SAILORS ETHICS. 30 



Sunday is observed by sparing the crew from all labour 

 not necessary to the sailing of the ship, but as it is the only 

 day in which they have watch-and- watch, or time enough to 

 attend to such matters, they are mostly engaged in washing 

 and mending their clothes. We had selected a number of 

 books at the Tract-house, which we gave away among them. 

 They were received with gratitude, and the pictures at least 

 read with interest. The printed matter was read somewhat 

 also ; I noticed three men sitting close together, all spelling 

 out the words from three different books, and speaking them 

 aloud in a low, monotonous tone. If they had come to a 

 paragraph in, Latin, I doubt if they would have understood 

 what they read any less. The truth is, as I have often no 

 ticed with most sailors, a book is a booh, and they read it 

 for the sake of reading, not for the ideas the words are in 

 tended to convey, just as some people like to work out 

 mathematical problems for the enjoyment of the work, not 

 because they wish to make use of the result. I saw a sailor 

 once bargaining with a shipmate for his allowance of grog, 

 offering him for it a little book, which he said was &quot;first-rate 

 reading.&quot; After the bargain was closed I looked at the book. 

 It was a volume of Temperance tales. The man had no 

 idea of making a practical joke, and assured me with a grave 

 face, that he had read it all through. One Sunday, in the 

 latter part of a passage from the East Indies, one of my 

 watchmates, an old sea-dog, closed a little carefully preserved 

 Testament, and slapping it on his knee, said, with a triumph 

 ant air, as if henceforth there was laid up for him a crown of 

 glory and no mistake, &quot; There ! I ve read that book through, 

 every word on t, this voyage ; and, damme, if I ha nt got 

 more good out on t than I should a got going aft long with 

 the rest on ye, to hear that old pharisee (the captain) make 

 his long prayers.&quot; Then, after gazing at it a few moments, 



