Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1875-07-17
AN OLD SAILORS YARN.

AN OLD SAlLOR'S IARN.
Old JOhcs---Discipline in the OIden Time
"That's bad habit you've got, " said
the old sailor, as he took his mug of ale
from the attendant boy, "of frothIn'
your beer. 1 wouldn't like to go SO far
as to say that sich practice will eventu-
ally lead you to the galiows, but do say
if ever you're a-goin' to be hanged,
when you're a-squarin' up your accounts
aforehand, and a-rulin' off the sins you've
committed, this here frothin' will sit
heavy on your conscience. 1 know'd
mate, sir" he continued, turning to
me, cas- ended his days a-marryin'
widder as KEEP public house along the
Waterloo road, as was very particular
onto this point arter he become fust
officer of that establishment, and many's
the time I've he cred him say to his wife
her as were widder afore she got
spliced to him. Whatever you does,
Maria, my dear, don't froth the beer;
honest glass of beer for honest mans
money, that's my motto He's dead and
gone now, and her third weren't a sea-
farm man at all; but that's somethin'
that'll be counted in his favor when he's
bein' reckoned up for a full due-he never
frothed the beer.
" He were one of the hardest nuts to
crack when he were goin' in them Liver
pool ships as ever seen. [ made one
or two voyages with him, but were not
over fond, because, although as rule he
treated me very well, there was times
when he'd whale all hands, jist for
amusement like, and then come in for
my share with all the rest.
" I mind the time he tumbled down
the Marmion's hold, as would a-killed
any other white man, however much o
niger might have stood it; and it hard
ly faxed old Jones, which were his name.
The Marmion were a ship with about
twenty-four feet depth of hold, and
then she had house eight feet high
a-runnin' from the for'ard part of the
main-hatch chock for'ard to the fore
mast, with scuttle through the deck of
it right over this hatch; and it were
down through this scuttle that old Jones
went a-trippin' over one of the guys to
the cooks funnel, which were jist abaft
it, and a-goin' down head fustwards.
There were o coverin' board of white oak
over the keelson to protect it in the wake
of the hatch when ballast or sich were
were a-bein' throw'd down, and old
Jones split this from end to end when he
lit on it, cause he were o man of over
two hundred in weight, and would nat
urally come heavy when he did come.
Two or three of us jumped down arter
him, and the second mate passed down
q line for to bind on to old Jones and
haul him up; but Lord love you, sir, he
fetched the fust one wipe alongside of
the lead, which were me, as knocked me
away over the sister keelson and into
the port bilge, and says he: Cant I
come down here without all you chaps
q follerin' round arter meg and up he
went up the hatch-stanchions as if moth
in had happened. 1t shook him up q
good deal, and heerd him tell the Sec
ond mate arter he got on deck that he
never felt so funny in his life as he did
when he fust picked hisself up. 'The
stanchions, says he, seemed all goin'
round and round, as if they was a-dancin'
hornpipe.'
" When he jined that ship, it was the
wage afore, and wasn't into her then,
he jist begin by poundin' all hands, in
cludin' the steward, third mate and
carpenter.
"You see, sir, the way of it were, he
had been mate of the Sea with Captain
Edwards for long time, and the Mar
mion belonged to the same employ, and
there were change of captains jist
afore the ship were ready for sea, the
captain of the Marmion bein' transferred
to new ship, and another captain what
had jist arrived in the Maria, bein' APP
pointed to the Marmion, and as his
mate didn't suit the owners, old Jones
were transferred from his ship to this
here Marmion. Well, the skipper took
most of his people with him, his cook
and steward, carpenter and third mate,
and most of his crew. The second mate
were man of the name of Williams,
which know'd old Jones, and had been
with him afore. Well, sir, old Jones
Jined her in the mornin' as it might be,
and took her off in the East river, jisI
below Fulton ferry, and well over tc
the Brooklyn side. The crew was ali
aboard except two or three, and were al
chaps from the last ship.