DIARY OF CAPTAIN LAMSON 161 



refused making any observation against 

 either. They then said they wished me to 

 go in the Brig again. I replied that I should 

 stop at home awhile. Then they tried to 

 obtain my reason for not going, but I 

 evaded the principal reason. However, in 

 justice to the captain as related to his treat- 

 ment of me, I must say that he never 

 abused me in that manner that I noted. 

 An unfortunate habit of swearing was what 

 he suffered mostly by. His passions were 

 too powerful for his reason and patience. I 

 perfectly recollect one day, after he had 

 called me all the most profane expressions 

 he could make use of, in less than two hours 

 he came down and commenced a very lively 

 conversation; and, in the midst of it, he 

 observed to me that if he cursed me to take 

 no notice of it, so that with all the uneasi- 

 ness on board I never felt the least animos- 

 ity to the man, and my objection to going 

 again was that it was impossible for him to 

 have a great ship, and it was quite uncer- 

 tain to find so good an officer as Jonathan 



