The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1890-05-01


"Why, the one you carried under
your arm when you was boy going
onto the ship to be sailor.
did you ever hear me say anything
about mine or any other seaman's
Bible?" asked the Cap'n with forced
calmness.
"N-o," replied the lubber, slowly,
"but I've been led to think that all the
boys who went to sea took one along.
At least, they did in the Sunday-school
books [ used to read. The boys moth
er was usually a widow, and he had to
go to sea to support her. and he always
took Bible with her name on the fly
leaf I have often wondered since why
the boy didn't get a job ashore, but I
suppose work was scarce that summer,
and he was stuck on the sea anyhow.
Another thing that bothered me some
was the fact that he was generally
gone three years, while his penniless
ma was waiting for him to come back
and support her.
"And he always shipped Bible
with the rest of his dunnage, Ell?
ventured the Cap'n, with the evident
intention of drawing the lubber out.
eyes, the boy generally had Bible
tucked under his arm with book
mark sticking out of the back end Of it,
in the picture where he is bidding his
mother good-by before going to sea.
She has her hands over her face and is
weeping bitt erly, poor woman, while
he gazes manfully up at her from under
his glazed cap-brim. And they al
ways have his clothes-chest showing In
the picture This is a small, square
box with a rope handle in each end,
and contains besides his clothes a num-
Der of healthfu1 tracts for the sailors.
at has been SO long since [ read one
of the books that I've forgotten just
how the story goes. But there is an
other picture where the boy is march
ing up the gangplank into the ship
with his Bible, while a sailor follows
him at a respectful distance, carrying
the chest on his back. On the voyage
the boy refuses to drink grog or chew
long green tobacco, which the sailors
kindly offer him. And every night in
the forecastle he reads a chapter
from his Bible and then kneels
down beside his bunk to pray,
while the sailors heave rubber boots
at his head But the noble boy
perseveres, and after awhile manages
to steer the sailors into a religious
train of thought. He then passes
among them with his tracts and leans
on the taffral moonlight nights telling
the rude but large-hearted sailors of
better and purer home beyond the
skies. When the voyage is over he
comes home with curly whiskers and a
big bagful of gold just in time to save
his mother from the cruel landlord,
who is about to foreclose the mortgage
and throw the unhappy lady out of the
house. I've often thought I would
like to be sailor myself" concluded
the Iubber, "but I'm afraid I'm not re-
Egious enough, an1.I?"
Hardly" replied the Cap'n, serious
". But then it isn't necessary for a
boy to be ordained for the ministry in
order to ship before the mast in an
American man-of-war or any other YES
sci know of, except Cap'n Bundy's
Gospel Tidings, which was launched
here last summer The Sunday-school
sailor is all right in the book, but he
has never showed up on shipboard to
my knowledge. I've seen hundreds of
boys come over the gang-plank, and if
any of them had Bibles they took pains
to conceal them. They all had ham
kering for government rations instead
of spiritual food, and as for missionary
work, why, they could give a pirate
pointers on profanity. I have often
wondered myself why sailors pay so
little heed to their spiritual welfare.
They probably feel that the worst deal
they can get in a future state will bea
soft berth compared to their natural
lives.
"But we once had religious chap
aboard, one Cyrus Bilger, of Ohio.
Cyrus brought no Bible along, having
absorbed the good book all but the