Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-11-22
THE TABLES TURNED.

DER OF US OlO snip masters Cuauc0u To
meet at social supper, and after the
cloth was removed we went in for yarn
spinning. Among our number was
Captain Richard Nutter, and finer
man or better sailor never trOd deck.
At length it came his turn to tell a
story: or, what he preferred-and what
the rest Of us had done relate some
incident of experience in his own life.
Swell, boys" he said, as he rejected
the wine, which was at that moment
passed to him for the first time, 81 will
give you bit of the early part of my
ocean life, and it is a very important
bit, too, for upon it [ have built the
whole of my subsequent manhood"
We prepared to listen to Captain
Nutter with the most perfect attention,
for he was not only an old seaman, but
one of the most successful commanders
in our mercantile marine. We listened,
and his story was as follows:
was very young when I first entered
on shipboard, and at the age of fourteen
I considered myself quite q sailor.
When was eighteen was shipped on
board an East Indianman 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
ble-hearted, honorable man, kind and
generous, 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 mess and decidedly con-
demned, In fact, we should have re-
versed many of his judgments if 70
had had the power; but he was con-
mander, and we only foremost hands
and boys at that-he had it all his own
way, and tie 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 grog as
well as any sailors. We could toss off
glass of rum and water with as much
grace as any one, and we claimed the
right SO to do, not on ~ as privilege,
but as an honor to which life upon the
ocean entitled us. But in 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 off, in state
anything but sober. [ say 'we, but
there was one of our number who could
not be induced to touch drop of any
thing intoxicating. His name was Jonn
Small, and he belonged in one of the
back towns of New Jersey.
Now Jack Small not only refr ,ined
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
of envy on our part, and it ended in
uoclueu Ill Will IOWaru poor JACK.
Now, in truth, Jack was one of the
best fellows in the world. He was kind,
obliging, honest, always willing to lend
q 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 we did-.he was better sailor, and
he learned more of navigation. But
this we tried to lay to the Captains
paying him most attention, though we
knew better at the time, for We had the
privilege of learning just as much as
we had a mind to. The truth of the
matter 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 /
spree than We did in learning to perfect
ourselves in the profession we had
chosen.
It even got SO, at length. that Jack
Small was called upon to take the deck
sometimes, when the officers were busv.
and he used to work out the reckoning
at noon as regularly as did the captain. J