The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-04-18
TEE TABLES TURNED.
By AUSTIN {. BrRDICK.

BY AUSTIN c. BrRDIcK.
One evening, not long since, number
of us, old ship masters, CHANGED to meet at
Il social supper. and after the cloth was re-
moved we went in for spinning. Among
our number was Captain Richard Suffer,
and finer or a better sailor never trod
deck, At length it came his turn to tell
a story, or what we preferred what
the rest of us had donc--reate some Incl
dent in the experience of his own life.
"Well, boys" he said, ms he rejected
the wine, which was at that moment
passed to Inn for the first time. Il will
give you a bit of the carly part of my
ocean life, and it is very important bit,
too, for npon it have built the whole of
my subsequent manhood"
We prepared to listen TO Captain Suffer
with the most perfect attention, for he was
not only an old seaman. but one of the
most successful commanders in our mer-
camille marine. We listened, and his story
was as follows
IL was very young when ! first entered
on shlpboard, and at the age of fourteen
considered myself quite sailor. When
was eighteen | was shipped on board an
East 1ndaman, for a long voyage There
age, and we had about the same duties to
perform. The ship-the old Lady Dunlap
was large one, and our crew was large
in proportion, there being tifty-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 Il noblc-hearted, honorable
man, kind and generous, but very strict.
or course, we youngsters found plenty of
occasion to find fault with him. and very
often were his decisions arraigncd before
our mess and decidedly condemned. In
fact, we should have reversed many of his
judgments if we had had the power but
as he was the commander, and we only
foremost 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 learned in the
course of our travels, to drink our grog as
well as any sailor, We could toss off a
glass of rum and water with as much grace
as any one, and we claimed the right to do
so not only as privilege but as an honor
to which life on the ocean entitled us.
But even in this respect our captain pre-
sumed to differ with u.s. When we could
3St Oh ohclS We Nouiti
in our cups, and not unfrequenty would
we come off, or be brought off, in state
of anything but sober. l said we, but
there was one of our number who could
not be induced to touch drop of anything
intoxicating. His name was John Small
and he belonged in one of the back towns
of New Jersey.
"Now, Jack Small not only refrained
entirely 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 Small favors which he
did not show us. 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 a sort of envy on our part,
and it ended in decided ill-will toward
poor Jack.
'Now, in truth, Jack was one of the
best fellows in the world. He was kind,
obligng, honest, always ready to lend a
helping hand IN case OF distress, and as
true a friend as ever lived-only he
wouldn't drink with us, that was all. No
that wasn't all. He learned faster than
w tiNt iS NR' q bCll'i SullNn anu IldNl
learned more navigation. But this we
tried to lay to the captains paving him the
most attention, though we knew better at
the time for we had the privilege of learn
ing just as much as we had a mind to.
The truth of it was, we five loved the
idea of being 'old salts better than we did
anything else, and we spent more time in
watching for opportunities to have n spree
than we did in learning to perfect our
selves for 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 reckoning at
noon as regularly as did the captain. Yet
Jack was i'll our mess, and he was IA CON
slant eye-sore, We saw that he was
reaching rapidly ahead Of us in every use
tul particular, and yet we wouldn't open
our eyes. We were envous Of his good
fortune, as we called it, and use to seize
every opportunity to teaze and run him.
But he never got angry in return He
sometimes would at us, and at Others
would SO feellngly chlde us that we would
remain silent Tor awhile.
AT length the idea entered our heads
mat JACK should drink with us. We talked
tne matter over IN our mess when Jack was
ABSENT ana we mutually pledged each other