Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-12-31
Al PECULIAR CUSTOM.
= Lndicrous Practice in which Many
Ocean Travellers are Compelled
20 Take Part.
a l,an,hridrn ~ i Il. q.

Ocean Travellers are Compelled
TO Take part
4 Cambridge Undergraduate, now on
his way ic tho cape in trading vessel,
sends the following Interesting conlrau-
nieation to the Pal Nal Gaxetfes One
Of the Oldest customs Of the sea lately
came under my noiice. and in such i
. way as / am not likely to forget. As
usual after our o'clock tfa. We were
seated in the salooh ENJOYING or pa,,se
Of cfibbage, when a blast foin the fog
horn, fit n awaken the dead, put an end
70 one cards Hurriedlv we made FOR
the deck, where d sight never TO be for
gotten met our eyes The evening was
dark and cloudy, the moon entirely hid
den, but the deck was brilliantly illn.
minated with blue lights Fromthe fore
castle was issuing a procession that
battles description. First walked Father
Neptune himself, leading on his arm his
young and beautiful wife, Amphitrite.
Neptune was dressed in long, white
flowing robes that is, a nightshirE
around his head waved HE erav locks.
blowing before The wind in every direc-
tions his beard reached below his waist;
on his head he wore inter Of such
tremendous size as to drive any bishop
wild with envy; IN bis hand he bore his
trident
His wife's dress was evidently on the
plan of beauty unadorned,n for some
red paint, q small red flag, and pair
Of red bathing-drawers constituted her
costume. Her aaxen hair in curly
masses reached ker knees. Following
ths. august couple walked the hero of
the evening-the barber. Dressed all in
white, wearing n hat the shane of I.
dice-box. half white, half black with
curly white hair and Mhishers. he wits
sublime; hut the sublime changed into
the awful when one perceived that he
carried in his hands instruments Of tor
ture rivaling IN their latent cruelty even
those OF the Inquisition. Imagine stand
ing and gazing upon a bucket of flour
and water mixed to about the thickness
of liquid glue, of which YOU know YOU
viii receive large share Ion your head.
Recover if Won can, from that SIGHT, and
look again In his other hand he holds
razor OF such magnitude that it would
not be i'll amlss for telling trees, and
think that soon that edge of rough,
rusty iron will be blowing It's meandei,-
ing course over your innocent jaws.
Following this torturer came two
policemen armed with cudgels and dark
lanterns Behind them crowded the
crew. In spite of the awful solemnitv
of the scene, one could not but admire
the dark, cloudy sky, the sea q blaze of
phosphoresccnce, the fiickefing summer
lightning, the grouping of the actors
Hating before the after deck, Neptune.
in 4 loud voice, with such calm disre-
gard as TO where he put his HIS MS would
make any classical author turn in his
grave, gave utterance, Earring that
some of the crew of this ship is such as
they ave not yet crossed the loine. and
bin baptoizod, my sons. [ ham ERE TO
see them done So Evidently Nep-
tunes intercourse with British sailors
has been to the disadvantage of his elo-
quencc.
The sailors at the finish of Neptune's
speech. cheered loudly, while from their
midst stepped the two brawny police
men, one OF whom was niggef from
Demerara, and seized upon I. Mean
while the torturer was not idle. He had
seated himself upon a low stool. with
his bucket before him. in his left hand a
brush like housemaid's broom. while
with his right he was sharpening his
razor on the companion-lalder ratings
Alas for poor I. He stood smiling be-
fore his execntioner, who. evidently
thinking the occasion far too solemn to
smile at, put an end to his innocent
merriment by inserting as much as he
possibly could of his mixture into his
mouth. While he was engaged in
choking and splitting out what lie could
of the connection, his head was being
covered to such an extent as to render
his features quite indistinguishable.
Then that awful razor came into use. its
broad, rusty edge scraping away the
dough like pillow in clay soil. But
how difficult it is to take the dough out
Of ones eyes and mouth with razor
blade three feet long, one can not i'm
agine till one has iriedl His satanic
majesty, ! mean the barber. having
scraped off as much 'as pleased his
fancy, the two policemen came TO the
lore again, armed with buckets of cold
water, which, utterly regardless of what
part OF the victims body received the
water. they threw in quick succession
over him.
| was the next victim, and went
through the same terrible routine; but
at last it was all over, and issued from
The cold-water cure quite ready TO sec
the fun in treating the others to their
dose. 1t was novel experience, and
one not likely to be forgotten. Then
followed the others who had not crossed
lx,1f i e "a.
two Were missing. The police were
soon after them, but it was an hour be-
fore the first was found, lying under
meath the boilers in about tlfe temper
allure of the place | had wished the bar
her in when | was being shaved All
this he endured rather than face his
shaving, or, should say, shaving his
face. He was quickly dragged upon
the scene, and pald the penalty of his
fear by receiving q double dose. Soon
after this the other, boy, was found
concealed in a sail in the rigging; he.
too, got what he deserved for irving to
escape justice. After all were baptized.
we had some songs and dances, the bar
Der being especially good ut the latter,
and giving us some excellent clog-dances
and breakdowns. Poor Neptune had |
terrible trouble with his wife, who, sud
denly discovering herself among lot
OF sailors, became ..skittish' NATURALLY. |
what woman would nota The songs |
and dancing finished, groe handed all |
round, and with three cheers for us |
from the crew. we retired to our cabins |
to put on dry clothes, and to tear out
handfuls of hair in endeavorino to rid |
our heads of dough. And so we crossed |
the line.