The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-06-05

drawing 1t is the truth nevertheless.
The apprentice nowadays goes to sea at
much less cost and is far better used
than was the heavily charged midship-
man of my day. Everything good
comes when it's too late" murmurs
poor, heartbroken little Jane Eyre when
she rejects the coveted willow pattern
plate. l have often wished that much of
what is good on board ship nowadays
had been invented in the rough fifties
should have been glad for example,
to be shipmates with double topsail
yards. l hear of apprentices fed from
the captain S table. hear of apprentices
instructed in navigation by the master
and mates Of the ship Had it depended
upon the captains / served underI never
should have lifted seXtant to my eye
did not choose my bunk 1t had been
chosen for me. 1t was the most uncom-
Portable bunk in the berth. 1t was con-
sistent with sea tradition, therefore, that
the youngest and weakest should occupy
it, On entering to look for it l found it
an athwartships upper bunk. The lower
bunk was to be occupied by a lad lit
tie older than l, just little stronger,
and, like myself, first voyager.
knew my bed place by this token
to the bundle of bedding was attached
label bearing my name, William
Clark Russell, Midshipman, Ship Dun
can Dunbar, E. l. D." But where was
my chest-the chest that contained my
clothes?
There We're no chests in this berth, no
place for such things-scarcely room,
indeed, for a mans leg between the rows
of hunks and the edge of the table. AS
| was going out a very tall, slim mid
shipman came in. His badge was dim,
his buttons greenish, l, on the contrary,
was most mhappily resplendent--a
brand new sailor-and this old stager
knew me at sight.
"What are you cruising about down
here after?" said he.
"They gave me black eye up stairs, :"
said l.
Cup stairs, up stairs' he roared.
"There's no up stairs at sea, you guffy.
Didn't you know that afore you ship
ped?"
Didn't l know WHAT" said 1 inno-
Gently, for 1 did not understand him.
Come here" said he. approached
him. He drew me close and plucked
three hairs Fl )m my head The pain was
not very sharp, but this did not render
the action the less brutally mean and
unnecessary.
eff you don't pay attention, said he,
"to what's said to you, you'll be bald
before we re out of soundings, What are
you mousing about down here for?"
II am looking for my sea chest, sir, "
I answered, beginning to think this tall
midshipman great and important per-
son aboard the ship.
GraSping me by the collar of my jack
ct and the seat Of my trousers he raised
me high and strobe with me, thus pill
Jared, into the tween decks.
"What S your Nance" said he.
Russell, " said !.
'What u horrible name - he exclaim-
ed. my name is Goole. How much
better Goole sounds than Russell. " He
continued to hold me aloft. "What are
your initials2" he asked.
"W G. R,
There you w c. r., them" said he
And he dumped me down as though
had been Il sailors bundle upon one of
ten or a dozen sea chests, moored in all
sorts Of places in the Storage
A midshipman chest 1t was called
i'll my time "a huIrah's nest because
everything was always on top and moth
ing at hand When lift the lid Of that
chest in memory, ! am visited by Il
faint, close smell Of marine soap | still
possess the Bible l took with me, and
the volume, like my memory, is haunt
ed with that dim smell of marine soap
i'll bars, by the impulse and influence Of
which l am able to see the ship the
gloomy tween decks, the midshipmen
berth, the patched figures of the emf
grants as wildly as though was aboard
that vanished craft again
1 lift the lid of my sea chest, and
what do l find? Some dozens Of colored
shirts, all so ungovernably stiff that l
feel as unhappy as turtle till they have
been soaked; great quantity Of drill
trousers, hard as the shirts, which had
they been disteuded as the windsail is
by the breeze, would have stood ON end
without a wearer.
IL that chest We're brass bound jackets
and waistcoats, and black silk handker
chiefs for the making of streaming sail
ors knots for the neck In short, | was
more ornamcntally than usefully equip
ped, and before we We're abreast of the
Cape Of Good Hope / should have been
glad to exchange my finery for warm,
homely pilot cloth and the plain under
wear Of the fOrecastle.
Mr.. Goole, who looked as long to my
youthful gaze as the mizzen royal yard,
is the marine ogre of my first voyage,
and in those distant memories he goes
on pulling my hair, tweaking my nose,
twisting my ears, punching my head,
and in many other ways making himself
terror to me, Having dumped me
down ON my sea chest, he drove me up
TO the quarter deck, and thence ON to the
poop What now followed cannot clear
ly remember. l recollect being greatly
sconed by the younger midshipmen,
Oh I, IL, Al I