314 CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



JUMPED AT A CONCLUSION 



Occasionally black boys have the misfortune to do ex- 

 actly the wrong thing with the best intentions. A bche- 

 de-mer schooner sadly in need of a coat of paint, ran into 

 a northern port and brought up alongside a similar but 

 tidy craft, which at the time was laid up. In obedience to 

 natural curiosity the captain went on board the idle vessel 

 and had a good look over her, paced off some of her 

 dimensions and mentally approved her lines. In the morn- 

 ing he brought out a quantity of black paint with which a 

 friend who had taken pity of the weather-beaten condition 

 of his vessel had presented him, and ordered his boys to 

 begin work. Then he went ashore, spending a most agree- 

 able morning among his friends. Just before dinner a chum 

 asked him what his boys were doing. He replied, " Oh, 

 before I left I set them to work to paint the ship." " Do 

 you know what ship they are painting ? " asked the friend. 

 " Yes ! I am jolly well sure it's mine." " Well, you had 

 better go and see how they are getting on." He went, 

 and found all hands merrily at work painting the strange 

 vessel. They had in excess of industry covered one of her 

 neat white sides completely, having jumped at the con- 

 clusion that the captain had bought her. It was an ex- 

 pensive blunder, and a practical lesson in the chemistry of 

 colours. A large quantity of white paint had to be bought 

 to smother the black coat, and another lot of black paint 

 for his own woe-begone craft. 



PRIDE OF RACE 



" Harry " was a splendid specimen of humanity. Tall, 

 lithesome, handsome, intelligent, proud of superior abilities, 

 prouder of his style. In his time he played many parts. 

 A stockrider, when he would appear in a gay shirt, tight 

 white moleskins, cabbage-tree hat, flash riding-boots with 

 glittering spurs. A bullock driver, when his costume 



