Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1896-07-20

1t was a blessed thing indeed to open
my eyes again upon the daylight, and to
find myself in the society of men, The
fOrecastle was a rOomy place enough, set
all about with berths, in which the men
of the watch below were seated smoking
or lying down asleep. The day being
calm and the wind fair, the scuttle was
open, and not only the good daylight,
but from time to time Gas the ship rolled
a dusty beam of sunlight shone in, and
dazzled and delighted me. | had no
sooner moved. moreover, than one of the
men brought me drink OF something
healing which Mr.. Riach had prepared,
and babe me lie still and | should soon
be we'll again. There was no bones
broken, he exclaimed: "A clour Iblow1
on the head was naething. Man." said
he, 'it was me that gave it YET
Here | lay for the space of many days
close prisoner, and not only got my
health again, but came to know my COM
panions. They were rough lot indeed,
as sailors mostly are; being men rooted
out of all the kindly parts of life, and
condemned to toss together on the rough
seas, with masters no less cruel. There
were some among them that had sailed
with the pirates and seen things it would
be a shame even to speak of; some were
men that had run from the kings ships,
and went with halter round their
necks, of which they made no secret;
and all, as the saying goes, were 'sat a
word and blow with their best
friends. Yet [ had not been many days
shut up with them before began TO be
ashamed of my first judgment, when
had drawn away from them at the Ferry
pier, as though they had been unclean
beasts. No class of man is altogether
bad; but each has its own faults
and virtues; and these shipmates
OF mine were no exception
to the rule. Rough they were, sure
enough; and bad, | suppose; but they
had many virtues. They We're kind
when it occurred to them, simple even
beyond the simplicity of a country lad
like NE, and had some glimmerings of
honesty.
There was one man Of maybe 40,
that would sit on my berthside for hours,
and tell me Of his wife and child. He
was a fisher that had lost his boat, and
thus been driven to the deep-sea yoyag
ing. Well, it is years ago now; but |
have never forgotten him. His wife
(who was 'young by him., as he often
told me) waited in vain to see her man
return; he would never again make the
fire for her in the morning, nor yet keep
the BARN when she was sick Indeed,
many of these poor fellows Gas the event
proveD were upon their last cruise; the
deep seas and cannibal fish received
Lnem, anu II is Il LnduKleSS business TO
speak i'll of the dead.
Among other good deeds that they
did, they returned my money which had
been shared among them; and though it
was about third short, was very glad
to get it, and hoped great good from it
i'll the land l was going to. The ship
was bound for the Carolinas; and you
must not suppose that | was going to
that place merely as an exile. The trade
was even then much depressed; since
that, and with the rebellion of the col
Onies and the formation of the United
States, it has, of course, come to an
end; but in these days of my youth,
white men were still sold into slavery on
the plantations and that was the destiny
to which my wicked uncle had con-
demned me.
The cabin boy Ransome (from whom
had first heard of these atrocities) came
in at times from the roundhOuse where
he berthed and served, now nursing Il
bruised limb in silent agony, now raving
against the cruelty of Mr.. Shuan. 1t
made my heart bleed; but the men had
was, as they said, 1.-The only seaman of
the whole jing-bang, and none such a
bad man when he was sober Indeed,
i found there was strange pecullarlty
about our two mates: that Mr.. Riach
was sullen, unkind and harsh when he
was sober, and Mr.. Shuan would not
hurt fly except when he was drinking.
I asked about the captain; but | was
told drink made no difference upon that
man of iron.
I did my best in the small time al
lowed me to make something like man,
or rather / should say something like a
boy, Of the poor creature, Ransome. But
his mind was scarce truly human. He
could remember nothing of the time be-
for ho TO nj haf HI fa
had made clocks, and had a starting in
the parlor which could whistle '"The
North Countries" all else had been blot
ted out in these years of hardship and
cruelties. He had strange notion of
the dry land, picked up from sailors
stories; that it was a place where lads
were put to some kind of slavery called
a trade, and where apprentices were
continually dashed and clapped into foul
prisons. In a town, he thought every
second person a decoy, and every third
house place in which seamen would be
drugged and murdered. To be sure, L
could tell him how kindly I had myself
been used upon that dry land he was so
much afraid of, and how well fed and
carefully taught both by my friends and
my parents; and if he had been recently
hurt, he would weep bitterly and swear
to run away; but if he was in his usual
crackbrain humor or (still more) if he
had had glass OF Spirits IN the round
house, he would deride the notion.
1t was Mr.. Riach (Heaven forgive
HIND who gave the boy drink; and it
was, doubtless, kindly meant; put
besides that it was ruin to his health;
it was the pitifulest thing in life to see
this unhappy, unfriended creature stag
gering, and dancing, and talking he
knew not what. Some of the men
laughed, but not all; others would grow
as black as thunder thinking, perhaps,
of their own childhood or their own
children and bid him stop that non
sense, and think what he was doing. As
for me, | felt ashamed to look at him,
and the poor child still comes about me
in my dreams.
All this time. you should know. the
Covenant was meeting continued head
winds and tumbling up and down
against head-seas, so that the scuttle
was almost constantly shut, and the
forecastle lighted only by swinging
lantern on beam. There was constant
labor for all hands; the strain told on
the mems temper; there was a growl of
quarreling all day long from berth to
horth. &c T oil 70 ~