The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-12-26
ROMANCE OF WHALING.
A Calling That Ifas Its Pleasures as We
az Its Porils.

az It's Perils.
From an article in tho Century on
1.-THE Perils and Romance of Whaling"
We quote as follows:
Tho whaloman especially have been
the sinewS of tho American navy.
Injured to danger by q calling in which
tho chances were as desperate as those
OF baltic, they stepped from tho whale
boat to tho man-of-war simply TO face
foo of different kind They needed
no baptism undor fire before they could
meet an enemy without ninching, and
when they responded to their country's
call thoy grimiy applied to each hostile
ship tho old whaling motto: Dead
whale or stove boat Such was tho
spirit Of tho American whalomen, and
1t still survives not only among tho
veterans of the craft, but also among
their descendants, though tho whaling
industry itself has dwindled to insignif-
cameo.
Tho 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
or. Pay out! There she sounds through
the window? is certainly worthy Of tho
'boat-steerer' who was his sire Then,
too, we find i'll tho vernacular of the old
whaling ports, even among tho younger
generations, delightful relics of tho
whalcrs' idioms. Tho railroad train
ties up; Il wagon is side wheel craft
and you are requested to shift to wind
ward or lceward, according Us the sidcs
need trimming; Where arc you heading
fOrp ic tho i'm, ~. ! II <>f
you if you arc met out walking: you
learn that your veteran whalcman
neighbor OF last summer died III the
winter in u furry the farmer
lands his produce at your quar-
ter galleries (mcaning, in This in
stance, tho rear kitchen, but also
applied TO that modern accessory of fem-
ininc attire, tho bustle); so you are in
s;ructcd to 'douse the glim' on retiring
for the night; directed. if you can not
open the post-oiiicc door, to try turning
The knob to the westward and if the
door still refuses to yield arc informed
that probably tho postmistrcss has bat
tened down the hatchcs' ana gono gam
ming 10 gam means to gossip The
word occurs again aud again in the log.
books OF the old whalcrs. Tho uninti-
ated might suppose it signiiicd merely
spinning yarns on the focastic. But to
the old whalcman it has far dccpcr
meaning. When the whalcmcn met on
the high seas thousands OF miles from
home they would lay to, sometimes for
hours, captains and crow would ex-
change visits, letters from and for
homo be delivered, and the story Of the
H,lG fol Ht,...
One vessel often brought to another tho
first news from homo in two years.
Meanwhile, however, year had
elapsed since the vessel last from port
lett her mornings and ut least another
year would pass before the homcward-
bound crew would sight their native
shore. No wonder the young captain,
as his homo harbor hove in sight,
eagerly scanned the crowd upon the
wharf through his marine glass until il
rested, perhaps, upon Il fair young face
full of anxious expectation. Canning
indeed n relic of one OF tho most ro-
mantle, and perhaps pathetic, phases
of the whalcrs life Every vessel
that sailed carried messages to rcla-
tives and friends thousands of
miles away, and every vessel
that camc to her moorings brought til
dings OF cheer or sorrow from the distant
seas. A wife might havo tho letter
which she had written to her husband
two years before returned 10 her be-
cause his vessel had not been spoken
and alas. she had not been spoken by
any Of tho vessels that had returned
during the year. Time would only
deepen tho 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
;ho crow massacred by the savage in
habitants, or split upon q sunkcn reef
and engulfed with all hands; and
so she would sit weeping in her
lonely chamber while her ncirhbors
made merry over the return of son.
father, lover, or husband, and tho
streets rang with the songs of happy
Jack. Whalemen returning homo were
liable TO find that many changes had
taken place during their long voyages
An old whaleman told mo that no was
Obliged to sail on ono Of his voyages
just after his mothers burial, leaving
his ia thcr bowed down with grief His
vessel was hardly at her mornings three
years iater before said father slapped
him on the back and said: Alfred,
como up To the house an III introduce
you to your mother"