The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1885-10-22
GEORGE AUGUSTUS sALRs OPINION
or Gang Of American Children Foot
Loose on the Deck Of IS steamer

]
Litter In Lond N Tele 'raph.
The Australia was infested by small
but determined gang of what may
term tiend children American children,
| am sorry TO say And / am sorry to add
that they were all the children of ss-
loon passengers. here were several
well.enough conducted babies in tho
steerage, and q Iew toleraUle tOIdlekinS
IN the intermediate cabins but more
asperating set of little desperadoes,
male and female, than the Grst-class
brats it would be di cult to imagine.
am passionately fond of what eigh
Hunt used to call the small infantry
who 20 to led 10y daylight, and know
that love and fancy that understand
the pretty WAYS or ordinary children
but when the small infantry assume
the aspect of so many diminutive zap
tiehs and Bashi- Bazouks in miniature
when they decline to 90 TO bed by day
light, or by lamplight either, until they
are driven like sheep into their hunks;
when from sunrise TO supper-time they
never desist from their lmpish tricks,
the "snal infantry becomes to you OBJ
ects, not OF tenderness and sym, athy,
Dul Ol IeTTOF anu uOIFOT.
l he leader OF the gang was an attenu-
ated girl-demOn of about ) or 10. she
and the sallow- faced little goblins whom
she led made our lives miserable. They
ran races in the saloon; they made raids
on the steward S pantry they blocked
up the companion; they worried the
cooks in the gallej they raised commo.
tions in the forecastlc; they sprawled
about the hurricane deck, stopping up
with yells of eAullatlon the ventilatorS
which should have 81 en- little air to
/ the haplesl passengers Sweltering IN the
cabins below.
They perched on the taffrail, All;
were i'll continuous peril of tumbling
overheard they hung on the rigging
and made Gordian knots of carefully
coiled ropes they burst into tho smok
ing room, and disturbed the quietude OF
the five gentlemen who were constantly
paying poser in that divan they ran
between the legs and all but destroyed
the c. nilibrium OF the smo ing room
steward who periodically brought
drinks to the i've poker players; they
overturned the deck chairs and made
holes i'll the awnings they der.ded re-
the man at the wheel-and all this they
did not III the cXuberance of lnfantllt
animal spirits, but in sheer spirit oI
Wanton turbulence and "cussetness,
wholly unchecked t'y their mammas oil
other female relatives, who were either
too seasck or too la y to look after and
control them.
ur captain was shocked. but he had
the navigation of his ship to attend to-
he purser had never seen such child
reu, he averrcd sin e the last rur
from Frisco to sydney, should say
the doctor admitted that his small com
patriots We're .ust a Little worse thar
Australian "ltrrikin' children; tht
American lady do tor and her sister
9th unmarried ladieS--were s>andalizeC
at the i'll behavior of this tloop of small
pirates of the Pacific, and suggcstec
spanking all round as cure for the
evil: tut ii was not until late II
the voyage, We had had one or two goo
'northers ana "southerly buster =
that is to say, sti" gales with heavy
sea running sickness came to oul
aid, and, for awhile, partially piraly +cC
the activity OF these lmps OF the can