The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1890-01-03

II
these old salts struggling among, their
tubs, their .washboards, their soap and
partly washed 9garmenis.5 The cabin
bulkheal partly stopped some, but the
door being open others were borne
partly inside and their wooden shirts
were ;afterward found stranded on the
carpeted cabin floor One g,..duF day..
we had gathered about our extra repast
In the boys house. Y The duff and New
Orleans molasses had Just commenced
TO disappear. NJ i,Ssl "a
Then 4 shining, greenish, translucent
cataract filed the doorway from top 10
bottom. It struck boys, beei, bread duff
and dishes. II scattered them. It tum.
BLEED them Ia various heaps. II was a
brief season Of terror, splitting and spnt.
tering salt water, and a scrambling for
life, as we. thought. 1t washed under
hunks and In remote corners duff, bread,
beef, plates, knives, forks, cups, Spoons
and molasses bottles; The dinner was
Lost. Going on deck we found u couple
OF feet OF water smashing from bnlwark
to bulwark with every roll, bearing with
II heavy blocks and everything movable
which had been loosened by the shock,
to the great risk OF legs and bodies.i But
these were trifles. AT least we call them
triaes when they are over. l have no.
ticed, however, that a man may swear
as hard at a jammed finger as a broken
leg, and the most eillcacious means in
the world to quickly develop a furious
temper Is TO loose ones dinner when
hungry, get wet through, then abused
by a Dutch mate for not stirring around
quicker, and finally work all the after.
noon setting things to rights on an empty
stomach, robbed and disappointed OF It's
duff. This is no tritle. lE's issl-}&sss lgs53s{l
: Learning the ropes isn't all a boys
first lesson ut yea. lie must learn also
to wash and mend his own clothes. 4 At
least he must try 10 learn and 90 through
the forms. never could wash II flannel
shirt, aud how the extraneous matter,
called dirt, which the washing process Is
intended to disperse. Is gotten rid OF by
soap and muscle Mt AL equal average
over the entire surface OF the garment ia
for me today one OF earth's mysteries. l
could wash ashirt in spots; wien I tried
to convince myself that had finished 1t,
I could still see where had washed clean
and where | had not. There is a certain
system in the proper manipulation OF q
garment in n washtub which to me is in
comprehensive. An. old sailor is usually
good washer. It's part OF his trade.
Those on the Wizard would reprove the
boys for their slipshod work. .."Such
slovenly washed shirt as that" said Con.
ner, IN old man.of.war's man, ''hung in
the rigging is a disgrace to the ship"
Healluded to one Of mine. The failure
was not from any lack Of labor put on it.
The trouble lily in TINT didn't know
where to put the labor on. 3; s,::s 20!
TWAS particularly disagreeable ut mid.
night rs We assembled ut the bell ropes
to give her the last "shake up,n and,
more asleep, than awake, pulled YEARLY, |
with monotonous clank. Sometimes ut
that hour, when our lubors were half
through. the valves would yet out OF
order. It was then necessary to call the
carpenter and have them repaired. (. This
would keen us on deck hall IN hour or
more, for by mutual compact each watch
vas obliged to suck its own pumps."'
Such delays made the men very angry.
They stopped singing ut their workoal-
ways a bud sigu--Gnd became silent,
morose and sullen.t For the first six
weeks all the "shanti.songs''4 known on
the SEA hid been sung: Regularly at
each pumping exercise We had "Santy
AIMS" Bully in the Alley" Miranda
Lee, "'"Storin Along, John, and other
operate maritime gems, some of which
might havea place in our modern operas
OF The Pinafore" school. II !. /. N
Z There's good deal Of rough melody
when tliese airs are rolled out by twenty
or thirty strong lungs to the accompaui-
ment Of windlass's clank and the wild,
shrill sweep of the winds in the rigging
above. But the men would no longer
sing The fact was reported to the cIp
tain. lie put OIL his spectacles, walked
out on the quarterback and gazed at them
and reprovingly. Tho mates
tried to incite them to renewed melody.
But the shipping articles did not compel
them to sing unless they felt like it.
The pumps clanked gloomily without
any cnlivening chorus. ~ The captain
went sadly back to his cabin and re
newed his novel. 5lSi; ~ ,s l,i;1;bS
~. d ia. "a PResTIce MuIropn