316 THE CRUISE OF TEE "CACHALOT:' 



have often fervently wished that some one would take 

 a party of them for a ramble with a definite purpose, 

 helping them to a little enjoyment, instead of them falling, 

 from sheer lack of knowing what else to do, into some 

 dirty, darksome gin-mill, to be besotted, befooled, and 

 debased. 



I do earnestly wish that some of the good folk in 

 London and Liverpool, who are wringing their hands for 

 want of something to do among their fellow-men, would 

 pay a visit to sailor-town for the purpose of getting up 

 a personally-conducted party of sailors to see the sights 

 worth seeing. It is a cheap form of pleasure, even if they 

 paid all expenses, though that would not be likely. They 

 would have an uphill job at first, for the sailor has been 

 so long accustomed to being preyed upon by the class 

 he knows, and neglected by everybody else except the 

 few good people who want to preach to him, that he 

 would probably, in a sheepish, shame-faced sort of way, 

 refuse to have any " truck" with you, as he calls it. If 

 the "sailors' home" people were worth their salt, they 

 would organize expeditions by carriage to such beautiful 

 places as — in London, for instance — Hampton Court, 

 Zoological Gardens, Crystal Palace, Epping Forest, and 

 the like, with competent guides and good catering 

 arrangements. But no; the sailor is allowed to step 

 outside the door of the " home " into the grimy, dismal 

 streets with nothing open to him but the dance-house 

 and brothel on one side, and the mission hall or reading- 

 room on the other. God forbid that I should even 

 appear to sneer at missions to seamen ; nothing is farther 

 from my intention ; but I do feel that sailors need a 

 little healthy human interest to be taken in providing 

 some pleasure for them, and that there are unorthodox 

 ways of *' missioning " which are well worth a trial. 



