, 1876-11-24
The Tables Trrnsd.
A TEMPERANCE STORY.

One evening, not long since, num-
Der of us old ship masters, CHANGED to
meet at a social supper, and after the
cloth was removed we went in for yarn
spinning. Among our number was Cap
tain Richard Nutter. and a finer man or
better sailor, never trod q deck. At
length it came his turn to tell story,
or, what we preferred-and what the
rest of us had done-relate some Incl
dent of experience in his own life.
"Well, boys" he said, as he rejected
the wine, which was at that moment
passed 70 him for the FIRST time, ~ WIN
give you bit of khe early part of my
ocean life, and tits q very important
bit, too, for upon it I have built the
whole Of my subsequent manhood.
We prepared to listen to Captain Nut
ter with the most perfect attention, for
he was not only an old seaman, bdt one
of the most successful commanders in
our mercantile marine. We listened,
and his story was as follows;
81 was very young when I first entered
on shipboard, and ct the age of four
teen I considered myself quite sailor.
When was eighteen / was shipped on
board an East Indiaman for long voy-
age. There were six Of us on board, of
about the same 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 fifty-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'a noble
hearted, honorable man, kind and gem
erous, but yet very strict. OF course
we youngsters found plenty of occasion
to find fault with him, and very often
were his decisions arraigned before our
imess 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 foremast hands-and bows
4 that-he lad it all 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 travels, to drink grog as we'll
as any sailors. We could toss off a glass
Of rum and water with as much grace
as any one, and we claimed the right so
to do, not only as a privilege, but as an
honor to which life upon the ocean en-
titled us. But even in this respect our
captain pretended to differ from us.
When we could get on shore we would
invariably indulge in our cups, and not
infrequently would we come off, or be
brought of. in state anything but so
Der. l say 'we,' but there was one of
onr number who could not be induced
to touch drop of anything intoxicat-
ing. 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 cap
tain had sharp eyes, and it was not long
before he begun to show Jack Small
favors which he did not show to 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 sort