OF ALL COUNTRIES. 79 



among his fellows. Still it is far easier to make objections 

 than to suggest any other process which shall secure to the 

 owners their unquestionable rights. Much carelessness, too, 

 in regard to the lives of those employed in this dangerous 

 occupation, is not unfrequently found even among such as 

 believe themselves to be perfectly blameless on this point. 

 Thus one witness, having affirmed with evident sincerity that 

 smackowners treated apprentices as if they were their own 

 children, went on almost in the same breath to describe the 

 danger attached to the simple process of drawing water in 

 a bucket from the sea while the vessel is in motion, because 

 of the sudden and unexpected strain of the current on the 

 novice's hands ; and observed that the youngsters have not 

 got their sea-legs, and soon tip overboard. Another 

 witness again, himself a fisherman, objected strongly to 

 being obliged to give a report on his return to shore of any 

 death which might have occurred on board during the trip 

 because he wanted the time to land his fish. Not that this 

 indifference is universal, or even, perhaps, very general, any 

 more than such terrible cruelty as was practised on board 

 the Rising Sun. Yet when we learn from the lips of a 

 competent witness, himself largely representing the special 

 interests of the proprietors, that a skipper dismissed for 

 cruelty would probably be engaged by someone else on the 

 following day, it is impossible to conceive that any great 

 amount of solicitude is habitually given to the welfare of 

 these helpless lads. 



To enter upon any lengthy discussion of the relative 

 merits of the parties to this question, and, in particular, to 

 form any judgment upon the action of particular associa- 

 tions or individuals, would be to go outside the province 

 of a history ; but none the less should we fall short of the 

 design both of this present volume and of the whole vast 



