Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1909-04-08
CHAPTER i.-continued.

peCdHle tIie DoS ; pai.
CHAPTER i.-Continued.
Now, the peculiar circumstances of
my bringing-up had given me ri
diculous haughtiness-for Betty Green
had never ceased to implore me to re-
member my quality-so l replied to
this off-hand speech in kind.
"A ship of the line" said l. "Damme,
do you think I'd serve in a gun-brig?"
He came up a little closer to me,
looked at me attentively, and said:
Its an infant Rodney, sure. Was
not Americus Vespucius your grand
father? And was not your grand
mother in love with Noah when he
was oakum boy at the Portsmouth
docks?"
| considered this very offensive, and,
drawing myself up, said
My grandfather was a baronet, and
my granduncle is Admiral Sir Peter
Hawkshaw. whose flagship, as you
may know, is the Ajax, IA
II know him well" responded my
new acquaintance. I'VE were drunk
together this night week. He bears for
arms Lots wife after she was turned
into pillar of salt, with this device:
I thirst"
This was an allusion to the dry
salter. For | soon found that the
young gentlemen in the cockpit were
intimately acquainted with all of the
antecedents, glorious or otherwise, of
their superior officers.
The lie in the early part of this
sentence was patent to me, but so
great was the power to charm of this
squirting, wide-mouthod fellow that |
felt myself drawn to him irresistibly.
and something in my countenance
showed it. for he linked his arm
through mine and began again:
Il know your great-aunt, too, Polly
Hawkshaw. Dreadful old girl | hear
she can tack ship as we'll as the ad-
miral; knows to a shilling what his
mess bill is, and teaches him trigo-
HCmetry when he is on leave"
This was, of course, a vilfication,
and Lady Hawkshaw's name was not
Polly, but Apollonia; but | blush to
ray | spoke not one word in defense
of either her or her name. 1t occurred
to me that my new friend was a per-
son who could give me much informa-
tion about my outfit and uniforms, and
] candidly stated my case to him.
Come on" he cried. There's a
rascal of haberdasher here who
lives off his majesty's officers, and I'll
take you there and fit you out; for
Sir Peters the man to have his young
officers smart. A friend of mine
poor fellow!-happened to be caught
in mufti in the Ajax the other day,
and Sir Peter had all hands turned up
for an execution. My unhappy friend
begged that he might be shot instead
of hanged, and Sir Peter, I'll admit,
granted him the favor. The poor fell
low tied the handkerchief over his
eyes himself. forgave all his enemies,
and asked his friends to pay his
debts. Zounds, twas the most af
fecting scene l ever witnessed"
l plainly perceived that my COM
panion was talking to frighten me, and
showed il by thrusting my tongue into
my cheek, which caused him to burst
out laughing. He presently became
grave, however, and assured me sol
emnly that sea-ofilcer had his choice
Of dressing handsomely, or being
court-martialed and shot For" said
he, the one hundred and forty-fou
regulation of the service reads. All
of his majesty's sea-officers are COM
manded to marry heiresses, and in
these cases, the usual penalties for
the abduction of heiresses are re-
mtted.' Now, how can we abduct heir
esses, or even get them to look at us,
without fine clothes? Women, my boy,
are caught by the eye alone-and |
know 'em, by Gad!"
This trihing speech remained in my
memory, and the day came when |
recalled the idle talk of us two laugh
ing midshipmen as prophetic.
We went together to a shop, where,
under his direction and that of an
oily tongued shopman, / ordered one
of the handsomest outfits any mid
shipman could possibly have, includ-
ing two dozen of silk stockings, as my
new-found friend informed me that
every man on board his majesty's
ships, from the admiral down to the
jack-o'-the-dust, always wore silk
stockings, because in the event of
being struck by ball or pike or
cutlass in action, the danger from in
fammation was much less with silk
than with cotton or wool.
All went swimmingly. until it was