The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-08-21 00:00:00

CHAPTER 11.

Christmas Eve ! To how many homes in happy Eng-
land—she is still " happy" England, privileged England,
beneficent and Christian England—does the approach of
that blessed Eve bring glad thoughts, pleasing memories
of the past, and affectionate reunions around the paternal
board ! It may have lost many of the features which
distinguished it in the olden time—the yule log blazing.
up the wide hall-chimney, and the stupendous yule cake
and bowl of fermenty, served up upon the hall table;—
yet it is still dear, still an evening when the feelings ex-
pand, and the gnawing cares of the world are thrown
aside, in thousands of the homes of happy England.
The rich warm-looking curtains are drawn in ; the fire
burns cheerfully in the grate, to the evident delight of a
staid-looking mouser, which lies stretched in luxurious
enjoyment on the triple-piled hearth-rug. Everything in
that well-furnished dining-room betokens affluence and
comfort, the sense of which is agreeably heightened by
the sound of the wind sighing, as it sweeps by the walls
outside, and dashes together the branches of the snow-
laden poplars in the shrubberies. We are in the dining-
room of Mr. Mansel, around whose board i 3 now seated,
after the removal of a plentiful supply of substantials,
intermingled with " all the delicacies of the season," the
assembled family, with the addition, according to invari-
able custom on this festive eve, of Mr. Williams, for
many years past the trusty head clerk of the firm. This
gentleman was one of a class not at present so numerous
as they were some thirty or forty years ago. Mr. Williams
was verging upon the ripe age of sixty, during which he
had gone through, under but two employers, the various
stations of errand-boy, junior clerk, &c., up to that of
head clerk, or factotum, the latter of which he had held
in Mr. Mantel's house for the last twenty years, having
commenced his engagement there as sole clerk. It was
not believed that he had ever entertained a higher ambi-
tion ; and he would probably, have been as much sur-
prised, had he received the offer of a partnership, as the
" Mr. Owens, of the house of Osbaldistone and Co.,
Crane-alley, London." so excellently painted by Sir Walter
Scott, and whose character, but for the anachronism,
his own might have suggested. By Mr. Mansel himself,
he was regarded with all the respect due to an old and a
faithful servant and friend, mingled, however, with some-
what of the same sort of feeling as he regarded his ledger,
or his receipt file; whilst the younger branches of the
family entertained for him almost a paternal affection.
The dinner—a late one—was removed ; the party were
enjoying their dessert and wine, with Christmas cakes,
&c.; and the usual felicitations of the season had been
exchanged on every side. Mr. Williams had cracked his
best jokes, which Shad been kindly listened to, with the
show, at least, of the same glee which they excited when
new. Mr. Mansel was all happiness, as he looked upon
the assembled party, the affectionate partakers of a pros-
perity, of which, and the exertions by which it had been
earned, he was justly proud. Mrs. Mansel's eyes glanc"d
alternately, with the fond look, which a happy wife and
mother can alone give, upon her husband and the chil-
dren of their love; and a contented and perfect happiness
was upon every face. William Mansel alone, usually the
life of that party, seemed occasionally to lapse into a
thoughtful calm of manner. His ordinarily buoyant spi-
rits no longer displayed themselves in an unceasing flow
of happy mirth and humour; and when occasionally he
attempted to assume his natural manner, a careful obser-
ver would have detected the effort as a forced one.

As the evening wore away, the female portion of the

party formed themselves into a quiet circle by the fire-
side, leaving the three gentlemen to their own converse,
which soon turned upon the business events of the day,
and the past occurrences and future prospects of the com-
mercial world. Most of our readers will remember the
untoward events which threw a gloom over the spirits of
all classes of the community, during the latter end' of
1846. The harvest in Great Britain, and throughout a
large portion of the Continent of Europe, had been a
deficient one ; and the loss of the potato crop had brought
Ireland to the verge of famine. The railway mania had
sustained a serious check, inflicting heavy losses upon
those who had embarked in it; and our commercial
classes generally had been affected with very great trepi-
dation, with respect to the possible result of these com-
bined circumstances. As the year drew to a close, I'm-
ever, the large importations of grain, which we bad drawn
principally from the American markets, had dispelled any
alarm on the subject of a deficiency of food for our people;
and there were sanguine people, and even men of pru-
dence and experience, who anticipated confidently a r, -
viva], and a return to prosperous times, at the commence-
ment of the next spring.
Mr. Mansel was amongst this hopeful Mass, and he was
joined in opinion by his old clerk, Mr. Williams; and
when he wrung the hands of the latter, as he prepared to
depart, the worthy merchant. expressed his views in a
speech which, mingled with fervent thanks to God, con-
tained something of self-congratulation upon his firm
having escaped the difficulties and the serious losses,
which so many of the community had sustained. " I
thank God, my dear and faithful friend," he said, •‘ and,
next to Him, the prudence and ability with which I am
assisted in my business operations, that our house, at all
events, will be enabled to stand firm, amidst any untoward
disappointment of the prospects which, I trust, I see
truly before us in the year to come. We have trafficked
in none of the bubbles of the late unhappy times; we
have never held a railway share, or placed confidence in
the security of those who did ; we have not been tempted
by the abundance of money, or the unsullied credit of
our house, to extend unduly our operations, which have
been throughout legitimate in character, and transacted
with houses of the highest standing. I fear not therefore
any serious consequences to ourselves, should my antici-
pation of better times not be realised ; whilst I feel con-
fident that my long experience of similar periods of tem-
porary commercial depression has directed me to form a
correct opinion on the subject." There were no secrets
in this happy circle; and Mr. Mansel had elevated his
voice, as if desiring to attract the attention of the whole
of it to his remarks. They were responded to with ad-
miring pride by his children and his fond wife, and by
another fervent grasp from his faithful clerk. William
Mansel alone, whilst smiling affectionately in the face of
his beloved parent, could not restrain a slight misgiving,
and a half-uttered prayer, "God grant that it may be so ! '
(To be continued in our next.)

THE FUNERAL AT SEA.

LFrom Fraeer's Magazine.)

A serious accident had occurred on deck ; one of the
watch had been struck about the ear by the clue-blocks
of the mainsail in their furious recoil, and he was carried
below to his hammock dreadfully injured. There was a
ship's surgeon, who immediately attended to him ; but he
never spoke again except to ask for water, and died next
morning watch. The man was a middle-aged able sea-
man. I had spoken to him myself at the wheel only the
last fine night, and found that be had been " round the
world" no less than three times; once in the Warspite,
the first line-of-battle ship that performed this feat. He
had also been with Captain Beechey to the Pacific, and
seen Pictairn's Island. _ _ _

VV
The poor fellow was buried the afternoon following his
death, as there is a general prejudice against keeping a
dead body. The weather was still wild and threatening,
the ship drove heavily :to leeward on the large leaden-
coloured masses of water, with staysail, and close-reefed
topsails, and spanker set. I noticed that the men did not
talk of their late comrade, but seemed uneasy until the
solemn load should be withdrawn ; and although I believe
none of them would have been afraid of the elements face
to face, yet in that mood every pitch of the vessel was pro-
bably regarded by them as supernaturally stiff and unboy-
ant ; the clouds gathering to westward late in the day,
wore an aspect more ominous than clouds of themselves
could put on. The body war brought up from the half-
deck, rigidly sewn into the hammock which never more
should swing below to the motion of the breeze; a couple
of large shot at the feet inside; it was laid on a wooden
grating across the spars which were fastened to the lee
bulwarks of the gangway. I observed that some more
familiar messmate had attached to the canvass envelope-
ment a front-label from the seaman's hat, with the name
of the " Warspite," in bright letters; and also a rudely-
painted scrap of tarpaulin, bearing the name of the de-
ceased—" Robert Wilkes, aged 47." It was a token of
rough care, which, under the circumstances, appeared
affecting.
The passengers stood in a group beneath the quarter-
deck. every one doing the best to attend in spite of the
unfavourable weather; while the crew were gathered in a
half-circle beyond the captain and officers to hear him reed
the service. Tho gale had somewhat lulled at the time,
and it was clearer to the east; but to westward, in the
obscure approach of sunset, a hoet of mighty clouds were
rolled up from the dark-blue horizon till their rounded
and many-figured summits, standing out in relief against
an empty space of sky, were tinted with a lurid and brassy
glow. The unbroken wave-tops on that side caught a
gleam of light as they arose, that brought out in more
vivid contrast the huge shadows of their liquid blackness
on the other, wrinkled and freckled with foam, while the
spray showered now and then into the hollows, and a grey
gull or two, with expanded wings, was seen dipping aslant
in the atmosphere beyond. The leaves of the prayer-
book fluttered as the captain tried to keen his place, and
a'l waited at intervals for a weather-roll that would allow
him to resume. At another time the mainyard would
have been respectfully backed till the moment of burial,
but this could not be conveniently done on the present
occasion. The chief parts only of the service were read;
and, indeed, to omit these, in their solemn appropriate-
ness, because of a mere gale of wind, would have been
felt unworthy of brave seamen or good shipmates; never-
theless, all were glad when the captain reached the close.
At that minute the shiptunlc in a trough, the voice of the
blast seemed to be stilled on deck, though whistling loudly
through the upper spars and rigging. A thrill of awful
emotion passed into one's spirit, as we heard distinctly
the words, " Forasmuch then as it bath pleased Almighty
God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of
our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his
body to the deep—" The ship rose high up on a vast
wave, the voice of the captain blew away to leeward, but
he made a sign with his hand to the men ; the end of the
grating flew up, and shooting from her uplifted side, feet
foremost, the body, wrapped within its hammock, plunged
far down into the long, yeasty sweep of the element below.
The pale waters closed bubbling over, and it seemed as if
at that instant a mighty hand threw upon it into the abyss,
like the symbolic shower of earth, a green surge from the
abundance of ocean, with a weltering plash, far different
from the rattle on a coffin lid ; next moment it had swelled
noiselessly up above our mainyard, and with heads un-
covered did we listen in the hollow to that striking sen-
tence, "to be turned into corruption, looking for the
resurrection of the body (when the sea shall give up her
dead) and the life of the world to come, through our
Lord Jesus Christ." The captain closed the book.
" Keep her away, my lad !" he shouted through his hand
to the man at the wheel. " A bit of a pull on the weather
mainbrace, men !" said he again ; and in a short time the
wind was found to have charged a point or two, so that
one reef was shaken out of the topsails, and the ship,
driven more swiftly, rose and fell less upon the seas,
whose direction coincided more with hers.

At night, in the first watch, i was on deck for more
than an hour before going to bed ; the moon was out
again, and it was somewhat of a "white gale" from the
south-east—that is, one with a clear sky, to windward,
often some of the most violent, and generally from a
north-easterly quarter. A lone., low bank of cloud lay to
the west, brightened by moonlight, but appearing to look
solemnly over the heaving outline of waters like the heads
of strange mourners, pale-faced, with dark-hooded gar-
ments, leaning over a sepulchral boundary. The seamen
else to be disinclined for any usual conversation. All
now seemed to talk together of their lost messmate, or
"poor Bob's" good points now came oat; he was the
best hand at a `' Turk's-head knot" in the ship, or a
weather-earing, or a song of a Saturday night, they said.

TIE LIVERPOOL irtAivitAki.