298 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



No better hand e'er crossed the herring pond 

 Since Tubal Cain first hammered into form 

 Iron, for use in battle or in storm. 



Now also mark that individual there, 

 Whose father must have been a Bartlett pere. 

 Sweetness alone could such a youth produce. 



Come, don't be modest, lift your head up higher, man ; 



Every one knows that you're our first class fireman, 

 Who puts his leisure to the best of use, 

 By thinking out full many a thing, worth mention 

 If I was talking up the history of invention. 



And now, my friends, I think not much you'll marvel 



If I refer to Lauderback and Shnrvell 



Two youths who in the fire-room's gloomy deep, 

 At temperature too high for e'en lost souls, 

 Keep feeding hungry furnaces with coals, 



And faithfully their six hours' vigil keep. 



Perhaps they cheat old Time, and this between us 



Tell to each other stories about Venus. 



Ah, yes, my introduction would be void 



Of interest if I had forgotten Boyd, 



The youngest of our number, on whose head 

 The weight of years, and all the sad belongings 

 Of hopes expired and unrequited belongings 



Have never pressed down heavier than lead. 



To him is given the future with its bubbles, 



Its sad successes and its merry troubles. 



" All hands on deck ! " pipes up my boatswain's whistle, 

 And I sincerely trust, my friends, that this'll 

 Be for our sailor lads the only call 



To summon them to duties hard and serious 

 Before we leave this region most mysterious, 

 To face the rolling sea and treacherous sqiiall 

 I've noticed often that when making sail, 

 Our boys care little for a breeze or gale. 



There's Erickson, as tough as well-tanned leather, 

 Worth any common three men rolled together ; 

 And Wilson, too, a very blithesome fellow, 

 Who handles rope or rifle like a sailor, 

 And needle like a first-class Broadway tailor. 

 Then, with a voice at once low, sweet and mellow, 

 Comes one with boat or iron bar a wrestler ; 

 Cooks for our mess in style we call him Dressier. 



