The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-13

thorough knowledge of the genus sailor
is indispensable. A bluff. hearty fellow
slaps Jack on the back, with a CHEEKY cry
OF, Hello, old shipmaIe, back again, are
you, from long voyage? Amt l glad to
see you! The sight of you is good for
sore eyes! Come with me under the lee of
the galley and I'll give you a tot of rum
that will make your hair curl. Bear a
hand, my lad, before the mate twigs YOU
| Drink hearty; there's more where that
came FROM
Now, Johnny, after the ships made
| faSt 10 the dock you just come ashore
with me and III plant you in the snug
gest little crib in New York, where you
will live like a fighting cock on the fat
| of the land. All for 81 a day, too and
no extras. And. say, Jack, I'll tell you
what I'll do, I'll Introduce you to my
cousin Kitty fresh from the country. She
just dotes on sailors, and would like noth-
ing better than to marry a smart lad like
you, what's sure to be skipper some day.
What say your
| 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 Iunatic. 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 jayhawkers
from the rural districts continue to come
| to town daily with their good money to
lose it, in spite of the ceaseless warnings?
The average clearinghouse to which
your deep-sea. sailor is enticed is the re-
| verse of paradise. From the point of
view of the ordinary observer-a working
man, for instance-there is neither clean
! llness 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 spoier' doesn't inn
prove on 1t. Doubtless to poor Jack fresh
! from his salt horse and measey swine,
his widowed peas and his indigestible
| duff, the fare seems luxurious And prob
| ably after the cold and damp and the dirt
of the evil-smelling forcastle and deck
| house, the vermin-haunted dormitories
and close, stuffy living rooms of the
| boarding-house may appear to the sailor
to be quarters almost palatial.
| The master of the boarding house gives
| Jack warm welcome. He personally at
tends to the slowing away of his sea chest
which, by the way, is sure to contain lit
tie of any value and then he lays traps to
ruin him.
The first thing he does is to press loan
on him. for Jack, of course, comes ashore
| penniless. This being accomplished, he
| conducts the poor devil to some low
GROCERY 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 charged with
fusel oil that it makes either a raging
maniac or a stupefied sot of him who i'm.
bibes. The grogseller introduces Jack TO
harpies on whose Eefarious traffic he gets
| a liberal percentage, and the poor sailor
| chap is thus launched hellward down we'll
CREASED ways
But here the law steps in and a halt has
| to be called. 1t is illegal to paw a sailor
off when under the influence of grog. Thus
when the ships accounts are made no and
pay day is announced Jack is soberad ,p
| by almost ma gical means and is conducted
| to the shipping office, where. he confronts
| his captain in the presence of the ship
| ping commissioner, and is paid what the
! skipper declares is due him. A book is
! produced, in which page is devoted 10
! each seaman, showing how much he has
| drawn in cash advances, tobacco or clothes
| from the slop chest.
| Not infrequently man who ships as
able seaman at $12 or $13 a month is de-
clared by the captain to be incapable of
| doing an able seamans duty, and ne Is
disrated and reduced 10 the pay of an or
binary seaman. This happens immediate
| iy after leaving the port, and there is rare
| ~ any redress, for the men thus victimized
are generally those ignorant easy foing
! 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 and has come
out right end up.
A sailor before a shipping commissioner
is like a fish out of water. He is both
| nervous and bewildered. He is in awe of
constituted authority, and ne is, as a rule,
utterly incapable of doing sum in SIM
pie addition.
"Here, John Jones, you have drawn $40
cash. you have had $15 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.
Nextr'
BY this summary process the business
Is soon accomplished, and under the con-
voy of the watchful boarding house run
ner' the simple sailor is led back to the
gcoggery Before he is permitted, how
ever, to take a fresh nip Of his old enemy
he has to settle up with the boarding mas
ter. 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. lie then persuades Jack
to leave in his care the bulk of the money
that remains in order that he may not
be buncoed. Then Jack resumes his orgy,
which happily for his health and his
morals, is only brief one, for his money
melfS ike thu Ice uUuSI ttl-SuDiHltT gun
shine. and as soon as his pockets are
empty he Is like dead cock in the pit
neither useful nor ornamental.
II now comes to pass that the boarding
house. once so eager to open las hospitable
doors 10 Jack when "homeward bound"
and flush of cash, is just as anxious 10
close them OF him and give him the key
Of the street row that he is Outward
bound" and hard up. But he is still of
some money value to the land sharks. In
the good old days of 'shanghaiing" he was
worth far more than he Is at the present
tinie. but tbat heroic method of shipping
crew is luckily obsolete and certain
forms of the law mus4 necessarily be COM
Piled with
The boarding master keeps a watchful
eve on ailfvessels taking in cargo for for
eien ports. he knows that they cannot
sail away without crews. He goes aboard
and pays his respect to the skipper. He
tells him he can find as smart ships
company as ever fiocked around a dur
kid, and offers him a certain amount of
cash down for head money as the price of
the privilege OF providing the crew.
Some captains resent this as an insult
and order he fellow ashore. but as a gen
crnl thing copmanders OF vessels, who are
none too lGbeTally paid look upon this