Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-05-24

shipman came 10. His cadge was
dim, his buttons greenish. /, on
the contrary, was most uuhlpplly
resplendent--a brand new sailor
and this old stager knew me at
sight.
"What are you cruising about
down here afLerf" said he.
they gave me black eye up
stalrs,' said l.
"Up stairs, up stalrsl' he rOared
"There's no up stairs at sea, you
guffr. D,dn't you know that afore
you shlppedP
"Dldnt l know what?' said |
innOcentl,, for did not understand
bin.
"Come nere," said he. approach
ed him. He drew me close aud
plucked three hairs frOm my head
The pain vas not very sharp, but
this did not render the action the
less brutallv mean and unneces-
sary.
IF you don't pay attention.
said he, Ito what's SAID to you, You
will be bald before we're out OF
soundings. What are you nous.
ing about down here foI2'
Il am looking for my sea chest,
SIR answered, beginning to think
this tall milshipman great and
important person aboard the snip.
Grasping me by the collar of
my ilrket and The seat of my
trouses lie raised me high and
strobe with me, thus pilIared, into
the tween decks.
What's your nameT said he.
Russell said l.
What a horrible namep he eX'
claim. d. My name is GoOle.
How much better GOole sounds
than Russell" He continued to
hold me aloft. 'What are your
initialsl' he asked.
wv. c. r.
There you W. G. r., then" said
he. Aud Ia dumped me down a.
though | had b3on a sailors bun.
die upon one OF ten or a dozen sea
chests, mOored in all sorts of
places in the steerage.
a mldshipman's chest! 1t was
called in my time "a hurrah's nest,
because everything was always on
top and nothing at hand. Wneu
| lift the lid of that chest in mem.
|
ory, am visited by a faint, close
smell of marine soap. | still p Issess
the Bible | took with me, and the
volume, like my memory, is haunt
ed with that dim smell Of marine
soap In bars, by the impulse anf
influence of which | am able tc
see the ship, the gloomy 'tweeI
decks, the midshipmen's berth, th'
patched figures ot the emigTant'
as yIvidly as though WAS aboard
that vanished craft again
| lift the lid of my sea chest, AM
what do fudl S)me dOzens o
colored shirts, all so ungo ernablY
stiff that | feel unhappy as a turtl'
till they haye been soaked; a grea
quantity of drill trousers, hard a
the shirts which had thew beer
distended as the wiudsail Is by tn
breeze, would have stood Ou enc
without a Wearer.
In that chest were brass boun'
jackets aud waistcoats, and blacl
silk handkerchiefS for the m !klng
of streaming sailors knots for th
neck. In short, [ was more
ornamentally than usefully equip
ped, and before we were abreas
s of the Cape Good Hope l shoul
have been glad to exchan sc in
ffuery for warm, homely pilot clot
and the PLAIN underwear of tn
fOrecastle.
Mr.. Goole, who looked as lon
to my youthful gaze as the mlzze
royal yard, Is the marine ogre o
my first VOYAGE, and in those di'
tant memories he goes on phlllni
T. my nair, tweaklng my nose, twist
:. ing my ears, punching my hei'
! aud in many other ways maxim
s himself a terror to me. Ilavin
d dumped me down on my sea ches
r be drove me up TO the quartz
deck, and thence on to the pool
What now followed cannot clea
ly remember. rec)llect belnI
$ greatly scorned Ivy the young'
Il midshlpmen, an | pitied aud pr
b tected by the third mate. b
Q whether | pulled at a rope or dl
anything except get in the way Q
,r useful people while we were Iov
n ing down to Grayesend l do NJ
Q know.
II 1t was scene OF enchantmeu
], but not like something out OF