196 SYMPATHY FOR JACK TAR. 



was ushered into a small amphitheater.' On its stage 

 sat five performers, whose faces were blackened with 

 burned cork. They were attempting to give deline- 

 ations of Ethiopian characteristics ; but, although 

 the audience seemed delighted with the perform- 

 ance, their brogue smacked more of the Paddy or 

 Sandy than of that of the Virginia Darkie. 



It is to be deplored that such establishments so 

 often entrap the unwary sailor ; who, on his liberty- 

 day, bent upon amusement, his mind unoccupied, 

 and in possession of funds sufficient to make him an 

 object of attraction to the harpies who conduct them, 

 is led to enter, and, ere he is aware, (unless he has a 

 spirit that is proof against temptation,) they lead him 

 from one folly to another, until he becomes help- 

 lessly intoxicated, and then he is an easy prey to 

 whoever wishes to plunder him. Strange it is, that, 

 with the victims of such sharks continually before 

 his eyes in every seaport he visits, he should still 

 persist in entering such places. He certainly does 

 not do it blindly, but with a culpable recklessness, 

 that is almost inexcusable. He will not stop to con- 

 sider what ma}' be the consequences of the first steps 

 he takes in the path of sin. He is never deterred from 

 his evil course by viewing the wreck of his fortune ; 

 for, when utterly impoverished by his heedless career 

 on land, he again returns to his favorite element, 

 upon whose broad expanse, or in whose mighty deeps, 

 he sanguinely expects to regain all his treasure. He 

 scorns to reflect upon the vile arts by which he has 

 been debarred from the field of fair sailing ashore, nor 

 regards the foul atmosphere of the brothel as more to 

 "be shunned than the spray. So, at sea, he thinks not 



