Daily Republican., 1888-09-26
wnE BOYS GO TO SEA.

l was but q very little lad when I
first went TO sea-my age thirteen and
q half. Some fellows might think
thirteen and q half very old; but when
l look back 1t seems to me so young
that can scarcely believe was ever
90 small; and the fancy crosses me
sometimes that the MILDLY in brass
buttons and gilt badge whose face
mine still resembles must be some
queer small boy I have met In a
crowd. Why went 10 sea can
hardly say. Maybe the reading of
story books about the ocean life raised
q kind Of laundering in me; but think
1t was the desire to shine in buttons.
to wear pair Of blue trousers, a col.
ored shirt, little jacket with brass
bound sleeves, black silk handker-
chief tied in q proper sailors knot, the
ends twingling to every breeze like
the fly Of a strealer pulling at mast,
a cap on the back Of my head with a
Sparkling device above the peak of 1t
representing golden wreath enclos-
ing flag beautifully cOlored with blue
and silver silk. / say IL was a yearn
ing to walk attlred in clothes Of this
kind that ended in my going to sea,
/ have told you had no clear views.
My notions of the deep were entirely
romantic. / imagined coral islauda,
green savannahs, forests of fruit trees,
savages with bows and arrows, great
elephants with little black men
riding cross-legged on their heads, blue
rivers winding towards the purple Of
distant mountains, with shining white
cities upon their banks, where the
roofs OF the houses OF the nobility were
garDished with gold and silver and
precious stones, where there were
ducks that laid emeralds and hens
rubies, and where there were the fun
niest monkeys in the world to be had
for the ASKING.
promised one Of my little sisters to
bring her a box OF gold dust and the
ivory tusk Of an elephant; for another
l was TO procure bird OF paradise,
two bumming birds, and lizard that
wasn't poisonous. To my brother
Tommy, who was two years younger
than myself, / promised a real canoe,
and rather think l added that If It was
to be managed l would present him
with q live savage 10 60 fishing with
him in IT,
knew geography pretty well,
though my ideas of distant lands were
a little confused when came to think
Of their produce; but 1t seemed to me
that fellow need only go TO sea TO
obtain what he wanted.
The world was very big, thought,
and when q man sailed into It he was
bound to meet with everything that
was wonderful and worth having. 1t
never struck me that might make a
Voyage to place where there was no
gold dust, no canoes, no savages, even,
merely civilized black man or two,
such as you may meet any day, bland,
clean and shining, in London street.
Indeed, / no more realized the sort of
country ! might fret visit than did
the life l must lead in order to get to
lit. There was good deal of fruit
mixed up In my seaisring dream; the
brass buttons and the badge stood
first, and then my vision was as plen-
tifully stocked as big market with
cocoanuts, bananas, oranges, datep,
custard-apples, and other first-class
eating.
knew something about ships; l
had lived half of my little life in sea.
port town, and could talk of bowsprits,
lquaEter boats, dead.eyes and jibs
without laundering; but of the hard
ships OF sailors life, the food he eats,
the work he has to do, l was, of course,
quite ignorant.
1t had often amused and interested
me since to ask boy, say Of thirteen
and halt, who has told his father and
mother Il at he is determined to go To
sea, what his notions Of the calling
are. AZ rule find them wonder.
fully like what mine were. 1t is partly
an idea Of getting away from school
partly the dream of becoming man
all at once, partly fancy OF pirates
buried treasure, glittering uniforms
and fine curiosities to be got somehow
and brought home; the whole coloret
with the light OF the romance which
Ishines very gloriously upon the mind
Iof boys when they are little, but which
lslowly fades as one gels older, till lit
turns as gray round about one as
II cnld NoVanher aky