A SABBATH D A Y ' S WORK. 73 



night. Those who grumbled at this arrangement, 

 among whom / was conspicuous, received for 

 consolation the information that once upon the 

 whaling ground, no work whatever, not absolutely 

 necessary, would be required. 



After living amid tar, slush and dirt all the 

 week, Saturday night when the decks were 

 washed down, and all work put out of sight and 

 Sabbath, were seasons of peculiar enjoyment to all, 

 and. to none more than myself, who then had a 

 little time for reading, from which I was debarred 

 during working days, 



Sunday was with us, at this time, a day for 

 general shaving, washing, and scrubbing. Salt 

 water is too "hard" to wash in with comfort, and 

 in consideration of our labors during the week, 

 we were on Saturday night indulged in two quarts 

 of fresh water per man, with the aid of which we 

 succeeded pretty well in removing the stains of 

 the past week. 



Mending, too, was in order on the Sabbath. The 

 Portuguese among our crew had been wise enough 

 to choose their own outfit. I had needed but little 

 clothing, but had taken some light drilling in- 

 stead, to make up for myself shirts and trowsers, 

 an art in which I was by this time quite a pro- 

 ficient. The new hands had taken whatever the 

 outfitters had chosen to say they needed, and some 

 of them had been woefully cheated. 



Woollen shirts which, after the first washing, 

 one could pull to pieces as though made of tow 



