The Washington times., 1901-09-15
RUNNING AWAY TO SEA.
Difficulties Encountered by the
Adventure Seeking Youth.

| No Room ssBefore the Mnst,,-Oppor-
funities Confined to NeniaI Work
on VesseIs-PIenty of Seamen, But
Sailors Limited to Stors Books.
Now the regulation author. in casting
about for sea hero, goes to some small
village by the sea and selects a green and
promising lad to whom nothing in partic
uiar has yet happened. and to whom-but
for the selection of the author-nothing
would happen, probably, as long as he
lived. But by simply coaxing him, on
some fimsy pretext or other. down among
the shipping, the lad either becomes so
| inbued with the spirit of romance and
foreign climes which naturally attaches
! to all deep-water vessels. that he volun-
tarily embarks, or better yet, is induced
to stay around till dark. when he can
he readily sand-bagged. kidnapped. and
| brought back to consciousness clear out
| of sight of land in Chapter IL. Thereaf
ter he is true blue" sailor. His life,
until he sees fit to return home with his
pockets full of gold, teens with adven-
ture.
) Now. thought / to myself, here am l,
a most likely chap, a graduate of tech
nical college, with a course in marine
architecture. a yachtsman of long stand
ing. and residing conveniently IN the sea-
port town of Boston. More than that, 1
crave adventure and romance. Why wait,
/ then, to germinate in the imagination of
some popular novelist. l would go and
manage the whole thing independently.
So l went.
| East Boston was my first objective
point for steamers left there almost ev-
cry day, | knew. for Europe; but, would
you believe when L got over ther4, to my
| dismay, not a steamer was to be seen,
except an old one whose engines were be-
ing repaired. The docks were absolutely
shorn of masts. There was an old man
a watchman, l presume-wandering about
| in front of the warehouses and l asked
him about it. Well it was kind of off
! day. ne would admit. Likely to be dull
at this season of the year, but, oh, yes,
there would be more steamers going in
day or two most likely. What did
want? l explained timorously that l
I wished to go to sea, to find what the
world was like, and learn to be sailor.
! '.Ye do, do ye? Ter see the world and
larn ter be sailorl Wall, be gosh! young
man. ye come ter the wrong place; fer
fustly yer can't see much o the world on
a liner wot allus goes the same way; and,
secondly. there aint nothin consarnin'
sailor to be learned on 'em, but cleanin'
paint work: and, thudly they wouldn't
have nothin' to do with yer no how. be-
cause they git all their men on the other
side, wherc theys cheaper. Go over ter
the shippin' agents. Maybe they kin git
yer a sailors job, if they's any sailin'
vessels leavin' here now; but l guess
you'll fild there hain't many"
Well, you may be sure this .fustly, sec
ondIy. thudly'' manner of bringing my
pet scheme up all standing, as they say.
under full press of canvas, was the last
thing I'd looked for. However, dis
gruntled as / felt, would go to the ship
ping agents. So back 1 came to town,
and after deal of rummagir.g, hove in
sight of one Commercial Street.
"Billys' was the name it went by, and
Billy having Led some years ago, Mrs.
Billy. 1 was told, carried on the business.
A mighty uniuyiting little hole in the wall
it seemed to be-no sign nor advertise
ment to tell the passerby the nature of
it's business. but just little black door
way with a semi-transparent window on
one side disclosing lot of seamens cloth
ing and general wares, equally dingy
one on the other with a display of crude
coral ornaments, painted shells, colored
glass. bric-a-brac, and other cheap trim
kets behind 1t, and above. hideousiy
yellow fringe of oilskins waving in the
wind. / could see nothing at first, as /
entered the narrow passage between the
two show cases. but back in the gloom
there was some loud talking. Come
around tomorrer when yez is sober, and
I'll talk to yez," heard In forcible fe-
male voice. and Immediately after. two
large, blear-eyed individuals showed past
me to the door, aided materially by boosts
from behind by Mrs. Billy herself-a wo-
man of considerable force and girth-
How do you do?' said 1, calmly lifting
my hat as she turned toward me from the
door. though you may be sure was quak-
ing in my boots.
She made no reply concerning her we'll |
being. but. eyeing me curiousIy-especial- !
~ the hat-lifting-enquired what L want |
ed. Well, l want I'd to go as a sailor Oh, |
il didn't matter where: and. yes, I was |
ready at~any time. whenever there might |
be a sailing vessel to take me-aI in as |
brave a tone as possible.
''Saiin' vessel Sure no. me by; l |
thought you was one o. thin college chaps |
wantin' to go over fer nothin' on the cat
tie boats. / got nothin to do with ssilin |
vessels an A. BIS; all ! kin give yer is
a bull-punchin job. But yer never could |
go in thin clothes. Yerd be a wreck. |
Overalls is what yer want fer bull-punch-
in" 1t was good job. she went on to
explain. just what a young fellow would
like. to save travelling expenses; though,
to be sure, the grub wasn't what one
would expect ashore. But, alas, 1 had to
exraSa that bull punching was not
my golden idea; that 1 wanted to be a
sailor: and thanking her Kindly 1 strobe
sorrowfully away
l continued my weary search for sail
ors You have no idea how many didn't
find. or how many opportunities to run
away to sea there are not. if one expects |
to go as a sailor. l thought surely l had
the genuine article in an OBJ
scure palm garden on Fleet Street. He |
fairly reeked with tar. and he was so
agreeable to the dowdy girl who sat be-
side him (sailors are proverbially jolly in
the presence of females) that when she
had smuggled his change into her own
purse. winiSing at me the
while, drunk his beer, and departed | |
began making his acquaintance. But In |
spite of his tar, he wasn't sailor. after
all. He used to be, like the stevedore.
Now he was a rigger. No more going to
sea for him. / left him in disgust and ]
turned to another-a man L felt surer of. |
on account of his round shoulders and the |
way his fingers hung closed instead of |
straight tan invariable sign. according to
Clark RusselD. Moreover, he was giving
some very interesting accounts Of himself
in oil nartS of the earth and exnIa mi |