The Shasta courier., 1866-03-24
COURIER.
TEMPERANCE.
A SAILORS NARRATIVE

oiu snip masteTS cHauceu 10 iDeet at a
social supper, and after the cloth was re.
moved we went in for yarn spinning. And
among our number was Captain Richard
Nutter and finer man or better sailor
never trod a deck. AT length it came his
turn to tell story. or, what we preferred
and what the rest of us had done-relate
some incident of experience in his own life.
We'll, said he. rejecting the wine, that
was at that moment passed to him for the
first time, will give you bit of the early
part of my ocean life. and it is very i'm
portant bit, too, for upon it | have built the
whole of my subsequent manhood
We prepared to listen to Capt Nutter
with the most profound attention, for he
was not only an old seaman, but one of the
most successful commanders in our mercan-
tile marine.
We listened, and his story was as follows:
was very young when | first entered
on shipboard, and at the age of fourteen
considered myself quite sailor When
was eighteen, | was shipped on board an
East Indiaman. for long voyage. There
were six of us on board of about the same
age, and we had about the same duties to
perform. The ship-the old Lady Dunlap
was a large one, and our crew was. largo
in proportion, there being fifty two all told.
We boys as we were called messed
together, and in all other respects were
separate from the rest of the crew, just as
much as the officers were. Our captain was
a noble hearted, honorable man, kind and
generous, but very strict.
Of course we youngsters found plenty of
occasion to find fault with him, and very
often were his decisions arraigned before
T.
fact, we should have reversed many of his
judgements, if we had had the power; but as
he was the commander, and we only fore.
mast hands-and boys at that-he had his
own way, and the luminous decisions we
came to were consequently of no avail, and
lost to the world. Now we boys had learn
ed, in the course of our travels, to drink our
grog as well as any sailors.
We could toss off IA glass of rum and
water with as much grace as any one, and
we claimed the right to do so, not only as a
privilege, but as an honor to which life
upon the ocean entitle us. But even in this
respect our captain pretended to differ from
us.
When we could get on shore we would
invariably indulge in our cups, and not un-
frequently would we come off, or be brought
off IN a state anything but sober. l said
we, but there was one of our number who
could not be induced to touch a drop of any
thing intoxicating. His name was John
Small, and he belonged in one of the extreme
back towns of old New Jersey.
Now Jack Small not only refrained en-
tirely from drinking himself, but he used
sometimes to ask us to let the stuff alone
He gave that job up, however, for we made
such sport of him that he was glad to let US
alone. But our captain had sharp eyes, and
it was not long before he began to show
Jack favors which he did not show to u.s.
He would often take Jack on shore with him
to spend the night, and such things as that
while we were kept on board the ship. Of
course this created sort of envy on our
part, and it ended in a decided i'll will
towards poor Jack.
Now. in truth, Jack was one of the best
fello rs in the world. He was kind, obiging.
honest, always ready to lend helping hand
in case of distress, and as true friend as
ever lved-only he would not drink with us,
that was all. No-tbat wasn't ALL He
learned faster than we did-he was better
sailor and had learned more of navigation
But this we tried to lay to the captains
paying him the most attention, though we
knew better at the time, for we had the
privilege of learning just as much as we
had a mind to. The truth of the matter
was, we loved the idea of being old salts
better than we did anything else, and we
spent more time in watching for opportu
mites to have a spree than we did in learn
ing to perfect ourselves in the profession we
had chosen.
1t even got so at length, that Jack Small
was called upon to take the deck sometimes
when the officers were busy, and he used to
work out the reckonings at noon as easily as
did the captain. Yet Jack was in our mess.
and he was constant eye sore We saw
that he was reaching rapidly ahead of us
in every useful particular, and yet we would
not open our ewes. We were envous of his
good fortune, as we called it, and used to
seize every opportunity to tease and run him.
But he never got angry in return. lie some
times would laugh at US, and at others be
would so feelingly chide us that we would
remain very silent for while.
At length the idea entered our heads that
Jack should drink with us. We canvassed
the matter over in the mess when Jack was
absent. and we mutually pledged each
other that we would make him drink at the
first opportunity. After this determination
was resolved on, we treated poor Jack more
tenderly. and he was happier than he had
been for sometime. Once more we laughed
and joked with him in the mess, and he in
return helped us in our navigation. We
we're on our homeward bound passage, by
Brazil, and our ship stopped at Rio Janeiro,
where we remained week or so. One
pleasant morning we six youngsters received
permission to go on shore and spend. the
whole day and accordingly we rugged up
in our best togs and were carried to the land
ing.
Now was our chance, and we put our
heads together to see how it should done.-
Jacks very first idea. after he got ashore.
was to go up and examine the various things
ot q interest in the city. He wanted to visit
the churches and such like places, and to
please him we agreed to go with him if be
would 60 and take dinner with US.
tie agreed To this at once and we thou pht