I have read, they once had a simplifying of the +classes of plants in Botany. It is really wonderful how many names +there are in the world. There is no counting the names, that surgeons +and anatomists give to the various parts of the human body; which, +indeed, is something like a ship; its bones being the stiff +standing-rigging, and the sinews the small running ropes, that manage +all the motions.</P> +<P>I wonder whether mankind could not get along without all these +names, which keep increasing every day, and hour, and moment; till at +last the very air will be full of them; and even in a great plain, men +will be breathing each other's breath, owing to the vast multitude of +words they use, that consume all the air, just as lamp-burners do gas. +But people seem to have a great love for names; for to know a great +many names, seems to look like knowing a good many things; though I +should not be surprised, if there were a great many more names than +things in the world. But I must quit this rambling, and return to my +story.</P> +<P>At last we hoisted the stun'-sails up to the top-sail yards, and as +soon as the vessel felt them, she gave a sort of bound like a horse, +and the breeze blowing more and more, she went plunging along, shaking +off the foam from her bows, like foam from a bridle-bit. Every mast and +timber seemed to have a pulse in it that was beating with Me and joy; +and I felt a wild exulting in my own heart, and felt as if I would be +glad to bound along so round the world.</P> +<P>Then was I first conscious of a wonderful thing in me, that +responded to all the wild commotion of the outer world; and went +reeling on and on with the planets in their orbits, and was lost in one +delirious throb at the center of the All. A wild bubbling and bursting +was at my heart, as if a hidden spring had just gushed out there; and +my blood ran tingling along my frame, like mountain brooks in spring +freshets.</P> +<P>Yes I yes! give me this glorious ocean life, this salt-sea life, +this briny, foamy life, when the sea neighs and snorts, and you breathe +the very breath that the great whales respire! Let me roll around the +globe, let me rock upon the sea; let me race and pant out my life, with +an eternal breeze astern, and an endless sea before!</P> +<P>But how soon these raptures abated, when after a brief idle +interval, we were again set to work, and I had a vile commission to +clean out the chicken coops, and make up the beds of the pigs in the +long-boat.</P> +<P>Miserable dog's life is this of the sea! commanded like a slave, and +set to work like an ass! vulgar and brutal men lording it over me, as +if I were an African in Alabama. Yes, yes, blow on, ye breezes, and +make a speedy end to this abominable voyage!</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_15">XIV. HE CONTEMPLATES MAKING A +SOCIAL CALL ON THE CAPTAIN IN HIS CABIN</A></H3> +<P>What reminded me most forcibly of my ignominious condition, was the +widely altered manner of the captain toward me.</P> +<P>I had thought him a fine, funny gentleman, full of mirth and good +humor, and good will to seamen, and one who could not fail to +appreciate the difference between me and the rude sailors among whom I +was thrown. Indeed, I had made no doubt that he would in some special +manner take me under his protection, and prove a kind friend and +benefactor to me; as I had heard that some sea-captains are fathers to +their crew; and so they are; but such fathers as Solomon's precepts +tend to make—severe and chastising fathers, fathers whose sense of +duty overcomes the sense of love, and who every day, in some sort, play +the part of Brutus, who ordered his son away to execution, as I have +read in our old family Plutarch.</P> +<P>Yes, I thought that Captain Riga, for Riga was his name, would be +attentive and considerate to me, and strive to cheer me up, and comfort +me in my lonesomeness. I did not even deem it at all impossible that he +would invite me down into the cabin of a pleasant night, to ask me +questions concerning my parents, and prospects in life; besides +obtaining from me some anecdotes touching my great-uncle, the +illustrious senator; or give me a slate and pencil, and teach me +problems in navigation; or perhaps engage me at a game of chess. I even +thought he might invite me to dinner on a sunny Sunday, and help me +plentifully to the nice cabin fare, as knowing how distasteful the salt +beef and pork, and hard biscuit of the forecastle must at first be to a +boy like me, who had always lived ashore, and at home.</P> +<P>And I could not help regarding him with peculiar emotions, almost of +tenderness and love, as the last visible link in the chain of +associations which bound me to my home. For, while yet in port, I had +seen him and Mr. Jones, my brother's friend, standing together and +conversing; so that from the captain to my brother there was but one +intermediate step; and my brother and mother and sisters were one.</P> +<P>And this reminds me how often I used to pass by the places on deck, +where I remembered Mr. Jones had stood when we first visited the ship +lying at the wharf; and how I tried to convince myself that it was +indeed true, that he had stood there, though now the ship was so far +away on the wide Atlantic Ocean, and he perhaps was walking down +Wall-street, or sitting reading the newspaper in his counting room, +while poor I was so differently employed.</P> +<P>When two or three days had passed without the captain's speaking to +me in any way, or sending word into the forecastle that he wished me to +drop into the cabin to pay my respects. I began to think whether I +should not make the first advances, and whether indeed he did not +expect it of me, since I was but a boy, and he a man; and perhaps that +might have been the reason why he had not spoken to me yet, deeming it +more proper and respectful for me to address him first. I thought he +might be offended, too, especially if he were a proud man, with tender +feelings. So one evening, a little before sundown, in the second +dog-watch, when there was no more work to be done, I concluded to call +and see him.</P> +<P>After drawing a bucket of water, and having a good washing, to get +off some of the chicken-coop stains, I went down into the forecastle to +dress myself as neatly as I could. I put on a white shirt in place of +my red one, and got into a pair of cloth trowsers instead of my duck +ones, and put on my new pumps, and then carefully brushing my +shooting-jacket, I put that on over all, so that upon the whole, I made +quite a genteel figure, at least for a forecastle, though I would not +have looked so well in a drawing-room.</P> +<P>When the sailors saw me thus employed, they did not know what to +make of it, and wanted to know whether I was dressing to go ashore; I +told them no, for we were then out of sight of mind; but that I was +going to pay my respects to the captain. Upon which they all laughed +and shouted, as if I were a simpleton; though there seemed nothing so +very simple in going to make an evening call upon a friend. When some +of them tried to dissuade me, saying I was green and raw; but Jackson, +who sat looking on, cried out, with a hideous grin, "Let him go, let +him go, men—he's a nice boy. Let him go; the captain has some nuts and +raisins for him." And so he was going on, when one of his violent fits +of coughing seized him, and he almost choked.</P> +<P>As I was about leaving the forecastle, I happened to look at my +hands, and seeing them stained all over of a deep yellow, for that +morning the mate had set me to tarring some strips of canvas for the +rigging I thought it would never do to present myself before a +gentleman that way; so for want of lads, I slipped on a pair of woolen +mittens, which my mother had knit for me to carry to sea. As I was +putting them on, Jackson asked me whether he shouldn't call a carriage; +and another bade me not forget to present his best respects to the +skipper. I left them all tittering, and coming on deck was passing the +cook-house, when the old cook called after me, saying I had forgot my +cane.</P> +<P>But I did not heed their impudence, and was walking straight toward +the cabin-door on the quarter-deck, when the chief mate met me. I +touched my hat, and was passing him, when, after staring at me till I +thought his eyes would burst out, he all at once caught me by the +collar, and with a voice of thunder, wanted to know what I meant by +playing such tricks aboard a ship that he was mate of? I told him to +let go of me, or I would complain to my friend the captain, whom I +intended to visit that evening. Upon this he gave me such a whirl +round, that I thought the Gulf Stream was in my head; and then shoved +me forward, roaring out I know not what. Meanwhile the sailors were all +standing round the windlass looking aft, mightily tickled.</P> +<P>Seeing I could not effect my object that night, I thought it best to +defer it for the present; and returning among the sailors, Jackson +asked me how I had found the captain, and whether the next time I went, +I would not take a friend along and introduce him.</P> +<P>The upshot of this business was, that before I went to sleep that +night, I felt well satisfied that it was not customary for sailors to +call on the captain in the cabin; and I began to have an inkling of the +fact, that I had acted like a fool; but it all arose from my ignorance +of sea usages.</P> +<P>And here I may as well state, that I never saw the inside of the +cabin during the whole interval that elapsed from our sailing till our +return to New York; though I often used to get a peep at it through a +little pane of glass, set in the house on deck, just before the helm, +where a watch was kept hanging for the helmsman to strike the half +hours by, with his little bell in the binnacle, where the compass was. +And it used to be the great amusement of the sailors to look in through +the pane of glass, when they stood at the wheel, and watch the +proceedings in the cabin; especially when the steward was setting the +table for dinner, or the captain was lounging over a decanter of wine +on a little mahogany stand, or playing the game called <I>solitaire, </I> +at cards, of an evening; for at times he was all alone with his +dignity; though, as will ere long be shown, he generally had one +pleasant companion, whose society he did not dislike.</P> +<P>The day following my attempt to drop in at the cabin, I happened to +be making fast a rope on the quarter-deck, when the captain suddenly +made his appearance, promenading up and down, and smoking a cigar. He +looked very good-humored and amiable, and it being just after his +dinner, I thought that this, to be sure, was just the chance I wanted.</P> +<P>I waited a little while, thinking he would speak to me himself; but +as he did not, I went up to him, and began by saying it was a very +pleasant day, and hoped he was very well. I never saw a man fly into +such a rage; I thought he was going to knock me down; but after +standing speechless awhile, he all at once plucked his cap from his +head and threw it at me. I don't know what impelled me, but I ran to +the lee-scuppers where it fell, picked it up, and gave it to him with a +bow; when the mate came running up, and thrust me forward again; and +after he had got me as far as the windlass, he wanted to know whether I +was crazy or not; for if I was, he would put me in irons right off, and +have done with it.</P> +<P>But I assured him I was in my right mind, and knew perfectly well +that I had been treated in the most rude and un-gentlemanly manner both +by him and Captain Riga. Upon this, he rapped out a great oath, and +told me if I ever repeated what I had done that evening, or ever again +presumed so much as to lift my hat to the captain, he would tie me into +the rigging, and keep me there until I learned better manners. "You are +very green," said he, "but I'll ripen you." Indeed this chief mate +seemed to have the keeping of the dignity of the captain; who, in some +sort, seemed too dignified personally to protect his own dignity.</P> +<P>I thought this strange enough, to be reprimanded, and charged with +rudeness for an act of common civility. However, seeing how matters +stood, I resolved to let the captain alone for the future, particularly +as he had shown himself so deficient in the ordinary breeding of a +gentleman. And I could hardly credit it, that this was the same man who +had been so very civil, and polite, and witty, when Mr. Jones and I +called upon him in port.</P> +<P>But this astonishment of mine was much increased, when some days +after, a storm came upon us, and the captain rushed out of the cabin in +his nightcap, and nothing else but his shirt on; and leaping up on the +poop, began to jump up and down, and curse and swear, and call the men +aloft all manner of hard names, just like a common loafer in the street.</P> +<P>Besides all this, too, I noticed that while we were at sea, he wore +nothing but old shabby clothes, very different from the glossy suit I +had seen him in at our first interview, and after that on the steps of +the City Hotel, where he always boarded when in New York. Now, he wore +nothing but old-fashioned snuff-colored coats, with high collars and +short waists; and faded, short-legged pantaloons, very tight about the +knees; and vests, that did not conceal his waistbands, owing to their +being so short, just like a little boy's. And his hats were all caved +in, and battered, as if they had been knocked about in a cellar; and +his boots were sadly patched. Indeed, I began to think that he was but +a shabby fellow after all; particularly as his whiskers lost their +gloss, and he went days together without shaving; and his hair, by a +sort of miracle, began to grow of a pepper and salt color, which might +have been owing, though, to his discontinuing the use of some kind of +dye while at sea. I put him down as a sort of impostor; and while +ashore, a gentleman on false pretenses; for no gentleman would have +treated another gentleman as he did me.</P> +<P>Yes, Captain Riga, thought I, you are no gentleman, and you know it!</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_16">XV. THE MELANCHOLY STATE OF HIS +WARDROBE</A></H3> +<P>And now that I have been speaking of the captain's old clothes, I +may as well speak of mine.</P> +<P>It was very early in the month of June that we sailed; and I had +greatly rejoiced that it was that time of the year; for it would be +warm and pleasant upon the ocean, I thought; and my voyage would be +like a summer excursion to the sea shore, for the benefit of the salt +water, and a change of scene and society.</P> +<P>So I had not given myself much concern about what I should wear; and +deemed it wholly unnecessary to provide myself with a great outfit of +pilot-cloth jackets, and browsers, and Guernsey frocks, and oil-skin +suits, and sea-boots, and many other things, which old seamen carry in +their chests. But one reason was, that I did not have the money to buy +them with, even if I had wanted to. So in addition to the clothes I had +brought from home, I had only bought a red shirt, a tarpaulin hat, and +a belt and knife, as I have previously related, which gave me a sea +outfit, something like the Texan rangers', whose uniform, they say, +consists of a shirt collar and a pair of spurs.</P> +<P>But I was not many days at sea, when I found that my shore clothing, +or <I>"long togs," </I>as the sailors call them, were but ill adapted +to the life I now led. When I went aloft, at my yard-arm gymnastics, my +pantaloons were all the time ripping and splitting in every direction, +particularly about the seat, owing to their not being cut +sailor-fashion, with low waistbands, and to wear without suspenders. So +that I was often placed in most unpleasant predicaments, straddling the +rigging, sometimes in plain sight of the cabin, with my table linen +exposed in the most inelegant and ungentlemanly manner possible.</P> +<P>And worse than all, my best pair of pantaloons, and the pair I most +prided myself upon, was a very conspicuous and remarkable looking pair.</P> +<P>I had had them made to order by our village tailor, a little fat +man, very thin in the legs, and who used to say he imported the latest +fashions direct from Paris; though all the fashion plates in his shop +were very dirty with fly-marks.</P> +<P>Well, this tailor made the pantaloons I speak of, and while he had +them in hand, I used to call and see him two or three times a day to +try them on, and hurry him forward; for he was an old man with large +round spectacles, and could not see very well, and had no one to help +him but a sick wife, with five grandchildren to take care of; and +besides that, he was such a great snuff-taker, that it interfered with +his business; for he took several pinches for every stitch, and would +sit snuffing and blowing his nose over my pantaloons, till I used to +get disgusted with him. Now, this old tailor had shown me the pattern, +after which he intended to make my pantaloons; but I improved upon it, +and bade him have a slit on the outside of each leg, at the foot, to +button up with a row of six brass bell buttons; for a grown-up cousin +of mine, who was a great sportsman, used to wear a beautiful pair of +pantaloons, made precisely in that way.</P> +<P>And these were the very pair I now had at sea; the sailors made a +great deal of fun of them, and were all the time calling on each other +to "ftoig" them; and they would ask me to lend them a button or two, by +way of a joke; and then they would ask me if I was not a soldier. +Showing very plainly that they had no idea that my pantaloons were a +very genteel pair, made in the height of the sporting fashion, and +copied from my cousin's, who was a young man of fortune and drove a +tilbury.</P> +<P>When my pantaloons ripped and tore, as I have said, I did my best to +mend and patch them; but not being much of a sempstress, the more I +patched the more they parted; because I put my patches on, without +heeding the joints of the legs, which only irritated my poor pants the +more, and put them out of temper.</P> +<P>Nor must I forget my boots, which were almost new when I left home. +They had been my Sunday boots, and fitted me to a charm. I never had +had <I>a </I>pair of boots that I liked better; I used to turn my toes +out when I walked in them, unless it was night time, when no one could +see me, and I had something else to think of; and I used to keep +looking at them during church; so that I lost a good deal of the +sermon. In a word, they were a beautiful pair of boots. But all this +only unfitted them the more for sea-service; as I soon discovered. They +had very high heels, which were all the time tripping me in the +rigging, and several times came near pitching me overboard; and the +salt water made them shrink in such a manner, that they pinched me +terribly about the instep; and I was obliged to gash them cruelly, +which went to my very heart. The legs were quite long, coming a good +way up toward my knees, and the edges were mounted with red morocco. +The sailors used to call them my <I>"gaff-topsail-boots." </I>And +sometimes they used to call me "Boots," and sometimes "Buttons," on +account of the ornaments on my pantaloons and shooting-jacket.</P> +<P>At last, I took their advice, and <I>"razeed" </I>them, as they +phrased it. That is, I amputated the legs, and shaved off the heels to +the bare soles; which, however, did not much improve them, for it made +my feet feel flat as flounders, and besides, brought me down in the +world, and made me slip and slide about the decks, as I used to at +home, when I wore straps on the ice.</P> +<P>As for my tarpaulin hat, it was a very cheap one; and therefore +proved a real sham and shave; it leaked like an old shingle roof; and +in a rain storm, kept my hair wet and disagreeable. Besides, from lying +down on deck in it, during the night watches, it got bruised and +battered, and lost all its beauty; so that it was unprofitable every +way.</P> +<P>But I had almost forgotten my shooting-jacket, which was made of +moleskin. Every day, it grew smaller and smaller, particularly after a +rain, until at last I thought it would completely exhale, and leave +nothing but the bare seams, by way of a skeleton, on my back. It became +unspeakably unpleasant, when we got into rather cold weather, crossing +the Banks of Newfoundland, when the only way I had to keep warm during +the night, was to pull on my waistcoat and my roundabout, and then clap +the shooting-jacket over all. This made it pinch me under the arms, and +it vexed, irritated, and tormented me every way; and used to incommode +my arms seriously when I was pulling the ropes; so much so, that the +mate asked me once if I had the cramp.</P> +<P>I may as well here glance at some trials and tribulations of a +similar kind. I had no mattress, or bed-clothes, of any sort; for the +thought of them had never entered my mind before going to sea; so that +I was obliged to sleep on the bare boards of my bunk; and when the ship +pitched violently, and almost stood upon end, I must have looked like +an Indian baby tied to a plank, and hung up against a tree like a +crucifix.</P> +<P>I have already mentioned my total want of table-tools; never +dreaming, that, in this respect, going to sea as a sailor was something +like going to a boarding-school, where you must furnish your own spoon +and knife, fork, and napkin. But at length, I was so happy as to barter +with a steerage passenger a silk handkerchief of mine for a half-gallon +iron pot, with hooks to it, to hang on a grate; and this pot I used to +present at the cook-house for my allowance of coffee and tea. It gave +me a good deal of trouble, though, to keep it clean, being much +disposed to rust; and the hooks sometimes scratched my face when I was +drinking; and it was unusually large and heavy; so that my breakfasts +were deprived of all ease and satisfaction, and became a toil and a +labor to me. And I was forced to use the same pot for my bean-soup, +three times a week, which imparted to it a bad flavor for coffee.</P> +<P>I can not tell how I really suffered in many ways for my +improvidence and heedlessness, in going to sea so ill provided with +every thing calculated to make my situation at all comfortable, or even +tolerable. In time, my wretched "long togs" began to drop off my back, +and I looked like a Sam Patch, shambling round the deck in my rags and +the wreck of my gaff-topsail-boots. I often thought what my friends at +home would have said, if they could but get one peep at me. But I +hugged myself in my miserable shooting-jacket, when I considered that +that degradation and shame never could overtake me; yet, I thought it a +galling mockery, when I remembered that my sisters had promised to tell +all inquiring friends, that Wellingborough had gone <I>"abroad" </I> +just as if I was visiting Europe on a tour with my tutor, as poor +simple Mr. Jones had hinted to the captain.</P> +<P>Still, in spite of the melancholy which sometimes overtook me, there +were several little incidents that made me forget myself in the +contemplation of the strange and to me most wonderful sights of the sea.</P> +<P>And perhaps nothing struck into me such a feeling of wild romance, +as a view of the first vessel we spoke. It was of a clear sunny +afternoon, and she came bearing down upon us, a most beautiful sight, +with all her sails spread wide. She came very near, and passed under +our stern; and as she leaned over to the breeze, showed her decks fore +and aft; and I saw the strange sailors grouped upon the forecastle, and +the cook look-cook-house with a ladle in his hand, and the captain in a +green jacket sitting on the taffrail with a speaking-trumpet.</P> +<P>And here, had this vessel come out of the infinite blue ocean, with +all these human beings on board, and the smoke tranquilly mounting up +into the sea-air from the cook's funnel as if it were a chimney in a +city; and every thing looking so cool, and calm, and of-course, in the +midst of what to me, at least, seemed a superlative marvel.</P> +<P>Hoisted at her mizzen-peak was a red flag, with a turreted white +castle in the middle, which looked foreign enough, and made me stare +all the harder.</P> +<P>Our captain, who had put on another hat and coat, and was lounging +in an elegant attitude on the poop, now put his high polished brass +trumpet to his mouth, and said in a very rude voice for conversation, <I> +"Where from?"</I></P> +<P>To which the other captain rejoined with some outlandish Dutch +gibberish, of which we could only make out, that the ship belonged to +Hamburg, as her flag denoted.</P> +<P> +<I>Hamburg!</I></P> +<p> +Bless my soul! and here I am on the great Atlantic Ocean, actually +beholding a ship from Holland! It was passing strange. In my intervals +of leisure from other duties, I followed the strange ship till she was +quite a little speck in the distance.</p> +<P>I could not but be struck with the manner of the two sea-captains +during their brief interview. Seated at their ease on their respective +"poops" toward the stern of their ships, while the sailors were obeying +their behests; they touched hats to each other, exchanged compliments, +and drove on, with all the indifference of two Arab horsemen accosting +each other on an airing in the Desert. To them, I suppose, the great +Atlantic Ocean was a puddle.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_17">XVI. AT DEAD OF NIGHT HE IS SENT UP +TO LOOSE THE MAIN-SKYSAIL</A></H3> +<P>I must now run back a little, and tell of my first going aloft at +middle watch, when the sea was quite calm, and the breeze was mild.</P> +<P>The order was given to loose the <I>main-skysail, </I>which is the +fifth and highest sail from deck. It was a very small sail, and from +the forecastle looked no bigger than a cambric pocket-handkerchief. But +I have heard that some ships carry still smaller sails, above the +skysail; called <I>moon-sails, </I>and <I>skyscrapers, </I>and <I> +cloud-rakers. </I>But I shall not believe in them till I see them; a <I> +skysail </I>seems high enough in all conscience; and the idea of any +thing higher than that, seems preposterous. Besides, it looks almost +like tempting heaven, to brush the very firmament so, and almost put +the eyes of the stars out; when a flaw of wind, too, might very soon +take the conceit out of these cloud-defying <I>cloud-rakers.</I></P> +<P>Now, when the order was passed to loose the skysail, an old Dutch +sailor came up to me, and said, "Buttons, my boy, it's high time you be +doing something; and it's boy's business, Buttons, to loose de royals, +and not old men's business, like me. Now, d'ye see dat leelle fellow +way up dare? <I>dare, </I>just behind dem stars dare: well, tumble up, +now, Buttons, I zay, and looze him; way you go, Buttons."</P> +<P>All the rest joining in, and seeming unanimous in the opinion, that +it was high time for me to be stirring myself, and doing <I>boy's +business, </I>as they called it, I made no more ado, but jumped into +the rigging. Up I went, not dating to look down, but keeping my eyes +glued, as it were, to the shrouds, as I ascended.</P> +<P>It was a long road up those stairs, and I began to pant and breathe +hard, before I was half way. But I kept at it till I got to the <I> +Jacob's Ladder; </I>and they may well call it so, for it took me almost +into the clouds; and at last, to my own amazement, I found myself +hanging on the skysail-yard, holding on might and main to the mast; and +curling my feet round the rigging, as if they were another pair of +hands.</P> +<P>For a few moments I stood awe-stricken and mute. I could not see far +out upon the ocean, owing to the darkness of the night; and from my +lofty perch, the sea looked like a great, black gulf, hemmed in, all +round, by beetling black cliffs. I seemed all alone; treading the +midnight clouds; and every second, expected to find myself +falling—falling—falling, as I have felt when the nightmare has been +on me.</P> +<P>I could but just perceive the ship below me, like a long narrow +plank in the water; and it did not seem to belong at all to the yard, +over which I was hanging. A gull, or some sort of sea-fowl, was flying +round the truck over my head, within a few yards of my face; and it +almost frightened me to hear it; it seemed so much like a spirit, at +such a lofty and solitary height.</P> +<P>Though there was a pretty smooth sea, and little wind; yet, at this +extreme elevation, the ship's motion was very great; so that when the +ship rolled one way, I felt something as a fly must feel, walking the +ceiling; and when it rolled the other way, I felt as if I was hanging +along a slanting pine-tree.</P> +<P>But presently I heard a distant, hoarse noise from below; and though +I could not make out any thing intelligible, I knew it was the mate +hurrying me. So in a nervous, trembling desperation, I went to casting +off the <I>gaskets, </I>or lines tying up the sail; and when all was +ready, sung out as I had been told, to <I>"hoist away!" </I>And hoist +they did, and me too along with the yard and sail; for I had no time to +get off, they were so unexpectedly quick about it. It seemed like +magic; there I was, going up higher and higher; the yard rising under +me, as if it were alive, and no soul in sight. Without knowing it at +the time, I was in a good deal of danger, but it was so dark that I +could not see well enough to feel afraid—at least on that account; +though I felt frightened enough in a promiscuous way. I only held on +hard, and made good the saying of old sailors, that the last person to +fall overboard from the rigging is a landsman, because he grips the +ropes so fiercely; whereas old tars are less careful, and sometimes pay +the penalty.</P> +<P>After this feat, I got down rapidly on deck, and received something +like a compliment from Max the Dutchman.</P> +<P>This man was perhaps the best natured man among the crew; at any +rate, he treated me better than the rest did; and for that reason he +deserves some mention.</P> +<P>Max was an old bachelor of a sailor, very precise about his +wardrobe, and prided himself greatly upon his seamanship, and +entertained some straight-laced, old-fashioned notions about the duties +of boys at sea. His hair, whiskers, and cheeks were of a fiery red; and +as he wore a red shirt, he was altogether the most combustible looking +man I ever saw.</P> +<P>Nor did his appearance belie him; for his temper was very +inflammable; and at a word, he would explode in a shower of hard words +and imprecations. It was Max that several times set on foot those +conspiracies against Jackson, which I have spoken of before; but he +ended by paying him a grumbling homage, full of resentful reservations.</P> +<P>Max sometimes manifested some little interest in my welfare; and +often discoursed concerning the sorry figure I would cut in my tatters +when we got to Liverpool, and the discredit it would bring on the +American Merchant Service; for like all European seamen in American +ships, Max prided himself not a little upon his naturalization as a +Yankee, and if he could, would have been very glad to have passed +himself off for a born native.</P> +<P>But notwithstanding his grief at the prospect of my reflecting +discredit upon his adopted country, he never offered to better my +wardrobe, by loaning me any thing from his own well-stored chest. Like +many other well-wishers, he contented him with sympathy. Max also +betrayed some anxiety to know whether I knew how to dance; lest, when +the ship's company went ashore, I should disgrace them by exposing my +awkwardness in some of the sailor saloons. But I relieved his anxiety +on that head.</P> +<P>He was a great scold, and fault-finder, and often took me to task +about my short-comings; but herein, he was not alone; for every one had +a finger, or a thumb, and sometimes both hands, in my unfortunate pie.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_18">XVII. THE COOK AND STEWARD</A></H3> +<P>It was on a Sunday we made the Banks of Newfoundland; a drizzling, +foggy, clammy Sunday. You could hardly see the water, owing to the mist +and vapor upon it; and every thing was so flat and calm, I almost +thought we must have somehow got back to New York, and were lying at +the foot of Wall-street again in a rainy twilight. The decks were +dripping with wet, so that in the dense fog, it seemed as if we were +standing on the roof of a house in a shower.</P> +<P>It was a most miserable Sunday; and several of the sailors had +twinges of the rheumatism, and pulled on their monkey-jackets. As for +Jackson, he was all the time rubbing his back and snarling like a dog.</P> +<P>I tried to recall all my pleasant, sunny Sundays ashore; and tried +to imagine what they were doing at home; and whether our old family +friend, Mr. Bridenstoke, would drop in, with his silver-mounted +tasseled cane, between churches, as he used to; and whether he would +inquire about myself.</P> +<P>But it would not do. I could hardly realize that it was Sunday at +all. Every thing went on pretty much the same as before. There was no +church to go to; no place to take a walk in; no friend to call upon. I +began to think it must be a sort of second Saturday; a foggy Saturday, +when school-boys stay at home reading Robinson Crusoe.</P> +<P>The only man who seemed to be taking his ease that day, was our +black cook; who according to the invariable custom at sea, always went +by the name of <I>the doctor.</I></P> +<P>And <I>doctors, </I>cooks certainly are, the very best medicos in +the world; for what pestilent pills and potions of the Faculty are half +so serviceable to man, and health-and-strength-giving, as roasted lamb +and green peas, say, in spring; and roast beef and cranberry sauce in +winter? Will a dose of calomel and jakp do you as much good? Will a +bolus build up a fainting man? Is there any satisfaction in dining off +a powder? But these doctors of the frying-pan sometimes loll men off by +a surfeit; or give them the headache, at least. Well, what then? No +matter. For if with their most goodly and ten times jolly I medicines, +they now and then fill our nights with tribulations, and abridge our +days, what of the social homicides perpetrated by the Faculty? And +when you die by a pill-doctor's hands, it is never with a sweet relish +in your mouth, as though you died by a frying-pan-doctor; but your last +breath villainously savors of ipecac and rhubarb. Then, what charges +they make for the abominable lunches they serve out so stingily! One of +their bills for boluses would keep you in good dinners a twelve-month.</P> +<P>Now, our doctor was a serious old fellow, much given to metaphysics, +and used to talk about original sin. All that Sunday morning, he sat +over his boiling pots, reading out of a book which was very much soiled +and covered with grease spots: for he kept it stuck into a little +leather strap, nailed to the keg where he kept the fat skimmed off the +water in which the salt beef was cooked. I could hardly believe my eyes +when I found this book was the Bible.</P> +<P>I loved to peep in upon him, when he was thus absorbed; for his +smoky studio or study was a strange-looking place enough; not more than +five feet square, and about as many high; a mere box to hold the stove, +the pipe of which stuck out of the roof.</P> +<P>Within, it was hung round with pots and pans; and on one side was a +little looking-glass, where he used to shave; and on a small shelf were +his shaving tools, and a comb and brush. Fronting the stove, and very +close to it, was a sort of narrow shelf, where he used to sit with his +legs spread out very wide, to keep them from scorching; and there, with +his book in one hand, and a pewter spoon in the other, he sat all that +Sunday morning, stirring up his pots, and studying away at the same +time; seldom taking his eye off the page. Reading must have been very +hard work for him; for he muttered to himself quite loud as he read; +and big drops of sweat would stand upon his brow, and roll off, till +they hissed on the hot stove before him. But on the day I speak of, it +was no wonder that he got perplexed, for he was reading a mysterious +passage in the Book of Chronicles. Being aware that I knew how to read, +he called me as I was passing his premises, and read the passage over, +demanding an explanation. I told him it was a mystery that no one could +explain; not even a parson. But this did not satisfy him, and I left +him poring over it still.</P> +<P>He must have been a member of one of those negro churches, which are +to be found in New York. For when we lay at the wharf, I remembered +that a committee of three reverend looking old darkies, who, besides +their natural canonicals, wore quaker-cut black coats, and +broad-brimmed black hats, and white neck-cloths; these colored +gentlemen called upon him, and remained conversing with him at his +cookhouse door for more than an hour; and before they went away they +stepped inside, and the sliding doors were closed; and then we heard +some one reading aloud and preaching; and after that a psalm was sting +and a benediction given; when the door opened again, and the +congregation came out in a great perspiration; owing, I suppose, to the +chapel being so small, and there being only one seat besides the stove.</P> +<P>But notwithstanding his religious studies and meditations, this old +fellow used to use some bad language occasionally; particularly of +cold, wet stormy mornings, when he had to get up before daylight and +make his fire; with the sea breaking over the bows, and now and then +dashing into his stove.</P> +<P>So, under the circumstances, you could not blame him much, if he did +rip a little, for it would have tried old Job's temper, to be set to +work making a fire in the water.</P> +<P>Without being at all neat about his premises, this old cook was very +particular about them; he had a warm love and affection for his +cook-house. In fair weather, he spread the skirt of an old jacket +before the door, by way of a mat; and screwed a small ring-bolt into +the door for a knocker; and wrote his name, "Mr. Thompson," over it, +with a bit of red chalk.</P> +<P>The men said he lived round the corner of <I>Forecastle-square, </I> +opposite the <I>Liberty Pole; </I>because his cook-house was right +behind the foremast, and very near the quarters occupied by themselves.</P> +<P>Sailors have a great fancy for naming things that way on shipboard. +When a man is hung at sea, which is always done from one of the lower +yard-arms, they say he <I>"takes a walk up Ladder-lane, and down +Hemp-street."</I></P> +<P>Mr. Thompson was a great crony of the steward's, who, being a +handsome, dandy mulatto, that had once been a barber in West-Broadway, +went by the name of Lavender. I have mentioned the gorgeous turban he +wore when Mr. Jones and I visited the captain in the cabin. He never +wore that turban at sea, though; but sported an uncommon head of +frizzled hair, just like the large, round brush, used for washing +windows, called a <I>Pope's Head.</I></P> +<P>He kept it well perfumed with Cologne water, of which he had a large +supply, the relics of his West-Broadway stock in trade. His clothes, +being mostly cast-off suits of the captain of a London liner, whom he +had sailed with upon many previous voyages, were all in the height of +the exploded fashions, and of every kind of color and cut. He had +claret-colored suits, and snuff-colored suits, and red velvet vests, +and buff and brimstone pantaloons, and several full suits of black, +which, with his dark-colored face, made him look quite clerical; like a +serious young colored gentleman of Barbados, about to take orders.</P> +<P>He wore an uncommon large pursy ring on his forefinger, with +something he called a real diamond in it; though it was very dim, and +looked more like a glass eye than any thing else. He was very proud of +his ring, and was always calling your attention to something, and +pointing at it with his ornamented finger.</P> +<P>He was a sentimental sort of a darky, and read the <I>"Three +Spaniards," </I>and <I>"Charlotte Temple," </I>and carried a lock of +frizzled hair in his vest pocket, which he frequently volunteered to +show to people, with his handkerchief to his eyes. Every fine evening, +about sunset, these two, the cook and steward, used to sit on the +little shelf in the cook-house, leaning up against each other like the +Siamese twins, to keep from falling off, for the shelf was very short; +and there they would stay till after dark, smoking their pipes, and +gossiping about the events that had happened during the day in the +cabin. And sometimes Mr. Thompson would take down his Bible, and read a +chapter for the edification of Lavender, whom he knew to be a sad +profligate and gay deceiver ashore; addicted to every youthful +indiscretion. He would read over to him the story of Joseph and +Potiphar's wife; and hold Joseph up to him as a young man of excellent +principles, whom he ought to imitate, and not be guilty of his +indiscretion any more. And Lavender would look serious, and say that he +knew it was all true-he was a wicked youth, he knew it—he had broken a +good many hearts, and many eyes were weeping for him even then, both in +New York, and Liverpool, and London, and Havre. But how could he help +it? He hadn't made his handsome face, and fine head of hair, and +graceful figure. It was not <I>he, </I>but the others, that were to +blame; for his bewitching person turned all heads and subdued all +hearts, wherever he went. And then he would look very serious and +penitent, and go up to the little glass, and pass his hands through his +hair, and see how his whiskers were coming on.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_19">XVIII. HE ENDEAVORS TO IMPROVE HIS +MIND; AND TELLS OF ONE BLUNT AND HIS DREAM BOOK</A></H3> +<P>On the Sunday afternoon I spoke of, it was my watch below, and I +thought I would spend it profitably, in improving my mind.</P> +<P>My bunk was an upper one; and right over the head of it was a <I> +bull's-eye, </I>or circular piece of thick ground glass, inserted into +the deck to give light. It was a dull, dubious light, though; and I +often found myself looking up anxiously to see whether the bull's-eye +had not suddenly been put out; for whenever any one trod on it, in +walking the deck, it was momentarily quenched; and what was still +worse, sometimes a coil of rope would be thrown down on it, and stay +there till I dressed myself and went up to remove it—a kind of +interruption to my studies which annoyed me very much, when diligently +occupied in reading.</P> +<P>However, I was glad of any light at all, down in that gloomy hole, +where we burrowed like rabbits in a warren; and it was the happiest +time I had, when all my messmates were asleep, and I could lie on my +back, during a forenoon watch below, and read in comparative quiet and +seclusion.</P> +<P>I had already read two books loaned to me by Max, to whose share +they had fallen, in dividing the effects of the sailor who had jumped +overboard. One was an account of Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea, and +the other was a large black volume, with <I>Delirium Tremens </I>in +great gilt letters on the back. This proved to be a popular treatise on +the subject of that disease; and I remembered seeing several copies in +the sailor book-stalls about Fulton Market, and along South-street, in +New York.</P> +<P>But this Sunday I got out a book, from which I expected to reap +great profit and sound instruction. It had been presented to me by Mr. +Jones, who had quite a library, and took down this book from a top +shelf, where it lay very dusty. When he gave it to me, he said, that +although I was going to sea, I must not forget the importance of a good +education; and that there was hardly any situation in life, however +humble and depressed, or dark and gloomy, but one might find leisure in +it to store his mind, and build himself up in the exact sciences. And +he added, that though it <I>did </I>look rather unfavorable for my +future prospects, to be going to sea as a common sailor so early in +life; yet, it would no doubt turn out for my benefit in the end; and, +at any rate, if I would only take good care of myself, would give me a +sound constitution, if nothing more; and <I>that </I>was not to be +undervalued, for how many very rich men would give all their bonds and +mortgages for my boyish robustness.</P> +<P>He added, that I need not expect any light, trivial work, that was +merely entertaining, and nothing more; but here I would find +entertainment and edification beautifully and harmoniously combined; +and though, at first, I might possibly find it dull, yet, if I perused +the book thoroughly, it would soon discover hidden charms and +unforeseen attractions; besides teaching me, perhaps, the true way to +retrieve the poverty of my family, and again make them all well-to-do +in the world.</P> +<P>Saying this, he handed it to me, and I blew the dust off, and looked +at the back: <I>"Smith's Wealth of Nations." </I>This not satisfying +me, I glanced at the title page, and found it was an <I>"Enquiry into +the Nature and Causes" </I>of the alleged wealth of nations. But +happening to look further down, I caught sight of <I>"Aberdeen," </I> +where the book was printed; and thinking that any thing from Scotland, +a foreign country, must prove some way or other pleasing to me, I +thanked Mr. Jones very kindly, and promised to peruse the volume +carefully.</P> +<P>So, now, lying in my bunk, I began the book methodically, at page +number one, resolved not to permit a few flying glimpses into it, taken +previously, to prevent me from making regular approaches to the gist +and body of the book, where I fancied lay something like the +philosopher's stone, a secret talisman, which would transmute even +pitch and tar to silver and gold.</P> +<P>Pleasant, though vague visions of future opulence floated before me, +as I commenced the first chapter, entitled <I>"Of the causes of +improvement in the productive power of labor." </I>Dry as crackers and +cheese, to be sure; and the chapter itself was not much better. But +this was only getting initiated; and if I read on, the grand secret +would be opened to me. So I read on and on, about <I>"wages and profits +of labor," </I>without getting any profits myself for my pains in +perusing it.</P> +<P>Dryer and dryer; the very leaves smelt of saw-dust; till at last I +drank some water, and went at it again. But soon I had to give it up +for lost work; and thought that the old backgammon board, we had at +home, lettered on the back, <I>"The History of Rome" </I>was quite as +full of matter, and a great deal more entertaining. I wondered whether +Mr. Jones had ever read the volume himself; and could not help +remembering, that he had to get on a chair when he reached it down from +its dusty shelf; <I>that </I>certainly looked suspicious.</P> +<P>The best reading was on the fly leaves; and, on turning them over, I +lighted upon some half effaced pencil-marks to the following effect: <I> +"Jonathan Jones, from his particular friend Daniel Dods, </I>1798." So +it must have originally belonged to Mr. Jones' father; and I wondered +whether <I>he </I>had ever read it; or, indeed, whether any body had +ever read it, even the author himself; but then authors, they say, +never read their own books; writing them, being enough in all +conscience.</P> +<P>At length I fell asleep, with the volume in my hand; and never slept +so sound before; after that, I used to wrap my jacket round it, and use +it for a pillow; for which purpose it answered very well; only I +sometimes waked up feeling dull and stupid; but of course the book +could not have been the cause of that.</P> +<P>And now I am talking of books, I must tell of Jack Blunt the sailor, +and his Dream Book.</P> +<P>Jackson, who seemed to know every thing about all parts of the +world, used to tell Jack in reproach, that he was an <I>Irish Cockney. </I> +By which I understood, that he was an Irishman born, but had graduated +in London, somewhere about Radcliffe Highway; but he had no sort of +brogue that I could hear.</P> +<P>He was a curious looking fellow, about twenty-five years old, as I +should judge; but to look at his back, you would have taken him for a +little old man. His arms and legs were very large, round, short, and +stumpy; so that when he had on his great monkey-jacket, and sou'west +cap flapping in his face, and his sea boots drawn up to his knees, he +looked like a fat porpoise, standing on end. He had a round face, too, +like a walrus; and with about the same expression, half human and half +indescribable. He was, upon the whole, a good-natured fellow, and a +little given to looking at sea-life romantically; singing songs about +susceptible mermaids who fell in love with handsome young oyster boys +and gallant fishermen. And he had a sad story about a man-of-war's-man +who broke his heart at Portsmouth during the late war, and threw away +his life recklessly at one of the quarter-deck cannonades, in the +battle between the Guerriere and Constitution; and another +incomprehensible story about a sort of fairy sea-queen, who used to be +dunning a sea-captain all the time for his autograph to boil in some +eel soup, for a spell against the scurvy.</P> +<P>He believed in all kinds of witch-work and magic; and had some wild +Irish words he used to mutter over during a calm for a fair wind.</P> +<P>And he frequently related his interviews in Liverpool with a +fortune-teller, an old negro woman by the name of De Squak, whose house +was much frequented by sailors; and how she had two black cats, with +remarkably green eyes, and nightcaps on their heads, solemnly seated on +a claw-footed table near the old goblin; when she felt his pulse, to +tell what was going to befall him.</P> +<P>This Blunt had a large head of hair, very thick and bushy; but from +some cause or other, it was rapidly turning gray; and in its transition +state made him look as if he wore a shako of badger skin.</P> +<P>The phenomenon of gray hairs on a young head, had perplexed and +confounded this Blunt to such a degree that he at last came to the +conclusion it must be the result of the black art, wrought upon him by +an enemy; and that enemy, he opined, was an old sailor landlord in +Marseilles, whom he had once seriously offended, by knocking him down +in a fray.</P> +<P>So while in New York, finding his hair growing grayer and grayer, +and all his friends, the ladies and others, laughing at him, and +calling him an old man with one foot in the grave, he slipt out one +night to an apothecary's, stated his case, and wanted to know what +could be done for him.</P> +<P>The apothecary immediately gave him a pint bottle of something he +called <I>"Trafalgar Oil </I>for restoring the hair," <I>price one +dollar; </I>and told him that after he had used that bottle, and it did +not have the desired effect, he must try bottle No. 2, called <I>"Balm +of Paradise, or the Elixir of the Battle of Copenhagen." </I>These +high-sounding naval names delighted Blunt, and he had no doubt there +must be virtue in them.</P> +<P>I saw both bottles; and on one of them was an engraving, +representing a young man, presumed to be gray-headed, standing in his +night-dress in the middle of his chamber, and with closed eyes applying +the Elixir to his head, with both hands; while on the bed adjacent +stood a large bottle, conspicuously labeled, <I>"Balm of Paradise." </I> +It seemed from the text, that this gray-headed young man was so smitten +with his hair-oil, and was so thoroughly persuaded of its virtues, that +he had got out of bed, even in his sleep; groped into his closet, +seized the precious bottle, applied its contents, and then to bed +again, getting up in the morning without knowing any thing about it. +Which, indeed, was a most mysterious occurrence; and it was still more +mysterious, how the engraver came to know an event, of which the actor +himself was ignorant, and where there were no bystanders.</P> +<P>Three times in the twenty-four hours, Blunt, while at sea, regularly +rubbed in his liniments; but though the first bottle was soon exhausted +by his copious applications, and the second half gone, he still stuck +to it, that by the time we got to Liverpool, his exertions would be +crowned with success. And he was not a little delighted, that this +gradual change would be operating while we were at sea; so as not to +expose him to the invidious observations of people ashore; on the same +principle that dandies go into the country when they purpose raising +whiskers. He would often ask his shipmates, whether they noticed any +change yet; and if so, how much of a change? And to tell the truth, +there was a very great change indeed; for the constant soaking of his +hair with oil, operating in conjunction with the neglect of his toilet, +and want of a brush and comb, had matted his locks together like a wild +horse's mane, and imparted to it a blackish and extremely glossy hue. +Besides his collection of hair-oils, Blunt had also provided himself +with several boxes of pills, which he had purchased from a sailor +doctor in New York, who by placards stuck on the posts along the +wharves, advertised to remain standing at the northeast corner of +Catharine Market, every Monday and Friday, between the hours of ten and +twelve in the morning, to receive calls from patients, distribute +medicines, and give advice gratis.</P> +<P>Whether Blunt thought he had the dyspepsia or not, I can not say; +but at breakfast, he always took three pills with his coffee; something +as they do in Iowa, when the bilious fever prevails; where, at the +boarding-houses, they put a vial of blue pills into the castor, along +with the pepper and mustard, and next door to another vial of +toothpicks. But they are very ill-bred and unpolished in the western +country.</P> +<P>Several times, too, Blunt treated himself to a flowing bumper of <I> +horse salts </I>(Glauber salts); for like many other seamen, he never +went to sea without a good supply of that luxury. He would frequently, +also, take this medicine in a wet jacket, and then go on deck into a +rain storm. But this is nothing to other sailors, who at sea will +doctor themselves with calomel off Cape Horn, and still remain on duty. +And in this connection, some really frightful stories might be told; +but I forbear.</P> +<P>For a landsman to take salts as this Blunt did, it would perhaps be +the death of him; but at sea the salt air and the salt water prevent +you from catching cold so readily as on land; and for my own part, on +board this very ship, being so illy-provided with clothes, I frequently +turned into my bunk soaking wet, and turned out again piping hot, and +smoking like a roasted sirloin; and yet was never the worse for it; for +then, I bore a charmed life of youth and health, and was dagger-proof +to bodily ill.</P> +<P>But it is time to tell of the Dream Book. Snugly hidden in one +corner of his chest, Blunt had an extraordinary looking pamphlet, with +a red cover, marked all over with astrological signs and ciphers, and +purporting to be a full and complete treatise on the art of Divination; +so that the most simple sailor could teach it to himself.</P> +<P>It also purported to be the selfsame system, by aid of which +Napoleon Bonaparte had risen in the world from being a corporal to an +emperor. Hence it was entitled the <I>Bonaparte Dream Book; </I>for the +magic of it lay in the interpretation of dreams, and their application +to the foreseeing of future events; so that all preparatory measures +might be taken beforehand; which would be exceedingly convenient, and +satisfactory every way, if true. The problems were to be cast by means +of figures, in some perplexed and difficult way, which, however, was +facilitated by a set of tables in the end of the pamphlet, something +like the Logarithm Tables at the end of Bowditch's Navigator.</P> +<P>Now, Blunt revered, adored, and worshiped this <I>Bonaparte Dream +Book </I>of his; and was fully persuaded that between those red covers, +and in his own dreams, lay all the secrets of futurity. Every morning +before taking his pills, and applying his hair-oils, he would steal out +of his bunk before the rest of the watch were awake; take out his +pamphlet, and a bit of chalk; and then straddling his chest, begin +scratching his oily head to remember his fugitive dreams; marking down +strokes on his chest-lid, as if he were casting up his daily accounts.</P> +<P>Though often perplexed and lost in mazes concerning the cabalistic +figures in the book, and the chapter of directions to beginners; for he +could with difficulty read at all; yet, in the end, if not interrupted, +he somehow managed to arrive at a conclusion satisfactory to him. So +that, as he generally wore a good-humored expression, no doubt he must +have thought, that all his future affairs were working together for the +best.</P> +<P>But one night he started us all up in a fright, by springing from +his bunk, his eyes ready to start out of his head, and crying, in a +husky voice—"Boys! boys! get the benches ready! Quick, quick!"</P> +<P>"What benches?" growled Max-"What's the matter?"</P> +<P>"Benches! benches!" screamed Blunt, without heeding him, "cut down +the forests, bear a hand, boys; the Day of Judgment's coming!"</P> +<P>But the next moment, he got quietly into his bunk, and laid still, +muttering to himself, he had only been rambling in his sleep.</P> +<P>I did not know exactly what he had meant by his <I>benches; </I> +till, shortly after, I overheard two of the sailors debating, whether +mankind would stand or sit at the Last Day.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_20">XIX. A NARROW ESCAPE</A></H3> +<P>This Dream Book of Blunt's reminds me of a narrow escape we had, +early one morning.</P> +<P>It was the larboard watch's turn to remain below from midnight till +four o'clock; and having turned in and slept, Blunt suddenly turned out +again about three o'clock, with a wonderful dream in his head; which he +was desirous of at once having interpreted.</P> +<P>So he goes to his chest, gets out his tools, and falls to ciphering +on the lid. When, all at once, a terrible cry was heard, that routed +him and all the rest of us up, and sent the whole ship's company flying +on deck in the dark. We did not know what it was; but somehow, among +sailors at sea, they seem to know when real danger of any land is at +hand, even in their sleep.</P> +<P>When we got on deck, we saw the mate standing on the bowsprit, and +crying out <I>Luff! Luff! </I>to some one in the dark water before the +ship. In that direction, we could just see a light, and then, the great +black hull of a strange vessel, that was coming down on us obliquely; +and so near, that we heard the flap of her topsails as they shook in +the wind, the trampling of feet on the deck, and the same cry of <I> +Luff! Luff! </I>that our own mate, was raising.</P> +<P>In a minute more, I caught my breath, as I heard a snap and a crash, +like the fall of a tree, and suddenly, one of our flying-jib guys +jerked out the bolt near the cat-head; and presently, we heard our +jib-boom thumping against our bows.</P> +<P>Meantime, the strange ship, scraping by us thus, shot off into the +darkness, and we saw her no more. But she, also, must have been +injured; for when it grew light, we found pieces of strange rigging +mixed with ours. We repaired the damage, and replaced the broken spar +with another jib-boom we had; for all ships carry spare spars against +emergencies.</P> +<P>The cause of this accident, which came near being the death of all +on board, was nothing but the drowsiness of the look-out men on the +forecastles of both ships. The sailor who had the look-out on our +vessel was terribly reprimanded by the mate.</P> +<P>No doubt, many ships that are never heard of after leaving port, +meet their fate in this way; and it may be, that sometimes two vessels +coming together, jib-boom-and-jib-boom, with a sudden shock in the +middle watch of the night, mutually destroy each other; and like +fighting elks, sink down into the ocean, with their antlers locked in +death.</P> +<P>While I was at Liverpool, a fine ship that lay near us in the docks, +having got her cargo on board, went to sea, bound for India, with a +good breeze; and all her crew felt sure of a prosperous voyage. But in +about seven days after, she came back, a most distressing object to +behold. All her starboard side was torn and splintered; her starboard +anchor was gone; and a great part of the starboard bulwarks; while +every one of the lower yard-arms had been broken, in the same +direction; so that she now carried small and unsightly <I>jury-yards.</I> +</P> +<P>When I looked at this vessel, with the whole of one side thus +shattered, but the other still in fine trim; and when I remembered her +gay and gallant appearance, when she left the same harbor into which +she now entered so forlorn; I could not help thinking of a young man I +had known at home, who had left his cottage one morning in high +spirits, and was brought back at noon with his right side paralyzed +from head to foot.</P> +<P>It seems that this vessel had been run against by a strange ship, +crowding all sail before a fresh breeze; and the stranger had rushed +past her starboard side, reducing her to the sad state in which she now +was.</P> +<P>Sailors can not be too wakeful and cautious, when keeping their +night look-outs; though, as I well know, they too often suffer +themselves to become negligent, and nod. And this is not so wonderful, +after all; for though every seaman has heard of those accidents at sea; +and many of them, perhaps, have been in ships that have suffered from +them; yet, when you find yourself sailing along on the ocean at night, +without having seen a sail for weeks and weeks, it is hard for you to +realize that any are near. Then, if they <I>are </I>near, it seems +almost incredible that on the broad, boundless sea, which washes +Greenland at one end of the world, and the Falkland Islands at the +other, that any one vessel upon such a vast highway, should come into +close contact with another. But the likelihood of great calamities +occurring, seldom obtrudes upon the minds of ignorant men, such as +sailors generally are; for the things which wise people know, +anticipate, and guard against, the ignorant can only become acquainted +with, by meeting them face to face. And even when experience has taught +them, the lesson only serves for that day; inasmuch as the foolish in +prosperity are infidels to the possibility of adversity; they see the +sun in heaven, and believe it to be far too bright ever to set. And +even, as suddenly as the bravest and fleetest ships, while careering in +pride of canvas over the sea, have been struck, as by lightning, and +quenched out of sight; even so, do some lordly men, with all their +plans and prospects gallantly trimmed to the fair, rushing breeze of +life, and with no thought of death and disaster, suddenly encounter a +shock unforeseen, and go down, foundering, into death.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_21">XX. IN A FOG HE IS SET TO WORK AS A +BELL-TOLLER, AND BEHOLDS A HERD OF OCEAN-ELEPHANTS</A></H3> +<P>What is this that we sail through? What palpable obscure? What smoke +and reek, as if the whole steaming world were revolving on its axis, as +a spit?</P> +<P>It is a Newfoundland Fog; and we are yet crossing the Grand Banks, +wrapt in a mist, that no London in the Novem-berest November ever +equaled. The chronometer pronounced it noon; but do you call this +midnight or midday? So dense is the fog, that though we have a fair +wind, we shorten sail for fear of accidents; and not only that, but +here am I, poor Wellingborough, mounted aloft on a sort of belfry, the +top of the <I>"Sampson-Post," </I>a lofty tower of timber, so called; +and tolling the ship's bell, as if for a funeral.</P> +<P>This is intended to proclaim our approach, and warn all strangers +from our track.</P> +<P>Dreary sound! toll, toll, toll, through the dismal mist and fog.</P> +<P>The bell is green with verdigris, and damp with dew; and the little +cord attached to the clapper, by which I toll it, now and then slides +through my fingers, slippery with wet. Here I am, in my slouched black +hat, like the <I>"bull that could pull," </I>announcing the decease of +the lamented Cock-Robin.</P> +<P>A better device than the bell, however, was once pitched upon by an +ingenious sea-captain, of whom I have heard. He had a litter of young +porkers on board; and while sailing through the fog, he stationed men +at both ends of the pen with long poles, wherewith they incessantly +stirred up and irritated the porkers, who split the air with their +squeals; and no doubt saved the ship, as the geese saved the Capitol.</P> +<P>The most strange and unheard-of noises came out of the fog at times: +a vast sound of sighing and sobbing. What could it be? This would be +followed by a spout, and a gush, and a cascading commotion, as if some +fountain had suddenly jetted out of the ocean.</P> +<P>Seated on my Sampson-Post, I stared more and more, and suspended my +duty as a sexton. But presently some one cried out—<I>"There she +blows! whales! whales close alongside!"</I></P> +<P>A whale! Think of it! whales close to <I>me, </I>Wellingborough;— +would my own brother believe it? I dropt the clapper as if it were +red-hot, and rushed to the side; and there, dimly floating, lay four or +five long, black snaky-looking shapes, only a few inches out of the +water.</P> +<P>Can these be whales? Monstrous whales, such as I had heard of? I +thought they would look like mountains on the sea; hills and valleys of +flesh! regular krakens, that made it high tide, and inundated +continents, when they descended to feed!</P> +<P>It was a bitter disappointment, from which I was long in recovering. +I lost all respect for whales; and began to be a little dubious about +the story of Jonah; for how could Jonah reside in such an insignificant +tenement; how could he have had elbow-room there? But perhaps, thought +I, the whale which according to Rabbinical traditions was a female one, +might have expanded to receive him like an anaconda, when it swallows +an elk and leaves the antlers sticking out of its mouth.</P> +<P>Nevertheless, from that day, whales greatly fell in my estimation.</P> +<P>But it is always thus. If you read of St. Peter's, they say, and +then go and visit it, ten to one, you account it a dwarf compared to +your high-raised ideal. And, doubtless, Jonah himself must have been +disappointed when he looked up to the domed midriff surmounting the +whale's belly, and surveyed the ribbed pillars around him. A pretty +large belly, to be sure, thought he, but not so big as it might have +been.</P> +<P>On the next day, the fog lifted; and by noon, we found ourselves +sailing through fleets of fishermen at anchor. They were very small +craft; and when I beheld them, I perceived the force of that sailor +saying, intended to illustrate restricted quarters, or being <I>on the +limits. It is like a fisherman's walk, </I>say they, <I>three steps and +overboard.</I></P> +<P>Lying right in the track of the multitudinous ships crossing the +ocean between England and America, these little vessels are sometimes +run down, and obliterated from the face of the waters; the cry of the +sailors ceasing with the last whirl of the whirlpool that closes over +their craft. Their sad fate is frequently the result of their own +remissness in keeping a good look-out by day, and not having their +lamps trimmed, like the wise virgins, by night.</P> +<P>As I shall not make mention of the Grand Banks on our homeward-bound +passage, I may as well here relate, that on our return, we approached +them in the night; and by way of making sure of our whereabouts, the +deep-sea-lead was heaved. The line attached is generally upward of +three hundred fathoms in length; and the lead itself, weighing some +forty or fifty pounds, has a hole in the lower end, in which, previous +to sounding, some tallow is thrust, that it may bring up the soil at +the bottom, for the captain to inspect. This is called "arming" the +lead.</P> +<P>We "hove" our deep-sea-line by night, and the operation was very +interesting, at least to me. In the first place, the vessel's heading +was stopt; then, coiled away in a tub, like a whale-rope, the line was +placed toward the after part of the quarter-deck; and one of the +sailors carried the lead outside of the ship, away along to the end of +the jib-boom, and at the word of command, far ahead and overboard it +went, with a plunge; scraping by the side, till it came to the stern, +when the line ran out of the tub like light.</P> +<P>When we came to haul <I>it </I>up, I was astonished at the force +necessary to perform the work. The whole watch pulled at the line, +which was rove through a block in the mizzen-rigging, as if we were +hauling up a fat porpoise. When the lead came in sight, I was all +eagerness to examine the tallow, and get a peep at a specimen of the +bottom of the sea; but the sailors did not seem to be much interested +by it, calling me a fool for wanting to preserve a few grains of the +sand.</P> +<P>I had almost forgotten to make mention of the Gulf Stream, in which +we found ourselves previous to crossing the Banks. The fact, of our +being in it was proved by the captain in person, who superintended the +drawing of a bucket of salt water, in which he dipped his thermometer. +In the absence of the Gulf-weed, this is the general test; for the +temperature of this current is eight degrees higher than that of the +ocean, and the temperature of the ocean is twenty degrees higher than +that of the Grand Banks. And it is to this remarkable difference of +temperature, for which there can be no equilibrium, that many seamen +impute the fogs on the coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland; but why +there should always be such ugly weather in the Gulf, is something that +I do not know has ever been accounted for.</P> +<P>It is curious to dip one's finger in a bucket full of the Gulf +Stream, and find it so warm; as if the Gulf of Mexico, from whence this +current comes, were a great caldron or boiler, on purpose to keep warm +the North Atlantic, which is traversed by it for a distance of two +thousand miles, as some large halls in winter are by hot air tubes. Its +mean breadth being about two hundred leagues, it comprises an area +larger than that of the whole Mediterranean, and may be deemed a sort +of Mississippi of hot water flowing through the ocean; off the coast of +Florida, running at the rate of one mile and a half an hour.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_22">XXI. A WHALEMAN AND A +MAN-OF-WAR'S-MAN</A></H3> +<P>The sight of the whales mentioned in the preceding chapter was the +bringing out of Larry, one of our crew, who hitherto had been quite +silent and reserved, as if from some conscious inferiority, though he +had shipped as an <I>ordinary seaman, </I>and, for aught I could see, +performed his duty very well.</P> +<P>When the men fell into a dispute concerning what kind of whales they +were which we saw, Larry stood by attentively, and after garnering in +their ignorance, all at once broke out, and astonished every body by +his intimate acquaintance with the monsters.</P> +<P>"They ar'n't sperm whales," said Larry, "their spouts ar'n't bushy +enough; they ar'n't Sulphur-bottoms, or they wouldn't stay up so long; +they ar'n't Hump-backs, for they ar'n't got any humps; they ar'n't +Fin-backs, for you won't catch a Finback so near a ship; they ar'n't +Greenland whales, for we ar'n't off the coast of Greenland; and they +ar'n't right whales, for it wouldn't be right to say so. I tell ye, +men, them's Crinkum-crankum whales."</P> +<P>"And what are them?" said a sailor.</P> +<P>"Why, them is whales that can't be cotched."</P> +<P>Now, as it turned out that this Larry had been bred to the sea in a +whaler, and had sailed out of Nantucket many times; no one but Jackson +ventured to dispute his opinion; and even Jackson did not press him +very hard. And ever after, Larry's judgment was relied upon concerning +all strange fish that happened to float by us during the voyage; for +whalemen are far more familiar with the wonders of the deep than any +other class of seaman.</P> +<P>This was Larry's first voyage in the merchant service, and that was +the reason why, hitherto, he had been so reserved; since he well knew +that merchant seamen generally affect a certain superiority to <I> +"blubber-boilers," </I>as they contemptuously style those who hunt the +leviathan. But Larry turned out to be such an inoffensive fellow, and +so well understood his business aboard ship, and was so ready to jump +to an order, that he was exempted from the taunts which he might +otherwise have encountered.</P> +<P>He was a somewhat singular man, who wore his hat slanting forward +over the bridge of his nose, with his eyes cast down, and seemed always +examining your boots, when speaking to you. I loved to hear him talk +about the wild places in the Indian Ocean, and on the coast of +Madagascar, where he had frequently touched during his whaling voyages. +And this familiarity with the life of nature led by the people in that +remote part of the world, had furnished Larry with a sentimental +distaste for civilized society. When opportunity offered, he never +omitted extolling the delights of the free and easy Indian Ocean.</P> +<P>"Why," said Larry, talking through his nose, as usual, "in <I> +Madagasky </I>there, they don't wear any togs at all, nothing but a +bowline round the midships; they don't have no dinners, but keeps a +dinin' all day off fat pigs and dogs; they don't go to bed any where, +but keeps a noddin' all the time; and they gets drunk, too, from some +first rate arrack they make from cocoa-nuts; and smokes plenty of +'baccy, too, I tell ye. Fine country, that! Blast Ameriky, I say!"</P> +<P>To tell the truth, this Larry dealt in some illiberal insinuations +against civilization.</P> +<P>"And what's the use of bein' <I>snivelized!" </I>said he to me one +night during our watch on deck; "snivelized chaps only learns the way +to take on 'bout life, and snivel. You don't see any Methodist chaps +feelin' dreadful about their souls; you don't see any darned beggars +and pesky constables in <I>Madagasky, I </I>tell ye; and none o' them +kings there gets their big toes pinched by the gout. Blast Ameriky, I +say."</P> +<P>Indeed, this Larry was rather cutting in his innuendoes.</P> +<P>"Are <I>you </I>now, Buttons, any better off for bein' snivelized?" +coming close up to me and eying the wreck of my gaff-topsail-boots very +steadfastly. "No; you ar'n't a bit—but you're a good deal <I>worse </I> +for it, Buttons. I tell ye, ye wouldn't have been to sea here, leadin' +this dog's life, if you hadn't been snivelized—that's the cause why, +now. Snivelization has been the ruin on ye; and it's spiled me +complete; I might have been a great man in Madagasky; it's too darned +bad! Blast Ameriky, I say." And in bitter grief at the social blight +upon his whole past, present, and future, Larry turned away, pulling +his hat still lower down over the bridge of his nose.</P> +<P>In strong contrast to Larry, was a young man-of-war's man we had, +who went by the name of <I>"Gun-Deck," </I>from his always talking of +sailor life in the navy. He was a little fellow with a small face and a +prodigious mop of brown hair; who always dressed in man-of-war style, +with a wide, braided collar to his frock, and Turkish trowsers. But he +particularly prided himself upon his feet, which were quite small; and +when we washed down decks of a morning, never mind how chilly it might +be, he always took off his boots, and went paddling about like a duck, +turning out his pretty toes to show his charming feet.</P> +<P>He had served in the armed steamers during the Seminole War in +Florida, and had a good deal to say about sailing up the rivers there, +through the everglades, and popping off Indians on the banks. I +remember his telling a story about a party being discovered at quite a +distance from them; but one of the savages was made very conspicuous by +a pewter plate, which he wore round his neck, and which glittered in +the sun. This plate proved his death; for, according to <I>Gun-Deck, </I> +he himself shot it through the middle, and the ball entered the +wearer's heart. It was a rat-killing war, he said.</P> +<P> +<I>Gun-Deck</I> had touched at Cadiz: had been to Gibraltar; and ashore at +Marseilles. He had sunned himself in the Bay of Naples: eaten figs and +oranges in Messina; and cheerfully lost one of his hearts at Malta, +among the ladies there. And about all these things, he talked like a +romantic man-of-war's man, who had seen the civilized world, and loved +it; found it good, and a comfortable place to live in. So he and Larry +never could agree in their respective views of civilization, and of +savagery, of the Mediterranean and <I>Madagasky.</I></p> + +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_23">XXII. THE HIGHLANDER PASSES A WRECK</A> +</H3> +<P> +We were still on the Banks, when a terrific storm came down upon us, +the like of which I had never before beheld, or imagined. The rain +poured down in sheets and cascades; the scupper holes could hardly +carry it off the decks; and in bracing the yards we waded about almost +up to our knees; every thing floating about, like chips in a dock.</P> +<P>This violent rain was the precursor of a hard squall, for which we +duly prepared, taking in our canvas to double-reefed-top-sails.</P> +<P>The tornado came rushing along at last, like a troop of wild horses +before the flaming rush of a burning prairie. But after bowing and +cringing to it awhile, the good Highlander was put off before it; and +with her nose in the water, went wallowing on, ploughing milk-white +waves, and leaving a streak of illuminated foam in her wake.</P> +<P>It was an awful scene. It made me catch my breath as I gazed. I +could hardly stand on my feet, so violent was the motion of the ship. +But while I reeled to and fro, the sailors only laughed at me; and bade +me look out that the ship did not fall overboard; and advised me to get +a handspike, and hold it down hard in the weather-scuppers, to steady +her wild motions. But I was now getting a little too wise for this +foolish kind of talk; though all through the voyage, they never gave it +over.</P> +<P>This storm past, we had fair weather until we got into the Irish Sea.</P> +<P>The morning following the storm, when the sea and sky had become +blue again, the man aloft sung out that there was a wreck on the +lee-beam. We bore away for it, all hands looking eagerly toward it, and +the captain in the mizzen-top with his spy-glass. Presently, we slowly +passed alongside of it.</P> +<P>It was a dismantled, water-logged schooner, a most dismal sight, +that must have been drifting about for several long weeks. The bulwarks +were pretty much gone; and here and there the bare <I>stanchions, </I> +or posts, were left standing, splitting in two the waves which broke +clear over the deck, lying almost even with the sea. The foremast was +snapt off less than four feet from its base; and the shattered and +splintered remnant looked like the stump of a pine tree thrown over in +the woods. Every time she rolled in the trough of the sea, her open +main-hatchway yawned into view; but was as quickly filled, and +submerged again, with a rushing, gurgling sound, as the water ran into +it with the lee-roll.</P> +<P>At the head of the stump of the mainmast, about ten feet above the +deck, something like a sleeve seemed nailed; it was supposed to be the +relic of a jacket, which must have been fastened there by the crew for +a signal, and been frayed out and blown away by the wind.</P> +<P>Lashed, and leaning over sideways against the taffrail, were three +dark, green, grassy objects, that slowly swayed with every roll, but +otherwise were motionless. I saw the captain's, glass directed toward +them, and heard him say at last, "They must have been dead a long +time." These were sailors, who long ago had lashed themselves to the +taffrail for safety; but must have famished.</P> +<P>Full of the awful interest of the scene, I surely thought the +captain would lower a boat to bury the bodies, and find out something +about the schooner. But we did not stop at all; passing on our course, +without so much as learning the schooner's name, though every one +supposed her to be a New Brunswick lumberman.</P> +<P>On the part of the sailors, no surprise was shown that our captain +did not send off a boat to the wreck; but the steerage passengers were +indignant at what they called his barbarity. For me, I could not but +feel amazed and shocked at his indifference; but my subsequent sea +experiences have shown me, that such conduct as this is very common, +though not, of course, when human life can be saved.</P> +<P>So away we sailed, and left her; drifting, drifting on; a garden +spot for barnacles, and a playhouse for the sharks.</P> +<P>"Look there," said Jackson, hanging over the rail and coughing-"look +there; that's a sailor's coffin. Ha! ha! Buttons," turning round to +me—"how do you like that, Buttons? Wouldn't you like to take a sail +with them 'ere dead men? Wouldn't it be nice?" And then he tried to +laugh, but only coughed again. "Don't laugh at dem poor fellows," said +Max, looking grave; "do' you see dar bodies, dar souls are farder off +dan de Cape of Dood Hope."</P> +<P>"Dood Hope, Dood Hope," shrieked Jackson, with a horrid grin, +mimicking the Dutchman, "dare is no dood hope for dem, old boy; dey are +drowned and d .... d, as you and I will be, Red Max, one of dese dark +nights."</P> +<P>"No, no," said Blunt, "all sailors are saved; they have plenty of +squalls here below, but fair weather aloft."</P> +<P>"And did you get that out of your silly Dream Book, you Greek?" +howled Jackson through a cough. "Don't talk of heaven to me—it's a +lie—I know it—and they are all fools that believe in it. Do you +think, you Greek, that there's any heaven for <I>you? </I>Will they let <I> +you </I>in there, with that tarry hand, and that oily head of hair? +Avast! when some shark gulps you down his hatchway one of these days, +you'll find, that by dying, you'll only go from one gale of wind to +another; mind that, you Irish cockney! Yes, you'll be bolted down like +one of your own pills: and I should like to see the whole ship +swallowed down in the Norway maelstrom, like a box on 'em. That would +be a dose of salts for ye!" And so saying, he went off, holding his +hands to his chest, and coughing, as if his last hour was come.</P> +<P>Every day this Jackson seemed to grow worse and worse, both in body +and mind. He seldom spoke, but to contradict, deride, or curse; and all +the time, though his face grew thinner and thinner, his eyes seemed to +kindle more and more, as if he were going to die out at last, and leave +them burning like tapers before a corpse.</P> +<P>Though he had never attended churches, and knew nothing about +Christianity; no more than a Malay pirate; and though he could not read +a word, yet he was spontaneously an atheist and an infidel; and during +the long night watches, would enter into arguments, to prove that there +was nothing to be believed; nothing to be loved, and nothing worth +living for; but every thing to be hated, in the wide world. He was a +horrid desperado; and like a wild Indian, whom he resembled in his +tawny skin and high cheek bones, he seemed to run amuck at heaven and +earth. He was a Cain afloat; branded on his yellow brow with some +inscrutable curse; and going about corrupting and searing every heart +that beat near him.</P> +<P>But there seemed even more woe than wickedness about the man; and +his wickedness seemed to spring from his woe; and for all his +hideousness, there was that in his eye at times, that was ineffably +pitiable and touching; and though there were moments when I almost +hated this Jackson, yet I have pitied no man as I have pitied him.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_24">XXIII. AN UNACCOUNTABLE +CABIN-PASSENGER, AND A MYSTERIOUS YOUNG LADY</A></H3> +<P>As yet, I have said nothing special about the passengers we carried +out. But before making what little mention I shall of them, you must +know that the Highlander was not a Liverpool liner, or packet-ship, +plying in connection with a sisterhood of packets, at stated intervals, +between the two ports. No: she was only what is called a <I>regular +trader </I>to Liverpool; sailing upon no fixed days, and acting very +much as she pleased, being bound by no obligations of any kind: though +in all her voyages, ever having New York or Liverpool for her +destination. Merchant vessels which are neither liners nor regular +traders, among sailors come under the general head of <I>transient +ships; </I>which implies that they are here to-day, and somewhere else +to-morrow, like Mullins's dog.</P> +<P>But I had no reason to regret that the Highlander was not a liner; +for aboard of those liners, from all I could gather from those who had +sailed in them, the crew have terrible hard work, owing to their +carrying such a press of sail, in order to make as rapid passages as +possible, and sustain the ship's reputation for speed. Hence it is, +that although they are the very best of sea-going craft, and built in +the best possible manner, and with the very best materials, yet, a few +years of scudding before the wind, as they do, seriously impairs their +constitutions— like robust young men, who live too fast in their teens +—and they are soon sold out for a song; generally to the people of +Nantucket, New Bedford, and Sag Harbor, who repair and fit them out for +the whaling business.</P> +<P>Thus, the ship that once carried over gay parties of ladies and +gentlemen, as tourists, to Liverpool or London, now carries a crew of +harpooners round Cape Horn into the Pacific. And the mahogany and +bird's-eye maple cabin, which once held rosewood card-tables and +brilliant coffee-urns, and in which many a bottle of champagne, and +many a bright eye sparkled, <I>now </I>accommodates a bluff Quaker +captain from Martha's Vineyard; who, perhaps, while lying with his ship +in the Bay of Islands, in New Zealand, entertains a party of naked +chiefs and savages at dinner, in place of the packet-captain doing the +honors to the literati, theatrical stars, foreign princes, and +gentlemen of leisure and fortune, who generally talked gossip, +politics, and nonsense across the table, in transatlantic trips. The +broad quarter-deck, too, where these gentry promenaded, is now often +choked up by the enormous head of the sperm-whale, and vast masses of +unctuous blubber; and every where reeks with oil during the prosecution +of the fishery. Sic <I>transit gloria mundi! </I>Thus departs the pride +and glory of packet-ships! <I>It is </I>like a broken down importer of +French silks embarking in the soap-boning business.</P> +<P>So, not being a liner, the Highlander of course did not have very +ample accommodations for cabin passengers. I believe there were not +more than five or six state-rooms, with two or three berths in each. At +any rate, on this particular voyage she only carried out one regular +cabin-passenger; that is, a person previously unacquainted with the +captain, who paid his fare down, and came on board soberly, and in a +business-like manner with his baggage.</P> +<P>He was an extremely little man, that solitary cabin-passenger —the +passenger who came on board in a business-like manner with his baggage; +never spoke to any one, and the captain seldom spoke to him.</P> +<P>Perhaps he was a deputy from the Deaf and Dumb Institution in New +York, going over to London to address the public in pantomime at Exeter +Hall concerning the signs of the times.</P> +<P>He was always in a brown study; sometimes sitting on the +quarter-deck with arms folded, and head hanging upon his chest. Then he +would rise, and gaze out to windward, as if he had suddenly discovered +a friend. But looking disappointed, would retire slowly into his +state-room, where you could see him through the little window, in an +irregular sitting position, with the back part of him inserted into his +berth, and his head, arms, and legs hanging out, buried in profound +meditation, with his fore-finger aside of his nose. He never was seen +reading; never took a hand at cards; never smoked; never drank wine; +never conversed; and never staid to the dessert at dinner-time.</P> +<P>He seemed the true microcosm, or little world to himself: standing +in no need of levying contributions upon the surrounding universe. +Conjecture was lost in speculating as to who he was, and what was his +business. The sailors, who are always curious with regard to such +matters, and criticise cabin-passengers more than cabin-passengers are +perhaps aware at the time, completely exhausted themselves in +suppositions, some of which are characteristically curious.</P> +<P>One of the crew said he was a mysterious bearer of secret dispatches +to the English court; others opined that he was a traveling surgeon and +bonesetter, but for what reason they thought so, I never could learn; +and others declared that he must either be an unprincipled bigamist, +flying from his last wife and several small children; or a scoundrelly +forger, bank-robber, or general burglar, who was returning to his +beloved country with his ill-gotten booty. One observing sailor was of +opinion that he was an English murderer, overwhelmed with speechless +remorse, and returning home to make a full confession and be hanged.</P> +<P>But it was a little singular, that among all their sage and +sometimes confident opinings, not one charitable one was made; no! they +were all sadly to the prejudice of his moral and religious character. +But this is the way all the world over. Miserable man! could you have +had an inkling of what they thought of you, I know not what you would +have done.</P> +<P>However, not knowing any thing about these surmisings and +suspicions, this mysterious cabin-passenger went on his way, calm, +cool, and collected; never troubled any body, and nobody troubled him. +Sometimes, of a moonlight night he glided about the deck, like the +ghost of a hospital attendant; flitting from mast to mast; now hovering +round the skylight, now vibrating in the vicinity of the binnacle. +Blunt, the Dream Book tar, swore he was a magician; and took an extra +dose of salts, by way of precaution against his spells.</P> +<P>When we were but a few days from port, a comical adventure befell +this cabin-passenger. There is an old custom, still in vogue among some +merchant sailors, of tying fast in the rigging any lubberly landsman of +a passenger who may be detected taking excursions aloft, however +moderate the flight of the awkward fowl. This is called <I>"making a +spread eagle" </I>of the man; and before he is liberated, a promise is +exacted, that before arriving in port, he shall furnish the ship's +company with money enough for a treat all round.</P> +<P>Now this being one of the perquisites of sailors, they are always on +the keen look-out for an opportunity of levying such contributions upon +incautious strangers; though they never attempt it in presence of the +captain; as for the mates, they purposely avert their eyes, and are +earnestly engaged about something else, whenever they get an inkling of +this proceeding going on. But, with only one poor fellow of a +cabin-passenger on board of the Highlander, and <I>he </I>such a quiet, +unobtrusive, unadventurous wight, there seemed little chance for +levying contributions.</P> +<P>One remarkably pleasant morning, however, what should be seen, half +way up the mizzen rigging, but the figure of our cabin-passenger, +holding on with might and main by all four limbs, and with his head +fearfully turned round, gazing off to the horizon. He looked as if he +had the nightmare; and in some sudden and unaccountable fit of +insanity, he must have been impelled to the taking up of that perilous +position.</P> +<P>"Good heavens!" said the mate, who was a bit of a wag, "you will +surely fall, sir! Steward, spread a mattress on deck, under the +gentleman!"</P> +<P>But no sooner was our Greenland sailor's attention called to the +sight, than snatching up some rope-yarn, he ran softly up behind the +passenger, and without speaking a word, began binding him hand and +foot. The stranger was more dumb than ever with amazement; at last +violently remonstrated; but in vain; for as his tearfulness of falling +made him keep his hands glued to the ropes, and so prevented him from +any effectual resistance, he was soon made a handsome <I>spread-eagle </I> +of, to the great satisfaction of the crew.</P> +<P>It was now discovered for the first, that this singular passenger +stammered and stuttered very badly, which, perhaps, was the cause of +his reservedness.</P> +<P>"Wha-wha-what i-i-is this f-f-for?"</P> +<P>"Spread-eagle, sir," said the Greenlander, thinking that those few +words would at once make the matter plain.</P> +<P>"Wha-wha-what that me-me-mean?"</P> +<P>"Treats all round, sir," said the Greenlander, wondering at the +other's obtusity, who, however, had never so much as heard of the thing +before.</P> +<P>At last, upon his reluctant acquiescence in the demands of the +sailor, and handing him two half-crown pieces, the unfortunate +passenger was suffered to descend.</P> +<P>The last I ever saw of this man was his getting into a cab at +Prince's Dock Gates in Liverpool, and driving off alone to parts +unknown. He had nothing but a valise with him, and an umbrella; but his +pockets looked stuffed out; perhaps he used them for carpet-bags.</P> +<P>I must now give some account of another and still more mysterious, +though very different, sort of an occupant of the cabin, of whom I have +previously hinted. What say you to a charming young girl?—just the +girl to sing the Dashing White Sergeant; a martial, military-looking +girl; her father must have been a general. Her hair was auburn; her +eyes were blue; her cheeks were white and red; and Captain Riga was her +most devoted.</P> +<P>To the curious questions of the sailors concerning who she was, the +steward used to answer, that she was the daughter of one of the +Liverpool dock-masters, who, for the benefit of her health and the +improvement of her mind, had sent her out to America in the Highlander, +under the captain's charge, who was his particular friend; and that now +the young lady was returning home from her tour.</P> +<P>And truly the captain proved an attentive father to her, and often +promenaded with her hanging on his arm, past the forlorn bearer of +secret dispatches, who would look up now and then out of his reveries, +and cast a furtive glance of wonder, as if he thought the captain was +audacious.</P> +<P>Considering his beautiful ward, I thought the captain behaved +ungallantly, to say the least, in availing himself of the opportunity +of her charming society, to wear out his remaining old clothes; for no +gentleman ever pretends to save his best coat when a lady is in the +case; indeed, he generally thirsts for a chance to abase it, by +converting it into a pontoon over a puddle, like Sir Walter Raleigh, +that the ladies may not soil the soles of their dainty slippers. But +this Captain Riga was no Raleigh, and hardly any sort of a true +gentleman whatever, as I have formerly declared. Yet, perhaps, he might +have worn his old clothes in this instance, for the express purpose of +proving, by his disdain for the toilet, that he was nothing but the +young lady's guardian; for many guardians do not care one fig how +shabby they look.</P> +<P>But for all this, the passage out was one long paternal sort of a +shabby flirtation between this hoydenish nymph and the ill-dressed +captain. And surely, if her good mother, were she living, could have +seen this young lady, she would have given her an endless lecture for +her conduct, and a copy of Mrs. Ellis's Daughters of England to read +and digest. I shall say no more of this anonymous nymph; only, that +when we arrived at Liverpool, she issued from her cabin in a richly +embroidered silk dress, and lace hat and veil, and a sort of Chinese +umbrella or parasol, which one of the sailors declared "spandangalous;" +and the captain followed after in his best broadcloth and beaver, with +a gold-headed cane; and away they went in a carriage, and that was the +last of her; I hope she is well and happy now; but I have some +misgivings.</P> +<P>It now remains to speak of the steerage passengers. There were not +more than twenty or thirty of them, mostly mechanics, returning home, +after a prosperous stay in America, to escort their wives and families +back. These were the only occupants of the steerage that I ever knew +of; till early one morning, in the gray dawn, when we made Cape Clear, +the south point of Ireland, the apparition of a tall Irishman, in a +shabby shirt of bed-ticking, emerged from the fore hatchway, and stood +leaning on the rail, looking landward with a fixed, reminiscent +expression, and diligently scratching its back with both hands. We all +started at the sight, for no one had ever seen the apparition before; +and when we remembered that it must have been burrowing all the passage +down in its bunk, the only probable reason of its so manipulating its +back became shockingly obvious.</P> +<P>I had almost forgotten another passenger of ours, a little boy not +four feet high, an English lad, who, when we were about forty-eight +hours from New York, suddenly appeared on deck, asking for something to +eat.</P> +<P>It seems he was the son of a carpenter, a widower, with this only +child, who had gone out to America in the Highlander some six months +previous, where he fell to drinking, and soon died, leaving the boy a +friendless orphan in a foreign land.</P> +<P>For several weeks the boy wandered about the wharves, picking up a +precarious livelihood by sucking molasses out of the casks discharged +from West India ships, and occasionally regaling himself upon stray +oranges and lemons found floating in the docks. He passed his nights +sometimes in a stall in the markets, sometimes in an empty hogshead on +the piers, sometimes in a doorway, and once in the watchhouse, from +which he escaped the next morning, running as he told me, right between +the doorkeeper's legs, when he was taking another vagrant to task for +repeatedly throwing himself upon the public charities.</P> +<P>At last, while straying along the docks, he chanced to catch sight +of the Highlander, and immediately recognized her as the very ship +which brought him and his father out from England. He at once resolved +to return in her; and, accosting the captain, stated his case, and +begged a passage. The captain refused to give it; but, nothing daunted, +the heroic little fellow resolved to conceal himself on board previous +to the ship's sailing; which he did, stowing himself away in the <I> +between-decks; </I>and moreover, as he told us, in a narrow space +between two large casks of water, from which he now and then thrust out +his head for air. And once a steerage passenger rose in the night and +poked in and rattled about a stick where he was, thinking him an +uncommon large rat, who was after stealing a passage across the +Atlantic. There are plenty of passengers of that kind continually +plying between Liverpool and New York.</P> +<P>As soon as he divulged the fact of his being on board, which he took +care should not happen till he thought the ship must be out of sight of +land; the captain had him called aft, and after giving him a thorough +shaking, and threatening to toss <I>her</I> overboard as a tit-bit for <I> +John Shark, </I>he told the mate to send him forward among the sailors, +and let him live there. The sailors received him with open arms; but +before caressing him much, they gave him a thorough washing in the +lee-scuppers, when he turned out to be quite a handsome lad, though +thin and pale with the hardships he had suffered. However, by good +nursing and plenty to eat, he soon improved and grew fat; and before +many days was as fine a looking little fellow, as you might pick out of +Queen Victoria's nursery. The sailors took the warmest interest in him. +One made him a little hat with a long ribbon; another a little jacket; +a third a comical little pair of man-of-war's-man's trowsers; so that +in the end, he looked like a juvenile boatswain's mate. Then the cook +furnished him with a little tin pot and pan; and the steward made him a +present of a pewter tea-spoon; and a steerage passenger gave him a jack +knife. And thus provided, he used to sit at meal times half way up on +the forecastle ladder, making a great racket with his pot and pan, and +merry as a cricket. He was an uncommonly fine, cheerful, clever, arch +little fellow, only six years old, and it was a thousand pities that he +should be abandoned, as he was. Who can say, whether he is fated to be +a convict in New South Wales, or a member of Parliament for Liverpool? +When we got to that port, by the way, a purse was made up for him; the +captain, officers, and the mysterious cabin passenger contributing +their best wishes, and the sailors and poor steerage passengers +something like fifteen dollars in cash and tobacco. But I had almost +forgot to add that the daughter of the dock-master gave him a fine lace +pocket-handkerchief and a card-case to remember her by; very valuable, +but somewhat inappropriate presents. Thus supplied, the little hero +went ashore by himself; and I lost sight of him in the vast crowds +thronging the docks of Liverpool.</P> +<P>I must here mention, as some relief to the impression which +Jackson's character must have made upon the reader, that in several +ways he at first befriended this boy; but the boy always shrunk from +him; till, at last, stung by his conduct, Jackson spoke to him no more; +and seemed to hate him, harmless as he was, along with all the rest of +the world.</P> +<P>As for the Lancashire lad, he was a stupid sort of fellow, as I have +before hinted. So, little interest was taken in him, that he was +permitted to go ashore at last, without a good-by from any person but +one.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_25">XXIV. HE BEGINS TO HOP ABOUT IN THE +RIGGING LIKE A SAINT JAGO's MONKEY</A></H3> +<P>But we have not got to Liverpool yet; though, as there is little +more to be said concerning the passage out, the Highlander may as well +make sail and get there as soon as possible. The brief interval will +perhaps be profitably employed in relating what progress I made in +learning the duties of a sailor.</P> +<P>After my heroic feat in loosing the main-skysail, the mate +entertained good hopes of my becoming a rare mariner. In the fullness +of his heart, he ordered me to turn over the superintendence of the +chicken-coop to the Lancashire boy; which I did, very willingly. After +that, I took care to show the utmost alacrity in running aloft, which +by this time became mere fun for me; and nothing delighted me more than +to sit on one of the topsail-yards, for hours together, helping Max or +the Green-lander as they worked at the rigging.</P> +<P>At sea, the sailors are continually engaged in <I>"parcelling," +"serving," </I>and in a thousand ways ornamenting and repairing the +numberless shrouds and stays; mending sails, or turning one side of the +deck into a rope-walk, where they manufacture a clumsy sort of twine, +called <I>spun-yarn. </I>This is spun with a winch; and many an hour +the Lancashire boy had to play the part of an engine, and contribute +the motive power. For material, they use odds and ends of old rigging +called <I>"junk," </I>the yarns of which are picked to pieces, and then +twisted into new combinations, something as most books are +manufactured. This "junk" is bought at the junk shops along the +wharves; outlandish looking dens, generally subterranean, full of old +iron, old shrouds, spars, rusty blocks, and superannuated tackles; and +kept by villainous looking old men, in tarred trowsers, and with yellow +beards like oakum. They look like wreckers; and the scattered goods +they expose for sale, involuntarily remind one of the sea-beach, +covered with keels and cordage, swept ashore in a gale.</P> +<P>Yes, I was now as nimble as a monkey in the rigging, and at the cry +of <I>"tumble up there, my hearties, and take in sail," I </I>was among +the first ground-and-lofty tumblers, that sprang aloft at the word.</P> +<P>But the first time we reefed top-sails of a dark night, and I found +myself hanging over the yard with eleven others, the ship plunging and +rearing like a mad horse, till I felt like being jerked off the spar; +then, indeed, I thought of a feather-bed at home, and hung on with +tooth and nail; with no chance for snoring. But a few repetitions, soon +made me used to it; and before long, I tied my reef-point as quickly +and expertly as the best of them; never making what they call a <I> +"granny-knot," </I>and slipt down on deck by the bare stays, instead of +the shrouds. It is surprising, how soon a boy overcomes his timidity +about going aloft. For my own part, my nerves became as steady as the +earth's diameter, and I felt as fearless on the royal yard, as Sam +Patch on the cliff of Niagara. To my amazement, also, I found, that +running up the rigging at sea, especially during a squall, was much +easier than while lying in port. For as you always go up on the +windward side, and the ship leans over, it makes more of a <I>stairs </I> +of the rigging; whereas, in harbor, it is almost straight up and down.</P> +<P>Besides, the pitching and rolling only imparts a pleasant sort of +vitality to the vessel; so that the difference in being aloft in a ship +at sea, and a ship in harbor, is pretty much the same, as riding a real +live horse and a wooden one. And even if the live charger should pitch +you over his head, <I>that </I>would be much more satisfactory, than an +inglorious fall from the other.</P> +<P>I took great delight in furling the top-gallant sails and royals in +a hard blow; which duty required two hands on the yard.</P> +<P>There was a wild delirium about it; a fine rushing of the blood +about the heart; and a glad, thrilling, and throbbing of the whole +system, to find yourself tossed up at every pitch into the clouds of a +stormy sky, and hovering like a judgment angel between heaven and +earth; both hands free, with one foot in the rigging, and one somewhere +behind you in the air. The sail would fill out Eke a balloon, with a +report like a small cannon, and then collapse and sink away into a +handful. And the feeling of mastering the rebellious canvas, and tying +it down like a slave to the spar, and binding it over and over with the <I> +gasket, </I>had a touch of pride and power in it, such as young King +Richard must have felt, when he trampled down the insurgents of Wat +Tyler.</P> +<P>As for steering, they never would let me go to the helm, except +during a calm, when I and the figure-head on the bow were about equally +employed.</P> +<P>By the way, that figure-head was a passenger I forgot to make +mention of before.</P> +<P>He was a gallant six-footer of a Highlander <I>"in full fig," </I> +with bright tartans, bare knees, barred leggings, and blue bonnet and +the most vermilion of cheeks. He was game to his wooden marrow, and +stood up to it through thick and thin; one foot a little advanced, and +his right arm stretched forward, daring on the waves. In a gale of wind +it was glorious to watch him standing at his post like a hero, and +plunging up and down the watery Highlands and Lowlands, as the ship +went roaming on her way. He was a veteran with many wounds of many +sea-fights; and when he got to Liverpool a figure-head-builder there, +amputated his left leg, and gave him another wooden one, which I am +sorry to say, did not fit him very well, for ever after he looked as if +he limped. Then this figure-head-surgeon gave him another nose, and +touched up one eye, and repaired a rent in his tartans. After that the +painter came and made his toilet all over again; giving him a new suit +throughout, with a plaid of a beautiful pattern.</P> +<P>I do not know what has become of Donald now, but I hope he is safe +and snug with a handsome pension in the "Sailors'-Snug-Harbor" on +Staten Island.</P> +<P>The reason why they gave me such a slender chance of learning to +steer was this. I was quite young and raw, and steering a ship is a +great art, upon which much depends; especially the making a short +passage; for if the helmsman be a clumsy, careless fellow, or ignorant +of his duty, he keeps the ship going about in a melancholy state of +indecision as to its precise destination; so that on a voyage to +Liverpool, it may be pointing one while for Gibraltar, then for +Rotterdam, and now for John o' Groat's; all of which is worse than +wasted time. Whereas, a true steersman keeps her to her work night and +day; and tries to make a bee-line from port to port.</P> +<P>Then, in a sudden squall, inattention, or want of quickness at the +helm, might make the ship <I>"lurch to"—or "bring her by the lee." </I> +And what those things are, the cabin passengers would never find out, +when they found themselves going down, down, down, and bidding good-by +forever to the moon and stars.</P> +<P>And they little think, many of them, fine gentlemen and ladies that +they are, what an important personage, and how much to be had in +reverence, is the rough fellow in the pea-jacket, whom they see +standing at the wheel, now cocking his eye aloft, and then peeping at +the compass, or looking out to windward.</P> +<P>Why, that fellow has all your lives and eternities in his hand; and +with one small and almost imperceptible motion of a spoke, in a gale of +wind, might give a vast deal of work to surrogates and lawyers, in +proving last wills and testaments. </P> +<P>Ay, you may well stare at him now. He does not look much like a man +who might play into the hands of an heir-at-law, does he? Yet such is +the case. Watch him close, therefore; take him down into your +state-room occasionally after a stormy watch, and make a friend of him. +A glass of cordial will do it. And if you or your heirs are interested +with the underwriters, then also have an eye on him. And if you remark, +that of the crew, all the men who come to the helm are careless, or +inefficient; and if you observe the captain scolding them often, and +crying out: <I>"Luff, you rascal; she's falling off!" </I>or, <I>"Keep +her steady, you scoundrel, you're boxing the compass!" </I>then hurry +down to your state-room, and if you have not yet made a will, get out +your stationery and go at it; and when it is done, seal it up in a +bottle, like Columbus' log, and it may possibly drift ashore, when you +are drowned in the next gale of wind.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_26">XXV. QUARTER-DECK FURNITURE</A></H3> +<P>Though, for reasons hinted at above, they would not let me steer, I +contented myself with learning the compass, a graphic facsimile of +which I drew on a blank leaf of the <I>"Wealth of Nations," </I>and +studied it every morning, like the multiplication table.</P> +<P>I liked to peep in at the binnacle, and watch the needle; arid I +wondered how it was that it pointed north, rather than south or west; +for I do not know that any reason can be given why it points in the +precise direction it does. One would think, too, that, as since the +beginning of the world almost, the tide of emigration has been setting +west, the needle would point that way; whereas, it is forever pointing +its fixed fore-finger toward the Pole, where there are few inducements +to attract a sailor, unless it be plenty of ice for mint-juleps.</P> +<P>Our binnacle, by the way, the place that holds a ship's compasses, +deserves a word of mention. It was a little house, about the bigness of +a common bird-cage, with sliding panel doors, and two drawing-rooms +within, and constantly perched upon a stand, right in front of the +helm. It had two chimney stacks to carry off the smoke of the lamp that +burned in it by night.</P> +<P>It was painted green, and on two sides had Venetian blinds; and on +one side two glazed sashes; so that it looked like a cool little summer +retreat, a snug bit of an arbor at the end of a shady garden lane. Had +I been the captain, I would have planted vines in boxes, and placed +them so as to overrun this binnacle; or I would have put canary-birds +within; and so made an aviary of it. It is surprising what a different +air may be imparted to the meanest thing by the dainty hand of taste. +Nor must I omit the helm itself, which was one of a new construction, +and a particular favorite of the captain. It was a complex system of +cogs and wheels and spindles, all of polished brass, and looked +something like a printing-press, or power-loom. The sailors, however, +did not like it much, owing to the casualties that happened to their +imprudent fingers, by catching in among the cogs and other intricate +contrivances. Then, sometimes in a calm, when the sudden swells would +lift the ship, the helm would fetch a lurch, and send the helmsman +revolving round like Ixion, often seriously hurting him; a sort of +breaking on the wheel.</P> +<P>The <I>harness-cask, </I>also, a sort of sea side-board, or rather +meat-safe, in which a week's allowance of salt pork and beef is kept, +deserves being chronicled. It formed part of the standing furniture of +the quarter-deck. Of an oval shape, it was banded round with hoops all +silver-gilt, with gilded bands secured with gilded screws, and a gilded +padlock, richly chased. This formed the captain's smoking-seat, where +he would perch himself of an afternoon, a tasseled Chinese cap upon his +head, and a fragrant Havanna between his white and canine-looking +teeth. He took much solid comfort, Captain Riga.</P> +<P>Then the magnificent <I>capstan! </I>The pride and glory of the +whole ship's company, the constant care and dandled darling of the +cook, whose duty it was to keep it polished like a teapot; and it was +an object of distant admiration to the steerage passengers. Like a +parlor center-table, it stood full in the middle of the quarter-deck, +radiant with brazen stars, and variegated with diamond-shaped +veneerings of mahogany and satin wood. This was the captain's lounge, +and the chief mate's secretary, in the bar-holes keeping paper and +pencil for memorandums. </P> +<P>I might proceed and speak of the <I>booby-hatch, </I>used as a sort +of settee by the officers, and the <I>fife-rail </I>round the mainmast, +inclosing a little ark of canvas, painted green, where a small white +dog with a blue ribbon round his neck, belonging to the dock-master's +daughter, used to take his morning walks, and air himself in this small +edition of the New York Bowling-Green.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_27">XXVI. A SAILOR A JACK OF ALL TRADES</A> +</H3> +<P>As I began to learn my sailor duties, and show activity in running +aloft, the men, I observed, treated me with a little more +consideration, though not at all relaxing in a certain air of +professional superiority. For the mere knowing of the names of the +ropes, and familiarizing yourself with their places, so that you can +lay hold of them in the darkest night; and the loosing and furling of +the canvas, and reefing topsails, and hauling braces; all this, though +of course forming an indispensable part of a seaman's vocation, and the +business in which he is principally engaged; yet these are things which +a beginner of ordinary capacity soon masters, and which are far +inferior to many other matters familiar to an <I>"able seaman."</I></P> +<P>What did I know, for instance, about <I>striking a top-gallant-mast, </I> +and sending it down on deck in a gale of wind? Could I have <I>turned +in a dead-eye, </I>or in the approved nautical style have <I>clapt a +seizing on the main-stay? </I>What did I know of <I>"passing a +gammoning," "reiving a Burton," "strapping a shoe-block," "clearing a +foul hawse," </I>and innumerable other intricacies?</P> +<P>The business of a thorough-bred sailor is a special calling, as much +of a regular trade as a carpenter's or locksmith's. Indeed, it requires +considerably more adroitness, and far more versatility of talent.</P> +<P>In the English merchant service boys serve a long apprenticeship to +the sea, of seven years. Most of them first enter the Newcastle +colliers, where they see a great deal of severe coasting service. In an +old copy of the Letters of Junius, belonging to my father, I remember +reading, that coal to supply the city of London could be dug at +Blackheath, and sold for one half the price that the people of London +then paid for it; but the Government would not suffer the mines to be +opened, as it would destroy the great nursery for British seamen.</P> +<P>A thorough sailor must understand much of other avocations. He must +be a bit of an embroiderer, to work fanciful collars of hempen lace +about the shrouds; he must be something of a weaver, to weave mats of +rope-yarns for lashings to the boats; he must have a touch of +millinery, so as to tie graceful bows and knots, such as <I>Matthew +Walker's roses, </I>and <I>Turk's heads; </I>he must be a bit of a +musician, in order to sing out at the halyards; he must be a sort of +jeweler, to set dead-eyes in the standing rigging; he must be a +carpenter, to enable him to make a jurymast out of a yard in case of +emergency; he must be a sempstress, to darn and mend the sails; a +ropemaker, to twist <I>marline </I>and <I>Spanish foxes; </I>a +blacksmith, to make hooks and thimbles for the blocks: in short, he +must be a sort of Jack of all trades, in order to master his own. And +this, perhaps, in a greater or less degree, is pretty much the case +with all things else; for you know nothing till you know all; which is +the reason we never know anything.</P> +<P>A sailor, also, in working at the rigging, uses special tools +peculiar to his calling—<I>fids, serving-mallets, toggles, prickers, +marlingspikes, palms, heavers, </I>and many more. The smaller sort he +generally carries with him from ship to ship in a sort of canvas +reticule.</P> +<P>The estimation in which a ship's crew hold the knowledge of such +accomplishments as these, is expressed in the phrase they apply to one +who is a clever practitioner. To distinguish such a mariner from those +who merely <I>"hand, reef, and steer," </I>that is, run aloft, furl +sails, haul ropes, and stand at the wheel, they say he is <I>"a +sailor-man" </I>which means that he not only knows how to reef a +topsail, but is an artist in the rigging.</P> +<P>Now, alas! I had no chance given me to become initiated in this art +and mystery; no further, at least, than by looking on, and watching how +that these things might be done as well as others, the reason was, that +I had only shipped for this one voyage in the Highlander, a short +voyage too; and it was not worth while to teach <I>me </I>any thing, +the fruit of which instructions could be only reaped by the next ship I +might belong to. All they wanted of me was the good-will of my muscles, +and the use of my backbone—comparatively small though it was at that +time—by way of a lever, for the above-mentioned artists to employ when +wanted. Accordingly, when any embroidery was going on in the rigging, I +was set to the most inglorious avocations; as in the merchant service +it is a religious maxim to keep the hands always employed at something +or other, never mind what, during their watch on deck.</P> +<P>Often furnished with a club-hammer, they swung me over the bows in a +bowline, to pound the rust off the anchor: a most monotonous, and to me +a most uncongenial and irksome business. There was a remarkable +fatality attending the various hammers I carried over with me. Somehow +they <I>would </I>drop out of my hands into the sea. But the supply of +reserved hammers seemed unlimited: also the blessings and benedictions +I received from the chief mate for my clumsiness.</P> +<P>At other times, they set me to picking oakum, like a convict, which +hempen business disagreeably obtruded thoughts of halters and the +gallows; or whittling belaying-pins, like a Down-Easter.</P> +<P>However, I endeavored to bear it all like a young philosopher, and +whiled away the tedious hours by gazing through a port-hole while my +hands were plying, and repeating Lord Byron's Address to the Ocean, +which I had often spouted on the stage at the High School at home.</P> +<P>Yes, I got used to all these matters, and took most things coolly, +in the spirit of Seneca and the stoics.</P> +<P>All but the <I>"turning out" </I>or rising from your berth when the +watch was called at night—<I>that </I>I never fancied. It was a sort +of acquaintance, which the more I cultivated, the more I shrunk from; a +thankless, miserable business, truly.</P> +<P>Consider that after walking the deck for four full hours, you go +below to sleep: and while thus innocently employed in reposing your +wearied limbs, you are started up—it seems but the next instant after +closing your lids—and hurried on deck again, into the same +disagreeably dark and, perhaps, stormy night, from which you descended +into the forecastle.</P> +<P>The previous interval of slumber was almost wholly lost to me; at +least the golden opportunity could not be appreciated: for though it is +usually deemed a comfortable thing to be asleep, yet at the time no one +is conscious that he is so enjoying himself. Therefore I made a little +private arrangement with the Lancashire lad, who was in the other +watch, just to step below occasionally, and shake me, and whisper in my +ear—<I>"Watch below, Buttons; watch below"—</I>which pleasantly +reminded me of the delightful fact. Then I would turn over on my side, +and take another nap; and in this manner I enjoyed several complete +watches in my bunk to the other sailor's one. I recommend the plan to +all landsmen contemplating a voyage to sea.</P> +<P>But notwithstanding all these contrivances, the dreadful sequel +could not be avoided. Eight bells would at last be struck, and the men +on deck, exhilarated by the prospect of changing places with us, would +call the watch in a most provoking but mirthful and facetious style.</P> +<P>As thus:—</P> +<P>"Starboard watch, ahoy! eight bells there, below! Tumble up, my +lively hearties; steamboat alongside waiting for your trunks: bear a +hand, bear a hand with your knee-buckles, my sweet and pleasant +fellows! fine shower-bath here on deck. Hurrah, hurrah! your ice-cream +is getting cold!"</P> +<P>Whereupon some of the old croakers who were getting into their +trowsers would reply with—"Oh, stop your gabble, will you? don't be in +such a hurry, now. You feel sweet, don't you?" with other exclamations, +some of which were full of fury.</P> +<P>And it was not a little curious to remark, that at the expiration of +the ensuing watch, the tables would be turned; and we on deck became +the wits and jokers, and those below the grizzly bears and growlers.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_28">XXVII. HE GETS A PEEP AT IRELAND, +AND AT LAST ARRIVES AT LIVERPOOL</A></H3> +<P>The Highlander was not a grayhound, not a very fast sailer; and so, +the passage, which some of the packet ships make in fifteen or sixteen +days, employed us about thirty.</P> +<P>At last, one morning I came on deck, and they told me that Ireland +was in sight.</P> +<P>Ireland in sight! A foreign country actually visible! I peered hard, +but could see nothing but a bluish, cloud-like spot to the northeast. +Was that Ireland? Why, there was nothing remarkable about that; nothing +startling. If <I>that's </I>the way a foreign country looks, I might as +well have staid at home.</P> +<P>Now what, exactly, I had fancied the shore would look like, I can +not say; but I had a vague idea that it would be something strange and +wonderful. However, there it was; and as the light increased and the +ship sailed nearer and nearer, the land began to magnify, and I gazed +at it with increasing interest.</P> +<P>Ireland! I thought of Robert Emmet, and that last speech of his +before Lord Norbury; I thought of Tommy Moore, and his amatory verses: +I thought of Curran, Grattan, Plunket, and O'Connell; I thought of my +uncle's ostler, Patrick Flinnigan; and I thought of the shipwreck of +the gallant Albion, tost to pieces on the very shore now in sight; and +I thought I should very much like to leave the ship and visit Dublin +and the Giant's Causeway.</P> +<P>Presently a fishing-boat drew near, and I rushed to get a view of +it; but it was a very ordinary looking boat, bobbing up and down, as +any other boat would have done; yet, when I considered that the +solitary man in it was actually a born native of the land in sight; +that in all probability he had never been in America, and knew nothing +about my friends at home, I began to think that he looked somewhat +strange.</P> +<P>He was a very fluent fellow, and as soon as we were within hailing +distance, cried out—"Ah, my fine sailors, from Ameriky, ain't ye, my +beautiful sailors?" And concluded by calling upon; us to stop and heave +a rope. Thinking he might have something important to communicate, the +mate accordingly backed I the main yard, and a rope being thrown, the +stranger kept hauling in upon it, and coiling it down, crying, "pay +out! pay out, my honeys; ah! but you're noble fellows!" Till at last +the mate asked him why he did not come alongside, adding, "Haven't you +enough rope yet?"</P> +<P>"Sure and I have," replied the fisherman, "and it's time for Pat to +cut and run!" and so saying, his knife severed the rope, and with a +Kilkenny grin, he sprang to his tiller, put his little craft before the +wind, and bowled away from us, with some fifteen fathoms of our +tow-line.</P> +<P>"And may the Old Boy hurry after you, and hang you in your stolen +hemp, you Irish blackguard!" cried the mate, shaking his fist at the +receding boat, after recovering from his first fit of amazement.</P> +<P>Here, then, was a beautiful introduction to the eastern hemisphere; +fairly robbed before striking soundings. This trick upon experienced +travelers certainly beat all I had ever heard about the wooden nutmegs +and bass-wood pumpkin seeds of Connecticut. And I thought if there were +any more Hibernians like our friend Pat, the Yankee peddlers might as +well give it up.</P> +<P>The next land we saw was Wales. It was high noon, and a long line of +purple mountains lay like banks of clouds against the east.</P> +<P>Could this be really Wales?-Wales?—and I thought of the Prince of +Wales.</P> +<P>And did a real queen with a diadem reign over that very land I was +looking at, with the identical eyes in my own head?—And then I thought +of a grandfather of mine, who had fought against the ancestor of this +queen at Bunker's Hill.</P> +<P>But, after all, the general effect of these mountains was +mortifyingly like the general effect of the Kaatskill Mountains on the +Hudson River.</P> +<P>With a light breeze, we sailed on till next day, when we made +Holyhead and Anglesea. Then it fell almost calm, and what little wind +we had, was ahead; so we kept tacking to and fro, just gliding through +the water, and always hovering in sight of a snow-white tower in the +distance, which might have been a fort, or a light-house. I lost myself +in conjectures as to what sort of people might be tenanting that lonely +edifice, and whether they knew any thing about us.</P> +<P>The third day, with a good wind over the taffrail, we arrived so +near our destination, that we took a pilot at dusk.</P> +<P>He, and every thing connected with him were very different from our +New York pilot. In the first place, the pilot boat that brought him was +a plethoric looking sloop-rigged boat, with flat bows, that went +wheezing through the water; quite in contrast to the little gull of a +schooner, that bade us adieu off Sandy Hook. Aboard of her were ten or +twelve other pilots, fellows with shaggy brows, and muffled in shaggy +coats, who sat grouped together on deck like a fire-side of bears, +wintering in Aroostook. They must have had fine sociable times, though, +together; cruising about the Irish Sea in quest of Liverpool-bound +vessels; smoking cigars, drinking brandy-and-water, and spinning yarns; +till at last, one by one, they are all scattered on board of different +ships, and meet again by the side of a blazing sea-coal fire in some +Liverpool taproom, and prepare for another yachting.</P> +<P>Now, when this English pilot boarded us, I stared at him as if he +had been some wild animal just escaped from the Zoological Gardens; for +here was a real live Englishman, just from England. Nevertheless, as he +soon fell to ordering us here and there, and swearing vociferously in a +language quite familiar to me; I began to think him very common-place, +and considerable of a bore after all.</P> +<P>After running till about midnight, we <I>"hove-to" </I>near the +mouth of the Mersey; and next morning, before day-break, took the first +of the flood; and with a fair wind, stood into the river; which, at its +mouth, is quite an arm of the sea. Presently, in the misty twilight, we +passed immense buoys, and caught sight of distant objects on shore, +vague and shadowy shapes, like Ossian's ghosts.</P> +<P>As I stood leaning over the side, and trying to summon up some image +of Liverpool, to see how the reality would answer to my conceit; and +while the fog, and mist, and gray dawn were investing every thing with +a mysterious interest, I was startled by the doleful, dismal sound of a +great bell, whose slow intermitting tolling seemed in unison with the +solemn roll of the billows. I thought I had never heard so boding a +sound; a sound that seemed to speak of judgment and the resurrection, +like belfry-mouthed Paul of Tarsus.</P> +<P>It was not in the direction of the shore; but seemed to come out of +the vaults of the sea, and out of the mist and fog.</P> +<P>Who was dead, and what could it be?</P> +<P>I soon learned from my shipmates, that this was the famous <I> +Bett-Buoy, </I>which is precisely what its name implies; and tolls fast +or slow, according to the agitation of the waves. In a calm, it is +dumb; in a moderate breeze, it tolls gently; but in a gale, it is an +alarum like the tocsin, warning all mariners to flee. But it seemed +fuller of dirges for the past, than of monitions for the future; and no +one can give ear to it, without thinking of the sailors who sleep far +beneath it at the bottom of the deep.</P> +<P>As we sailed ahead the river contracted. The day came, and soon, +passing two lofty land-marks on the Lancashire shore, we rapidly drew +near the town, and at last, came to anchor in the stream.</P> +<P>Looking shoreward, I beheld lofty ranges of dingy warehouses, which +seemed very deficient in the elements of the marvelous; and bore a most +unexpected resemblance to the ware-houses along South-street in New +York. There was nothing strange; nothing extraordinary about them. +There they stood; a row of calm and collected ware-houses; very good +and substantial edifices, doubtless, and admirably adapted to the ends +had in view by the builders; but plain, matter-of-fact ware-houses, +nevertheless, and that was all that could be said of them.</P> +<P>To be sure, I did not expect that every house in Liverpool must be a +Leaning Tower of Pisa, or a Strasbourg Cathedral; but yet, these +edifices I must confess, were a sad and bitter disappointment to me.</P> +<P>But it was different with Larry the whaleman; who to my surprise, +looking about him delighted, exclaimed, "Why, this 'ere is a +considerable place—I'm <I>dummed if </I>it ain't quite a place.—Why, +them 'ere houses is considerable houses. It beats the coast of Afrilcy, +all hollow; nothing like this in <I>Madagasky, </I>I tell you;—I'm <I> +dummed, </I>boys if Liverpool ain't a city!"</P> +<P>Upon this occasion, indeed, Larry altogether forgot his hostility to +civilization. Having been so long accustomed to associate foreign lands +with the savage places of the Indian Ocean, he had been under the +impression, that Liverpool must be a town of bamboos, situated in some +swamp, and whose inhabitants turned their attention principally to the +cultivation of log-wood and curing of flying-fish. For that any great +commercial city existed three thousand miles from home, was a thing, of +which Larry had never before had a <I>"realizing sense." </I>He was +accordingly astonished and delighted; and began to feel a sort of +consideration for the country which could boast so extensive a town. +Instead of holding Queen Victoria on a par with the Queen of +Madagascar, as he had been accustomed to do; he ever after alluded to +that lady with feeling and respect.</P> +<P>As for the other seamen, the sight of a foreign country seemed to +kindle no enthusiasm in them at all: no emotion in the least. They +looked around them with great presence of mind, and acted precisely as +you or I would, if, after a morning's absence round the corner, we +found ourselves returning home. Nearly all of them had made frequent +voyages to Liverpool.</P> +<P>Not long after anchoring, several boats came off; and from one of +them stept a neatly-dressed and very respectable-looking woman, some +thirty years of age, I should think, carrying a bundle. Coming forward +among the sailors, she inquired for Max the Dutchman, who immediately +was forthcoming, and saluted her by the mellifluous appellation of <I> +Sally.</I></P> +<P>Now during the passage, Max in discoursing to me of Liverpool, had +often assured me, that that city had the honor of containing a spouse +of his; and that in all probability, I would have the pleasure of +seeing her. But having heard a good many stories about the bigamies of +seamen, and their having wives and sweethearts in every port, the round +world over; and having been an eye-witness to a nuptial parting between +this very Max and a lady in New York; I put down this relation of his, +for what I thought it might reasonably be worth. What was my +astonishment, therefore, to see this really decent, civil woman coming +with a neat parcel of Max's shore clothes, all washed, plaited, and +ironed, and ready to put on at a moment's warning.</P> +<P>They stood apart a few moments giving loose to those transports of +pleasure, which always take place, I suppose, between man and wife +after long separations.</P> +<P>At last, after many earnest inquiries as to how he had behaved +himself in New York; and concerning the state of his wardrobe; and +going down into the forecastle, and inspecting it in person, Sally +departed; having exchanged her bundle of clean clothes for a bundle of +soiled ones, and this was precisely what the New York wife had done for +Max, not thirty I days previous.</P> +<P>So long as we laid in port, Sally visited the Highlander daily; and +approved herself a neat and expeditious getter-up of duck frocks and +trowsers, a capital tailoress, and as far as I could see, a very +well-behaved, discreet, and reputable woman.</P> +<P>But from all I had seen of her, I should suppose Meg, the New York +wife, to have been equally well-behaved, discreet, and reputable; and +equally devoted to the keeping in good order Max's wardrobe.</P> +<P>And when we left England at last, Sally bade Max good-by, just as +Meg had done; and when we arrived at New York, Meg greeted Max +precisely as Sally had greeted him in Liverpool. Indeed, a pair of more +amiable wives never belonged to one man; they never quarreled, or had +so much as a difference of any kind; the whole broad Atlantic being +between them; and Max was equally polite and civil to both. For many +years, he had been going Liverpool and New York voyages, plying between +wife and wife with great regularity, and sure of receiving a hearty +domestic welcome on either side of the ocean.</P> +<P>Thinking this conduct of his, however, altogether wrong and every +way immoral, I once ventured to express to him my opinion on the +subject. But I never did so again. He turned round on me, very +savagely; and after rating me soundly for meddling in concerns not my +own, concluded by asking me triumphantly, whether <I>old King Sol, </I> +as he called the son of David, did not have a whole frigate-full of +wives; and that being the case, whether he, a poor sailor, did not have +just as good a right to have two? "What was not wrong then, is right +now," said Max; "so, mind your eye, Buttons, or I'll crack your +pepper-box for you!"</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_29">XXVIII. HE GOES TO SUPPER AT THE +SIGN OF THE BALTIMORE CLIPPER</A></H3> +<P>In the afternoon our pilot was all alive with his orders; we hove up +the anchor, and after a deal of pulling, and hauling, and jamming +against other ships, we wedged our way through a lock at high tide; and +about dark, succeeded in working up to a berth in <I>Prince's Dock. </I> +The hawsers and tow-lines being then coiled away, the crew were told to +go ashore, select their boarding-house, and sit down to supper.</P> +<P>Here it must be mentioned, that owing to the strict but necessary +regulations of the Liverpool docks, no fires of any kind are allowed on +board the vessels within them; and hence, though the sailors are +supposed to sleep in the forecastle, yet they must get their meals +ashore, or live upon cold potatoes. To a ship, the American merchantmen +adopt the former plan; the owners, of course, paying the landlord's +bill; which, in a large crew remaining at Liverpool more than six +weeks, as we of the Highlander did, forms no inconsiderable item in the +expenses of the voyage. Other ships, however—the economical Dutch and +Danish, for instance, and sometimes the prudent Scotch—feed their +luckless tars in dock, with precisely the same fare which they give +them at sea; taking their salt junk ashore to be cooked, which, indeed, +is but scurvy sort of treatment, since it is very apt to induce the +scurvy. A parsimonious proceeding like this is regarded with +immeasurable disdain by the crews of the New York vessels, who, if +their captains treated them after that fashion, would soon bolt and run.</P> +<P>It was quite dark, when we all sprang ashore; and, for the first +time, I felt dusty particles of the renowned British soil penetrating +into my eyes and lungs. As for <I>stepping </I>on it, that was out of +the question, in the well-paved and flagged condition of the streets; +and I did not have an opportunity to do so till some time afterward, +when I got out into the country; and then, indeed, I saw England, and +snuffed its immortal loam-but not till then.</P> +<P>Jackson led the van; and after stopping at a tavern, took us up this +street, and down that, till at last he brought us to a narrow lane, +filled with boarding-houses, spirit-vaults, and sailors. Here we +stopped before the sign of a Baltimore Clipper, flanked on one side by +a gilded bunch of grapes and a bottle, and on the other by the British +Unicorn and American Eagle, lying down by each other, like the lion and +lamb in the millennium.—A very judicious and tasty device, showing a +delicate apprehension of the propriety of conciliating American sailors +in an English boarding-house; and yet in no way derogating from the +honor and dignity of England, but placing the two nations, indeed, upon +a footing of perfect equality.</P> +<P>Near the unicorn was a very small animal, which at first I took for +a young unicorn; but it looked more like a yearling lion. It was +holding up one paw, as if it had a splinter in it; and on its head was +a sort of basket-hilted, low-crowned hat, without a rim. I asked a +sailor standing by, what this animal meant, when, looking at me with a +grin, he answered, "Why, youngster, don't you know what that means? +It's a young jackass, limping off with a kedgeree pot of rice out of +the cuddy."</P> +<P>Though it was an English boarding-house, it was kept by a +broken-down American mariner, one Danby, a dissolute, idle fellow, who +had married a buxom English wife, and now lived upon her industry; for +the lady, and not the sailor, proved to be the head of the +establishment.</P> +<P>She was a hale, good-looking woman, about forty years old, and among +the seamen went by the name of <I>"Handsome Mary." </I>But though, from +the dissipated character of her spouse, Mary had become the business +personage of the house, bought the marketing, overlooked the tables, +and conducted all the more important arrangements, yet she was by no +means an Amazon to her husband, if she <I>did </I>play a masculine part +in other matters. No; and the more is the pity, poor Mary seemed too +much attached to Danby, to seek to rule him as a termagant. Often she +went about her household concerns with the tears in her eyes, when, +after a fit of intoxication, this brutal husband of hers had been +beating her. The sailors took her part, and many a time volunteered to +give him a thorough thrashing before her eyes; but Mary would beg them +not to do so, as Danby would, no doubt, be a better boy next time.</P> +<P>But there seemed no likelihood of this, so long as that abominable +bar of his stood upon the premises. As you entered the passage, it +stared upon you on one side, ready to entrap all guests.</P> +<P>It was a grotesque, old-fashioned, castellated sort of a sentry-box, +made of a smoky-colored wood, and with a grating in front, that lifted +up like a portcullis. And here would this Danby sit all the day long; +and when customers grew thin, would patronize his own ale himself, +pouring down mug after mug, as if he took himself for one of his own +quarter-casks.</P> +<P>Sometimes an old crony of his, one Bob Still, would come in; and +then they would occupy the sentry-box together, and swill their beer in +concert. This pot-friend of Danby was portly as a dray-horse, and had a +round, sleek, oily head, twinkling eyes, and moist red cheeks. He was a +lusty troller of ale-songs; and, with his mug in his hand, would lean +his waddling bulk partly out of the sentry-box, singing:</P> +<blockquote>"No <I>frost, no snow, no wind, I trow,</I><br> +Can hurt me if I wold, I am so wrapt, and thoroughly lapt<br> +In jolly good ale and old,—<br> +I stuff my skin so full within,<br> +Of jolly good ale and old."</blockquote> +<P> +Or this,</P> +<blockquote> +<I>"Four wines and brandies I detest,<br> +Here's richer juice from barley press'd.<br> +It is the quintessence of malt,<br> +And they that drink it want no salt.<br> +Come, then, quick come, and take this beer,<br> +And water henceforth you'll forswear."</I> +</blockquote> + +<P>Alas! Handsome Mary. What avail all thy private tears and +remonstrances with the incorrigible Danby, so long as that brewery of a +toper, Bob Still, daily eclipses thy threshold with the vast diameter +of his paunch, and enthrones himself in the sentry-box, holding divided +rule with thy spouse?</P> +<P>The more he drinks, the fatter and rounder waxes Bob; and the songs +pour out as the ale pours in, on the well-known principle, that the air +in a vessel is displaced and expelled, as the liquid rises higher and +higher in it.</P> +<P>But as for Danby, the miserable Yankee grows sour on good cheer, and +dries up the thinner for every drop of fat ale he imbibes. It is plain +and demonstrable, that much ale is not good for Yankees, and operates +differently upon them from what it does upon a Briton: ale must be +drank in a fog and a drizzle.</P> +<P>Entering the sign of the Clipper, Jackson ushered us into a small +room on one side, and shortly after, Handsome Mary waited upon us with +a courtesy, and received the compliments of several old guests among +our crew. She then disappeared to provide our supper. While my +shipmates were now engaged in tippling, and talking with numerous old +acquaintances of theirs in the neighborhood, who thronged about the +door, I remained alone in the little room, meditating profoundly upon +the fact, that I was now seated upon an English bench, under an English +roof, in an English tavern, forming an integral part of the English +empire. It was a staggering fact, but none the less true.</P> +<P>I examined the place attentively; it was a long, narrow, little +room, with one small arched window with red curtains, looking out upon +a smoky, untidy yard, bounded by a dingy brick-wall, the top of which +was horrible with pieces of broken old bottles, stuck into mortar.</P> +<P>A dull lamp swung overhead, placed in a wooden ship suspended from +the ceiling. The walls were covered with a paper, representing an +endless succession of vessels of all nations continually +circumnavigating the apartment. By way of a pictorial mainsail to one +of these ships, a map was hung against it, representing in faded colors +the flags of all nations. From the street came a confused uproar of +ballad-singers, bawling women, babies, and drunken sailors.</P> +<P>And this is England?</P> +<P>But where are the old abbeys, and the York Minsters, and the lord +mayors, and coronations, and the May-poles, and fox-hunters, and Derby +races, and the dukes and duchesses, and the Count d'Orsays, which, from +all my reading, I had been in the habit of associating with England? +Not the most distant glimpse of them was to be seen.</P> +<P>Alas! Wellingborough, thought I, I fear you stand but a poor chance +to see the sights. You are nothing but a poor sailor boy; and the Queen +is not going to send a deputation of noblemen to invite you to St. +James's.</P> +<P>It was then, I began to see, that my prospects of seeing the world +as a sailor were, after all, but very doubtful; for sailors only go <I> +round </I>the world, without going <I>into </I>it; and their +reminiscences of travel are only a dim recollection of a chain of +tap-rooms surrounding the globe, parallel with the Equator. They but +touch the perimeter of the circle; hover about the edges of +terra-firma; and only land upon wharves and pier-heads. They would +dream as little of traveling inland to see Kenilworth, or Blenheim +Castle, as they would of sending a car overland to the Pope, when they +touched at Naples.</P> +<P>From these reveries I was soon roused, by a servant girl hurrying +from room to room, in shrill tones exclaiming, "Supper, supper ready."</P> +<P>Mounting a rickety staircase, we entered a room on the second floor. +Three tall brass candlesticks shed a smoky light upon smoky walls, of +what had once been sea-blue, covered with sailor-scrawls of foul +anchors, lovers' sonnets, and ocean ditties. On one side, nailed +against the wainscot in a row, were the four knaves of cards, each Jack +putting his best foot foremost as usual. What these signified I never +heard.</P> +<P>But such ample cheer! Such a groaning table! Such a superabundance +of solids and substantial! Was it possible that sailors fared +thus?—the sailors, who at sea live upon salt beef and biscuit?</P> +<P>First and foremost, was a mighty pewter dish, big as Achilles' +shield, sustaining a pyramid of smoking sausages. This stood at one +end; midway was a similar dish, heavily laden with farmers' slices of +head-cheese; and at the opposite end, a congregation of beef-steaks, +piled tier over tier. Scattered at intervals between, were side dishes +of boiled potatoes, eggs by the score, bread, and pickles; and on a +stand adjoining, was an ample reserve of every thing on the supper +table.</P> +<P>We fell to with all our hearts; wrapt ourselves in hot jackets of +beef-steaks; curtailed the sausages with great celerity; and sitting +down before the head-cheese, soon razed it to its foundations.</P> +<P>Toward the close of the entertainment, I suggested to Peggy, one of +the girls who had waited upon us, that a cup of tea would be a nice +thing to take; and I would thank her for one. She replied that it was +too late for tea; but she would get me a cup of <I>"swipes" </I>if I +wanted it.</P> +<P>Not knowing what <I>"swipes" </I>might be, I thought I would run the +risk and try it; but it proved a miserable beverage, with a musty, sour +flavor, as if it had been a decoction of spoiled pickles. I never +patronized <I>swipes </I>again; but gave it a wide berth; though, at +dinner afterward, it was furnished to an unlimited extent, and drunk by +most of my shipmates, who pronounced it good.</P> +<P>But Bob Still would not have pronounced it so; for this <I>stripes, +as I </I>learned, was a sort of cheap substitute for beer; or a bastard +kind of beer; or the washings and rinsings of old beer-barrels. But I +do not remember now what they said it was, precisely. I only know, that <I> +swipes </I>was my abomination. As for the taste of it, I can only +describe it as answering to the name itself; which is certainly +significant of something vile. But it is drunk in large quantities by +the poor people about Liverpool, which, perhaps, in some degree, +accounts for their poverty.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_30">XXIX. REDBURN DEFERENTIALLY +DISCOURSES CONCERNING THE PROSPECTS OF SAILORS</A></H3> +<P>The ship remained in Prince's Dock over six weeks; but as I do not +mean to present a diary of my stay there, I shall here simply record +the general tenor of the life led by our crew during that interval; and +will then proceed to note down, at random, my own wanderings about +town, and impressions of things as they are recalled to me now, after +the lapse of so many years.</P> +<P>But first, I must mention that we saw little of the captain during +our stay in the dock. Sometimes, cane in hand, he sauntered down of a +pleasant morning from the Arms <I>Hotel, I </I>believe it was, where he +boarded; and after lounging about the ship, giving orders to his Prime +Minister and Grand Vizier, the chief mate, he would saunter back to his +drawing-rooms.</P> +<P>From the glimpse of a play-bill, which I detected peeping out of his +pocket, I inferred that he patronized the theaters; and from the flush +of his cheeks, that he patronized the fine old Port wine, for which +Liverpool is famous.</P> +<P>Occasionally, however, he spent his nights on board; and mad, +roystering nights they were, such as rare Ben Jonson would have +delighted in. For company over the cabin-table, he would have four or +five whiskered sea-captains, who kept the steward drawing corks and +filling glasses all the time. And once, the whole company were found +under the table at four o'clock in the morning, and were put to bed and +tucked in by the two mates. Upon this occasion, I agreed with our +woolly Doctor of Divinity, the black cook, that they should have been +ashamed of themselves; but there is no shame in some sea-captains, who +only blush after the third bottle.</P> +<P>During the many visits of Captain Riga to the ship, he always said +something courteous to a gentlemanly, friendless custom-house officer, +who staid on board of us nearly all the time we lay in the dock.</P> +<P>And weary days they must have been to this friendless custom-house +officer; trying to kill time in the cabin with a newspaper; and rapping +on the transom with his knuckles. He was kept on board to prevent +smuggling; but he used to smuggle himself ashore very often, when, +according to law, he should have been at his post on board ship. But no +wonder; he seemed to be a man of fine feelings, altogether above his +situation; a most inglorious one, indeed; worse than driving geese to +water.</P> +<P>And now, to proceed with the crew.</P> +<P>At daylight, all hands were called, and the decks were washed down; +then we had an hour to go ashore to breakfast; after which we worked at +the rigging, or picked oakum, or were set to some employment or other, +never mind how trivial, till twelve o'clock, when we went to dinner. At +half-past nine we resumed work; and finally <I>knocked of </I>at four +o'clock in the afternoon, unless something particular was in hand. And +after four o'clock, we could go where we pleased, and were not required +to be on board again till next morning at daylight.</P> +<P>As we had nothing to do with the cargo, of course, our duties were +light enough; and the chief mate was often put to it to devise some +employment for us.</P> +<P>We had no watches to stand, a ship-keeper, hired from shore, +relieving us from that; and all the while the men's wages ran on, as at +sea. Sundays we had to ourselves.</P> +<P>Thus, it will be seen, that the life led by sailors of American +ships in Liverpool, is an exceedingly easy one, and abounding in +leisure. They live ashore on the fat of the land; and after a little +wholesome exercise in the morning, have the rest of the day to +themselves.</P> +<P>Nevertheless, these Liverpool voyages, likewise those to London and +Havre, are the least profitable that an improvident seaman can take. +Because, in New York he receives his month's advance; in Liverpool, +another; both of which, in most cases, quickly disappear; so that by +the time his voyage terminates, he generally has but little coming to +him; sometimes not a cent. Whereas, upon a long voyage, say to India or +China, his wages accumulate; he has more inducements to economize, and +far fewer motives to extravagance; and when he is paid off at last, he +goes away jingling a quart measure of dollars.</P> +<P>Besides, of all sea-ports in the world, Liverpool, perhaps, most +abounds in all the variety of land-sharks, land-rats, and other vermin, +which make the hapless mariner their prey. In the shape of landlords, +bar-keepers, clothiers, crimps, and boarding-house loungers, the +land-sharks devour him, limb by limb; while the land-rats and mice +constantly nibble at his purse.</P> +<P>Other perils he runs, also, far worse; from the denizens of +notorious Corinthian haunts in the vicinity of the docks, which in +depravity are not to be matched by any thing this side of the pit that +is bottomless.</P> +<P>And yet, sailors love this Liverpool; and upon long voyages to +distant parts of the globe, will be continually dilating upon its +charms and attractions, and extolling it above all other seaports in +the world. For in Liverpool they find their Paradise— not the well +known street of that name—and one of them told me he would be content +to lie in Prince's Dock till <I>he hove up anchor </I>for the world to +come.</P> +<P>Much is said of ameliorating the condition of sailors; but it must +ever prove a most difficult endeavor, so long as the antidote is given +before the bane is removed.</P> +<P>Consider, that, with the majority of them, the very fact of their +being sailors, argues a certain recklessness and sensualism of +character, ignorance, and depravity; consider that they are generally +friendless and alone in the world; or if they have friends and +relatives, they are almost constantly beyond the reach of their good +influences; consider that after the rigorous discipline, hardships, +dangers, and privations of a voyage, they are set adrift in a foreign +port, and exposed to a thousand enticements, which, under the +circumstances, would be hard even for virtue itself to withstand, +unless virtue went about on crutches; consider that by their very +vocation they are shunned by the better classes of people, and cut off +from all access to respectable and improving society; consider all +this, and the reflecting mind must very soon perceive that the case of +sailors, as a class, is not a very promising one.</P> +<P>Indeed, the bad things of their condition come under the head of +those chronic evils which can only be ameliorated, it would seem, by +ameliorating the moral organization of all civilization.</P> +<P>Though old seventy-fours and old frigates are converted into +chapels, and launched into the docks; though the "Boatswain's Mate" and +other clever religious tracts in the nautical dialect are distributed +among them; though clergymen harangue them from the pier-heads: and +chaplains in the navy read sermons to them on the gun-deck; though +evangelical boarding-houses are provided for them; though the parsimony +of ship-owners has seconded the really sincere and pious efforts of +Temperance Societies, to take away from seamen their old rations of +grog while at sea:—notwithstanding all these things, and many more, +the relative condition of the great bulk of sailors to the rest of +mankind, seems to remain pretty much where it was, a century ago.</P> +<P>It is too much the custom, perhaps, to regard as a special advance, +that unavoidable, and merely participative progress, which any one +class makes in sharing the general movement of the race. Thus, because +the sailor, who to-day steers the Hibernia or Unicorn steam-ship across +the Atlantic, is a somewhat different man from the exaggerated sailors +of Smollett, and the men who fought with Nelson at Copenhagen, and +survived to riot themselves away at North Corner in Plymouth;—because +the modem tar is not quite so gross as heretofore, and has shaken off +some of his shaggy jackets, and docked his Lord Rodney +queue:—therefore, in the estimation of some observers, he has begun to +see the evils of his condition, and has voluntarily improved. But upon +a closer scrutiny, it will be seen that he has but drifted along with +that great tide, which, perhaps, has two flows for one ebb; he has made +no individual advance of his own.</P> +<P>There are classes of men in the world, who bear the same relation to +society at large, that the wheels do to a coach: and are just as +indispensable. But however easy and delectable the springs upon which +the insiders pleasantly vibrate: however sumptuous the hammer-cloth, +and glossy the door-panels; yet, for all this, the wheels must still +revolve in dusty, or muddy revolutions. No contrivance, no sagacity can +lift <I>them </I>out of the mire; for upon something the coach must be +bottomed; on something the insiders must roll.</P> +<P>Now, sailors form one of these wheels: they go and come round the +globe; they are the true importers, and exporters of spices and silks; +of fruits and wines and marbles; they carry missionaries, embassadors, +opera-singers, armies, merchants, tourists, and scholars to their +destination: they are a bridge of boats across the Atlantic; they are +the <I>primum mobile </I>of all commerce; and, in short, were they to +emigrate in a body to man the navies of the moon, almost every thing +would stop here on earth except its revolution on its axis, and the +orators in the American Congress.</P> +<P>And yet, what are sailors? What in your heart do you think of that +fellow staggering along the dock? Do you not give him a wide berth, +shun him, and account him but little above the brutes that perish? Will +you throw open your parlors to him; invite him to dinner? or give him a +season ticket to your pew in church?—No. You will do no such thing; +but at a distance, you will perhaps subscribe a dollar or two for the +building of a hospital, to accommodate sailors already broken down; or +for the distribution of excellent books among tars who can not read. +And the very mode and manner in which such charities are made, bespeak, +more than words, the low estimation in which sailors are held. It is +useless to gainsay it; they are deemed almost the refuse and +offscourings of the earth; and the romantic view of them is principally +had through romances.</P> +<P>But can sailors, one of the wheels of this world, be wholly lifted +up from the mire? There seems not much chance for it, in the old +systems and programmes of the future, however well-intentioned and +sincere; for with such systems, the thought of lifting them up seems +almost as hopeless as that of growing the grape in Nova Zembla.</P> +<P>But we must not altogether despair for the sailor; nor need those +who toil for his good be at bottom disheartened, or Time must prove his +friend in the end; and though sometimes he would almost seem as a +neglected step-son of heaven, permitted to run on and riot out his days +with no hand to restrain him, while others are watched over and +tenderly cared for; yet we feel and we know that God is the true Father +of all, and that none of his children are without the pale of his care.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_31">XXX. REDBURN GROWS INTOLERABLY FLAT +AND STUPID OVER SOME OUTLANDISH OLD GUIDE-BOOKS</A></H3> +<P>Among the odd volumes in my father's library, was a collection of +old European and English guide-books, which he had bought on his +travels, a great many years ago. In my childhood, I went through many +courses of studying them, and never tired of gazing at the numerous +quaint embellishments and plates, and staring at the strange +title-pages, some of which I thought resembled the mustached faces of +foreigners. Among others was a Parisian-looking, faded, pink-covered +pamphlet, the rouge here and there effaced upon its now thin and +attenuated cheeks, entitled, <I>"Voyage Descriptif et Philosophique de +L'Ancien et du Nouveau Paris: Miroir Fidele" </I>also a time-darkened, +mossy old book, in marbleized binding, much resembling verd-antique, +entitled, <I>"Itineraire Instructif de Rome, ou Description Generale +des Monumens Antiques et Modernes et des Ouvrages les plus Remarquables +de Peinteur, de Sculpture, et de Architecture de cette Celebre Ville;" </I> +on the russet title-page is a vignette representing a barren rock, +partly shaded by a scrub-oak (a forlorn bit of landscape), and under +the lee of the rock and the shade of the tree, maternally reclines the +houseless foster-mother of Romulus and Remus, giving suck to the +illustrious twins; a pair of naked little cherubs sprawling on the +ground, with locked arms, eagerly engaged at their absorbing +occupation; a large cactus-leaf or diaper hangs from a bough, and the +wolf looks a good deal like one of the no-horn breed of barn-yard cows; +the work is published <I>"Avec privilege du Souverain Pontife." </I> +There was also a velvet-bound old volume, in brass clasps, entitled, <I> +"The Conductor through Holland" </I>with a plate of the Stadt House; +also a venerable <I>"Picture of London" </I>abounding in +representations of St. Paul's, the Monument, Temple-Bar, +Hyde-Park-Corner, the Horse Guards, the Admiralty, Charing-Cross, and +Vauxhall Bridge. Also, a bulky book, in a dusty-looking yellow cover, +reminding one of the paneled doors of a mail-coach, and bearing an +elaborate title-page, full of printer's flourishes, in emulation of the +cracks of a four-in-hand whip, entitled, in part, <I>"The Great Roads, +both direct and cross, throughout England and Wales, from an actual +Admeasurement by order of His Majesty's Postmaster-General: This work +describes the Cities, Market and Borough and Corporate Towns, and those +at which the Assizes are held, and gives the time of the Mails' arrival +and departure from each: Describes the Inns in the Metropolis from +which the stages go, and the Inns in the country which supply +post-horses and carriages: Describes the Noblemen and Gentlemen's Seats +situated near the Road, with Maps of the Environs of London, Bath, +Brighton, and Margate." </I>It is dedicated <I>"To the Right Honorable +the Earls of Chesterfield and Leicester, by their Lordships' Most +Obliged, Obedient, and Obsequious Servant, John Gary, </I>1798." Also a +green pamphlet, with a motto from Virgil, and an intricate coat of arms +on the cover, looking like a diagram of the Labyrinth of Crete, +entitled, "A <I>Description of York, its Antiquities and Public +Buildings, particularly the Cathedral; compiled with great pains from +the most authentic records." </I>Also a small scholastic-looking +volume, in a classic vellum binding, and with a frontispiece bringing +together at one view the towers and turrets of King's College and the +magnificent Cathedral of Ely, though geographically sixteen miles +apart, entitled, <I>"The Cambridge Guide: its Colleges, Halls, +Libraries, and Museums, with the Ceremonies of the Town and University, +and some account of Ely Cathedral." </I>Also a pamphlet, with a +japanned sort of cover, stamped with a disorderly higgledy-piggledy +group of pagoda-looking structures, claiming to be an accurate +representation of the <I>"North or Grand Front of Blenheim," </I>and +entitled, "A <I>Description of Blenheim, the Seat of His Grace the Duke +of Marlborough; containing a full account of the Paintings, Tapestry, +and Furniture: a Picturesque Tour of the Gardens and Parks, and a +General Description of the famous China Gallery, </I>6-c.; <I>with an +Essay on Landscape Gardening: and embellished with a View of the +Palace, and a New and Elegant Plan of the Great Park." </I>And lastly, +and to the purpose, there was a volume called "THE PICTURE OF +LIVERPOOL."</P> +<P>It was a curious and remarkable book; and from the many fond +associations connected with it, I should like to immortalize it, if I +could.</P> +<P>But let me get it down from its shrine, and paint it, if I may, from +the life.</P> +<P>As I now linger over the volume, to and fro turning the pages so +dear to my boyhood,—the very pages which, years and years ago, my +father turned over amid the very scenes that are here described; what a +soft, pleasing sadness steals over me, and how I melt into the past and +forgotten!</P> +<P>Dear book! I will sell my Shakespeare, and even sacrifice my old +quarto Hogarth, before I will part with you. Yes, I will go to the +hammer myself, ere I send you to be knocked down in the auctioneer's +shambles. I will, my beloved,—old family relic that you are;—till you +drop leaf from leaf, and letter from letter, you shall have a snug +shelf somewhere, though I have no bench for myself.</P> +<P>In size, it is what the booksellers call an <I>18mo; </I>it is bound +in green morocco, which from my earliest recollection has been spotted +and tarnished with time; the corners are marked with triangular patches +of red, like little cocked hats; and some unknown Goth has inflicted an +incurable wound upon the back. There is no lettering outside; so that +he who lounges past my humble shelves, seldom dreams of opening the +anonymous little book in green. There it stands; day after day, week +after week, year after year; and no one but myself regards it. But I +make up for all neglects, with my own abounding love for it.</P> +<P>But let us open the volume.</P> +<P>What are these scrawls in the fly-leaves? what incorrigible pupil of +a writing-master has been here? what crayon sketcher of wild animals +and falling air-castles? Ah, no!—these are all part and parcel of the +precious book, which go to make up the sum of its treasure to me.</P> +<P>Some of the scrawls are my own; and as poets do with their juvenile +sonnets, I might write under this horse, <I>"Drawn at the age of three +years," </I>and under this autograph, <I>"Executed at the age of eight."</I> +</P> +<P>Others are the handiwork of my brothers, and sisters, and cousins; +and the hands that sketched some of them are now moldered away.</P> +<P>But what does this anchor here? this ship? and this sea-ditty of +Dibdin's? The book must have fallen into the hands of some tarry +captain of a forecastle. No: that anchor, ship, and Dibdin's ditty are +mine; this hand drew them; and on this very voyage to Liverpool. But +not so fast; I did not mean to tell that yet.</P> +<P>Full in the midst of these pencil scrawlings, completely surrounded +indeed, stands in indelible, though faded ink, and in my father's +hand-writing, the following:—</P> +<P ALIGN="CENTER">WALTER REDBURN.</P> +<P>Riddough's Royal Hotel, Liverpool, March 20th, 1808.</P> +<P>Turning over that leaf, I come upon some half-effaced miscellaneous +memoranda in pencil, characteristic of a methodical mind, and therefore +indubitably my father's, which he must have made at various times +during his stay in Liverpool. These are full of a strange, subdued, +old, midsummer interest to me: and though, from the numerous +effacements, it is much like cross-reading to make them out; yet, I +must here copy a few at random:—</P> +<center> +<table> +<tr><td width="70%"> </td><td align="right" width="7%">£</td><td align="right" width="7%">s.</td><td align="right" width="6%"> d</td> +<tr><td>Guide-Book </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> 3</td><td align="right"> 6</td> +<tr><td>Dinner at the Star and Garter </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> 10</td> +<tr><td>Trip to Preston (distance 31 m.)</td><td align="right"> 2</td><td align="right"> 6</td><td align="right"> 3</td> +<tr><td>Gratuities </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> 4</td> +<tr><td>Hack </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> 4</td><td align="right"> 6</td> +<tr><td>Thompson's Seasons </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> 5</td> +<tr><td>Library </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> 1</td> +<tr><td>Boat on the river </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> 6</td> +<tr><td>Port wine and cigar </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> 4</td> +</table> +</center> +<P>And on the opposite page, I can just decipher the following:</P> +<center> +<table> +<tr><td width="100%"><I>Dine with Mr. Roscoe on Monday.</I> </td> +<tr><td><I>Call upon Mr. Morille same day.</I> </td> +<tr><td><I>Leave card at Colonel Digby's on Tuesday.</I> </td> +<tr><td><I>Theatre Friday night—Richard III. and new farce.</I></td> +<tr><td><I>Present letter at Miss L——'s on Tuesday.</I> </td> +<tr><td><I>Call on Sampson & Wilt, Friday.</I> </td> +<tr><td><I>Get my draft on London cashed.</I> </td> +<tr><td><I>Write home by the Princess.</I> </td> +<tr><td><I>Letter bag at Sampson and Wilt's.</I> </td> +</table> +</center> +<P>Turning over the next leaf, I unfold a map, which in the midst of +the British Arms, in one corner displays in sturdy text, that this is <I> +"A Plan of the Town of Liverpool." </I>But there seems little plan in +the confined and crooked looking marks for the streets, and the docks +irregularly scattered along the bank of the Mersey, which flows along, +a peaceful stream of shaded line engraving.</P> +<P>On the northeast corner of the map, lies a level Sahara of yellowish +white: a desert, which still bears marks of my zeal in endeavoring to +populate it with all manner of uncouth monsters in crayons. The space +designated by that spot is now, doubtless, completely built up in +Liverpool.</P> +<P>Traced with a pen, I discover a number of dotted lines, radiating in +all directions from the foot of Lord-street, where stands marked <I> +"Riddough's Hotel," </I>the house my father stopped at.</P> +<P>These marks delineate his various excursions in the town; and I +follow the lines on, through street and lane; and across broad squares; +and penetrate with them into the narrowest courts.</P> +<P>By these marks, I perceive that my father forgot not his religion in +a foreign land; but attended St. John's Church near the Hay-market, and +other places of public worship: I see that he visited the News Room in +Duke-street, the Lyceum in Bold-street, and the Theater Royal; and that +he called to pay his respects to the eminent Mr. Roscoe, the historian, +poet, and banker.</P> +<P>Reverentially folding this map, I pass a plate of the Town Hall, and +come upon the Title Page, which, in the middle, is ornamented with a +piece of landscape, representing a loosely clad lady in sandals, +pensively seated upon a bleak rock on the sea shore, supporting her +head with one hand, and with the other, exhibiting to the stranger an +oval sort of salver, bearing the figure of a strange bird, with this +motto elastically stretched for a border—<I>"Deus nobis haec otia +fecit."</I></P> +<P>The bird forms part of the city arms, and is an imaginary +representation of a now extinct fowl, called the <I>"Liver," </I>said +to have inhabited a <I>"pool," </I>which antiquarians assert once +covered a good part of the ground where Liverpool now stands; and from +that bird, and this pool, Liverpool derives its name.</P> +<P>At a distance from the pensive lady in sandals, is a ship under full +sail; and on the beach is the figure of a small man, vainly essaying to +roll over a huge bale of goods.</P> +<P>Equally divided at the top and bottom of this design, is the +following title complete; but I fear the printer will not be able to +give a facsimile:—</P> +<center> +<I> +The Picture<br> +of Liverpool:<br> +or, Stranger's Guide<br> +and Gentleman's Pocket Companion<br> +</I><B> +FOR THE TOWN.<br> +</B> +Embellished<br> +With Engravings<br> +By the Most Accomplished and Eminent Artists.<br> +Liverpool:<br> +Printed in Swift's Court,<br> +And sold by Woodward and Alderson, 56 Castle St. 1803.<br> +<br> +</center> +<P>A brief and reverential preface, as if the writer were all the time +bowing, informs the reader of the flattering reception accorded to +previous editions of the work; and quotes <I>"testimonies of respect +which had lately appeared in various quarters </I>—<I>the British +Critic, Review, and the seventh volume of the Beauties of England and +Wales"—</I>and concludes by expressing the hope, that this new, +revised, and illustrated edition might <I>"render it less unworthy of +the public notice, and less unworthy also of the subject it is intended +to illustrate."</I></P> +<P>A very nice, dapper, and respectful little preface, the time and +place of writing which is solemnly recorded at the end-Hope <I>Place, +1st Sept. </I>1803.</P> +<P>But how much fuller my satisfaction, as I fondly linger over this +circumstantial paragraph, if the writer had recorded the precise hour +of the day, and by what timepiece; and if he had but mentioned his age, +occupation, and name.</P> +<P>But all is now lost; I know not who he was; and this estimable +author must needs share the oblivious fate of all literary incognitos.</P> +<P>He must have possessed the grandest and most elevated ideas of true +fame, since he scorned to be perpetuated by a solitary initial. Could I +find him out now, sleeping neglected in some churchyard, I would buy +him a headstone, and record upon it naught but his title-page, deeming +that his noblest epitaph.</P> +<P>After the preface, the book opens with an extract from a prologue +written by the excellent Dr. Aiken, the brother of Mrs. Barbauld, upon +the opening of the Theater Royal, Liverpool, in 1772:—</P> +<P> +<I>"Where Mersey's stream, long winding o'er the plain, Pours his full +tribute to the circling main, A band of fishers chose their humble +seat; Contented labor blessed the fair retreat, Inured to hardship, +patient, bold, and rude, They braved the billows for precarious food: +Their straggling huts were ranged along the shore, Their nets and +little boats their only store."</I></P> +<P> +Indeed, throughout, the work abounds with quaint poetical +quotations, and old-fashioned classical allusions to the Aeneid and +Falconer's Shipwreck.</P> +<P>And the anonymous author must have been not only a scholar and a +gentleman, but a man of gentle disinterestedness, combined with true +city patriotism; for in his <I>"Survey of</I><I> the Town" </I>are nine +thickly printed pages of a neglected poem by a neglected Liverpool poet.</P> +<P>By way of apologizing for what might seem an obtrusion upon the +public of so long an episode, he courteously and feelingly introduces +it by saying, that <I>"the poem has now for several years been scarce, +and is at present but little known; and hence a very small portion of +it will no doubt be highly acceptable to the cultivated reader; +especially as this noble epic is written with great felicity of +expression and the sweetest delicacy of feeling."</I></P> +<P>Once, but once only, an uncharitable thought crossed my mind, that +the author of the Guide-Book might have been the author of the epic. +But that was years ago; and I have never since permitted so +uncharitable a reflection to insinuate itself into my mind.</P> +<P>This epic, from the specimen before me, is composed in the old +stately style, and rolls along commanding as a coach and four. It sings +of Liverpool and the Mersey; its docks, and ships, and warehouses, and +bales, and anchors; and after descanting upon the abject times, when <I> +"his noble waves, inglorious, Mersey rolled," </I>the poet breaks forth +like all Parnassus with:—</P> +<P> +<I>"Now o'er the wondering world her name resounds, From northern +climes to India's distant bounds— Where'er his shores the broad +Atlantic waves; Where'er the Baltic rolls his wintry waves; Where'er +the honored flood extends his tide, That clasps Sicilia like a favored +bride. Greenland for her its bulky whale resigns, And temperate Gallia +rears her generous vines: 'Midst warm Iberia citron orchards blow, And +the ripe fruitage bends the laboring bough; In every clime her +prosperous fleets are known, She makes the wealth of every clime her +own."</I></P> +<P> +It also contains a delicately-curtained allusion to Mr. Roscoe:—</P> + +<blockquote> +<I>"And here</I> R*s*o*, <I>with genius all his own, New tracks explores, and all +before unknown?"</I> +</blockquote> +<P> +Indeed, both the anonymous author of the Guide-Book, and the gifted +bard of the Mersey, seem to have nourished the wannest appreciation of +the fact, that to their beloved town Roscoe imparted a reputation which +gracefully embellished its notoriety as a mere place of commerce. He is +called the modern Guicciardini of the modern Florence, and his +histories, translations, and Italian Lives, are spoken of with +classical admiration.</P> +<P>The first chapter begins in a methodical, business-like way, by +informing the impatient reader of the precise latitude and longitude of +Liverpool; so that, at the outset, there may be no misunderstanding on +that head. It then goes on to give an account of the history and +antiquities of the town, beginning with a record in the <I> +Doomsday-Book </I>of William the Conqueror.</P> +<P>Here, it must be sincerely confessed, however, that notwithstanding +his numerous other merits, my favorite author betrays a want of the +uttermost antiquarian and penetrating spirit, which would have scorned +to stop in its researches at the reign of the Norman monarch, but would +have pushed on resolutely through the dark ages, up to Moses, the man +of Uz, and Adam; and finally established the fact beyond a doubt, that +the soil of Liverpool was created with the creation.</P> +<P>But, perhaps, one of the most curious passages in the chapter of +antiquarian research, is the pious author's moralizing reflections upon +an interesting fact he records: to wit, that in a.d. 1571, the +inhabitants sent a memorial to Queen Elizabeth, praying relief under a +subsidy, wherein they style themselves <I>"her majesty's poor decayed +town of Liverpool."</I></P> +<P>As I now fix my gaze upon this faded and dilapidated old guide-book, +bearing every token of the ravages of near half a century, and read how +this piece of antiquity enlarges like a modern upon previous +antiquities, I am forcibly reminded that the world is indeed growing +old. And when I turn to the second chapter, <I>"On the increase of the +town, and number of inhabitants," </I>and then skim over page after +page throughout the volume, all filled with allusions to the immense +grandeur of a place, which, since then, has more than quadrupled in +population, opulence, and splendor, and whose present inhabitants must +look back upon the period here spoken of with a swelling feeling of +immeasurable superiority and pride, I am filled with a comical sadness +at the vanity of all human exaltation. For the cope-stone of to-day is +the corner-stone of tomorrow; and as St. Peter's church was built in +great part of the ruins of old Rome, so in all our erections, however +imposing, we but form quarries and supply ignoble materials for the +grander domes of posterity.</P> +<P>And even as this old guide-book boasts of the, to us, insignificant +Liverpool of fifty years ago, the New York guidebooks are now vaunting +of the magnitude of a town, whose future inhabitants, multitudinous as +the pebbles on the beach, and girdled in with high walls and towers, +flanking endless avenues of opulence and taste, will regard all our +Broadways and Bowerys as but the paltry nucleus to their Nineveh. From +far up the Hudson, beyond Harlem River, where the young saplings are +now growing, that will overarch their lordly mansions with broad +boughs, centuries old; they may send forth explorers to penetrate into +the then obscure and smoky alleys of the Fifth Avenue and +Fourteenth-street; and going still farther south, may exhume the +present Doric Custom-house, and quote it as a proof that their high and +mighty metropolis enjoyed a Hellenic antiquity.</P> +<P>As I am extremely loth to omit giving a specimen of the dignified +style of this <I>"Picture of Liverpool," </I>so different from the +brief, pert, and unclerkly hand-books to Niagara and Buffalo of the +present day, I shall now insert the chapter of antiquarian researches; +especially as it is entertaining in itself, and affords much valuable, +and perhaps rare information, which the reader may need, concerning the +famous town, to which I made <I>my first voyage. </I>And I think that +with regard to a matter, concerning which I myself am wholly ignorant, +it is far better to quote my old friend verbatim, than to mince his +substantial baron-of-beef of information into a flimsy ragout of my +own; and so, pass it off as original. Yes, I will render unto my +honored guide-book its due.</P> +<P>But how can the printer's art so dim and mellow down the pages into +a soft sunset yellow; and to the reader's eye, shed over the type all +the pleasant associations which the original carries to me!</P> +<P>No! by my father's sacred memory, and all sacred privacies of fond +family reminiscences, I will not! I will <I>not </I>quote thee, old +Morocco, before the cold face of the marble-hearted world; for your +antiquities would only be skipped and dishonored by shallow-minded +readers; and for me, I should be charged with swelling out my volume by +plagiarizing from a guide-book-the most vulgar and ignominious of +thefts!</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_32">XXXI. WITH HIS PROSY OLD +GUIDE-BOOK, HE TAKES A PROSY STROLL THROUGH THE TOWN</A></H3> +<P>When I left home, I took the green morocco guide-book along, +supposing that from the great number of ships going to Liverpool, I +would most probably ship on board of one of them, as the event itself +proved.</P> +<P>Great was my boyish delight at the prospect of visiting a place, the +infallible clew to all whose intricacies I held in my hand.</P> +<P>On the passage out I studied its pages a good deal. In the first +place, I grounded myself thoroughly in the history and antiquities of +the town, as set forth in the chapter I intended to quote. Then I +mastered the columns of statistics, touching the advance of population; +and pored over them, as I used to do over my multiplication-table. For +I was determined to make the whole subject my own; and not be content +with a mere smattering of the thing, as is too much the custom with +most students of guide-books. Then I perused one by one the elaborate +descriptions of public edifices, and scrupulously compared the text +with the corresponding engraving, to see whether they corroborated each +other. For be it known that, including the map, there were no less than +seventeen plates in the work. And by often examining them, I had so +impressed every column and cornice in my mind, that I had no doubt of +recognizing the originals in a moment.</P> +<P>In short, when I considered that my own father had used this very +guide-book, and that thereby it had been thoroughly tested, and its +fidelity proved beyond a peradventure; I could not but think that I was +building myself up in an unerring knowledge of Liverpool; especially as +I had familiarized myself with the map, and could turn sharp corners on +it, with marvelous confidence and celerity.</P> +<P>In imagination, as I lay in my berth on ship-board, I used to take +pleasant afternoon rambles through the town; down St. James-street and +up Great George's, stopping at various places of interest and +attraction. I began to think I had been born in Liverpool, so familiar +seemed all the features of the map. And though some of the streets +there depicted were thickly involved, endlessly angular and crooked, +like the map of Boston, in Massachusetts, yet, I made no doubt, that I +could march through them in the darkest night, and even run for the +most distant dock upon a pressing emergency.</P> +<P>Dear delusion!</P> +<P>It never occurred to my boyish thoughts, that though a guide-book, +fifty years old, might have done good service in its day, yet it would +prove but a miserable cicerone to a modern. I little imagined that the +Liverpool my father saw, was another Liverpool from that to which I, +his son Wellingborough was sailing. No; these things never obtruded; so +accustomed had I been to associate my old morocco guide-book with the +town it described, that the bare thought of there being any +discrepancy, never entered my mind.</P> +<P>While we lay in the Mersey, before entering the dock, I got out my +guide-book to see how the map would compare with the identical place +itself. But they bore not the slightest resemblance. However, thinks I, +this is owing to my taking a horizontal view, instead of a bird's-eye +survey. So, never mind old guide-book, <I>you, </I>at least, are all +right.</P> +<P>But my faith received a severe shock that same evening, when the +crew went ashore to supper, as I have previously related.</P> +<P>The men stopped at a curious old tavern, near the Prince's Dock's +walls; and having my guide-book in my pocket, I drew it forth to +compare notes, when I found, that precisely upon the spot where I and +my shipmates were standing, and a cherry-cheeked bar-maid was filling +their glasses, my infallible old Morocco, in that very place, located a +fort; adding, that it was well worth the intelligent stranger's while +to visit it for the purpose of beholding the guard relieved in the +evening.</P> +<P>This was a staggerer; for how could a tavern be mistaken for a +castle? and this was about the hour mentioned for the guard to turn +out; yet not a red coat was to be seen. But for all this, I could not, +for one small discrepancy, condemn the old family servant who had so +faithfully served my own father before me; and when I learned that this +tavern went by the name of <I>"The Old Fort Tavern;" </I>and when I was +told that many of the old stones were yet in the walls, I almost +completely exonerated my guide-book from the half-insinuated charge of +misleading me.</P> +<P>The next day was Sunday, and I had it all to myself; and now, +thought I, my guide-book and I shall have a famous ramble up street and +down lane, even unto the furthest limits of this Liverpool.</P> +<P>I rose bright and early; from head to foot performed my ablutions +"with Eastern scrupulosity," and I arrayed myself in my red shirt and +shooting-jacket, and the sportsman's pantaloons; and crowned my entire +man with the tarpaulin; so that from this curious combination of +clothing, and particularly from my red shirt, I must have looked like a +very strange compound indeed: three parts sportsman, and two soldier, +to one of the sailor.</P> +<P>My shipmates, of course, made merry at my appearance; but I heeded +them not; and after breakfast, jumped ashore, full of brilliant +anticipations.</P> +<P>My gait was erect, and I was rather tall for my age; and that may +have been the reason why, as I was rapidly walking along the dock, a +drunken sailor passing, exclaimed, <I>"Eyes right! quick step there!"</I> +</P> +<P>Another fellow stopped me to know whether I was going fox-hunting; +and one of the dock-police, stationed at the gates, after peeping out +upon me from his sentry box, a snug little den, furnished with benches +and newspapers, and hung round with storm jackets and oiled capes, +issued forth in a great hurry, crossed my path as I was emerging into +the street, and commanded me to <I>halt! </I>I obeyed; when scanning my +appearance pertinaciously, he desired to know where I got that +tarpaulin hat, not being able to account for the phenomenon of its +roofing the head of a broken-down fox-hunter. But I pointed to my ship, +which lay at no great distance; when remarking from my voice that I was +a Yankee, this faithful functionary permitted me to pass.</P> +<P>It must be known that the police stationed at the gates of the docks +are extremely observant of strangers going out; as many thefts are +perpetrated on board the ships; and if they chance to see any thing +suspicious, they probe into it without mercy. Thus, the old men who buy <I> +"shakings," </I>and rubbish from vessels, must turn their bags wrong +side out before the police, ere they are allowed to go outside the +walls. And often they will search a suspicious looking fellow's +clothes, even if he be a very thin man, with attenuated and almost +imperceptible pockets.</P> +<P>But where was I going?</P> +<P>I will tell. My intention was in the first place, to visit +Riddough's Hotel, where my father had stopped, more than thirty years +before: and then, with the map in my hand, follow him through all the +town, according to the dotted lines in the diagram. For thus would I be +performing a filial pilgrimage to spots which would be hallowed in my +eyes.</P> +<P>At last, when I found myself going down Old Hall-street toward +Lord-street, where the hotel was situated, according to my authority; +and when, taking out my map, I found that Old Hall-street was marked +there, through its whole extent with my father's pen; a thousand fond, +affectionate emotions rushed around my heart.</P> +<P>Yes, in this very street, thought I, nay, on this very flagging my +father walked. Then I almost wept, when I looked down on my sorry +apparel, and marked how the people regarded me; the men staring at so +grotesque a young stranger, and the old ladies, in beaver hats and +ruffles, crossing the walk a little to shun me.</P> +<P>How differently my father must have appeared; perhaps in a blue +coat, buff vest, and Hessian boots. And little did he think, that a son +of his would ever visit Liverpool as a poor friendless sailor-boy. But +I was not born then: no, when he walked this flagging, I was not so +much as thought of; I was not included in the census of the universe. +My own father did not know me then; and had never seen, or heard, or so +much as dreamed of me. And that thought had a touch of sadness to me; +for if it had certainly been, that my own parent, at one time, never +cast a thought upon me, how might it be with me hereafter? Poor, poor +Wellingborough! thought I, miserable boy! you are indeed friendless and +forlorn. Here you wander a stranger in a strange town, and the very +thought of your father's having been here before you, but carries with +it the reflection that, he then knew you not, nor cared for you one +whit.</P> +<P>But dispelling these dismal reflections as well as I could, I pushed +on my way, till I got to Chapel-street, which I crossed; and then, +going under a cloister-like arch of stone, whose gloom and narrowness +delighted me, and filled my Yankee soul with romantic thoughts of old +Abbeys and Minsters, I emerged into the fine quadrangle of the +Merchants' Exchange.</P> +<P>There, leaning against the colonnade, I took out my map, and traced +my father right across Chapel-street, and actually through the very +arch at my back, into the paved square where I stood.</P> +<P>So vivid was now the impression of his having been here, and so +narrow the passage from which he had emerged, that I felt like running +on, and overtaking him around the Town Hall adjoining, at the head of +Castle-street. But I soon checked myself, when remembering that he had +gone whither no son's search could find him in this world. And then I +thought of all that must have happened to him since he paced through +that arch. What trials and troubles he had encountered; how he had been +shaken by many storms of adversity, and at last died a bankrupt. I +looked at my own sorry garb, and had much ado to keep from tears.</P> +<P>But I rallied, and gazed round at the sculptured stonework, and +turned to my guide-book, and looked at the print of the spot. It was +correct to a pillar; but wanted the central ornament of the quadrangle. +This, however, was but a slight subsequent erection, which ought not to +militate against the general character of my friend for +comprehensiveness.</P> +<P>The ornament in question is a group of statuary in bronze, elevated +upon a marble pedestal and basement, representing Lord Nelson expiring +in the arms of Victory. One foot rests on a rolling foe, and the other +on a cannon. Victory is dropping a wreath on the dying admiral's brow; +while Death, under the similitude of a hideous skeleton, is insinuating +his bony hand under the hero's robe, and groping after his heart. A +very striking design, and true to the imagination; I never could look +at Death without a shudder.</P> +<P>At uniform intervals round the base of the pedestal, four naked +figures in chains, somewhat larger than life, are seated in various +attitudes of humiliation and despair. One has his leg recklessly thrown +over his knee, and his head bowed over, as if he had given up all hope +of ever feeling better. Another has his head buried in despondency, and +no doubt looks mournfully out of his eyes, but as his face was averted +at the time, I could not catch the expression. These woe-begone figures +of captives are emblematic of Nelson's principal victories; but I never +could look at their swarthy limbs and manacles, without being +involuntarily reminded of four African slaves in the market-place.</P> +<P>And my thoughts would revert to Virginia and Carolina; and also to +the historical fact, that the African slave-trade once constituted the +principal commerce of Liverpool; and that the prosperity of the town +was once supposed to have been indissolubly linked to its prosecution. +And I remembered that my father had often spoken to gentlemen visiting +our house in New York, of the unhappiness that the discussion of the +abolition of this trade had occasioned in Liverpool; that the struggle +between sordid interest and humanity had made sad havoc at the +fire-sides of the merchants; estranged sons from sires; and even +separated husband from wife. And my thoughts reverted to my father's +friend, the good and great Roscoe, the intrepid enemy of the trade; who +in every way exerted his fine talents toward its suppression; writing a +poem <I>("the Wrongs of Africa"), </I>several pamphlets; and in his +place in Parliament, he delivered a speech against it, which, as coming +from a member for Liverpool, was supposed to have turned many votes, +and had no small share in the triumph of sound policy and humanity that +ensued.</P> +<P>How this group of statuary affected me, may be inferred from the +fact, that I never went through Chapel-street without going through the +little arch to look at it again. And there, night or day, I was sure to +find Lord Nelson still falling back; Victory's wreath still hovering +over his swordpoint; and Death grim and grasping as ever; while the +four bronze captives still lamented their captivity.</P> +<P>Now, as I lingered about the railing of the statuary, on the Sunday +I have mentioned, I noticed several persons going in and out of an +apartment, opening from the basement under the colonnade; and, +advancing, I perceived that this was a news-room, full of files of +papers. My love of literature prompted me to open the door and step in; +but a glance at my soiled shooting-jacket prompted a dignified looking +personage to step up and shut the door in my face. I deliberated a +minute what I should do to him; and at last resolutely determined to +let him alone, and pass on; which I did; going down Castle-street (so +called from a castle which once stood there, said my guide-book), and +turning down into Lord.</P> +<P>Arrived at the foot of the latter street, I in vain looked round for +the hotel. How serious a disappointment was this may well be imagined, +when it is considered that I was all eagerness to behold the very house +at which my father stopped; where he slept and dined, smoked his cigar, +opened his letters, and read the papers. I inquired of some gentlemen +and ladies where the missing hotel was; but they only stared and passed +on; until I met a mechanic, apparently, who very civilly stopped to +hear my questions and give me an answer.</P> +<P>"Riddough's Hotel?" said he, "upon my word, I think I have heard of +such a place; let me see—yes, yes—that was the hotel where my father +broke his arm, helping to pull down the walls. My lad, you surely can't +be inquiring for Riddough's Hotel! What do you want to find there?"</P> +<P>"Oh! nothing," I replied, "I am much obliged for your +information"—and away I walked.</P> +<P>Then, indeed, a new light broke in upon me concerning my guide-book; +and all my previous dim suspicions were almost confirmed. It was nearly +half a century behind the age! and no more fit to guide me about the +town, than the map of Pompeii.</P> +<P>It was a sad, a solemn, and a most melancholy thought. The book on +which I had so much relied; the book in the old morocco cover; the book +with the cocked-hat corners; the book full of fine old family +associations; the book with seventeen plates, executed in the highest +style of art; this precious book was next to useless. Yes, the thing +that had guided the father, could not guide the son. And I sat down on +a shop step, and gave loose to meditation.</P> +<P>Here, now, oh, Wellingborough, thought I, learn a lesson, and never +forget it. This world, my boy, is a moving world; its Riddough's Hotels +are forever being pulled down; it never stands still; and its sands are +forever shifting. This very harbor of Liverpool is gradually filling +up, they say; and who knows what your son (if you ever have one) may +behold, when he comes to visit Liverpool, as long after you as you come +after his grandfather. And, Wellingborough, as your father's guidebook +is no guide for you, neither would yours (could you afford to buy a +modern one to-day) be a true guide to those who come after you. +Guide-books, Wellingborough, are the least reliable books in all +literature; and nearly all literature, in one sense, is made up of +guide-books. Old ones tell us the ways our fathers went, through the +thoroughfares and courts of old; but how few of those former places can +their posterity trace, amid avenues of modem erections; to how few is +the old guide-book now a clew! Every age makes its own guidebooks, and +the old ones are used for waste paper. But there is one Holy +Guide-Book, Wellingborough, that will never lead you astray, if you but +follow it aright; and some noble monuments that remain, though the +pyramids crumble.</P> +<P>But though I rose from the door-step a sadder and a wiser boy, and +though my guide-book had been stripped of its reputation for +infallibility, I did not treat with contumely or disdain, those sacred +pages which had once been a beacon to my sire.</P> +<P>No.—Poor old guide-book, thought I, tenderly stroking its back, and +smoothing the dog-ears with reverence; I will not use you with despite, +old Morocco! and you will yet prove a trusty conductor through many old +streets in the old parts of this town; even if you are at fault, now +and then, concerning a Riddough's Hotel, or some other forgotten thing +of the past. As I fondly glanced over the leaves, like one who loves +more than he chides, my eye lighted upon a passage concerning <I>"The +Old Dock," </I>which much aroused my curiosity. I determined to see the +place without delay: and walking on, in what I presumed to be the right +direction, at last found myself before a spacious and splendid pile of +sculptured brown stone; and entering the porch, perceived from +incontrovertible tokens that it must be the Custom-house. After +admiring it awhile, I took out my guide-book again; and what was my +amazement at discovering that, according to its authority, I was +entirely mistaken with regard to this Custom-house; for precisely where +I stood, <I>"The Old Dock" </I>must be standing, and reading on +concerning it, I met with this very apposite passage:—<I>"The first +idea that strikes the stranger in coming to this dock, is the +singularity of so great a number of ships afloat in the very heart of +the town, without discovering any connection with the sea."</I></P> +<P>Here, now, was a poser! Old Morocco confessed that there was a good +deal of "singularity" about the thing; nor did he pretend to deny that +it was, without question, amazing, that this fabulous dock should seem +to have no <I>connection with the sea! </I>However, the same author +went on to say, that the <I>"astonished stranger must suspend his +wonder for awhile, and turn to the left." </I>But, right or left, no +place answering to the description was to be seen.</P> +<P>This was too confounding altogether, and not to be easily accounted +for, even by making ordinary allowances for the growth and general +improvement of the town in the course of years. So, guide-book in hand, +I accosted a policeman standing by, and begged him to tell me whether +he was acquainted with any place in that neighborhood called the <I> +"Old Dock." </I>The man looked at me wonderingly at first, and then +seeing I was apparently sane, and quite civil into the bargain, he +whipped his well-polished boot with his rattan, pulled up his +silver-laced coat-collar, and initiated me into a knowledge of the +following facts.</P> +<P>It seems that in this place originally stood the <I>"pool," </I>from +which the town borrows a part of its name, and which originally wound +round the greater part of the old settlements; that this pool was made +into the "Old Dock," for the benefit of the shipping; but that, years +ago, it had been filled up, and furnished the site for the Custom-house +before me.</P> +<P>I now eyed the spot with a feeling somewhat akin to the Eastern +traveler standing on the brink of the Dead Sea. For here the doom of +Gomorrah seemed reversed, and a lake had been converted into +substantial stone and mortar.</P> +<P>Well, well, Wellingborough, thought I, you had better put the book +into your pocket, and carry it home to the Society of Antiquaries; it +is several thousand leagues and odd furlongs behind the march of +improvement. Smell its old morocco binding, Wellingborough; does it not +smell somewhat mummy-ish? Does it not remind you of Cheops and the +Catacombs? I tell you it was written before the lost books of Livy, and +is cousin-german to that irrecoverably departed volume, entitled, <I> +"The Wars of the Lord" </I>quoted by Moses in the Pentateuch. Put it +up, Wellingborough, put it up, my dear friend; and hereafter follow +your nose throughout Liverpool; it will stick to you through thick and +thin: and be your ship's mainmast and St. George's spire your landmarks.</P> +<P>No!—And again I rubbed its back softly, and gently adjusted a loose +leaf: No, no, I'll not give you up yet. Forth, old Morocco! and lead me +in sight of tie venerable Abbey of Birkenhead; and let these eager eyes +behold the mansion once occupied by the old earls of Derby!</P> +<P>For the book discoursed of both places, and told how the Abbey was +on the Cheshire shore, full in view from a point on the Lancashire +side, covered over with ivy, and brilliant with moss! And how the house +of the noble Derby's was now a common jail of the town; and how that +circumstance was full of suggestions, and pregnant with wisdom!</P> +<P>But, alas! I never saw the Abbey; at least none was in sight from +the water: and as for the house of the earls, I never saw that.</P> +<P>Ah me, and ten times alas! am I to visit old England in vain? in the +land of Thomas-a-Becket and stout John of Gaunt, not to catch the least +glimpse of priory or castle? Is there nothing in all the British empire +but these smoky ranges of old shops and warehouses? is Liverpool but a +brick-kiln? Why, no buildings here look so ancient as the old +gable-pointed mansion of my maternal grandfather at home, whose bricks +were brought from Holland long before the revolutionary war! Tis a +deceit—a gull—a sham—a hoax! This boasted England is no older than +the State of New York: if it is, show me the proofs —point out the +vouchers. Where's the tower of Julius Caesar? Where's the Roman wall? +Show me Stonehenge!</P> +<P>But, Wellingborough, I remonstrated with myself, you are only in +Liverpool; the old monuments lie to the north, south, east, and west of +you; you are but a sailor-boy, and you can not expect to be a great +tourist, and visit the antiquities, in that preposterous +shooting-jacket of yours. Indeed, you can not, my boy.</P> +<P>True, true—that's it. I am not the traveler my father was. I am +only a common-carrier across the Atlantic.</P> +<P>After a weary day's walk, I at last arrived at the sign of the +Baltimore Clipper to supper; and Handsome Mary poured me out a brimmer +of tea, in which, for the time, I drowned all my melancholy.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_33">XXXII. THE DOCKS</A></H3> +<P>For more than six weeks, the ship Highlander lay in Prince's Dock; +and during that time, besides making observations upon things +immediately around me, I made sundry excursions to the neighboring +docks, for I never tired of admiring them.</P> +<P>Previous to this, having only seen the miserable wooden wharves, and +slip-shod, shambling piers of New York, the sight of these mighty docks +filled my young mind with wonder and delight. In New York, to be sure, +I could not but be struck with the long line of shipping, and tangled +thicket of masts along the East River; yet, my admiration had been much +abated by those irregular, unsightly wharves, which, I am sure, are a +reproach and disgrace to the city that tolerates them.</P> +<P>Whereas, in Liverpool, I beheld long China walls of masonry; vast +piers of stone; and a succession of granite-rimmed docks, completely +inclosed, and many of them communicating, which almost recalled to mind +the great American chain of lakes: Ontario, Erie, St. Clair, Huron, +Michigan, and Superior. The extent and solidity of these structures, +seemed equal to what I had read of the old Pyramids of Egypt.</P> +<P>Liverpool may justly claim to have originated the model of the "Wet +Dock," so called, of the present day; and every thing that is connected +with its design, construction, regulation, and improvement. Even London +was induced to copy after Liverpool, and Havre followed her example. In +magnitude, cost, and durability, the docks of Liverpool, even at the +present day surpass all others in the world.</P> +<P>The first dock built by the town was the <I>"Old Dock," </I>alluded +to in my Sunday stroll with my guide-book. This was erected in 1710, +since which period has gradually arisen that long line of dock-masonry, +now flanking the Liverpool side of the Mersey.</P> +<P>For miles you may walk along that river-side, passing dock after +dock, like a chain of immense fortresses:—Prince's, George's, +Salt-House, Clarence, Brunswick, Trafalgar, King's, Queen's, and many +more.</P> +<P>In a spirit of patriotic gratitude to those naval heroes, who by +their valor did so much to protect the commerce of Britain, in which +Liverpool held so large a stake; the town, long since, bestowed upon +its more modern streets, certain illustrious names, that Broadway might +be proud of:—Duncan, Nelson, Rodney, St. Vincent, Nile.</P> +<P>But it is a pity, I think, that they had not bestowed these noble +names upon their noble docks; so that they might have been as a rank +and file of most fit monuments to perpetuate the names of the heroes, +in connection with the commerce they defended.</P> +<P>And how much better would such stirring monuments be; full of life +and commotion; than hermit obelisks of Luxor, and idle towers of stone; +which, useless to the world in themselves, vainly hope to eternize a +name, by having it carved, solitary and alone, in their granite. Such +monuments are cenotaphs indeed; founded far away from the true body of +the fame of the hero; who, if he be truly a hero, must still be linked +with the living interests of his race; for the true fame is something +free, easy, social, and companionable. They are but tomb-stones, that +commemorate his death, but celebrate not his Me. It is well enough that +over the inglorious and thrice miserable grave of a Dives, some vast +marble column should be reared, recording the fact of his having lived +and died; for such records are indispensable to preserve his shrunken +memory among men; though that memory must soon crumble away with the +marble, and mix with the stagnant oblivion of the mob. But to build +such a pompous vanity over the remains of a hero, is a slur upon his +fame, and an insult to his ghost. And more enduring monuments are built +in the closet with the letters of the alphabet, than even Cheops +himself could have founded, with all Egypt and Nubia for his quarry.</P> +<P>Among the few docks mentioned above, occur the names of the <I> +King's </I>and <I>Queens. </I>At the time, they often reminded me of +the two principal streets in the village I came from in America, +which streets once rejoiced in the same royal appellations. But they +had been christened previous to the Declaration of Independence; and +some years after, in a fever of freedom, they were abolished, at an +enthusiastic town-meeting, where King George and his lady were solemnly +declared unworthy of being immortalized by the village of L—. A +country antiquary once told me, that a committee of two barbers were +deputed to write and inform the distracted old gentleman of the fact.</P> +<P>As the description of any one of these Liverpool docks will pretty +much answer for all, I will here endeavor to give some account of +Prince's Dock, where the Highlander rested after her passage across the +Atlantic.</P> +<P>This dock, of comparatively recent construction, is perhaps the +largest of all, and is well known to American sailors, from the fact, +that it is mostly frequented by the American ship-, ping. Here lie the +noble New York packets, which at home are found at the foot of +Wall-street; and here lie the Mobile and Savannah cotton ships and +traders.</P> +<P>This dock was built like the others, mostly upon the bed of the +river, the earth and rock having been laboriously scooped out, and +solidified again as materials for the quays and piers. From the river, +Prince's Dock is protected by a long pier of masonry, surmounted by a +massive wall; and on the side next the town, it is bounded by similar +walls, one of which runs along a thoroughfare. The whole space thus +inclosed forms an oblong, and may, at a guess, be presumed to comprise +about fifteen or twenty acres; but as I had not the rod of a surveyor +when I took it in, I will not be certain.</P> +<P>The area of the dock itself, exclusive of the inclosed quays +surrounding it, may be estimated at, say, ten acres. Access to the +interior from the streets is had through several gateways; so that, +upon their being closed, the whole dock is shut up like a house. From +the river, the entrance is through a water-gate, and ingress to ships +is only to be had, when the level of the dock coincides with that of +the river; that is, about the time of high tide, as the level of the +dock is always at that mark. So that when it is low tide in the river, +the keels of the ships inclosed by the quays are elevated more than +twenty feet above those of the vessels in the stream. This, of course, +produces a striking effect to a stranger, to see hundreds of immense +ships floating high aloft in the heart of a mass of masonry.</P> +<P>Prince's Dock is generally so filled with shipping, that the +entrance of a new-comer is apt to occasion a universal stir among all +the older occupants. The dock-masters, whose authority is declared by +tin signs worn conspicuously over their hats, mount the poops and +forecastles of the various vessels, and hail the surrounding strangers +in all directions:— <I>"Highlander ahoy! Cast off your bowline, and +sheer alongside the Neptune!"—"Neptune ahoy! get out a stern-line, and +sheer alongside the Trident!"—"Trident ahoy! get out a bowline, and +drop astern of the Undaunted!" </I>And so it runs round like a shock of +electricity; touch one, and you touch all. This kind of work irritates +and exasperates the sailors to the last degree; but it is only one of +the unavoidable inconveniences of inclosed docks, which are outweighed +by innumerable advantages.</P> +<P>Just without the water-gate, is a basin, always connecting with the +open river, through a narrow entrance between pierheads. This basin +forms a sort of ante-chamber to the dock itself, where vessels lie +waiting their turn to enter. During a storm, the necessity of this +basin is obvious; for it would be impossible to <I>"dock" </I>a ship +under full headway from a voyage across the ocean. From the turbulent +waves, she first glides into the ante-chamber between the pier-heads +and from thence into the docks.</P> +<P>Concerning the cost of the docks, I can only state, that the <I> +King's Dock, </I>comprehending but a comparatively small area, was +completed at an expense of some £20,000.</P> +<P>Our old ship-keeper, a Liverpool man by birth, who had long followed +the seas, related a curious story concerning this dock. One of the +ships which carried over troops from England to Ireland in King +William's war, in 1688, entered the King's Dock on the first day of its +being opened in 1788, after an interval of just one century. She was a +dark little brig, called the <I>Port-a-Ferry. </I>And probably, as her +timbers must have been frequently renewed in the course of a hundred +years, the name alone could have been all that was left of her at the +time. A paved area, very wide, is included within the walls; and along +the edge of the quays are ranges of iron sheds, intended as a temporary +shelter for the goods unladed from the shipping. Nothing can exceed the +bustle and activity displayed along these quays during the day; bales, +crates, boxes, and cases are being tumbled about by thousands of +laborers; trucks are corning and going; dock-masters are shouting; +sailors of all nations are singing out at their ropes; and all this +commotion is greatly increased by the resoundings from the lofty walls +that hem in the din.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_34">XXXIII. THE SALT-DROGHERS, AND +GERMAN EMIGRANT SHIPS</A></H3> +<P>Surrounded by its broad belt of masonry, each Liverpool dock is a +walled town, full of life and commotion; or rather, it is a small +archipelago, an epitome of the world, where all the nations of +Christendom, and even those of Heathendom, are represented. For, in +itself, each ship is an island, a floating colony of the tribe to which +it belongs.</P> +<P>Here are brought together the remotest limits of the earth; and in +the collective spars and timbers of these ships, all the forests of the +globe are represented, as in a grand parliament of masts. Canada and +New Zealand send their pines; America her live oak; India her teak; +Norway her spruce; and the Right Honorable Mahogany, member for +Honduras and Cam-peachy, is seen at his post by the wheel. Here, under +the beneficent sway of the Genius of Commerce, all climes and countries +embrace; and yard-arm touches yard-arm in brotherly love.</P> +<P>A Liverpool dock is a grand caravansary inn, and hotel, on the +spacious and liberal plan of the <I>Astor House. </I>Here ships are +lodged at a moderate charge, and payment is not demanded till the time +of departure. Here they are comfortably housed and provided for; +sheltered from all weathers and secured from all calamities. For I can +hardly credit a story I have heard, that sometimes, in heavy gales, +ships lying in the very middle of the docks have lost their +top-gallant-masts. Whatever the toils and hardships encountered on the +voyage, whether they come from Iceland or the coast of New Guinea, here +their sufferings are ended, and they take their ease in their watery +inn.</P> +<P>I know not how many hours I spent in gazing at the shipping in +Prince's Dock, and speculating concerning their past voyages and future +prospects in life. Some had just arrived from the most distant ports, +worn, battered, and disabled; others were all a-taunt-o—spruce, gay, +and brilliant, in readiness for sea.</P> +<P>Every day the Highlander had some new neighbor. A black brig from +Glasgow, with its crew of sober Scotch caps, and its staid, +thrifty-looking skipper, would be replaced by a jovial French +hermaphrodite, its forecastle echoing with songs, and its quarter-deck +elastic from much dancing.</P> +<P>On the other side, perhaps, a magnificent New York Liner, huge as a +seventy-four, and suggesting the idea of a Mivart's or Delmonico's +afloat, would give way to a Sidney emigrant ship, receiving on board +its live freight of shepherds from the Grampians, ere long to be +tending their flocks on the hills and downs of New Holland.</P> +<P>I was particularly pleased and tickled, with a multitude of little +salt-droghers, rigged like sloops, and not much bigger than a +pilot-boat, but with broad bows painted black, and carrying red sails, +which looked as if they had been pickled and stained in a tan-yard. +These little fellows were continually coming in with their cargoes for +ships bound to America; and lying, five or six together, alongside of +those lofty Yankee hulls, resembled a parcel of red ants about the +carcass of a black buffalo.</P> +<P>When loaded, these comical little craft are about level with the +water; and frequently, when blowing fresh in the river, I have seen +them flying through the foam with nothing visible but the mast and +sail, and a man at the tiller; their entire cargo being snugly secured +under hatches. </P> +<P>It was diverting to observe the self-importance of the skipper of +any of these diminutive vessels. He would give himself all the airs of +an admiral on a three-decker's poop; and no doubt, thought quite as +much of himself. And why not? What could Caesar want more? Though his +craft was none of the largest, it was subject to <I>him; </I>and though +his crew might only consist of himself; yet if he governed it well, he +achieved a triumph, which the moralists of all ages have set above the +victories of Alexander.</P> +<P>These craft have each a little cabin, the prettiest, charming-est, +most delightful little dog-hole in the world; not much bigger than an +old-fashioned alcove for a bed. It is lighted by little round glasses +placed in the deck; so that to the insider, the ceiling is like a small +firmament twinkling with astral radiations. For tall men, nevertheless, +the place is but ill-adapted; a sitting, or recumbent position being +indispensable to an occupancy of the premises. Yet small, low, and +narrow as the cabin is, somehow, it affords accommodations to the +skipper and his family. Often, I used to watch the tidy good-wife, +seated at the open little scuttle, like a woman at a cottage door, +engaged in knitting socks for her husband; or perhaps, cutting his +hair, as he kneeled before her. And once, while marveling how a couple +like this found room to turn in, below, I was amazed by a noisy +irruption of cherry-cheeked young tars from the scuttle, whence they +came rolling forth, like so many curly spaniels from a kennel.</P> +<P>Upon one occasion, I had the curiosity to go on board a +salt-drogher, and fall into conversation with its skipper, a bachelor, +who kept house all alone. I found him a very sociable, comfortable old +fellow, who had an eye to having things cozy around him. It was in the +evening; and he invited me down into his sanctum to supper; and there +we sat together like a couple in a box at an oyster-cellar.</P> +<P>"He, he," he chuckled, kneeling down before a fat, moist, little +cask of beer, and holding a cocked-hat pitcher to the faucet—"You see, +Jack, I keep every thing down here; and nice times I have by myself. +Just before going to bed, it ain't bad to take a nightcap, you know; +eh! Jack?—here now, smack your lips over that, my boy—have a +pipe?—but stop, let's to supper first."</P> +<P>So he went to a little locker, a fixture against the side, and +groping in it awhile, and addressing it with—<I>"What cheer here, what +cheer?" </I>at last produced a loaf, a small cheese, a bit of ham, and +a jar of butter. And then placing a board on his lap, spread the table, +the pitcher of beer in the center. "Why that's but a two legged table," +said I, "let's make it four."</P> +<P>So we divided the burthen, and supped merrily together on our knees.</P> +<P>He was an old ruby of a fellow, his cheeks toasted brown; and it did +my soul good, to see the froth of the beer bubbling at his mouth, and +sparkling on his nut-brown beard. He looked so like a great mug of ale, +that I almost felt like taking him by the neck and pouring him out.</P> +<P>"Now Jack," said he, when supper was over, "now Jack, my boy, do you +smoke?—Well then, load away." And he handed me a seal-skin pouch of +tobacco and a pipe. We sat smoking together in this little sea-cabinet +of his, till it began to look much like a state-room in Tophet; and +notwithstanding my host's rubicund nose, I could hardly see him for the +fog.</P> +<P>"He, he, my boy," then said he—"I don't never have any bugs here, I +tell ye: I smokes 'em all out every night before going to bed."</P> +<P>"And where may you sleep?" said I, looking round, and seeing no sign +of a bed.</P> +<P>"Sleep?" says he, "why I sleep in my jacket, that's the best +counterpane; and I use my head for a pillow. He-he, funny, ain't it?"</P> +<P>"Very funny," says I.</P> +<P>"Have some more ale?" says he; "plenty more." "No more, thank you," +says I; "I guess I'll go;" for what with the tobacco-smoke and the ale, +I began to feel like breathing fresh air. Besides, my conscience smote +me for thus freely indulging in the pleasures of the table.</P> +<P>"Now, don't go," said he; "don't go, my boy; don't go out into the +damp; take an old Christian's advice," laying his hand on my shoulder; +"it won't do. You see, by going out now, you'll shake off the ale, and +get broad awake again; but if you stay here, you'll soon be dropping +off for a nice little nap."</P> +<P>But notwithstanding these inducements, I shook my host's hand and +departed. There was hardly any thing I witnessed in the docks that +interested me more than the German emigrants who come on board the +large New York ships several days before their sailing, to make every +thing comfortable ere starting. Old men, tottering with age, and little +infants in arms; laughing girls in bright-buttoned bodices, and astute, +middle-aged men with pictured pipes in their mouths, would be seen +mingling together in crowds of five, six, and seven or eight hundred in +one ship.</P> +<P>Every evening these countrymen of Luther and Melancthon gathered on +the forecastle to sing and pray. And it was exalting to listen to their +fine ringing anthems, reverberating among the crowded shipping, and +rebounding from the lofty walls of the docks. Shut your eyes, and you +would think you were in a cathedral.</P> +<P>They keep up this custom at sea; and every night, in the dog-watch, +sing the songs of Zion to the roll of the great ocean-organ: a pious +custom of a devout race, who thus send over their hallelujahs before +them, as they hie to the land of the stranger.</P> +<P>And among these sober Germans, my country counts the most orderly +and valuable of her foreign population. It is they who have swelled the +census of her Northwestern States; and transferring their ploughs from +the hills of Transylvania to the prairies of Wisconsin; and sowing the +wheat of the Rhine on the banks of the Ohio, raise the grain, that, a +hundred fold increased, may return to their kinsmen in Europe.</P> +<P>There is something in the contemplation of the mode in which America +has been settled, that, in a noble breast, should forever extinguish +the prejudices of national dislikes. Settled by the people of all +nations, all nations may claim her for their own. You can not spill a +drop of American blood without spilling the blood of the whole world. +Be he Englishman, Frenchman, German, Dane, or Scot; the European who +scoffs at an American, calls his own brother <I>Raca, </I>and stands in +danger of the judgment. We are not a narrow tribe of men, with a +bigoted Hebrew nationality—whose blood has been debased in the attempt +to ennoble it, by maintaining an exclusive succession among ourselves. +No: our blood is as the flood of the Amazon, made up of a thousand +noble currents all pouring into one. We are not a nation, so much as a +world; for unless we may claim all the world for our sire, like +Melchisedec, we are without father or mother.</P> +<P>For who was our father and our mother? Or can we point to any +Romulus and Remus for our founders? Our ancestry is lost in the +universal paternity; and Caesar and Alfred, St. Paul and Luther, and +Homer and Shakespeare are as much ours as Washington, who is as much +the world's as our own. We are the heirs of all time, and with all +nations we divide our inheritance. On this Western Hemisphere all +tribes and people are forming into one federated whole; and there is a +future which shall see the estranged children of Adam restored as to +the old hearthstone in Eden.</P> +<P>The other world beyond this, which was longed for by the devout +before Columbus' time, was found in the New; and the deep-sea-lead, +that first struck these soundings, brought up the soil of Earth's +Paradise. Not a Paradise then, or now; but to be made so, at God's good +pleasure, and in the fullness and mellowness of time. The seed is sown, +and the harvest must come; and our children's children, on the world's +jubilee morning, shall all go with their sickles to the reaping. Then +shall the curse of Babel be revoked, a new Pentecost come, and the +language they shall speak shall be the language of Britain. Frenchmen, +and Danes, and Scots; and the dwellers on the shores of the +Mediterranean, and in the regions round about; Italians, and Indians, +and Moors; there shall appear unto them cloven tongues as of fire.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_35">XXXIV. THE IRRAWADDY</A></H3> +<P>Among the various ships lying in Prince's Dock, none interested me +more than the Irrawaddy, of Bombay, a <I>"country ship," </I>which is +the name bestowed by Europeans upon the large native vessels of India. +Forty years ago, these merchantmen were nearly the largest in the +world; and they still exceed the generality. They are built of the +celebrated teak wood, the oak of the East, or in Eastern phrase, <I> +"the King of the Oaks." </I>The Irrawaddy had just arrived from +Hindostan, with a cargo of cotton. She was manned by forty or fifty +Lascars, the native seamen of India, who seemed to be immediately +governed by a countryman of theirs of a higher caste. While his +inferiors went about in strips of white linen, this dignitary was +arrayed in a red army-coat, brilliant with gold lace, a cocked hat, and +drawn sword. But the general effect was quite spoiled by his bare feet.</P> +<P>In discharging the cargo, his business seemed to consist in +flagellating the crew with the flat of his saber, an exercise in which +long practice had made him exceedingly expert. The poor fellows jumped +away with the tackle-rope, elastic as cats.</P> +<P>One Sunday, I went aboard of the Irrawaddy, when this oriental usher +accosted me at the gangway, with his sword at my throat. I gently +pushed it aside, making a sign expressive of the pacific character of +my motives in paying a visit to the ship. Whereupon he very +considerately let me pass.</P> +<P>I thought I was in Pegu, so strangely woody was the smell of the +dark-colored timbers, whose odor was heightened by the rigging of <I> +kayar, </I>or cocoa-nut fiber.</P> +<P>The Lascars were on the forecastle-deck. Among them were Malays, +Mahrattas, Burmese, Siamese, and Cingalese. They were seated round +"kids" full of rice, from which, according to their invariable custom, +they helped themselves with one hand, the other being reserved for +quite another purpose. They were chattering like magpies in +Hindostanee, but I found that several of them could also speak very +good English. They were a small-limbed, wiry, tawny set; and I was +informed made excellent seamen, though ill adapted to stand the +hardships of northern voyaging.</P> +<P>They told me that seven of their number had died on the passage from +Bombay; two or three after crossing the Tropic of Cancer, and the rest +met their fate in the Channel, where the ship had been tost about in +violent seas, attended with cold rains, peculiar to that vicinity. Two +more had been lost overboard from the flying-jib-boom.</P> +<P>I was condoling with a young English cabin-boy on board, upon the +loss of these poor fellows, when he said it was their own fault; they +would never wear monkey-jackets, but clung to their thin India robes, +even in the bitterest weather. He talked about them much as a farmer +would about the loss of so many sheep by the murrain.</P> +<P>The captain of the vessel was an Englishman, as were also the three +mates, master and boatswain. These officers lived astern in the cabin, +where every Sunday they read the Church of England's prayers, while the +heathen at the other end of the ship were left to their false gods and +idols. And thus, with Christianity on the quarter-deck, and paganism on +the forecastle, the Irrawaddy ploughed the sea.</P> +<P>As if to symbolize this state of things, the <I>"fancy piece" </I> +astern comprised, among numerous other carved decorations, a cross and +a miter; while forward, on the bows, was a sort of devil for a +figure-head—a dragon-shaped creature, with a fiery red mouth, and a +switchy-looking tail.</P> +<P>After her cargo was discharged, which was done "to the sound of +flutes and soft recorders"—something as work is done in the navy to +the music of the boatswain's pipe—the Lascars were set to <I> +"stripping the ship" </I>that is, to sending down all her spars and +ropes.</P> +<P>At this time, she lay alongside of us, and the Babel on board almost +drowned our own voices. In nothing but their girdles, the Lascars +hopped about aloft, chattering like so many monkeys; but, nevertheless, +showing much dexterity and seamanship in their manner of doing their +work.</P> +<P>Every Sunday, crowds of well-dressed people came down to the dock to +see this singular ship; many of them perched themselves in the shrouds +of the neighboring craft, much to the wrath of Captain Riga, who left +strict orders with our old ship-keeper, to drive all strangers out of +the Highlander's rigging. It was amusing at these times, to watch the +old women with umbrellas, who stood on the quay staring at the Lascars, +even when they desired to be private. These inquisitive old ladies +seemed to regard the strange sailors as a species of wild animal, whom +they might gaze at with as much impunity, as at leopards in the +Zoological Gardens.</P> +<P>One night I was returning to the ship, when just as I was passing +through the Dock Gate, I noticed a white figure squatting against the +wall outside. It proved to be one of the Lascars who was smoking, as +the regulations of the docks prohibit his indulging this luxury on +board his vessel. Struck with the curious fashion of his pipe, and the +odor from it, I inquired what he was smoking; he replied <I>"Joggerry," </I> +which is a species of weed, used in place of tobacco.</P> +<P>Finding that he spoke good English, and was quite communicative, +like most smokers, I sat down by <I>Dattabdool-mans, as </I>he called +himself, and we fell into conversation. So instructive was his +discourse, that when we parted, I had considerably added to my stock of +knowledge. Indeed, it is a Godsend to fall in with a fellow like this. +He knows things you never dreamed of; his experiences are like a man +from the moon—wholly strange, a new revelation. If you want to learn +romance, or gain an insight into things quaint, curious, .and +marvelous, drop your books of travel, and take a stroll along the docks +of a great commercial port. Ten to one, you will encounter Crusoe +himself among the crowds of mariners from all parts of the globe.</P> +<P>But this is no place for making mention of all the subjects upon +which I and my Lascar friend mostly discoursed; I will only try to give +his account of the <I>teakwood </I>and <I>kayar rope, </I>concerning +which things I was curious, and sought information.</P> +<P>The <I>"sagoon" </I>as he called the tree which produces the teak, +grows in its greatest excellence among the mountains of Malabar, whence +large quantities are sent to Bombay for shipbuilding. He also spoke of +another kind of wood, the <I>"sissor," </I>which supplies most of the <I> +"shin-logs," </I>or "knees," and crooked timbers in the <I>country +ships. </I>The sagoon grows to an immense size; sometimes there is +fifty feet of trunk, three feet through, before a single bough is put +forth. Its leaves are very large; and to convey some idea of them, my +Lascar likened them to elephants' ears. He said a purple dye was +extracted from them, for the purpose of staining cottons and silks. The +wood is specifically heavier than water; it is easily worked, and +extremely strong and durable. But its chief merit lies in resisting the +action of the salt water, and the attacks of insects; which resistance +is caused by its containing a resinous oil called <I>"poonja."</I></P> +<P>To my surprise, he informed me that the Irrawaddy was wholly built +by the native shipwrights of India, who, he modestly asserted, +surpassed the European artisans.</P> +<P>The rigging, also, was of native manufacture. As the <I>kayar, </I> +of which it is composed, is now getting into use both in England and +America, as well for ropes and rigging as for mats and rugs, my Lascar +friend's account of it, joined to my own observations, may not be +uninteresting.</P> +<P>In India, it is prepared very much in the same way as in Polynesia. +The cocoa-nut is gathered while the husk is still green, and but +partially ripe; and this husk is removed by striking the nut forcibly, +with both hands, upon a sharp-pointed stake, planted uprightly in the +ground. In this way a boy will strip nearly fifteen hundred in a day. +But the <I>kayar </I>is not made from the husk, as might be supposed, +but from the rind of the nut; which, after being long soaked in water, +is beaten with mallets, and rubbed together into fibers. After this +being dried in the sun, you may spin it, just like hemp, or any similar +substance. The fiber thus produced makes very strong and durable ropes, +extremely well adapted, from their lightness and durability, for the +running rigging of a ship; while the same causes, united with its great +strength and buoyancy, render it very suitable for large cables and +hawsers.</P> +<P>But the elasticity of the <I>kayar </I>ill fits it for the shrouds +and standing-rigging of a ship, which require to be comparatively firm. +Hence, as the Irrawaddy's shrouds were all of this substance, the +Lascar told me, they were continually setting up or slacking off her +standing-rigging, according as the weather was cold or warm. And the +loss of a foretopmast, between the tropics, in a squall, he attributed +to this circumstance.</P> +<P>After a stay of about two weeks, the Irrawaddy had her heavy Indian +spars replaced with Canadian pine, and her <I>kayar </I>shrouds with +hempen ones. She then mustered her pagans, and hoisted sail for London.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_36">XXXV. GALLIOTS, +COAST-OF-GUINEA-MAN, AND FLOATING CHAPEL</A></H3> +<P>Another very curious craft often seen in the Liverpool docks, is the +Dutch galliot, an old-fashioned looking gentleman, with hollow waist, +high prow and stern, and which, seen lying among crowds of tight Yankee +traders, and pert French brigantines, always reminded me of a cocked +hat among modish beavers.</P> +<P>The construction of the galliot has not altered for centuries; and +the northern European nations, Danes and Dutch, still sail the salt +seas in this flat-bottomed salt-cellar of a ship; although, in addition +to these, they have vessels of a more modern kind.</P> +<P>They seldom paint the galliot; but scrape and varnish all its planks +and spars, so that all over it resembles the <I>"bright side" </I>or +polished <I>streak, </I>usually banding round an American ship.</P> +<P>Some of them are kept scrupulously neat and clean, and remind one of +a well-scrubbed wooden platter, or an old oak table, upon which much +wax and elbow vigor has been expended. Before the wind, they sail well; +but on a bowline, owing to their broad hulls and flat bottoms, they +make leeway at a sad rate.</P> +<P>Every day, some strange vessel entered Prince's Dock; and hardly +would I gaze my fill at some outlandish craft from Surat or the Levant, +ere a still more outlandish one would absorb my attention.</P> +<P>Among others, I remember, was a little brig from the Coast of +Guinea. In appearance, she was the ideal of a slaver; low, black, +clipper-built about the bows, and her decks in a state of most +piratical disorder.</P> +<P>She carried a long, rusty gun, on a swivel, amid-ships; and that gun +was a curiosity in itself. It must have been some old veteran, +condemned by the government, and sold for any thing it would fetch. It +was an antique, covered with half-effaced inscriptions, crowns, +anchors, eagles; and it had two handles near the trunnions, like those +of a tureen. The knob on the breach was fashioned into a dolphin's +head; and by a comical conceit, the touch-hole formed the orifice of a +human ear; and a stout tympanum it must have had, to have withstood the +concussions it had heard.</P> +<P>The brig, heavily loaded, lay between two large ships in ballast; so +that its deck was at least twenty feet below those of its neighbors. +Thus shut in, its hatchways looked like the entrance to deep vaults or +mines; especially as her men were wheeling out of her hold some kind of +ore, which might have been gold ore, so scrupulous were they in evening +the bushel measures, in which they transferred it to the quay; and so +particular was the captain, a dark-skinned whiskerando, in a Maltese +cap and tassel, in standing over the sailors, with his pencil and +memorandum-book in hand.</P> +<P>The crew were a buccaneering looking set; with hairy chests, purple +shirts, and arms wildly tattooed. The mate had a wooden leg, and +hobbled about with a crooked cane like a spiral staircase. There was a +deal of swearing on board of this craft, which was rendered the more +reprehensible when she came to moor alongside the Floating Chapel.</P> +<P>This was the hull of an old sloop-of-war, which had been converted +into a mariner's church. A house had been built upon it, and a steeple +took the place of a mast. There was a little balcony near the base of +the steeple, some twenty feet from the water; where, on week-days, I +used to see an old pensioner of a tar, sitting on a camp-stool, reading +his Bible. On Sundays he hoisted the Bethel flag, and like the <I> +muezzin </I>or cryer of prayers on the top of a Turkish mosque, would +call the strolling sailors to their devotions; not officially, but on +his own account; conjuring them not to make fools of themselves, but +muster round the pulpit, as they did about the capstan on a man-of-war. +This old worthy was the sexton. I attended the chapel several times, +and found there a very orderly but small congregation. The first time I +went, the chaplain was discoursing on future punishments, and making +allusions to the Tartarean Lake; which, coupled with the pitchy smell +of the old hull, summoned up the most forcible image of the thing which +I ever experienced.</P> +<P>The floating chapels which are to be found in some of the docks, +form one of the means which have been tried to induce the seamen +visiting Liverpool to turn their thoughts toward serious things. But as +very few of them ever think of entering these chapels, though they +might pass them twenty times in the day, some of the clergy, of a +Sunday, address them in the open air, from the corners of the quays, or +wherever they can procure an audience.</P> +<P>Whenever, in my Sunday strolls, I caught sight of one of these +congregations, I always made a point of joining it; and would find +myself surrounded by a motley crowd of seamen from all quarters of the +globe, and women, and lumpers, and dock laborers of all sorts. +Frequently the clergyman would be standing upon an old cask, arrayed in +full canonicals, as a divine of the Church of England. Never have I +heard religious discourses better adapted to an audience of men, who, +like sailors, are chiefly, if not only, to be moved by the plainest of +precepts, and demonstrations of the misery of sin, as conclusive and +undeniable as those of Euclid. No mere rhetoric avails with such men; +fine periods are vanity. You can not touch them with tropes. They need +to be pressed home by plain facts.</P> +<P>And such was generally the mode in which they were addressed by the +clergy in question: who, taking familiar themes for their discourses, +which were leveled right at the wants of their auditors, always +succeeded in fastening their attention. In particular, the two great +vices to which sailors are most addicted, and which they practice to +the ruin of both body and soul; these things, were the most enlarged +upon. And several times on the docks, I have seen a robed clergyman +addressing a large audience of women collected from the notorious lanes +and alleys in the neighborhood.</P> +<P>Is not this as it ought to be? since the true calling of the +reverend clergy is like their divine Master's;—not to bring the +righteous, but sinners to repentance. Did some of them leave the +converted and comfortable congregations, before whom they have +ministered year after year; and plunge at once, like St. Paul, into the +infected centers and hearts of vice: <I>then </I>indeed, would they +find a strong enemy to cope with; and a victory gained over <I>him, </I> +would entitle them to a conqueror's wreath. Better to save one sinner +from an obvious vice that is destroying him, than to indoctrinate ten +thousand saints. And as from every corner, in Catholic towns, the +shrines of Holy Mary and the Child Jesus perpetually remind the +commonest wayfarer of his heaven; even so should Protestant pulpits be +founded in the market-places, and at street corners, where the men of +God might be heard by all of His children.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_37">XXXVI. THE OLD CHURCH OF ST. +NICHOLAS, AND THE DEAD-HOUSE</A></H3> +<P>The floating chapel recalls to mind the <I>"Old Church," </I>well +known to the seamen of many generations, who have visited Liverpool. It +stands very near the docks, a venerable mass of brown stone, and by the +town's people is called the Church of St. Nicholas. I believe it is the +best preserved piece of antiquity in all Liverpool.</P> +<P>Before the town rose to any importance, it was the only place of +worship on that side of the Mersey; and under the adjoining Parish of +Walton was a <I>chapel-of-ease; </I>though from the straight backed +pews, there could have been but little comfort taken in it.</P> +<P>In old times, there stood in front of the church a statue of St. +Nicholas, the patron of mariners; to which all pious sailors made +offerings, to induce his saintship to grant them short and prosperous +voyages. In the tower is a fine chime of bells; and I well remember my +delight at first hearing them on the first Sunday morning after our +arrival in the dock. It seemed to carry an admonition with it; +something like the premonition conveyed to young Whittington by Bow +Bells. <I>"Wettingborough! Wettingborough! you must not forget to go to +church, Wettingborough! Don't forget, Wettingborough! Wettingborough! +don't forget."</I></P> +<P>Thirty or forty years ago, these bells were rung upon the arrival of +every Liverpool ship from a foreign voyage. How forcibly does this +illustrate the increase of the commerce of the town! Were the same +custom now observed, the bells would seldom have a chance to cease.</P> +<P>What seemed the most remarkable about this venerable old church, and +what seemed the most barbarous, and grated upon the veneration with +which I regarded this time-hallowed structure, was the condition of the +grave-yard surrounding it. From its close vicinity to the haunts of the +swarms of laborers about the docks, it is crossed and re-crossed by +thoroughfares in all directions; and the tomb-stones, not being erect, +but horizontal (indeed, they form a complete flagging to the spot), +multitudes are constantly walking over the dead; their heels erasing +the death's-heads and crossbones, the last mementos of the departed. At +noon, when the lumpers employed in loading and unloading the shipping, +retire for an hour to snatch a dinner, many of them resort to the +grave-yard; and seating themselves upon a tomb-stone use the adjoining +one for a table. Often, I saw men stretched out in a drunken sleep upon +these slabs; and once, removing a fellow's arm, read the following +inscription, which, in a manner, was true to the life, if not to the +death:—</P> +<center> +<B>HERE LYETH YE BODY OF TOBIAS DRINKER.</B> +</center> +<P>For two memorable circumstances connected with this church, I am +indebted to my excellent friend, Morocco, who tells me that in 1588 the +Earl of Derby, coming to his residence, and waiting for a passage to +the Isle of Man, the corporation erected and adorned a sumptuous stall +in the church for his reception. And moreover, that in the time of +Cromwell's wars, when the place was taken by that mad nephew of King +Charles, Prince Rupert, he converted the old church into a military +prison and stable; when, no doubt, another <I>"sumptuous stall" </I>was +erected for the benefit of the steed of some noble cavalry officer.</P> +<P>In the basement of the church is a Dead House, like the Morgue in +Paris, where the bodies of the drowned are exposed until claimed by +their friends, or till buried at the public charge.</P> +<P>From the multitudes employed about the shipping, this dead-house has +always more or less occupants. Whenever I passed up Chapel-street, I +used to see a crowd gazing through the grim iron grating of the door, +upon the faces of the drowned within. And once, when the door was +opened, I saw a sailor stretched out, stark and stiff, with the sleeve +of his frock rolled up, and showing his name and date of birth tattooed +upon his arm. It was a sight full of suggestions; he seemed his own +headstone.</P> +<P>I was told that standing rewards are offered for the recovery of +persons falling into the docks; so much, if restored to life, and a +less amount if irrecoverably drowned. Lured by this, several horrid old +men and women are constantly prying about the docks, searching after +bodies. I observed them principally early in the morning, when they +issued from their dens, on the same principle that the rag-rakers, and +rubbish-pickers in the streets, sally out bright and early; for then, +the night-harvest has ripened.</P> +<P>There seems to be no calamity overtaking man, that can not be +rendered merchantable. Undertakers, sextons, tomb-makers, and +hearse-drivers, get their living from the dead; and in times of plague +most thrive. And these miserable old men and women hunted after corpses +to keep from going to the church-yard themselves; for they were the +most wretched of starvelings.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_38">XXXVII. WHAT REDBURN SAW IN +LAUNCELOTT'S-HEY </A></H3> +<P>The dead-house reminds me of other sad things; for in the vicinity +of the docks are many very painful sights.</P> +<P>In going to our boarding-house, the sign of the Baltimore Clipper, I +generally passed through a narrow street called "Launcelott's-Hey," +lined with dingy, prison-like cotton warehouses. In this street, or +rather alley, you seldom see any one but a truck-man, or some solitary +old warehouse-keeper, haunting his smoky den like a ghost.</P> +<P>Once, passing through this place, I heard a feeble wail, which +seemed to come out of the earth. It was but a strip of crooked +side-walk where I stood; the dingy wall was on every side, converting +the mid-day into twilight; and not a soul was in sight. I started, and +could almost have run, when I heard that dismal sound. It seemed the +low, hopeless, endless wail of some one forever lost. At last I +advanced to an opening which communicated downward with deep tiers of +cellars beneath a crumbling old warehouse; and there, some fifteen feet +below the walk, crouching in nameless squalor, with her head bowed +over, was the figure of what had been a woman. Her blue arms folded to +her livid bosom two shrunken things like children, that leaned toward +her, one on each side. At first, I knew not whether they were alive or +dead. They made no sign; they did not move or stir; but from the vault +came that soul-sickening wail.</P> +<P>I made a noise with my foot, which, in the silence, echoed far and +near; but there was no response. Louder still; when one of the children +lifted its head, and cast upward a faint glance; then closed its eyes, +and lay motionless. The woman also, now gazed up, and perceived me; but +let fall her eye again. They were dumb and next to dead with want. How +they had crawled into that den, I could not tell; but there they had +crawled to die. At that moment I never thought of relieving them; for +death was so stamped in their glazed and unimploring eyes, that I +almost regarded them as already no more. I stood looking down on them, +while my whole soul swelled within me; and I asked myself, What right +had any body in the wide world to smile and be glad, when sights like +this were to be seen? It was enough to turn the heart to gall; and make +a man-hater of a Howard. For who were these ghosts that I saw? Were +they not human beings? A woman and two girls? With eyes, and lips, and +ears like any queen? with hearts which, though they did not bound with +blood, yet beat with a dull, dead ache that was their life.</P> +<P>At last, I walked on toward an open lot in the alley, hoping to meet +there some ragged old women, whom I had daily noticed groping amid foul +rubbish for little particles of dirty cotton, which they washed out and +sold for a trifle.</P> +<P>I found them; and accosting one, I asked if she knew of the persons +I had just left. She replied, that she did not; nor did she want to. I +then asked another, a miserable, toothless old woman, with a tattered +strip of coarse baling stuff round her body. Looking at me for an +instant, she resumed her raking in the rubbish, and said that she knew +who it was that I spoke of; but that she had no time to attend to +beggars and their brats. Accosting still another, who seemed to know my +errand, I asked if there was no place to which the woman could be +taken. "Yes," she replied, "to the church-yard." I said she was alive, +and not dead.</P> +<P>"Then she'll never die," was the rejoinder. "She's been down there +these three days, with nothing to eat;—that I know myself."</P> +<P>"She desarves it," said an old hag, who was just placing on her +crooked shoulders her bag of pickings, and who was turning to totter +off, "that Betsy Jennings desarves it—was she ever married? tell me +that."</P> +<P>Leaving Launcelott's-Hey, I turned into a more frequented street; +and soon meeting a policeman, told him of the condition of the woman +and the girls.</P> +<P>"It's none of my business, Jack," said he. "I don't belong to that +street."</P> +<P>"Who does then?"</P> +<P>"I don't know. But what business is it of yours? Are you not a +Yankee?"</P> +<P>"Yes," said I, "but come, I will help you remove that woman, if you +say so."</P> +<P>"There, now, Jack, go on board your ship and stick to it; and leave +these matters to the town."</P> +<P>I accosted two more policemen, but with no better success; they +would not even go with me to the place. The truth was, it was out of +the way, in a silent, secluded spot; and the misery of the three +outcasts, hiding away in the ground, did not obtrude upon any one.</P> +<P>Returning to them, I again stamped to attract their attention; but +this time, none of the three looked up, or even stirred. While I yet +stood irresolute, a voice called to me from a high, iron-shuttered +window in a loft over the way; and asked what I was about. I beckoned +to the man, a sort of porter, to come down, which he did; when I +pointed down into the vault.</P> +<P>"Well," said he, "what of it?"</P> +<P>"Can't we get them out?" said I, "haven't you some place in your +warehouse where you can put them? have you nothing for them to eat?"</P> +<P>"You're crazy, boy," said he; "do you suppose, that Parkins and Wood +want their warehouse turned into a hospital?"</P> +<P>I then went to my boarding-house, and told Handsome Mary of what I +had seen; asking her if she could not do something to get the woman and +girls removed; or if she could not do that, let me have some food for +them. But though a kind person in the main, Mary replied that she gave +away enough to beggars in her own street (which was true enough) +without looking after the whole neighborhood.</P> +<P>Going into the kitchen, I accosted the cook, a little shriveled-up +old Welshwoman, with a saucy tongue, whom the sailors called <I> +Brandy-Nan; </I>and begged her to give me some cold victuals, if she +had nothing better, to take to the vault. But she broke out in a storm +of swearing at the miserable occupants of the vault, and refused. I +then stepped into the room where our dinner was being spread; and +waiting till the girl had gone out, I snatched some bread and cheese +from a stand, and thrusting it into the bosom of my frock, left the +house. Hurrying to the lane, I dropped the food down into the vault. +One of the girls caught at it convulsively, but fell back, apparently +fainting; the sister pushed the other's arm aside, and took the bread +in her hand; but with a weak uncertain grasp like an infant's. She +placed it to her mouth; but letting it fall again, murmuring faintly +something like "water." The woman did not stir; her head was bowed +over, just as I had first seen her.</P> +<P>Seeing how it was, I ran down toward the docks to a mean little +sailor tavern, and begged for a pitcher; but the cross old man who kept +it refused, unless I would pay for it. But I had no money. So as my +boarding-house was some way off, and it would be lost time to run to +the ship for my big iron pot; under the impulse of the moment, I +hurried to one of the Boodle Hydrants, which I remembered having seen +running near the scene of a still smoldering fire in an old rag house; +and taking off a new tarpaulin hat, which had been loaned me that day, +filled it with water.</P> +<P>With this, I returned to Launcelott's-Hey; and with considerable +difficulty, like getting down into a well, I contrived to descend with +it into the vault; where there was hardly space enough left to let me +stand. The two girls drank out of the hat together; looking up at me +with an unalterable, idiotic expression, that almost made me faint. The +woman spoke not a word, and did not stir. While the girls were breaking +and eating the bread, I tried to lift the woman's head; but, feeble as +she was, she seemed bent upon holding it down. Observing her arms still +clasped upon her bosom, and that something seemed hidden under the rags +there, a thought crossed my mind, which impelled me forcibly to +withdraw her hands for a moment; when I caught a glimpse of a meager +little babe—the lower part of its body thrust into an old bonnet. Its +face was dazzlingly white, even in its squalor; but the closed eyes +looked like balls of indigo. It must have been dead some hours.</P> +<P>The woman refusing to speak, eat, or drink, I asked one of the girls +who they were, and where they lived; but she only stared vacantly, +muttering something that could not be understood.</P> +<P>The air of the place was now getting too much for me; but I stood +deliberating a moment, whether it was possible for me to drag them out +of the vault. But if I did, what then? They would only perish in the +street, and here they were at least protected from the rain; and more +than that, might die in seclusion.</P> +<P>I crawled up into the street, and looking down upon them again, +almost repented that I had brought them any food; for it would only +tend to prolong their misery, without hope of any permanent relief: for +die they must very soon; they were too far gone for any medicine to +help them. I hardly know whether I ought to confess another thing that +occurred to me as I stood there; but it was this-I felt an almost +irresistible impulse to do them the last mercy, of in some way putting +an end to their horrible lives; and I should almost have done so, I +think, had I not been deterred by thoughts of the law. For I well knew +that the law, which would let them perish of themselves without giving +them one cup of water, would spend a thousand pounds, if necessary, in +convicting him who should so much as offer to relieve them from their +miserable existence.</P> +<P>The next day, and the next, I passed the vault three times, and +still met the same sight. The girls leaning up against the woman on +each side, and the woman with her arms still folding the babe, and her +head bowed. The first evening I did not see the bread that I had +dropped down in the morning; but the second evening, the bread I had +dropped that morning remained untouched. On the third morning the smell +that came from the vault was such, that I accosted the same policeman I +had accosted before, who was patrolling the same street, and told him +that the persons I had spoken to him about were dead, and he had better +have them removed. He looked as if he did not believe me, and added, +that it was not his street.</P> +<P>When I arrived at the docks on my way to the ship, I entered the +guard-house within the walls, and asked for one of the captains, to +whom I told the story; but, from what he said, was led to infer that +the Dock Police was distinct from that of the town, and this was not +the right place to lodge my information.</P> +<P>I could do no more that morning, being obliged to repair to the +ship; but at twelve o'clock, when I went to dinner, I hurried into +Launcelott's-Hey, when I found that the vault was empty. In place of +the women and children, a heap of quick-lime was glistening.</P> +<P>I could not learn who had taken them away, or whither they had gone; +but my prayer was answered—they were dead, departed, and at peace.</P> +<P>But again I looked down into the vault, and in fancy beheld the +pale, shrunken forms still crouching there. Ah! what are our creeds, +and how do we hope to be saved? Tell me, oh Bible, that story of +Lazarus again, that I may find comfort in my heart for the poor and +forlorn. Surrounded as we are by the wants and woes of our fellowmen, +and yet given to follow our own pleasures, regardless of their pains, +are we not like people sitting up with a corpse, and making merry in +the house of the dead?</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_39">XXXVIII. THE DOCK-WALL BEGGARS</A></H3> +<P>I might relate other things which befell me during the six weeks and +more that I remained in Liverpool, often visiting the cellars, sinks, +and hovels of the wretched lanes and courts near the river. But to tell +of them, would only be to tell over again the story just told; so I +return to the docks.</P> +<P>The old women described as picking dirty fragments of cotton in tie +empty lot, belong to the same class of beings who at all hours of the +day are to be seen within the dock walls, raking over and over the +heaps of rubbish carried ashore from the holds of the shipping.</P> +<P>As it is against the law to throw the least thing overboard, even a +rope yarn; and as this law is very different from similar laws in New +York, inasmuch as it is rigidly enforced by the dock-masters; and, +moreover, as after discharging a ship's cargo, a great deal of dirt and +worthless dunnage remains in the hold, the amount of rubbish +accumulated in the appointed receptacles for depositing it within the +walls is extremely large, and is constantly receiving new accessions +from every vessel that unlades at the quays.</P> +<P>Standing over these noisome heaps, you will see scores of tattered +wretches, armed with old rakes and picking-irons, turning over the +dirt, and making as much of a rope-yarn as if it were a skein of silk. +Their findings, nevertheless, are but small; for as it is one of the +immemorial perquisites of the second mate of a merchant ship to +collect, and sell on his own account, all the condemned "old junk" of +the vessel to which he belongs, he generally takes good heed that in +the buckets of rubbish carried ashore, there shall be as few rope-yarns +as possible.</P> +<P>In the same way, the cook preserves all the odds and ends of +pork-rinds and beef-fat, which he sells at considerable profit; upon a +six months' voyage frequently realizing thirty or forty dollars from +the sale, and in large ships, even more than that. It may easily be +imagined, then, how desperately driven to it must these rubbish-pickers +be, to ransack heaps of refuse which have been previously gleaned.</P> +<P>Nor must I omit to make mention of the singular beggary practiced in +the streets frequented by sailors; and particularly to record the +remarkable army of paupers that beset the docks at particular hours of +the day.</P> +<P>At twelve o'clock the crews of hundreds and hundreds of ships issue +in crowds from the dock gates to go to their dinner in the town. This +hour is seized upon by multitudes of beggars to plant themselves +against the outside of the walls, while others stand upon the curbstone +to excite the charity of the seamen. The first time that I passed +through this long lane of pauperism, it seemed hard to believe that +such an array of misery could be furnished by any town in the world.</P> +<P>Every variety of want and suffering here met the eye, and every vice +showed here its victims. Nor were the marvelous and almost incredible +shifts and stratagems of the professional beggars, wanting to finish +this picture of all that is dishonorable to civilization and humanity.</P> +<P>Old women, rather mummies, drying up with slow starving and age; +young girls, incurably sick, who ought to have been in the hospital; +sturdy men, with the gallows in their eyes, and a whining lie in their +mouths; young boys, hollow-eyed and decrepit; and puny mothers, holding +up puny babes in the glare of the sun, formed the main features of the +scene.</P> +<P>But these were diversified by instances of peculiar suffering, vice, +or art in attracting charity, which, to me at least, who had never seen +such things before, seemed to the last degree uncommon and monstrous.</P> +<P>I remember one cripple, a young man rather decently clad, who sat +huddled up against the wall, holding a painted board on his knees. It +was a picture intending to represent the man himself caught in the +machinery of some factory, and whirled about among spindles and cogs, +with his limbs mangled and bloody. This person said nothing, but sat +silently exhibiting his board. Next him, leaning upright against the +wall, was a tall, pallid man, with a white bandage round his brow, and +his face cadaverous as a corpse. He, too, said nothing; but with one +finger silently pointed down to the square of flagging at his feet, +which was nicely swept, and stained blue, and bore this inscription in +chalk:—</P> +<P> +<I>"I have had no food for three days; My wife and children are dying."</I></P> +<P> +Further on lay a man with one sleeve of his ragged coat removed, +showing an unsightly sore; and above it a label with some writing.</P> +<P>In some places, for the distance of many rods, the whole line of +flagging immediately at the base of the wall, would be completely +covered with inscriptions, the beggars standing over them in silence.</P> +<P>But as you passed along these horrible records, in an hour's time +destined to be obliterated by the feet of thousands and thousands of +wayfarers, you were not left unassailed by the clamorous petitions of +the more urgent applicants for charity. They beset you on every hand; +catching you by the coat; hanging on, and following you along; and, <I> +for Heaven's sake,</I> and <I>for God's sake, </I>and <I>for Christ's +sake, </I>beseeching of you but <I>one ha'penny. </I>If you so much as +glanced your eye on one of them, even for an instant, it was perceived +like lightning, and the person never left your side until you turned +into another street, or satisfied his demands. Thus, at least, it was +with the sailors; though I observed that the beggars treated the town's +people differently.</P> +<P>I can not say that the seamen did much to relieve the destitution +which three times every day was presented to their view. Perhaps habit +had made them callous; but the truth might have been that very few of +them had much money to give. Yet the beggars must have had some +inducement to infest the dock walls as they did.</P> +<P>As an example of the caprice of sailors, and their sympathy with +suffering among members of their own calling, I must mention the case +of an old man, who every day, and all day long, through sunshine and +rain, occupied a particular corner, where crowds of tars were always +passing. He was an uncommonly large, plethoric man, with a wooden leg, +and dressed in the nautical garb; his face was red and round; he was +continually merry; and with his wooden stump thrust forth, so as almost +to trip up the careless wayfarer, he sat upon a great pile of monkey +jackets, with a little depression in them between his knees, to receive +the coppers thrown him. And plenty of pennies were tost into his +poor-box by the sailors, who always exchanged a pleasant word with the +old man, and passed on, generally regardless of the neighboring beggars.</P> +<P>The first morning I went ashore with my shipmates, some of them +greeted him as an old acquaintance; for that corner he had occupied for +many long years. He was an old man-of-war's man, who had lost his leg +at the battle of Trafalgar; and singular to tell, he now exhibited his +wooden one as a genuine specimen of the oak timbers of Nelson's ship, +the Victory.</P> +<P>Among the paupers were several who wore old sailor hats and jackets, +and claimed to be destitute tars; and on the strength of these +pretensions demanded help from their brethren; but Jack would see +through their disguise in a moment, and turn away, with no benediction.</P> +<P>As I daily passed through this lane of beggars, who thronged the +docks as the Hebrew cripples did the Pool of Bethesda, and as I thought +of my utter inability in any way to help them, I could not but offer up +a prayer, that some angel might descend, and turn the waters of the +docks into an elixir, that would heal all their woes, and make them, +man and woman, healthy and whole as their ancestors, Adam and Eve, in +the garden.</P> +<P>Adam and Eve! If indeed ye are yet alive and in heaven, may it be no +part of your immortality to look down upon the world ye have left. For +as all these sufferers and cripples are as much your family as young +Abel, so, to you, the sight of the world's woes would be a parental +torment indeed.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_40">XXXIX. THE BOOBLE-ALLEYS OF THE TOWN</A> +</H3> +<P>The same sights that are to be met with along the dock walls at +noon, in a less degree, though diversified with other scenes, are +continually encountered in the narrow streets where the sailor +boarding-houses are kept.</P> +<P>In the evening, especially when the sailors are gathered in great +numbers, these streets present a most singular spectacle, the entire +population of the vicinity being seemingly turned into them. +Hand-organs, fiddles, and cymbals, plied by strolling musicians, mix +with the songs of the seamen, the babble of women and children, and the +groaning and whining of beggars. From the various boarding-houses, each +distinguished by gilded emblems outside—an anchor, a crown, a ship, a +windlass, or a dolphin—proceeds the noise of revelry and dancing; and +from the open casements lean young girls and old women, chattering and +laughing with the crowds in the middle of the street. Every moment +strange greetings are exchanged between old sailors who chance to +stumble upon a shipmate, last seen in Calcutta or Savannah; and the +invariable courtesy that takes place upon these occasions, is to go to +the next spirit-vault, and drink each other's health.</P> +<P>There are particular paupers who frequent particular sections of +these streets, and who, I was told, resented the intrusion of +mendicants from other parts of the town.</P> +<P>Chief among them was a white-haired old man, stone-blind; who was +led up and down through the long tumult by a woman holding a little +saucer to receive contributions. This old man sang, or rather chanted, +certain words in a peculiarly long-drawn, guttural manner, throwing +back his head, and turning up his sightless eyeballs to the sky. His +chant was a lamentation upon his infirmity; and at the time it produced +the same effect upon me, that my first reading of Milton's Invocation +to the Sun did, years afterward. I can not recall it all; but it was +something like this, drawn out in an endless groan—</P> +<P>"Here goes the blind old man; blind, blind, blind; no more will he +see sun nor moon—no more see sun nor moon!" And thus would he pass +through the middle of the street; the woman going on in advance, +holding his hand, and dragging him through all obstructions; now and +then leaving him standing, while she went among the crowd soliciting +coppers.</P> +<P>But one of the most curious features of the scene is the number of +sailor ballad-singers, who, after singing their verses, hand you a +printed copy, and beg you to buy. One of these persons, dressed like a +man-of-war's-man, I observed every day standing at a corner in the +middle of the street. He had a full, noble voice, like a church-organ; +and his notes rose high above the surrounding din. But the remarkable +thing about this ballad-singer was one of his arms, which, while +singing, he somehow swung vertically round and round in the air, as if +it revolved on a pivot. The feat was unnaturally unaccountable; and he +performed it with the view of attracting sympathy; since he said that +in falling from a frigate's mast-head to the deck, he had met with an +injury, which had resulted in making his wonderful arm what it was.</P> +<P>I made the acquaintance of this man, and found him no common +character. He was full of marvelous adventures, and abounded in +terrific stories of pirates and sea murders, and all sorts of nautical +enormities. He was a monomaniac upon these subjects; he was a Newgate +Calendar of the robberies and assassinations of the day, happening in +the sailor quarters of the town; and most of his ballads were upon +kindred subjects. He composed many of his own verses, and had them +printed for sale on his own account. To show how expeditious he was at +this business, it may be mentioned, that one evening on leaving the +dock to go to supper, I perceived a crowd gathered about the <I>Old +Fort Tavern; </I>and mingling with the rest, I learned that a woman of +the town had just been killed at the bar by a drunken Spanish sailor +from Cadiz. The murderer was carried off by the police before my eyes, +and the very next morning the ballad-singer with the miraculous arm, +was singing the tragedy in front of the boarding-houses, and handing +round printed copies of the song, which, of course, were eagerly bought +up by the seamen.</P> +<P>This passing allusion to the murder will convey some idea of the +events which take place in the lowest and most abandoned neighborhoods +frequented by sailors in Liverpool. The pestilent lanes and alleys +which, in their vocabulary, go by the names of Rotten-row, +Gibraltar-place, and Booble-alley, are putrid with vice and crime; to +which, perhaps, the round globe does not furnish a parallel. The sooty +and begrimed bricks of the very houses have a reeking, Sodomlike, and +murderous look; and well may the shroud of coal-smoke, which hangs over +this part of the town, more than any other, attempt to hide the +enormities here practiced. These are the haunts from which sailors +sometimes disappear forever; or issue in the morning, robbed naked, +from the broken doorways. These are the haunts in which cursing, +gambling, pickpocketing, and common iniquities, are virtues too lofty +for the infected gorgons and hydras to practice. Propriety forbids that +I should enter into details; but kidnappers, burkers, and +resurrectionists are almost saints and angels to them. They seem +leagued together, a company of miscreant misanthropes, bent upon doing +all the malice to mankind in their power. With sulphur and brimstone +they ought to be burned out of their arches like vermin.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_41">XL. PLACARDS, BRASS-JEWELERS, +TRUCK-HORSES, AND STEAMERS</A></H3> +<P>As I wish to group together what fell under my observation +concerning the Liverpool docks, and the scenes roundabout, I will try +to throw into this chapter various minor things that I recall.</P> +<P>The advertisements of pauperism chalked upon the flagging round the +dock walls, are singularly accompanied by a multitude of quite +different announcements, placarded upon the walls themselves. They are +principally notices of the approaching departure of <I>"superior, +fast-sailing, coppered and copper-fastened ships," </I>for the United +States, Canada, New South Wales, and other places. Interspersed with +these, are the advertisements of Jewish clothesmen, informing the +judicious seamen where he can procure of the best and the cheapest; +together with ambiguous medical announcements of the tribe of quacks +and empirics who prey upon all seafaring men. Not content with thus +publicly giving notice of their whereabouts, these indefatigable +Sangrados and pretended Samaritans hire a parcel of shabby +workhouse-looking knaves, whose business consists in haunting the dock +walls about meal times, and silently thrusting mysterious little +billets—duodecimo editions of the larger advertisements—into the +astonished hands of the tars.</P> +<P>They do this, with such <I>a </I>mysterious hang-dog wink; such a +sidelong air; such a villainous assumption of your necessities; that, +at first, you are almost tempted to knock them down for their pains.</P> +<P>Conspicuous among the notices on the walls, are huge Italic +inducements to all seamen disgusted with the merchant service, to +accept a round bounty, and embark in her Majesty's navy.</P> +<P>In the British armed marine, in time of peace, they do not ship men +for the general service, as in the American navy; but for particular +ships, going upon particular cruises. Thus, the frigate Thetis may be +announced as about to sail under the command of that fine old sailor, +and noble father to his crew, <I>Lord George Flagstaff.</I></P> +<P>Similar announcements may be seen upon the walls concerning +enlistments in the army. And never did auctioneer dilate with more +rapture upon the charms of some country-seat put up for sale, than the +authors of these placards do, upon the beauty and salubrity of the +distant climes, for which the regiments wanting recruits are about to +sail. Bright lawns, vine-clad hills, endless meadows of verdure, here +make up the landscape; and adventurous young gentlemen, fond of travel, +are informed, that here is a chance for them to see the world at their +leisure, and be paid for enjoying themselves into the bargain. The +regiments for India are promised plantations among valleys of palms; +while to those destined for New Holland, a novel sphere of life and +activity is opened; and the companies bound to Canada and Nova Scotia +are lured by tales of summer suns, that ripen grapes in December. No +word of war is breathed; hushed is the clang of arms in these +announcements; and the sanguine recruit is almost tempted to expect +that pruning-hooks, instead of swords, will be the weapons he will +wield.</P> +<P>Alas! is not this the cruel stratagem of Brace at Bannockburn, who +decoyed to his war-pits by covering them over with green boughs? For +instead of a farm at the blue base of the Himalayas, the Indian recruit +encounters the keen saber of the Sikh; and instead of basking in sunny +bowers, the Canadian soldier stands a shivering sentry upon the bleak +ramparts of Quebec, a lofty mark for the bitter blasts from Baffin's +Bay and Labrador. There, as his eye sweeps down the St. Lawrence, whose +every billow is bound for the main that laves the shore of Old England; +as he thinks of his long term of enlistment, which sells him to the +army as Doctor Faust sold himself to the devil; how the poor fellow +must groan in his grief, and call to mind the church-yard stile, and +his Mary.</P> +<P>These army announcements are well fitted to draw recruits in +Liverpool. Among the vast number of emigrants, who daily arrive from +all parts of Britain to embark for the United States or the colonies, +there are many young men, who, upon arriving at Liverpool, find +themselves next to penniless; or, at least, with only enough money to +carry them over the sea, without providing for future contingencies. +How easily and naturally, then, may such youths be induced to enter +upon the military life, which promises them a free passage to the most +distant and flourishing colonies, and certain pay for doing nothing; +besides holding out hopes of vineyards and farms, to be verified in the +fullness of time. For in a moneyless youth, the decision to leave home +at all, and embark upon a long voyage to reside in a remote clime, is a +piece of adventurousness only one removed from the spirit that prompts +the army recruit to enlist.</P> +<P>I never passed these advertisements, surrounded by crowds of gaping +emigrants, without thinking of rattraps.</P> +<P>Besides the mysterious agents of the quacks, who privily thrust +their little notes into your hands, folded up like a powder; there are +another set of rascals prowling about the docks, chiefly at dusk; 'who +make strange motions to you, and beckon you to one side, as if they had +some state secret to disclose, intimately connected with the weal of +the commonwealth. They nudge you with an elbow full of indefinite hints +and intimations; they glitter upon you an eye like a Jew's or a +pawnbroker's; they dog you like Italian assassins. But if the blue coat +of a policeman chances to approach, how quickly they strive to look +completely indifferent, as to the surrounding universe; how they +saunter off, as if lazily wending their way to an affectionate wife and +family.</P> +<P>The first time one of these mysterious personages accosted me, I +fancied him crazy, and hurried forward to avoid him. But arm in arm +with my shadow, he followed after; till amazed at his conduct, I turned +round and paused.</P> +<P>He was a little, shabby, old man, with a forlorn looking coat and +hat; and his hand was fumbling in his vest pocket, as if to take out a +card with his address. Seeing me stand still he made a sign toward a +dark angle of the wall, near which we were; when taking him for a +cunning foot-pad, I again wheeled about, and swiftly passed on. But +though I did not look round, I <I>felt </I>him following me still; so +once more I stopped. The fellow now assumed so mystic and admonitory an +air, that I began to fancy he came to me on some warning errand; that +perhaps a plot had been laid to blow up the Liverpool docks, and he was +some Monteagle bent upon accomplishing my flight. I was determined to +see what he was. With all my eyes about me, I followed him into the +arch of a warehouse; when he gazed round furtively, and silently +showing me a ring, whispered, "You may have it for a shilling; it's +pure gold-I found it in the gutter-hush! don't speak! give me the +money, and it's yours."</P> +<P>"My friend," said I, "I don't trade in these articles; I don't want +your ring."</P> +<P>"Don't you? Then take, that," he whispered, in an intense hushed +passion; and I fell flat from a blow on the chest, while this infamous +jeweler made away with himself out of sight. This business transaction +was conducted with a counting-house promptitude that astonished me.</P> +<P>After that, I shunned these scoundrels like the leprosy: and the +next time I was pertinaciously followed, I stopped, and in a loud +voice, pointed out the man to the passers-by; upon which he absconded; +rapidly turning up into sight a pair of obliquely worn and battered +boot-heels. I could not help thinking that these sort of fellows, so +given to running away upon emergencies, must furnish a good deal of +work to the shoemakers; as they might, also, to the growers of hemp and +gallows-joiners.</P> +<P>Belonging to a somewhat similar fraternity with these irritable +merchants of brass jewelry just mentioned, are the peddlers of +Sheffield razors, mostly boys, who are hourly driven out of the dock +gates by the police; nevertheless, they contrive to saunter back, and +board the vessels, going among the sailors and privately exhibiting +their wares. Incited by the extreme cheapness of one of the razors, and +the gilding on the case containing it, a shipmate of mine purchased it +on the spot for a commercial equivalent of the price, in tobacco. On +the following Sunday, he used that razor; and the result was a pair of +tormented and tomahawked cheeks, that almost required a surgeon to +dress them. In old times, by the way, it was not a bad thought, that +suggested the propriety of a barber's practicing surgery in connection +with the chin-harrowing vocation. Another class of knaves, who practice +upon the sailors in Liverpool, are the pawnbrokers, inhabiting little +rookeries among the narrow lanes adjoining the dock. I was astonished +at die multitude of gilded balls in these streets, emblematic of their +calling. They were generally next neighbors to the gilded grapes over +the spirit-vaults; and no doubt, mutually to facilitate business +operations, some of these establishments have connecting doors inside, +so as to play their customers into each other's hands. I often saw +sailors in a state of intoxication rushing from a spirit-vault into a +pawnbroker's; stripping off their boots, hats, jackets, and +neckerchiefs, and sometimes even their pantaloons on the spot, and +offering to pawn them for a song. Of course such applications were +never refused. But though on shore, at Liverpool, poor Jack finds more +sharks than at sea, he himself is by no means exempt from practices, +that do not savor of a rigid morality; at least according to law. In +tobacco smuggling he is an adept: and when cool and collected, often +manages to evade the Customs completely, and land goodly packages of +the weed, which owing to the immense duties upon it in England, +commands a very high price.</P> +<P>As soon as we came to anchor in the river, before reaching the dock, +three Custom-house underlings boarded us, and coming down into the +forecastle, ordered the men to produce all the tobacco they had. +Accordingly several pounds were brought forth.</P> +<P>"Is that all?" asked the officers.</P> +<P>"All," said the men.</P> +<P>"We will see," returned the others.</P> +<P>And without more ado, they emptied the chests right and left; tossed +over the bunks and made a thorough search of the premises; but +discovered nothing. The sailors were then given to understand, that +while the ship lay in dock, the tobacco must remain in the cabin, under +custody of the chief mate, who every morning would dole out to them one +plug per head, as a security against their carrying it ashore.</P> +<P>"Very good," said the men.</P> +<P>But several of them had secret places in the ship, from whence they +daily drew pound after pound of tobacco, which they smuggled ashore in +the manner following.</P> +<P>When the crew went to meals, each man carried at least one plug in +his pocket; <I>that </I>he had a right to; and as many more were hidden +about his person as he dared. Among the great crowds pouring out of the +dock-gates at such hours, of course these smugglers stood little chance +of detection; although vigilant looking policemen were always standing +by. And though these <I>"Charlies" </I>might suppose there were tobacco +smugglers passing; yet to hit the right man among such a throng, would +be as hard, as to harpoon a speckled porpoise, one of ten thousand +darting under a ship's bows.</P> +<P>Our forecastle was often visited by foreign sailors, who knowing we +came from America, were anxious to purchase tobacco at a cheap rate; +for in Liverpool it is about an American penny per pipe-full. Along the +docks they sell an English pennyworth, put up in a little roll like +confectioners' mottoes, with poetical lines, or instructive little +moral precepts printed in red on the back.</P> +<P>Among all the sights of the docks, the noble truck-horses are not +the least striking to a stranger. They are large and powerful brutes, +with such sleek and glossy coats, that they look as if brushed and put +on by a valet every morning. They march with a slow and stately step, +lifting their ponderous hoofs like royal Siam elephants. Thou shalt not +lay stripes upon these Roman citizens; for their docility is such, they +are guided without rein or lash; they go or come, halt or march on, at +a whisper. So grave, dignified, gentlemanly, and courteous did these +fine truck-horses look—so full of calm intelligence and sagacity, that +often I endeavored to get into conversation with them, as they stood in +contemplative attitudes while their loads were preparing. But all I +could get from them was the mere recognition of a friendly neigh; +though I would stake much upon it that, could I have spoken in their +language, I would have derived from them a good deal of valuable +information touching the docks, where they passed the whole of their +dignified lives.</P> +<P>There are unknown worlds of knowledge in brutes; and whenever you +mark a horse, or a dog, with a peculiarly mild, calm, deep-seated eye, +be sure he is an Aristotle or a Kant, tranquilly speculating upon the +mysteries in man. No philosophers so thoroughly comprehend us as dogs +and horses. They see through us at a glance. And after all, what is a +horse but a species of four-footed dumb man, in a leathern overall, who +happens to live upon oats, and toils for his masters, half-requited or +abused, like the biped hewers of wood and drawers of water? But there +is a touch of divinity even in brutes, and a special halo about a +horse, that should forever exempt him from indignities. As for those +majestic, magisterial truck-horses of the docks, I would as soon think +of striking a judge on the bench, as to lay violent hand upon their +holy hides.</P> +<P>It is wonderful what loads their majesties will condescend to draw. +The truck is a large square platform, on four low wheels; and upon this +the lumpers pile bale after bale of cotton, as if they were filling a +large warehouse, and yet a procession of three of these horses will +tranquilly walk away with the whole.</P> +<P>The truckmen themselves are almost as singular a race as their +animals. Like the Judiciary in England, they wear gowns, —not of the +same cut and color though,—which reach below their knees; and from the +racket they make on the pavements with their hob-nailed brogans, you +would think they patronized the same shoemaker with their horses. I +never could get any thing out of these truckmen. They are a reserved, +sober-sided set, who, with all possible solemnity, march at the head of +their animals; now and then gently advising them to sheer to the right +or the left, in order to avoid some passing vehicle. Then spending so +much of their lives in the high-bred company of their horses, seems to +have mended their manners and improved their taste, besides imparting +to them something of the dignity of their animals; but it has also +given to them a sort of refined and uncomplaining aversion to human +society.</P> +<P>There are many strange stories told of the truck-horse. Among others +is the following: There was a parrot, that from having long been +suspended in its cage from a low window fronting a dock, had learned to +converse pretty fluently in the language of the stevedores and +truckmen. One day a truckman left his vehicle standing on the quay, +with its back to the water. It was noon, when an interval of silence +falls upon the docks; and Poll, seeing herself face to face with the +horse, and having a mind for a chat, cried out to him, <I>"Back! back! +back!"</I></P> +<P>Backward went the horse, precipitating himself and truck into the +water.</P> +<P>Brunswick Dock, to the west of Prince's, is one of the most +interesting to be seen. Here lie the various black steamers (so unlike +the American boats, since they have to navigate the boisterous Narrow +Seas) plying to all parts of the three kingdoms. Here you see vast +quantities of produce, imported from starving Ireland; here you see the +decks turned into pens for oxen and sheep; and often, side by side with +these inclosures, Irish deck-passengers, thick as they can stand, +seemingly penned in just like the cattle. It was the beginning of July +when the Highlander arrived in port; and the Irish laborers were daily +coming over by thousands, to help harvest the English crops.</P> +<P>One morning, going into the town, I heard a tramp, as of a drove of +buffaloes, behind me; and turning round, beheld the entire middle of +the street filled by a great crowd of these men, who had just emerged +from Brunswick Dock gates, arrayed in long-tailed coats of hoddin-gray, +corduroy knee-breeches, and shod with shoes that raised a mighty dust. +Flourishing their Donnybrook shillelahs, they looked like an irruption +of barbarians. They were marching straight out of town into the +country; and perhaps out of consideration for the finances of the +corporation, took the middle of the street, to save the side-walks.</P> +<P>"Sing <I>Langolee, and the Lakes of Killarney," </I>cried one +fellow, tossing his stick into the air, as he danced in his brogans at +the head of the rabble. And so they went! capering on, merry as pipers.</P> +<P>When I thought of the multitudes of Irish that annually land on the +shores of the United States and Canada, and, to my surprise, witnessed +the additional multitudes embarking from Liverpool to New Holland; and +when, added to all this, I daily saw these hordes of laborers, +descending, thick as locusts, upon the English corn-fields; I could not +help marveling at the fertility of an island, which, though her crop of +potatoes may fail, never yet failed in bringing her annual crop of men +into the world.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_42">XLI. REDBURN ROVES ABOUT HITHER AND +THITHER</A></H3> +<P>I do not know that any other traveler would think it worth while to +mention such a thing; but the fact is, that during the summer months in +Liverpool, the days are exceedingly lengthy; and the first evening I +found myself walking in the twilight after nine o'clock, I tried to +recall my astronomical knowledge, in order to account satisfactorily +for so curious a phenomenon. But the days in summer, and the nights in +winter, are just as long in Liverpool as at Cape Horn; for the latitude +of the two places very nearly corresponds.</P> +<P>These Liverpool days, however, were a famous thing for me; who, +thereby, was enabled after my day's work aboard the Highlander, to +ramble about the town for several hours. After I had visited all the +noted places I could discover, of those marked down upon my father's +map, I began to extend my rovings indefinitely; forming myself into a +committee of one, to investigate all accessible parts of the town; +though so many years have elapsed, ere I have thought of bringing in my +report.</P> +<P>This was a great delight to me: for wherever I have been in the +world, I have always taken a vast deal of lonely satisfaction in +wandering about, up and down, among out-of-the-way streets and alleys, +and speculating upon the strangers I have met. Thus, in Liverpool I +used to pace along endless streets of dwelling-houses, looking at the +names on the doors, admiring the pretty faces in the windows, and +invoking a passing blessing upon the chubby children on the door-steps. +I was stared at myself, to be sure: but what of that? We must give and +take on such occasions. In truth, I and my shooting-jacket produced +quite a sensation in Liverpool: and I have no doubt, that many a father +of a family went home to his children with a curious story, about a +wandering phenomenon they had encountered, traversing the side-walks +that day. In the words of the old song, <I>"I cared for nobody, no not +I, and nobody cared for me." </I>I stared my fill with impunity, and +took all stares myself in good part.</P> +<P>Once I was standing in a large square, gaping at a splendid chariot +drawn up at a portico. The glossy horses quivered with good-living, and +so did the sumptuous calves of the gold-laced coachman and footmen in +attendance. I was particularly struck with the red cheeks of these men: +and the many evidences they furnished of their enjoying this meal with +a wonderful relish.</P> +<P>While thus standing, I all at once perceived, that the objects of my +curiosity, were making me an object of their own; and that they were +gazing at me, as if I were some unauthorized intruder upon the British +soil. Truly, they had reason: for when I now think of the figure I must +have cut in those days, I only marvel that, in my many strolls, my +passport was not a thousand times demanded.</P> +<P>Nevertheless, I was only a forlorn looking mortal among tens of +thousands of rags and tatters. For in some parts of the town, inhabited +by laborers, and poor people generally; I used to crowd my way through +masses of squalid men, women, and children, who at this evening hour, +in those quarters of Liverpool, seem to empty themselves into the +street, and live there for the time. I had never seen any thing like it +in New York. Often, I witnessed some curious, and many very sad scenes; +and especially I remembered encountering a pale, ragged man, rushing +along frantically, and striving to throw off his wife and children, who +clung to his arms and legs; and, in God's name, conjured him not to +desert them. He seemed bent upon rushing down to the water, and +drowning himself, in some despair, and craziness of wretchedness. In +these haunts, beggary went on before me wherever I walked, and dogged +me unceasingly at the heels. Poverty, poverty, poverty, in almost +endless vistas: and want and woe staggered arm in arm along these +miserable streets.</P> +<P>And here, I must not omit one thing, that struck me at the time. It +was the absence of negroes; who in the large towns in the "free states" +of America, almost always form a considerable portion of the destitute. +But in these streets, not a negro was to be seen. All were whites; and +with the exception of the Irish, were natives of the soil: even +Englishmen; as much Englishmen, as the dukes in the House of Lords. +This conveyed a strange feeling: and more than any thing else, reminded +me that I was not in my own land. For <I>there, </I>such a being as a +native beggar is almost unknown; and to be a born American citizen +seems a guarantee against pauperism; and this, perhaps, springs from +the virtue of a vote.</P> +<P>Speaking of negroes, recalls the looks of interest with which +negro-sailors are regarded when they walk the Liverpool streets. In +Liverpool indeed the negro steps with a prouder pace, and lifts his +head like a man; for here, no such exaggerated feeling exists in +respect to him, as in America. Three or four times, I encountered our +black steward, dressed very handsomely, and walking arm in arm with a +good-looking English woman. In New York, such a couple would have been +mobbed in three minutes; and the steward would have been lucky to +escape with whole limbs. Owing to the friendly reception extended to +them, and the unwonted immunities they enjoy in Liverpool, the black +cooks and stewards of American ships are very much attached to the +place and like to make voyages to it.</P> +<P>Being so young and inexperienced then, and unconsciously swayed in +some degree by those local and social prejudices, that are the marring +of most men, and from which, for the mass, there seems no possible +escape; at first I was surprised that a colored man should be treated +as he is in this town; but a little reflection showed that, after all, +it was but recognizing his claims to humanity and normal equality; so +that, in some things, we Americans leave to other countries the +carrying out of the principle that stands at the head of our +Declaration of Independence.</P> +<P>During my evening strolls in the wealthier quarters, I was subject +to a continual mortification. It was the humiliating fact, wholly +unforeseen by me, that upon the whole, and barring the poverty and +beggary, Liverpool, away from the docks, was very much such a place as +New York. There were the same sort of streets pretty much; the same +rows of houses with stone steps; the same kind of side-walks and curbs; +and the same elbowing, heartless-looking crowd as ever.</P> +<P>I came across the Leeds Canal, one afternoon; but, upon my word, no +one could have told it from the Erie Canal at Albany. I went into St. +John's Market on a Saturday night; and though it was strange enough to +see that great roof supported by so many pillars, yet the most +discriminating observer would not have been able to detect any +difference between the articles exposed for sale, and the articles +exhibited in Fulton Market, New York.</P> +<P>I walked down Lord-street, peering into the jewelers' shops; but I +thought I was walking down a block in Broadway. I began to think that +all this talk about travel was a humbug; and that he who lives in a +nut-shell, lives in an epitome of the universe, and has but little to +see beyond him.</P> +<P>It is true, that I often thought of London's being only seven or +eight hours' travel by railroad from where I was; and that <I>there, </I> +surely, must be a world of wonders waiting my eyes: but more of London +anon.</P> +<P>Sundays were the days upon which I made my longest explorations. I +rose bright and early, with my whole plan of operations in my head. +First walking into some dock hitherto unexamined, and then to +breakfast. Then a walk through the more fashionable streets, to see the +people going to church; and then I myself went to church, selecting the +goodliest edifice, and the tallest Kentuckian of a spire I could find.</P> +<P>For I am an admirer of church architecture; and though, perhaps, the +sums spent in erecting magnificent cathedrals might better go to the +founding of charities, yet since these structures are built, those who +disapprove of them in one sense, may as well have the benefit of them +in another.</P> +<P>It is a most Christian thing, and a matter most sweet to dwell upon +and simmer over in solitude, that any poor sinner may go to church +wherever he pleases; and that even St. Peter's in Rome is open to him, +as to a cardinal; that St. Paul's in London is not shut against him; +and that the Broadway Tabernacle, in New York, opens all her broad +aisles to him, and will not even have doors and thresholds to her pews, +the better to allure him by an unbounded invitation. I say, this +consideration of the hospitality and democracy in churches, is a most +Christian and charming thought. It speaks whole volumes of folios, and +Vatican libraries, for Christianity; it is more eloquent, and goes +farther home than all the sermons of Massillon, Jeremy Taylor, Wesley, +and Archbishop Tillotson.</P> +<P>Nothing daunted, therefore, by thinking of my being a stranger in +the land; nothing daunted by the architectural superiority and +costliness of any Liverpool church; or by the streams of silk dresses +and fine broadcloth coats flowing into the aisles, I used humbly to +present myself before the sexton, as a candidate for admission. He +would stare a little, perhaps (one of them once hesitated), but in the +end, what could he do but show me into a pew; not the most commodious +of pews, to be sure; nor commandingly located; nor within very plain +sight or hearing of the pulpit. No; it was remarkable, that there was +always some confounded pillar or obstinate angle of the wall in the +way; and I used to think, that the sextons of Liverpool must have held +a secret meeting on my account, and resolved to apportion me the most +inconvenient pew in the churches under their charge. However, they +always gave me a seat of some sort or other; sometimes even on an oaken +bench in the open air of the aisle, where I would sit, dividing the +attention of the congregation between myself and the clergyman. The +whole congregation seemed to know that I was a foreigner of distinction.</P> +<P>It was sweet to hear the service read, the organ roll, the sermon +preached—just as the same things were going on three thousand five +hundred miles off, at home! But then, the prayer in behalf of her +majesty the Queen, somewhat threw me back. Nevertheless, I joined in +that prayer, and invoked for the lady the best wishes of a poor Yankee.</P> +<P>How I loved to sit in the holy hush of those brown old monastic +aisles, thinking of Harry the Eighth, and the Reformation! How I loved +to go a roving with my eye, all along the sculptured walls and +buttresses; winding in among the intricacies of the pendent ceiling, +and wriggling my fancied way like a wood-worm. I could have sat there +all the morning long, through noon, unto night. But at last the +benediction would come; and appropriating my share of it, I would +slowly move away, thinking how I should like to go home with some of +the portly old gentlemen, with high-polished boots and Malacca canes, +and take a seat at their cosy and comfortable dinner-tables. But, alas! +there was no dinner for me except at the sign of the Baltimore Clipper.</P> +<P>Yet the Sunday dinners that Handsome Mary served up .were not to be +scorned. The roast beef of Old England abounded; and so did the +immortal plum-puddings, and the unspeakably capital gooseberry pies. +But to finish off with that abominable <I>"swipes" </I>almost spoiled +all the rest: not that I myself patronized <I>"swipes" </I>but my +shipmates did; and every cup I saw them drink, I could not choose but +taste in imagination, and even then the flavor was bad.</P> +<P>On Sundays, at dinner-time, as, indeed, on every other day, it was +curious to watch the proceedings at the sign of the Clipper. The +servant girls were running about, mustering the various crews, whose +dinners were spread, each in a separate apartment; and who were +collectively known by the names of their ships.</P> +<P>"Where are the <I>Arethusas?—</I>Here's their beef been smoking +this half-hour."—"Fly, Betty, my dear, here come the <I>Splendids."—</I> +"Run, Molly, my love; get the salt-cellars for the <I>Highlanders</I> +."—"You Peggy, where's the <I>Siddons' pickle-pat?"—"I </I>say, Judy, +are you never coming with that pudding for the <I>Lord Nelsons?"</I></P> +<P>On week days, we did not fare quite so well as on Sundays; and once +we came to dinner, and found two enormous bullock hearts smoking at +each end of the Highlanders' table. Jackson was indignant at the +outrage.</P> +<P>He always sat at the head of the table; and this time he squared +himself on his bench, and erecting his knife and fork like flag-staffs, +so as to include the two hearts between them, he called out for Danby, +the boarding-house keeper; for although his wife Mary was in fact at +the head of the establishment, yet Danby himself always came in for the +fault-findings.</P> +<P>Danby obsequiously appeared, and stood in the doorway, well knowing +the philippics that were coming. But he was not prepared for the +peroration of Jackson's address to him; which consisted of the two +bullock hearts, snatched bodily off the dish, and flung at his head, by +way of a recapitulation of the preceding arguments. The company then +broke up in disgust, and dined elsewhere.</P> +<P>Though I almost invariably attended church on Sunday mornings, yet +the rest of the day I spent on my travels; and it was on one of these +afternoon strolls, that on passing through St. George's-square, I found +myself among a large crowd, gathered near the base of George the +Fourth's equestrian statue.</P> +<P>The people were mostly mechanics and artisans in their holiday +clothes; but mixed with them were a good many soldiers, in lean, lank, +and dinnerless undresses, and sporting attenuated rattans. These troops +belonged to the various regiments then in town. Police officers, also, +were conspicuous in their uniforms. At first perfect silence and +decorum prevailed.</P> +<P>Addressing this orderly throng was a pale, hollow-eyed young man, in +a snuff-colored surtout, who looked worn with much watching, or much +toil, or too little food. His features were good, his whole air was +respectable, and there was no mistaking the fact, that he was strongly +in earnest in what he was saying.</P> +<P>In his hand was a soiled, inflammatory-looking pamphlet, from which +he frequently read; following up the quotations with nervous appeals to +his hearers, a rolling of his eyes, and sometimes the most frantic +gestures. I was not long within hearing of him, before I became aware +that this youth was a Chartist.</P> +<P>Presently the crowd increased, and some commotion was raised, when I +noticed the police officers augmenting in number; and by and by, they +began to glide through the crowd, politely hinting at the propriety of +dispersing. The first persons thus accosted were the soldiers, who +accordingly sauntered off, switching their rattans, and admiring their +high-polished shoes. It was plain that the Charter did not hang very +heavy round their hearts. For the rest, they also gradually broke up; +and at last I saw the speaker himself depart.</P> +<P>I do not know why, but I thought he must be some despairing elder +son, supporting by hard toil his mother and sisters; for of such many +political desperadoes are made.</P> +<P>That same Sunday afternoon, I strolled toward the outskirts of the +town, and attracted by the sight of two great Pompey's pillars, in the +shape of black steeples, apparently rising directly from the soil, I +approached them with much curiosity. But looking over a low parapet +connecting them, what was my surprise to behold at my feet a smoky +hollow in the ground, with rocky walls, and dark holes at one end, +carrying out of view several lines of iron railways; while far beyond, +straight out toward the open country, ran an endless railroad. Over the +place, a handsome Moorish arch of stone was flung; and gradually, as I +gazed upon it, and at the little side arches at the bottom of the +hollow, there came over me an undefinable feeling, that I had +previously seen the whole thing before. Yet how could that be? +Certainly, I had never been in Liverpool before: but then, that Moorish +arch! surely I remembered that very well. It was not till several +months after reaching home in America, that my perplexity upon this +matter was cleared away. In glancing over an old number of the Penny +Magazine, there I saw a picture of the place to the life; and +remembered having seen the same print years previous. It was a +representation of the spot where the Manchester railroad enters the +outskirts of the town.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_43">XLII. HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE <I> +CROSS </I>OLD GENTLEMAN</A></H3> +<P>My adventure in the News-Room in the Exchange, which I have related +in a previous chapter, reminds me of another, at the Lyceum, some days +after, which may as well be put down here, before I forget it.</P> +<P>I was strolling down Bold-street, I think it was, when I was struck +by the sight of a brown stone building, very large and handsome. The +windows were open, and there, nicely seated, with their comfortable +legs crossed over their comfortable knees, I beheld several sedate, +happy-looking old gentlemen reading the magazines and papers, and one +had a fine gilded volume in his hand.</P> +<P>Yes, this must be the Lyceum, thought I; let me see. So I whipped +out my guide-book, and opened it at the proper place; and sure enough, +the building before me corresponded stone for stone. I stood awhile on +the opposite side of the street, gazing at my picture, and then at its +original; and often dwelling upon the pleasant gentlemen sitting at the +open windows; till at last I felt an uncontrollable impulse to step in +for a moment, and run over the news.</P> +<P>I'm a poor, friendless sailor-boy, thought I, and they can not +object; especially as I am from a foreign land, and strangers ought to +be treated with courtesy. I turned the matter over again, as I walked +across the way; and with just a small tapping of a misgiving at my +heart, I at last scraped my feet clean against the curb-stone, and +taking off my hat while I was yet in the open air, slowly sauntered in.</P> +<P>But I had not got far into that large and lofty room, filled with +many agreeable sights, when a crabbed old gentleman lifted up his eye +from the <I>London Times, </I>which words I saw boldly printed on the +back of the large sheet in his hand, and looking at me as if I were a +strange dog with a muddy hide, that had stolen out of the gutter into +this fine apartment, he shook his silver-headed cane at me fiercely, +till the spectacles fell off his nose. Almost at the same moment, up +stepped a terribly cross man, who looked as if he had a mustard plaster +on his back, that was continually exasperating him; who throwing down +some papers which he had been filing, took me by my innocent shoulders, +and then, putting his foot against the broad part of my pantaloons, +wheeled me right out into the street, and dropped me on the walk, +without so much as offering an apology for the affront. I sprang after +him, but in vain; the door was closed upon me.</P> +<P>These Englishmen have no manners, that's plain, thought I; and I +trudged on down the street in a reverie.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_44">XLIII. HE TAKES A DELIGHTFUL RAMBLE +INTO THE COUNTRY; AND MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THREE ADORABLE CHARMERS</A> +</H3> +<P>Who that dwells in America has not heard of the bright fields and +green hedges of England, and longed to behold them? Even so had it been +with me; and now that I was actually in England, I resolved not to go +away without having a good, long look at the open fields.</P> +<P>On a Sunday morning I started, with a lunch in my pocket. It was a +beautiful day in July; the air was sweet with the breath of buds and +flowers, and there was a green splendor in the landscape that ravished +me. Soon I gained an elevation commanding a wide sweep of view; and +meadow and mead, and woodland and hedge, were all around me.</P> +<P>Ay, ay! this was old England, indeed! I had found it at last —there +it was in the country! Hovering over the scene was a soft, dewy air, +that seemed faintly tinged with the green of the grass; and I thought, +as I breathed my breath, that perhaps I might be inhaling the very +particles once respired by Rosamond the Fair.</P> +<P>On I trudged along the London road—smooth as an entry floor—and +every white cottage I passed, embosomed in honeysuckles, seemed alive +in the landscape.</P> +<P>But the day wore on; and at length the sun grew hot; and the long +road became dusty. I thought that some shady place, in some shady +field, would be very pleasant to repose in. So, coming to a charming +little dale, undulating down to a hollow, arched over with foliage, I +crossed over toward it; but paused by the road-side at a frightful +announcement, nailed against an old tree, used as a gate-post—</P> +<p> +<i>"man-traps and spring-guns!"</i></p> +<P> +In America I had never heard of the like. What could it mean? They +were not surely <I>cannibals, </I>that dwelt down in that beautiful +little dale, and lived by catching men, like weasels and beavers in +Canada!</P> +<P>"A <I>man-trap!" </I>It must be so. The announcement could bear but +one meaning—that there was something near by, intended to catch human +beings; some species of mechanism, that would suddenly fasten upon the +unwary rover, and hold him by the leg like a dog; or, perhaps, devour +him on the spot.</P> +<P>Incredible! In a Christian land, too! Did that sweet lady, Queen +Victoria, permit such diabolical practices? Had her gracious majesty +ever passed by this way, and seen the announcement?</P> +<P>And who put it there?</P> +<P>The proprietor, probably.</P> +<P>And what right had he to do so?</P> +<P>Why, he owned the soil.</P> +<P>And where are his title-deeds?</P> +<P>In his strong-box, I suppose.</P> +<P>Thus I stood wrapt in cogitations.</P> +<P>You are a pretty fellow, Wellingborough, thought I to myself; you +are a mighty traveler, indeed:—stopped on your travels by a <I> +man-trap! </I>Do you think Mungo Park was so served in Africa? Do you +think Ledyard was so entreated in Siberia? Upon my word, you will go +home not very much wiser than when you set out; and the only excuse you +can give, for not having seen more sights, will be <I> +man-traps—mantraps, my masters! </I>that frightened you!</P> +<P>And then, in my indignation, I fell back upon first principles. What +right has this man to the soil he thus guards with dragons? What +excessive effrontery, to lay sole claim to a solid piece of this +planet, right down to the earth's axis, and, perhaps, straight through +to the antipodes! For a moment I thought I would test his traps, and +enter the forbidden Eden. </P> +<P>But the grass grew so thickly, and seemed so full of sly things, +that at last I thought best to pace off.</P> +<P>Next, I came to a hawthorn lane, leading down very prettily to a +nice little church; a mossy little church; a beautiful little church; +just such a church as I had always dreamed to be in England. The porch +was viny as an arbor; the ivy was climbing about the tower; and the +bees were humming about the hoary old head-stones along the walls.</P> +<P>Any man-traps here? thought I—any spring-guns?</P> +<P>No.</P> +<P>So I walked on, and entered the church, where I soon found a seat. +No Indian, red as a deer, could have startled the simple people more. +They gazed and they gazed; but as I was all attention to the sermon, +and conducted myself with perfect propriety, they did not expel me, as +at first I almost imagined they might.</P> +<P>Service over, I made my way through crowds of children, who stood +staring at the marvelous stranger, and resumed my stroll along the +London Road.</P> +<P>My next stop was at an inn, where under a tree sat a party of +rustics, drinking ale at a table.</P> +<P>"Good day," said I.</P> +<P>"Good day; from Liverpool?"</P> +<P>"I guess so."</P> +<P>"For London?"</P> +<P>"No; not this time. I merely come to see the country."</P> +<P>At this, they gazed at each other; and I, at myself; having doubts +whether I might not look something like a horse-thief.</P> +<P>"Take a seat," said the landlord, a fat fellow, with his wife's +apron on, I thought.</P> +<P>"Thank you."</P> +<P>And then, little by little, we got into a long talk: in the course +of which, I told who I was, and where I was from. I found these rustics +a good-natured, jolly set; and I have no doubt they found me quite a +sociable youth. They treated me to ale; and I treated them to stories +about America, concerning which, they manifested the utmost curiosity. +One of them, however, was somewhat astonished that I had not made the +acquaintance of a brother of his, who had resided somewhere on the +banks of the Mississippi for several years past; but among twenty +millions of people, I had never happened to meet him, at least to my +knowledge.</P> +<P>At last, leaving this party, I pursued my way, exhilarated by the +lively conversation in which I had shared, and the pleasant sympathies +exchanged: and perhaps, also, by the ale I had drunk:—fine old ale; +yes, English ale, ale brewed in England! And I trod English soil; and +breathed English air; and every blade of grass was an Englishman born. +Smoky old Liverpool, with all its pitch and tar was now far behind; +nothing in sight but open meadows and fields.</P> +<P>Come, Wellingborough, why not push on for London?— Hurra! what say +you? let's have a peep at St. Paul's I Don't you want to see the queen? +Have you no longing to behold the duke? Think of Westminster Abbey, and +the Tunnel under the Thames! Think of Hyde Park, and the ladies!</P> +<P>But then, thought I again, with my hands wildly groping in my two +vacuums of pockets—who's to pay the bill?—You can't beg your way, +Wellingborough; that would never do; for you are your father's son, +Wellingborough; and you must not disgrace your family in a foreign +land; you must not turn pauper.</P> +<P>Ah! Ah! it was indeed too true; there was no St. Paul's or +Westminster Abbey for me; that was flat.</P> +<P>Well, well, up heart, you'll see it one of these days.</P> +<P>But think of it! here I am on the very road that leads to the +Thames—think of <I>that!—</I>here I am—ay, treading in the +wheel-tracks of coaches that are bound for the metropolis!—It was too +bad; too bitterly bad. But I shoved my old hat over my brows, and +walked on; till at last I came to a green bank, deliriously shaded by a +fine old tree with broad branching arms, that stretched themselves over +the road, like a hen gathering her brood under her wings. Down on the +green grass I threw myself and there lay my head, like a last year's +nut. People passed by, on foot and in carriages, and little thought +that the sad youth under the tree was the great-nephew of a late +senator in the American Congress.</P> +<P>Presently, I started to my feet, as I heard a gruff voice behind me +from the field, crying out—"What are you doing there, you young +rascal?—run away from the work'us, have ye? Tramp, or I'll set Blucher +on ye!"</P> +<P>And who was Blucher? A cut-throat looking dog, with his black +bull-muzzle thrust through a gap in the hedge. And his master? A sturdy +farmer, with an alarming cudgel in his hand.</P> +<P>"Come, are you going to start?" he cried.</P> +<P>"Presently," said I, making off with great dispatch. When I had got +a few yards into the middle of the highroad (which belonged as much to +me as it did to the queen herself), I turned round, like a man on his +own premises, and said— "Stranger! if you ever Visit America, just +call at our house, and you'll always find there a dinner and a bed. +Don't fail."</P> +<P>I then walked on toward Liverpool, full of sad thoughts concerning +the cold charities of the world, and the infamous reception given to +hapless young travelers, in broken-down shooting-jackets.</P> +<P>On, on I went, along the skirts of forbidden green fields; until +reaching a cottage, before which I stood rooted.</P> +<P>So sweet a place I had never seen: no palace in Persia could be +pleasanter; there were flowers in the garden; and six red cheeks, like +six moss-roses, hanging from the casement. At the embowered doorway, +sat an old man, confidentially communing with his pipe: while a little +child, sprawling on the ground, was playing with his shoestrings. A +hale matron, but with rather a prim expression, was reading a journal +by his side: and three charmers, three Peris, three Houris! were +leaning out of the window close by.</P> +<P>Ah! Wellingborough, don't you wish you could step in?</P> +<P>With a heavy heart at his cheerful sigh, I was turning to go, +when—is it possible? the old man called me back, and invited me in.</P> +<P>"Come, come," said he, "you look as if you had walked far; come, +take a bowl of milk. Matilda, my dear" (how my heart jumped), "go fetch +some from the dairy." And the white-handed angel did meekly obey, and +handed <I>me—me, </I>the vagabond, a bowl of bubbling milk, which I +could hardly drink down, for gazing at the dew on her lips.</P> +<P>As I live, I could have married that charmer on the spot!</P> +<P>She was by far the most beautiful rosebud I had yet seen in England. +But I endeavored to dissemble my ardent admiration; and in order to do +away at once with any unfavorable impressions arising from the close +scrutiny of my miserable shooting-jacket, which was now taking place, I +declared myself a Yankee sailor from Liverpool, who was spending a +Sunday in the country.</P> +<P>"And have you been to church to-day, young man?" said the old lady, +looking daggers.</P> +<P>"Good madam, I have; the little church down yonder, you know—a most +excellent sermon—I am much the better for it."</P> +<P>I wanted to mollify this severe looking old lady; for even my short +experience of old ladies had convinced me that they are the hereditary +enemies of all strange young men.</P> +<P>I soon turned the conversation toward America, a theme which I knew +would be interesting, and upon which I could be fluent and agreeable. I +strove to talk in Addisonian English, and ere long could see very +plainly that my polished phrases were making a surprising impression, +though that miserable shooting-jacket of mine was a perpetual drawback +to my claims to gentility.</P> +<P>Spite of all my blandishments, however, the old lady stood her post +like a sentry; and to my inexpressible chagrin, kept the three charmers +in the background, though the old man frequently called upon them to +advance. This fine specimen of an old Englishman seemed to be quite as +free from ungenerous suspicions as his vinegary spouse was full of +them. But I still lingered, snatching furtive glances at the young +ladies, and vehemently talking to the old man about Illinois, and the +river Ohio, and the fine farms in the Genesee country, where, in +harvest time, the laborers went into the wheat fields a thousand strong.</P> +<P>Stick to it, Wellingborough, thought I; don't give the old lady time +to think; stick to it, my boy, and an invitation to tea will reward +you. At last it came, and the old lady abated her frowns.</P> +<P>It was the most delightful of meals; the three charmers sat all on +one side, and I opposite, between the old man and his wife. The middle +charmer poured out the souchong, and handed me the buttered muffins; +and such buttered muffins never were spread on the other side of the +Atlantic. The butter had an aromatic flavor; by Jove, it was perfectly +delicious.</P> +<P>And there they sat—the charmers, I mean—eating these buttered +muffins in plain sight. I wished I was a buttered muffin myself. Every +minute they grew handsomer and handsomer; and I could not help thinking +what a fine thing it would be to carry home a beautiful English wife! +how my friends would stare! a lady from England!</P> +<P>I might have been mistaken; but certainly I thought that Matilda, +the one who had handed me the milk, sometimes looked rather +benevolently in the direction where I sat. She certainly <I>did </I> +look at my jacket; and I am constrained to think at my face. Could it +be possible she had fallen in love at first sight? Oh, rapture! But oh, +misery! that was out of the question; for what a looking suitor was +Wellingborough?</P> +<P>At length, the old lady glanced toward the door, and made some +observations about its being yet a long walk to town. She handed me the +buttered muffins, too, as if performing a final act of hospitality; and +in other fidgety ways vaguely hinted her desire that I should decamp.</P> +<P>Slowly I rose, and murmured my thanks, and bowed, and tried to be +off; but as quickly I turned, and bowed, and thanked, and lingered +again and again. Oh, charmers! oh, Peris! thought I, must I go? Yes, +Wellingborough, you must; so I made one desperate congee, and darted +through the door.</P> +<P>I have never seen them since: no, nor heard of them; but to this day +I live a bachelor on account of those ravishing charmers.</P> +<P>As the long twilight was waning deeper and deeper into the night, I +entered the town; and, plodding my solitary way to the same old docks, +I passed through the gates, and scrambled my way among tarry smells, +across the tiers of ships between the quay and the Highlander. My only +resource was my bunk; in I turned, and, wearied with my long stroll, +was soon fast asleep, dreaming of red cheeks and roses.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_45">XLIV. REDBURN INTRODUCES MASTER +HARRY BOLTON TO THE FAVORABLE CONSIDERATION OF THE READER</A></H3> +<P>It was the day following my Sunday stroll into the country, and when +I had been in England four weeks or more, that I made the acquaintance +of a handsome, accomplished, but unfortunate youth, young Harry Bolton. +He was one of those small, but perfectly formed beings, with curling +hair, and silken muscles, who seem to have been born in cocoons. His +complexion was a mantling brunette, feminine as a girl's; his feet were +small; his hands were white; and his eyes were large, black, and +womanly; and, poetry aside, his voice was as the sound of a harp.</P> +<P>But where, among the tarry docks, and smoky sailor-lanes and by-ways +of a seaport, did I, a battered Yankee boy, encounter this courtly +youth?</P> +<P>Several evenings I had noticed him in our street of boarding-houses, +standing in the doorways, and silently regarding the animated scenes +without. His beauty, dress, and manner struck me as so out of place in +such a street, that I could not possibly divine what had transplanted +this delicate exotic from the conservatories of some Regent-street to +the untidy potato-patches of Liverpool.</P> +<P>At last I suddenly encountered him at the sign of the Baltimore +Clipper. He was speaking to one of my shipmates concerning America; and +from something that dropped, I was led to imagine that he contemplated +a voyage to my country. Charmed with his appearance, and all eagerness +to enjoy the society of this incontrovertible son of a gentleman—a +kind of pleasure so long debarred me—I smoothed down the skirts of my +jacket, and at once accosted him; declaring who I was, and that nothing +would afford me greater delight than to be of the least service, in +imparting any information concerning America that he needed.</P> +<P>He glanced from my face to my jacket, and from my jacket to my face, +and at length, with a pleased but somewhat puzzled expression, begged +me to accompany him on a walk.</P> +<P>We rambled about St. George's Pier until nearly midnight; but before +we parted, with uncommon frankness, he told me many strange things +respecting his history.</P> +<P>According to his own account, Harry Bolton was a native of Bury St. +Edmunds, a borough of Suffolk, not very far from London, where he was +early left an orphan, under the charge of an only aunt. Between his +aunt and himself, his mother had divided her fortune; and young Harry +thus fell heir to a portion of about five thousand pounds.</P> +<P>Being of a roving mind, as he approached his majority he grew +restless of the retirement of a country place; especially as he had no +profession or business of any kind to engage his attention.</P> +<P>In vain did Bury, with all its fine old monastic attractions, lure +him to abide on the beautiful banks of her Larke, and under the shadow +of her stately and storied old Saxon tower.</P> +<P>By all my rare old historic associations, breathed Bury; by my +Abbey-gate, that bears to this day the arms of Edward the Confessor; by +my carved roof of the old church of St. Mary's, which escaped the low +rage of the bigoted Puritans; by the royal ashes of Mary Tudor, that +sleep in my midst; by my Norman ruins, and by all the old abbots of +Bury, do not, oh Harry! abandon me. Where will you find shadier walks +than under my lime-trees? where lovelier gardens than those within the +old walls of my monastery, approached through my lordly Gate? Or if, oh +Harry! indifferent to my historic mosses, and caring not for my annual +verdure, thou must needs be lured by other tassels, and wouldst fain, +like the Prodigal, squander thy patrimony, then, go not away from old +Bury to do it. For here, on Angel-Hill, are my coffee and card-rooms, +and billiard saloons, where you may lounge away your mornings, and +empty your glass and your purse as you list.</P> +<P>In vain. Bury was no place for the adventurous Harry, who must needs +hie to London, where in one winter, in the company of gambling +sportsmen and dandies, he lost his last sovereign.</P> +<P>What now was to be done? His friends made interest for him in the +requisite quarters, and Harry was soon embarked for Bombay, as a +midshipman in the East India service; in which office he was known as a <I> +"guinea-pig," </I>a humorous appellation then bestowed upon the middies +of the Company. And considering the perversity of his behavior, his +delicate form, and soft complexion, and that gold guineas had been his +bane, this appellation was not altogether, in poor Harry's case, +inapplicable.</P> +<P>He made one voyage, and returned; another, and returned; and then +threw up his warrant in disgust. A few weeks' dissipation in London, +and again his purse was almost drained; when, like many prodigals, +scorning to return home to his aunt, and amend—though she had often +written him the kindest of letters to that effect—Harry resolved to +precipitate himself upon the New World, and there carve out a fresh +fortune. With this object in view, he packed his trunks, and took the +first train for Liverpool. Arrived in that town, he at once betook +himself to the docks, to examine the American shipping, when a new +crotchet entered his brain, born of his old sea reminiscences. It was +to assume duck browsers and tarpaulin, and gallantly cross the Atlantic +as a sailor. There was a dash of romance in it; a taking abandonment; +and scorn of fine coats, which exactly harmonized with his reckless +contempt, at the time, for all past conventionalities.</P> +<P>Thus determined, he exchanged his trunk for a mahogany chest; sold +some of his superfluities; and moved his quarters to the sign of the +Gold Anchor in Union-street.</P> +<P>After making his acquaintance, and learning his intentions, I was +all anxiety that Harry should accompany me home in the Highlander, a +desire to which he warmly responded.</P> +<P>Nor was I without strong hopes that he would succeed in an +application to the captain; inasmuch as during our stay in the docks, +three of our crew had left us, and their places would remain unsupplied +till just upon the eve of our departure.</P> +<P>And here, it may as well be related, that owing to the heavy charges +to which the American ships long staying in Liverpool are subjected, +from the obligation to continue the wages of their seamen, when they +have little or no work to employ them, and from the necessity of +boarding them ashore, like lords, at their leisure, captains interested +in the ownership of their vessels, are not at all indisposed to let +their sailors abscond, if they please, and thus forfeit their money; +for they well know that, when wanted, a new crew is easily to be +procured, through the crimps of the port.</P> +<P>Though he spake English with fluency, and from his long service in +the vessels of New York, was almost an American to behold, yet Captain +Riga was in fact a Russian by birth, though this was a fact that he +strove to conceal. And though extravagant in his personal expenses, and +even indulging in luxurious habits, costly as Oriental dissipation, yet +Captain Riga was a niggard to others; as, indeed, was evinced in the +magnificent stipend of three dollars, with which he requited my own +valuable services. Therefore, as it was agreed between Harry and me, +that he should offer to ship as a <I>"boy," </I>at the same rate of +compensation with myself, I made no doubt that, incited by the +cheapness of the bargain, Captain Riga would gladly close with him; and +thus, instead of paying sixteen dollars a month to a thorough-going +tar, who would consume all his rations, buy up my young blade of Bury, +at the rate of half a dollar a week; with the cheering prospect, that +by the end of the voyage, his fastidious palate would be the means of +leaving <I>a. </I>handsome balance of salt beef and pork in the <I> +harness-cask.</I></P> +<P>With part of the money obtained by the sale of a few of his velvet +vests, Harry, by my advice, now rigged himself in a Guernsey frock and +man-of-war browsers; and thus equipped, he made his appearance, one +fine morning, on the quarterdeck of the Highlander, gallantly doffing +his virgin tarpaulin before the redoubtable Riga.</P> +<P>No sooner were his wishes made known, than I perceived in the +captain's face that same bland, benevolent, and bewitchingly merry +expression, that had so charmed, but deceived me, when, with Mr. Jones, +I had first accosted him in the cabin.</P> +<P>Alas, Harry! thought I,—as I stood upon the forecastle looking +astern where they stood,—that <I>"gallant, gay deceiver" </I>shall not +altogether cajole you, if Wellingborough can help it. Rather than that +should be the case, indeed, I would forfeit the pleasure of your +society across the Atlantic.</P> +<P>At this interesting interview the captain expressed a sympathetic +concern touching the sad necessities, which he took upon himself to +presume must have driven Harry to sea; he confessed to a warm interest +in his future welfare; and did not hesitate to declare that, in going +to America, under such circumstances, to seek his fortune, he was +acting a manly and spirited part; and that the voyage thither, as a +sailor, would be an invigorating preparative to the landing upon a +shore, where he must battle out his fortune with Fate.</P> +<P>He engaged him at once; but was sorry to say, that he could not +provide him a home on board till the day previous to the sailing of the +ship; and during the interval, he could not honor any drafts upon the +strength of his wages.</P> +<P>However, glad enough to conclude the agreement upon any terms at +all, my young blade of Bury expressed his satisfaction; and full of +admiration at so urbane and gentlemanly a sea-captain, he came forward +to receive my congratulations.</P> +<P>"Harry," said I, "be not deceived by the fascinating Riga— that gay +Lothario of all inexperienced, sea-going youths, from the capital or +the country; he has a Janus-face, Harry; and you will not know him when +he gets you out of sight of land, and mouths his cast-off coats and +browsers. For <I>then </I>he is another personage altogether, and +adjusts his character to the shabbiness of his integuments. No more +condolings and sympathy then; no more blarney; he will hold you a +little better than his boots, and would no more think of addressing you +than of invoking wooden Donald, the figure-head on our bows."</P> +<P>And I further admonished my friend concerning our crew, particularly +of the diabolical Jackson, and warned him to be cautious and wary. I +told him, that unless he was somewhat accustomed to the rigging, and +could furl a royal in a squall, he would be sure to subject himself to +a sort of treatment from the sailors, in the last degree ignominious to +any mortal who had ever crossed his legs under mahogany.</P> +<P>And I played the inquisitor, in cross-questioning Harry respecting +the precise degree in which he was a practical sailor; —whether he had +a giddy head; whether his arms could bear the weight of his body; +whether, with but one hand on a shroud, a hundred feet aloft in a +tempest, he felt he could look right to windward and beard it.</P> +<P>To all this, and much more, Harry rejoined with the most off-hand +and confident air; saying that in his <I>"guinea-pig" </I>days, he had +often climbed the masts and handled the sails in a gentlemanly and +amateur way; so he made no doubt that he would very soon prove an +expert tumbler in the Highlander's rigging.</P> +<P>His levity of manner, and sanguine assurance, coupled with the +constant sight of his most unseamanlike person—more suited to the +Queen's drawing-room than a ship's forecastle-bred many misgivings in +my mind. But after all, every one in this world has his own fate +intrusted to himself; and though we may warn, and forewarn, and give +sage advice, and indulge in many apprehensions touching our friends; +yet our friends, for the most part, will <I>"gang their ain gate;" </I> +and the most we can do is, to hope for the best. Still, I suggested to +Harry, whether he had not best cross the sea as a steerage passenger, +since he could procure enough money for that; but no, he was bent upon +going as a sailor.</P> +<P>I now had a comrade in my afternoon strolls, and Sunday excursions; +and as Harry was a generous fellow, he shared with me his purse and his +heart. He sold off several more of his fine vests and browsers, his +silver-keyed flute and enameled guitar; and a portion of the money thus +furnished was pleasantly spent in refreshing ourselves at the road-side +inns in the vicinity of the town.</P> +<P>Reclining side by side in some agreeable nook, we exchanged our +experiences of the past. Harry enlarged upon the fascinations of a +London Me; described the curricle he used to drive in Hyde Park; gave +me the measurement of Madame Vestris' ankle; alluded to his first +introduction at a club to the madcap Marquis of Waterford; told over +the sums he had lost upon the turf on a Derby day; and made various but +enigmatical allusions to a certain Lady Georgiana Theresa, the noble +daughter of an anonymous earl.</P> +<P>Even in conversation, Harry was a prodigal; squandering his +aristocratic narrations with a careless hand; and, perhaps, sometimes +spending funds of reminiscences not his own.</P> +<P>As for me, I had only my poor old uncle the senator to fall back +upon; and I used him upon all emergencies, like the knight in the game +of chess; making him hop about, and stand stiffly up to the encounter, +against all my fine comrade's array of dukes, lords, curricles, and +countesses.</P> +<P>In these long talks of ours, I frequently expressed the earnest +desire I cherished, to make a visit to London; and related how strongly +tempted I had been one Sunday, to walk the whole way, without a penny +in my pocket. To this, Harry rejoined, that nothing would delight him +more, than to show me the capital; and he even meaningly but +mysteriously hinted at the possibility of his doing so, before many +days had passed. But this seemed so idle a thought, that I only imputed +it to my friend's good-natured, rattling disposition, which sometimes +prompted him to out with any thing, that he thought would be agreeable. +Besides, would this fine blade of Bury be seen, by his aristocratic +acquaintances, walking down Oxford-street, say, arm in arm with the +sleeve of my shooting-jacket? The thing was preposterous; and I began +to think, that Harry, after all, was a little bit disposed to impose +upon my Yankee credulity.</P> +<P>Luckily, my Bury blade had no acquaintance in Liverpool, where, +indeed, he was as much in a foreign land, as if he were already on the +shores of Lake Erie; so that he strolled about with me in perfect +abandonment; reckless of the cut of my shooting-jacket; and not caring +one whit who might stare at so singular a couple.</P> +<P>But once, crossing a square, faced on one side by a fashionable +hotel, he made a rapid turn with me round a corner; and never stopped, +till the square was a good block in our rear. The cause of this sudden +retreat, was a remarkably elegant coat and pantaloons, standing upright +on the hotel steps, and containing a young buck, tapping his teeth with +an ivory-headed riding-whip.</P> +<P>"Who was he, Harry?" said I.</P> +<P>"My old chum, Lord Lovely," said Harry, with a careless air, "and +Heaven only knows what brings Lovely from London."</P> +<P>"A lord?" said I starting; "then I must look at him again;" for +lords are very scarce in Liverpool.</P> +<P>Unmindful of my companion's remonstrances, I ran back to the corner; +and slowly promenaded past the upright coat and pantaloons on the steps.</P> +<P>It was not much of a lord to behold; very thin and limber about the +legs, with small feet like a doll's, and a small, glossy head like a +seal's. I had seen just such looking lords standing in sentimental +attitudes in front of Palmo's in Broadway.</P> +<P>However, he and I being mutual friends of Harry's, I thought +something of accosting him, and taking counsel concerning what was best +to be done for the young prodigal's welfare; but upon second thoughts I +thought best not to intrude; especially, as just then my lord Lovely +stepped to the open window of a flashing carriage which drew up; and +throwing himself into an interesting posture, with the sole of one boot +vertically exposed, so as to show the stamp on it—a coronet—fell into +a sparkling conversation with a magnificent white satin hat, surmounted +by a regal marabou feather, inside.</P> +<P>I doubted not, this lady was nothing short of a peeress; and thought +it would be one of the pleasantest and most charming things in the +world, just to seat myself beside her, and order the coachman to take +us a drive into the country.</P> +<P>But, as upon further consideration, I imagined that the peeress +might decline the honor of my company, since I had no formal card of +introduction; I marched on, and rejoined my companion, whom I at once +endeavored to draw out, touching Lord Lovely; but he only made +mysterious answers; and turned off the conversation, by allusions to +his visits to Ickworth in Suffolk, the magnificent seat of the Most +Noble Marquis of Bristol, who had repeatedly assured Harry that he +might consider Ickworth his home.</P> +<P>Now, all these accounts of marquises and Ickworths, and Harry's +having been hand in glove with so many lords and ladies, began to breed +some suspicions concerning the rigid morality of my friend, as a teller +of the truth. But, after all, thought I to myself, who can prove that +Harry has fibbed? Certainly, his manners are polished, he has a mighty +easy address; and there is nothing altogether impossible about his +having consorted with the master of Ickworth, and the daughter of the +anonymous earl. And what right has a poor Yankee, like me, to insinuate +the slightest suspicion against what he says? What little money he has, +he spends freely; he can not be a polite blackleg, for I am no pigeon +to pluck; so <I>that </I>is out of the question;—perish such a +thought, concerning my own bosom friend!</P> +<P>But though I drowned all my suspicions as well as I could, and ever +cherished toward Harry a heart, loving and true; yet, spite of all +this, I never could entirely digest some of his imperial reminiscences +of high life. I was very sorry for this; as at times it made me feel +ill at ease in his company; and made me hold back my whole soul from +him; when, in its loneliness, it was yearning to throw itself into the +unbounded bosom of some immaculate friend.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_46">XLV. HARRY BOLTON KIDNAPS REDBURN, +AND CARRIES HIM OFF TO LONDON</A></H3> +<P>It might have been a week after our glimpse of Lord Lovely, that +Harry, who had been expecting a letter, which, he told me, might +possibly alter his plans, one afternoon came bounding on board the +ship, and sprang down the hatchway into the <I>between-decks, </I> +where, in perfect solitude, I was engaged picking oakum; at which +business the mate had set me, for want of any thing better.</P> +<P>"Hey for London, Wellingborough!" he cried. "Off tomorrow! first +train—be there the same night—come! I have money to rig you all +out—drop that hangman's stuff there, and away! Pah! how it smells +here! Come; up you jump!"</P> +<P>I trembled with amazement and delight.</P> +<P>London? it could not be!—and Harry—how kind of him! he was then +indeed what he seemed. But instantly I thought of all the circumstances +of the case, and was eager to know what it was that had induced this +sudden departure.</P> +<P>In reply my friend told me, that he had received a remittance, and +had hopes of recovering a considerable sum, lost in some way that he +chose to conceal.</P> +<P>"But how am I to leave the ship, Harry?" said I; "they will not let +me go, will they? You had better leave me behind, after all; I don't +care very much about going; and besides, I have no money to share the +expenses."</P> +<P>This I said, only pretending indifference, for my heart was jumping +all the time.</P> +<P>"Tut! my Yankee bantam," said Harry; "look here!" and he showed me a +handful of gold.</P> +<P>"But they are <I>yours, </I>and not <I>mine, </I>Harry," said I.</P> +<P>"Yours <I>and </I>mine, my sweet fellow," exclaimed Harry. "Come, +sink the ship, and let's go!"</P> +<P>"But you don't consider, if I quit the ship, they'll be sending a +constable after me, won't they?"</P> +<P>"What! and do you think, then, they value your services so highly? +Ha! ha!-Up, up, Wellingborough: I can't wait."</P> +<P>True enough. I well knew that Captain Riga would not trouble himself +much, if I <I>did </I>take French leave of him. So, without further +thought of the matter, I told Harry to wait a few moments, till the +ship's bell struck four; at which time I used to go to supper, and be +free for the rest of the day.</P> +<P>The bell struck; and off we went. As we hurried across the quay, and +along the dock walls, I asked Harry all about his intentions. He said, +that go to London he must, and to Bury St. Edmunds; but that whether he +should for any time remain at either place, he could not now tell; and +it was by no means impossible, that in less than a week's time we would +be back again in Liverpool, and ready for sea. But all he said was +enveloped in a mystery that I did not much like; and I hardly know +whether I have repeated correctly what he said at the time.</P> +<P>Arrived at the <I>Golden Anchor, </I>where Harry put up, he at once +led me to his room, and began turning over the contents of his chest, +to see what clothing he might have, that would fit me.</P> +<P>Though he was some years my senior, we were about the same size—if +any thing, I was larger than he; so, with a little stretching, a shirt, +vest, and pantaloons were soon found to suit. As for a coat and hat, +those Harry ran out and bought without delay; returning with a loose, +stylish sack-coat, and a sort of foraging cap, very neat, genteel, and +unpretending.</P> +<P>My friend himself soon doffed his Guernsey frock, and stood before +me, arrayed in a perfectly plain suit, which he had bought on purpose +that very morning. I asked him why he had gone to that unnecessary +expense, when he had plenty of other clothes in his chest. But he only +winked, and looked knowing. This, again, I did not like. But I strove +to drown ugly thoughts.</P> +<P>Till quite dark, we sat talking together; when, locking his chest, +and charging his landlady to look after it well, till he called, or +sent for it; Harry seized my arm, and we sallied into the street.</P> +<P>Pursuing our way through crowds of frolicking sailors and fiddlers, +we turned into a street leading to the Exchange. There, under the +shadow of the colonnade, Harry told me to stop, while he left me, and +went to finish his toilet. Wondering what he meant, I stood to one +side; and presently was joined by a stranger in whiskers and mustache.</P> +<P>"It's <I>me" </I>said the stranger; and who was <I>me </I>but Harry, +who had thus metamorphosed himself? I asked him the reason; and in a +faltering voice, which I tried to make humorous, expressed a hope that +he was not going to turn gentleman forger.</P> +<P>He laughed, and assured me that it was only a precaution against +being recognized by his own particular friends in London, that he had +adopted this mode of disguising himself.</P> +<P>"And why afraid of your friends?" asked I, in astonishment, "and we +are not in London yet."</P> +<P>"Pshaw! what a Yankee you are, Wellingborough. Can't you see very +plainly that I have a plan in my head? And this disguise is only for a +short time, you know. But I'll tell you all by and by."</P> +<P>I acquiesced, though not feeling at ease; and we walked on, till we +came to a public house, in the vicinity of the place at which the cars +are taken.</P> +<P>We stopped there that night, and next day were off, whirled along +through boundless landscapes of villages, and meadows, and parks: and +over arching viaducts, and through wonderful tunnels; till, half +delirious with excitement, I found myself dropped down in the evening +among gas-lights, under a great roof in Euston Square.</P> +<P>London at last, and in the West-End!</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_47">XLVI. A MYSTERIOUS NIGHT IN LONDON</A> +</H3> +<P>"No time to lose," said Harry, "come along."</P> +<P>He called a cab: in an undertone mentioned the number of a house in +some street to the driver; we jumped in, and were off.</P> +<P>As we rattled over the boisterous pavements, past splendid squares, +churches, and shops, our cabman turning corners like a skater on the +ice, and all the roar of London in my ears, and no end to the walls of +brick and mortar; I thought New York a hamlet, and Liverpool a +coal-hole, and myself somebody else: so unreal seemed every thing about +me. My head was spinning round like a top, and my eyes ached with much +gazing; particularly about the comers, owing to my darting them so +rapidly, first this side, and then that, so as not to miss any thing; +though, in truth, I missed much.</P> +<P>"Stop," cried Harry, after a long while, putting his head out of the +window, all at once—"stop! do you hear, you deaf man? you have passed +the house—No. 40 I told you—that's it —the high steps there, with +the purple light!"</P> +<P>The cabman being paid, Harry adjusting his whiskers and mustache, +and bidding me assume a lounging look, pushed his hat a little to one +side, and then locking arms, we sauntered into the house; myself +feeling not a little abashed; it was so long since I had been in any +courtly society.</P> +<P>It was some semi-public place of opulent entertainment; and far +surpassed any thing of the kind I had ever seen before.</P> +<P>The floor was tesselated with snow-white, and russet-hued marbles; +and echoed to the tread, as if all the Paris catacombs were underneath. +I started with misgivings at that hollow, boding sound, which seemed +sighing with a subterraneous despair, through all the magnificent +spectacle around me; mocking it, where most it glared.</P> +<P>The walk were painted so as to deceive the eye with interminable +colonnades; and groups of columns of the finest Scagliola work of +variegated marbles—emerald-green and gold, St. Pons veined with +silver, Sienna with porphyry—supported a resplendent fresco ceiling, +arched like a bower, and thickly clustering with mimic grapes. Through +all the East of this foliage, you spied in a crimson dawn, Guide's ever +youthful Apollo, driving forth the horses of the sun. From sculptured +stalactites of vine-boughs, here and there pendent hung galaxies of gas +lights, whose vivid glare was softened by pale, cream-colored, +porcelain spheres, shedding over the place a serene, silver flood; as +if every porcelain sphere were a moon; and this superb apartment was +the moon-lit garden of Portia at Belmont; and the gentle lovers, +Lorenzo and Jessica, lurked somewhere among the vines.</P> +<P>At numerous Moorish looking tables, supported by Caryatides of +turbaned slaves, sat knots of gentlemanly men, with cut decanters and +taper-waisted glasses, journals and cigars, before them.</P> +<P>To and fro ran obsequious waiters, with spotless napkins thrown over +their arms, and making a profound salaam, and hemming deferentially, +whenever they uttered a word.</P> +<P>At the further end of this brilliant apartment, was a rich mahogany +turret-like structure, partly built into the wall, and communicating +with rooms in the rear. Behind, was a very handsome florid old man, +with snow-white hair and whiskers, and in a snow-white jacket—he +looked like an almond tree in blossom—who seemed to be standing, a +polite sentry over the scene before him; and it was he, who mostly +ordered about the waiters; and with a silent salute, received the +silver of the guests.</P> +<P>Our entrance excited little or no notice; for every body present +seemed exceedingly animated about concerns of their own; and a large +group was gathered around one tall, military looking gentleman, who was +reading some India war-news from the Times, and commenting on it, in a +very loud voice, condemning, in toto, the entire campaign.</P> +<P>We seated ourselves apart from this group, and Harry, rapping on the +table, called for wine; mentioning some curious foreign name.</P> +<P>The decanter, filled with a pale yellow wine, being placed before +us, and my comrade having drunk a few glasses; he whispered me to +remain where I was, while he withdrew for a moment.</P> +<P>I saw him advance to the turret-like place, and exchange a +confidential word with the almond tree there, who immediately looked +very much surprised,—I thought, a Little disconcerted,—and then +disappeared with him.</P> +<P>While my friend was gone, I occupied myself with looking around me, +and striving to appear as indifferent as possible, and as much used to +all this splendor as if I had been born in it. But, to tell the truth, +my head was almost dizzy with the strangeness of the sight, and the +thought that I was really in London. What would my brother have said? +What would Tom Legare, the treasurer of the Juvenile Temperance +Society, have thought?</P> +<P>But I almost began to fancy I had no friends and relatives living in +a little village three thousand five hundred miles off, in America; for +it was hard to unite such a humble reminiscence with the splendid +animation of the London-like scene around me.</P> +<P>And in the delirium of the moment, I began to indulge in foolish +golden visions of the counts and countesses to whom Harry might +introduce me; and every instant I expected to hear the waiters +addressing some gentleman as <I>"My Lord," </I>or <I>"four Grace." </I> +But if there were really any lords present, the waiters omitted their +titles, at least in my hearing.</P> +<P>Mixed with these thoughts were confused visions of St. Paul's and +the Strand, which I determined to visit the very next morning, before +breakfast, or perish in the attempt. And I even longed for Harry's +return, that we might immediately sally out into the street, and see +some of the sights, before the shops were all closed for the night.</P> +<P>While I thus sat alone, I observed one of the waiters eying me a +little impertinently, as I thought, and as if he saw something queer +about me. So I tried to assume a careless and lordly air, and by way of +helping the thing, threw one leg over the other, like a young Prince +Esterhazy; but all the time I felt my face burning with embarrassment, +and for the time, I must have looked very guilty of something. But +spite of this, I kept looking boldly out of my eyes, and straight +through my blushes, and observed that every now and then little parties +were made up among the gentlemen, and they retired into the rear of the +house, as if going to a private apartment. And I overheard one of them +drop the word <I>Rouge; </I>but he could not have used rouge, for his +face was exceedingly pale. Another said something about <I>Loo.</I></P> +<P>At last Harry came back, his face rather flushed.</P> +<P>"Come along, Redburn," said he.</P> +<P>So making no doubt we were off for a ramble, perhaps to Apsley +House, in the Park, to get a sly peep at the old Duke before he retired +for the night, for Harry had told me the Duke always went to bed early, +I sprang up to follow him; but what was my disappointment and surprise, +when he only led me into the passage, toward a staircase lighted by +three marble Graces, unitedly holding a broad candelabra, like an elk's +antlers, over the landing.</P> +<P>We rambled up the long, winding slope of those aristocratic stairs, +every step of which, covered with Turkey rugs, looked gorgeous as the +hammer-cloth of the Lord Mayor's coach; and Harry hied straight to a +rosewood door, which, on magical hinges, sprang softly open to his +touch.</P> +<P>As we entered the room, methought I was slowly sinking in some +reluctant, sedgy sea; so thick and elastic the Persian carpeting, +mimicking parterres of tulips, and roses, and jonquils, like a bower in +Babylon.</P> +<P>Long lounges lay carelessly disposed, whose fine damask was +interwoven, like the Gobelin tapestry, with pictorial tales of tilt and +tourney. And oriental ottomans, whose cunning warp and woof were +wrought into plaited serpents, undulating beneath beds of leaves, from +which, here and there, they flashed out sudden splendors of green +scales and gold.</P> +<P>In the broad bay windows, as the hollows of King Charles' oaks, were +Laocoon-like chairs, in the antique taste, draped with heavy fringers +of bullion and silk.</P> +<P>The walls, covered with a sort of tartan-French paper, variegated +with bars of velvet, were hung round with mythological oil-paintings, +suspended by tasseled cords of twisted silver and blue.</P> +<P>They were such pictures as the high-priests, for a bribe, showed to +Alexander in the innermost shrine of the white temple in the Libyan +oasis: such pictures as the pontiff of the sun strove to hide from +Cortez, when, sword in hand, he burst open the sanctorum of the +pyramid-fane at Cholula: such pictures as you may still see, perhaps, +in the central alcove of the excavated mansion of Pansa, in Pompeii—in +that part of it called by Varro <I>the hollow of the house: </I>such +pictures as Martial and Seutonius mention as being found in the private +cabinet of the Emperor Tiberius: such pictures as are delineated on the +bronze medals, to this day dug up on the ancient island of Capreas: +such pictures as you might have beheld in an arched recess, leading +from the left hand of the secret side-gallery of the temple of +Aphrodite in Corinth.</P> +<P>In the principal pier was a marble bracket, sculptured in the +semblance of a dragon's crest, and supporting a bust, most wonderful to +behold. It was that of a bald-headed old man, with a +mysteriously-wicked expression, and imposing silence by one thin finger +over his lips. His 'marble mouth seemed tremulous with secrets.</P> +<P>"Sit down, Wellingborough," said Harry; "don't be frightened, we are +at home.—Ring the bell, will you? But stop;"— and advancing to the +mysterious bust, he whispered something in its ear.</P> +<P>"He's a knowing mute, Wellingborough," said he; "who stays in this +one place all the time, while he is yet running of errands. But mind +you don't breathe any secrets in his ear."</P> +<P>In obedience to a summons so singularly conveyed, to my amazement a +servant almost instantly appeared, standing transfixed in the attitude +of a bow.</P> +<P>"Cigars," said Harry. When they came, he drew up a small table into +the middle of the room, and lighting his cigar, bade me follow his +example, and make myself happy.</P> +<P>Almost transported with such princely quarters, so undreamed of +before, while leading my dog's life in the filthy forecastle of the +Highlander, I twirled round a chair, and seated myself opposite my +friend.</P> +<P>But all the time, I felt ill at heart; and was filled with an +undercurrent of dismal forebodings. But I strove to dispel them; and +turning to my companion, exclaimed, "And pray, do you live here, Harry, +in this Palace of Aladdin?"</P> +<P>"Upon my soul," he cried, "you have hit it:—you must have been here +before! Aladdin's Palace! Why, Wellingborough, it goes by that very +name."</P> +<P>Then he laughed strangely: and for the first time, I thought he had +been quaffing too freely: yet, though he looked wildly from his eyes, +his general carriage was firm.</P> +<P>"Who are you looking at so hard, Wellingborough?" said he.</P> +<P>"I am afraid, Harry," said I, "that when you left me just now, you +must have been drinking something stronger than wine."</P> +<P>"Hear him now," said Harry, turning round, as if addressing the +bald-headed bust on the bracket,—"a parson 'pon honor! —But remark +you, Wellingborough, my boy, I must leave you again, and for a +considerably longer time than before:—I may not be back again +to-night."</P> +<P>"What?" said I.</P> +<P>"Be still," he cried, "hear me, I know the old duke here, and-"</P> +<P>"Who? not the Duke of Wellington," said I, wondering whether Harry +was really going to include <I>him </I>too, in his long list of +confidential friends and acquaintances.</P> +<P>"Pooh!" cried Harry, "I mean the white-whiskered old man you saw +below; they call him <I>the Duke:—he </I>keeps the house. I say, I +know him well, and he knows <I>me; </I>and he knows what brings me +here, also. Well; we have arranged every thing about you; you are to +stay in this room, and sleep here tonight, and—and—" continued he, +speaking low—"you must guard this letter—" slipping a sealed one into +my hand-"and, if I am not back by morning, you must post right on to +Bury, and leave the letter there;—here, take this paper—it's all set +down here in black and white—where you are to go, and what you are to +do. And after that's done—mind, this is all in case I don't +return—then you may do what you please: stay here in London awhile, or +go back to Liverpool. And here's enough to pay all your expenses."</P> +<P>All this was a thunder stroke. I thought Harry was crazy. I held the +purse in my motionless hand, and stared at him, till the tears almost +started from my eyes.</P> +<P>"What's the matter, Redburn?" he cried, with a wild sort of +laugh—"you are not afraid of me, are you?—No, no! I believe in you, +my boy, or you would not hold that purse in your hand; no, nor that +letter."</P> +<P>"What in heaven's name do you mean?" at last I exclaimed, "you don't +really intend to desert me in this strange place, do you, Harry?" and I +snatched him by the hand.</P> +<P>"Pooh, pooh," he cried, "let me go. I tell you, it's all right: do +as I say: that's all. Promise me now, will you? Swear it!-no, no," he +added, vehemently, as I conjured him to tell me more—"no, I won't: I +have nothing more to tell you—not a word. Will you swear?"</P> +<P>"But one sentence more for your own sake, Harry: hear me!"</P> +<P>"Not a syllable! Will you swear?—you will not? then here, give me +that purse:—there—there—take that—and that—and that;—that will +pay your fare back to Liverpool; good-by to you: you are not my +friend," and he wheeled round his back.</P> +<P>I know not what flashed through my mind, but something suddenly +impelled me; and grasping his hand, I swore to him what he demanded.</P> +<P>Immediately he ran to the bust, whispered a word, and the +white-whiskered old man appeared: whom he clapped on the shoulder, and +then introduced me as his friend—young Lord Stormont; and bade the +almond tree look well to the comforts of his lordship, while +he—Harry—was gone.</P> +<P>The almond tree blandly bowed, and grimaced, with a peculiar +expression, that I hated on the spot. After a few words more, he +withdrew. Harry then shook my hand heartily, and without giving me a +chance to say one word, seized his cap, and darted out of the room, +saying, "Leave not this room tonight; and remember the letter, and +Bury!"</P> +<P>I fell into a chair, and gazed round at the strange-looking walls +and mysterious pictures, and up to the chandelier at the ceiling; then +rose, and opened the door, and looked down the lighted passage; but +only heard the hum from the roomful below, scattered voices, and a +hushed ivory rattling from the closed apartments adjoining. I stepped +back into the room, and a terrible revulsion came over me: I would have +given the world had I been safe back in Liverpool, fast asleep in my +old bunk in Prince's Dock.</P> +<P>I shuddered at every footfall, and almost thought it must be some +assassin pursuing me. The whole place seemed infected; and a strange +thought came over me, that in the very damasks around, some eastern +plague had been imported. And was that pale yellow wine, that I drank +below, drugged? thought I. This must be some house whose foundations +take hold on the pit. But these fearful reveries only enchanted me fast +to my chair; so that, though I then wished to rush forth from the +house, my limbs seemed manacled.</P> +<P>While thus chained to my seat, something seemed suddenly flung open; +a confused sound of imprecations, mixed with the ivory rattling, louder +than before, burst upon my ear, and through the partly open door of the +room where I was, I caught sight of a tall, frantic man, with clenched +hands, wildly darting through the passage, toward the stairs.</P> +<P>And all the while, Harry ran through my soul—in and out, at every +door, that burst open to his vehement rush.</P> +<P>At that moment my whole acquaintance with him passed like lightning +through my mind, till I asked myself why he had come here, to London, +to do this thing?—why would not Liverpool have answered? and what did +he want of me? But, every way, his conduct was unaccountable. From the +hour he had accosted me on board the ship, his manner seemed gradually +changed; and from the moment we had sprung into the cab, he had seemed +almost another person from what he had seemed before.</P> +<P>But what could I do? He was gone, that was certain;-would he ever +come back? But he might still be somewhere in the house; and with a +shudder, I thought of that ivory rattling, and was almost ready to dart +forth, search every room, and save him. But that would be madness, and +I had sworn not to do so. There seemed nothing left, but to await his +return. Yet, if he did not return, what then? I took out the purse, and +counted over the money, and looked at the letter and paper of memoranda.</P> +<P>Though I vividly remember it all, I will not give the superscription +of the letter, nor the contents of the paper. But after I had looked at +them attentively, and considered that Harry could have no conceivable +object in deceiving me, I thought to myself, Yes, he's in earnest; and +here I am—yes, even in London! And here in this room will I stay, come +what will. I will implicitly follow his directions, and so see out the +last of this thing.</P> +<P>But spite of these thoughts, and spite of the metropolitan +magnificence around me, I was mysteriously alive to a dreadful feeling, +which I had never before felt, except when penetrating into the lowest +and most squalid haunts of sailor iniquity in Liverpool. All the +mirrors and marbles around me seemed crawling over with lizards; and I +thought to myself, that though gilded and golden, the serpent of vice +is a serpent still.</P> +<P>It was now grown very late; and faint with excitement, I threw +myself upon a lounge; but for some time tossed about restless, in a +sort of night-mare. Every few moments, spite of my oath, I was upon the +point of starting up, and rushing into the street, to inquire where I +was; but remembering Harry's injunctions, and my own ignorance of the +town, and that it was now so late, I again tried to be composed.</P> +<P>At last, I fell asleep, dreaming about Harry fighting a duel of +dice-boxes with the military-looking man below; and the next thing I +knew, was the glare of a light before my eyes, and Harry himself, very +pale, stood before me.</P> +<P>"The letter and paper," he cried.</P> +<P>I fumbled in my pockets, and handed them to him.</P> +<P>"There! there! there! thus I tear you," he cried, wrenching the +letter to pieces with both hands like a madman, and stamping upon the +fragments. "I am off for America; the game is up."</P> +<P>"For God's sake explain," said I, now utterly bewildered, and +frightened. "Tell me, Harry, what is it? You have not been gambling?"</P> +<P>"Ha, ha," he deliriously laughed. "Gambling? red and white, you +mean?—cards?—dice?—the bones?—Ha, ha!—Gambling? gambling?" he +ground out between his teeth—"what two devilish, stiletto-sounding +syllables they are!"</P> +<P>"Wellingborough," he added, marching up to me slowly, but with his +eyes blazing into mine—"Wellingborough"—and fumbling in his +breast-pocket, he drew forth a dirk—"Here, Wellingborough, take +it—take it, I say—are you stupid?-there, there"—and he pushed it +into my hands. "Keep it away from me—keep it out of my sight—I don't +want it near me, while I feel as I do. They serve suicides scurvily +here, Wellingborough; they don't bury them decently. See that +bell-rope! By Heaven, it's an invitation to hang myself'—and seizing +it by the gilded handle at the end, he twitched it down from the wall.</P> +<P>"In God's name, what ails you?" I cried.</P> +<P>"Nothing, oh nothing," said Harry, now assuming a treacherous, +tropical calmness—"nothing, Redburn; nothing in the world. I'm the +serenest of men."</P> +<P>"But give me that dirk," he suddenly cried—"let me have it, I say. +Oh! I don't mean to murder myself—I'm past that now—give it me"—and +snatching it from my hand, he flung down an empty purse, and with a +terrific stab, nailed it fast with the dirk to the table.</P> +<P>"There now," he cried, "there's something for the old duke to see +to-morrow morning; that's about all that's left of me— that's my +skeleton, Wellingborough. But come, don't be downhearted; there's a +little more gold yet in Golconda; I have a guinea or two left. Don't +stare so, my boy; we shall be in Liverpool to-morrow night; we start in +the morning"—and turning his back, he began to whistle very fiercely.</P> +<P>"And this, then," said I, "is your showing me London, is it, Harry? +I did not think this; but tell me your secret, whatever it is, and I +will not regret not seeing the town."</P> +<P>He turned round upon me like lightning, and cried, "Red-burn! you +must swear another oath, and instantly."</P> +<P>"And why?" said I, in alarm, "what more would you have me swear?"</P> +<P>"Never to question me again about this infernal trip to London!" he +shouted, with the foam at his lips—"never to breathe it! swear!"</P> +<P>"I certainly shall not trouble you, Harry, with questions, if you do +not desire it," said I, "but there's no need of swearing."</P> +<P>"Swear it, I say, as you love me, Redburn," he added, imploringly.</P> +<P>"Well, then, I solemnly do. Now lie down, and let us forget +ourselves as soon as we can; for me, you have made me the most +miserable dog alive."</P> +<P>"And what am I?" cried Harry; "but pardon me, Redburn, I did not +mean to offend; if you knew all—but no, no!—never mind, never mind!" +And he ran to the bust, and whispered in its ear. A waiter came.</P> +<P> +"Brandy," whispered Harry, with clenched teeth.</P> +<P> +"Are you not going to sleep, then?" said I, more and more alarmed at +his wildness, and fearful of the effects of his drinking still more, in +such a mood.</P> +<P>"No sleep for me! sleep if <I>you </I>can—I mean to sit up with a +decanter!—let me see"—looking at the ormolu clock on the +mantel—"it's only two hours to morning."</P> +<P>The waiter, looking very sleepy, and with a green shade on his brow, +appeared with the decanter and glasses on a salver, and was told to +leave it and depart.</P> +<P>Seeing that Harry was not to be moved, I once more threw myself on +the lounge. I did not sleep; but, like a somnambulist, only dozed now +and then; starting from my dreams; while Harry sat, with his hat on, at +the table; the brandy before him; from which he occasionally poured +into his glass. Instead of exciting him, however, to my amazement, the +spirits seemed to soothe him down; and, ere long, he was comparatively +calm.</P> +<P>At last, just as I had fallen into a deep sleep, I was wakened by +his shaking me, and saying our cab was at the door.</P> +<P>"Look! it is broad day," said he, brushing aside the heavy hangings +of the window.</P> +<P>We left the room; and passing through the now silent and deserted +hall of pillars, which, at this hour, reeked as with blended roses and +cigar-stumps decayed; a dumb waiter; rubbing his eyes, flung open the +street door; we sprang into the cab; and soon found ourselves whirled +along northward by railroad, toward Prince's Dock and the Highlander.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_48">XLVII. HOMEWARD BOUND</A></H3> +<P>Once more in Liverpool; and wending my way through the same old +streets to the sign of the Golden Anchor; I could scarcely credit the +events of the last thirty-six hours.</P> +<P>So unforeseen had been our departure in the first place; so rapid +our journey; so unaccountable the conduct of Harry; and so sudden our +return; that all united to overwhelm me. That I had been at all in +London seemed impossible; and that I had been there, and come away +little the wiser, was almost distracting to one who, like me, had so +longed to behold that metropolis of marvels.</P> +<P>I looked hard at Harry as he walked in silence at my side; I stared +at the houses we passed; I thought of the cab, the gas lighted hall in +the Palace of Aladdin, the pictures, the letter, the oath, the dirk; +the mysterious place where all these mysteries had occurred; and then, +was almost ready to conclude, that the pale yellow wine had been +drugged.</P> +<P>As for Harry, stuffing his false whiskers and mustache into his +pocket, he now led the way to the boarding-house; and saluting the +landlady, was shown to his room; where we immediately shifted our +clothes, appearing once more in our sailor habiliments.</P> +<P>"Well, what do you propose to do now, Harry?" said I, with a heavy +heart.</P> +<P>"Why, visit your Yankee land in the Highlander, of course —what +else?' he replied.</P> +<P>"And is it to be a visit, or a long stay?" asked I.</P> +<P>"That's as it may turn out," said Harry; "but I have now more than +ever resolved upon the sea. There is nothing like the sea for a fellow +like me, Redburn; a desperate man can not get any further than the +wharf, you know; and the next step must be a long jump. But come, let's +see what they have to eat here, and then for a cigar and a stroll. I +feel better already. Never say die, is my motto."</P> +<P>We went to supper; after that, sallied out; and walking along the +quay of Prince's Dock, heard that the ship Highlander had that morning +been advertised to sail in two days' time.</P> +<P>"Good!" exclaimed Harry; and I was glad enough myself.</P> +<P>Although I had now been absent from the ship a full forty-eight +hours, and intended to return to her, yet I did not anticipate being +called to any severe account for it from the officers; for several of +our men had absented themselves longer than I had, and upon their +return, little or nothing was said to them. Indeed, in some cases, the +mate seemed to know nothing about it. During the whole time we lay in +Liverpool, the discipline of the ship was altogether relaxed; and I +could hardly believe they were the same officers who were so +dictatorial at sea. The reason of this was, that we had nothing +important to do; and although the captain might now legally refuse to +receive me on board, yet I was not afraid of that, as I was as stout a +lad for my years, and worked as cheap, as any one he could engage to +take my place on the homeward passage.</P> +<P>Next morning we made our appearance on board before the rest of the +crew; and the mate perceiving me, said with an oath, "Well, sir, you +have thought best to return then, have you? Captain Riga and I were +flattering ourselves that you had made a run of it for good."</P> +<P>Then, thought I, the captain, who seems to affect to know nothing of +the proceedings of the sailors, has been aware of my absence.</P> +<P>"But turn to, sir, turn to," added the mate; "here! aloft there, and +free that pennant; it's foul of the backstay—jump!"</P> +<P>The captain coming on board soon after, looked very benevolently at +Harry; but, as usual, pretended not to take the slightest notice of +myself.</P> +<P>We were all now very busy in getting things ready for sea. The cargo +had been already stowed in the hold by the stevedores and lumpers from +shore; but it became the crew's business to clear away the <I> +between-decks, </I>extending from the cabin bulkhead to the forecastle, +for the reception of about five hundred emigrants, some of whose boxes +were already littering the decks.</P> +<P>To provide for their wants, a far larger supply of water was needed +than upon the outward-bound passage. Accordingly, besides the usual +number of casks on deck, rows of immense tierces were lashed +amid-ships, all along the <I>between-decks, </I>forming a sort of aisle +on each side, furnishing access to four rows of bunks,—three tiers, +one above another,—against the ship's sides; two tiers being placed +over the tierces of water in the middle. These bunks were rapidly +knocked together with coarse planks. They looked more like dog-kennels +than any thing else; especially as the place was so gloomy and dark; no +light coming down except through the fore and after hatchways, both of +which were covered with little houses called <I>"booby-hatches." </I> +Upon the main-hatches, which were well calked and covered over with +heavy tarpaulins, the <I>"passengers-gattey" </I>was solidly lashed +down.</P> +<P>This <I>galley </I>was a large open stove, or iron range—made +expressly for emigrant ships, wholly unprotected from the weather, and +where alone the emigrants are permitted to cook their food while at sea.</P> +<P>After two days' work, every thing was in readiness; most of the +emigrants on board; and in the evening we worked the ship close into +the outlet of Prince's Dock, with the bow against the water-gate, to go +out with the tide in the morning.</P> +<P>In the morning, the bustle and confusion about us was indescribable. +Added to the ordinary clamor of the docks, was the hurrying to and fro +of our five hundred emigrants, the last of whom, with their baggage, +were now coming on board; the appearance of the cabin passengers, +following porters with their trunks; the loud orders of the +dock-masters, ordering the various ships behind us to preserve their +order of going out; the leave-takings, and good-by's, and +God-bless-you's, between the emigrants and their friends; and the +cheers of the surrounding ships.</P> +<P>At this time we lay in such a way, that no one could board us except +by the bowsprit, which overhung the quay. Staggering along that +bowsprit, now came a one-eyed <I>crimp </I>leading a drunken tar by the +collar, who had been shipped to sail with us the day previous. It has +been stated before, that two or three of our men had left us for good, +while in port. When the crimp had got this man and another safely +lodged in a bunk below, he returned on shore; and going to a miserable +cab, pulled out still another apparently drunken fellow, who proved +completely helpless. However, the ship now swinging her broadside more +toward the quay, this stupefied sailor, with a Scotch cap pulled down +over his closed eyes, only revealing a sallow Portuguese complexion, +was lowered on board by a rope under his arms, and passed forward by +the crew, who put him likewise into a bunk in the forecastle, the crimp +himself carefully tucking him in, and bidding the bystanders not to +disturb him till the ship was away from the land.</P> +<P>This done, the confusion increased, as we now glided out of the +dock. Hats and handkerchiefs were waved; hurrahs were exchanged; and +tears were shed; and the last thing I saw, as we shot into the stream, +was a policeman collaring a boy, and walking him off to the guard-house.</P> +<P>A steam-tug, the <I>Goliath, </I>now took us by the arm, and +gallanted us down the river past the fort.</P> +<P>The scene was most striking.</P> +<P>Owing to a strong breeze, which had been blowing up the river for +four days past, holding wind-bound in the various docks a multitude of +ships for all parts of the world; there was now under weigh, a vast +fleet of merchantmen, all steering broad out to sea. The white sails +glistened in the clear morning air like a great Eastern encampment of +sultans; and from many a forecastle, came the deep mellow old song <I> +Ho-o-he-yo, cheerily men! </I>as the crews called their anchors.</P> +<P>The wind was fair; the weather mild; the sea most smooth; and the +poor emigrants were in high spirits at so auspicious a beginning of +their voyage. They were reclining all over the decks, talking of soon +seeing America, and relating how the agent had told them, that twenty +days would be an uncommonly long voyage.</P> +<P>Here it must be mentioned, that owing to the great number of ships +sailing to the Yankee ports from Liverpool, the competition among them +in obtaining emigrant passengers, who as a cargo are much more +remunerative than crates and bales, is exceedingly great; so much so, +that some of the agents they employ, do not scruple to deceive the poor +applicants for passage, with all manner of fables concerning the short +space of time, in which their ships make the run across the ocean.</P> +<P>This often induces the emigrants to provide a much smaller stock of +provisions than they otherwise would; the effect of which sometimes +proves to be in the last degree lamentable; as will be seen further on. +And though benevolent societies have been long organized in Liverpool, +for the purpose of keeping offices, where the emigrants can obtain +reliable information and advice, concerning their best mode of +embarkation, and other matters interesting to them; and though the +English authorities have imposed a law, providing that every captain of +an emigrant ship bound for any port of America shall see to it, that +each passenger is provided with rations of food for sixty days; yet, +all this has not deterred mercenary ship-masters and unprincipled +agents from practicing the grossest deception; nor exempted the +emigrants themselves, from the very sufferings intended to be averted.</P> +<P>No sooner had we fairly gained the expanse of the Irish Sea, and, +one by one, lost sight of our thousand consorts, than the weather +changed into the most miserable cold, wet, and cheerless days and +nights imaginable. The wind was tempestuous, and dead in our teeth; and +the hearts of the emigrants fell. Nearly all of them had now hied +below, to escape the uncomfortable and perilous decks: and from the two <I> +"booby-hatches" </I>came the steady hum of a subterranean wailing and +weeping. That irresistible wrestler, sea-sickness, had overthrown the +stoutest of their number, and the women and children were embracing and +sobbing in all the agonies of the poor emigrant's first storm at sea.</P> +<P>Bad enough is it at such times with ladies and gentlemen in the +cabin, who have nice little state-rooms; and plenty of privacy; and +stewards to run for them at a word, and put pillows under their heads, +and tenderly inquire how they are getting along, and mix them a posset: +and even then, in the abandonment of this soul and body subduing +malady, such ladies and gentlemen will often give up life itself as +unendurable, and put up the most pressing petitions for a speedy +annihilation; all of which, however, only arises from their intense +anxiety to preserve their valuable lives.</P> +<P>How, then, with the friendless emigrants, stowed away like bales of +cotton, and packed like slaves in a slave-ship; confined in a place +that, during storm time, must be closed against both light and air; who +can do no cooking, nor warm so much as a cup of water; for the +drenching seas would instantly flood their fire in their exposed galley +on deck? How, then, with these men, and women, and children, to whom a +first voyage, under the most advantageous circumstances, must come just +as hard as to the Honorable De Lancey Fitz Clarence, lady, daughter, +and seventeen servants.</P> +<P>Nor is this all: for in some of these ships, as in the case of the +Highlander, the emigrant passengers are cut off from the most +indispensable conveniences of a civilized dwelling. This forces them in +storm time to such extremities, that no wonder fevers and plagues are +the result. We had not been at sea one week, when to hold your head +down the fore hatchway was like holding it down a suddenly opened +cesspool.</P> +<P>But still more than this. Such is the aristocracy maintained on +board some of these ships, that the most arbitrary measures are +enforced, to prevent the emigrants from intruding upon the most holy +precincts of the quarter-deck, the only completely open space on +ship-board. Consequently—even in fine weather—when they come up from +below, they are crowded in the waist of the ship, and jammed among the +boats, casks, and spars; abused by the seamen, and sometimes cuffed by +the officers, for unavoidably standing in the way of working the vessel.</P> +<P>The cabin-passengers of the Highlander numbered some fifteen in all; +and to protect this detachment of gentility from the barbarian +incursions of the <I>"wild Irish" </I>emigrants, ropes were passed +athwart-ships, by the main-mast, from side to side: which defined the +boundary line between those who had paid three pounds passage-money, +from those who had paid twenty guineas. And the cabin-passengers +themselves were the most urgent in having this regulation maintained.</P> +<P>Lucky would it be for the pretensions of some parvenus, whose souls +are deposited at their banker's, and whose bodies but serve to carry +about purses, knit of poor men's heartstrings, if thus easily they +could precisely define, ashore, the difference between them and the +rest of humanity.</P> +<P>But, I, Redburn, am a poor fellow, who have hardly ever known what +it is to have five silver dollars in my pocket at one time; so, no +doubt, this circumstance has something to do with my slight and +harmless indignation at these things.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_49">XLVIII. A LIVING CORPSE</A></H3> +<P>It was destined that our departure from the English strand, should +be marked by a tragical event, akin to the sudden end of the suicide, +which had so strongly impressed me on quitting the American shore.</P> +<P>Of the three newly shipped men, who in a state of intoxication had +been brought on board at the dock gates, two were able to be engaged at +their duties, in four or five hours after quitting the pier. But the +third man yet lay in his bunk, in the self-same posture in which his +limbs had been adjusted by the crimp, who had deposited him there.</P> +<P>His name was down on the ship's papers as Miguel Saveda, and for +Miguel Saveda the chief mate at last came forward, shouting down the +forecastle-scuttle, and commanding his instant presence on deck. But +the sailors answered for their new comrade; giving the mate to +understand that Miguel was still fast locked in his trance, and could +not obey him; when, muttering his usual imprecation, the mate retired +to the quarterdeck.</P> +<P>This was in the first dog-watch, from four to six in the evening. At +about three bells, in the next watch, Max the Dutchman, who, like most +old seamen, was something of a physician in cases of drunkenness, +recommended that Miguel's clothing should be removed, in order that he +should lie more comfortably. But Jackson, who would seldom let any +thing be done in the forecastle that was not proposed by himself, +capriciously forbade this proceeding.</P> +<P>So the sailor still lay out of sight in his bunk, which was in the +extreme angle of the forecastle, behind the <I>bowsprit-bitts—two </I> +stout timbers rooted in the ship's keel. An hour or two afterward, some +of the men observed a strange odor in the forecastle, which was +attributed to the presence of some dead rat among the hollow spaces in +the side planks; for some days before, the forecastle had been smoked +out, to extirpate the vermin overrunning her. At midnight, the larboard +watch, to which I belonged, turned out; and instantly as every man +waked, he exclaimed at the now intolerable smell, supposed to be +heightened by the shaking up the bilge-water, from the ship's rolling.</P> +<P>"Blast that rat!" cried the Greenlander.</P> +<P>"He's blasted already," said Jackson, who in his drawers had crossed +over to the bunk of Miguel. "It's a water-rat, shipmates, that's dead; +and here he is"—and with that, he dragged forth the sailor's arm, +exclaiming, "Dead as a timber-head!"</P> +<P>Upon this the men rushed toward the bunk, Max with the light, which +he held to the man's face.</P> +<P>"No, he's not dead," he cried, as the yellow flame wavered for a +moment at the seaman's motionless mouth. But hardly had the words +escaped, when, to the silent horror of all, two threads of greenish +fire, like a forked tongue, darted out between the lips; and in a +moment, the cadaverous face was crawled over by a swarm of wormlike +flames.</P> +<P>The lamp dropped from the hand of Max, and went out; while covered +all over with spires and sparkles of flame, that faintly crackled in +the silence, the uncovered parts of the body burned before us, +precisely like phosphorescent shark in a midnight sea.</P> +<P>The eyes were open and fixed; the mouth was curled like a scroll, +and every lean feature firm as in life; while the whole face, now wound +in curls of soft blue flame, wore an aspect of grim defiance, and +eternal death. Prometheus, blasted by fire on the rock.</P> +<P>One arm, its red shirt-sleeve rolled up, exposed the man's name, +tattooed in vermilion, near the hollow of the middle joint; and as if +there was something peculiar in the painted flesh, every vibrating +letter burned so white, that you might read the flaming name in the +flickering ground of blue.</P> +<P>"Where's that d—d Miguel?" was now shouted down among us from the +scuttle by the mate, who had just come on deck, and was determined to +have every man up that belonged to his watch.</P> +<P>"He's gone to the harbor where they never weigh anchor," coughed +Jackson. "Come you down, sir, and look."</P> +<P>Thinking that Jackson intended to beard him, the mate sprang down in +a rage; but recoiled at the burning body as if he had been shot by a +bullet. "My God!" he cried, and stood holding fast to the ladder.</P> +<P>"Take hold of it," said Jackson, at last, to the Greenlander; "it +must go overboard. Don't stand shaking there, like a dog; take hold of +it, I say! But stop"—and smothering it all in the blankets, he pulled +it partly out of the bunk.</P> +<P>A few minutes more, and it fell with a bubble among the +phosphorescent sparkles of the damp night sea, leaving a coruscating +wake as it sank.</P> +<P>This event thrilled me through and through with unspeakable horror; +nor did the conversation of the watch during the next four hours on +deck at all serve to soothe me.</P> +<P>But what most astonished me, and seemed most incredible, was the +infernal opinion of Jackson, that the man had been actually dead when +brought on board the ship; and that knowingly, and merely for the sake +of the month's advance, paid into his hand upon the strength of the +bill he presented, the body-snatching crimp had knowingly shipped a +corpse on board of the Highlander, under the pretense of its being a +live body in a drunken trance. And I heard Jackson say, that he had +known of such things having been done before. But that a really dead +body ever burned in that manner, I can not even yet believe. But the +sailors seemed familiar with such things; or at least with the stories +of such things having happened to others.</P> +<P>For me, who at that age had never so much as happened to hear of a +case like this, of animal combustion, in the horrid mood that came over +me, I almost thought the burning body was a premonition of the hell of +the Calvinists, and that Miguel's earthly end was a foretaste of his +eternal condemnation.</P> +<P>Immediately after the burial, an iron pot of red coals was placed in +the bunk, and in it two handfuls of coffee were roasted. This done, the +bunk was nailed up, and was never opened again during the voyage; and +strict orders were given to the crew not to divulge what had taken +place to the emigrants; but to this, they needed no commands.</P> +<P>After the event, no one sailor but Jackson would stay alone in the +forecastle, by night or by noon; and no more would they laugh or sing, +or in any way make merry there, but kept all their pleasantries for the +watches on deck. All but Jackson: who, while the rest would be sitting +silently smoking on their chests, or in their bunks, would look toward +the fatal spot, and cough, and laugh, and invoke the dead man with +incredible scoffs and jeers. He froze my blood, and made my soul stand +still.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_50">XLIX. CARLO</A></H3> +<P>There was on board our ship, among the emigrant passengers, a +rich-cheeked, chestnut-haired Italian boy, arrayed in a faded, +olive-hued velvet jacket, and tattered trowsers rolled up to his knee. +He was not above fifteen years of age; but in the twilight pensiveness +of his full morning eyes, there seemed to sleep experiences so sad and +various, that his days must have seemed to him years. It was not an eye +like Harry's tho' Harry's was large and womanly. It shone with a soft +and spiritual radiance, like a moist star in a tropic sky; and spoke of +humility, deep-seated thoughtfulness, yet a careless endurance of all +the ills of life.</P> +<P>The head was if any thing small; and heaped with thick clusters of +tendril curls, half overhanging the brows and delicate ears, it somehow +reminded you of a classic vase, piled up with Falernian foliage.</P> +<P>From the knee downward, the naked leg was beautiful to behold as any +lady's arm; so soft and rounded, with infantile ease and grace. His +whole figure was free, fine, and indolent; he was such a boy as might +have ripened into life in a Neapolitan vineyard; such a boy as gipsies +steal in infancy; such a boy as Murillo often painted, when he went +among the poor and outcast, for subjects wherewith to captivate the +eyes of rank and wealth; such a boy, as only Andalusian beggars are, +full of poetry, gushing from every rent.</P> +<P>Carlo was his name; a poor and friendless son of earth, who had no +sire; and on life's ocean was swept along, as spoon-drift in a gale.</P> +<P>Some months previous, he had landed in Prince's Dock, with his +hand-organ, from a Messina vessel; and had walked the streets of +Liverpool, playing the sunny airs of southern chines, among the +northern fog and drizzle. And now, having laid by enough to pay his +passage over the Atlantic, he had again embarked, to seek his fortunes +in America.</P> +<P>From the first, Harry took to the boy.</P> +<P>"Carlo," said Harry, "how did you succeed in England?"</P> +<P>He was reclining upon an old sail spread on the long-boat; and +throwing back his soiled but tasseled cap, and caressing one leg like a +child, he looked up, and said in his broken English—that seemed like +mixing the potent wine of Oporto with some delicious syrup:—said he, +"Ah! I succeed very well!—for I have tunes for the young and the old, +the gay and the sad. I have marches for military young men, and +love-airs for the ladies, and solemn sounds for the aged. I never draw +a crowd, but I know from their faces what airs will best please them; I +never stop before a house, but I judge from its portico for what tune +they will soonest toss me some silver. And I ever play sad airs to the +merry, and merry airs to the sad; and most always the rich best fancy +the sad, and the poor the merry."</P> +<P>"But do you not sometimes meet with cross and crabbed old men," said +Harry, "who would much rather have your room than your music?"</P> +<P>"Yes, sometimes," said Carlo, playing with his foot, "sometimes I +do."</P> +<P>"And then, knowing the value of quiet to unquiet men, I suppose you +never leave them under a shilling?"</P> +<P>"No," continued the boy, "I love my organ as I do myself, for it is +my only friend, poor organ! it sings to me when I am sad, and cheers +me; and I never play before a house, on purpose to be paid for leaving +off, not I; would I, poor organ?"— looking down the hatchway where it +was. "No, that I never have done, and never will do, though I starve; +for when people drive me away, I do not think my organ is to blame, but +they themselves are to blame; for such people's musical pipes are +cracked, and grown rusted, that no more music can be breathed into +their souls."</P> +<P>"No, Carlo; no music like yours, perhaps," said Harry, with a laugh.</P> +<P>"Ah! there's the mistake. Though my organ is as full of melody, as a +hive is of bees; yet no organ can make music in unmusical breasts; no +more than my native winds can, when they breathe upon a harp without +chords."</P> +<P>Next day was a serene and delightful one; and in the evening when +the vessel was just rippling along impelled by a gentle yet steady +breeze, and the poor emigrants, relieved from their late sufferings, +were gathered on deck; Carlo suddenly started up from his lazy +reclinings; went below, and, assisted by the emigrants, returned with +his organ.</P> +<P>Now, music is a holy thing, and its instruments, however humble, are +to be loved and revered. Whatever has made, or does make, or may make +music, should be held sacred as the golden bridle-bit of the Shah of +Persia's horse, and the golden hammer, with which his hoofs are shod. +Musical instruments should be like the silver tongs, with which the +high-priests tended the Jewish altars—never to be touched by a hand +profane. Who would bruise the poorest reed of Pan, though plucked from +a beggar's hedge, would insult the melodious god himself.</P> +<P>And there is no humble thing with music in it, not a fife, not a +negro-fiddle, that is not to be reverenced as much as the grandest +architectural organ that ever rolled its flood-tide of harmony down a +cathedral nave. For even a Jew's-harp may be so played, as to awaken +all the fairies that are in us, and make them dance in our souls, as on +a moon-lit sward of violets.</P> +<P>But what subtle power is this, residing in but a bit of steel, which +might have made a tenpenny nail, that so enters, without knocking, into +our inmost beings, and shows us all hidden things?</P> +<P>Not in a spirit of foolish speculation altogether, in no merely +transcendental mood, did the glorious Greek of old fancy the human soul +to be essentially a harmony. And if we grant that theory of Paracelsus +and Campanella, that every man has four souls within him; then can we +account for those banded sounds with silver links, those quartettes of +melody, that sometimes sit and sing within us, as if our souls were +baronial halls, and our music were made by the hoarest old harpers of +Wales.</P> +<P>But look! here is poor Carlo's organ; and while the silent crowd +surrounds him, there he stands, looking mildly but inquiringly about +him; his right hand pulling and twitching the ivory knobs at one end of +his instrument.</P> +<P>Behold the organ!</P> +<P>Surely, if much virtue lurk in the old fiddles of Cremona, and if +their melody be in proportion to their antiquity, what divine +ravishments may we not anticipate from this venerable, embrowned old +organ, which might almost have played the Dead March in Saul, when King +Saul himself was buried.</P> +<P>A fine old organ! carved into fantastic old towers, and turrets, and +belfries; its architecture seems somewhat of the Gothic, monastic +order; in front, it looks like the West-Front of York Minster.</P> +<P>What sculptured arches, leading into mysterious intricacies! —what +mullioned windows, that seem as if they must look into chapels flooded +with devotional sunsets!—what flying buttresses, and gable-ends, and +niches with saints!—But stop! 'tis a Moorish iniquity; for here, as I +live, is a Saracenic arch; which, for aught I know, may lead into some +interior Alhambra.</P> +<P>Ay, it does; for as Carlo now turns his hand, I hear the gush of the +Fountain of Lions, as he plays some thronged Italian air—a mixed and +liquid sea of sound, that dashes its spray in my face.</P> +<P>Play on, play on, Italian boy! what though the notes be broken, +here's that within that mends them. Turn hither your pensive, morning +eyes; and while I list to the organs twain— one yours, one mine—let +me gaze fathoms down into thy fathomless eye;—'tis good as gazing down +into the great South Sea, and seeing the dazzling rays of the dolphins +there.</P> +<P>Play on, play on! for to every note come trooping, now, triumphant +standards, armies marching—all the pomp of sound. Methinks I am +Xerxes, the nucleus of the martial neigh of all the Persian studs. Like +gilded damask-flies, thick clustering on some lofty bough, my satraps +swarm around me.</P> +<P>But now the pageant passes, and I droop; while Carlo taps his ivory +knobs; and plays some flute-like saraband—soft, dulcet, dropping +sounds, like silver cans in bubbling brooks. And now a clanging, +martial air, as if ten thousand brazen trumpets, forged from spurs and +swordhilts, called North, and South, and East, to rush to West!</P> +<P>Again-what blasted heath is this?—what goblin sounds of Macbeth's +witches?—Beethoven's Spirit Waltz! the muster-call of sprites and +specters. Now come, hands joined, Medusa, Hecate, she of Endor, and all +the Blocksberg's, demons dire.</P> +<P>Once more the ivory knobs are tapped; and long-drawn, golden sounds +are heard-some ode to Cleopatra; slowly loom, and solemnly expand, +vast, rounding orbs of beauty; and before me float innumerable queens, +deep dipped in silver gauzes.</P> +<P>All this could Carlo do—make, unmake me; build me up; to pieces +take me; and join me limb to limb. He is the architect of domes of +sound, and bowers of song.</P> +<P>And all is done with that old organ! Reverenced, then, be all street +organs; more melody is at the beck of my Italian boy, than lurks in +squadrons of Parisian orchestras.</P> +<P>But look! Carlo has that to feast the eye as well as ear; and the +same wondrous magic in me, magnifies them into grandeur; though every +figure greatly needs the artist's repairing hand, and sadly needs a +dusting.</P> +<P>His York Minster's West-Front opens; and like the gates of Milton's +heaven, it turns on golden binges.</P> +<P>What have we here? The inner palace of the Great Mogul? Group and +gilded columns, in confidential clusters; fixed fountains; canopies and +lounges; and lords and dames in silk and spangles.</P> +<P>The organ plays a stately march; and presto! wide open arches; and +out come, two and two, with nodding plumes, in crimson turbans, a troop +of martial men; with jingling scimiters, they pace the hall; salute, +pass on, and disappear.</P> +<P>Now, ground and lofty tumblers; jet black Nubian slaves. They fling +themselves on poles; stand on their heads; and downward vanish. </P> +<P>And now a dance and masquerade of figures, reeling from the +side-doors, among the knights and dames. Some sultan leads a sultaness; +some emperor, a queen; and jeweled sword-hilts of carpet knights fling +back the glances tossed by coquettes of countesses.</P> +<P>On this, the curtain drops; and there the poor old organ stands, +begrimed, and black, and rickety.</P> +<P>Now, tell me, Carlo, if at street corners, for a single penny, I may +thus transport myself in dreams Elysian, who so rich as I? Not he who +owns a million.</P> +<P>And Carlo! ill betide the voice that ever greets thee, my Italian +boy, with aught but kindness; cursed the slave who ever drives thy +wondrous box of sights and sounds forth from a lordling's door!</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_51">L. HARRY BOLTON AT SEA</A></H3> +<P>As yet I have said nothing about how my friend, Harry, got along as +a sailor.</P> +<P>Poor Harry! a feeling of sadness, never to be comforted, comes over +me, even now when I think of you. For this voyage that you went, but +carried you part of the way to that ocean grave, which has buried you +up with your secrets, and whither no mourning pilgrimage can be made.</P> +<P>But why this gloom at the thought of the dead? And why should we not +be glad? Is it, that we ever think of them as departed from all joy? Is +it, that we believe that indeed they are dead? They revisit us not, the +departed; their voices no more ring in the air; summer may come, but it +is winter with them; and even in our own limbs we feel not the sap that +every spring renews the green life of the trees.</P> +<P>But Harry! you live over again, as I recall your image before me. I +see you, plain and palpable as in life; and can make your existence +obvious to others. Is he, then, dead, of whom this may be said?</P> +<P>But Harry! you are mixed with a thousand strange forms, the centaurs +of fancy; half real and human, half wild and grotesque. Divine +imaginings, like gods, come down to the groves of our Thessalies, and +there, in the embrace of wild, dryad reminiscences, beget the beings +that astonish the world.</P> +<P>But Harry! though your image now roams in my Thessaly groves, it is +the same as of old; and among the droves of mixed beings and centaurs, +you show like a zebra, banding with elks.</P> +<P>And indeed, in his striped Guernsey frock, dark glossy skin and +hair, Harry Bolton, mingling with the Highlander's crew, looked not +unlike the soft, silken quadruped-creole, that, pursued by wild +Bushmen, bounds through Caffrarian woods.</P> +<P>How they hunted you, Harry, my zebra! those ocean barbarians, those +unimpressible, uncivilized sailors of ours! How they pursued you from +bowsprit to mainmast, and started you out of your every retreat!</P> +<P>Before the day of our sailing, it was known to the seamen that the +girlish youth, whom they daily saw near the sign of the Clipper in +Union-street, would form one of their homeward-bound crew. Accordingly, +they cast upon him many a critical glance; but were not long in +concluding that Harry would prove no very great accession to their +strength; that the hoist of so tender an arm would not tell many +hundred-weight on the maintop-sail halyards. Therefore they disliked +him before they became acquainted with him; and such dislikes, as every +one knows, are the most inveterate, and liable to increase. But even +sailors are not blind to the sacredness that hallows a stranger; and +for a time, abstaining from rudeness, they only maintained toward my +friend a cold and unsympathizing civility.</P> +<P>As for Harry, at first the novelty of the scene filled up his mind; +and the thought of being bound for a distant land, carried with it, as +with every one, a buoyant feeling of undefinable expectation. And +though his money was now gone again, all but a sovereign or two, yet +that troubled him but little, in the first flush of being at sea.</P> +<P>But I was surprised, that one who had certainly seen much of life, +should evince such an incredible ignorance of what was wholly +inadmissible in a person situated as he was. But perhaps his +familiarity with lofty life, only the less qualified him for +understanding the other extreme. Will you believe me, this Bury blade +once came on deck in a brocaded dressing-gown, embroidered slippers, +and tasseled smoking-cap, to stand his morning watch.</P> +<P>As soon as I beheld him thus arrayed, a suspicion, which had +previously crossed my mind, again recurred, and I almost vowed to +myself that, spite his protestations, Harry Bolton never could have +been at sea before, even as a <I>Guinea-pig </I>in an Indiaman; for the +slightest acquaintance with the sea-life and sailors, should have +prevented him, it would seem, from enacting this folly.</P> +<P>"Who's that Chinese mandarin?" cried the mate, who had made voyages +to Canton. "Look you, my fine fellow, douse that mainsail now, and furl +it in a trice."</P> +<P>"Sir?" said Harry, starting back. "Is not this the morning watch, +and is not mine a morning gown?"</P> +<P>But though, in my refined friend's estimation, nothing could be more +appropriate; in the mate's, it was the most monstrous of incongruities; +and the offensive gown and cap were removed.</P> +<P>"It is too bad!" exclaimed Harry to me; "I meant to lounge away the +watch in that gown until coffee time;—and I suppose your Hottentot of +a mate won't permit a gentleman to smoke his Turkish pipe of a morning; +but by gad, I'll wear straps to my pantaloons to spite him!"</P> +<P>Oh! that was the rock on which you split, poor Harry! Incensed at +the want of polite refinement in the mates and crew, Harry, in a pet +and pique, only determined to provoke them the more; and the storm of +indignation he raised very soon overwhelmed him.</P> +<P>The sailors took a special spite to his chest, a large mahogany one, +which he had had made to order at a furniture warehouse. It was +ornamented with brass screw-heads, and other devices; and was well +filled with those articles of the wardrobe in which Harry had sported +through a London season; for the various vests and pantaloons he had +sold in Liverpool, when in want of money, had not materially lessened +his extensive stock.</P> +<P>It was curious to listen to the various hints and opinings thrown +out by the sailors at the occasional glimpses they had of this +collection of silks, velvets, broadcloths, and satins. I do not know +exactly what they thought Harry had been; but they seemed unanimous in +believing that, by abandoning his country, Harry had left more room for +the gamblers. Jackson even asked him to lift up the lower hem of his +browsers, to test the color of his calves.</P> +<P>It is a noteworthy circumstance, that whenever a slender made youth, +of easy manners and polite address happens to form one of a ship's +company, the sailors almost invariably impute his sea-going to an +irresistible necessity of decamping from terra-firma in order to evade +the constables.</P> +<P>These white-fingered gentry must be light-fingered too, they say to +themselves, or they would not be after putting their hands into our +tar. What else can bring them to sea?</P> +<P>Cogent and conclusive this; and thus Harry, from the very beginning, +was put down for a very equivocal character.</P> +<P>Sometimes, however, they only made sport of his appearance; +especially one evening, when his monkey jacket being wet through, he +was obliged to mount one of his swallow-tailed coats. They said he +carried two mizzen-peaks at his stern; declared he was a broken-down +quill-driver, or a footman to a Portuguese running barber, or some old +maid's tobacco-boy. As for the captain, it had become all the same to +Harry as if there were no gentlemanly and complaisant Captain Riga on +board. For to his no small astonishment,—but just as I had +predicted,—Captain Riga never noticed him now, but left the business +of indoctrinating him into the little experiences of a greenhorn's +career solely in the hands of his officers and crew.</P> +<P>But the worst was to come. For the first few days, whenever there +was any running aloft to be done, I noticed that Harry was +indefatigable in coiling away the slack of the rigging about decks; +ignoring the fact that his shipmates were springing into the shrouds. +And when all hands of the watch would be engaged <I>clewing up a +t'-gallant-sail, </I>that is, pulling the proper ropes on deck that +wrapped the sail up on the yard aloft, Harry would always manage to get +near the <I>belaying-pin, so </I>that when the time came for two of us +to spring into the rigging, he would be inordinately fidgety in making +fast the <I>clew-lines, </I>and would be so absorbed in that +occupation, and would so elaborate the hitchings round the pin, that it +was quite impossible for him, after doing so much, to mount over the +bulwarks before his comrades had got there. However, after securing the +clew-lines beyond a possibility of their getting loose, Harry would +always make a feint of starting in a prodigious hurry for the shrouds; +but suddenly looking up, and seeing others in advance, would retreat, +apparently quite chagrined that he had been cut off from the +opportunity of signalizing his activity.</P> +<P>At this I was surprised, and spoke to my friend; when the alarming +fact was confessed, that he had made a private trial of it, and it +never would do: <I>he could not go aloft; </I>his nerves would not hear +of it.</P> +<P>"Then, Harry," said I, "better you had never been born. Do you know +what it is that you are coming to? Did you not tell me that you made no +doubt you would acquit yourself well in the rigging? Did you not say +that you had been two voyages to Bombay? Harry, you were mad to ship. +But you only imagine it: try again; and my word for it, you will very +soon find yourself as much at home among the spars as a bird in a tree."</P> +<P> +But he could not be induced to try it over again; the fact was, <I> +his nerves could not stand it; </I>in the course of his courtly career, +he had drunk too much strong Mocha coffee and gunpowder tea, and had +smoked altogether too many Havannas.</P> +<P>At last, as I had repeatedly warned him, the mate singled him out +one morning, and commanded him to mount to the main-truck, and unreeve +the short signal halyards.</P> +<P>"Sir?" said Harry, aghast.</P> +<P>"Away you go!" said the mate, snatching a whip's end.</P> +<P>"Don't strike me!" screamed Harry, drawing himself up.</P> +<P>"Take that, and along with you," cried the mate, laying the rope +once across his back, but lightly.</P> +<P>"By heaven!" cried Harry, wincing—not with the blow, but the +insult: and then making a dash at the mate, who, holding out his long +arm, kept him lazily at bay, and laughed at him, till, had I not feared +a broken head, I should infallibly have pitched my boy's bulk into the +officer.</P> +<P>"Captain Riga!" cried Harry.</P> +<P>"Don't call upon <I>him" </I>said the mate; "he's asleep, and won't +wake up till we strike Yankee soundings again. Up you go!" he added, +flourishing the rope's end.</P> +<P>Harry looked round among the grinning tars with a glance of terrible +indignation and agony; and then settling his eye on me, and seeing +there no hope, but even an admonition of obedience, as his only +resource, he made one bound into the rigging, and was up at the +main-top in a trice. I thought a few more springs would take him to the +truck, and was a little fearful that in his desperation he might then +jump overboard; for I had heard of delirious greenhorns doing such +things at sea, and being lost forever. But no; he stopped short, and +looked down from the top. Fatal glance! it unstrung his every fiber; +and I saw him reel, and clutch the shrouds, till the mate shouted out +for him not to squeeze the tar out of the ropes. "Up you go, sir." But +Harry said nothing.</P> +<P>"You Max," cried the mate to the Dutch sailor, "spring after him, +and help him; you understand?"</P> +<P>Max went up the rigging hand over hand, and brought his red head +with a bump against the base of Harry's back. Needs must when the devil +drives; and higher and higher, with Max bumping him at every step, went +my unfortunate friend. At last he gained the royal yard, and the thin +signal halyards—, hardly bigger than common twine—were flying in the +wind. "Unreeve!" cried the mate.</P> +<P>I saw Harry's arm stretched out—his legs seemed shaking in the +rigging, even to us, down on deck; and at last, thank heaven! the deed +was done.</P> +<P>He came down pale as death, with bloodshot eyes, and every limb +quivering. From that moment he never put foot in rattlin; never mounted +above the bulwarks; and for the residue of the voyage, at least, became +an altered person.</P> +<P>At the time, he went to the mate—since he could not get speech of +the captain—and conjured him to intercede with Riga, that his name +might be stricken off from the list of the ship's company, so that he +might make the voyage as a steerage passenger; for which privilege, he +bound himself to pay, as soon as he could dispose of some things of his +in New York, over and above the ordinary passage-money. But the mate +gave him a blunt denial; and a look of wonder at his effrontery. Once a +sailor on board a ship, and <I>always </I>a sailor for that voyage, at +least; for within so brief a period, no officer can bear to associate +on terms of any thing like equality with a person whom he has ordered +about at his pleasure.</P> +<P>Harry then told the mate solemnly, that he might do what he pleased, +but go aloft again he <I>could </I>not, and <I>would </I>not. He would +do any thing else but that.</P> +<P>This affair sealed Harry's fate on board of the Highlander; the crew +now reckoned him fair play for their worst jibes and jeers, and he led +a miserable life indeed.</P> +<P>Few landsmen can imagine the depressing and self-humiliating effects +of finding one's self, for the first time, at the beck of illiterate +sea-tyrants, with no opportunity of exhibiting any trait about you, but +your ignorance of every thing connected with the sea-life that you +lead, and the duties you are constantly called upon to perform. In such +a sphere, and under such circumstances, Isaac Newton and Lord Bacon +would be sea-clowns and bumpkins; and Napoleon Bonaparte be cuffed and +kicked without remorse. In more than one instance I have seen the truth +of this; and Harry, poor Harry, proved no exception. And from the +circumstances which exempted me from experiencing the bitterest of +these evils, I only the more felt for one who, from a strange +constitutional nervousness, before unknown even to himself, was become +as a hunted hare to the merciless crew.</P> +<P>But how was it that Harry Bolton, who spite of his effeminacy of +appearance, had evinced, in our London trip, such unmistakable flashes +of a spirit not easily tamed—how was it, that he could now yield +himself up to the almost passive reception of contumely and contempt? +Perhaps his spirit, for the time, had been broken. But I will not +undertake to explain; we are curious creatures, as every one knows; and +there are passages in the lives of all men, so out of keeping with the +common tenor of their ways, and so seemingly contradictory of +themselves, that only He who made us can expound them.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_52">LI. THE EMIGRANTS</A></H3> +<P>After the first miserable weather we experienced at sea, we had +intervals of foul and fair, mostly the former, however, attended with +head winds', till at last, after a three days' fog and rain, the sun +rose cheerily one morning, and showed us Cape Clear. Thank heaven, we +were out of the weather emphatically called <I>"Channel weather," </I> +and the last we should see of the eastern hemisphere was now in plain +sight, and all the rest was broad ocean.</P> +<P> +<I>Land ho!</I> was cried, as the dark purple headland grew out of the north. At +the cry, the Irish emigrants came rushing up the hatchway, thinking +America itself was at hand.</p> +<P>"Where is it?" cried one of them, running out a little way on the +bowsprit. "Is <I>that </I>it?"</P> +<P>"Aye, it doesn't look much like <I>ould </I>Ireland, does it?" said +Jackson.</P> +<P>"Not a bit, honey:—and how long before we get there? to-night?"</P> +<P>Nothing could exceed the disappointment and grief of the emigrants, +when they were at last informed, that the land to the north was their +own native island, which, after leaving three or four weeks previous in +a steamboat for Liverpool, was now close to them again; and that, after +newly voyaging so many days from the Mersey, the Highlander was only +bringing them in view of the original home whence they started.</P> +<P>They were the most simple people I had ever seen. They seemed to +have no adequate idea of distances; and to them, America must have +seemed as a place just over a river. Every morning some of them came on +deck, to see how much nearer we were: and one old man would stand for +hours together, looking straight off from the bows, as if he expected +to see New York city every minute, when, perhaps, we were yet two +thousand miles distant, and steering, moreover, against a head wind.</P> +<P>The only thing that ever diverted this poor old man from his earnest +search for land, was the occasional appearance of porpoises under the +bows; when he would cry out at the top of his voice—"Look, look, ye +divils! look at the great pigs of the sea!"</P> +<P>At last, the emigrants began to think, that the ship had played them +false; and that she was bound for the East Indies, or some other remote +place; and one night, Jackson set a report going among them, that Riga +purposed taking them to Barbary, and selling them all for slaves; but +though some of the old women almost believed it, and a great weeping +ensued among the children, yet the men knew better than to believe such +a ridiculous tale.</P> +<P>Of all the emigrants, my Italian boy Carlo, seemed most at his ease. +He would lie all day in a dreamy mood, sunning himself in the long +boat, and gazing out on the sea. At night, he would bring up his organ, +and play for several hours; much to the delight of his fellow voyagers, +who blessed him and his organ again and again; and paid him for his +music by furnishing him his meals. Sometimes, the steward would come +forward, when it happened to be very much of a moonlight, with a +message from the cabin, for Carlo to repair to the quarterdeck, and +entertain the gentlemen and ladies.</P> +<P>There was a fiddler on board, as will presently be seen; and +sometimes, by urgent entreaties, he was induced to unite his music with +Carlo's, for the benefit of the cabin occupants; but this was only +twice or thrice: for this fiddler deemed himself considerably elevated +above the other steerage-passengers; and did not much fancy the idea of +fiddling to strangers; and thus wear out his elbow, while persons, +entirely unknown to him, and in whose welfare he felt not the slightest +interest, were curveting about in famous high spirits. So for the most +part, the gentlemen and ladies were fain to dance as well as they could +to my little Italian's organ.</P> +<P>It was the most accommodating organ in the world; for it could play +any tune that was called for; Carlo pulling in and out the ivory knobs +at one side, and so manufacturing melody at pleasure.</P> +<P> +True, some censorious gentlemen cabin-passengers protested, that +such or such an air, was not precisely according to Handel or Mozart; +and some ladles, whom I overheard talking about throwing their nosegays +to Malibran at Covent Garden, assured the attentive Captain Riga, that +Carlo's organ was a most wretched affair, and made a horrible din.</P> +<P>"Yes, ladies," said the captain, bowing, "by your leave, I think +Carlo's organ must have lost its mother, for it squeals like a pig +running after its dam."</P> +<P>Harry was incensed at these criticisms; and yet these cabin-people +were all ready enough to dance to poor Carlo's music.</P> +<P>"Carlo"—said I, one night, as he was marching forward from the +quarter-deck, after one of these sea-quadrilles, which took place +during my watch on deck:—"Carlo"—said I, "what do the gentlemen and +ladies give you for playing?"</P> +<P>"Look!"—and he showed me three copper medals of Britannia and her +shield—three English pennies.</P> +<P>Now, whenever we discover a dislike in us, toward any one, we should +ever be a little suspicious of ourselves. It may be, therefore, that +the natural antipathy with which almost all seamen and +steerage-passengers, regard the inmates of the cabin, was one cause at +least, of my not feeling very charitably disposed toward them, myself.</P> +<P>Yes: that might have been; but nevertheless, I will let nature have +her own way for once; and here declare roundly, that, however it was, I +cherished a feeling toward these cabin-passengers, akin to contempt. +Not because they happened to be cabin-passengers: not at all: but only +because they seemed the most finical, miserly, mean men and women, that +ever stepped over the Atlantic.</P> +<P>One of them was an old fellow in a robust looking coat, with broad +skirts; he had a nose like a bottle of port-wine; and would stand for a +whole hour, with his legs straddling apart, and his hands deep down in +his breeches pockets, as if he had two mints at work there, coining +guineas. He was an abominable looking old fellow, with cold, fat, +jelly-like eyes; and avarice, heartlessness, and sensuality stamped all +over him. He seemed all the time going through some process of mental +arithmetic; doing sums with dollars and cents: his very mouth, wrinkled +and drawn up at the corners, looked like a purse. When he dies, his +skull ought to be turned into a savings box, with the till-hole between +his teeth.</P> +<P>Another of the cabin inmates, was a middle-aged Londoner, in a +comical Cockney-cut coat, with a pair of semicircular tails: so that he +looked as if he were sitting in a swing. He wore a spotted neckerchief; +a short, little, fiery-red vest; and striped pants, very thin in the +calf, but very full about the waist. There was nothing describable +about him but his dress; for he had such a meaningless face, I can not +remember it; though I have a vague impression, that it looked at the +time, as if its owner was laboring under the mumps.</P> +<P>Then there were two or three buckish looking young fellows, among +the rest; who were all the time playing at cards on the poop, under the +lee of the <I>spanker; </I>or smoking cigars on the taffrail; or sat +quizzing the emigrant women with opera-glasses, leveled through the +windows of the upper cabin. These sparks frequently called for the +steward to help them to brandy and water, and talked about going on to +Washington, to see Niagara Falls.</P> +<P>There was also an old gentleman, who had brought with him three or +four heavy files of the <I>London Times, </I>and other papers; and he +spent all his hours in reading them, on the shady side of the deck, +with one leg crossed over the other; and without crossed legs, he never +read at all. That was indispensable to the proper understanding of what +he studied. He growled terribly, when disturbed by the sailors, who now +and then were obliged to move him to get at the ropes.</P> +<P>As for the ladies, I have nothing to say concerning them; for ladies +are like creeds; if you can not speak well of them, say nothing.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_53">LII. THE EMIGRANTS' KITCHEN</A></H3> +<P>I have made some mention of the "galley," or great stove for the +steerage passengers, which was planted over the main hatches.</P> +<P>During the outward-bound passage, there were so few occupants of the +steerage, that they had abundant room to do their cooking at this +galley. But it was otherwise now; for we had four or five hundred in +the steerage; and all their cooking was to be done by one fire; a +pretty large one, to be sure, but, nevertheless, small enough, +considering the number to be accommodated, and the fact that the fire +was only to be kindled at certain hours.</P> +<P>For the emigrants in these ships are under a sort of martial-law; +and in all their affairs are regulated by the despotic ordinances of +the captain. And though it is evident, that to a certain extent this is +necessary, and even indispensable; yet, as at sea no appeal lies beyond +the captain, he too often makes unscrupulous use of his power. And as +for going to law with him at the end of the voyage, you might as well +go to law with the Czar of Russia.</P> +<P>At making the fire, the emigrants take turns; as it is often very +disagreeable work, owing to the pitching of the ship, and the heaving +of the spray over the uncovered "galley." Whenever I had the morning +watch, from four to eight, I was sure to see some poor fellow crawling +up from below about daybreak, and go to groping over the deck after +bits of rope-yarn, or tarred canvas, for kindling-stuff. And no sooner +would the fire be fairly made, than up came the old women, and men, and +children; each armed with an iron pot or saucepan; and invariably a +great tumult ensued, as to whose turn to cook came next; sometimes the +more quarrelsome would fight, and upset each other's pots and pans.</P> +<P>Once, an English lad came up with a little coffee-pot, which he +managed to crowd in between two pans. This done, he went below. Soon +after a great strapping Irishman, in knee-breeches and bare calves, +made his appearance; and eying the row of things on the fire, asked +whose coffee-pot that was; upon being told, he removed it, and put his +own in its place; saying something about that individual place +belonging to him; and with that, he turned aside.</P> +<P>Not long after, the boy came along again; and seeing his pot +removed, made a violent exclamation, and replaced it; which the +Irishman no sooner perceived, than he rushed at him, with his fists +doubled. The boy snatched up the boiling coffee, and spirted its +contents all about the fellow's bare legs; which incontinently began to +dance involuntary hornpipes and fandangoes, as a preliminary to giving +chase to the boy, who by this time, however, had decamped.</P> +<P>Many similar scenes occurred every day; nor did a single day pass, +but scores of the poor people got no chance whatever to do their +cooking.</P> +<P>This was bad enough; but it was a still more miserable thing, to see +these poor emigrants wrangling and fighting together for the want of +the most ordinary accommodations. But thus it is, that the very +hardships to which such beings are subjected, instead of uniting them, +only tends, by imbittering their tempers, to set them against each +other; and thus they themselves drive the strongest rivet into the +chain, by which their social superiors hold them subject.</P> +<P>It was with a most reluctant hand, that every evening in the second +dog-watch, at the mate's command, I would march up to the fire, and +giving notice to the assembled crowd, that the time was come to +extinguish it, would dash it out with my bucket of salt water; though +many, who had long waited for a chance to cook, had now to go away +disappointed.</P> +<P>The staple food of the Irish emigrants was oatmeal and water, boiled +into what is sometimes called <I>mush; </I>by the Dutch is known as <I> +supaan; </I>by sailors <I>burgoo; </I>by the New Englanders <I> +hasty-pudding; </I>in which hasty-pudding, by the way, the poet Barlow +found the materials for a sort of epic.</P> +<P>Some of the steerage passengers, however, were provided with +sea-biscuit, and other perennial food, that was eatable all the year +round, fire or no fire.</P> +<P>There were several, moreover, who seemed better to do in the world +than the rest; who were well furnished with hams, cheese, Bologna +sausages, Dutch herrings, alewives, and other delicacies adapted to the +contingencies of a voyager in the steerage.</P> +<P>There was a little old Englishman on board, who had been a grocer +ashore, whose greasy trunks seemed all pantries; and he was constantly +using himself for a cupboard, by transferring their contents into his +own interior. He was a little light of head, I always thought. He +particularly doated on his long strings of sausages; and would +sometimes take them out, and play with them, wreathing them round him, +like an Indian juggler with charmed snakes. What with this diversion, +and eating his cheese, and helping himself from an inexhaustible junk +bottle, and smoking his pipe, and meditating, this crack-pated grocer +made time jog along with him at a tolerably easy pace.</P> +<P>But by far the most considerable man in the steerage, in point of +pecuniary circumstances at least, was a slender little pale-faced +English tailor, who it seemed had engaged a passage for himself and +wife in some imaginary section of the ship, called the <I>second cabin, </I> +which was feigned to combine the comforts of the first cabin with the +cheapness of the steerage. But it turned out that this second cabin was +comprised in the after part of the steerage itself, with nothing +intervening but a name. So to his no small disgust, he found himself +herding with the rabble; and his complaints to the captain were +unheeded.</P> +<P>This luckless tailor was tormented the whole voyage by his wife, who +was young and handsome; just such a beauty as farmers'-boys fall in +love with; she had bright eyes, and red cheeks, and looked plump and +happy.</P> +<P>She was a sad coquette; and did not turn away, as she was bound to +do, from the dandy glances of the cabin bucks, who ogled her through +their double-barreled opera glasses. This enraged the tailor past +telling; he would remonstrate with his wife, and scold her; and lay his +matrimonial commands upon her, to go below instantly, out of sight. But +the lady was not to be tyrannized over; and so she told him. Meantime, +the bucks would be still framing her in their lenses, mightily enjoying +the fun. The last resources of the poor tailor would be, to start up, +and make a dash at the rogues, with clenched fists; but upon getting as +far as the mainmast, the mate would accost him from over the rope that +divided them, and beg leave to communicate the fact, that he could come +no further. This unfortunate tailor was also a fiddler; and when fairly +baited into desperation, would rush for his instrument, and try to get +rid of his wrath by playing the most savage, remorseless airs he could +think of.</P> +<P>While thus employed, perhaps his wife would accost him—</P> +<P>"Billy, my dear;" and lay her soft hand on his shoulder. </P> +<P>But Billy, he only fiddled harder.</P> +<P>"Billy, my love!"</P> +<P>The bow went faster and faster.</P> +<P>"Come, now, Billy, my dear little fellow, let's make it all up;" and +she bent over his knees, looking bewitchingly up at him, with her +irresistible eyes.</P> +<P>Down went fiddle and bow; and the couple would sit together for an +hour or two, as pleasant and affectionate as possible.</P> +<P>But the next day, the chances were, that the old feud would be +renewed, which was certain to be the case at the first glimpse of an +opera-glass from the cabin.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_54">LIII. THE HORATII AND CURIATII</A></H3> +<P>With a slight alteration, I might begin this chapter after the +manner of Livy, in the 24th section of his first book:—"It <I> +happened, that in each family were three twin brothers, between whom +there was little disparity in point of age or of strength."</I></P> +<P>Among the steerage passengers of the Highlander, were two women from +Armagh, in Ireland, widows and sisters, who had each three twin sons, +born, as they said, on the same day.</P> +<P>They were ten years old. Each three of these six cousins were as +like as the mutually reflected figures in a kaleidoscope; and like the +forms seen in a kaleidoscope, together, as well as separately, they +seemed to form a complete figure. But, though besides this fraternal +likeness, all six boys bore a strong cousin-german resemblance to each +other; yet, the O'Briens were in disposition quite the reverse of the +O'Regans. The former were a timid, silent trio, who used to revolve +around their mother's waist, and seldom quit the maternal orbit; +whereas, the O'Regans were "broths of boys," full of mischief and fun, +and given to all manner of devilment, like the tails of the comets.</P> +<P>Early every morning, Mrs. O'Regan emerged from the steerage, driving +her spirited twins before her, like a riotous herd of young steers; and +made her way to the capacious deck-tub, full of salt water, pumped up +from the sea, for the purpose of washing down the ship. Three splashes, +and the three boys were ducking and diving together in the brine; their +mother engaged in <I>shampooing </I>them, though it was haphazard sort +of work enough; a rub here, and a scrub there, as she could manage to +fasten on a stray limb.</P> +<P>"Pat, ye divil, hould still while I wash ye. Ah! but it's you, +Teddy, you rogue. Arrah, now, Mike, ye spalpeen, don't be mixing your +legs up with Pat's."</P> +<P>The little rascals, leaping and scrambling with delight, enjoyed the +sport mightily; while this indefatigable, but merry matron, manipulated +them all over, as if it were a matter of conscience.</P> +<P>Meanwhile, Mrs. O'Brien would be standing on the boatswain's +locker—or rope and tar-pot pantry in the vessel's bows —with a large +old quarto Bible, black with age, laid before her between the +knight-heads, and reading aloud to her three meek little lambs.</P> +<P>The sailors took much pleasure in the deck-tub performances of the +O'Regans, and greatly admired them always for their archness and +activity; but the tranquil O'Briens they did not fancy so much. More +especially they disliked the grave matron herself; hooded in rusty +black; and they had a bitter grudge against her book. To that, and the +incantations muttered over it, they ascribed the head winds that +haunted us; and Blunt, our Irish cockney, really believed that Mrs. +O'Brien purposely came on deck every morning, in order to secure a foul +wind for the next ensuing twenty-four hours.</P> +<P>At last, upon her coming forward one morning, Max the Dutchman +accosted her, saying he was sorry for it, but if she went between the +knight-heads again with her book, the crew would throw it overboard for +her.</P> +<P>Now, although contrasted in character, there existed a great warmth +of affection between the two families of twins, which upon this +occasion was curiously manifested.</P> +<P>Notwithstanding the rebuke and threat of the sailor, the widow +silently occupied her old place; and with her children clustering round +her, began her low, muttered reading, standing right in the extreme +bows of the ship, and slightly leaning over them, as if addressing the +multitudinous waves from a floating pulpit. Presently Max came behind +her, snatched the book from her hands, and threw it overboard. The +widow gave a wail, and her boys set up a cry. Their cousins, then +ducking in the water close by, at once saw the cause of the cry; and +springing from the tub, like so many dogs, seized Max by the legs, +biting and striking at him: which, the before timid little O'Briens no +sooner perceived, than they, too, threw themselves on the enemy, and +the amazed seaman found himself baited like a bull by all six boys.</P> +<P>And here it gives me joy to record one good thing on the part of the +mate. He saw the fray, and its beginning; and rushing forward, told Max +that he would harm the boys at his peril; while he cheered them on, as +if rejoiced at their giving the fellow such a tussle. At last Max, +sorely scratched, bit, pinched, and every way aggravated, though of +course without a serious bruise, cried out "enough!" and the assailants +were ordered to quit him; but though the three O'Briens obeyed, the +three O'Regans hung on to him like leeches, and had to be dragged off.</P> +<P>"There now, you rascal," cried the mate, "throw overboard another +Bible, and I'll send you after it without a bowline."</P> +<P>This event gave additional celebrity to the twins throughout the +vessel. That morning all six were invited to the quarter-deck, and +reviewed by the cabin-passengers, the ladies manifesting particular +interest in them, as they always do concerning twins, which some of +them show in public parks and gardens, by stopping to look at them, and +questioning their nurses.</P> +<P>"And were you all born at one time?" asked an old lady, letting her +eye run in wonder along the even file of white heads.</P> +<P>"Indeed, an' we were," said Teddy; "wasn't we, mother?"</P> +<P>Many more questions were asked and answered, when a collection was +taken up for their benefit among these magnanimous cabin-passengers, +which resulted in starting all six boys in the world with a penny +apiece.</P> +<P>I never could look at these little fellows without an inexplicable +feeling coming over me; and though there was nothing so very remarkable +or unprecedented about them, except the singular coincidence of two +sisters simultaneously making the world such a generous present; yet, +the mere fact of there being twins always seemed curious; in fact, to +me at least, all twins are prodigies; and still I hardly know why this +should be; for all of us in our own persons furnish numerous examples +of the same phenomenon. Are not our thumbs twins? A regular Castor and +Pollux? And all of our fingers? Are not our arms, hands, legs, feet, +eyes, ears, all twins; born at one birth, and as much alike as they +possibly can be?</P> +<P>Can it be, that the Greek grammarians invented their dual number for +the particular benefit of twins?</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_55">LIV. SOME SUPERIOR OLD NAIL-ROD AND <I> +PIG-TAIL</I></A></H3> +<P>It has been mentioned how advantageously my shipmates disposed of +their tobacco in Liverpool; but it is to be related how those nefarious +commercial speculations of theirs reduced them to sad extremities in +the end.</P> +<P>True to their improvident character, and seduced by the high prices +paid for the weed in England, they had there sold off by far the +greater portion of what tobacco they had; even inducing the mate to +surrender the portion he had secured under lock and key by command of +the Custom-house officers. So that when the crew were about two weeks +out, on the homeward-bound passage, it became sorrowfully evident that +tobacco was at a premium.</P> +<P>Now, one of the favorite pursuits of sailors during a dogwatch below +at sea is cards; and though they do not understand whist, cribbage, and +games of that kidney, yet they are adepts at what is called <I> +"High-low-Jack-and-the-game," </I>which name, indeed, has a Jackish and +nautical flavor. Their stakes are generally so many plugs of tobacco, +which, like rouleaux of guineas, are piled on their chests when they +play. Judge, then, the wicked zest with which the Highlander's crew now +shuffled and dealt the pack; and how the interest curiously and +invertedly increased, as the stakes necessarily became less and less; +and finally resolved themselves into <I>"chaws."</I></P> +<P>So absorbed, at last, did they become at this business, that some of +them, after being hard at work during a nightwatch on deck, would rob +themselves of rest below, in order to have a brush at the cards. And as +it is very difficult sleeping in the presence of gamblers; especially +if they chance to be sailors, whose conversation at all times is apt to +be boisterous; these fellows would often be driven out of the +forecastle by those who desired to rest. They were obliged to repair on +deck, and make a card-table of it; and invariably, in such cases, there +was a great deal of contention, a great many ungentlemanly charges of +nigging and cheating; and, now and then, a few parenthetical blows were +exchanged. </P> +<P>But this was not so much to be wondered at, seeing they could see +but very little, being provided with no light but that of a midnight +sky; and the cards, from long wear and rough usage, having become +exceedingly torn and tarry, so much so, that several members of the +four suits might have seceded from their respective clans, and formed +into a fifth tribe, under the name of <I>"Tar-spots."</I></P> +<P>Every day the tobacco grew scarcer and scarcer; till at last it +became necessary to adopt the greatest possible economy in its use. The +modicum constituting an ordinary <I>"chaw," </I>was made to last a +whole day; and at night, permission being had from the cook, this +self-same <I>"chaw" </I>was placed in the oven of the stove, and there +dried; so as to do duty in a pipe.</P> +<P>In the end not a plug was to be had; and deprived of a solace and a +stimulus, on which sailors so much rely while at sea, the crew became +absent, moody, and sadly tormented with the hypos. They were something +like opium-smokers, suddenly cut off from their drug. They would sit on +their chests, forlorn and moping; with a steadfast sadness, eying the +forecastle lamp, at which they had lighted so many a pleasant pipe. +With touching eloquence they recalled those happier evenings—the time +of smoke and vapor; when, after a whole day's delectable <I>"chawing," </I> +they beguiled themselves with their genial, and most companionable +puffs.</P> +<P>One night, when they seemed more than usually cast down and +disconsolate, Blunt, the Irish cockney, started up suddenly with an +idea in his head—"Boys, let's search under the bunks!" Bless you, +Blunt! what a happy conceit! Forthwith, the chests were dragged out; +the dark places explored; and two sticks of <I>nail-rod </I>tobacco, +and several old <I>"chaws," </I>thrown aside by sailors on some +previous voyage, were their cheering reward. They were impartially +divided by Jackson, who, upon this occasion, acquitted himself to the +satisfaction of all.</P> +<P>Their mode of dividing this tobacco was the rather curious one +generally adopted by sailors, when the highest possible degree of +impartiality is desirable. I will describe it, recommending its earnest +consideration to all heirs, who may hereafter divide an inheritance; +for if they adopted this nautical method, that universally slanderous +aphorism of Lavater would be forever rendered nugatory—"Expert <I>not +to understand any man till you have divided with him an inheritance."</I> +</P> +<P>The <I>nail-rods </I>they cut as evenly as possible into as many +parts as there were men to be supplied; and this operation having been +performed in the presence of all, Jackson, placing the tobacco before +him, his face to the wall, and back to the company, struck one of the +bits of weed with his knife, crying out, "Whose is this?" Whereupon a +respondent, previously pitched upon, replied, at a venture, from the +opposite corner of the forecastle, "Blunt's;" and to Blunt it went; and +so on, in like manner, till all were served.</P> +<P>I put it to you, lawyers—shade of Blackstone, I invoke you —if a +more impartial procedure could be imagined than this?</P> +<P>But the nail-rods and last-voyage <I>"chaws" </I>were soon gone, and +then, after a short interval of comparative gayety, the men again +drooped, and relapsed into gloom.</P> +<P>They soon hit upon an ingenious device, however—but not altogether +new among seamen—to allay the severity of the depression under which +they languished. Ropes were unstranded, and the yarns picked apart; +and, cut up into small bits, were used as a substitute for the weed. +Old ropes were preferred; especially those which had long lain in the +hold, and had contracted an epicurean dampness, making still richer +their ancient, cheese-like flavor.</P> +<P>In the middle of most large ropes, there is a straight, central +part, round which the exterior strands are twisted. When in picking +oakum, upon various occasions, I have chanced, among the old junk used +at such times, to light upon a fragment of this species of rope, I have +ever taken, I know not what kind of strange, nutty delight in +untwisting it slowly, and gradually coming upon its deftly hidden and +aromatic <I>"heart;" </I>for so this central piece is denominated.</P> +<P>It is generally of a rich, tawny, Indian hue, somewhat inclined to +luster; is exceedingly agreeable to the touch; diffuses a pungent odor, +as of an old dusty bottle of Port, newly opened above ground; and, +altogether, is an object which no man, who enjoys his dinners, could +refrain from hanging over, and caressing.</P> +<P>Nor is this delectable morsel of <I>old junk </I>wanting in many +interesting, mournful, and tragic suggestions. Who can say in what +gales it may have been; in what remote seas it may have sailed? How +many stout masts of seventy-fours and frigates it may have staid in the +tempest? How deep it may have lain, as a hawser, at the bottom of +strange harbors? What outlandish fish may have nibbled at it in the +water, and what un-catalogued sea-fowl may have pecked at it, when +forming part of a lofty stay or a shroud?</P> +<P>Now, this particular part of the rope, this nice little "cut" it +was, that among the sailors was the most eagerly sought after. And +getting hold of a foot or two of old cable, they would cut into it +lovingly, to see whether it had any <I>"tenderloin."</I></P> +<P>For my own part, nevertheless, I can not say that this tit-bit was +at all an agreeable one in the mouth; however pleasant to the sight of +an antiquary, or to the nose of an epicure in nautical fragrancies. +Indeed, though possibly I might have been mistaken, I thought it had +rather an astringent, acrid taste; probably induced by the tar, with +which the flavor of all ropes is more or less vitiated. But the sailors +seemed to like it, and at any rate nibbled at it with great gusto. They +converted one pocket of their trowsers into a junk-shop, and when +solicited by a shipmate for a <I>"chaw," </I>would produce a small coil +of rope.</P> +<P>Another device adopted to alleviate their hardships, was the +substitution of dried tea-leaves, in place of tobacco, for their pipes. +No one has ever supped in a forecastle at sea, without having been +struck by the prodigious residuum of tea-leaves, or cabbage stalks, in +his tin-pot of bohea. There was no lack of material to supply every +pipe-bowl among us.</P> +<P>I had almost forgotten to relate the most noteworthy thing in this +matter; namely, that notwithstanding the general scarcity of the +genuine weed, Jackson was provided with a supply; nor did it give out, +until very shortly previous to our arrival in port.</P> +<P>In the lowest depths of despair at the loss of their precious +solace, when the sailors would be seated inconsolable as the Babylonish +captives, Jackson would sit cross-legged in his bunk, which was an +upper one, and enveloped in a cloud of tobacco smoke, would look down +upon the mourners below, with a sardonic grin at their forlornness.</P> +<P>He recalled to mind their folly in selling for filthy lucre, their +supplies of the weed; he painted their stupidity; he enlarged upon the +sufferings they had brought upon themselves; he exaggerated those +sufferings, and every way derided, reproached, twitted, and hooted at +them. No one dared to return his scurrilous animadversions, nor did any +presume to ask him to relieve their necessities out of his fullness. On +the contrary, as has been just related, they divided with him the <I> +nail-rods </I>they found.</P> +<P>The extraordinary dominion of this one miserable Jackson, over +twelve or fourteen strong, healthy tars, is a riddle, whose solution +must be left to the philosophers.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_45">LV. DRAWING NIGH TO THE LAST +SCENE IN JACKSON'S CAREER</A></H3> +<P> +<B></B></P> +<P> +The closing allusion to Jackson in the chapter preceding, reminds me +of a circumstance—which, perhaps, should have been mentioned +before—that after we had been at sea about ten days, he pronounced +himself too unwell to do duty, and accordingly went below to his bunk. +And here, with the exception of a few brief intervals of sunning +himself in fine weather, he remained on his back, or seated +cross-legged, during the remainder of the homeward-bound passage.</P> +<P>Brooding there, in his infernal gloom, though nothing but a castaway +sailor in canvas trowsers, this man was still a picture, worthy to be +painted by the dark, moody hand of Salvator. In any of that master's +lowering sea-pieces, representing the desolate crags of Calabria, with +a midnight shipwreck in the distance, this Jackson's would have been +the face to paint for the doomed vessel's figurehead, seamed and +blasted by lightning.</P> +<P>Though the more sneaking and cowardly of my shipmates whispered +among themselves, that Jackson, sure of his wages, whether on duty or +off, was only feigning indisposition, nevertheless it was plain that, +from his excesses in Liverpool, the malady which had long fastened its +fangs in his flesh, was now gnawing into his vitals.</P> +<P>His cheek became thinner and yellower, and the bones projected like +those of a skull. His snaky eyes rolled in red sockets; nor could he +lift his hand without a violent tremor; while his racking cough many a +time startled us from sleep. Yet still in his tremulous grasp he swayed +his scepter, and ruled us all like a tyrant to the last.</P> +<P>The weaker and weaker he grew, the more outrageous became his +treatment of the crew. The prospect of the speedy and unshunable death +now before him, seemed to exasperate his misanthropic soul into +madness; and as if he had indeed sold it to Satan, he seemed determined +to die with a curse between his teeth. </P> +<P>I can never think of him, even now, reclining in his bunk, and with +short breaths panting out his maledictions, but I am reminded of that +misanthrope upon the throne of the world— the diabolical Tiberius at +Caprese; who even in his self-exile, imbittered by bodily pangs, and +unspeakable mental terrors only known to the damned on earth, yet did +not give over his blasphemies but endeavored to drag down with him to +his own perdition, all who came within the evil spell of his power. And +though Tiberius came in the succession of the Caesars, and though +unmatchable Tacitus has embalmed his carrion, yet do I account this +Yankee Jackson full as dignified a personage as he, and as well +meriting his lofty gallows in history; even though he was a nameless +vagabond without an epitaph, and none, but I, narrate what he was. For +there is no dignity in wickedness, whether in purple or rags; and hell +is a democracy of devils, where all are equals. There, Nero howls side +by side with his own malefactors. If Napoleon were truly but a martial +murderer, I pay him no more homage than I would a felon. Though +Milton's Satan dilutes our abhorrence with admiration, it is only +because he is not a genuine being, but something altered from a genuine +original. We gather not from the four gospels alone, any high-raised +fancies concerning this Satan; we only know him from thence as the +personification of the essence of evil, which, who but pickpockets and +burglars will admire? But this takes not from the merit of our +high-priest of poetry; it only enhances it, that with such unmitigated +evil for his material, he should build up his most goodly structure. +But in historically canonizing on earth the condemned below, and +lifting up and lauding the illustrious damned, we do but make examples +of wickedness; and call upon ambition to do some great iniquity, and be +sure of fame.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_56">LVI. UNDER THE LEE OF THE +LONG-BOAT, REDBURN AND HARRY HOLD CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNION</A></H3> +<P>A sweet thing is a song; and though the Hebrew captives hung their +harps on the willows, that they could not sing the melodies of +Palestine before the haughty beards of the Babylonians; yet, to +themselves, those melodies of other times and a distant land were as +sweet as the June dew on Hermon.</P> +<P>And poor Harry was as the Hebrews. He, too, had been carried away +captive, though his chief captor and foe was himself; and he, too, many +a night, was called upon to sing for those who through the day had +insulted and derided him.</P> +<P>His voice was just the voice to proceed from a small, silken person +like his; it was gentle and liquid, and meandered and tinkled through +the words of a song, like a musical brook that winds and wantons by +pied and pansied margins.</P> +<P> +"<I>I </I>can't sing to-night"—sadly said Harry to the Dutchman, who with +his watchmates requested him to while away the middle watch with his +melody—"I can't sing to-night. But, Wellingborough," he +whispered,—and I stooped my ear,— "come <I>you </I>with me under the +lee of the long-boat, and there I'll hum you an air." +<P>It was <I>The Banks of the Blue Moselle.</I></P> +<P>Poor, poor Harry! and a thousand times friendless and forlorn! To be +singing that thing, which was only meant to be warbled by falling +fountains in gardens, or in elegant alcoves in drawing-rooms,—to be +singing it <I>here—here, </I>as I live, under the tarry lee of our +long-boat.</P> +<P>But he sang, and sang, as I watched the waves, and peopled them all +with sprites, and cried <I>"chassez!" "hands across!" </I>to the +multitudinous quadrilles, all danced on the moonlit, musical floor.</P> +<P>But though it went so hard with my friend to sing his songs to this +ruffian crew, whom he hated, even in his dreams, till the foam flew +from his mouth while he slept; yet at last I prevailed upon him to +master his feelings, and make them subservient to his interests. For so +delighted, even with the rudest minstrelsy, are sailors, that I well +knew Harry possessed a spell over them, which, for the time at least, +they could not resist; and it might induce them to treat with more +deference the being who was capable of yielding them such delight. +Carlo's organ they did not so much care for; but the voice of my Bury +blade was an accordion in their ears.</P> +<P>So one night, on the windlass, he sat and sang; and from the ribald +jests so common to sailors, the men slid into silence at every verse. +Hushed, and more hushed they grew, till at last Harry sat among them +like Orpheus among the charmed leopards and tigers. Harmless now the +fangs with which they were wont to tear my zebra, and backward curled +in velvet paws; and fixed their once glaring eyes in fascinated and +fascinating brilliancy. Ay, still and hissingly all, for a time, they +relinquished their prey.</P> +<P>Now, during the voyage, the treatment of the crew threw Harry more +and more upon myself for companionship; and few can keep constant +company with another, without revealing some, at least, of their +secrets; for all of us yearn for sympathy, even if we do not for love; +and to be intellectually alone is a thing only tolerable to genius, +whose cherisher and inspirer is solitude.</P> +<P>But though my friend became more communicative concerning his past +career than ever he had been before, yet he did not make plain many +things in his hitherto but partly divulged history, which I was very +curious to know; and especially he never made the remotest allusion to +aught connected with our trip to London; while the oath of secrecy by +which he had bound me held my curiosity on that point a captive. +However, as it was, Harry made many very interesting disclosures; and +if he did not gratify me more in that respect, he atoned for it in a +measure, by dwelling upon the future, and the prospects, such as they +were, which the future held out to him.</P> +<P>He confessed that he had no money but a few shillings left from the +expenses of our return from London; that only by selling some more of +his clothing, could he pay for his first week's board in New York; and +that he was altogether without any regular profession or business, upon +which, by his own exertions, he could securely rely for support. And +yet, he told me that he was determined never again to return to +England; and that somewhere in America he must work out his temporal +felicity.</P> +<P>"I have forgotten England," he said, "and never more mean to think +of it; so tell me, Wellingborough, what am I to do in America?"</P> +<P>It was a puzzling question, and full of grief to me, who, young +though I was, had been well rubbed, curried, and ground down to fine +powder in the hopper of an evil fortune, and who therefore could +sympathize with one in similar circumstances. For though we may look +grave and behave kindly and considerately to a friend in calamity; yet, +if we have never actually experienced something like the woe that +weighs him down, we can not with the best grace proffer our sympathy. +And perhaps there is no true sympathy but between equals; and it may +be, that we should distrust that man's sincerity, who stoops to condole +with us.</P> +<P>So Harry and I, two friendless wanderers, beguiled many a long watch +by talking over our common affairs. But inefficient, as a benefactor, +as I certainly was; still, being an American, and returning to my home; +even as he was a stranger, and hurrying from his; therefore, I stood +toward him in the attitude of the prospective doer of the honors of my +country; I accounted him the nation's guest. Hence, I esteemed it more +befitting, that I should rather talk with him, than he with me: that <I> +his </I>prospects and plans should engage our attention, in preference +to my own.</P> +<P>Now, seeing that Harry was so brave a songster, and could sing such +bewitching airs: I suggested whether his musical talents could not be +turned to account. The thought struck him most favorably—"Gad, my boy, +you have hit it, you have," and then he went on to mention, that in +some places in England, it was customary for two or three young men of +highly respectable families, of undoubted antiquity, but unfortunately +in lamentably decayed circumstances, and thread-bare coats—it was +customary for two or three young gentlemen, so situated, to obtain +their livelihood by their voices: coining their silvery songs into +silvery shillings.</P> +<P>They wandered from door to door, and rang the bell—Are <I>the +ladies and gentlemen in? </I>Seeing them at least gentlemanly looking, +if not sumptuously appareled, the servant generally admitted them at +once; and when the people entered to greet them, their spokesman would +rise with a gentle bow, and a smile, and say, <I>We come, ladies and +gentlemen, to sing you a song: we are singers, at your service. </I>And +so, without waiting reply, forth they burst into song; and having most +mellifluous voices, enchanted and transported all auditors; so much so, +that at the conclusion of the entertainment, they very seldom failed to +be well recompensed, and departed with an invitation to return again, +and make the occupants of that dwelling once more delighted and happy.</P> +<P>"Could not something of this kind now, be done in New York?" said +Harry, "or are there no parlors with ladies in them, there?" he +anxiously added.</P> +<P>Again I assured him, as I had often done before, that New York was a +civilized and enlightened town; with a large population, fine streets, +fine houses, nay, plenty of omnibuses; and that for the most part, he +would almost think himself in England; so similar to England, in +essentials, was this outlandish America that haunted him.</P> +<P>I could not but be struck—and had I not been, from my birth, as it +were, a cosmopolite—I had been amazed at his skepticism with regard to +the civilization of my native land. A greater patriot than myself might +have resented his insinuations. He seemed to think that we Yankees +lived in wigwams, and wore bear-skins. After all, Harry was a spice of +a Cockney, and had shut up his Christendom in London.</P> +<P>Having then assured him, that I could see no reason, why he should +not play the troubadour in New York, as well as elsewhere; he suddenly +popped upon me the question, whether I would not join him in the +enterprise; as it would be quite out of the question to go alone on +such a business.</P> +<P>Said I, "My dear Bury, I have no more voice for a ditty, than a dumb +man has for an oration. Sing? Such Macadamized lungs have I, that I +think myself well off, that I can talk; let alone nightingaling."</P> +<P>So that plan was quashed; and by-and-by Harry began to give up the +idea of singing himself into a livelihood.</P> +<P>"No, I won't sing for my mutton," said he—"what would Lady +Georgiana say?"</P> +<P>"If I could see her ladyship once, I might tell you, Harry," +returned I, who did not exactly doubt him, but felt ill at ease for my +bosom friend's conscience, when he alluded to his various noble and +right honorable friends and relations.</P> +<P>"But surely, Bury, my friend, you must write a clerkly hand, among +your other accomplishments; and <I>that </I>at least, will be sure to +help you."</P> +<P>"I <I>do </I>write a hand," he gladly rejoined—"there, look at the +implement!—do you not think, that such a hand as <I>that </I>might dot +an <I>i, </I>or cross a <I>t, </I>with a touching grace and tenderness?"</P> +<P>Indeed, but it did betoken a most excellent penmanship. It was +small; and the fingers were long and thin; the knuckles softly rounded; +the nails hemispherical at the base; and the smooth palm furnishing few +characters for an Egyptian fortune-teller to read. It was not as the +sturdy farmer's hand of Cincinnatus, who followed the plough and guided +the state; but it was as the perfumed hand of Petronius Arbiter, that +elegant young buck of a Roman, who once cut great Seneca dead in the +forum.</P> +<P>His hand alone, would have entitled my Bury blade to the suffrages +of that Eastern potentate, who complimented Lord Byron upon his feline +fingers, declaring that they furnished indubitable evidence of his +noble birth. And so it did: for Lord Byron was as all the rest of +us—the son of a <I>man. </I>And so are the dainty-handed, and +wee-footed half-cast paupers in Lima; who, if their hands and feet were +entitled to consideration, would constitute the oligarchy of all Peru.</P> +<P>Folly and foolishness! to think that a gentleman is known by his +finger-nails, like Nebuchadnezzar, when his grew long in the pasture: +or that the badge of nobility is to be found in the smallness of the +foot, when even a fish has no foot at all!</P> +<P>Dandies! amputate yourselves, if you will; but know, and be assured, +oh, democrats, that, like a pyramid, a great man stands on a broad +base. It is only the brittle porcelain pagoda, that tottles on a toe.</P> +<P>But though Harry's hand was lady-like looking, and had once been +white as the queen's cambric handkerchief, and free from a stain as the +reputation of Diana; yet, his late pulling and hauling of halyards and +clew-lines, and his occasional dabbling in tar-pots and slush-shoes, +had somewhat subtracted from its original daintiness.</P> +<P>Often he ruefully eyed it.</P> +<P>Oh! hand! thought Harry, ah, hand! what have you come to? Is it +seemly, that you should be polluted with pitch, when you once handed +countesses to their coaches? Is <I>this </I>the hand I kissed to the +divine Georgiana? with which I pledged Lady Blessington, and ratified +my bond to Lord Lovely? <I>This </I>the hand that Georgiana clasped to +her bosom, when she vowed she was mine?—Out of sight, recreant and +apostate!—deep down—disappear in this foul monkey-jacket pocket where +I thrust you!</P> +<P>After many long conversations, it was at last pretty well decided, +that upon our arrival at New York, some means should be taken among my +few friends there, to get Harry a place in a mercantile house, where he +might flourish his pen, and gently exercise his delicate digits, by +traversing some soft foolscap; in the same way that slim, pallid ladies +are gently drawn through a park for an airing.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_57">LVII. ALMOST A FAMINE</A></H3> +<P>"Mammy! mammy! come and see the sailors eating out of little +troughs, just like our pigs at home." Thus exclaimed one of the +steerage children, who at dinner-time was peeping down into the +forecastle, where the crew were assembled, helping themselves from the +"kids," which, indeed, resemble hog-troughs not a little.</P> +<P>"Pigs, is it?" coughed Jackson, from his bunk, where he sat +presiding over the banquet, but not partaking, like a devil who had +lost his appetite by chewing sulphur.—"Pigs, is it?—and the day is +close by, ye spalpeens, when you'll want to be after taking a sup at +our troughs!"</P> +<P>This malicious prophecy proved true.</P> +<P>As day followed day without glimpse of shore or reef, and head winds +drove the ship back, as hounds a deer; the improvidence and +shortsightedness of the passengers in the steerage, with regard to +their outfits for the voyage, began to be followed by the inevitable +results.</P> +<P>Many of them at last went aft to the mate, saying that they had +nothing to eat, their provisions were expended, and they must be +supplied from the ship's stores, or starve.</P> +<P>This was told to the captain, who was obliged to issue a ukase from +the cabin, that every steerage passenger, whose destitution was +demonstrable, should be given one sea-biscuit and two potatoes a day; a +sort of substitute for a muffin and a brace of poached eggs.</P> +<P>But this scanty ration was quite insufficient to satisfy their +hunger: hardly enough to satisfy the necessities of a healthy adult. +The consequence was, that all day long, and all through the night, +scores of the emigrants went about the decks, seeking what they might +devour. They plundered the chicken-coop; and disguising the fowls, +cooked them at the public galley. They made inroads upon the pig-pen in +the boat, and carried off a promising young shoat: <I>him </I>they +devoured raw, not venturing to make an incognito of his carcass; they +prowled about the cook's caboose, till he threatened them with a ladle +of scalding water; they waylaid the steward on his regular excursions +from the cook to the cabin; they hung round the forecastle, to rob the +bread-barge; they beset the sailors, like beggars in the streets, +craving a mouthful in the name of the Church.</P> +<P>At length, to such excesses were they driven, that the Grand +Russian, Captain Riga, issued another ukase, and to this effect: +Whatsoever emigrant is found guilty of stealing, the same shall be tied +into the rigging and flogged.</P> +<P>Upon this, there were secret movements in the steerage, which almost +alarmed me for the safety of the ship; but nothing serious took place, +after all; and they even acquiesced in, or did not resent, a singular +punishment which the captain caused to be inflicted upon a culprit of +their clan, as a substitute for a flogging. For no doubt he thought +that such rigorous discipline as <I>that </I>might exasperate five +hundred emigrants into an insurrection.</P> +<P>A head was fitted to one of the large deck-tubs—the half of a cask; +and into this head a hole was cut; also, two smaller holes in the +bottom of the tub. The head—divided in the middle, across the diameter +of the orifice—was now fitted round the culprit's neck; and he was +forthwith coopered up into the tub, which rested on his shoulders, +while his legs protruded through the holes in the bottom.</P> +<P>It was a burden to carry; but the man could walk with it; and so +ridiculous was his appearance, that spite of the indignity, he himself +laughed with the rest at the figure he cut.</P> +<P>"Now, Pat, my boy," said the mate, "fill that big wooden belly of +yours, if you can."</P> +<P>Compassionating his situation, our old "doctor" used to give him +alms of food, placing it upon the cask-head before him; till at last, +when the time for deliverance came, Pat protested against mercy, and +would fain have continued playing Diogenes in the tub for the rest of +this starving voyage.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_58">LVIII. THOUGH THE HIGHLANDER PUTS +INTO NO HARBOR AS YET; SHE HERE AND THERE LEAVES MANY OF HER PASSENGERS +BEHIND</A></H3> +<P>Although fast-sailing ships, blest with prosperous breezes, have +frequently made the run across the Atlantic in eighteen days; yet, it +is not uncommon for other vessels to be forty, or fifty, and even +sixty, seventy, eighty, and ninety days, in making the same passage. +Though in the latter cases, some signal calamity or incapacity must +occasion so great a detention. It is also true, that generally the +passage out from America is shorter than the return; which is to be +ascribed to the prevalence of westerly winds.</P> +<P>We had been outside of Cape Clear upward of twenty days, still +harassed by head-winds, though with pleasant weather upon the whole, +when we were visited by a succession of rain storms, which lasted the +greater part of a week.</P> +<P>During the interval, the emigrants were obliged to remain below; but +this was nothing strange to some of them; who, not recovering, while at +sea, from their first attack of seasickness, seldom or never made their +appearance on deck, during the entire passage.</P> +<P>During the week, now in question, fire was only once made in the +public galley. This occasioned a good deal of domestic work to be done +in the steerage, which otherwise would have been done in the open air. +When the lulls of the rain-storms would intervene, some unusually +cleanly emigrant would climb to the deck, with a bucket of slops, to +toss into the sea. No experience seemed sufficient to instruct some of +these ignorant people in the simplest, and most elemental principles of +ocean-life. Spite of all lectures on the subject, several would +continue to shun the leeward side of the vessel, with their slops. One +morning, when it was blowing very fresh, a simple fellow pitched over a +gallon or two of something to windward. Instantly it flew back in his +face; and also, in the face of the chief mate, who happened to be +standing by at the time. The offender was collared, and shaken on the +spot; and ironically commanded, never, for the future, to throw any +thing to windward at sea, but fine ashes and scalding hot water.</P> +<P>During the frequent <I>hard blows </I>we experienced, the hatchways +on the steerage were, at intervals, hermetically closed; sealing down +in their noisome den, those scores of human beings. It was something to +be marveled at, that the shocking fate, which, but a short time ago, +overtook the poor passengers in a Liverpool steamer in the Channel, +during similar stormy weather, and under similar treatment, did not +overtake some of the emigrants of the Highlander.</P> +<P>Nevertheless, it was, beyond question, this noisome confinement in +so close, unventilated, and crowded a den: joined to the deprivation of +sufficient food, from which many were suffering; which, helped by their +personal uncleanliness, brought on a malignant fever.</P> +<P>The first report was, that two persons were affected. No sooner was +it known, than the mate promptly repaired to the medicine-chest in the +cabin: and with the remedies deemed suitable, descended into the +steerage. But the medicines proved of no avail; the invalids rapidly +grew worse; and two more of the emigrants became infected.</P> +<P>Upon this, the captain himself went to see them; and returning, +sought out a certain alleged physician among the cabin-passengers; +begging him to wait upon the sufferers; hinting that, thereby, he might +prevent the disease from extending into the cabin itself. But this +person denied being a physician; and from fear of contagion—though he +did not confess that to be the motive—refused even to enter the +steerage. The cases increased: the utmost alarm spread through the +ship: and scenes ensued, over which, for the most part, a veil must be +drawn; for such is the fastidiousness of some readers, that, many +times, they must lose the most striking incidents in a narrative like +mine.</P> +<P>Many of the panic-stricken emigrants would fain now have domiciled +on deck; but being so scantily clothed, the wretched weather—wet, +cold, and tempestuous—drove the best part of them again below. Yet any +other human beings, perhaps, would rather have faced the most +outrageous storm, than continued to breathe the pestilent air of the +steerage. But some of these poor people must have been so used to the +most abasing calamities, that the atmosphere of a lazar-house almost +seemed their natural air.</P> +<P>The first four cases happened to be in adjoining bunks; and the +emigrants who slept in the farther part of the steerage, threw up a +barricade in front of those bunks; so as to cut off communication. But +this was no sooner reported to the captain, than he ordered it to be +thrown down; since it could be of no possible benefit; but would only +make still worse, what was already direful enough.</P> +<P>It was not till after a good deal of mingled threatening and +coaxing, that the mate succeeded in getting the sailors below, to +accomplish the captain's order.</P> +<P>The sight that greeted us, upon entering, was wretched indeed. It +was like entering a crowded jail. From the rows of rude bunks, hundreds +of meager, begrimed faces were turned upon us; while seated upon the +chests, were scores of unshaven men, smoking tea-leaves, and creating a +suffocating vapor. But this vapor was better than the native air of the +place, which from almost unbelievable causes, was fetid in the extreme. +In every corner, the females were huddled together, weeping and +lamenting; children were asking bread from their mothers, who had none +to give; and old men, seated upon the floor, were leaning back against +the heads of the water-casks, with closed eyes and fetching their +breath with a gasp.</P> +<P>At one end of the place was seen the barricade, hiding the invalids; +while—notwithstanding the crowd—in front of it was a clear area, +which the fear of contagion had left open.</P> +<P>"That bulkhead must come down," cried the mate, in a voice that rose +above the din. "Take hold of it, boys."</P> +<P>But hardly had we touched the chests composing it, when a crowd of +pale-faced, infuriated men rushed up; and with terrific howls, swore +they would slay us, if we did not desist.</P> +<P>"Haul it down!" roared the mate.</P> +<P>But the sailors fell back, murmuring something about merchant seamen +having no pensions in case of being maimed, and they had not shipped to +fight fifty to one. Further efforts were made by the mate, who at last +had recourse to entreaty; but it would not do; and we were obliged to +depart, without achieving our object.</P> +<P>About four o'clock that morning, the first four died. They were all +men; and the scenes which ensued were frantic in the extreme. +Certainly, the bottomless profound of the sea, over which we were +sailing, concealed nothing more frightful.</P> +<P>Orders were at once passed to bury the dead. But this was +unnecessary. By their own countrymen, they were torn from the clasp of +their wives, rolled in their own bedding, with ballast-stones, and with +hurried rites, were dropped into the ocean.</P> +<P>At this time, ten more men had caught the disease; and with a degree +of devotion worthy all praise, the mate attended them with his +medicines; but the captain did not again go down to them.</P> +<P>It was all-important now that the steerage should be purified; and +had it not been for the rains and squalls, which would have made it +madness to turn such a number of women and children upon the wet and +unsheltered decks, the steerage passengers would have been ordered +above, and their den have been given a thorough cleansing. But, for the +present, this was out of the question. The sailors peremptorily refused +to go among the defilements to remove them; and so besotted were the +greater part of the emigrants themselves, that though the necessity of +the case was forcibly painted to them, they would not lift a hand to +assist in what seemed their own salvation.</P> +<P>The panic in the cabin was now very great; and for fear of contagion +to themselves, the cabin passengers would fain have made a prisoner of +the captain, to prevent him from going forward beyond the mainmast. +Their clamors at last induced him to tell the two mates, that for the +present they must sleep and take their meals elsewhere than in their +old quarters, which communicated with the cabin.</P> +<P>On land, a pestilence is fearful enough; but there, many can flee +from an infected city; whereas, in a ship, you are locked and bolted in +the very hospital itself. Nor is there any possibility of escape from +it; and in so small and crowded a place, no precaution can effectually +guard against contagion.</P> +<P>Horrible as the sights of the steerage now were, the cabin, perhaps, +presented a scene equally despairing. Many, who had seldom prayed +before, now implored the merciful heavens, night and day, for fair +winds and fine weather. Trunks were opened for Bibles; and at last, +even prayer-meetings were held over the very table across which the +loud jest had been so often heard.</P> +<P>Strange, though almost universal, that the seemingly nearer prospect +of that death which any body at any time may die, should produce these +spasmodic devotions, when an everlasting Asiatic Cholera is forever +thinning our ranks; and die by death we all must at last.</P> +<P>On the second day, seven died, one of whom was the little tailor; on +the third, four; on the fourth, six, of whom one was the Greenland +sailor, and another, a woman in the cabin, whose death, however, was +afterward supposed to have been purely induced by her fears. These last +deaths brought the panic to its height; and sailors, officers, +cabin-passengers, and emigrants—all looked upon each other like +lepers. All but the only true leper among us—the mariner Jackson, who +seemed elated with the thought, that for <I>him—</I>already in the +deadly clutches of another disease—no danger was to be apprehended +from a fever which only swept off the comparatively healthy. Thus, in +the midst of the despair of the healthful, this incurable invalid was +not cast down; not, at least, by the same considerations that appalled +the rest.</P> +<P>And still, beneath a gray, gloomy sky, the doomed craft beat on; now +on this tack, now on that; battling against hostile blasts, and +drenched in rain and spray; scarcely making an inch of progress toward +her port.</P> +<P>On the sixth morning, the weather merged into a gale, to which we +stripped our ship to a storm-stay-sail. In ten hours' time, the waves +ran in mountains; and the Highlander rose and fell like some vast buoy +on the water. Shrieks and lamentations were driven to leeward, and +drowned in the roar of the wind among the cordage; while we gave to the +gale the blackened bodies of five more of the dead.</P> +<P>But as the dying departed, the places of two of them were filled in +the rolls of humanity, by the birth of two infants, whom the plague, +panic, and gale had hurried into the world before their time. The first +cry of one of these infants, was almost simultaneous with the splash of +its father's body in the sea. Thus we come and we go. But, surrounded +by death, both mothers and babes survived.</P> +<P>At midnight, the wind went down; leaving a long, rolling sea; and, +for the first time in a week, a clear, starry sky.</P> +<P>In the first morning-watch, I sat with Harry on the windlass, +watching the billows; which, seen in the night, seemed real hills, upon +which fortresses might have been built; and real valleys, in which +villages, and groves, and gardens, might have nestled. It was like a +landscape in Switzerland; for down into those dark, purple glens, often +tumbled the white foam of the wave-crests, like avalanches; while the +seething and boiling that ensued, seemed the swallowing up of human +beings.</P> +<P>By the afternoon of the next day this heavy sea subsided; and we +bore down on the waves, with all our canvas set; stun'-sails alow and +aloft; and our best steersman at the helm; the captain himself at his +elbow;—bowling along, with a fair, cheering breeze over the taffrail.</P> +<P>The decks were cleared, and swabbed bone-dry; and then, all the +emigrants who were not invalids, poured themselves out on deck, +snuffing the delightful air, spreading their damp bedding in the sun, +and regaling themselves with the generous charity of the captain, who +of late had seen fit to increase their allowance of food. A detachment +of them now joined a band of the crew, who proceeding into the +steerage, with buckets and brooms, gave it a thorough cleansing, +sending on deck, I know not how many bucketsful of defilements. It was +more like cleaning out a stable, than a retreat for men and women. This +day we buried three; the next day one, and then the pestilence left us, +with seven convalescent; who, placed near the opening of the hatchway, +soon rallied under the skillful treatment, and even tender care of the +mate.</P> +<P>But even under this favorable turn of affairs, much apprehension was +still entertained, lest in crossing the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, +the fogs, so generally encountered there, might bring on a return of +the fever. But, to the joy of all hands, our fair wind still held on; +and we made a rapid run across these dreaded shoals, and southward +steered for New York.</P> +<P>Our days were now fair and mild, and though the wind abated, yet we +still ran our course over a pleasant sea. The steerage-passengers—at +least by far the greater number—wore a still, subdued aspect, though a +little cheered by the genial air, and the hopeful thought of soon +reaching their port. But those who had lost fathers, husbands, wives, +or children, needed no crape, to reveal to others, who they were. Hard +and bitter indeed was their lot; for with the poor and desolate, grief +is no indulgence of mere sentiment, however sincere, but a gnawing +reality, that eats into their vital beings; they have no kind +condolers, and bland physicians, and troops of sympathizing friends; +and they must toil, though to-morrow be the burial, and their +pallbearers throw down the hammer to lift up the coffin.</P> +<P>How, then, with these emigrants, who, three thousand miles from +home, suddenly found themselves deprived of brothers and husbands, with +but a few pounds, or perhaps but a few shillings, to buy food in a +strange land?</P> +<P>As for the passengers in the cabin, who now so jocund as they? +drawing nigh, with their long purses and goodly portmanteaus to the +promised land, without fear of fate. One and all were generous and gay, +the jelly-eyed old gentleman, before spoken of, gave a shilling to the +steward.</P> +<P>The lady who had died, was an elderly person, an American, returning +from a visit to an only brother in London. She had no friend or +relative on board, hence, as there is little mourning for a stranger +dying among strangers, her memory had been buried with her body.</P> +<P>But the thing most worthy of note among these now light-hearted +people in feathers, was the gay way in which some of them bantered +others, upon the panic into which nearly all had been thrown.</P> +<P>And since, if the extremest fear of a crowd in a panic of peril, +proves grounded on causes sufficient, they must then indeed come to +perish;—therefore it is, that at such times they must make up their +minds either to die, or else survive to be taunted by their fellow-men +with their fear. For except in extraordinary instances of exposure, +there are few living men, who, at bottom, are not very slow to admit +that any other living men have ever been very much nearer death than +themselves. Accordingly, <I>craven </I>is the phrase too often applied +to any one who, with however good reason, has been appalled at the +prospect of sudden death, and yet lived to escape it. Though, should he +have perished in conformity with his fears, not a syllable of <I>craven </I> +would you hear. This is the language of one, who more than once has +beheld the scenes, whence these principles have been deduced. The +subject invites much subtle speculation; for in every being's ideas of +death, and his behavior when it suddenly menaces him, lies the best +index to his life and his faith. Though the Christian era had not then +begun, Socrates died the death of the Christian; and though Hume was +not a Christian in theory, yet he, too, died the death of the +Christian,—humble, composed, without bravado; and though the most +skeptical of philosophical skeptics, yet full of that firm, creedless +faith, that embraces the spheres. Seneca died dictating to posterity; +Petronius lightly discoursing of essences and love-songs; and Addison, +calling upon Christendom to behold how calmly a Christian could die; +but not even the last of these three, perhaps, died the best death of +the Christian.</P> +<P>The cabin passenger who had used to read prayers while the rest +kneeled against the transoms and settees, was one of the merry young +sparks, who had occasioned such agonies of jealousy to the poor tailor, +now no more. In his rakish vest, and dangling watch-chain, this same +youth, with all the awfulness of fear, had led the earnest petitions of +his companions; supplicating mercy, where before he had never solicited +the slightest favor. More than once had he been seen thus engaged by +the observant steersman at the helm: who looked through the little +glass in the cabin bulk-head.</P> +<P>But this youth was an April man; the storm had departed; and now he +shone in the sun, none braver than he.</P> +<P>One of his jovial companions ironically advised him to enter into +holy orders upon his arrival in New York.</P> +<P>"Why so?" said the other, "have I such an orotund voice?"</P> +<P>"No;" profanely returned his friend—"but you are a coward —just +the man to be a parson, and pray."</P> +<P>However this narrative of the circumstances attending the fever +among the emigrants on the Highland may appear; and though these things +happened so long ago; yet just such events, nevertheless, are perhaps +taking place to-day. But the only account you obtain of such events, is +generally contained in a newspaper paragraph, under the shipping-head. <I> +There </I>is the obituary of the destitute dead, who die on the sea. +They die, like the billows that break on the shore, and no more are +heard or seen. But in the events, thus merely initialized in the +catalogue of passing occurrences, and but glanced at by the readers of +news, who are more taken up with paragraphs of fuller flavor; what a +world of Me and death, what a world of humanity and its woes, lies +shrunk into a three-worded sentence!</P> +<P>You see no plague-ship driving through a stormy sea; you hear no +groans of despair; you see no corpses thrown over the bulwarks; you +mark not the wringing hands and torn hair of widows and orphans:—all +is a blank. And one of these blanks I have but filled up, in recounting +the details of the Highlander's calamity.</P> +<P>Besides that natural tendency, which hurries into oblivion the last +woes of the poor; other causes combine to suppress the detailed +circumstances of disasters like these. Such things, if widely known, +operate unfavorably to the ship, and make her a bad name; and to avoid +detention at quarantine, a captain will state the case in the most +palliating light, and strive to hush it up, as much as he can.</P> +<P>In no better place than this, perhaps, can a few words be said, +concerning emigrant ships in general.</P> +<P>Let us waive that agitated national topic, as to whether such +multitudes of foreign poor should be landed on our American shores; let +us waive it, with the one only thought, that if they can get here, they +have God's right to come; though they bring all Ireland and her +miseries with them. For the whole world is the patrimony of the whole +world; there is no telling who does not own a stone in the Great Wall +of China. But we waive all this; and will only consider, how best the +emigrants can come hither, since come they do, and come they must and +will.</P> +<P>Of late, a law has been passed in Congress, restricting ships to a +certain number of emigrants, according to a certain rate. If this law +were enforced, much good might be done; and so also might much good be +done, were the English law likewise enforced, concerning the fixed +supply of food for every emigrant embarking from Liverpool. But it is +hardly to be believed, that either of these laws is observed.</P> +<P>But in all respects, no legislation, even nominally, reaches the +hard lot of the emigrant. What ordinance makes it obligatory upon the +captain of a ship, to supply the steerage-passengers with decent +lodgings, and give them light and air in that foul den, where they are +immured, during a long voyage across the Atlantic? What ordinance +necessitates him to place the <I>galley, </I>or steerage-passengers' +stove, in a dry place of shelter, where the emigrants can do their +cooking during a storm, or wet weather? What ordinance obliges him to +give them more room on deck, and let them have an occasional run fore +and aft?—There is no law concerning these things. And if there was, +who but some Howard in office would see it enforced? and how seldom is +there a Howard in office!</P> +<P>We talk of the Turks, and abhor the cannibals; but may not some of <I> +them, </I>go to heaven, before some of <I>us? </I>We may have civilized +bodies and yet barbarous souls. We are blind to the real sights of this +world; deaf to its voice; and dead to its death. And not till we know, +that one grief outweighs ten thousand joys, will we become what +Christianity is striving to make us.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_59">LIX. THE LAST END OF JACKSON</A></H3> +<P>"Off Cape Cod!" said the steward, coming forward from the +quarter-deck, where the captain had just been taking his noon +observation; sweeping the vast horizon with his quadrant, like a dandy +circumnavigating the dress-circle of an amphitheater with his glass.</P> +<P> +<I>Off Cape Cod!</I></P> +<p> +and in the shore-bloom that came to us— even from that desert of +sand-hillocks—methought I could almost distinguish the fragrance of +the rose-bush my sisters and I had planted, in our far inland garden at +home. Delicious odors are those of our mother Earth; which like a +flower-pot set with a thousand shrubs, greets the eager voyager from +afar.</p> +<P>The breeze was stiff, and so drove us along that we turned over two +broad, blue furrows from our bows, as we plowed the watery prairie. By +night it was a reef-topsail-breeze; but so impatient was the captain to +make his port before a shift of wind overtook us, that even yet we +carried a main-topgallant-sail, though the light mast sprung like a +switch.</P> +<P>In the second dog-watch, however, the breeze became such, that at +last the order was given to douse the top-gallant-sail, and clap a reef +into all three top-sails.</P> +<P>While the men were settling away the halyards on deck, and before +they had begun to haul out the reef-tackles, to the surprise of +several, Jackson came up from the forecastle, and, for the first time +in four weeks or more, took hold of a rope.</P> +<P>Like most seamen, who during the greater part of a voyage, have been +off duty from sickness, he was, perhaps, desirous, just previous to +entering port, of reminding the captain of his existence, and also that +he expected his wages; but, alas! his wages proved the wages of sin.</P> +<P>At no time could he better signalize his disposition to work, than +upon an occasion like the present; which generally attracts every soul +on deck, from the captain to the child in the steerage.</P> +<P>His aspect was damp and death-like; the blue hollows of his eyes +were like vaults full of snakes; and issuing so unexpectedly from his +dark tomb in the forecastle, he looked like a man raised from the dead.</P> +<P>Before the sailors had made fast the reef-tackle, Jackson was +tottering up the rigging; thus getting the start of them, and securing +his place at the extreme weather-end of the topsail-yard—which in +reefing is accounted the post of honor. For it was one of the +characteristics of this man, that though when on duty he would shy away +from mere dull work in a calm, yet in tempest-time he always claimed +the van, and would yield it to none; and this, perhaps, was one cause +of his unbounded dominion over the men.</P> +<P>Soon, we were all strung along the main-topsail-yard; the ship +rearing and plunging under us, like a runaway steed; each man gripping +his reef-point, and sideways leaning, dragging the sail over toward +Jackson, whose business it was to confine the reef corner to the yard.</P> +<P>His hat and shoes were off; and he rode the yard-arm end, leaning +backward to the gale, and pulling at the earing-rope, like a bridle. At +all times, this is a moment of frantic exertion with sailors, whose +spirits seem then to partake of the commotion of the elements, as they +hang in the gale, between heaven and earth; and <I>then </I>it is, too, +that they are the most profane.</P> +<P>"Haul out to windward!" coughed Jackson, with a blasphemous cry, and +he threw himself back with a violent strain upon the bridle in his +hand. But the wild words were hardly out of his mouth, when his hands +dropped to his side, and the bellying sail was spattered with a torrent +of blood from his lungs.</P> +<P>As the man next him stretched out his arm to save, Jackson fell +headlong from the yard, and with a long seethe, plunged like a diver +into the sea.</P> +<P>It was when the ship had rolled to windward, which, with the long +projection of the yard-arm over the side, made him strike far out upon +the water. His fall was seen by the whole upward-gazing crowd on deck, +some of whom were spotted with the blood that trickled from the sail, +while they raised a spontaneous cry, so shrill and wild, that a blind +man might have known something deadly had happened.</P> +<P>Clutching our reef-points, we hung over the stick, and gazed down to +the one white, bubbling spot, which had closed over the head of our +shipmate; but the next minute it was brewed into the common yeast of +the waves, and Jackson never arose. We waited a few minutes, expecting +an order to descend, haul back the fore-yard, and man the boat; but +instead of that, the next sound that greeted us was, "Bear a hand, and +reef away, men!" from the mate.</P> +<P>Indeed, upon reflection, it would have been idle to attempt to save +Jackson; for besides that he must have been dead, ere he struck the +sea—and if he had not been dead then, the first immersion must have +driven his soul from his lacerated lungs —our jolly-boat would have +taken full fifteen minutes to launch into the waves.</P> +<P>And here it should be said, that the thoughtless security in which +too many sea-captains indulge, would, in case of some sudden disaster +befalling the Highlander, have let us all drop into our graves.</P> +<P>Like most merchant ships, we had but two boats: the longboat and the +jolly-boat. The long boat, by far the largest and stoutest of the two, +was permanently bolted down to the deck, by iron bars attached to its +sides. It was almost as much of a fixture as the vessel's keel. It was +filled with pigs, fowls, firewood, and coals. Over this the jolly-boat +was capsized without a <I>thole-pin </I>in the gunwales; its bottom +bleaching and cracking in the sun.</P> +<P>Judge, then, what promise of salvation for us, had we shipwrecked; +yet in this state, one merchant ship out of three, keeps its boats. To +be sure, no vessel full of emigrants, by any possible precautions, +could in case of a fatal disaster at sea, hope to save the tenth part +of the souls on board; yet provision should certainly be made for a +handful of survivors, to carry home the tidings of her loss; for even +in the worst of the calamities that befell patient Job, some <I>one </I> +at least of his servants escaped to report it.</P> +<P>In a way that I never could fully account for, the sailors, in my +hearing at least, and Harry's, never made the slightest allusion to the +departed Jackson. One and all they seemed tacitly to unite in hushing +up his memory among them. Whether it was, that the severity of the +bondage under which this man held every one of them, did really corrode +in their secret hearts, that they thought to repress the recollection +of a thing so degrading, I can not determine; but certain it was, that <I> +his </I>death was <I>their </I>deliverance; which they celebrated by an +elevation of spirits, unknown before. Doubtless, this was to be in part +imputed, however, to their now drawing near to their port.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_60">LX. HOME AT LAST</A></H3> +<P>Next day was Sunday; and the mid-day sun shone upon a glassy sea.</P> +<P>After the uproar of the breeze and the gale, this profound, +pervading calm seemed suited to the tranquil spirit of a day, which, in +godly towns, makes quiet vistas of the most tumultuous thoroughfares.</P> +<P>The ship lay gently rolling in the soft, subdued ocean swell; while +all around were faint white spots; and nearer to, broad, milky patches, +betokening the vicinity of scores of ships, all bound to one common +port, and tranced in one common calm. Here the long, devious wakes from +Europe, Africa, India, and Peru converged to a line, which braided them +all in one.</P> +<P>Full before us quivered and danced, in the noon-day heat and +mid-air, the green heights of New Jersey; and by an optical delusion, +the blue sea seemed to flow under them.</P> +<P>The sailors whistled and whistled for a wind; the impatient +cabin-passengers were arrayed in their best; and the emigrants +clustered around the bows, with eyes intent upon the long-sought land.</P> +<P>But leaning over, in a reverie, against the side, my Carlo gazed +down into the calm, violet sea, as if it were an eye that answered his +own; and turning to Harry, said, "This America's skies must be down in +the sea; for, looking down in this water, I behold what, in Italy, we +also behold overhead. Ah! after all, I find my Italy somewhere, +wherever I go. I even found it in rainy Liverpool."</P> +<P>Presently, up came a dainty breeze, wafting to us a white wing from +the shore—the pilot-boat! Soon a monkey-jacket mounted the side, and +was beset by the captain and cabin people for news. And out of +bottomless pockets came bundles of newspapers, which were eagerly +caught by the throng.</P> +<P>The captain now abdicated in the pilot's favor, who proved to be a +tiger of a fellow, keeping us hard at work, pulling and hauling the +braces, and trimming the ship, to catch the least <I>cat's-paw </I>of +wind.</P> +<P>When, among sea-worn people, a strange man from shore suddenly +stands among them, with the smell of the land in his beard, it conveys +a realization of the vicinity of the green grass, that not even the +distant sight of the shore itself can transcend.</P> +<P>The steerage was now as a bedlam; trunks and chests were locked and +tied round with ropes; and a general washing and rinsing of faces and +hands was beheld. While this was going on, forth came an order from the +quarter-deck, for every bed, blanket, bolster, and bundle of straw in +the steerage to be committed to the deep.—A command that was received +by the emigrants with dismay, and then with wrath. But they were +assured, that this was indispensable to the getting rid of an otherwise +long detention of some weeks at the quarantine. They therefore +reluctantly complied; and overboard went pallet and pillow. Following +them, went old pots and pans, bottles and baskets. So, all around, the +sea was strewn with stuffed bed-ticks, that limberly floated on the +waves—couches for all mermaids who were not fastidious. Numberless +things of this sort, tossed overboard from emigrant ships nearing the +harbor of New York, drift in through the Narrows, and are deposited on +the shores of Staten Island; along whose eastern beach I have often +walked, and speculated upon the broken jugs, torn pillows, and +dilapidated baskets at my feet.</P> +<P>A second order was now passed for the emigrants to muster their +forces, and give the steerage a final, thorough cleaning with sand and +water. And to this they were incited by the same warning which had +induced them to make an offering to Neptune of their bedding. The place +was then fumigated, and dried with pans of coals from the galley; so +that by evening, no stranger would have imagined, from her appearance, +that the Highlander had made otherwise than a tidy and prosperous +voyage. Thus, some sea-captains take good heed that benevolent citizens +shall not get a glimpse of the true condition of the steerage while at +sea.</P> +<P>That night it again fell calm; but next morning, though the wind was +somewhat against us, we set sail for the Narrows; and making short +tacks, at last ran through, almost bringing our jib-boom over one of +the forts.</P> +<P>An early shower had refreshed the woods and fields, that glowed with +a glorious green; and to our salted lungs, the land breeze was spiced +with aromas. The steerage passengers almost neighed with delight, like +horses brought back to spring pastures; and every eye and ear in the +Highlander was full of the glad sights and sounds of the shore.</P> +<P>No more did we think of the gale and the plague; nor turn our eyes +upward to the stains of blood, still visible on the topsail, whence +Jackson had fallen; but we fixed our gaze on the orchards and meads, +and like thirsty men, drank in all their dew.</P> +<P>On the Staten Island side, a white staff displayed a pale yellow +flag, denoting the habitation of the quarantine officer; for as if to +symbolize the yellow fever itself, and strike a panic and premonition +of the black vomit into every beholder, all quarantines all over the +world, taint the air with the streamings of their f ever-flag.</P> +<P>But though the long rows of white-washed hospitals on the hill side +were now in plain sight, and though scores of ships were here lying at +anchor, yet no boat came off to us; and to our surprise and delight, on +we sailed, past a spot which every one had dreaded. How it was that +they thus let us pass without boarding us, we never could learn.</P> +<P>Now rose the city from out the bay, and one by one, her spires +pierced the blue; while thick and more thick, ships, brigs, schooners, +and sail boats, thronged around. We saw the Hartz Forest of masts and +black rigging stretching along the East River; and northward, up the +stately old Hudson, covered with white sloop-sails like fleets of +swans, we caught a far glimpse of the purple Palisades.</P> +<P>Oh! he who has never been afar, let him once go from home, to know +what home is. For as you draw nigh again to your old native river, he +seems to pour through you with all his tides, and in your enthusiasm, +you swear to build altars like mile-stones, along both his sacred banks.</P> +<P>Like the Czar of all the Russias, and Siberia to boot, Captain Riga, +telescope in hand, stood on the poop, pointing out to the passengers, +Governor's Island, Castle Garden, and the Battery.</P> +<P>"And <I>that" </I>said he, pointing out a vast black hull which, +like a shark, showed tiers of teeth, <I>"that, </I>ladies, is a +line-of-battle-ship, the North Carolina."</P> +<P>"Oh, dear!"—and "Oh my!"—ejaculated the ladies, and— "Lord, save +us," responded an old gentleman, who was a member of the Peace Society.</P> +<P>Hurra! hurra! and ten thousand times hurra! down goes our old +anchor, fathoms down into the free and independent Yankee mud, one +handful of which was now worth a broad manor in England.</P> +<P>The Whitehall boats were around us, and soon, our cabin passengers +were all off, gay as crickets, and bound for a late dinner at the Astor +House; where, no doubt, they fired off a salute of champagne corks in +honor of their own arrival. Only a very few of the steerage passengers, +however, could afford to pay the high price the watermen demanded for +carrying them ashore; so most of them remained with us till morning. +But nothing could restrain our Italian boy, Carlo, who, promising the +watermen to pay them with his music, was triumphantly rowed ashore, +seated in the stern of the boat, his organ before him, and something +like "Hail Columbia!" his tune. We gave him three rapturous cheers, and +we never saw Carlo again.</P> +<P>Harry and I passed the greater part of the night walking the deck, +and gazing at the thousand lights of the city.</P> +<P>At sunrise, we <I>warped </I>into a berth at the foot of +Wall-street, and knotted our old ship, stem and stern, to the pier. But +that knotting of <I>her, </I>was the unknotting of the bonds of the +sailors, among whom, it is a maxim, that the ship once fast to the +wharf, they are free. So with a rush and a shout, they bounded ashore, +followed by the tumultuous crowd of emigrants, whose friends, +day-laborers and housemaids, stood ready to embrace them.</P> +<P>But in silent gratitude at the end of a voyage, almost equally +uncongenial to both of us, and so bitter to one, Harry and I sat on a +chest in the forecastle. And now, the ship that we had loathed, grew +lovely in our eyes, which lingered over every familiar old timber; for +the scene of suffering is a scene of joy when the suffering is past; +and the silent reminiscence of hardships departed, is sweeter than the +presence of delight.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_61">LXI. REDBURN AND HABBY, ARM IN ARM, +IN HARBOR</A></H3> +<P>There we sat in that tarry old den, the only inhabitants of the +deserted old ship, but the mate and the rats.</P> +<P>At last, Harry went to his chest, and drawing out a few shillings, +proposed that we should go ashore, and return with a supper, to eat in +the forecastle. Little else that was eatable being for sale in the +paltry shops along the wharves, we bought several pies, some doughnuts, +and a bottle of ginger-pop, and thus supplied we made merry. For to us, +whose very mouths were become pickled and puckered, with the continual +flavor of briny beef, those pies and doughnuts were most delicious. And +as for the ginger-pop, why, that ginger-pop was divine! I have +reverenced ginger-pop ever since.</P> +<P>We kept late hours that night; for, delightful certainty! placed +beyond all doubt—like royal landsmen, we were masters of the watches +of the night, and no <I>starb-o-leens ahoy! </I>would annoy us again.</P> +<P>"All night in! think of <I>that, </I>Harry, my friend!"</P> +<P>"Ay, Wellingborough, it's enough to keep me awake forever, to think +I may now sleep as long as I please."</P> +<P>We turned out bright and early, and then prepared for the shore, +first stripping to the waist, for a toilet.</P> +<P>"I shall never get these confounded tar-stains out of my fingers," +cried Harry, rubbing them hard with a bit of oakum, steeped in strong +suds. "No! they will <I>not </I>come out, and I'm ruined for life. Look +at my hand once, Wellingborough!"</P> +<P>It was indeed a sad sight. Every finger nail, like mine, was dyed of +a rich, russet hue; looking something like bits of fine tortoise shell.</P> +<P>"Never mind, Harry," said I—"You know the ladies of the east steep +the tips of their fingers in some golden dye."</P> +<P>"And by Plutus," cried Harry—"I'd steep mine up to the armpits in +gold; since you talk about <I>that. </I>But never mind, I'll swear I'm +just from Persia, my boy."</P> +<P>We now arrayed ourselves in our best, and sallied ashore; and, at +once, I piloted Harry to the sign of a Turkey Cock in Fulton-street, +kept by one Sweeny, a place famous for cheap Souchong, and capital +buckwheat cakes.</P> +<P>"Well, gentlemen, what will you have?"—said a waiter, as we seated +ourselves at a table.</P> +<P> +"<I>Gentlemen!</I>" whispered Harry to me—"<I>gentlemen!</I>—hear him!—I say now, +Redburn, they didn't talk to us that way on board the old Highlander. +By heaven, I begin to feel my straps again:—Coffee and hot rolls," he +added aloud, crossing his legs like a lord, "and fellow—come +back—bring us a venison-steak." +<P>"Haven't got it, gentlemen."</P> +<P>"Ham and eggs," suggested I, whose mouth was watering at the +recollection of that particular dish, which I had tasted at the sign of +the Turkey Cock before. So ham and eggs it was; and royal coffee, and +imperial toast.</P> +<P>But the butter!</P> +<P>"Harry, did you ever taste such butter as this before?"</P> +<P>"Don't say a word,"—said Harry, spreading his tenth slice of toast +"I'm going to turn dairyman, and keep within the blessed savor of +butter, so long as I live."</P> +<P>We made a breakfast, never to be forgotten; paid our bill with a +flourish, and sallied into the street, like two goodly galleons of +gold, bound from Acapulco to Old Spain.</P> +<P>"Now," said Harry, "lead on; and let's see something of these United +States of yours. I'm ready to pace from Maine to Florida; ford the +Great Lakes; and jump the River Ohio, if it comes in the way. Here, +take my arm;—lead on."</P> +<P>Such was the miraculous change, that had now come over him. It +reminded me of his manner, when we had started for London, from the +sign of the Golden Anchor, in Liverpool.</P> +<P>He was, indeed, in most wonderful spirits; at which I could not help +marveling; considering the cavity in his pockets; and that he was a +stranger in the land.</P> +<P>By noon he had selected his boarding-house, a private establishment, +where they did not charge much for their board, and where the +landlady's butcher's bill was not very large.</P> +<P>Here, at last, I left him to get his chest from the ship; while I +turned up town to see my old friend Mr. Jones, and learn what had +happened during my absence.</P> +<P>With one hand, Mr. Jones shook mine most cordially; and with the +other, gave me some letters, which I eagerly devoured. Their purport +compelled my departure homeward; and I at once sought out Harry to +inform him.</P> +<P>Strange, but even the few hours' absence which had intervened; +during which, Harry had been left to himself, to stare at strange +streets, and strange faces, had wrought a marked change in his +countenance. He was a creature of the suddenest impulses. Left to +himself, the strange streets seemed now to have reminded him of his +friendless condition; and I found him with a very sad eye; and his +right hand groping in his pocket.</P> +<P>"Where am I going to dine, this day week?"—he slowly said. "What's +to be done, Wellingborough?"</P> +<P>And when I told him that the next afternoon I must leave him; he +looked downhearted enough. But I cheered him as well as I could; though +needing a little cheering myself; even though I <I>had </I>got home +again. But no more about that.</P> +<P>Now, there was a young man of my acquaintance in the city, much my +senior, by the name of Goodwell; and a good natured fellow he was; who +had of late been engaged as a clerk in a large forwarding house in +South-street; and it occurred to me, that he was just the man to +befriend Harry, and procure him a place. So I mentioned the thing to my +comrade; and we called upon Goodwell.</P> +<P>I saw that he was impressed by the handsome exterior of my friend; +and in private, making known the case, he faithfully promised to do his +best for him; though the times, he said, were quite dull.</P> +<P>That evening, Goodwell, Harry, and I, perambulated the streets, +three abreast:—Goodwell spending his money freely at the +oyster-saloons; Harry full of allusions to the London Clubhouses: and +myself contributing a small quota to the general entertainment.</P> +<P>Next morning, we proceeded to business.</P> +<P>Now, I did not expect to draw much of a salary from the ship; so as +to retire for life on the profits of <I>my first voyage; </I>but +nevertheless, I thought that a dollar or two might be coming. For +dollars are valuable things; and should not be overlooked, when they +are owing. Therefore, as the second morning after our arrival, had been +set apart for paying off the crew, Harry and I made our appearance on +ship-board, with the rest. We were told to enter the cabin; and once +again I found myself, after an interval of four months, and more, +surrounded by its mahogany and maple.</P> +<P>Seated in a sumptuous arm-chair, behind a lustrous, inlaid desk, sat +Captain Riga, arrayed in his City Hotel suit, looking magisterial as +the Lord High Admiral of England. Hat in hand, the sailors stood +deferentially in a semicircle before him, while the captain held the +ship-papers in his hand, and one by one called their names; and in +mellow bank notes—beautiful sight! —paid them their wages.</P> +<P>Most of them had less than ten, a few twenty, and two, thirty +dollars coming to them; while the old cook, whose piety proved +profitable in restraining him from the expensive excesses of most +seafaring men, and who had taken no pay in advance, had the goodly +round sum of seventy dollars as his due.</P> +<P>Seven ten dollar bills! each of which, as I calculated at the time, +was worth precisely one hundred dimes, which were equal to one thousand +cents, which were again subdivisible into fractions. So that he now +stepped into a fortune of seventy thousand American <I>"mitts." </I> +Only seventy dollars, after all; but then, it has always seemed to me, +that stating amounts in sounding fractional sums, conveys a much fuller +notion of their magnitude, than by disguising their immensity in such +aggregations of value, as doubloons, sovereigns, and dollars. Who would +not rather be worth 125,000 francs in Paris, than only £5000 in London, +though the intrinsic value of the two sums, in round numbers, is pretty +much the same.</P> +<P>With a scrape of the foot, and such a bow as only a negro can make, +the old cook marched off with his fortune; and I have no doubt at once +invested it in a grand, underground oyster-cellar.</P> +<P>The other sailors, after counting their cash very carefully, and +seeing all was right, and not a bank-note was dog-eared, in which case +they would have demanded another: for they are not to be taken in and +cheated, your sailors, and they know their rights, too; at least, when +they are at liberty, after the voyage is concluded:— the sailors also +salaamed, and withdrew, leaving Harry and me face to face with the +Paymaster-general of the Forces.</P> +<P>We stood awhile, looking as polite as possible, and expecting every +moment to hear our names called, but not a word did we hear; while the +captain, throwing aside his accounts, lighted a very fragrant cigar, +took up the morning paper—I think it was the Herald—threw his leg +over one arm of the chair, and plunged into the latest intelligence +from all parts of the world.</P> +<P>I looked at Harry, and he looked at me; and then we both looked at +this incomprehensible captain.</P> +<P>At last Harry hemmed, and I scraped my foot to increase the +disturbance.</P> +<P>The Paymaster-general looked up.</P> +<P>"Well, where do you come from? Who are <I>you, </I>pray? and what do +you want? Steward, show these young gentlemen out."</P> +<P>"I want my money," said Harry.</P> +<P>"My wages are due," said I.</P> +<P>The captain laughed. Oh! he was exceedingly merry; and taking a long +inspiration of smoke, removed his cigar, and sat sideways looking at +us, letting the vapor slowly wriggle and spiralize out of his mouth.</P> +<P>"Upon my soul, young gentlemen, you astonish me. Are your names down +in the City Directory? have you any letters of introduction, young +gentlemen?"</P> +<P>"Captain Riga!" cried Harry, enraged at his impudence—"I tell you +what it is, Captain Riga; this won't do—where's the rhino?"</P> +<P>"Captain Riga," added I, "do you not remember, that about four +months ago, my friend Mr. Jones and myself had an interview with you in +this very cabin; when it was agreed that I was to go out in your ship, +and receive three dollars per month for my services? Well, Captain +Riga, I have gone out with you, and returned; and now, sir, I'll thank +you for my pay."</P> +<P>"Ah, yes, I remember," said the captain. <I>"Mr. Jones! </I>Ha! ha! +I remember Mr. Jones: a very gentlemanly gentleman; and stop—<I>you, </I> +too, are the son of a wealthy French importer; and —let me think—was +not your great-uncle a barber?"</P> +<P>"No!" thundered I.</P> +<P>"Well, well, young gentleman, really I beg your pardon. Steward, +chairs for the young gentlemen—be seated, young gentlemen. And now, +let me see," turning over his accounts— "Hum, hum!—yes, here it is: +Wellingborough Redburn, at three dollars a month. Say four months, +that's twelve dollars; less three dollars advanced in Liverpool—that +makes it nine dollars; less three hammers and two scrapers lost +overboard— that brings it to four dollars and a quarter. I owe you +four dollars and a quarter, I believe, young gentleman?"</P> +<P>"So it seems, sir," said I, with staring eyes.</P> +<P>"And now let me see what you owe me, and then well be able to square +the yards, Monsieur Redburn."</P> +<P>Owe <I>him! </I>thought I—what do I owe him but a grudge, but I +concealed my resentment; and presently he said, "By running away from +the ship in Liverpool, you forfeited your wages, which amount to twelve +dollars; and as there has been advanced to you, in money, hammers, and +scrapers, seven dollars and seventy-five cents, you are therefore +indebted to me in precisely that sum. Now, young gentleman, I'll thank +you for the money;" and he extended his open palm across the desk.</P> +<P>"Shall I pitch into him?" whispered Harry.</P> +<P>I was thunderstruck at this most unforeseen announcement of the +state of my account with Captain Riga; and I began to understand why it +was that he had till now ignored my absence from the ship, when Harry +and I were in London. But a single minute's consideration showed that I +could not help myself; so, telling him that he was at liberty to begin +his suit, for I was a bankrupt, and could not pay him, I turned to go.</P> +<P>Now, here was this man actually turning a poor lad adrift without a +copper, after he had been slaving aboard his ship for more than four +mortal months. But Captain Riga was a bachelor of expensive habits, and +had run up large wine bills at the City Hotel. He could not afford to +be munificent. Peace to his dinners.</P> +<P>"Mr. Bolton, I believe," said the captain, now blandly bowing toward +Harry. "Mr. Bolton, <I>you </I>also shipped for three dollars per +month: and you had one month's advance in Liverpool; and from dock to +dock we have been about a month and a half; so I owe you just one +dollar and a half, Mr. Bolton; and here it is;" handing him six +two-shilling pieces.</P> +<P>"And this," said Harry, throwing himself into a tragical attitude, <I> +"this </I>is the reward of my long and faithful services!"</P> +<P>Then, disdainfully flinging the silver on the desk, he exclaimed, +"There, Captain Riga, you may keep your tin! It has been in <I>your </I> +purse, and it would give me the itch to retain it. Good morning, sir."</P> +<P>"Good morning, young gentlemen; pray, call again," said the captain, +coolly bagging the coins. His politeness, while in port, was invincible.</P> +<P>Quitting the cabin, I remonstrated with Harry upon his recklessness +in disdaining his wages, small though they were; I begged to remind him +of his situation; and hinted that every penny he could get might prove +precious to him. But he only cried <I>Pshaw! </I>and that was the last +of it.</P> +<P>Going forward, we found the sailors congregated on the +forecastle-deck, engaged in some earnest discussion; while several +carts on the wharf, loaded with their chests, were just in the act of +driving off, destined for the boarding-houses uptown. By the looks of +our shipmates, I saw very plainly that they must have some mischief +under weigh; and so it turned out.</P> +<P>Now, though Captain Riga had not been guilty of any particular +outrage against the sailors; yet, by a thousand small meannesses—such +as indirectly causing their allowance of bread and beef to be +diminished, without betraying any appearance of having any inclination +that way, and without speaking to the sailors on the subject—by this, +and kindred actions, I say, he had contracted the cordial dislike of +the whole ship's company; and long since they had bestowed upon him a +name unmentionably expressive of their contempt.</P> +<P>The voyage was now concluded; and it appeared that the subject being +debated by the assembly on the forecastle was, how best they might give +a united and valedictory expression of the sentiments they entertained +toward their late lord and master. Some emphatic symbol of those +sentiments was desired; some unmistakable token, which should forcibly +impress Captain Riga with the justest possible notion of their feelings.</P> +<P>It was like a meeting of the members of some mercantile company, +upon the eve of a prosperous dissolution of the concern; when the +subordinates, actuated by the purest gratitude toward their president, +or chief, proceed to vote him a silver pitcher, in token of their +respect. It was something like this, I repeat—but with a material +difference, as will be seen.</P> +<P>At last, the precise manner in which the thing should be done being +agreed upon, Blunt, the "Irish cockney," was deputed to summon the +captain. He knocked at the cabin-door, and politely requested the +steward to inform Captain Riga, that some gentlemen were on the +pier-head, earnestly seeking him; whereupon he joined his comrades.</P> +<P>In a few moments the captain sallied from the cabin, and found the <I> +gentlemen </I>alluded to, strung along the top of the bulwarks, on the +side next to the wharf. Upon his appearance, the row suddenly wheeled +about, presenting their backs; and making a motion, which was a polite +salute to every thing before them, but an abominable insult to all who +happened to be in their rear, they gave three cheers, and at one bound, +cleared the ship.</P> +<P>True to his imperturbable politeness while in port, Captain Riga +only lifted his hat, smiled very blandly, and slowly returned into his +cabin.</P> +<P>Wishing to see the last movements of this remarkable crew, who were +so clever ashore and so craven afloat, Harry and I followed them along +the wharf, till they stopped at a sailor retreat, poetically +denominated "The Flashes." And here they all came to anchor before the +bar; and the landlord, a lantern-jawed landlord, bestirred himself +behind it, among his villainous old bottles and decanters. He well +knew, from their looks, that his customers were "flush," and would +spend their money freely, as, indeed, is the case with most seamen, +recently paid off.</P> +<P>It was a touching scene.</P> +<P>"Well, maties," said one of them, at last—"I spose we shan't see +each other again:—come, let's splice the main-brace all round, and +drink to <I>the last voyage!"</I></P> +<P>Upon this, the landlord danced down his glasses, on the bar, +uncorked his decanters, and deferentially pushed them over toward the +sailors, as much as to say—<I>"Honorable gentlemen, it is not for me +to allowance your liquor;—help yourselves, your honors."</I></P> +<P>And so they did; each glass a bumper; and standing in a row, tossed +them all off; shook hands all round, three times three; and then +disappeared in couples, through the several doorways; for <I>"The +Flashes" </I>was on a corner.</P> +<P>If to every one, life be made up of farewells and greetings, and a <I> +"Good-by, God bless you," </I>is heard for every <I>"How d'ye do, +welcome, my boy"—</I>then, of all men, sailors shake the most hands, +and wave the most hats. They are here and then they are there; ever +shifting themselves, they shift among the shifting: and like rootless +sea-weed, are tossed to and fro.</P> +<P>As, after shaking our hands, our shipmates departed, Harry and I +stood on the corner awhile, till we saw the last man disappear.</P> +<P>"They are gone," said I.</P> +<P>"Thank heaven!" said Harry.</P> +<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1_0_62">LXII. THE LAST THAT WAS EVER HEARD +OF HARRY BOLTON</A></H3> +<P>That same afternoon, I took my comrade down to the Battery; and we +sat on one of the benches, under the summer shade of the trees.</P> +<P>It was a quiet, beautiful scene; full of promenading ladies and +gentlemen; and through the foliage, so fresh and bright, we looked out +over the bay, varied with glancing ships; and then, we looked down to +our boots; and thought what a fine world it would be, if we only had a +little money to enjoy it. But that's the everlasting rub—oh, who can +cure an empty pocket?</P> +<P>"I have no doubt, Goodwell will take care of you, Harry," said I, +"he's a fine, good-hearted fellow; and will do his best for you, I +know."</P> +<P>"No doubt of it," said Harry, looking hopeless.</P> +<P>"And I need not tell you, Harry, how sorry I am to leave you so +soon."</P> +<P>"And I am sorry enough myself," said Harry, looking very sincere.</P> +<P>"But I will be soon back again, I doubt not," said I.</P> +<P>"Perhaps so," said Harry, shaking his head. "How far is it off?"</P> +<P>"Only a hundred and eighty miles," said I.</P> +<P>"A hundred and eighty miles!" said Harry, drawing the words out like +an endless ribbon. "Why, I couldn't walk that in a month."</P> +<P>"Now, my dear friend," said I, "take my advice, and while I am gone, +keep up a stout heart; never despair, and all will be well."</P> +<P>But notwithstanding all I could say to encourage him, Harry felt so +bad, that nothing would do, but a rush to a neighboring bar, where we +both gulped down a glass of ginger-pop; after which we felt better.</P> +<P>He accompanied me to the steamboat, that was to carry me homeward; +he stuck close to my side, till she was about to put off; then, +standing on the wharf, he shook me by the hand, till we almost +counteracted the play of the paddles; and at last, with a mutual jerk +at the arm-pits, we parted. I never saw Harry again.</P> +<P>I pass over the reception I met with at home; how I plunged into +embraces, long and loving:—I pass over this; and will conclude <I>my +first voyage </I>by relating all I know of what overtook Harry Bolton.</P> +<P>Circumstances beyond my control, detained me at home for several +weeks; during which, I wrote to my friend, without receiving an answer.</P> +<P>I then wrote to young Goodwell, who returned me the following +letter, now spread before me.</P> +<P> +<I>"Dear Redburn—Your poor friend, Harry, I can not find any where. +After you left, he called upon me several times, and we walked out +together; and my interest in him increased every day. But you don't +know how dull are the times here, and what multitudes of young men, +well qualified, are seeking employment in counting-houses. I did my +best; but could not get Harry a place. However, I cheered him. But he +grew more and more melancholy, and at last told me, that he had sold +all his clothes but those on his back to pay his board. I offered to +loan him a few dollars, but he would not receive them. I called upon +him two or three times after this, but he was not in; at last, his +landlady told me that he had permanently left her house the very day +before. Upon my questioning her closely, as to where he had gone, she +answered, that she did not know, but from certain hints that had +dropped from our poor friend, she feared he had gone on a whaling +voyage. I at once went to the offices in South-street, where men are +shipped for the Nantucket whalers, and made inquiries among them; but +without success. And this,</I> I <I>am heartily grieved to say, is all I know of our friend. I can +not believe that his melancholy could bring him to the insanity of +throwing himself away in a whaler; and I still think, that he must be +somewhere in the city. You must come down yourself, and help me seek +him out."</I></p> +<P> +This! letter gave me a dreadful shock. Remembering our adventure in +London, and his conduct there; remembering how liable he was to yield +to the most sudden, crazy, and contrary impulses; and that, as a +friendless, penniless foreigner in New York, he must have had the most +terrible incitements to committing violence upon himself; I shuddered +to think, that even now, while I thought of him, he might no more be +living. So strong was this impression at the time, that I quickly +glanced over the papers to see if there were any accounts of suicides, +or drowned persons floating in the harbor of New York.</P> +<P>I now made all the haste I could to the seaport, but though I sought +him all over, no tidings whatever could be heard.</P> +<P>To relieve my anxiety, Goodwell endeavored to assure me, that Harry +must indeed have departed on a whaling voyage. But remembering his +bitter experience on board of the Highlander, and more than all, his +nervousness about going aloft, it seemed next to impossible.</P> +<P>At last I was forced to give him up.</P> +<P>*****</P> +<P>Years after this, I found myself a sailor in the Pacific, on board +of a whaler. One day at sea, we spoke another whaler, and the boat's +crew that boarded our vessel, came forward among us to have a little +sea-chat, as is always customary upon such occasions.</P> +<P>Among the strangers was an Englishman, who had shipped in his vessel +at Callao, for the cruise. In the course of conversation, he made +allusion to the fact, that he had now been in the Pacific several +years, and that the good craft Huntress of Nantucket had had the honor +of originally bringing him round upon that side of the globe. I asked +him why he had abandoned her; he answered that she was the most unlucky +of ships.</P> +<P>"We had hardly been out three months," said he, "when on the Brazil +banks we lost a boat's crew, chasing a whale after sundown; and next +day lost a poor little fellow, a countryman of mine, who had never +entered the boats; he fell over the side, and was jammed between the +ship, and a whale, while we were cutting the fish in. Poor fellow, he +had a hard time of it, from the beginning; he was a gentleman's son, +and when you could coax him to it, he sang like a bird."</P> +<P>"What was his name?" said I, trembling with expectation; "what kind +of eyes did he have? what was the color of his hair?"</P> +<P>"Harry Bolton was not your brother?" cried the stranger, starting.</P> +<P> +<I>Harry Bolton!</I></P> +<p> +It was even he!</p> +<P>But yet, I, Wellingborough Redburn, chance to survive, after having +passed through far more perilous scenes than any narrated in this, <I> +My First Voyage</I>—which here I end.</P> + +<BR> +<BR> +<BR> +<BR> +<PRE> +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, REDBURN. 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