The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-07-19
BALLAD OF FISHERS BOARDING.
HOUSE.

That night. when through the mooring chains
The wide-eyed corpse rolled tree,
To blunder down by Garden Reach
And rot at kedgeree,
The talethe Hughli told the shoal
The lean shoal told to me.
twas Fultah Fishers boarding house
Where sailormen reside,
And there were men of all the ports
From Mississip to Clyde,
And regally they spat and smoked,
And fearsomely they lied.
They lied about the purple sea
That gave them scanty bread,
They lied about the earth beneath,
The heavens overhead,
For they had looked too often on
Black rum when 1t was red.
They told their tales OF wreck and wrong,
OF shame and lust and frand;
They backed their toughest statements with
The birthstone OF the Lord,
And cracking oaths went to and fro
Across the INST banged board.
And there was Hans, the blue-eyed Dane,
Bul-throated, bare of arms,
Who carried on his hairy chest
The maid Ultruda's charm
The little silver crucifix
That Keeps man from harm.
And there was Jake without the ears,
And pamba the Malay,
And Carboy Gin the Guinea cook,
And Luz from Vigo bay,
And Honest Jack who sold them slops
And harvested their pay.
And there was Salem Hardicker
lean Bostonian he
Russ, German, half-breed, Finn,
Yank, Dane and PoItugee,
AtFultah Fishers boarding house
They rested from the sea.
Now Anne of Austria shared their drinks,
Iva boz Co.
From Tarnau in Galicia
To Jaun bazaar she came
To eat the bread OF infamy
And take the wage of shame.
She held dozen men to heel
Rich spoil of war was hers;
In hose and gown and ring and chain
From twenty mariners,
And, by port law, that week men called
Her salem Hardickers.
But seamen learnt-whnt Iandsmen know
That neither gifts nor gain
Can hold a winking light o. love
Or Fancy's flight restrain,
When Anne of Austria rolled her eyes
On Hans, the blue-eyed Dane.
Since Life is strife. and strife means knife.
From Howrsh to the Bay,
And he may die before the dawn
Who Iiquored out the day,
In Fultah Fishers boarding house
VIC WIZ WAAAS sSt VIC
But cold was Hans, the blue-eyed Dane,
Bull-throated, bare OF arm,
And laughter shook the chest beneath
The maid Ultruda's charm
The little silver eruefx
That keeps man nom harm.
''You speak to Salem Hardicker,
You was his girl, know
ship mineSelfs tomorrow, see,
Und round the Skaw we go,
South, down the Cattegat, by Him,
To Besser in Saro.
When love rejected turns to hate,
All Ill betide the man.
iIou speak to Salem Hardicker-"
She spoke as woman can.
A seream-a sob-"He called me-namesW
And then the fray began.
An oath from Salem Hardlcker,
A shrek upon the stairs,
A dance of shadows on the wall,
knife-thrust unawarex-
And Hans fell down, rs cattle drop,
Across the broken chairs.
In Anne OF Austria's trembling hands
The weary head fell low
81 saip mineseif tomorrow, straight,
For Besser in SaFo:
Und there UltTuda comes 10 me
Al Easter, und go
"south, down the Cattegat-what's hsre7
There no-lights-to-guidel"
The mutter ceased, the spirit passed,
And Anne of Austria cried
In Fultah Fishers clearinghouse
Where Hans the mighty died.
Thus slew they Hans, the blue-eyed Dane,
BuH-throated, bare of arm,
But Anna OF Austria looted first
The maid Uitruda's charm
The little silver cruciflx,
That keeps a man from harm.
-Rudyard Kipltng.