Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1886-06-25
life ON the Cruiser Alabama"

from series of brief and pithy pa
pesS, in the April century, on the Ala
bama and Kearsarge, we quote rs fol-
ows from the article by L, ID. Haywood,
who was seaman on the Alabama:
After we had swept the ocean of prizes
we had no excitement, and we cast
about in every way TO amuse ourselves.
The ruflianly portion OF the crew found
their pleasure in hazing and ill-treating
their duller and less resolute shipmates,
and there were some fearful examples
of this kind of work. We had sparring
matches and single-stick playing, in
both of which | excelled. Spinning
yarns and singing songs were resources
that never failed. The starboard watch
made every man sing in turn under
penalty of pannakin of salt water,
and our poets were kept busy in COM
posing new ditties. One man had a
splendid tenor voice; he was well edu-
Gated and had been, he said, an officer
in the Royal Navy, and was, like all
disrated gentlemen that l have ever
met, vicious and irreclaimable black
guard How strange to hear him sing
The Lament of the Irish Emigrant,
and My Mary in Heaven with taste and
feeling, and the next moment disgust
even his rude associates by a burst of
obscene blasphemy. One sailor, won
derful story-teller, who generally pre-
faced his yarns with When | sailed in
the Taprobane, East Ingyman,' was
known as 'Top-robbin.' His magma
ton was prolific of horrors, and his
grim and sepulchral visage aided in
producing an effect on his hearers. His
tales were of phantom ships, that sailed
in the teeth of wind and current, and
of ghastly women that came aboard in
the height of storms, etc, and so reals
tic and impressive was his delivery that
some of the worst ruilians in the watch
sought their hammocks in fear and
trembling. But the poor fellow came TO
grief in this wise. 1t was remarked
that he had always missed his tip in
the singing and had rather avoided the
tuneful choir. He was on this particu-
lar night ordered to pipe up and no
more temporizing about it. He put on
look of intense misery, and COM
menced:
How Jerry Lee was hung at sea
For stabbing of his mcssmatc true,
And his body did swing, a horrible thing
AT the sport of the wild sea-mcw.'
What voice!-it was at once squeaky
treble and hoarse bass. With one ac-
cord the men yelled to him to stop. He
was assured If you ever sing again in
this ere watch while we're off sound
ings, we'll fire YOU through n lee port.
Such voice as that would raise a harry
cane Poor Top-robbin seemed glad TO
quit, remarking that he didn't sing for
his own diversion and we all agreed
with him.
"NIost of the songs would not look
well in print, but they were nearly all
squibs on the Captain and his officers,
and were bawled out without mitigation
of voice, and no doubt heard in the
mess-room aft The belief that Captain
Semmes had been parson inspired
many of these ditties, one of which ran
as follows:
oh, our captain said, when my fortunes
made,
I'll buy a church To preach in,
And FIJI it full of tOOts and horns,
And have a jolly Methodee scrccchin.
'"And I'll pray the Lord from night to morn
To weather old Yankee Doodle
And I'll run hinfant Sunday-Schoo
With part of the Yankees Doodle
The following was the last effort OF
the Muse and was sang the Saturday
night before we left CherboWg:
We're homowurd bound, were homcward
bound.
And soon shah land on English ground;
But ere that English land We sec,
We first much lick the kcrsargcc.
But we didn't lick the Kcrsar-gce. and
the poor poet realized the alternative.
for saw him crushed and manglcd un-
der gun, just before went over the
side"
The London Gar1tncrS Car0niclc. re-
ferring TO the durability Of larch Tim