The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-06-25

excuse for not cbeying, or even to re-
mark that you'll be up directly
should not care to be in your sea-boots
if you did
''But by the time you are drenched
with the driving rain and flying spray,
have plunged frantically into the lee
scuppers and been requested with more
emphasis than courtesy to get aloft on
the topsail yard, you will forget your
drowsiness. For it will be all you can
do to cling to the yard with your ell
bows while your feet are balanced on
the slippery, swaying foot-rope and
your numbed fingers clutching at the
Stating canvas which seems trying to
knock you from your perch.
But, hear you say quite scorn-
fully, it isn't dt0ays storming on the
ocean, And have no doubt but that
you picture yourself, arrayed like
Pinafore' sailor, leaning idly against
the rail as the ship glides smoothly on
ward before the steady trade-winds
over some sparkling tropical sea; which
l confess is a charming picture, my
dear nephew, the drawback being that
it is as unlike the reality as ten-cent
chrome is unlike Photographic neg
alive. ~ ~ ..t,3'
g In certain ATTITUDES there are sum-
mer seas and skies for days at time.
Were it not so, my dear boy, the un-
pleasant and endless jobs of tarring and
greasing, and splicing and mending,
and scrubbing and painting, and scrap
ing and oiling, which are always going
on on shipboard but never finished,
.xvOrfld hoxrc To- iae drno ~, l,~d or.
instead of fine. For the good Captain
and his kind-hearted officers not only
mean that you shall have no time to
'mope' or be homesick in, but they
bear in mind the beautiful suggestion
of DIR. Watts, that .s.n,..,. ...,...
"'Satan finds some mischief Still
For idle hands to do. 'iti A
So that you will find every moment
spent on deck is filed and running over
into the next one with tasks of every
conceivable kind tasks which are in
variably connected with clinging tar
and odorous grease-tasks which will
take you from the keelsou to the royal
truck dozen times in day.
"True, should the Sabbath prove ex-
ceptionally fine, you naay have time to
read chapter in your Bible, though
such rare occasions are generally occu-
pied by sailors in the necessary duties
of patching and mending. ...-
So, my dear johnny, in summing the
matter up. have to tell you frankly
that going to sea before the mast does
not give the boy the chance to crafty the
love for fun and adventure of which he
fondly dreams. True, being dismasted
| in, Lon eh
may SAVIOR of adventure, but even these
exciting episodes have some very I'M
pleasant features--so unpleasant, in
fact, that it not unfrequently happens
to the participant in them that he never
returns home to relate such adventures.
''And finally, as to rising in the naval
or merchant service, that, my dear
nephew, depends. If you have an iron
constitution. gutta-p ercha joints, and
perfectly tempered steel springs al
over your body; if you have a quick
, mind to take in both the practice ant
theroy of seamanship; if you have {
never-tiring energy, which can cause
such body and such mind to be in thu
7 perpetual motion, and if you have
!, enough of the yeast of ambition abou
: you to keep the whole in sort of un
. ceasing ferment why then. in. TIN
, course of time, you may rise in eithe
branch of the service. But yol
,, will never rise above hard work, ex
posure,. anxiety and responsibility
even if you are, elevated to the quarter.
deck. In conclusion, my dear Johnny
, my own impression is that, generally
! speaking, you will find the best part o
!, sea-going to consist in staying at home
and reading truthful accounts of the
sailing experiences of others. n--FrGnh
II. Converse, IN Christian Union.