The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-07-06
SEA CHUMS IN LIFE AND DEATH
A Story of Mans Love for Man.

l
 What depth of mystery is connected
 In the phenomena of likes and dislikes
 Why, at first sight, are we attracted by
 one person, and repelled by another
 This is, of course, common experience
 of most people. but one of the stranges
 instances I have ever known was 1T
 my own affection for Jack Stanley anG
 all that grew out of it.
 Stadey was a Russian Finn;~one o1
 race that on board ship has always
 had the reputation of being a bit wiz ard-like, credited with the possession
 of dread powers, such as the ability tc
 raise or still a storm, become invisible
 and so on. The bare truth about the
 seafaring Films, however, Is that they
 make probably the finest all-round
 mariners in the world, No other sea
 folk combine so completely all the quail
 tiles that go to make up the perfect seaman. Many of them may be met
 with who can build vessel, make her
 spars, her sails and her rigging, do 1 the blacksmith work and all the mani
 fold varieties of odd workmanship that | go to complete a ships equipment, take | her to sea and navigate her on sound
 est mathimatical principles, and do | these acts and deeds with the poorest,
 most primitive tools and under the
 most miserable, poverty stricken con- | ditions. But as rule they are not | smart. They must be allowed to do l their own work in their own way, at
 their own pace, and with no close scru-
 tiny into anything except results. Now Jack Stadey was typical Finn, as far as his slow, 'ungainly movements went but none of that ability and
 adaptiveness which Is characteristic of
 his countrymen was manifest in him.
 To the ordinary observer he was just heavy, awkward ''Dutchman," who couldn't jump to save his life. and who would necessarily be put upon all the heaviest, dirtiest jobs, while the sailor work was being done by smarter men. With long, square head faded blue eyes, and struggling faxen moustache, round shoulders, and dangling. crooked arms, he seemed born to be the butt of his more favored shipmates Yet when I first became acquainted with him In the forecastle of the old Dartmouth, outward bound to Hong Kong, some thing about him appealed to me, and we became chums. The rest of the crew, with one notable exception, were not bad fellows, and Jack shuff1ed along serenely through the voyage. quite undisturbed by the fact that no work of any seamanlike nature ever came to his share, 1 came in for a good deal of not ill-natured chaff from the rest for my close intimacy with him, but it only had the effect of knit ting us closer together. And as I stud fed that simple ohildllke man, I found that he had a heart of gold, nature that had no taint of selfshness, and was sublimely unconscious of it's own worth.
 We made the round voyage together, and on our return to London I persua- ded him to quit the gloomy environ ment of sailor town to come and take lodgings with me near Oxford street. My experiences of London life were turned to good account in those pleas ant days, all too short. Together we did all the sights, and 1t would be hard to say which of us enjoyed himself most At last, our funds having dwindled to the list five pounds, we must needs go and look for a ship.
 I had passed" for second mate, but did not try very hard to get the berth that my certificate entitled me to take. and finally we both succeeded In get ting berths before the mast in bark called the Magellan. bound for New | Zealand. To crown the common-sense we had been following out, | we did thing I have never seen deep | water sailors do before or since--we l took a goodly supply of such delicacies | on board with us as would had we hus- | banded them, have kept us from hunger | until we crossed the line. But sailor Jack with all his faults Is not mean, | and so all hands shared in the good | things until they were gone, which was In about three days. To our great dis gust Jack and I were picked for sepa- ] rate watches, so that our chats were | limited to the second dog watch, that 1 time between six and eight D. l m.. when both watches can sraterniza 1t their ease and discuss all the queer questions that appeal to the sailor mind
 Jack never complained; it wasn't his habit, but unknown to me he was hay ng a pretty bad time of it in the star board watch. Of course the vessel was short -handed-four hands in q watch to handle an over-sparred brute of nearly thousand tons-and as a consequence lacks ungainly want Of smartness was ryine tc his overworked watchmates. The chief man in that watch was a luge SheltlandmanS Sandy Rorison, ,who, broadly speaking. was everything that lack was not Six feet two in his tockinE vamps, upright as a lower mast and agile as a leading seaman on ,oard a man-o' war, there was small wonder that Sandy was sorely irritated