Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1889-03-13
BOYS LIFE AT SEA.
PRENTICE MuLFoRD TELLS A BIT
OF YOUTHFUL EXPERIENCE.

EEtrSt Lessons IauSne ON snip Boar0-SaAA~
ors' Isiil of Fa-c-Learning Good MANI
ners-A Gully In Authority-An 'fOrdi-
nary Seaman
There were on board six "boys" besides
myself, and all from the same village as
our captain. That was the principal rea-
son for shipping on his vessel. 1t was
not a good thing to do, as we soon found
out. To be known on board as friend
or protege of the captain is to draw at
once prejudice unfavorable to you from
crew and officers. They think you are
trying to creep in at the cabin windows.
The motto on shipboard IS that q true
sailor must come in through the hawse
holes. That may or may not hold true,
according to the kind of boy or material
that comes in either way. If a man has
got the sailor in him it will come out
anywhere.
1 was in the second mate's.watch. He
was born brute. But he swore half OF
my sickness out of me, and the fresh air
and enforced exercise of pounding the
rust from the chain cable before 1t was
slowed away did the rest.
I. y
useful We learned in short time many
things our parents had neglected to teach
us, such as the art of mending and wash
ing our own clothes Up< that time
had no idaA,of the eternal necessity Of
repairs on clothing. My first efforts
with the needle, one sunny morning as
sat on deck, called forth abusive express
sions regarding my lack of skill from
the third mate. He .condescended to
teach me. Our earlier efforts at wash
ing called forth contemptuous expletives
from the old sailors, who said that such
badly washed clothes hung In the rigging
were disgrace to the ship. We resorted
at times to q sea wash, which CONSISTS In:
tying flannel shirt to a Hne, hinging its
overheard and letting 1t tow after the
ship. Sometimes we hauled IN our lines
less the shirt from badly tied knots, and
sometimes, when the ship was surg1ng
along at the rate of ten Knots an hour,
we hauled in a shirt less good deal OF
the warp, for bit of cloth won't last
long when treated in this manner.
SAILORS BILL OF FARE. 80
Our sea fare was t1obscouse" and q
fluid called coffee for breakfast; "salt
horse" and hard tack for dinner on Nom
day. pork and beans on Tuesday, salt
beef again on Wednesday, salt fish on
Friday, and beef again on Saturdays and
Sundays; fluid called tea, sweetened in
bulk with molasses for supper, and on
ssduff days. Thursday and Sunday a
limp of plain boiled -four, without
pluns or other fruit to give it the true
fnwardness of pudding. This taught
us how we had been humored and PAM
pered at home. For the first time in our
lives we really appreciated the value OF
our home breakfasts, with milk in our
coffee, buckwheat cakes, and a score OF
other things, which we thought came as
easily as dew from the clouds and must
be everywhere. Some of us had be-
Ionged TO the Dainty and ID ificult-
cub order Of boys grumbled at the
coffee for breakfast, turned up our noses
at this or that dish, and made mother
hustle to get us something fit to eat"
Three weeks at sea cured us OF that.
Even: the smell Of real coffee, ais it was
carried by the black steward from the
galley to the cabin table, was treat,
and an occasional cold breakfast roll or
a discarded bit of any cabin dish that
found its way to us was a luxury not to
be described in words. These were
.sbenavlins." That is the sea phrase for
the crumbs that fall to the boys from the
captains table. tsLobsceuseo is made OF
hard bread, boiled short time with
shredded salt beef. 1t is a relishable dish
anywhere. A midnight luxury for sea
lunch is biscuit, an onion and slice OF
raw pork. 1t sounds rough to the lands
mans ear, but have seen sailors, after
being month ashore, longing eagerly
for this coordination
LEARNING GOOD MANNERS.