Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1881-06-11
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE BOYS.

l have lately had letter from my
nephew, johnny Briggs. AS the SPELL
ing and grammar are little defective,
/ will only give the postscripts, which,
however, contain the pith of the letter
itself. They run thus:
"P.s one Reeson have decydid to Go to
see, is Because Am so fond of Fun and ad-
venChur.
n. s. S. can rize quickest in the navey or
BY going in the Merchant servis2
JOHNNY BRIGGS"
1t is a great many years since l was
boy like Johnny-a great many; yet
not so long ago but that, after reading
his letter and its postscripts, | fully un-
derstand Johnny's frame of mind. He
is tired of the sameness of life-the eat
ing and sleeping and going to school
are all so uneventful. There are no
pirates, or wild Ind ans, or typhoons to
be encountered in this prosaic exist
ence, no fair young maidens to be res-
cued from peril of field, fire OF flood.
His ardent soul pants for adventure,
and he is allame to encounter the ex-
citement which he fondly believes to
be inseparable from
"a life on the ocean wave"
According to his letter, this newborn
desire is due to "a unquenchibel Spirit
OF Rowing" Which he darkly hints
is an Inheritance from a very re-
mote ancestor, who is mentioned
by Johnny as a freebooter. My
own impression, however, is that ii
o,,gn hnt hn
dealer at the corner of the block where
Johnny lives deals in live-cent nautical
novels of the most startling kind.
saw one of them once. 1t was called
1.-The Boy Blockader; or, The Strange
Secret of Hampton Hall" | was inter.
ested to notice that the publishers an.
nounced it as of thrilling interest, and
intended especially for the instruction
and edification OF youth All for five
cents But | am wandering from my
subject.
Now Johnny has asked my advice or
this matter Of going to sea. True,
know that, like advice asking people in
general, he will only take so much of il
as comedies with his own ideas-tht
remainder will be contemptuously
ignored as the views of an o'd fogy
But Duty with big d stands at my
elbow, so out of my past experience
have evolved the following:
My DEAR NEPHEW" The Burling
ton Hdwbeye man. who is one of til,
most charming persons | know, say
this: Everybody likes candid maj
till he gives a candid opinion that in
ter5eres with their own. Then he ;
bigot' So before l finish this lette
you'll know what bigot is, and tina
will be something.
"Your fondness for fame and ad
venture is if may so express it
family weakness. 1t sent your fathe
to California in '49, and brough
him home with rather less money thai
he took away with him. Me it sent tt
to sea- and if / learned nothing els'
there, l found out that present-day sea
going hasn't quite as much fun or ad
venture about it as present-day sea
stories would have us believe. If you
my dear Johnny, should 90 to sea, yol
would probably make the same dis
covery. doubt even ifyou would fin'
among your shipmates daring Dicl
Dashaway, a romantic Ralph Rackstraw
or even a jolly Jack Easy. The me-
who have taken the place of thes
heroes of fiction are literally on earth
earthly, rather than of the sea- salt.
don't know just why the salt shoul
have 50 lost its SAVIOR since the day
of Cooper and Marryatt. But on
would think nowadays that it wa
henceforth fit for nothing but to b
cast out and trodden under foot of mel
such downtrodden race are the sailor
of to-day.
"For you will no longer, my des
Johnny, find the jovial tar who in th
words of your favorite song.
"'Sings as he views the gathering cloud
to be the manly, independent marine
of fiction. Rather is he Qiterally. of
ertimes) under the iron heel of bruti
taskmaster.
d" | have never heard heard him sin
| as he viewed the gathering clout
} though ] haze heard him, under h
breath, use unpleasantly emphat
words on the subject of the weathe
, And my impression is, my dear nephey
: that after you have been to sea a sho
, time, you yourself will not look upo
) the gathering cloud in the light of
/ subject for tuneful melody; becau;
, when man is called out of his watC
below to help shorten sail four or fly
{ times every twenty-four hours, he is a.
to lose his ear for music.
"Why, the summons to this unplea
ant duty is of itself calculated to mai
? a bov think of home. The officer
the deck does not send word for al
that as the weather is likely to be III
1 pleasant he would be obliged to Il
/. sailors if they would kindly arise al
) appear on deck as soon as they can co
veniently. Oh, no! But the secor
S mate, who is muscular of arm and pov
erfuI of voice, thunders away at Il
g forecastle door, shouting in a tone tn
: doesn't admit of discussion:
@ "'Turn out here to short'n sail; al
e be quick about it, toor'
e ~ may remark in passing, my de
John, that it will at such time be us