Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-07

TT is admittedly no kindergarten propo-
slt1on to convince an average man h1larl
ously drunk that he could have lot more
fun if he was sober. The proposition be-
comes doubly difficult when we pass from
the average man and come to the sailor;
for, of all the human beings of the civilized
world, the sailor, taking him by and large, is
about as hard to convince of anything not
already fully believed in by him as porcu-
pine. A slender little man of about five feet
four and Of some one hundred and thirty-fve
pounds, with a happy, smiling face and a
permanent expression OF peace, doclllty, and
innocence, started out nine years ago to con-
vince one particular drunken, disappearing
specimen of sailor six feet in height and two
hundred and five pounds in all other direc
lions that there were other pleasanter places
in Seattle than saloons and other pleasanter
drinks than whisky-and came out of it alive.
In fact, he came out of it, three days later,
arm in arm with the sailor, and with the
latter, now dead sober, calling him "Mac.
MACS whole name is George McPher-
son Hunter,-the man who, since that day in
Seattle when he first proved to himself that
he could get away with it, has done more to
make better men Of the sailors of the Seven
Seas than any other man in Christendom.
Here is "Mac's" philosophical propositions:
@Men long before my time tried to set the
hayward sailor world straight, and didn't
succeed. Why? Because you can't set any
man, much less sailor, straight by preach
ing to him. You've got to prove to him that
being straight is a heap more good sport
than not being straight.
Before getting into the meat of this man S
methods and accomplishments his
methods are as subtle as those of a great
detective, albeit of a different type-a
,oat fxx,o o1,o
lie is Scotsman. He started out in life
II as a sailor, working his way through
Glasgow University, studying engineering in
winter and returning to the sea in summer.
The expiration of five years spent at sea
after graduation, under many flags, and in
Guiding visit to every seaport of impor-
lance, saw him holding the second highest
certificate granted by the British govern
ment to engineers And it also saw him
planning to devote the rest of his life to the
profession of engineer. Then, one day,
something happened. 1t was in one of the
River Plate ports, the general paradise of
loafers, where liquor runs wild, and is very
cheap, where sailors may beachcomb in
luxury, and where law means next to moth
ing. Here, in this sailors haven of militant
vice, Hunter tried his hand at reforming"
a man of the seas, and failed
This failure worried him. Something was
wrong What? Hunter made up his mind
to find out 1t took him half dozen years
to find OUT six years spent in many parts
of the world and in many different lines of
activity,-but he did find out eventually.
And the place where he found out was in
Seattle, and the man from whom he found
out was the whisky breathed, staggering
sailor who several days later, new and
different man, was calling him affectionately
by his nickname.
Il had preached to that first fellow | tried
to win back to decency," explains Hunter.
Il had allowed the Seattle sailor to preach
to himself. Good advice never has accom-
plished anything, and never will