The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-03-17

that is, the whole watch; hence
you steer the same trick each day and
night, under the same watch officer.
You are allowed to smoke at the wheel,
and also (this is TRUTH allowed a stool
to sit upon when your legs are tired.
Yet the time passes slowly in the pilot
house, and it is fair to presume that it
passes as slowly out on the bridge,
3 where the officer in charge is supposed
TO pace up and down, intent only upon
his duty But on fine nights duty is
easy of performance. There may be
word through the pilot house window
from the officer, q tentatively jocular
answer, a joke or good-natured COM
ment in return, and democratic rela-
! lions pro tenn are established. Thus
IT was that old Dutch Pete Officially
Mr.. Becker, chief mate of the Sunder-
land), first borrowing my chewing to-
bacco, began talking with me as we
steamed up Lake Erie, and reeled off
the yarn which follows. He was an
old, wise man, who had seen all lands
and all men, and he was seaman and
an officer whom 1 esteemed and re-
/ spected while 1 was a "wheelman"
| whose steering he tolerated. We had
] so assured each other. Yet there was
/ one subject on which we could not
. agree-the place and value of women
kind. While not being a woman hater,
| the old man was certainly unjust to the
sex in some of his allegations, and L
was young, with a warm recollection
of brown-eyed, dimpled, pink-cheeked
young woman, with fluffy hair and a
= sweet smile, whom but never mind
| her.
"Joost think of the poor feIlers," re-
marked Pete, as he handed in my plug,
| married men, who can't chew, nor
/ smoke, nor drink, nor have any fun,
just cause a woman says they
mooStn't. Why, terbaccy is one of life'S
| blessings, and if weemen folks only
| knew it, they'd use it same as men, but
| they haven't sense enoof.'
! Yes, SIR 1 answered; but it's a
dirty habit, after ALL It's all right for
| men, but not for women"
/ WHAT" he said in scOrnful surprise.
| why? Are weemen any better than
about what they do? Does a woman
wash her face any more than a man?
Hey? She don't. She puts vaSeline on
/ ii, or glycerine, or that cold cream
! towel and calls it a job She don't
chew terbaccy. No; it makes bad
breath, she says; but she eats candy,
and cake, and sweet things till her
teeth are bad and her stomach'S out
/ of plumb, and her mouth swells like a
slaver's main hatch, and if you offer
/ her a chew of good navy plug to fresh
en- it opp, she's insoOlted. Yah-wee-
stamped down the bridge. peered ahead
and astern, sang out something to the
/ lookout, and returned to the window.
| Does a woman know anything,
| anyhow he continued. she thinks
she knows it all, and banks on it, and
when things don't go right she blames
some man who didn't do what she told
him. And she's always ready to tell
! him what to do, and how to do il, and
/ when to do it-joOst as if she knew.
/ Did you ever notice a leetle girl, joost
/ old enOOf to go out and play-hOW she
! tells her leetle brother that he moost
/ do this, and he mooSt do that, and this
was wrong, and that was not right?
! She don't know anything about it any
more than the leetle boy. It's an in
| stinct-joost the same as makes a leetIe
| kitten grOw1 and spit over a bone.
Now, nobody wants that bone but the
/ kitten, but it takes her back to the
| wildernesS-she thinks the whole wide
world is conspiring to rob her of it,
and she thinks she is soaring other
] animals away. Same way with the
/ leetle girl. She gets it from the time
way back-when weemen were bosses
, and men sawed wood mean they
/ said nothing. And so she begins
! preaching when she learns to speak,
/ and she never stops-no never, She
ne er StOJ Young man, don't you get
married. When a man gets married ne
not only binds himself to support an
other person, but to consult that per-
son about everything-as to what he
does. what he wears, and where he
! goes, whom he knows, and what money
/ he spends. Yah-men are dam fools to
get married.
! 1 thought of brown-eyes-a dim
| pies, ana smiled-pityingIy. He saw the
smile in the light from the pinnacle
/ and 1 FASTENED to speak.
Must have had hard time, sir, in
your married life?"
MY married life? o, no. I've had
most kinds of hard luck, but not that
Still, 1 came near it-'bout your age,
/ too, or a leetlo Older
1 was interested and expressed my
! interest He visited both ends of the
/ bridge, looked at the compass amid
| ships to see that l was on nv course.
/ and leaned his elbow on the sash.
! About your age 1 went to sea with
a full crew of married men and their
! wives along with them. That cured
| me. had a girl at the time-daughter
/ OF Liverpool grocer-good girl too,
/ as girls SO-and she was to wait jOOSt
one voyage till I had saved enofgh to
! stock a leetle home for her. 1 had a
/ masters certificate, but had never
| commanded a ship; all 1 hoped for was
1 a chief mates berth, and / was goini
TO save my money and marry that girl
| and be happy man. I did not know.
! But learned that the ship Hyderabad
| loading for Singapore, wanted skip
| per, and struck for the job. Then ]
| knew why she wanted a skipper-want-
ed him bad and couldn't get him. Liv-
4 erpool was full of shippers lookin' for
! ships to sail, and was the only man
/ who was willing to try that ship. That's
| because L was young and goin' to be
| married. You see her owner was a
! young man, too, and religious; and he
read his Bible steady; and that Bible
! told him that it was not good for man
| to be alone, and he figured that il
| meant that he ought to have a woman
| long with him; so what does he do but
| put new forrard house in the first OF
| his ships that come home, and sink il
| down to the 'tween-deck. That made
| two stories, with a winding stairway
| Down below was a dining room with a
| table and chairs, and pantry, and a
| laundry room where the weemen could
wash clothes and dishes. He knew
something about weemen folks, or he
wouldn't have thought of the laundry
/ Above was the fo'castle proDer-just
! two strings O. two-bunk rooms with a
| door and a window to each. oh, that
was a fine fo'caStle. Then that man
! gave out that only married sailors
| could sign in his ships. and their wives
! must go to sea with them. I thought
that was ali right for me. too, and af-
| ter I'd got the berth I wanted to splice
my girl and take her along, but her
/ old dad wouldn't hear of it. He said
| to wait until the floating asylum got
back and if I was still alive and not
crazy / could have her. So my girl
stayed home.
Now. 1 wasn't so far gone that
didn't have SpnSa fn shin fxz-n