New-York tribune., 1901-07-20

philosophy history OF travel and once-ol,.
blessed find! six consecutive volumes OF Nienoi-
when his Cyclosedla published. have now
no idea. / only remember with utmost gratitude
reading aloud those splendid articles TO a silent
ly smoking. raptly attentive watch, with de-
light not easy to put into words 1 believe
matters are now altered very much FOR the pet
ter. but In my day l never saw mover IN ore
Of those book boxes. unless by strong stretch
of language one could call "Sandfcrd and Mer-
ton" or such pretty little idyls as those or
Hesba Stretton, novels. Never a Dickens, a
Thackeray or Trollope, or, granoest OF al,
Shakespeare And yet l was never IN put
one forecastle that had not Bible and copy
of Shakespeare. the properly of some man VINO
held to them voyage after voyage WIN an
almost superstitious regard. And such DOCKS
get read at with a closeness and persistency
one may look for in vain ashore except among
students. The reason for this Is obvious enough.
Let but men have a love of reading, ana De con-
fined to such prison as a ship really Is for long
periods of time; they must make virtue OF
necessity and read syllable by syllable, every
thing they can lay their hands on-books. in
deed, that workmen ashore with the tnousahu
and one distractions of their lives, would never
honor with a second glance.
One thing connected with reading IN snip
fo'c'sle has always puzzled me. Foreigners from
the Northern countries are always well educa1eu
men, despite their usually dull heavy LOOKS Iet
they rarely have any books to read; that Is. on
board of our ships. My observation or thelr
lives en- board their own country vessels IS
naturally much restricted, but judging from
their surroundings in those gloomy forecasties,
I should say they early learn TO 90 l-l Wl.hou'
dirt and general discomfort are the order OF
things there in greater degree than ~ is Win
us. which is needless For really in the ships
forecastle it is seldom possble to read at al
ewing to the absence of light either by DAY or
night, very great hardship to men all thelr
lives, and / sure needlessiy 1nrlcteu
one, since lamps and oil are among the cheapest
of all necessaries. I have known men expose
the ship to terrible risks from fire by sticking
odd lengths of purloined candle on the edges OF
their hunks, that they might have HSht py
which to TO read while lying down in the
only spot on board rightly their own. One man.
an American of great mental qualities, espe-
cially remember whose passion for reading was
such that he would sit up the whole night with
favorite author Dickens for preference, and
hribe his watch mates heavily to take his duties
for him. such wheel or lookout so that he
might remain undisturbed. Bent nearly double
in his bunk the miserable lamp hung upon a
surreptitiOusy shifted hook as to bring IT
nearer him while still affording some light for
his shipmateS to rise retire by, he made a
pathetic picture of the pursuit of literature un-
de- difficulties, yet one familiar to all deep
water sailors. In the baser sort of tramp steam
ers very little reading at all is done by the crew
the conditions are too Onerous altogether-and
| so the seamen in these vessels become practi-
cally unread, since very little reading is done by
any seaman temporarily ashore. The excellent
| libraries in the sailors homes almost en-
! tirely neglected. and even seamen's reading
rooms connected with missions are mostly pat
ronized by men who are not sailors at ALL