The bee. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1882-1884, 1883-06-23
A lively Crew on Mississippi River Steam.
BONITA Mate Who Didn't Even swear.

hour ana what not. up 10 this hour
the fourteen colored d elk hands have
worked steadily, but after their own
fashion. Now look out The mate
suddenly appeared on the scene.
Would Won believe it? i expected to
see two or three "hands" knocked
etiffer'n bar-iron before that mate was
ready for solid business, and-my sur
prise and disgust can be imagined
when heard him call out in CHEEKY
voice:
Now, lads, pick it up lively and
away we g0p'
l hunted up the clerk and says,
says I:
Haven't you got mate on this
boat 2"
"We have"
Where is hep"
Islands there at the gang-plank."
"And he's mate who doesn't rip,
cuss, plunge around and feed on roast
rOustabout, is hep"
"He's mate who can strike like a
Sullivan and swear like a trooper, but
hepractices neither. Heis a gentleman.
He can get more work out of crew
than any other mate on the big river.
Sit down and watch him."
How cool and easy he was ! Four
teen colored men, each one on a dog
trot, were bringing on board bales,
boxes and bundles of every descrip-
ton, and as each man came over the
gang-plank a word or nod directed
him where his carry was to be slowed.
Those chairs on the hurricane
deck that bacon over there-fOur
down there-mule on the other side
plowS on the bOW-cart right over
here, and let's be lively, lads, for times
fyingr"
Not an oath, nor a cuff nor kick
nor a threat. | wondered if that
muddy stream was really the old Mis-
sissippi and if that man could really
be mate. Alas it was too true
Times change-often change-but l
supposed that steamboat mate on
Western river had some life in him.
Work as hard as they will, the
crew can hardly diminish the size of
the freight piles. Carts come rafting
down over the c0bble stones with boxes
OF soap and candles and bags of gro
ceries-wagons rush down with tables,
chairs and bedsteadS hacks bring
passengers-porters bring trunks
men drive down cattle and horses and
mules.
The clerk catches everything on the
point of his pencil before it goes up
the gang plank-the mate maneuvers
his forces with tie skill Of an old sol
der. The boat must take everything,
gangway must be kept clear, goods for
the various landings assorted, and not
a FOOT of room can be lost. Great side
pieces of pork and bacon chink in here
and there; boxes are Wedged in among
barrels; mules are surroun led with
woodenware, COWS and oxen are backed
into pens made Of machinery, and
there is never mistake nor mislit.
The bell clang5 loudly as a signal
that time is almost up, and now the
mate speaks quicker, the men move
faster, and there is growing Of steam
from the engine-room. Carts are still
coming, scores Of negroes are stream
ing aboard, and yet the great caravan
can take more freight. The docile, pa
tient cow las scarcely set eyes on her
first steamb )at before three or four
hands whsk her along so fast that she |
is aboard before she can wink twice |
The mule is making up bis mind to die |
in the last ditch, when hands are laid |
upon his halter and his ears, a third |
roustabout gives his tail a persuading
twi~t, and old obstinacy is made fast |
TO the rail on the port side and left to
wonder at mans dominion over brute |
creation.
The second bell clangs out. In ten |
minutes we are off. | want to bet a |
plug hat against pint p anut that
we can't q t away in thirty. There
are enormous piles of freight on the
levee, and / can't see where they can
store another box al GARD.
"Come, lads, up with you, heartiesr'
calls the mate, and now comes the
climax. it is jump--dodge- st
skip-hy. Not hoop is broken, not
q box bursted. Just now, where the
mule has space to hang back, as if
about TO sit down, re t. half ton of
sacks. The space in the gangway is
narrowed aljttle more, the oxen driven
a little closer. and l0i / turn to look
upon the l1vee and the great pile of
freight has vanished | have seen /
fifty tons of freight brought aboard
without an oath or a collision or a
cents worth of damage. and now
comes the lat warning. Lines are
cast off at mol, the gang-p ank rises
and is swung in board, and the Dean
Adams steams away up the mighty
river, which is now booming with a
mighty food
"AlI hands, sings the mate, and
fourteen men gather around him on
the bow.
divide up"
Seven step to the right and seven to
the left.
THAT'S all, my lads-all here and
all right r
And as the twilight gathers around
us and the lights of the city twinkle
afar of the larboard watch raise the
song:
Invent courtin' 'toder night,
Golly golly golly
went courtin' 'toder night
Wentto see my Pollym
And the starboard watch takes up
The chorus:
O-o-o-ohi how lub dat yaller gal.
An how she lubs her Moses!
An how TIE Rwine to say 10 her, I
She's sweeter dan de roses.
The steamer is heading in fnr the ]