Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-13

nothing better than to marry a smart
lad like you, what's sure to be skipper
some day. What say you?"
SAME OLD BUNCO.
The average reader may inquire if it is
possible that lying nonsense such as the
above could delude any sailor who isn't
either an idiot or a lunatic. 1t is most
certainly possible. Hasn't the green
goods game been worked for years and
exposed time and time again, and don't
the 1ayhawkers from the rural districts
continue to come to town daily with
heir good money to lose it, in spite of
he ceaseless warnings?
Inc average clearinghouse to which
your deep-sea sailor is enticed is the re-
verse of a paradise From the point of
view of the ordinary Observer work
ingman, for instance-there is neither
cleanliness nor comfort in any part of
the house from attic to cellar. The food
is bad when brought into the kitchen.
and, once there, the grub spoiler"
doesn't improve on it. Doubtless to poor
poor Jack, fresh from his salt horse and
measly swine his mildewed peas and his
indigestible duff, the fare seems luXuri-
Gus. And probably after the cold and the
damp and the dirt of the evil-smelling
forecastle or deckhouse, the vermin-
haunted dormitories and close stuffy
living rooms of the boarding house may
appear to the sailor to be quarters al
most palatial.
The master of the boarding house
gives Jack warm welcome. He person.
ally attends to the slowing away of his
sea chest, which, by the by is sure to
contain little of any value, and then he
lays traps to ruin him.
The first thing he does is to press a
loan on him, for Jack, of course, comes
ashore penniless. This being accom-
plished he conducts the poor devil to
some low groggery kept by a partner,
where he buys him drink and starts
him fairly on the road to perdition. The
liquor is of the Vilest kind and so
either raging maniac or a stupified sot
of him who imbibes The grogseller in
troduces Jack to harpies on whose ne
farious traffic he gets liberal percent
age, and the poor sailor man is thus
launched hellward down well-greased
ways,
BEFORE THE COMMISSIONER.
But here the law steps in and a halt
has to be called. 1t is illegal to pay a
sailor off when under the influence of
grog. Thus, when the ships accounts
are made up and pay day is announced,
Jack is sobered up by almost magical
means, and is conducted to the shipping
office, where he confronts his captain in
the presence of the shipping commits
sioner, and is paid what the skipper de-
clares is due him. A book is produced,
in which a page is devoted to each sea-
man, showing how much he has drawn
In cash advances, tobacco or clothes
from the slop chest
Not infrequently a man who ships as
able seaman at $12 or $13 per month is
declared by the captain TO be incapable
of doing an able seaman's duty, and he
Is disrated and reduced to the pay Of
an ordinary seaman. This happens i'm
mediately after leaving port, and there
is rarely any redress, for the men thus
victimized are generally those ignorant,
easy-going fellows so common among
seafarers. The shrewd captain knows
better than to try the game on some
tough sea lawyer who has been through
the mill before and has come out right
end up.
A sailor before shipping comp1ission-
er is like fish out of water. He is both
nervous and bewildered. He is in awe of,
constituted authority, and he is, as a
rule utterly incapable of doing sum in
simple addition
Here. John Jones. you have drawn
$40 cash, you have had SIS in clothes
from the slop chest and you've got $40
due you. Is that right? Come, hurry up,
now, and don't take all day. Here's your
money Nextw
BY this summary process the business
is soon accomplished. and under the
convoy Of the watchful boarding-house
runner the simple sailor is led back to
the groggeIy. Before he is permitted,
however, to take fresh nip of his old
enemy he has to settle up with the
boarding master, who collects the
amount of the loan and also the price
of his board and room from the day he
came ashore to the time he was paid off.
He then persuades Jack to leave in his
care the bulk of the money that re-
mains in order that he may not be bun
coed. Then Jack resumes his orgy,
which, happily for his health and NOR
ais. is only brief one, for his money
melts like thin ice under midsummer
sunshine. and as soon as his pockets are
empty he is like dead cock in the pit