The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1898-05-26
LIFE ON 4 MANOR WAR.

10 your TRENDS. But 1 can assure
you there's very little out here that
awakens even a spark OF interest to
me. The people and their environ
| ment are today as they were thous-
| aud years ago. l remember when /
first went to sea and visited foreig gn
lands, thought 1 would never get
tired of telling aud writing about
them; bnt that charm soon wore away,
and now it has become monotonous.
But will try and give you de
scription of the life and character Of
sailors. Nearly all writer's have writ
ten about his darkest side, and it is
easy to see that the character of a
sailor is but imperfectly understood
by those whose occupation confines
them to land.
Once the adopted child Of the ocean
you can never bring back your entire
sympathy to land. You will still
move over that vast waste of water
All the other realities of life will be
comparatively tame, and you will sigh
for it's tossing element as the Gagged
eagle for the roar and arrowed light
of his mountain taracts. But will
leave generalities, and get more close
ly to the distinctive features of char
acterwhich an ocean life impresses on
sailor. Among these, generosity is
perhaps the most prominent. You
may take the most gnarled and knot
ty heart that can be found, one where
a kindly emotion seems to never have
existed, and send it out on the sea,
and it will soon begin to crack and
expand.>
You never saw sailor, when he
falls in with fellow being in dis
tress, no matter liz what cline born
or what may be the color of bis skin,
play the miser. He acts the good
Samaritan, and as naturally, too, as
the blood flows from his heart to the
extremities of his frame Nor does
sailor ever meet a national foe In a
spirit Of malice or of personal hOstil
ity. He fights not for himself, but
for his flag; not for his honor, but for
the honor of his country When the
enemy has once struck his colors, he
would consider another shot an act of
cruelty and disgrace. If the enemy's
ship be in sinking condition, he
dashes through the boisterous waves
to reach her, even at the imminent
peril OF being carried down in the
maelstrom of her disappearing hulk,
and scorns strategy wsth an enemy or
any advantage which gives him the
victory. | once heard an old sailor
asked what he thought of the torpedo
system of blowing up an enemy. He
answered, it is sneaking way of do
ing business; it is only the assassin
that stabs in the dark.
Courage is another feature of char
acter strongly ly impressed on a sailor
by his ocean life. He is always in
peril. If the sea be smooth and the
sky free from clouds at the setting
sun. still before his midnight watch is
ont his spars may be falling in frag
ments around him and the tempest
roaring through his shrouus like the
blast of the judgment trumpet. He
lives with but a plank between him
and eternity.
Not only on the battle deck,
heaped with the dying and dead, is
sailor firm, but when thrown on land
he is the last to quit the unavailing
battery. When others had fled at
Blandenburg, with speed that might
have taken them to the foot of the
Rocky Mountains, if not to the shores
of the Pacific, one stout fellow still
remained at his gun, and was found
when the enemy was within q few
rods of him, very coolly ramming
home to give him another shot He
was regular jack tar, who had very
little respect for the old saying, "He
who fights and runs away, may live
to fight another day"
When an order reaches the ear of
sailor, he never stops to inquire what
may be the consequences to himself
of carrying that order into effect.
The preservation of his own limbs and
life comes not into the account. The
order is all paramount with him, and
he obeys it as if it possessed an ire
sistible power over the energies of his
Will. 1t may be one full of the ex
tremest peril, as is often the case, he
executes 1t as promptly as if danger
were fiction and death a dream.
The accomplishing submission of a
sailor to just punishment, and his in
dignation at unmerited chastlsement
and rebuke, forms another prominent
trait in his character. He seldom
seeks to escape the penalty when gull
ty through prevarication and deceit.
He has no lawyer to tell him to plead
not guilty, and to extricate him
through some technical informally
in the proceedings. He acknowledges
his offence, and submits to the pun
ishment rs an admonition to himself
and others, too. But he resen,s with
the full force of his moral nature even
the imputation of crime when inno-
cent.
Another prominent feature in the
character of a sailor is his rough,
honest, heart-f felt esteem for the fair
sex. His devotedness has all the
generosity which characterized the
highest noontide of chivalry, but
without any of the follles and crimes
which belonged to that system of
self immolatlon. The exploit of the
knight errant have been the very soul
of romance and song, while the death
daring love of poor Jack has been
hymned only by the billow. His love,
it Is true, has not that exquisite re
tinement which expresses itself in the
delicate tints and odors of flowers,
but it gushes up warm and fresh out
of his strong heart.
l remember while lying in
the harbor of San Francisco a few
years ago. one of our sailors strolled
into magnificent hall, where there
was big church fair being held. He
moved along till one of the ladies'.
the most beautiful one in the hall, ar
rested him at her stand with solici
tation to buy some of her fancy ar
ticles. NO. said he, Il don't think
| want any of those spangles, but