The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-01-31
For the New Orleans Sunday Crescent
IN RE BOUTS.
BY PENRYN PENSIFEATHER.

You don't know what a roustabout is?
You, reader-you are he to whom speak. Or
otherwise-you are she to whom address my
self.
Don't you know what a roustabout is?
Why of course you don't.
How should you'
As the venerable Beesd explains in his work on
the Thickness Of Skuls. it is next door to impos-
sible that knowledge Shall arrive before informa-
ton: whence be deduces the corollary that
fathers should cause their children to get up in
the morning If they desire them to see the sun
rise. Or as the learned Bolouious 70. Treatise De
Arte Porci SdusGgiorufn, ct quonodo fabricdse;)
wherein he explains that previous to putting in
the sage it is necessary not only that the meat
shall have been sufficiently comminuted and
reduced to proper state Of msceration, bat also
that in the first place the hog shall have been duly
captured and slain; for, as he argues, ' Sine
porco, nuRd sdUsdgid 'lisi boUis, qua non ualent
ddnnunn." Hence consider myself sufficiently
fortified by example t0 conclude that one comes
before two, and that no man may rightly deem
himself wise SO long as he shall continue to be
fool.
Wherefore 1 will tell yon what is a rousta.
bout.
A roustabout ia al animal belonging TO the
class OF the MdnlnOtid /: that is TO saw which
suckle their young. Sc they have all had mothers.
though God knows you wouldn't think il to look
a. them. They go on two legs-whe sober;
and sometimes talk-though as a rule thew are
silent. Their principal occupation, however. is
work. This is the one thing as TO their fitness and
absolute destiny for which there is no doubt
nor even a loop or hinge to hang one on. En-
phatically they work. In mud. in dust; in rain,
N IN IN. =.
day, in dark; work, work, work, work.
DO you wonder thas they are silent! Do the
trees babbe of their growth? Do the rains tell
Of their power, Is the ocean filed with story
OF the islands it has engulfed. of the cities and
the ships II has overwhelmedg Does the earth
tell tales Of the monsters il has brought FORTH
or OF the myriad creatures dying onjts breast!
wherefore. then. should roustabout talk :
He works-let him work. He is rough: the
rivers and the rookie from which come the
might of man are rougs. So let him be rough
and dumb; but, be{Dnd all, let him work.
You, my reader; yof know the roustsbout pro-
badly as the deck bandk but there lies your mis-.
take. The deck hand would be degraded were he
called roustabout. The deck hand directs the
roustabout as the drayman does his mule. The
deck hand shows the r0ustabout where aud how
to place the bouncing cotton BALE the finger NASH
ing hogshead, the pleasant salt and coffee and corn
sacks, and the dainty packages of merchandise.
The roustabout, In effect, is an under deck hand.
as though one should say, under scullion, under
turnkey. under boot black, under chimney.sweep
under rag .picker, under scavenger, under wharf.
rat
The roustabout wears a shirt-ragged; pair of
tiousers-very ragged generally, too, shoes and
q nat, or at least handkerchief, but ever at the
extreme of wornoutitude. Always though he
has belt. This is a mark whereby you may
never fail to recognize a roustabout. Though not
so splendid as 0fon's, il is to the full as steadfast
BY day and by night it is his bond and stay.
By night-do you say?
Yes, assuredly, good reader mine To the roust.
about night and day are unmeaning terms; they
are as one. On watch and off watch are his only
change, In those terms are comprehended all
hours all seasons, all climates. All is for him
merey-on watch or off watch.
On watch. Pulling. hauling, rolling, tumbling,
neaving, launching; water, mud, rain, seet, snow,
sun blaze, DUST may be mis- step, slip into the
river and prog for the catfish they like roust-
about-it is their favorite dish) or a rope breaks
snd ton weight on the head scatters brains and
crusbes bones into the deck-only a roustabOut
ON watch. Bread, coffee, pork and beans:
sleep In corner out Of the mud II he can in IL If
be can't quarrel over pack OF greasy cards
9 yerk from butcher-knife-so goes the roust-
about.
Not always does a roustabout die thus, however.
His range IL not so limited. Sometimes he is
burnt to death sometimes he Ia scaldsd; some.
times he is blown to fragments; or perhaps he ia
carried of by pestiience. | even knew of one
who was beaten INFO jelly by the starboard
paddle-wheel. Il lie hard to stand up against
water into foam and dashes il ASIDE like down.
A roustaboHt goes 70 Heaven
Yes, suppose he does.
He probably has a soul?
Why Of course-how else should he be savedS
But il is treating soul rather BADLY to make a
ustabout Of il, ISM. itg
Grospoitrin is captain OF a steamboat. He
thought to better the rousts bout-le pauure din-
6te-te bon cochon.. Grospoitrn's heart was much
larger than his head. ..I
Grospoitrin loves "les tgois s0s,rsr and that
good Victor. Grospoitrin believes that good
conscience and good dinner are near him.
Desiring therefore TO humanize the roustabouts
Grospoitrin determined on dining room He
made the carpenter inclose the after part of
the boat; he had long table he arranged
benches; Grospoitrin hired e mess boy. A mess
boy for the roustaboutsl
Table furniture provided. Plates abao
lutely were made ready; plates-for roustabouts
who hitherto had been ignorant save of the nan
these poor roustabouts.
Dinner Is served.
The roustabouts 20 in.
A confused murmur-as Of waves on the rock,
as OF the growing of distant beasts. AZ of the
coming hurricane.
The form of the mess boy shoots ont of the
door-on bis head. VIZ
Il he was not acro0Gt this mess boy. that he came
d. A roustsbout cisiiked his soup; he poured II On
The floor the mess hoy remonstrated-benca he
came out thus-on his head. no
nereupon came Ofospoitrin. he entered
The roustsbouts sat on the table-and on the.
1oor; those on the table placed their feet on the
oencnes; as Kings upon foot stools those on the
1oor tucked theirs under them like the suitan ~
Turkey who dimes on lamb stuffed with nistacb;o
SUITS. They ate from the dishes, and pIaved the
am BOURNE upon the plates. Those who were not
% opss !, p,'cned gnoits with them. They sang
nerry-these poor roustabonts. HOE beSr,;SrI
he mirth of Natures childrenl
NY head Is broken, cried the mess boy.