The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-29

twenty gift dollars ana a fat pack of
saleable clothing. And Jack wrote home
good man from despair.
On the return voyage Jack ran across
a professional cattlcman, who knew VIII
lie, who had drank with him. and had
bunked out with him ON the embankment
Victoria and Edward medals for enlist
in London. The fellow possessed the
ment in the Boer war He had never yet
cooked a gun except on the ranges. But
his life work was TO mail these medals to
patriotic gentlemen of Independent for
tunes, together with a pathetic tale of
wounds. wives. children and starvation;
to such good effect that he was as far
from starvation as any man in the king
dom. Jack forgot to write this home to
his mother.
Even the work on a cattle ship is mod
crate, and in a way pleasant. A sailor
is on duty twelve hours out of twenty
four, fireman eight, and a quartermas-
ter six Your oattleman is about equal to
the last. 1t is true that he is remorseless-
ly reused at 3:i5 A. NJ. and hustled forth
shivering to lug cold water pals down the
narrow, slippery alley-ways--a after an
hour at this he must wait an hour and a
half for his breakfast 1t is true that he
must wrestle with two hundred pound
bales, deep in the arless hold. and pull
with aching arms at the tackle which
iDA9No NHCii " TIE Cdllit deEkS. Anu
when the sweat of his eXertions has sop
ped him through. he cannot. in the un-
heated forecastle, change His clothing. but
must take to his bunk and cover up with
his inadequate blanket
But how shall time be whiled away on
twelve days monotonous voyage? The
only music is from an accordion, on
which sick boy plays Rainbow in the
time and spirit of the doXoogy. The on
ly literature is the records which former
passengers have carved and scribbled on
the woodwork. Eating and drinking do not
ailure-but of that later. In short work
is what makes the passage endurable, and
men complain of too little rather than too
much. On winter trip the rigors are
somewhat heightened. But few men with
a mind to publish their hardships ever
cross in the winter.
In the matter of eating, an amateur
cattleman undergoes a complete reforma-
ton. He is surprised at the excellence
of the first meal and partabes heartily.
At the second meal he is surprised that
the dishes do not vary from those of the
first and being upset in appetite by the
motion of the sea he declines to eat. He
viii recoup himself at the third
sitting. But again his stomach is appall-
ed by unsaVory combinations of spuds
beer gristle. sirupy and creamless tea,
boresome and intrusive marmalade. He
iihpi'S at d crust Ot Dltdu anu "A picked
onion, and resolves to demonstrate be-
times with the cook.
But the cook is a fearsome despot who
starVes his own assistant. He responds
with a porcine grunt. You take yer
bloody cad below" says he. Do you
think you're the captain?" The petitioner
draws off, not breaking his wrath, but
feathering it for a shot at the chief stew
and. mate or captain, when a chuckling
tar gives him the wink, and ''Helo
Yank; it s no bloody use. Honest to Mo-
ses, you have the same as the crew."
A glance at his commission attests the
trtuh of this. And the sailors are by
posted regulation guaranteed a not illib-
eral ration of sugar beans, bacon, plum
duff, etc. He then tries to endure pa
tently until these substantial variations
shall fall due. But as the week wears on
and they do not come, he analy2es the
messes that thrice daily polute the fore
castle, and, sure enough, the sugar is al
ready mixed with the tea, the beans dis
solved in the soup, the bacon chopped up
with the dry hash, and the plum duff
we'll that Is what makes Sunday the Day
of the Lord on a cattle ship And when,
on Sunday, this sanctifying substance is
doled out-raW hunks of dough in the
sides of which a few pale raisins stare
he VOWS he will follow other gods when
his own affords so poor a ceremonial.
w neneVef TWO men meet thereafter the
subject of their talk is just this cruelty
of the cook, and practical ways to cir
cumvent HIM On hearing that the galley
is unlocked at night they seriously urge
the night watchman to raid it for meat
pies etc, and smugge them to the fore
castle, even at the small, dead hours
"Never mind the time" says one "but
wake us. I'll know what you mean If
you Just touch my shoulder" Now if
this water were all beer%' exelaims one
soulfully, gazing across the gray waste
Tell me something easy sneers a less
imaginative comrade. when | land in
London I'll hit a coffee house and sign
for double order of bacon and eggs, and
I'll strike sparks out of it, chewing"
Yet from the very first, they note one
thing explanatory and prophetic. The
Russians and italians of the outfit squat
by the table q half hour before the pro-
cession from the cooks gallery Is due to
arrive. They assault the seeming unpala-
table food, and devour their own and the
neglected shares with hungry relish. Their
gluttony is incredible, A bitter repug-
nance-compounded of envy and CON
tempt-for those who can eat fills the