SAILOR FISHERMEN OP NEW ENGLAND. 79 



They are very likely to ask if milk can be bought there, or where they can buy it. Quite often 

 something stronger than milk is asked for, and wines or gin or red ruin are drunk. None of our 

 men became intoxicated to excess, though two or three came aboard in a pretty jolly condition. 

 Sometimes the men did not go into any of the houses, but contented themselves by talking to the 

 men they met on the street, or strolled around the town or into the outskirts, noting the people 

 and the houses. 



" Dances. — One of the favorite pastimes of a crew, while ' in baitin,' is a dance. So often have 

 they had these dances in Newfoundland that one of the first questions that a 'livier'* puts to a 

 new-comer is, 'Are you going to get up a dance V Usually they hire the house of some native, 

 and when they have no fiddler in the crew hire some one to fiddle. They then summon all the girls 

 in the place by a general invitation. The crew, during our cruise, went to several dances, two of 

 which they got up themselves. At Bay of Bulls, on our last baiting, they decided to have one of 

 these dances, and secured a most miserable house for this purpose. There was no fiddler, but only 

 a boy who sang for them, or, according to the Newfoundland vernacular, made 'chin-music' The 

 reports from the party on the following moruiug made me anxious to see one of those dances, and 

 1 was therefore glad to hear talk of their having another one. 



"I went into the room — the living-room of the house — in which the dancing was to take 

 place. The ball had already opened. The room was one of the poorest I had yet seen, even in 

 Newfoundland. The uneven floor was utterly barren of carpet, mats, or any covering. A shaky, 

 crazy-looking lamp on one wall threw a dismal light about, and showed the crew and about eight 

 girls seated on benches that lined the wall. In the immense fire-place sat the mother of the 

 family, holding in her arms a baby of two yeai's. When 1 entered, the host was leading off with 

 an opening break-down. His unwieldy movements as he tried the double-shuffle in his heavy 

 cowhide boots were very grotesque. The orchestra furnished 'chin music.' The musician was a 

 young man who hummed iu a sort of grunting nasal tone various tunes of proper time for square 

 dances. It is utterly impossible to describe the sound which this musician produced; it was a sue 

 cessiou of nasal tones iu the key of C. The minstrel was at intervals inspired by such words as these, 

 •That's it, Thommy, me b'y, gi' de bies a tune,' and kindred exhortations. Their dances were ;ill 

 the square dances, and generally the w'ell-kuown lancers. The various figures were called off by one 

 of the crew. The sailors apparently enjoyed themselves just as well as if the music had been very 

 much better. They paid the old man a couple of dollars for his house, gave the sweet singer a 

 fee, and were finally on board the vessel at about four o'clock iu the moruiug." 



42. PUBLIC SERVICES. 



Services in times op war.— The importance of the fisheries to the prosperity of nations has 

 frequently been alluded to by the writers who have taken this subject into consideration. Iu Sa 

 bine's "Report on the Principal Fisheries of the American Seas"t numerous instances are given 

 in which the fishermen of the United States have rendered important services of tins kind. 



The people of Marblehead, Gloucester, Salem, Beverly, and other fishing ports of New Englaud 

 were among the foremost to meet the enemy in the Revolutionary war. The privateers which 

 played so important a part then and in the war of 1812-1815 were largely manned by fishermen, 

 especially those from Newburyport. 



"The services of the people of Marblehead," says Sabine, "are entitled to particular notice. 

 They were invaluable upon the sea and upon the land. When, in 1774, the port of Boston was 



* A resident of the Newfoundland coast is, in fishermen's dialect, a "livier." 

 t Pages 198-210. 



