DeSoto times. (Hernando, Miss.) 1879-1898, 1890-10-02
ROMANCE OF WHALING,
Calling That Has Its Pleasures as Vel
as Its Perlls.

we quote as follows:
The whaleman especially have been
the sinews of the American navy.
Injured to danger by calling in which
the chances were as desperate as those
OF Dattle, they stepped from the whale
poat to the man-of-war simply to face q
Zoe OF different kind. They needed
no baptism under fire before they could
meet an enemy without tlinching, and
when they responded to their countrys
call they grimly applied to each hostile
ship the old whaling motto: Dead
whale or stove boat. Such was tho
spirit OF the American whalemen, and
1t still survives not only among the
veterans Of the craft but also among
their descendants, though tho whaling
industry itself has dwindled to insignifi-
cance.
The Nantucket boy who ties fork
to his mothers darning cotton and then
tries to harpoon the cat, yelling, as the
latter makes its escape: Pay out, moth
er. Pay out! There she sounds through
the window is certainly worthy of the
'boat-steerer' who was his sire. Then,
too, we find in the yernacular of the old
whaling ports, even among the younger
generations, delightful relics of the
Whalers' idioms. The railroad train
Ties up; wagon is 'side-wheel craft, )
and you are requested to shift to wind
ward or leeward,' according as the sides
need trimming; Where are you heading
for?' is the question invariably asked of
you II you are met out walking; you
learn that your veteran whaleman
neighbor of last summer died in the
winter in furry the farmer
lands his produce at your quar-
ter galleries (meaning, in this in
stance, the rear kitchen, but also
applied to that modern accessory Of fem
lnine attire, the bustle) SO you are in
structed to douse the glim' on retiring
for the night; directed, if you can not
open the post-office door, to try turning
the knob to the westward and If the
door still refuses to yield are informed
that probably the postmistress has bat
tened down the hatches' and gone gam
ming To gam means to gossip. The
word occurs again and again in the log
books OF the old whalers. The uniniti-
ated might suppose it signifed merely
spinning warns on tho fn'na atla Rnt tn
the old whaleman it has far deeper
meaning. When the whalemen met on
the high seas thousands of miles from
homo they would lay to, sometimes for
hours, captains and crew would ex-
change visits, letters from and for
home be delivered, and the story Of the
voyages told. That was gam
One vessel often brought to another the
first news from home in two years.
Meanwhile, however, a year had
elapsed since the vessel last from port
left her moorings, and at least another
year would pass before the homeward
bound crew would sight their native
shore. No wonder the young captain,
as his home harbor hove in sight,
eagerly scanned the crowd upon the
wharf through his marine glass until it
rested, perhaps, upon fair young face
full of anxious expectation. Canning
8 indeed a relic of one of the most ro-
mantle, and perhaps pathetic, phases
of the whaler's lie. Every vessel
that sailed carried messages to rela-
tives and friends thousands Of
miles away, and every vessel
that came to her moorings brought ti-
dings Of cheer or sorrow from the distant
seas. A wife might have the letter
which she had written to her hus sband
two wears before returned to her, be-
cause his vessel had not been spoken
and alas! she had not been spoken by
any OF the vessels that had returned
during the year. Time would only
deepen the mystery of her husbands
fate, and perhaps the wife would never
know whether the ship was cast upon
one of the islands of the Pacific and
the crew massacred by the savage in
habitants, or split upon sunken reef
and engulfed with all hands; and
90 she would sit weeping in her
lonely chamber while her neighbors
made merry over the return of son,
father, lover, or husband, and the
streets rang with the songs OF happy
Jack. Whalemen returning home were
liable to find that many changes had
taken place during their long voyages.
An old whaleman told me that he was
Obliged to sail on one of his voyages
lust after his mothers burial, leaving
his father bowed down with grief. His
vessel was hardly at her moorings three
wears later before said father slapped
him on the back and said: Alfred,
come up to the house an I'll introduce
you to your mo ther.'