The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1875-01-22
Saller's Language.

avn Always IN my pulpit, but not al.
ways preaching. spend most of nv
time IN listening to all sorts ct stran.c
and wonderful things, IN order 10 ,ell
them - my children. nut sometime. /
hear things that puzzle me very much.
The other day two sailors were tslkinp
together, and y took more than nv Wit
to fnd out what they meant. One sail
that 10 had Just come from tho .rcsrinr
forsias, where he had many times "sailcJ
In tho teeth Of the wind" anu had been
"caught IN the ego nf the storm. You
would have believed his observation. thai
his comrsnion was 40 "acai 40 4 conl.
bnnAcr,"if You had heard tho tame IN
which he shouted out his remarks.
Then The other sailor began 10 talk.
liz snid that be ton had jns, returned
from voyage. The sea ha.l been !.
"sM""th ~ bluhl.cr. most ot tho tim.
hut one night when there WAS .iuat \
rapfnl ~ wind, and "all s'Iss were .se,"
!" catch y, aud Everything was ~ qnic,
~ \ nisht slos Watch" .lnwn came
brig and struck her rish, "auidships.
An, s'r, The car'n only had time IL
sing Out to man the gig, the jollyboa,
and dingy, when III The water W were
Indeed" tho sailor went ON Ia SAY. "
s'pasc we'd I'm gone IL Dayy homes
locker Il the brig hadn't sen, along her
dors and yawl 10 pick us up"
Now Win, do yea suppose any sober
minded Jack could make II all that,
! cant describe to you how il bothered
me to carry nil these queer expressions
~ my head TIL my travelled bird friend.
shou'd come along. Same ii then, hal
taken long voyages in ships, and 10 could
understand the terms my sailors. Ind
used
Well. the end II II nil Ii, know TIM,
the roaring iortics" means tho .ifstnncc
on the Atlantic Ocean between The ior.
sicth anti ilitic,h parallels NJ latitude:
TINT The saiials gave the name IN that
space hccansc The ocean IL 10 stnre,v
there. To sail In tho "tccth of the
wind means To proceed Ia the direction
from which. the wind con.es, and 10 l,c
'canght IN tho esc oi the storm 10 10 bc
right IN the center of II, which il q very
dangerous thing "A capiul II wind
turns out 70 lie nice brisk wind, not d
9alc, nor even \ spanking bro. xc---~ hicl.
last, by the way, Il \ wind that blows
quite strongly. but steadily, and IA Just
whit n sailor likes best.
A. ier sis tint i only The sailor
sound ior sails.
When | heard that "dng watch
means watch TINT is two hours long.
! eonldnt imagine what sort Of i watch
u could be; but Il appears that when
ship l. 1t sen there mus. always BIZ some
one 70 keep watch night and day, III Or
der 70 avoid accidents. 10 ono officer
will watch from siA o'clock til ten, M.
other from Ten o'clock till twelve, Il
thir,l iloM twelve o'clock till two, md
4 fourth from two o'clock tn ak. The
two short periods between ton o'clock
and two In the dry time. and Tho same
In the night, are called dog watches.
Upon hearing this, Was going 70 TO-
mark that this was very queer name,
but remembering that NIL tho other
names and terms were queer ton, said
nothing about II.
~ for hitting "amitships,' that only
means that onn vcssul struck tho other
Ia tho center, .iawl" and ''dory," and
many VI tho other words arv plain
enough, nuw TINT | understand them;
but w have bud sailor talk long enough
for this iime. - From Jack In tho pnl-
pitt" 81. Nicholas for February.