Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-02-28
CHILDREN AT SEA.
HOW TIE LITTLE PEOPLE FARE
ABOARD SHIP
One Captain Who Thinks They're
Safer There Than on Shore
Sailors Like to Sec
Them About.


seem to think I'm doing the right thing
in taking my family to STA, said n sea
Captain who believes in carrying his home
with him wherever he goes. "rhcy say
that I'm well enough of to have home
for my wife and children on shore. Per
haps that's true. But when they say TINT
my children would be great deal better
off on shore than they are ut sea, Just
take the liberty of differing with them.
"Aly wife had just us leave live mt sea
MS OH shore. She gets tired of the sea
sometimes, but when we're in port
always take her for run on shore, and
before were through with it she gets
tired of that, too. The children like go
ing ashore when We get into port, but
then they're always glad Of it when we
como to go back TO sea- The two youngest
ones never seem 10 care Whom it storns,,
True, my girl tint's twelve years old gets
II little bit frightened when il fret benius.
to blow hard, but then, she soon gets,
over that.
''But rs to my boy Joe, that's cntSpArs
old-hc's never satisfied when tia good
weather. What plcases him most Is a
gale; and what makes him most cheer
would like to see us wrcckcd--thnt's
about the only thing that could make
him happy. And he always climbing up
aloft. Ills mother used to worry little
about That but she don't do it now.
The only thing TINT worries me about his
climbing is that he won't come down
when | call him. Why, on the Inst
voyage from New York to San Francisco
we went around Cape Horn in January,
! and it being summer there it would hi
| light till ten o'clock at night, and later.
| And every night when it camc Joc's bed
| time he'd be found up aloft enjoying
himself, and it would be hard work
getting him down. 1t got so that every
night Mt nine o'clock I'd scnd man to
haul my Joe down from nloft.
"Wc'vc got II nice large cabin--plcnty
Of room for the children to play in--and
we keep Il nurse, of course. And the
nurse, she has to behave herself. She
cant get angry and run off without Civ
ing rs any notice while we are ut sea.
AMI she can't 30 out Of nm evening and
keep MS sitting up 10 let her in; nor is
there any fuss about her having her sun
days out.
"My wife had II good education, and
she teaches the children They couldn't
!, he taught better if they were ashore. My
wife don't play on the piano, and tho
girl don't take to music. II there WIS
music in the family | would have piano
| put in the cabin. Every Sunday after
noon my wife has II Sunday school Tor
any of the sailors that want to learn.
Most Ill Of the men that are not on duty
then come to the Sunday school. They
seem To enjoy it; and il passes of we'll
that is when Joe behaves himself, which
don't always happen.
"And then it's all nonsense 10 say my
children amt safe ut sea. Why, there's
big high buwarks arouad the main
deck, and u high railing around the poop
deck, and they ARE in no danger of fall.
ing overheard. If they were living
ashore Joe would have drowned himself
i'll some brook long ago. 1t sounds
strange, but Il great many more children
are drowned on shore than are drowned
nj sea. When my children are ON board
my ship they are not going 10 get run
over Ivy any reckless drivers, and they IRE
not going to be caught by any electric
wires. We keep medicine chest, but
the children have no usc for it, When
they grow up and are really To start in
life for themselves, they will be healthier
men and women for having passed their
childhood on the sea. The danger of
their being lost at sea is very small.
Take it all and all, they are, ii anything,
safer than they would be on shore.
''The sight of the children somehow
seems to have good effect upon the sail
ors. Some of the rough old chaps that
have been with me thought the world of
my children. Once, when we were lying
in dock in London, an old sailor we
called Belfast Tom stopped on board the
ship. He never had seemed to notice the
children, and | didn't suppose tint he
cared for little ones. But one day lie
asked me for some money to 20 ashore.
Late in the afternoon he came back quite
drunk, with a picture book for Joe and II
big doll for the girl. A few days after
ward he asked for some more money and
went ashore. lie came back late drunken
than he was the time before, and with n
larger picture book for the boy aud II
bigger doll for the girl. | had to give
Belfast Tom talking to, and to tell him
that / wouldn't have him spending his
money that way on my children"
About one quarter of the Captains Of
sailing vessels have their families with
them. The proportion is much greater
among coastwisc vessels than among those
who trade to foreign ports. II frequently
happens that during the voyage of :.
transatlantic steamer there are two or
three births in the steeragc. In many OF
such instances purse is raised by the
cabin passengers for the mothers.
There is "A great contrast between the
treatment which children receive in the
cabin Of steamship, and that which is
accorded to those in the stceragc The
former fare sumptuously. and are pettcd
by officers, stewards and passengers. They
arc allowed to play about the decks, and
are shown everything that is worth seeing
on board. The Storage child languishes
in its close quarters and receives no pet