SAILORS' ETHICS. 25 



Sunday is observed by sparing the crew from all labor not nec- 

 essary 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 sit- 

 ting 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 noticed with most sailors, a book is a book, and they 

 read it for the sake of reading, not for the ideas the words are 

 intended to convey, just as some people like to work out mathe- 

 matical 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 " first-rate reading." 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 triumphant air, as if henceforth there was laid up for him 

 a crown of glory and no mistake : " There ! I've read that book 

 through, every word on't, this v'yage ; and, damn me, if I han't 

 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." Then after gazing at it a few moments, he added, 

 musingly, as if reflecting on the mutability of human affairs, " I 



