The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1874-05-07

suIfer. apd q fBer mau or = better .aIlog
never trod a dcck. a. length it rswr hl.
uru 30 tell story, or what we preferred
-aud'w hat The rest OF as had doue-rs-
/ late some incident 10 sic experience Of
/ his own life.
( Vel, boys be said, IS he rejected the
wine, witch VS. ~ that moment passed
+ to him for the first time, will give you
/ biz Of the esrly part Of my ocean lite,
aud Il j. very impauam Bit too, f9r
upon il have bnill the whole OF nay sub
.cquenl manhood.
/ We prepared 10 listen to Capt. sutler
With the most perfect attention for be
was not only an old seaman, but ore Of
The most successful commander. IN our
mercantile marine We listened, a1d his
story was rs follows:
/ was very Young whcn first entered
on shipbomd, aud at the age Of fifteen !
considered myself quite a sailor When
I | WAS eighteen / was shipped on board
sn East ludiamau, for a long voyage
There was six Of Us on board about the
same age, aud we had about The same
duties TO perform. The ship--the Old
/ Lady .Dunlap--was a large one, and our
crew WAS large in proportion, there be-
/ ing iny-two, all told. We boys, as we
were called, messed together, aud IN all
other respects were separate from the
rest of the crew, just as much rs the of.
ticers were. Oar saptaih was a noble
hearted, honorable man, kind and geuer.
Gus, yet very strict, OF course, we
youngsters found plenty OF occasion To
lind iault with him, aud very often were
his decisions arraigued before our mess
and decidedly condemned. ln fact, we
should have reversed many of his Judge
inrnts If we had the pOwel; but be was
the commander, and we only foremost
hands aud boys at that, be had ais own
way, aud the luminous decisions we came
10 were consequently OF no avail aud lost
to the world.
Now,w boys had learned in the course
OF our travels, TO drink grog as well q,
amy sailor. We could toss of glass of
rum aud water with as much grace a.
any one, and we claimed the right TO do
so not only as a privilege but as an honor
TO which life on the ocean entitled u.s.
But even in this respect our captain pre-
sumed 10 differ with. When we could
get on shore we would invariably indulge
in our cups, aud not unircquehtly would
we come of, or be brought off, in state
of anything but sober. / said we, but
there was one OF our number who could
not be induced to touch drop Of any
thing Intoxicating. His name was john
Small, and he belonged in one Of the back
towns of New Jersey.
Now, Jack Small not only reirained
entirely from drinking himself, bat
he used sometimes TO ask us 10 let
the stuff alone. lie gave that ] 10 up
however, for we made such sport of him
that he was glad to let Us alone. Bat
oar captain had sharp eyes, and Il was
not long before be began TO show Jack
Small avors which he did not show 10
us lie 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 a
sort of envy OIL our part, and ii ended In
II decided iIl-will toward poor Jack.
Now, IN truth Jack WAS one of the best
fellows Ia the world Tie was Kind ,obIig.
ing honest, always ready to lend help
| ing hand in case Of distress, aud as true a
/ friend AS ever lived-only he wouldn't
drink with us, that was AL No-that
wasn't all. lie learned faster than we
/ did-he was better sailor aud had learn.
ID more navigation Bat this we tried
10 lay TO the captains paying him the
most attention, though we knew better at
[ the time, for We had the privilege OF
/ learning Just az much as we had mind
Ito. The truth of the maltcr was, we
/ loved the idea Of being Old salts better
than we did anything else, and we spent
more time watching for opportunities to
have spree than We did IN learning 10
perfect ourselves IN the profession We
/ had chosen.
/ 1t even got so At length that Jack Small
was called npon the deck sometimes,
when the ofIicers were busy. aud be used
/ to work cut the reckoning az uoou as reg
uIarly as did the captain. Yet Jack wa
Z iu our mes, aRd he was c0u slant eve.
sure. We saw ihal he was reaching rap.
+ idly ahead Of us in every useful paticu.
. lar, aud yet we wonldn't open our e} es.
( We we're enYious OF his good fortune, A.
+ We called H., aud used 10 seize every op.
pufluniiy in tease aud ran him. But DE-
never got augry Joe return. lie would
sometimes lsuyh at us, and at other,
wuuld 20 ftcliugly Guide as that we wo'd
remain silent for awhile.
At length the idea entered osr head.
/ thrt Jack should driak with SIS. We
talked Jhe Hatier over la our mess s. hcn
Jack was absent, aud we muHaty p'edg-
ed each ulber that we would make him
driak at tAe frst opportunity. After lhis
determination was aEeu, we treated
Jack more kindly, aud hv was happier
than be bat been for some time. Ouce
mUre We laughed aud jnked wilh hin ia
the me.s. and tie iu re,uru helped "a. ice
eur navigation. We were au u8r home.
ward bsui,d Ya, age, by abe way Of ba-
al, aud cur ship stopped 81 Rio JapeHot
where We we're to renzin 8 week or 10.
Oue pleasant moruiug we six youngsters
rncelYed nertnl..lnn 10 20 ON shOre AnA