« BOATMEN PHILOSOPHERS 99 



they err it is commonly through ignorance, through 

 assuming too readily that their boatman is the 

 Ignorant party, before whom they pass in a 

 straggling procession, showing themselves up to 

 him, away from the rut of their customary sur- 

 roundings and habits, and under the self-revealing 

 conditions of sea-sickness, alarm, or frank enjoy- 

 ment. Small wonder that most boatmen are 

 philosophers in their way! Small wonder that 

 curious sea-friendships crop up, which belong only 

 to the neighbourhood of boats, and do not extend 

 into the ordinary land-lives either of the fright or 

 their man I For, as a rule, we who take them 

 to sea know next to nothing of them, neither their 

 occupations nor even their names. We call them 

 by their lodgings : 'No. 3 Seavlew wants a boat at 

 two.' Or else. If we think enough of them, we 

 give them nicknames : 'Bald-Pate,' 'White-Face,' 

 'Bobs' (on account of a likeness to Lord Roberts), 

 'Thic fine piece,' 'The Spider-Crab,' '01' Jelly 

 Fish.' They come, impressing themselves upon 

 us because they are means towards a livelihood; 

 they are judged from our angle; and then they 

 go. Sometimes they say good-bye, and sometimes 

 they don't, to us who have had their lives in our 

 hands. Old ladies, there are, so drawn to the sea 



