WHALERS AND WHALING. 



chest down into the stuffy black hole where he is destined to sleep 

 cheek by jowl with a mighty queer assortment of humanity. Foreign 

 sailors, negro sailors, men of all types and tempers, and all degrees 

 of badness, — and perhaps goodness, too. The young green hand needs 

 all his father's teaching and his mother's prayers to keep him un- 

 tainted in such an atmosphere. What else will save him from drink- 

 ing and swearing as his comrades do? 



They tell a story in New Bedford about a green hand who was 

 so bad and so smart that the fame of him still lives. He became 

 utterly demoralized during his first voyage and was forever getting 

 into scrapes, but by his cleverness and quickness he managed to es- 

 cape many a well deserved flogging by saying witty things that made 

 the Captain laugh and put him in a good humor. One day the young 

 sinner was sentenced to the cat o' nine tails and agreed to submit 

 quietly to his punishment if they would only let him speak to the 



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