Year: 1870

One evening, not long since, a nun


Der of old ship-masters CHANGED t


meet at social supper, and after tn


cloth was removed we went in for var


spinning. And among our numbe


was Captain Richard Nutter, and


finer man or better sailor never trod


deck. AT length it came his turn t


tell story, or, what we preferred =


and what the rest of us had done-re


late some incident of experience in hi


own life. II.


"WelI, boys" he said, as he rejecte,


the wine, which was at that momen


passed to him for the first time, 'sI will


give you bit of the early Part of M


ocean life, and it is a very importan


bit, too, for upon it I have built thr


whole of my subsequent manhood"


We prepared to listen to Captain


Nutter, with the mosbprofound atten


ton, for he was not only an old sea


man, but one of the most successful


commanders in our mercantile marin,


We listened, and his story was as fol


lows: .-"


az was very young when first en-


tered upon shipbOard, and at the age


Of fourteen I considered myself quite 6


sailor. When I was eighteen l was
shipped on board an East Indiaman


for a long voyage. There were six oi


us on board of about the same age, and


we had about the same duties to per.


form. The ship-the old Lady Dunlap
was a large one, and our crew was
large in proportion, there being fifty
two, all told. We 'boys, as we were
called, messed together, and in all
other respects were separate from the
rest of the crew, just as much as the
officers were. Our Captain was a no
ble-hearted, honorable man, kind and
generous, but yet very strict. OF
course we youngsters found plenty of
occasion to find fault with him, and
very often were his decisions arraigned
before our mess and decidedly con-
demned. In fact, we should have re-
versed many of his judgments if we
had had the power; but as he was the
commander, and we only foremast
hands-and boys at that-he had his
own way, and the luminous decisions
we came to were Of no avail, and lost
to the world.


"NOw, we boys had learned, in the
course of our travels, to drink our grog
as well as any sailors. We could toss
off glass of rum and water with as
much grace as any one, and we claimed
the right to do so, not only as a priv
ilege, but as an honor to which a life
upon the ocean entitled us. But even
in this respect our Captain pretended
to differ from us. When we could get
on shore, we would invariably indulge
in our cups, and not unfrequentIy
would we come of, or he brought off,
in a state anything but sober. | said
'10e, but there was one of our number
who could not be induced to touch a
drop of anything Intoxicating. His
name was John Small, and he be-
longed in one of the back towns of
New Jersey.


"NOw, Jack Small not only refrained
entirely from drinking himself but he
used sometimes to ask us to let the
stuff alone. He gave the job up, how
ever, for we made such sport of him
that he was glad to let us alone. But
our Captain had sharp eyes, and it
was not long before he began to show
Jack Small favOrs which he did not
show to us. He would often take Jack
on shore with him to spend the night,
and such things as that, while we
were kept on board the ship. Of
course this created a sort of envy on
our part, and it ended in a decided ILL
will toward poor Jack.


"NOw, in truth, Jack was one of the
best fellows in the world. He was
kind, Obliging, honest, always willing
to lend a helping hand in case of dis
tress, and as true a friend as ever lived
only he wouldn't drink with US, that
was ALL No-that wasn't all he
learned faster than we did-he was a
better sailor and learned more of nav
igatiOn. But this we tried to lay to
the captains paying him the most at
though we knew better at the
time, for we had the privilege of learn
ing just as much as We had a mind to.
The truth of the matter was, we five
loved the idea of being 'old salts, bet
ter than we did anything else, and we
spent more time in watching for Op-
pOrtunities to have a spree than we
did in learning to perfect ourselves in
the profession we had chosen.


"It even got so at length, that Jack
Small was called upon to take the deck
sometimes, when the officers were busy,
and he used to work out the reckonings
at noon as regularly as did the Captain.
Yet Jack was in our mess, and he was
a constant eye-sore. We saw that he
was reaching rapidly ahead of us in
every useful particular, and yet we
would not open our eyes. We were
envious of his good fortune, as we
called it, and used to seize every op-
pOrtunity to tease and run him. But
he never got angry in return. He
would laugh at us, and at
others he would 80 feelingIy chide us
that we would remain silent for awhile


CAT length the idea entered our heads
that Jack should drink with US. We
talked the matter over in the mess
while Jack was absent, and we mutu-
ally pledged each other that we would
make him drink at the first oPportun
ity. After this determination was ta-
ken, we treated Jack more kindly and
he was happier than he,had ever been
before. Once more we laughed and
Oked with him in the mess, and he in
turn helped US in our navigation. We
were on our hOmeward-bound passage,
BY the way of Brazil, and our ship
stopped at Rio JaneirO, where we re-.
NAMED week or So. One pleasant
we six youngsters received
permission to go on shore and spend
he whole day; and accordingly we
'igged up in our best tOgs and were car
,ied to the landing.


"NOw was our chance, and we put
our heads together to see how it should
De done. Jack'S very first desire eS