SAILOR JACK. 



Jack is a monkey whose home is 

 aboard a ship. 



His face is brown and wrinkled, and 

 he looks like a little old man, but he is as 

 lively and full of mischief as a monkey 

 can well be. 



By turns he plagues everyone on board 

 nearly to death, yet he is still the delight 

 of the whole ship's crew. 



Jack goes where he pleases about the 

 ship, and he and the sailors play pranlcs 

 and have grand frolics together. 



The rigging is Jack's special play- 

 ground. Here he jumps and swings to 

 his heart's content, and it fairly makes 

 one's head swim to watch the active little 

 fellow. Whenever he has done some- 

 thing that he expects to be punished for, 

 he goes up into the rigging where he 

 knows he will not be followed. 



Jack makes up his mind to help the 

 cook. Instead of quietly looking on and 

 eating the raisins and lumps of sugar 

 given him, he wants a hand in the cook- 

 ing. The cook is a testy sort of fellow, 

 but Jack is such a favorite of his that 

 he is quite patient with him and begins 

 by mildly scolding. Without effect; how- 

 ever, for just as he reaches for the nut- 

 meg grater Jack gets in ahead of him and 

 grabs it and away he runs, and in a 

 twinkling he is up a mast, sitting there 

 in safety. 



By this time Johnson has lost every 

 shred of patience, and the sight of Jack 

 sitting there grinning and chattering as 

 he examines the nutmeg-grater rouses 

 his ire and he shakes his fist at the 

 monkey and the little mimic shakes his 

 in return, while the sailors look on and 

 roar with laughter, which fact only adds 

 to the cook's anger. 



Jack is a very neat and tidy little 

 creature. He washes his face and 



hands in a basin as the sailors do, and 

 dries them on a towel. 



He eats at mess with the men, always 

 keeping to his own dish of food, which 

 he eats with a spoon. 



If ever a monkey liked raisins it is 

 Jack. When he finds one he holds it 

 up in his fingers and chatters and grins 

 his satisfaction. The sailors all give 

 their raisins to him. If he spies one in 

 their pudding, he will point to it and grin 

 and chatter, asking for it. The raisin is 

 handed over with the laughing remark, 

 "The little beggar thinks nothing but a 

 monkey likes raisins." 



One of the sailors made Jack a small 

 chest in which he keeps all his little 

 treasures and playthings. None of the 

 crew ever think of going ashore without 

 bringing something back for Jack, and 

 those that are handy with a knife em- 

 ploy their spare time whittling out 

 things to amuse him. 



The greatest treasure Jack owns is a 

 small looking-glass. He seems to under- 

 stand that the face he sees in it is his 

 own, for he will smirk and grin and 

 make faces at himself with high glee at 

 the result. 



Jack is a first-class sailor. He is 

 always kept under cover during a storm, 

 so that he will not be washed overboard ; 

 but he is never sick or frightened, no 

 matter what the weather or how much 

 the vessel rolls and pitches. Head up 

 or head down is all the same to Jack. 



He seldom goes ashore and is as 

 anxious as the sailors to leave port and 

 get under sail again. 



On the whole. Jack is about as happy 

 as it is possible for a monkey to be, and 

 life on shipboard would be dull without 

 the merry little fellow. 



Martha R. Fitch. 



56 



