408 SLEEP ASHORE. 



we sat clown to supper at the well-spread board, 

 enlivened by the genial and handsome face of our 

 worthy landlady, we began to realize what comforts 

 and pleasures we had been deprived of by our three 

 years' jaunt ; instead of sitting down on a rude chest, 

 with tin pan and pot before one, and a sheath-knife 

 to carve out the salt junk that formed the greater 

 part of our repast, here were the various viands 

 arranged in a clean and neat manner, inviting the 

 hungry and the gourmand to partake of them. 

 After supper we smoked our cigars, and, tired with 

 the exercise of the day, retired early, and enjoyed a 

 night of refreshing slumber, uninterrupted by the 

 hoarse cry of " Starbowlines, ahoy !" "Eight Bells !" 

 or the still less welcome one of "All hands turn out 

 and take in sail." Then, again, each was comforta- 

 bly ensconced between clean sheets, on feather beds, 

 totally distinctive in all their relations from our own 

 straw mattrasses, packed down by three years use, 

 and well-worn, dusky-looking blankets. All was 

 comfort, and we appreciated it as only men can 

 who for years have been deprived of the many little 

 et ceteras that make life bearable. 



The succeeding morning I proceeded to the tele- 

 graph office and telegraphed home, receiving an 

 answer that satisfied my fullest longings. All my 

 immediate fiimily were alive and well ; but such was 

 not the case with some of my less fortunate ship- 

 mates — several had lost fathers, one a mother, others 

 a sister or brother; in fact, there were few but had 

 to weep for a near and dear one gone, whom in the 

 fullness of their wishes they had hoped would have 

 been the first to welcome them home. 



