The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-03-14
SELECT STORY.
GOING AL0FT."
OR, HOW THE YOUNG SAILOR WAS
PROMOTED.

One evening, not long since, num-
Der of us, old shipmasters, met at a
social supper, and after the cloth was
removed we commenced spinning
yarns. Among our number was Cap
tain Richard Sutherland finer man
or better sailor, never trod a deck.
AT length it came his turn to tell a
story, or, what we preferred, and what
the rest of us had done, relate some in
cident or event in his own life.
"Well boys" he said, as he reject
cd the bottle of 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 the
whole of my subsequent manhood has
been built"
We prepared to listen to Captain
Sutter with most perfect attention, for
he was not only an old seaman, but
one of the most successful command.
ers in our mercantile marine. His
story was az follows:
81 was a very young man when
first entered upon shipboard, and at
the age of fourteen considered my
self quite sailor. When ! was eight
cen was shipped on board an East
Indian man for long voyage. 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, massed together, and
in all other respects were separate from
the rest of the crew, just as much as
the officers are. Our captain was a
noble 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 we
had had the power; but as he was the
commander, and we only foremast
hands, and boys at that, he had his
own way, and the luminous decisions
we came to were consequently of nc
avail, and lost to the world.
"Now, we boys had learned, in the
course of our travels, TO drink our groe
as well as any sailors We could toss
| off glass of rum and water with as
much grace as any one, and we claim.
ed the right to do so, and not only as
a privilege, but as an honor to which
life upon the ocean entitled us. Blu,
even in this respect our captain pre-
tended to differ from us. When we
could get on shore we would invaria
bly, indulge in our cups, and not unfre
quently would we come off, or be
brought off, in state anything but
sober. said 'we,' but there was one
of our number who could not be in
duced to touch drop of anything in
toxlcatiug. His name was John Small
and he belonged to one of the towns of
New Jersey.
"Now, Jack Small not only refrain
ed 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 captain had sharp eyes, and it
was not long before he began to show
Jack Small favors which he did not
show us. He would often take Jack
ashore 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 an envy on oul
part, and it ended in a sort of ill-wil
towards poor Jack.
"Now, in truth, Jack was one of tn,
best fellows in the world. He wa
kind, obliging, and honest, Away
ready to lend helping hand in case o
distress, and as true friend as eve
lived-only he wouldn't drink with us
that was all No, that wasn't ALL II,
learned faster than we did, he was
better sailor, and had learned more o
navigation. But this we tried to lay
to the captains paying him the mos
attention, though we knew better a
the time, for we had the privilege o
learning just as much as we had mint
to. The truth of the matter was, W,
loved the idea of being 'old salts bet
ter than we did anything else, and w
spent more time in watching for op
portunities to have spree, than W
did in learning TO perfect ourselves il
the profession we had chosen.
sit even got so at length, that Jacl
Small was called upon to take the decl
sometimes, when the officers were busy
and he used to work out the reckoning
at noon as regularly as did the captain
Yet Jack was in our mess, and he wa
a constant eye.sore. We Saw that b
was reaching rapidly ahead of us il
every useful particular, and yet W
couldn't open our eyes. We were er
vious OF his good fortune, as we calle
it, and used to seize every opportunit
to tease and run him. But he neve
got angry in return. He sometime
would laugh at us, and at Others h
would so feelingly chide us that W
would remain silent for awhile.
SAT length the idea entered ou
heads that Jack should drink with III
We talked the matter over in the mes
when Jack was absent and we mutua
ly pledged each other that we woul
make HIM drunk at the first opportun
ty. After this determination wf
taken, we treated Jack more kindl,
and he was happier than he had bee
for some time. Once more we laugl
ed and joked with him in the mes
and he in return helped us in our nav
cation. We were on our homewal
bound passage, by the way of Braz
and our ship stopped at Rio Janeir
: where we were to remain week or s
One pleasant morning we six youn
sters received permission to go {
shore and spend the whole day, and a
| cordingly we Iigged up in our be
i togs and were carried to the landing.
"Now was our chance, and we p
our heads together to see how it shou
be done. Jacks first desire, as soon
he got on shore, was to go up and e
anime the various things of interest
the city. He wanted to visit t