34 " SILKY." 



he not had more lofty aspirations ; 

 neither did I forget his habitual smile, 

 which gained for him in the betting- 

 ring the soubriquet of " Silky," and 

 which I always call to mind when I 

 reflect on a maxim I afterwards found 

 in my journey through life to be 

 correct : "The man who always laughs 

 or smiles is a fool ; the man who 

 never laughs nor smiles is a misanthrope ; 

 but he who always smiles and never 

 laughs is a deep, crafty, designing per- 



son." 



With this gentleman was I induced to join 

 in a contract to do the horsework in the 

 dockyard at Portsmouth. At the time he 

 was clerk, at a small salary, to the then 

 contractors, who, with the hopes of getting 

 more money, had given notice to the Go- 

 vernment of their intention to better their 

 position, little supposing their own servant 

 was going to supplant them. Of this I 



