18 GREEN HANDS. 



passed by the legislature of the State of Massachu- 

 setts, and whilst I was iu 'New Bedford was pro- 

 fessedly ill operation — but only professedly, as 

 numbers of houses existed wherein liquor was sold, 

 which, from their public location, must have been 

 known to the authorities. 



At my boarding-house, arrivals were continually 

 •occurring of young men, from various parts of the 

 Union, to embark on board whale-ships. I viewed 

 with regret the extreme youth of many of them. 

 There is a systematized mode of procedure carried 

 on in our larger Atlantic and Lake cities, for the 

 purpose of recruiting this service. Shij)ping agents 

 engage young men, taking advantage of their inex- 

 perience or necessities, paint whaling and its appur- 

 tenances in vivid colors, induce them to sign their 

 names, and then convey them to IsTew Bedford; aud 

 when they come to review their outfit bills, they will 

 find a charge of from ten to fourteen dollars for the 

 agent's services. Among the arrivals at our house 

 was one from Western Pennsylvania, who talked 

 sailor, walked sailor, and dressed sailor, rolling when 

 he walked so as almost to take in a pocketful of 

 sand on each side, and wore an immense kcdge 

 anchor on his neckerchief; he was looked at by the 

 inexperienced as a prodigy, but by old sailors with a 

 contemptuous expression, always accompanied by 

 the remark, " Too much salt water there." This 

 individual was afterward the most miserable poltroon 

 in our ship, and despite his vauntings of personal 

 qualifications as a seaman, lashed himself with a 

 yard arm gasket to the main topgallant rigging whilst 

 engaged in furling the main topgallant sail. Such 



