iiipilililiiiil^^^^^ 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 DD0D4E4E531 
 


EXPERIENCES 
 
 OF A BOY 
 
 hro^n^yJ^' 
 
 By His Father's Son 
 
 Baker Printing Co. 
 
 Newark, N. J. 
 
 1910 
 
-:2 
 
 Copyright, 1910 ^j 
 
 by ^r 
 
 E, F. HARTSHORN 
 
 ©CIA273896 
 
Experiences of a Boy, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 On the 19th day of October, 1843, during the 
 cannonading celebrating the anniversary of Lord 
 CornwalHs' surrender, a man-child was born on 
 Recluse Farm, only a short distance from Nor- 
 folk, Va. He was a pretty child, so the mother, 
 father and others agreed. Red of face, little or 
 no hair, with a voice that could be heard in com- 
 manding tones, demanding the attention due to 
 a new arrival on the sphere of active life. As the 
 years flew past, this autocrat developed the usual 
 attributes of a pugnacious youth. His light hair 
 became curly; that is, when an older sister care- 
 fully manipulated it with curl papers on the top of 
 his head. The old negro mammy stated decidedly 
 that "He would sure be president of dis United 
 States," and when the child would go to her with 
 earache, how carefully she would cook a hot pone 
 cake and tenderly bind it over the offending mem- 
 ber. 
 
Memory does not serve in recording but a few 
 events of this child's growth. He remembers 
 looking out of the window one day, during a 
 thunder storm, and seeing a bolt of lightning 
 strike a large tree in the yard, stripping it of all 
 its branches, and leaving a bare pole instead of its 
 wide spread of foliage. Such a manifestation of 
 nature's force was not fathomable to the infantile 
 mind ; but curiosity was excited and many ques- 
 tions asked that bothered the parents to answer. 
 The questions of childhood often do not receive 
 the attention that they deserve, and many a prob- 
 lem has to be solved by the actual experience of 
 the future life. 
 
 Across the Elizabeth River was thrown a 
 bridge by a brickmaker to carry finished product 
 for piling. The heavy planks on this bridge were 
 not nailed down, as the structure was temporary. 
 The boy's mother had bid him never to go on 
 this structure, as it was considered dangerous ; but 
 one day there was a boat race on the river and the 
 bridge seemed a better place than the banks to 
 observe the contest; therefore, during the excite- 
 ment, the admonition was forgotten. The boats 
 were coming down in good shape when, to get a 
 better view, the boy walked to the end of one of 
 the planks. Immediately it tipped up and let the 
 boy down with a plunge into the water. He 
 always maintained that the first effect of the 
 
descent was seeing the devil. He then lost con- 
 sciousness and only remembers being pulled out 
 on the bank by a negro woman, then running 
 home and through a long entry to the upstairs 
 room of his mother, who was enjoying her after- 
 noon siesta. Expecting sympathy, he told of his 
 plunge in the river, when off came the slipper and 
 it was applied with vigor to the proper place. 
 This is the only whipping he remembers to have 
 received in childhood, and always thought he 
 should have been coddled instead of being pun- 
 ished. His narrow escape from drowning ap- 
 peared to him a sufficient excuse for disobedience. 
 The philosophy of children does not always agree 
 with the reasoning of their parents. 
 
 The parents of this promising youth moved in 
 three years to Winton, N. C, where outdoor life 
 was the rule. He well remembers many youthful 
 escapades and tribulations occurring in that place. 
 The family had a pet cat that was a general 
 favorite. This cat excited the cupidity of a boy 
 chum who wanted possession. Various trades 
 were suggested; but none successful until the 
 chum offered in exchange a bag of chinquapins. 
 These looked good and the transaction was closed, 
 that is, until the sisters missed the cat, w^hen ex- 
 planations were in order. The chinquapins were 
 eaten. The cat returned and all was serene. This 
 first trade showed the futility of closing a deal 
 
for property not owned. In future life, the 
 modern trust methods showed how such transac- 
 tions could be carried through without imposing 
 a too severe strain on the moral attributes. 
 
 It is customary in this part of the country for 
 the owners of pigs to allow them to run wild in 
 the woods, hunting for their food. There would 
 be a grand round-up once in a year and the dif- 
 ferent owners would brand their mark on individ- 
 ual holdings. One such round-up occurred when 
 our infant was clothed in short frocks. He no- 
 ticed the excitement of the drive and entered into 
 it with all fervor possible. Pigs running this way 
 and that. Busy men rushing here and there amid 
 the squealing mass, all made up a scene of in- 
 terest, especially to our friend. He yelled and 
 rushed around, feeling elated and enthused to the 
 top notch of enjoyment. To his mind pigs were 
 pigs; but unfortunately he lacked possession. 
 Personal ownership was what he desired and it 
 had always been his way to ask for what he 
 coveted, therefore, he sang out that he wanted 
 one of the pigs. Immediately a tall hoosier 
 standing near him said, "You can have any pig 
 that you can catch." The words were hardly out 
 of his mouth when the infant grabbed a large 
 shoat around the neck and was off on his back, 
 under the fences, through the brambles and briers, 
 at the highest speed of the pig. The pig was mus- 
 
cular and a good runner; but the baby held on 
 until there remained not a vestige of clothing on 
 his body. All full of scratches, he, glowing with 
 the spirit of ownership, kept his grip until the pig 
 fell exhausted ; then willing hands lifted the baby 
 and others toted the pig in triumph to the home 
 of our friend. 
 
 Amongst the possessions of the family were 
 four dogs named Ino, Youno, Jackson and Tyler. 
 The first two were named after heavenly constel- 
 lations. One of the big village boys met our 
 friend and asked the names of the dogs. The 
 baby repeated the names, Ino, Youno, Jackson 
 and Tyler. The boy, exasperated, stated there 
 were four dogs and he was given the names of 
 only two, and demanded again the names, when 
 the baby in his innocence repeated, Ino, Youno, 
 Jackson and Tyler, with the result that the bad 
 boy sprang forward to box his ears when the 
 opportune approach of an older brother prevented 
 the punishment undeserved. 
 
 In the winter time a school was held in a log 
 schoolhouse quite a distance from our youth's 
 home, and when about five years old he started, 
 with a lunch, to acquire book knowledge. The 
 master was an Irishman with a pronounced 
 brogue, and his method of teaching produced an 
 effect on our friend that rather inclined him to be 
 opposed to improving his mentality through such 
 
methods. The teacher had the only chair in the 
 schoolhouse. All the scholars sat on backless 
 seats raised sufficiently high by logs of wood. Our 
 boy remembers that the principal instruction 
 seemed to be in Grammar and the parsing be- 
 came extremely tiresome. It seemed to be a con- 
 tinual repetition of "I love, you love, thou lovest." 
 It seemed foolish to our boy and he resented such 
 and thought playing in the open would be more 
 sensible. Grammar was for the older scholars. 
 For our boy, the youngest, the alphabet was the 
 stumbling block. At intervals from grammar, 
 our friend was called up and, standing between 
 the knees of the seated teacher, was asked what 
 was letter A, for instance. The answer would as 
 likely be C or any other letter. The result would 
 be that the teacher would snap his thumb sharply 
 against the head of our boy, using the same snap 
 that boys use in playing marbles. It was not con- 
 ducive to perfect confidence, this continually be- 
 ing thumped on the head just because the boy did 
 not know the foolish combination called an alpha- 
 bet. The teacher made a practice of bringing 
 down his old shirts from which he made a cushion 
 to his seat. One of the bad boys bent a pin so 
 that when in position it would project upwards 
 from this cushion. The teacher, returning to his 
 seat, sat down heavily and immediately arose so 
 suddenly as to upset his table, uttering words 
 
expressive of rage and condemnation of the per- 
 son playing the trick upon him. His speech in- 
 cluded some words found in the Bible, combined, 
 however, in a different manner, so that they 
 sounded awful. We all thought if he could have 
 found the culprit the punishment would have been 
 very severe. As it was, all suffered more or less 
 during the rest of the day; but satisfaction was 
 noticed in the many sly glances between the schol- 
 ars. In the school room was a large fireplace, six 
 or eight feet wide, on one side of the room. 
 Around this fire, on cold days, the scholars would 
 assemble, and as our boy was small, he was kept 
 back in the rear to suffer w^ith cold. On the whole, 
 this school does not stand out favorably in mem- 
 ory. The only pleasant thing was on clear, warm 
 days eating lunch under the large, noble forest 
 trees, and thinking of the many grand things that 
 he would do when grown up. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The sojourn was not for a very long period in 
 Winton, not much over two years; then a move 
 of importance was undertaken. The father had 
 gone overland to Massachusetts. At that date 
 the journey had to be made by stages. An uncle 
 had directed one of his schooners, that was used 
 to ship ice to the Southern states, to stop and 
 
10 
 
 take the whole family, with all baggage, to Bos- 
 ton. Then started one of the first sea voyages of 
 our friend. Altho the schooner had taken a 
 load of ice South, none remained aboard during 
 the Northern voyage. It was very warm and the 
 butter was like soup. Many of the modern deli- 
 cacies, now practical on account of cold storage, 
 w^ere absent, milk amongst the rest. Altho there 
 were many discomforts, the grand sea air and the 
 many novelties both of sea life and the birds, made 
 the passage one of enjoyment. The winds were 
 light, but favorable, until the schooner got south 
 of Cape Cod, when it was becalmed close to land. 
 The captain had a farm nearby on the Cape, so 
 he concluded that during the calm it would be a 
 good scheme to go ashore and see how his crops 
 were getting along. Therefore, he had the 
 schooner's boat lowered and with one man went 
 ashore. The schooner rolled at anchor until the 
 edge of dusk, when one of those squalls that the 
 coast is noted for came speeding in from the sea. 
 It was necessary to get off shore to save the ves- 
 sel. The absence of the captain and one man 
 made the crew very short-handed. After knowl- 
 edge made plain to the boy the operations neces- 
 sary. The anchor was hove short, that is, the 
 windlass was worked until the anchor just rested 
 on the bottom. The jib was run up and the 
 wheel was manned ; but before we could sail away 
 
II 
 
 it was necessary to light the binnacle light to see 
 the compass. The boy went down in the cabin 
 while the mate, with flint and steel, proceeded to 
 get a light. Rain had come with the squall and 
 the mate had a big southwester on his head. 
 After awhile he got a glow and while bending 
 over to notice the burning, the water from his 
 southwester ran down on the tinder and put it 
 out of business. Then Bible words flew thick and 
 fast that seemed to match the lightning that w^as 
 playing around the vessel. Fresh tinder, how- 
 ever, was procured and then a successful light pro- 
 duced. The anchor got off the ground and the 
 vessel was run off shore. During the night the 
 wind changed and we ran back to our starting 
 point, where we arrived as the day was breaking. 
 We found the captain on the beach nearly crazy. 
 He knew that he had committed a great error in 
 leaving the vessel and showed abject terror to the 
 boy's mother, fearing that she would report the 
 event to the uncle, which she eventually promised 
 not to do. 
 
 The family located in Dover, Mass., where 
 school duties occupied the attention of our youth. 
 There was a great contrast between this school 
 and the old log house in North Carolina ; but still 
 a long way from the modern school. There was 
 a block of wood in one corner, on which some 
 culprit called a dunce would occasionally mount. 
 
12 
 
 Unusual punishments were indulged in, some of 
 them far from civilized. The alphabet, which 
 was a mystery in Winton, was here mastered and 
 rapid advances were made in other studies. Still 
 the boy enjoyed out of doors the most. A farmer 
 met the father one day and stated if he would 
 send one of his boys to his farm, he could spend 
 the vacation in playing with his boy. Our youth 
 heard the offer and volunteered to represent the 
 family. So the next day he got into the stage and 
 arrived at the farmer's house just at supper time. 
 He got acquainted with the farmer's boy and 
 slept in the same bed with him. Early the next 
 day they turned out, had breakfast, and the two 
 boys started for a field where they started in to 
 throw stones to a big outcropping rock. Our boy 
 enjoyed what he thought was sport until tiring, 
 he suggested playing some other game; but the 
 farmer's boy stated that they would have to keep 
 piling the stones until the dinner horn sounded. 
 Our boy objected and started for the house where 
 he waited around until the men returned from 
 work. Dinner being over, our boy stated that he 
 would take the next stage for home, which he did 
 and ever remembered the event as an attempt on 
 the part of the old farmer to get extra assistance 
 on the farm. Such actions explain the reason 
 that causes boys to desert the farms and fill up 
 the cities. Labor and nothing but labor is not 
 
13 
 
 satisfactory to growing boys. The old saying, 
 "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," 
 holds good. Farm work must be conducted on 
 sane principles to encourage the energies of the 
 youth of the land. 
 
 The boy was growing fast and sturdy. The 
 parents soon moved to North Beverly, Mass., 
 where the uncles housed ice from Wenham Lake 
 to supply the Southern market. It was a beautiful 
 spread of water in the summer and in winter the 
 hundreds of men planing, cutting, and hooking 
 the large cakes of ice up the inclined runways to 
 the huge buildings where it was stored made a 
 lively scene very thrilling to our boy, who had 
 nothing to do but roam around and listen to the 
 various stories told about the green Irish laborers 
 that did the work. These men were just over 
 and could not talk English. They conversed en- 
 tirely in Celtic. All directions were given to them 
 by motions. It was comical to see these quick- 
 witted fellows understand these motions at times 
 and go entirely contrary to directions when they 
 chose to misunderstand them. Smoking around 
 the ice houses was strictly forbidden. One morn- 
 ing it w^as noticed that every man hooking ice up 
 the long inclines had a dudeen in his mouth. One 
 of the foremen grasped a lath and springing on 
 the runway slid rapidly down striking right and 
 left at the pipes much to the surprise of the men 
 
14 
 
 who stood dazed with only the stems between 
 their teeth. 
 
 These events continued until the parents moved 
 to Dan vers, Mass., occupying a large house in 
 the village. The boy well remembers seeing a 
 well-stored peddler's wagon drive up to the house 
 one day. The peddler brought to view and showed 
 the mother a round bulb glass fluid lamp, stem 
 and foot also of glass. He told the mother that 
 they would not break, and to prove the case he 
 took a nail out of his pocket, driving it securely 
 into the porch, using the lamp as a hammer. Lamp 
 breakage was a serious matter, so the mother 
 bought a dozen of these unbreakable lamps. They 
 were placed back in an unfinished lean-to and the 
 mother went elsewhere. The boy, thinking he 
 could do that which he saw the peddler do, got 
 a nail and broke every one of these lamps in try- 
 ing to drive it into the woodwork. He did not 
 possess the sleight of hand of the peddler. The 
 mother learned that she had been fooled; but 
 memory does not record whether or no the boy 
 got a deserved spanking. 
 
 This boy, when very young, was impressed 
 with the idea that he should become a pirate. 
 With education the piratical idea was overruled, 
 and then he became possessed with the wish to 
 go to sea. He even thought of running away to 
 join a ship. At last he mentioned his consuming 
 
15 
 
 wish to his kind father, who did not advance any 
 objections; but rephed that he knew the mate of 
 a Cahfornia cHpper lying at Tea Wharf to whom 
 he would introduce him, so that he could go as 
 cabin boy. The boy was highly elated, and when 
 in a few days the father told him to get ready to 
 see the mate, he was overjoyed. They soon ar- 
 rived at the ship and mounting the steep shore 
 plank, found themselves on the lofty deck. The 
 father spoke to a man he met, remarking that this 
 was the lad he had brought to be shipped. The 
 mate, for it was he, sprang forward with his fists 
 clenched as if to strike the boy who dodged back, 
 when the mate sang out, ''What are you dodging 
 for : All cabin boys have to be knocked down a 
 number of times every day; that is the regular 
 rule aboard ship, and I only wanted to initiate 
 you in sea life." The boy sang out, 'T do not 
 want to be struck," and told the father that he did 
 not like the mate anyway and would not ship. So 
 he went home contented. It was a number of 
 years before he got it into his head that his father 
 had put up this job to get him out of the idea 
 of going to sea. The ruse was a success for many 
 years. 
 
 The education proceeded apace. The boy got 
 into fractions and in the rest of the studies kept 
 abreast. The teachers were far from the best, 
 showing preferences and partiality. One of the 
 
i6 
 
 young woman teachers immediately over our boy 
 was in love with the male principal, and she 
 showed her feelings whenever the male teacher 
 came in the classf room. One day when the boy 
 was intently engaged doing a sum on his slate, 
 he was evidently called upon, but did not hear. 
 He was brought to attention by a command to go 
 to the stove and see if there was a rat in it. The 
 evident intention was to make sport of the boy in 
 the presence of the principal. It was summer 
 time and the stove was full of loose papers. The 
 boy got up insulted and told the teacher that she 
 could hunt rats herself, gathered his books to- 
 gether and left the school, never to return. In the 
 evening he told his father that he had had enough 
 of such teaching, preferring to go to work. His 
 father, one of the best of men, got his brother, 
 who at that time was a cotton broker in the large, 
 to take the boy in his office. This departure as 
 office boy, before the age of fourteen, was gladly 
 accepted and the few duties were performed con- 
 scientiously under the munificent salary of two 
 dollars a week. The porter of this establishment 
 was an Irishman, John Scott by name. He was 
 without education, could not read in fact; but a 
 true servant of the house. One day John stated 
 to the boy that he did not like, in going to the 
 wharf for samples, to sign a cross instead of his 
 name, and asked if he could not learn to sign his 
 
17 
 
 name. He was told that it was quite possible. 
 Therefore, a big sheet of paper was produced 
 and the boy wrote the name John Scott at the top 
 in large, boyish script. John Scott came down 
 the next morning looking peaked, and showed the 
 sheet with a repetition of the name covering the 
 whole paper. The first copies were cramped and 
 laborious, but gradually got better until the latter 
 signatures were even better than the copy. The 
 man was happy for now he was a man amongst 
 men, proud of his ability to sign his name. He 
 continued with lessons every night from the dic- 
 tionary, until he educated himself broadly, and 
 on the death of the uncle became a partner 
 in the business with the uncle's son. The uncle 
 was a good man, but not exact in business mat- 
 ters, especially in paying the boy's salary. It was 
 urged that this payment should take the regular 
 course, by placing the name on the office pay-roll ; 
 but the uncle objected, stating that he would at- 
 tend to the matter. The payments would lapse 
 six, eight or ten weeks at a time, altho when at- 
 tention was called to the matter the money was 
 forthcoming. This irregularity in payment, also 
 the slight duties, produced discontent and resulted 
 in the boy throwing up the job. 
 
 The next position was office boy with Mr. Mar- 
 tin, a stock broker. This man was an honorable, 
 thoroughly honest dealer, who would recommend 
 
i8 
 
 his customers to do with their money the same 
 that he would do with his. He was writing a 
 book called ''Twenty-one Years in the New York 
 Stock Market," a statistical work with a great 
 mass of figures, and it was a great pleasure to the 
 boy to be called upon to run up the columns of 
 figures to prove them. During the time at this 
 oflfice came the great financial panic of 1857 ^^ 
 '58. It came on suddenly without any great pre- 
 monitions. One day a gentleman called and 
 asked Mr. Martin if he had any money on hand 
 for personal use. Mr. Martin said no, and was 
 advised to draw a check for ready cash. It was 
 past banking hours, therefore a check was drawn 
 to bearer for $10,000 and placed in the hands of 
 the boy, with instructions to present it at the bank 
 the first thing in the morning. That was a great 
 responsibility and was thoroughly appreciated. 
 To be trusted with such a large fortune caused 
 almost a sleepless night. Although the check was 
 placed under the pillow, the light was lighted sev- 
 eral times at night and the check brought to view 
 to see that it was positively safe. Early the next 
 morning, before banking hours, the boy was on 
 State street and found the street jammed with 
 people all making for different banks. The boy 
 wormed himself in amongst the people until he 
 got up to the bank doors, when he noted, with 
 consternation, a man tacking up a notice stating 
 
19 
 
 that the bank would be closed until further notice. 
 All the banks were closed up tight on that day and 
 for many days thereafter. 
 
 Mr. Martin handed to the boy one day negotia- 
 ble securities to the amount of $30,000 to $40,000, 
 with instructions to proceed to a certain part of 
 the city inhabited by the very poor and many 
 criminals, to get the signature of a man on them. 
 He proceeded to the number indicated or rather 
 the place for the number which did not appear. It 
 was a very squalid neighborhood. Several 
 drunken men were in sight and many dirty chil- 
 dren. He asked an old woman, who was in a 
 yard, fronting a rear building, for information. 
 She said she thought a man by the name men- 
 tioned lived upstairs in the front house, entrance 
 from the rear. The boy proceeded to mount the 
 rickety stairs, feeling that some mistake must 
 have been made, as no man with the power to 
 attest such valuable papers could possibly live in 
 such a disreputable neighborhood. The stairs 
 were dark and uncarpeted. At the top were two 
 doors. One, at a hazard, was rapped upon and 
 immediately a rough voice asked who was there. 
 The boy cautiously stated, after asking if the 
 
 owner of the voice was Mr. , and getting a 
 
 favorable reply, that he was from Mr. Martin 
 with a message. Immediately the door was un- 
 locked and a bolt drawn, and there stood in the 
 
20 
 
 dcMDrway a very old, withered man who gruffly 
 bid entrance. The boy still hesitated, when the 
 man noticing, took a letter from his table and 
 handed the same to the boy who saw it was a 
 letter to the man from Mr. Martin, stating that 
 he would send the securities for signature during 
 the day. That made the matter plain and the 
 business was accomplished with a rough command 
 to return to Martin quickly with the papers, which 
 he was glad to do. 
 
 A lady friend of the family, returning from 
 Europe, presented our boy with one of the hats 
 worn by the school children of the time in Eng- 
 land. It was made of silk plush, like the ordinary 
 tall silk hat ; but the top was round like the derby 
 of the present day. The boy was very proud of 
 this new head-gear. The next day he started 
 from Maiden Centre over the Causeway, through 
 Chelsea, for his business in Boston, distance five 
 miles. He got over the Causeway safely, but in 
 going through Chelsea the boys there were in- 
 terested. With yells of "Twig that hat," they 
 began to throw stones and other missiles, many of 
 which struck the hat with the result of wrecking 
 it to scarcely more than the brim. New and un- 
 usual head-wear had very little attraction to him 
 ever afterwards. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Altho the duties in the stock broker's office were 
 pleasant, late reading of the life of Benjamin 
 Franklin had enthused him with the wish to fol- 
 low in his footsteps. The more he thought over 
 the matter the more determined he became to 
 become a printer. With this idea uppermost, he 
 applied and gained admission in the office of C. C. 
 Mead, opposite the Old South Church. This was 
 a very small office and he took hold with a vim, 
 soon becoming conversant with the press and also 
 able to do very well at the case. He became a 
 great favorite with the proprietor who, with 
 another man and our boy, constituted the whole 
 working crew except occasional extra force. The 
 proprietor was a great abolitionist and altho a 
 professed teetotaler, he was proven to like his 
 liquor in private. One day he told the boy to 
 go quite a distance in the country and deliver a 
 note to a certain party and bring back what was 
 given to him. The directions were followed, 
 which led down a long lane from the main road. 
 The letter delivered, a package was placed in his 
 hands and he started back; but boy-like, he cut 
 across lots and in going over a fence fell, causing 
 the package to burst open and a stopper flew out, 
 disclosing the fact that the contents was whisky. 
 
The proprietor was not notified of the accident. 
 He received the package with the remark that he 
 was glad to get the hniment because it was so 
 good to rub on his rheumatic leg. The boy re- 
 mained silent, altho thinking that the liniment 
 would be taken internally. This was a prohibi- 
 tion state. 
 
 The family moved to Boston and the father in 
 1848 commenced the manufacture of shade rollers 
 under a patent that the uncle had bought. This 
 patent was found tO' be worthless. Then the 
 father invented and manufactured a sliding spring 
 shade roller. Mr. Bray brought suit for infringe- 
 ment which was decided in favor of the father 
 years afterwards. The family had meanwhile 
 moved to New York. On Mr. Mead's being in- 
 formed of the intended removal, he tried all he 
 could to retain the boy, offering to give him a 
 half interest in the business in one year and oth- 
 erwise endeavored to impress him with the ad- 
 visability of remaining in Boston; but the idea 
 of a change to the great city of New York was 
 overpowering, and, therefore, the old association 
 with Mr. Mead was broken off. 
 
 On arrival in New York the boy applied for a 
 position in a printer's office on Broad street. In 
 showing up what he could do he presented some 
 copies of press work that he had perfected in 
 Mead's office. The foreman denied the possibility 
 
23 
 
 of such work being produced on a Gordon press; 
 but the boy insisted that he could perform the 
 work on any press. His talk produced a favorable 
 impression and he commenced work the next day. 
 The office got out a daily stock sheet that had to 
 be prepared and printed within an hour every day 
 at noon. Horace Greeley very often wrote a par- 
 agraph for this sheet. The foreman was the only 
 man in the office who could read Greeley's writ- 
 ing and always set up the matter. One day he 
 was sick and a paragraph came in from Greeley. 
 There was great trouble in the office. The matter 
 was important. The boy stepped forward and 
 stated that he thought he could solve the diffi- 
 culty. During the noon hours he had made a 
 practice of comparing Greeley's copy with the re- 
 sult of the foreman's interpretation. By this 
 means he had got on Greeley's curves. The copy 
 was passed over to the boy, who placed it in type 
 and acquired great glory therefor. 
 
 The boy transferred himself some time after- 
 wards to the Scotch- American office where he 
 was employed at the case. The boy attended 
 chemical lectures in Cooper Union with great in- 
 terest. He surrounded himself with chemicals 
 and paraphernalia, going deeply into the study, 
 graduating with a diploma which was highly 
 prized. The family removed to Staten Island 
 and the boy boarded in a house in New York. All 
 
24 
 
 the other boarders were students in the New York 
 Homoeopathic College. From association with 
 them and from his chemical studies, it was nat- 
 ural to consider the taking up of the study of med- 
 icine. He soon became firm in the desire and the 
 next year was set for commencing; but the war 
 prevented. Meanwhile he attended, with the stu- 
 dents, clinics at the Bellevue Hospital and saw 
 many interesting operations. 
 
 The best of fathers passed away a short time 
 after arriving in New York. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 During this time the trouble between the North 
 and South was becoming acute. The disloyal 
 abolitionists of the North, especially from Mas- 
 sachusetts, kept up the excitement with the fire 
 eaters of the South, especially from Georgia. The 
 whole country took sides and the people were 
 rushed into an unnatural war. It was noticed af- 
 terwards that the parties who did the most toward 
 producing the discord refrained from taking up 
 arms, but remained safely in the rear while the 
 people who had been urged forward shed their 
 blood in a warfare that no one thought would 
 cause a fraction of the devastation and death that 
 afterwards developed. Altho the air was full of 
 rumors of strife, many thought things would quiet 
 
25 
 
 down until Fort Sumter was fired upon, then the 
 God of War stepped forward and sounded to 
 arms. The boy came of a pro-Southern family, 
 whose animosity to the anti-slavery program was 
 intense, still he could not content himself with 
 the idea of belonging to a divided country. The 
 whole United States was small enough for him. 
 Firing upon the flag could not be condoned. That 
 insult had to be wiped out. The boy belonged to 
 a literary society made up of youths of his age. 
 One night at a regular meeting appeared a man 
 who was forming a company. He induced all the 
 boys to enlist. They were provided with a very 
 expensive uniform and became full members of 
 the Manhattan Guards. They afterward found 
 out that the company was fathered by the Man- 
 hattan Gas Company who furnished the uniforms 
 and that they were to be home guards. That did 
 not suit the boy so he resigned and joined a new 
 Company, I, of the 9th N. Y. Militia. The regi- 
 ment had gone to the front and was then in 
 Maryland. I Company had a distinctive Zouave 
 uniform and was commanded by Capt. Claasen, 
 a former drill sergeant of the 7th Militia. When 
 the boy appeared home with his uniform on his 
 mother was sorely perplexed and chided him for 
 wishing to fight his friends; but the boy strongly 
 asserted that as the flag had been fired upon he 
 could not do otherwise than try to defend it. 
 
26 
 
 When it was mentioned to the foreman of the 
 Scotch-American that the boy had enhsted, he 
 was referred to the editor who stated to him that 
 he was a ''fule to becam' food for puder." It was 
 a proud day when the boy marched, with his com- 
 pany, down Broadway with the cheering populace 
 and the brave music sounding gloriously on the 
 summer air. 
 
 The camp in Washington was on the same 
 ground formerly occupied by the 7th Regiment 
 during their three months' service. A short time 
 after arrival occurred the first battle of Bull Run. 
 The guns were heard in Washington. Orders 
 came for the company to proceed to the Long 
 Bridge to guard the same. While standing in 
 line by the bridge, a general officer came up to 
 the captain and demanded to know why the com- 
 pany was in that position without arms. The 
 captain replied that his company had come to 
 Washington without arms and they had not been 
 received as yet. ''Then return to your camp," 
 ordered the officer. ''Men without arms are no 
 good for guard duty." They returned to camp 
 and in a short time received Springfield muskets. 
 This affair only shows how crude the arrange- 
 ments were in Washington. To send a company 
 without arms to guard such an important place 
 as Long Bridge seems the height of absurdity ; but 
 such blunders were common during the early part 
 
of the war. It takes many months of active drill 
 and service to make effective soldiers, when the 
 officers are as green as the men. The battle of 
 Bull Run was fought by green troops on both 
 sides. The results might have been disastrous to 
 the North if the Southern troops had been aware 
 of their victory. Regular troops would have fol- 
 lowed up the advantage and taken Washington. 
 
 Some of the N. Y. Irish regiment that were in 
 the early part of the engagement got to the camp 
 of Company I in the evening, showing various 
 claimed wounds on their legs that looked wonder- 
 fully like the result of contact with briers and 
 brush in their headlong retreat to the rear. The 
 N. Y. Scotch regiment returned from the fight 
 and made camp in the next field to the boy's com- 
 pany. They threw down their arms with the de- 
 mand that they be allowed to return to New 
 York for the purpose of recruiting, as they had 
 lost some men in the battle. In a short time a 
 regular battery rumbled up from Washington. 
 They looked business-like as they took position 
 on the high ground overlooking the regiment. 
 The guns were loaded with canister and the lan- 
 yards in position, when the officer commanding 
 pulled out his watch. He sang out, "You will 
 have five minutes to take up your arms and form 
 in line." A minute went past, no move. The 
 same result with the second and third. Then a 
 
28^ 
 
 wavering was observed, the men sprang to arms, 
 and the insubordination was over. The men had 
 learned there was power in the Government and 
 that they could not decide for Uncle Sam what 
 was best. The thorough manner and clockwork 
 precision of the regular troops impressed all that 
 witnessed the event. 
 
 The captain of Company I was a perfect mas- 
 ter of the manual of arms. He drilled the com- 
 pany eight hours a day, four hours in the morn- 
 ing and four hours in the afternoon. This was 
 hard work, but soon hardened the men to the 
 actual duties of war and they became extremely 
 proficient, in fact, the best drilled company in 
 the army. 
 
 Orders were received to join the regiment en- 
 camped near Hagerstown, Maryland. The cap- 
 tain wanted to show off and when the company 
 was near the regiment, ordered a fence taken 
 down and in double quick time ran the men over 
 a plowed field in company front. When the com- 
 mand, "Halt," was given, the company was in 
 perfect alignment, as though the move had been 
 made over a floor. The applause was great and 
 the new company became an honored part of the 
 regiment. Drilling was kept up, gradually bring- 
 ing the men down to seasoned veterans. General 
 Banks, who was in command, called for a review 
 of the division with the idea of selecting the best 
 
29 
 
 drilled company for a special bodyguard. The 
 boy's company was selected after a severe ^est of 
 the force in battalion movements. Detached from 
 the regiment, the company became part of head- 
 quarters. There was a great deal of police duty, 
 so-called, to perform, which consisted in cleaning 
 up camp, digging sinks, etc. The men had to 
 appear smart and wear white gloves when on 
 duty. The general was a small man, and when 
 he got into his boots looked a great part leather. 
 One night the long roll beat and all sprang into 
 line, started on a march, no man knowing where 
 or whither. Soon getting into a rough country, 
 the way was lost. Picking up a countryman as a 
 guide, he was marched along with an officer on 
 each side presenting drawn revolvers, and gov- 
 erned by a threat that if he fooled the troops, im- 
 mediate death would result. Toiling over the 
 country nearly all night, early before daylight 
 the next morning a halt was ordered, and the men 
 dropped down to sleep in their tracks. When the 
 boy awoke he rolled over and got water in his 
 mouth. Rolling over the other way, water 
 rushed again in his mouth. He then found 
 that he was lying in a gully entirely filled 
 with water that had come down in heavy 
 showers during the time he had slept. 
 After morning coffee the men proceeded on 
 the march and came out at Ball's Bluff on the 
 
30 
 
 Potomac River. A fight was in progress on the 
 other side and balls from the enemy were falling 
 into the river. It was a bad repulse for the 
 Northern troops. A well-known Californian, 
 Col. Baker, who had raised a regiment in that 
 country, was killed. In the afternoon the com- 
 pany was called into line, starting to march to a 
 pontoon bridge that had been thrown across the 
 river. The company was preceded by several 
 regimentsi all marching grimly with stretcher 
 bearers on each side. The head of the column 
 got to the bridge, when on orders it was coun- 
 termarched back. The battle was ended. Pre- 
 viously Company I supported guns on the Mary- 
 land side which remained unengaged. Some time 
 afterwards an illustrated paper was received from 
 New York showing the company in a fierce fight 
 with the guns booming gloriously. The company 
 shortly afterwards was relieved from duty at 
 headquarters and returned to the regiment, where 
 the ordinary life of camp followed. 
 
 After awhile the company was sent to the Po- 
 tomac on picket duty and the lonely watches of 
 the night occupied the time there. There were a 
 great many muskrats burrowed in the canal banks 
 that bordered the river. These muskrats when 
 they jumped in the water at night sounded won- 
 drously like a man swimming, and many an anx- 
 ious moment was spent, with finger on the trigger 
 
31 
 
 of musket, peering into the darkness for a possi- 
 ble enemy. While on picket duty the regiment 
 was ordered on the advance into Virginia. The 
 company had a teamster who was continually 
 talking and blowing, therefore, the boys had 
 named him "Windy," the only name he went by. 
 It seems that when the regiment was ordered to 
 march, Windy was detailed with instructions to 
 the captain of Company I to leave picket and 
 join the regiment then on the road. Windy got 
 to the river long after dark. Orders had been 
 given to fire on any light that appeared, as dis- 
 loyal persons sometimes signalled across the river 
 to the enemy. Windy had brought a lantern. 
 The light appeared at the top of the high bluff 
 leading to the river. Immediately on the sight 
 of this light it was fired upon. The whole com- 
 pany turned out and the fusilade was hot and 
 furious. The men fired as fast as they could load. 
 The light kept approaching, still receiving the fire 
 of the company. At last a dead horse stumbled 
 over the declivity and a man disentangled himself, 
 holding the ring of a lantern, the rest having 
 been shot away. The man sang out, "What in 
 thunder and damnation did you fellows fire on me 
 for, a courier from the commander of the forces?" 
 Then we knew it was Windy. Every part of his 
 clothing, including his shoes, was riddled with 
 bullets, but not a scratch was upon his skin. It 
 
Z2 
 
 was a miracle and he never forgot to tell that he 
 was the first man of the regiment to be under fire. 
 
 On joining the regiment the march was con- 
 tinued until the bridge at Harper's Ferry was 
 crossed. It came night and still the boys remained 
 in line. The boy was out of coffee, but burned 
 some hard tack and made a tin of stuff that passed 
 for that beverage. After hours of delay the divi- 
 sion started on the road to Charlestown, where 
 John Brown was hanged some time before. It was 
 a cold night, and after the long wait the men were 
 all tired out and the boy went to sleep while still 
 marching. The tramp, tramp of the men, close, 
 shoulder to shoulder, produced a sleeping condi- 
 tion that could not be overcome. When close to 
 Charlestown he was awakened by the sharp crack 
 of a rifle fired by one of our pickets that had been 
 stationed there without information concerning 
 the approaching soldiers. 
 
 The regiment marched and countermarched for 
 months, covering eighteen hundred miles in thir- 
 teen months. One time they marched all day long 
 from the Shenandoah Valley to the place called 
 Aldea, twenty miles, and as soon as they got 
 there were ordered back over the same road. This 
 all day and all night march was too much and 
 very few bivouacked early the next morning. The 
 boy kept on to the front and fell down with the 
 others when the command "Halt" was given. 
 
33 
 
 Spreading out his rubber blanket on the ground, 
 supperless, and spreading his woolen blanket over 
 head and all, he dropped immediately into slum- 
 ber. When reveille sounded, he sprang up into 
 a sitting position and looked around in amaze- 
 ment. During the early hours of the morning a 
 heavy fall of snov^ had completely covered the 
 sleeping soldiers, and as they aroused themselves, 
 seemed to be coming from their graves. It was 
 a weird and unforgettable sight. 
 
 The regiment eventually got to Warrington, 
 where it was provost guard. The boys occupied 
 empty houses in the town. They remained in 
 these houses until a great deal of sickness devel- 
 oped and the surgeon ordered them into tents 
 where the sick ones recovered and all felt much 
 better. Guards were stationed on all the streets 
 and ordered not to allow any of the inhabitants 
 out after nine o'clock at night. One night, while 
 the boy was on guard, a young woman came rush- 
 ing up and tried to pass. Of course, she was 
 stopped. She began to cry and stated that her 
 mother was very sick and that she was going for 
 a doctor. Altho contrary to orders, the boy 
 passed the girl along to another sentry, being very 
 pleased to see her return in a short time with the 
 physician. 
 
 One time I Company was drilling in the street 
 before a house occupied by a Southern family. 
 
34 
 
 Several young ladies were on the porch. The men 
 were practicing the loading and firing movements. 
 The orders came, ''take cartridge," *'bite cart- 
 ridge." The men naturally had their hands on 
 their mouths with the imaginary cartridges, the 
 ladies following the men's movements, when the 
 company with one accord smacked their lips and 
 threw kisses at the spectators. The speed with 
 which the ladies left the porch was noticeable. 
 Such a Yankee trick was reprehensible. 
 
 The boy got acquainted with a nice Southern 
 family, and said to the lady one day that he should 
 like very much, after sleeping on the hard ground 
 for months, to experience one night's rest in a civ- 
 ilized bed. A cordial invitation was given him to 
 occupy one of several beds that were previously 
 occupied by her sons, who were in the Confederate 
 army. So that night the boy was reposing on a 
 freshly made up and comfortable feather bed. The 
 first sensation was one of satisfaction, but slumber 
 would not come. The couch proved too warm 
 and soft. He could not sleep. After tossing about 
 for several hours he got up, made a pillow of his 
 shoes and resting his head on them slept soundly 
 on the floor until morning. Many events hap- 
 pened in this town good enough to talk about, but 
 not important enough to record in this narrative. 
 
 After awhile the regiment was ordered forward 
 to engage in an affair at White Sulphur Springs. 
 
35 
 
 They remained in reserve, as it often happened, 
 unfortunately the men thought. In this case the 
 enemy scattered after a short skirmish. When 
 the regiment left Warrington there remained in 
 town several sick soldiers. A troop of bush- 
 whackers came in town; but our boys had made 
 such a good impression on the citizens during 
 their occupation that they concealed the sick so 
 they could not be molested. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 In a short time the regiment went into winter 
 quarters. They built huts of logs, with canvas 
 tops, and for about two months performed the 
 humdrum duties of camp life. The boy was or- 
 dered, with others, to march about eight miles 
 on picket to perform two days' duty. The march 
 was made at night and it was very cold. A good 
 part of the country passed over had been slightly 
 flooded and frozen over with a thin coat of ice. 
 A very treacherous and tiresome tramp. They 
 arrived just as morning was breaking. The boy 
 noticed a thin column of smoke ascending from 
 the chimney of the only log house in sight. He 
 made for the door and asked the poor woman, 
 who answered his knock, if she had any coffee. 
 She said they had no regular coffee, but had some 
 Southern coffee. Burnt rye was prepared and 
 
36 
 
 the boy always insisted that it was the best cup 
 of coffee he ever tasted. If you doubt his judg- 
 ment, just place yourself under the same condi- 
 tions, and with lifted cup of steaming hot fluid, 
 well supplied with rich, fresh milk, your views 
 will change to a unanimous agreement. 
 
 At one time, while in winter quarters, flour was 
 given to the troops as a ration. The men had to 
 make their bread and bake it in hot ashes. The 
 bread came out heavy because no rising was pro- 
 vided. The men noticed with surprise that the 
 boy's bread after baking was light and palatable. 
 They could not understand why. The reason was 
 that the lad would go to the surgeon for medicine 
 to cure a supposed case of indigestion and would 
 procure carbonate of soda as a remedy. This ar- 
 ticle was used to raise the dough. The boy did 
 not give the trick away, as he thought it would 
 make too much of a demand on the surgeon's 
 stores. 
 
 In the early summer of 1862, there was a grand 
 forward march of all the forces around Washing- 
 ton to the front. ''On to Richmond" was the word. 
 The regiment had gradually got back through 
 Maryland to Washington, and started with the 
 rest of the army. The event was heralded in all 
 the public prints and many citizens and ladies 
 accompanied the boys when they gaily marched 
 forth. Many generous fellows had provided bar- 
 
37 
 
 rels of beer and some stronger beverages to the 
 marching lads. The natural result followed. 
 Many of the boys got charged with exhilarating 
 fluids, producing an effect foreign to the proper 
 use of the legs; therefore, the grand army, after 
 proceeding about two miles, concluded the day's 
 work had better end and camps were formed. 
 Better work was done in following days. The 
 idea was apparently to take a position on the right 
 of McClellan's army which was before Richmond 
 on the James River. The army moved down oppo- 
 site to Williamsburg on the Rappahannock River 
 and laid in camp awaiting orders to pass over the 
 pontoon bridge that had been thrown across. Day 
 after day passed in inaction. One day the long 
 roll was beat and the boys sprang to arms, think- 
 ing the long delayed movement was at hand. The 
 men were double-quicked over five miles in a sun 
 that was scorching, arriving at last in a large 
 clearing which they began to go around. It was 
 apparent at once that only a review was intended. 
 The indignity was resented. Loud words of re- 
 sentment were heard down the line. Insubordi- 
 nation was in evidence. The boy was in the first 
 regiment and his position in the first company 
 placed him near the head of the line. He noticed 
 after proceeding some distance around the clear- 
 ing a body of officers on the side and amongst 
 them the tall ungainly figure of Abe Lincoln. 
 
38 
 
 Soon he heard the clear voice of Old Abe say, "It 
 seems to me foolish to bring out the troops on 
 such a hot day merely to be looked at." That was 
 sufficient, the sympathy of the loved Abe Lincoln. 
 Immediately the word was passed down the line 
 and every evidence of insubordination ceased. 
 The boys braced themselves up and passed in re- 
 view with the steady tramp of veteran troops. 
 
 Evidently to prevent the joining of our forces 
 to those of McClellan's, Jackson was ordered by 
 the Southern general to make a raid up the Shen- 
 andoah Valley, threatening Washington. The 
 ruse succeeded. A large portion of the troops 
 were ordered to head him off. They, including 
 the regiment, were marched to Aquia Creek, 
 where they embarked on the large steamboat Van- 
 derbilt and started for Alexandria, up the Poto- 
 mac River. The men were packed like sardines 
 on this boat. The vessel proceeded nearly to 
 Alexandria when it stuck. The draft of the ves- 
 sel was too much, and the men were transferred 
 by boats to the shore. The troops were marched 
 alongside of cars. The trains were made up of 
 passenger coaches and ordinary baggage cars. No 
 selection could be made. The boys got aboard 
 just as they marched up. The boy's company 
 happened to get alongside of a baggage car and 
 jumped in, completely filling it when standing 
 fully equipped. They did not know the distance 
 
39 
 
 they had to journey. The doors were locked and 
 the cars started for the Shenandoah Valley, run- 
 ning until broad daylight the next morning. The 
 men bearing knapsacks, haversacks, canteens and 
 muskets became exhausted during the night. They 
 tumbled down on top of one another, and when 
 the doors were opened in the morning two dead 
 men were taken out, also many badly disabled. 
 Only two of the force had command of all their 
 limbs ; one of these was our boy. This movement 
 prevented the raid being a success ; but the South- 
 ern general had relieved his situation. 
 
 The marching and countermarching com- 
 menced again, with an occasional skirmish. One 
 night the boy was on picket when the enemy felt 
 lively. They kept up a continual fire on the picket 
 line. The adjoining man on our boy's left was 
 killed and the man on his right was badly 
 wounded. The boy got homesick, and wanted 
 badly to retire. To stand there in the opening 
 during a dark night thinking how it w^ould feel to 
 get ventilated in different parts of the body was 
 far from lovely. The man who took the place of 
 the one who was killed was noticed to march 
 stolidly over his beat, free from any apparent emo- 
 tion. The boy, on meeting, asked how he could 
 be so indifferent, telling him his legs were cow- 
 ardly and wabbling. The man replied that he did 
 not care a damn as long as he had a good chew 
 
40 
 
 of tobacco in his mouth. The boy then asked for 
 a chew. The man produced a dirty bag of cut 
 up plug from which the boy took a large mouth- 
 ful. In a short time he would not have cared if 
 he was shot or not. He became very sick, but 
 kept up the use of tobacco for many years after- 
 wards. 
 
 The battle of Cedar Mountain occurred shortly 
 afterward. The regiment was in reserve, as 
 usual. The battle was hotly contested. At one 
 period in the fight a large body of Northern forces 
 stampeded down a sunken road. The boy saw an 
 officer come up to the head of the fleeing crowd 
 and shoot down two of the foremost, when the 
 rest came to their senses. They returned to the 
 fight. It was not a pleasant or reassuring sight to 
 lie inactive and see the wounded brought in 
 streams through the lines, not knowing when the 
 orders would be given that would force the regi- 
 ment in the thick of the fight. One cavalry man 
 was noticed riding to the rear. His left leg was 
 shot off above the knee. His blood was flowing 
 away in a stream; but he did not seem to notice 
 his loss. He sang out, "Go in, boys, and knock 
 hell out of them. We have got them on the run.'* 
 He then fell off his horse, dead. 
 
 At last, just after early darkness, the regiment 
 was ordered forward. They passed down a long 
 road by two steep hills, one on either side. When 
 
41 
 
 they got beyond, with a band composed mainly of 
 Germans, playing martial music, a masked battery 
 opened on the approaching regiment. To see that 
 German band skedaddle was a sight never to be 
 forgotten. They were not seen again for many 
 days, and when they scattered back into camp the 
 absence of tooting instruments was noticeable. In 
 fact, there were only a few horns left, so they 
 were discharged and the regiment depended on 
 drums thereafter for their tramping music. 
 
 When the fire opened two men got scared and 
 fled from the company. Both men were imme- 
 diately killed by the battery. They were the only 
 loss, for in the darkness the battery could not see 
 the men. The firing was entirely on the music, 
 or the place where it was supposed to be. The 
 guns soon limbered up and were off. The regi- 
 ment marched on the field, but the battle was 
 over. They lay in line of battle all that night on 
 a ridge, hearing the enemy giving commands, but 
 not knowing whether they were getting ready to 
 attack again or not. At daylight, the next morn- 
 ing, it was found that they had retreated and the 
 division followed along after them. It was not 
 a pleasant sight to pass on the road dead men and 
 horses bloated by the hot sun largely beyond nat- 
 ural size. 
 
 The regiment gradually got back to Manassas 
 Junction and marched south through Culpepper 
 
42 
 
 Court House, eventually arriving at the Rapidan 
 River. The enemy were scattered on the oppo- 
 site shore. One day at general parade there was 
 a strict order read to prevent any of the troops 
 from swimming the Rapidan. Near by, on the 
 other side, was a whisky distillery, making the 
 liquor from corn. Some of the boys had found 
 this out, and under the protection of darkness had 
 got supplies. The order was the first intimation 
 to the boy that such supplies were near. He never 
 used liquor in any form ; but a positive order not 
 to go, with the penalty mentioned of the guards 
 being ordered to fire on any one disobeying, was 
 irresistible. The next night he, in company of 
 a tentmate, swam the river, returning each with 
 a bottle of whisky. The guards began to fire. 
 The balls sputtered into the water around, but 
 not near the boys. They got to the bank, and as 
 they were scrambling out the sergeant of the 
 guard asked, "What have you got?" The boy 
 handed him the bottle for answer. It was sam- 
 pled and was passed from hand to hand. He 
 never saw it again. 
 
 The enemy appeared in force and began a fierce 
 fire the next day with cannon and musketry. 
 There was a call for one hundred men to per- 
 form dangerous duty. The boy stepped forward, 
 thinking that the officer was looking directly at 
 him, which was not the fact. The men were 
 
43 
 
 marched around back of a hill to a log house. The 
 men entered and found it full of shovels and picks, 
 with other engineering tools. They grabbed each 
 according to his preference a shovel or pick and 
 were quickly directed to an old earthwork that 
 had been erected to face the other way. The or- 
 ders were that the men were to jump into the 
 ditch and on command were to leap to the top and 
 cut down in spots openings for our guns. There 
 was a positive sheet of shot, shell and bullets 
 passing over the earthwork, and the men knew 
 that no one could live working at the top. While 
 huddled in the ditch awaiting the call to death, 
 a regular artillery officer rode up and asked, 
 *'What are the men there for?" The answer be- 
 ing given, he ordered the men back to their regi- 
 ment, stating that he would plant his guns to the 
 rear and fire over the bank. This recall was the 
 same as a reprieve of a death sentence. It shows 
 how men were often slaughtered through the 
 false judgment of incompetent officers. 
 
 An overpowering force appearing, our guns 
 were turned on a bridge to the left of position, 
 destroying it just as the enemy were about to 
 charge across. The cannonading continued from 
 both sides. One of our batteries left the field 
 with only a few men. The guns were all dis- 
 mounted and most of the men killed. A retreat 
 was ordered, which was kept up for many days. 
 
44 
 
 The regiment occupied the post of honor — the 
 rear guard. They were under artillery fire for 
 nearly one month. To show how near our Con- 
 federate friends stuck to our rear, the boy at- 
 tempted to make some coffee one morning. He 
 built his fire; the water got nearly hot, when 
 round shot fell in our midst. Twice during the 
 morning there was a repetition of this fun. Near 
 noon-time the water got hot enough and just 
 when the coffee was being placed in, a shell scat- 
 tered the embers of the fire. This amusement was 
 kept up until late at night, when the coffee was 
 enjoyed. It can be imagined that the boys got 
 down to skin and bone. Food was scarce and 
 when obtained often there was no chance to eat. 
 
 The army marched in retreat until near Manas- 
 sas again, when the regiment was ordered to the 
 left and got to Thoroughfare Gap in the Blue 
 Ridge mountains. They found a detachment of 
 Johnnies from the west had got ahead. The reg- 
 iment marched around and around near the east- 
 ern end of the gap. It was evidently the inten- 
 tion to impress the enemy with the idea that the 
 force was much larger than it was. The regiment 
 marched up to the top of a hill and down in an 
 opposite valley a number of times. The glisten- 
 ing of the moon on the rifles as the regiment con- 
 tinually wound around the top of the hill would 
 impress the enemy as being opposed by a very 
 
45 
 
 large force. The next morning after getting into 
 the gap, the force was met with a warm musketry 
 lire from the enemy and the boy first heard the 
 noted rebel yell. After the yell they did not 
 charge as was anticipated, but withdrew. They 
 had accomplished what they had been sent there 
 to do. We heard from them later. 
 
 The regiment remained in the Gap until near 
 noon, when it was marched to eastward again. It 
 was tramp, tramp, for hours. Heavy guns were 
 heard, showing that a battle was in progress. The 
 regiment did not get on the field until nightfall. 
 They marched in and took up a position on a rise 
 of ground and laid in line of battle. The battle 
 was over for the day. The ground was covered 
 with the debris of a contest. Canteens, rifles and 
 other paraphernalia of combat were strewn in pro- 
 fusion over the field. The next morning, until 
 near noon, the regiment lay in wait, without 
 breakfast, expecting every moment to spring into 
 action. Soon wagons came up with hardtack. 
 On distribution it was found to be alive with 
 worms; but hunger was sufficient to overcome 
 any squeamishness and the bread and worms were 
 ravenously devoured. A movement of the enemy 
 was then noticed. Bodies of men were seen de- 
 ploying out of the woods and batteries of artil- 
 lery galloped rapidly over the distant hills. Or- 
 ders came for a movement. The regiment was 
 
46 
 
 second in line, preceded by a Zouave (N.Y.) regi- 
 ment. The column marched in quick time be- 
 tween two hills which were immediately occupied, 
 each by a battery of Confederate artillery. They 
 threw a plunging fire directly down upon the first 
 regiment, creating an awful slaughter. The 
 Zouaves lost several hundred men in a few min- 
 utes. One of these men was brought down past 
 and he was the only man the boy ever heard that 
 cried out in pain on a battlefield. His hip was 
 shattered by a round shot. Just as the regiment 
 was entering the shambles, a general's aide rap- 
 idly advanced and directed the colonel to move to 
 the right, out of range. The column advanced 
 through brush and amongst trees until it reached 
 a very large cleared space. There it drew up in 
 line under cover, watching a Texas brigade apn 
 proaching over rolling, cleared hills. They, 
 marched grandly with ensigns flying, sometimes 
 concealed in valleys, then appearing on the rising 
 ground. When they got comparatively close they 
 began firing at will. They could not see the force 
 opposing because the line was concealed in the 
 brush ; but their shots killed a number. The col- 
 onel of the boy's regiment was lost in the advance 
 to this position. After the fight he turned up and 
 stated that his horse had been shot under him, but 
 no member of the regiment could be found that 
 saw this event. It was generally thought that he 
 
47 
 
 had no stomach for warfare and had voluntarily 
 remained in the rear. The lieutenant colonel was 
 on sick leave, therefore, the regiment was under 
 command of the major. A braver man never 
 stood in boot leather. He ordered that not a shot 
 should be fired until the enemy approached so 
 close that the whites of their eyes could be seen, 
 and marched up and down before the men to see 
 that his orders were obeyed. The boy noticed a 
 cluster of frightened squirrels between the lines 
 and could not help thinking how the circum- 
 stances made them comparatively safe, sur- 
 rounded, as they were, by armed men who had 
 no thought of them. The game anticipated was 
 of a different kind. The men held their fire until 
 all four of the enemy's regiments advancing stood, 
 one back of the other, on level ground. The 
 major sprang to the rear and gave the order to 
 fire. No more slaughtering volley was delivered 
 during the war. The contending forces were 
 close together, and when the smoke cleared away 
 each regiment of the enemy's line was visible on 
 the ground, dead or wounded. Those that es- 
 caped rushed to their left and were taken pris- 
 oners by a regular regiment on the right. There 
 was a contest afterwards as to who should pos- 
 sess the flags. The regiment claimed that on ac- 
 count of their fire dissipating the brigade, the flags 
 belonged to them ; but higher authority ruled oth- 
 
48 
 
 erwise. The column with no enemy in front 
 moved to the left through the woods. The enemy 
 opened on them with heavy artillery. The firing 
 was too high for direct execution ; but a few men 
 were wounded by falling trees cut off by the balls. 
 The movement was kept up until the regiment got 
 to a slightly sunken road when it stationed itself 
 to oppose some advancing Confederates. The 
 enemy protected themselves by the trees, firing 
 from behind. The boy's company had, as a mem- 
 ber, a man who had been nicknamed "Deacon." 
 He acquired this title because he was the most 
 accomplished swearer in the Northern army. He 
 was the best hearted man possible, never in a tem- 
 per; but his oaths would slip out without provo- 
 cation in a sulphurous, good-natured stream. The 
 boy, on turning around to load, noticed the Dea- 
 con lying on his back. With the indifference of 
 battle, he only thought, "Well, the poor Deacon 
 has passed in his checks." After delivering his 
 fire he turned to load again when he noticed the 
 Deacon getting on his knees, uttering fathoms of 
 the vocabulary that he was gifted with. In the 
 volume the boy noticed the words, "Damn the 
 man that put fourteen shots in a rifle." It seems 
 that when the Deacon was about to fire, a bullet 
 struck the lockplate of his musket, putting it out 
 of commission. He then grabbed up the musket 
 of a man who had been killed. He rammed down 
 
49 
 
 a load, blazing away, and was kicked over on his 
 back. The immediate solution occurred to him 
 that the previous owner had been ramming home 
 charges without discharging any of them. 
 
 There was an old man in the company who 
 could not be taught to drill. The officers had got 
 discouraged in trying to teach him the manual of 
 arms, and had given the job up in disgust. The 
 man was detained as company cook and he made 
 a very good one. His place was with the wagons. 
 He was marching along when he heard the dis- 
 tant firing. He said to his fellow baggage guards, 
 "The boys are in a fight; that is the place for me." 
 He left the wagons and started for the front. 
 Hours afterwards he jumped into line with his 
 knapsack on. All the rest of the boys had de- 
 posited theirs in a field before entering the fight. 
 On getting up to the company, he exclaimed, 
 "Here I am, boys, I can fight if I cannot drill." 
 Immediately, before he could load, a ball struck 
 him just above the eyes, and that was the last of 
 Old Jones. 
 
 The regiment was on the left of the line of 
 battle. This battle of Manassas was an important 
 one. There were over fifty thousand men en- 
 gaged on each side and the line of battle extended 
 for many miles. The left wing held its own and 
 in many places was victorious ; but the right wing 
 was doubled back upon the left and had to retreat, 
 
50 
 
 the left following and acting as rear guard. The 
 captain of the company was not present. He also 
 had no stomach for a fight. Altho the best com- 
 pany drill master in the army, he could never mas- 
 ter the intricacies of battalion drill, altho he was 
 afterwards made a brigadier general through po- 
 litical influence. Long after the war he was sent 
 to prison for wrecking a bank. Captain Classen 
 had got his brother appointed a first lieutenant 
 of the company. He was a big, lubberly boy with- 
 out ordinary common sense, and he became very 
 unpopular. He appeared after the fight, in which 
 he was not seen, with a finger wrapped up, claim- 
 ing that he was wounded. When the wrapping 
 was taken off in two days no mark of wounding 
 could be observed. He left the regiment within 
 a week. During the fight the company was under 
 the command of the second lieutenant, who was 
 a gallant officer. 
 
 To show how indifferent soldiers are to wounds 
 at the time of receiving them, it is well to men- 
 tion that the boy noticed blood on the back of his 
 file-leader, when drawn up after the battle. "You 
 are wounded," he said. "No, I guess not," was 
 the reply; but soon he noticed the pain, was sent 
 to hospital, and within a week died from the ef- 
 fects. 
 
 After the fight the regiment formed camp for 
 a while and then started to follow the retreating 
 
51 
 
 column the next morning. ''On to Washington" 
 was the word. The road was crowded with 
 troops, the baggage train moving on the right. 
 The regiment marched all day until the edge of 
 dusk, when a cannon shot rang out from the left, 
 passing between the company and the company in 
 advance. It found its mark in the body of a mule, 
 attached to one of the baggage wagons. Imme- 
 diately that teamster and others began to cut 
 traces with the intent of stampeding. One of the 
 officers jumped forward and shot two of the men; 
 that stopped the scare. The cannon shot was hos- 
 tile; but from whence? The troops began to de- 
 ploy off the road and then commenced one of the 
 fiercest musketry fights during the war. The boy 
 always knew it as the Monday's fight after Man- 
 assas; Chantilly, some called it. The regiment 
 was on the reserve as formerly. The opposing 
 force that was engaged consisted in part of the 
 Confederates met at Thoroughfare Gap. They 
 had marched over the mountains and country, 
 around the Northern army, to a point directly in 
 the rear. They could not take with them ordi- 
 nary artillery; but had jackass batteries, one of 
 which had opened the battle as described. It 
 rained fiercely after nine o'clock, during the latter 
 part of the engagement. The result of the fight 
 was a drawn one. The enemy remained on the 
 battlefield and the Northern forces remained 
 
52 
 
 where they commenced. The next morning the 
 boy was placed on guard across the road down 
 which the enemy occupied the ground. Shortly 
 there appeared, a long distance off, what seemed 
 to be approaching cavalry. Sharply watching, the 
 object developed as a wagon, and soon it was seen 
 to be a rebel ambulance with two men marching 
 on either side and another on the seat with the 
 driver. The ambulance bore a flag of truce. The 
 boy challenged, and it developed that the ambu- 
 lance contained the body of General Kearny who 
 was killed the night before. The body was taken 
 out and laid in the hall of a small house in which 
 the surgeons were operating on wounded soldiers. 
 There was a continuous stream of stretchers com- 
 ing to the house, and almost as many taken out 
 with soldiers for burial that had died under the 
 operations. No chloroform or ether was in evi- 
 dence, and the poor fellows could not survive the 
 shock of amputation. When an arm or a leg was 
 cut off, it received a quick passage out of a win- 
 dow on the side. As this house was on the boy's 
 beat, he watched the growth of this pile of de- 
 tached members with a great deal of interest. The 
 general's body received a thorough examination 
 by the surgeons, who, with bloody hands and 
 arms, quickly cut away the uniform. They re- 
 ported that death must have occurred through 
 shock as no wound appeared on the body. It was 
 
S3 
 
 removed to a Union ambulance and sent to Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 The enemy being held in check by an immense 
 display of artillery, the troops again took up the 
 march to Washington. When nearing camp at 
 Alexandria, weary, foot-sore and nearly famished, 
 the regiment came to a Massachusetts command, 
 just arrived from home. They had prepared 
 their evening meal of baked beans. They sang 
 out, "How do you feel, boys?" The answer came 
 promptly, "Damned hungry." The reply, hospi- 
 table and hearty, was quickly returned, "Come in 
 and eat our beans." The beans soon disappeared 
 where they would do the most good. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 On leaving camp, at Alexandria, the column 
 continued its march to and through Washington. 
 The boy had been ailing for some time. Diarrhea 
 had reduced his strength and walking typhoid 
 developed. The surgeon ordered him to the rear 
 to march along the best he could. When going 
 through Georgetown, a suburb of Washington, 
 a lady came to the door of a fine residence and 
 invited him in for refreshments. The idea en- 
 tered his head that the request was based on the 
 belief that he was a tramp, so he stiffly declined. 
 He was very sorry afterwards for refusing when 
 
54 
 
 he heard, from another sick soldier, that he was 
 very kindly received in the house and had been 
 served with the finest of food, in the most cour- 
 teous manner. When the long roll beat to as- 
 semble the men to go into Antietam action, the 
 boy was in line. The surgeon came along and 
 ordered him to the rear again. The troops 
 marched forward and the boy was placed in a 
 dirt cart without springs, in company with 
 another sick soldier, and an officer, who, when 
 rushing forward in answer to the long roll, buck- 
 ling on his accoutrements, dropped his pistol, 
 which, exploding, sent a ball through his ankle. 
 The boy was too sick to notice the poor convey- 
 ance; but the wounded officer suffered terribly. 
 In two days the cart arrived at Carver Hospital, 
 just outside of Washington, and the boy was 
 placed in bed. There were many thousands of 
 sick and wounded soldiers in this hospital. The 
 management was very bad. The death rate was 
 very high. It would seem that after so many 
 months of the war, the period 'should have arrived 
 when systematic efforts developed a semblance 
 of correct hospital treatment. This was far from 
 the fact. After a while the boy convalesced 
 enough to take one trip to a shed where he found 
 that the soup was served in tin cups, with nearly 
 half an inch of rank fat on top. This was nice 
 food to put before sick and wounded men. In 
 
55 
 
 fact, they could not touch such stuff, preferring 
 to starve. It was not suitable food for a hearty 
 laboring man. There has always been a warm 
 spot in the heart of this boy for the Sisters of 
 Charity, on account of their action in this case. 
 When the boy noticed the soup and could not 
 touch it, some Sisters of Charity came into the 
 room. They looked with astonishment upon the 
 meal. "Why, this is not proper food to serve 
 to sick soldiers. We will try to have it changed," 
 they exclaimed. The next day huge casks of 
 crockery were sent to the hospital and light, pala- 
 table soups were thereafter placed before the men, 
 causing an immediate decrease in the death rate. 
 One day, when the boy was able to sit up for 
 an hour or two, he was resting on the edge of the 
 bed, when the doctor came through the ward. He 
 asked the boy how he felt. The reply was, *T am 
 all right." The doctor took out his note book and 
 wrote something. The next day the boy was or- 
 dered back to his regiment. When he heard his 
 name called, he got up and by means of holding 
 on to projections got to the door and called out 
 the number of his knapsack. It was brought and 
 thrown down at his feet. He tried to get the 
 knapsack on his back, but without success. He 
 got one strap over his shoulder and then fell down 
 in a faint. The steward of the ward, a devilish 
 good fellow, w^as out of the ward. He soon re- 
 
56 
 
 turned, and noticing the bed of the boy unoccu- 
 pied, asked where he was. On getting the reply 
 that he had been called to return to his regiment, 
 he rushed out in the yard in time to pick the boy 
 up and toted him back to bed where he lay with- 
 out consciousness for a long time. In two or 
 three days the doctor again passed through the 
 ward, when the boy was again sitting on his bed. 
 He came up and said, "What did you make a fool 
 of me for?" The boy replied, "I did not try to 
 make a fool of you." The doctor replied, "You 
 said you were all right." He pretended to make 
 an examination by placing his ear to the boy's 
 breast, then took out his note book again and 
 wrote. The next day the boy's name was called 
 for discharge. He was placed in an ambulance 
 and taken to the cars. Such men, claiming to be 
 doctors, were often in charge of sick and wounded 
 soldiers during the war. No wonder the death 
 roll was so large. Men of that calibre should not 
 have had charge of a dog or cat sanitarium. 
 
 On arrival of the train, the boy was placed in a 
 carriage and taken to his home which was then 
 on Fourth avenue, New York, and placed in bed. 
 The mother noticed the discharge in the boy's 
 pocket and it set her wild. It read, "Discharged 
 on account of ossification of the aorta." With 
 such a disease one could hardly expect to live 
 more than a few weeks. She immediately sent 
 
57 
 
 for the family physician and an expert. The boy 
 heard the expert say, after a thorough examina- 
 tion, "If every lad had as good a heart, there 
 would be no disease of that organ in the world." 
 He also heard the expert say another thing which 
 changed his career in life. What he heard was, 
 "All the boy needs is building up. He has passed 
 through the typhoid crisis all right, and I would 
 advise sending him on a sea voyage." That 
 report had an extremely reviving effect. From 
 earliest boyhood he had a desire to go to sea, as 
 told previously. When the doctors left, the boy 
 told his mother what he had heard. The mother 
 was surprised on account of the low tones of the 
 interview; but stated that a friend was expected 
 back soon with his ship from the Mediterranean 
 and when he returned she would arrange with 
 him for passage on his next trip. What! go to 
 sea as a passenger? No. If he went at all it 
 would be as a sailor. The mother smiled, think- 
 ing it a boyish whim. But no, it was a determi- 
 nation, and the idea built the boy up rapidly. In 
 a few days he was able to walk around and soon 
 found himself before a flaming sign on South 
 street, stating, "Men wanted for a whaling voy- 
 age. Good treatment. Good food, and a chance 
 to see the world." That was the chance and the 
 boy mounted the steps to the shipping office. Pre- 
 senting himself, he was told that he did not show 
 
S8 
 
 Up well physically; but men were awfully scarce 
 and he was shipped on the whale ship Mount Wal- 
 laston. On telling his mother what he had done, 
 she was terribly put out ; but when informed that 
 he had actually signed the articles, she saw no 
 use in putting up objections. Therefore, the grand- 
 father's sea bag was brought out, packed, and the 
 boy started for New Bedford via the Fall River 
 boat. On the boat a man was met who had 
 shipped on the same Mount Wallaston as a 
 boat steerer. He was a good fellow and they 
 were soon firm friends. On arrival at New Bed- 
 ford, the ship not being ready to receive the crew, 
 the boy was directed to a hotel. When he got 
 to his room, he found it contained two beds and 
 soon appeared a man to occupy the other bed. He 
 introduced himself as the second mate of the 
 Mount Wallaston, and the boy thought himself 
 lucky to get acquainted with two officers of the 
 ship before sailing. The second mate seemed to 
 be a good fellow and talked freely of his experi- 
 ences on whaling voyages. The boy went in the 
 morning to get what is called an outfit for the 
 cruise. He was provided with a chest, or donkey 
 as the sailors called it, containing coarse shirts, 
 shoes, palm for sewing sails, sheath knife, and 
 other paraphernalia of use on board. These goods 
 were charged up at the most exorbitant prices. 
 For instance, a shirt that would cost one dollar 
 
59 
 
 in the shops would be charged up at four dollars. 
 With donkey and goods provided, the boy was all 
 ready for the sea, and in the afternoon he, with 
 the rest of the crew, went on board the vessel. 
 The ship sailed late in the afternoon on an event- 
 ful voyage, which, as far as the boy was con- 
 cerned, lasted three years and six days. All the 
 men were green and the ship had to be worked 
 by the officers, with the boat steerers, until the 
 men could be broken in. The breaking in process 
 commenced immediately. The wind freshened to 
 a top-sail breeze on leaving port, and it was 
 necessary to take in the topgallant sails. The men 
 were rushing aimlessly about the decks not know- 
 ing what to do. The boy thought that until he 
 knew what to take hold of it was best to remain 
 inactive, so he sat himself down in the fore- 
 hatch. The second mate, whom he had chummed 
 with the night before, came along and in a rough 
 voice demanded to know why the damned lubber 
 was not aloft. With such a kind reminder of his 
 duties, the boy got on the ratlines and proceeded 
 to climb to what seemed to him at the time an 
 immense distance on the swaying shrouds. He was 
 of no use aloft, but he had received his first lesson. 
 He had learned that the second mate was a differ- 
 ent man on ship to what he appeared ashore. He 
 also learned that prompt obedience was demanded 
 and that it depended upon himself to learn the 
 
6o 
 
 ropes and become a factor aboard the ship. He 
 soon got there, and in a few days he could in- 
 telligently obey an order, and in a short time be- 
 came one of the best of sailors. The principal 
 obstacle he had to contend with was insufficient 
 strength; but he quickly gained that and became 
 robust and extremely active. 
 
 The captain had made money whaling, retired 
 from the sea, bought a farm, became a deacon of 
 the church, and thought he would end his days 
 in the enjoyment of his hard-earned means; but 
 a bad speculation that he went into swept away 
 all he possessed and he had to seek another ship. 
 The result was, he became captain of the Mount 
 Wallaston. He had lived ashore for ten years 
 and had become imbued with the religious cant 
 and hypocrisy that is common on the Massachu- 
 setts coast. The day after leaving port he called 
 up the whole crew and told them that he would 
 not allow any swearing or abuse on the ship ; that 
 no man should be struck and all should live to- 
 gether as a band of brothers. It was a good 
 Sunday school talk. Comparatively a few days 
 passed when one of the men did not obey 
 promptly a command given by one of the officers. 
 After a flow of sulphurous language and a blow 
 that made his head ache, he thought, remember- 
 ing the Sunday school talk, that a report to the 
 captain was in order; therefore he made his way 
 
6i 
 
 aft to that officer, and on telling his story was 
 ordered forward with the remark that he had 
 got nothing more than he had deserved. Report- 
 ing to the captain was tabooed after that. 
 
 The boy was selected for the second mate's 
 w^atch, and to pull the stroke oar in the captain's 
 boat. The vessel, which was only 350 tons, sailed 
 almost to the Canary Islands, thence to the South 
 American coast, near the river Platte. Nothing 
 of importance occurred during this time. The 
 men got down into working condition. The boats 
 were lowered during calms and the men thor- 
 oughly drilled in handling them. When south of 
 the river Platte a cry of 'There she blows" from 
 the crow's nest brought the boat's crew to their 
 positions in quick time. The boats were promptly 
 in the water. In about forty minutes the mate's 
 boat struck a small sperm whale. He was a 
 fighter altho only a calf. The captain tried to 
 get onto him to use the lance. The fellow made 
 for the boat with the intent to crush it in his 
 mouth, but could not on account of his size. This 
 calf was soon killed and towed to the ship. He 
 made only 8 barrels of oil, and this was the only 
 sperm whale the Mount Wallaston secured dur- 
 ing the voyage. It was also the only oil obtained 
 for thirteen months. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The ship gradually approached the Horn. 
 When opposite the entrance to the Strait of Le 
 Maire, a ship that was inshore cleared away for 
 the Strait. The captain conferred with the mate 
 in regard to taking the same course, but they con- 
 cluded to go around the Horn. That decision 
 caused the crew many weeks of extreme hardship 
 and suffering. We kept on, and getting off the 
 extreme rocks of the Horn were becalmed. The 
 vessel drifted about without steerageway. The 
 boats were lowered and a trial made to shoot 
 albatross, or gonies, as they are called by the sail- 
 ors. The birds were not afraid of the boats or 
 men and swam close up so they could be lifted out 
 of the water if the crew cared to do so. With 
 such game, shooting was out of the question. 
 
 Signs of a change of weather were noticed and 
 the boats were called in. Soon a scorcher came 
 from the northwest. It came with a force that 
 caused all sails to be taken in. Soon the ship 
 was running before it under bare poles. This race 
 was kept up until the ship was amongst huge ice- 
 bergs of the South Pole. Seven of these huge 
 masses of ice, towering away beyond the height 
 of the masts, were around the ship. The wind 
 then moderated and the ship began to tack back. 
 
63 
 
 It took one month to get back to the latitude from 
 which the blow drove the vessel. The ship that 
 was seen entering the Straits of Le Maire escaped 
 the bad weather and got into port a month ahead. 
 During the time the men were down to the South- 
 land, in the most wretched weather, they all broke 
 out with painful boils which it would have been 
 a pleasure to transfer to some other fellow. The 
 ship soon struck the Trades and sped north be- 
 fore them, wing and wing, which, with a ship rig, 
 meant studding sails on both sides of the vessel. 
 The weather was delightful, fully appreciated 
 after the experience in the southern sea. 
 
 The vessel approached and was becalmed near 
 the Island of Juan Fernandez, where Alexander 
 Selkirk spent much time according to the story. 
 The land bore out the truthfulness of the tale in 
 one respect, for it seemed to be over-populated 
 with goats. They could be seen in every direc- 
 tion, fringing the steep bluffs. The captain had 
 his boat lowered and pulled for the shore, think- 
 ing that he saw a beef critter on the beach. Fresh 
 beef was a desideratum. When we approached 
 close it was found that a goat stood on a little 
 rise and in the mist loomed up to the size of a bull. 
 We threw our lines over and began to fish. Soon 
 the boy felt a bite and at the same time the cap- 
 tain on the other side of the boat began to haul in, 
 at the same time calling out to the boy to stop as 
 
64 
 
 he was fouling his Hne. But both continued to 
 haul in, and it was found that an extremely large 
 Congo eel had swallowed the boy's hook, fouling 
 the captain's line. The catch was not valued by 
 the boy, who allowed one of the other sailors to 
 detach the reptile. 
 
 One of the crew was a German-American. He 
 had inherited some German peculiariites, one of 
 which was a love of beer, and he had some knowl- 
 edge concerning its manufacture. Procuring a 
 small tight keg, he filled it with water, potato 
 peelings, molasses, and other ingredients, which 
 produced a very palatable drink that was enjoyed 
 highly by his messmates. Several charges had 
 been carried through to the finished beer, when at 
 last the keg was loaded with either too much, or 
 the extremely warm weather passed through 
 caused too rapid fermentation, with the result of 
 creating an explosion that w^as heard from one 
 end of the vessel to the other. The keg had been 
 placed under the German's bunk. The boy's sleep- 
 ing place was next above. Luckily, both were on 
 the watch on deck when the catastrophe occurred, 
 making a wreck of the two bunks. The watch be- 
 low rushed on deck in a panic, claiming that some 
 one had set off an infernal bomb. Gradually mat- 
 ters became quieted down; but that was the last 
 of beer making on the old Mount Wallaston. 
 
 The bill of fare aboard ship was not such as to 
 
65 
 
 tempt the appetite of one who hves now (1910) 
 in the era of good cookery. It consisted of salt 
 beef, called by the sailors salt horse, and salt pork, 
 the only meats; split peas for soup; and coffee 
 sweetened with molasses, for there was no sugar 
 on the vessel and milk was an unheard-of deli- 
 cacy. The old negro cook, called the doctor, man- 
 aged the galley with authority supreme. Any 
 complaint reached deaf ears. He had been a cook 
 on whaling vessels all his life and thought no one 
 knew better than he how to serve the limited 
 articles of food. Lobscouse, prepared by boiling 
 for a long time sliced up chunks of salt pork and 
 hardtack, was placed in a calabash, from which 
 the men would spoon into their tin plates the 
 amount required, and with a quart of alleged 
 coffee, they would enjoy a hearty meal. This 
 was the principal dish. Twice a week a so-called 
 plum duff was furnished, a direful concoction. 
 It often came before the men all dough in the 
 centre; but it was looked forward to with pleas- 
 ure. During the voyage there were two days 
 lost, at different times, crossing the meridian, and 
 those two days happened to be duff days, causing 
 sorrow to the crew. In the night-watches dandy 
 funk was very popular. It was prepared by plac- 
 ing hardtack in a piece of canvas, and with a ham- 
 mer vigorously applied, the bread was broken into 
 small pieces. These pieces were placed in a tin 
 
66 
 
 cup and vinegar and molasses added. This mess 
 was considered, when taken in the night-watch, 
 equal to the nectar of the gods. 
 
 At the end of five months the vessel entered the 
 harbor of Hilo, Sandwich Islands. This is a sailor's 
 paradise. A lot of provisions and other stuff was 
 placed in a large wooden warehouse. A large 
 spar was part of the material stored. Very la- 
 boriously the spar was got in the building by 
 slanting it up to the roof, as it was too long to lie 
 flat. After placing it, one of the men rushed 
 away to the boat. On being called back, he was 
 asked what he ran to the boat for ; he replied that 
 he went after a line to lash the spar with. That 
 created a laugh. The man had become used to 
 lashing everything aboard ship and forgot that 
 the old spar could remain until it rotted in the old 
 building. 
 
 There is a large, high mountain on the right of 
 the harbor of Hilo, just back from the town. The 
 prevailing winds are such that they strike this 
 mountain, which wrings every particle of water 
 out of them. It falls in a light, hardly noticeable 
 shower every day in the year. Just beyond the 
 mountain no moisture ever falls and the country 
 for a long distance is entirely barren. The people 
 never carry umbrellas, as the sun is shining 
 brightly most of the day as the mist falls. 
 
 In Hilo the men got one dollar each, liberty 
 
67 
 
 money, and one day's run ashore, which they 
 made the most of. Sailors hugely enjoy 
 this one day's liberty after a long voyage. They 
 were amused and edified by happenings that 
 would pass unnoticed by those continually on land. 
 Horseback riding is one of the sports indulged in. 
 Now, it is well known that sailors are not profi- 
 cient as horsemen, but that is no reason why they 
 should not attempt to steer the refractory steeds, 
 much to the discomfort of both. Horse hire is 
 very cheap, but a ship's crew requires many, so 
 the animals are taught to throw the rider off 
 after going some distance and speeding back to 
 be re-hired by another sailor. 
 
 After lying in Hilo harbor a few days the ship 
 started for the whaling grounds in the Okhotsk 
 Sea. Weeks were spent in a fruitless search, 
 sailing around that sea. No whales were in evi- 
 dence. At last three boats, one containing our 
 boy, were loaded down with provisions and 
 started on a hunt along the coast. The boats 
 pulled for Dead Man's Island to land the super- 
 fluous provisions, retaining only enough to last 
 the first part of the trip. On reaching the shore, 
 the men dug a large hole in the face of a cliff 
 and placed the stuff therein. Then, after rolling 
 some heavy drift logs across the opening, began 
 to toss stones up to cover the hole and continued 
 the work until they made a long slant toward the 
 
shore. Remarks were made concerning such ap- 
 parently useless labor, but one of the officers 
 stated that it was necessary to prevent the bears 
 from destroying the provisions. The boats then 
 started south for the cruise. The men pulled all 
 day and camped on shore each night. This was 
 kept up for sixteen days and nights, without find- 
 ing any signs of whales. Altho the days were 
 warm, the nights were very cold; but whenever 
 the camp fire was built immense clouds of mosqui- 
 toes would appear, making life burdensome. One 
 night when the pests prevented sleep entirely, it 
 was noticed that a nigger boy in the party was 
 soundly snoring, entirely oblivious to the stings 
 of the insects. He was promptly roused up and 
 told to walk around like the rest of the Christians. 
 He blurted out, "Why don't you rub pork rine 
 on de hands and face and de pests won't trouble 
 yez." The hint was immediately taken and the 
 greasy-looking fellows were soon in sound slum- 
 ber. Late one afternoon the boats put up a bay 
 and landed at a place called Dobray Town. Do- 
 bray in Russian means good. This good town 
 was a straggling village of a few log huts. The 
 natives came down to the boats in the most hos- 
 pitable manner and took all the boys to their huts. 
 The boy was detailed to see that everything was 
 in proper condition for the night. While attend- 
 ing to his duties, a rather pretty woman appeared 
 
69 
 
 and in very good English invited him to spend 
 the night in her home. He learned afterward that 
 this lady, a Russian, had become proficient in 
 English and had acted as governess to a Russian 
 family in Moscow. She afterwards married a 
 rough Russian, and it is supposed he was trans- 
 ported for some crime to this far-off section of 
 the empire, the wife accompanying him, as is the 
 custom of wives — always ready to condone the ac- 
 tions of vicious husbands. When they reached 
 the house it was found to consist of only one 
 room, built of logs, with a fireplace in one corner. 
 Otherwise than the swinging pot over the fire 
 and some pans, the furnishing consisted entirely 
 of a bench about two feet wide running around 
 the room, attached to the walls, only broken where 
 it approached the door and fireplace. On this 
 bench were strewn a lot of furs. The husband, 
 a villainous-looking fellow, soon appeared with a 
 boy about ten years old. The wife, who had fallen 
 on the ice the winter before, laming herself 
 slightly, became busy in prepaHng the simple fare. 
 The repast when ready consisted of Russian tea, 
 as the lady called it, very weak, hardly more than 
 hot water, without sugar or milk, and four ducks 
 swimming in an inch of fat. A board was placed 
 across the corners of the bench for a table and 
 the family gathered around. No knives or forks 
 appearing, there was considerable doubt in the 
 
70 
 
 mind of the stranger how the fowls would be 
 managed ; but soon each of the family grabbed a 
 duck and began gnawing it. The stranger asked 
 the wife if it would be agreeable if he went to the 
 boats for some crackers or hardtack. She was 
 immensely pleased at the suggestion and soon a 
 lot of ship's bread adorned the board, and they 
 all had a good meal. The old man soon noticed a 
 large jack-knife, which the stranger had attached 
 to a lanyard, fastened with a hitch to his panta- 
 loons. The Russian began to make motions. The 
 lady stated that her husband wanted to purchase 
 the knife. The old man offered one fur, adding 
 two, three, four and five, as the stranger shook 
 his head. At last he took up a black fox skin, a 
 very valuable fur, worth many hundred times the 
 cost of the knife. This also met with a refusal, 
 as the stranger could not do without his knife. 
 The old man showed much disappointment; but 
 all soon prepared to retire. Several skins were 
 placed on the bench for the stranger to sleep upon 
 with one large skin for covering. The rest of the 
 family provided themselves with similar beds, and 
 soon all were in sound slumber. When in the 
 morning the stranger awoke he found that the 
 family had all got up and disappeared except the 
 wife, who politely asked how he had slept, and 
 showed pleasure with the reply that he had never 
 slept better in his life. After a while the stranger 
 
71 
 
 noticed that his knife was gone. He mentioned 
 the fact to the wife and she showed great surprise. 
 She thought the stranger had dropped it some- 
 where, an impossible occurrence, as it was fas- 
 tened with the lanyard to his pantaloons. She 
 began to hunt along the rafters of the hut as 
 though the knife could have flown upwards. She 
 then suggested that the knife was lost when the 
 bread was got from the boat the night before. 
 The stranger took it all in good part and went to 
 the boats trying to make up his mind how to 
 obtain his knife without creating a scene with his 
 hospitable entertainers. He soon returned with 
 the report that he had not found the lost article, 
 much to the sorrow of the wife. While standing 
 pondering how he should act, a ray of sunlight 
 lighted up the floor over which he had slept, and 
 there was seen his knife in a crack with the lan- 
 yard neatly straightened out. With pleasure he 
 sang out that the knife was found. The wife ex- 
 pressed great joy at the discovery. Evidently the 
 old man had detached the lanyard from the sleep- 
 ing boy, and when it was seen that he was making 
 a determined attempt to find the lost article it was 
 placed along the crack with the simple thought 
 that if found the reason would appear that it was 
 dropped in slumber. The stranger left the house 
 in good form after thanking the wife for her kmd 
 
72 
 
 treatment, and was soon pulling away on the sea 
 with the rest of the boys. 
 
 Provisions getting low, the boats began the re- 
 turn journey to Dead Man's Island to replenish. 
 Eventually they got to the island late in the after- 
 noon with every particle of food exhausted. The 
 men pulled heartily around the point, thinking of 
 the nourishing food there stored, to break a fast 
 lasting from early morning. What a disappoint- 
 ent was in store for them. They found that the 
 bears had hauled down all the stones and gnawed 
 through the heavy logs. They had pulled out all 
 the stuff and what they could not eat had de- 
 stroyed. The jugs of molasses they had broken 
 and dug deep holes in the sand seeking the flow- 
 ing sweets. The bags of bread they had pulled 
 out, tramped over, and the rains had dissolved 
 the contents. The sides of pork they had taken 
 up on the rising ground and left in an uneatable 
 condition. There the men were, after one day's 
 fast, without a semblance of food or water, for 
 there was none on this island, and apparently 
 without a source of supply for days. The outlook 
 was dismal, indeed. At last, one of the officers re- 
 membered there was a Russian place called Amur 
 City across a deep bight of land on the main shore. 
 There was nothing to do otherwise than try to find 
 this place. It was a mournful lot of men that 
 started the boats for Amur City, most of them be- 
 
73, 
 
 lieving that it was a wild-goose chase. They 
 pulled all the rest of the night and all the next 
 day until, at the edge of dusk, the famished men 
 had hardly strength enough to force the boats on 
 the sands of the found city. The city consisted 
 of two very large log houses and a large board 
 building. The people, who were Russians, came 
 down to the beach and noticing the condition of 
 the men ran back to the board building and re- 
 ported, when immediately appeared two ladies, 
 accompanied by several Russian officers. The 
 men were gotten out of the boats and soon hot 
 tea and Russian bread revived them into action. 
 A hearty supper was provided and a happy lot of 
 men slept soundly that night in one of the log 
 houses. Amur City was found to be one of the 
 headquarters of the Russian Fur Company, and 
 the ladies, wives of the officers, were on a visit to 
 this far-off post. They were more than gracious, 
 and the boy always remembered them as the most 
 beautiful women he had ever met. To show how 
 cold it got at this place in winter, one man showed 
 up who had no ears and the reason given was that 
 in running from one log house to the other, about 
 an ordinary street* s width apart, he had frozen 
 both ears, causing them to drop off. 
 
 Late in the morning the boats, well provisioned 
 by their kind friends, started off to find the ship. 
 When the ship was sighted it appeared to wind- 
 
74 
 
 ward. The boat's sails had been up just before 
 sighting. The pull to windward was found to be 
 unusually laborious and the reason did not appear 
 until they were raised on their davits when it was 
 found that in the excitement to get aboard the 
 ship the boat's crew had omitted to raise their 
 centre-boards, which are always lowered when 
 sailing on the wind. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The ship continued to cruise and only lowered 
 once for a whale. In the north is a species of duck, 
 whose cry sounds extremely like a human sarcas- 
 tic laugh. When the boat's crew got near this 
 whale, in a thick fog, it went down before the 
 iron could be thrown. At this time a flock of 
 these birds uttered their peculiar cry. It sounded 
 so natural that the men thought at first they were 
 being laughed at for missing the whale. 
 
 While lying in Tschanta Bay, Okhotsk Sea, a 
 startling event happened. There was an anchor 
 watch on deck. The boy was sleeping in his 
 berth when he heard one of the boats go down 
 with a rush. He sprang out and made for the 
 companionway, when he was stopped by a big 
 Kanaka who was a member of the crew. The 
 Kanaka had just struck a match to light his pipe, 
 and told the boy to turn in again if he did not 
 
75 
 
 want his head smashed. Such a hint seemed 
 strange, but it was obeyed. He thought after- 
 wards that the Kanaka had been approached. 
 When the men woke up in the morning, they 
 could not get out of the forecastle at first; but 
 soon the obstruction was removed and they 
 rushed on deck. They found that a boat's crew 
 had skedaddled after chaining up the forecastle 
 and fastening the cabin entrance. They had taken 
 all the bomb guns, rifles, oar locks from all the 
 boats, and other material. The runaway crew 
 consisted of the four Portuguese boat steerers and 
 the two men from the forecastle who were on an- 
 chor watch. The officers had broken open the 
 cabin entrance with an axe and then opened out 
 the ship. An immediate hunt for oarlocks com- 
 menced ; but they were not found for a long time. 
 The carpenter had begun to prepare some, when 
 the cook in feeding the pigs moved some of the 
 bedding and found the oarlocks all in a bunch. 
 Two boats were ordered down, the boy being in 
 one, to hunt the fugitives. Thinking, of course, 
 the boat would head for the Japan sea, the boats 
 in pursuit took that course. After getting out of 
 sight of the ship, the second mate told the boys 
 to pull easy. The third mate in the second boat 
 followed suit. In a short time the second mate 
 said that it would be a nice thing to come up to 
 the boat armed with all the bomb guns and other 
 
76 
 
 firearms of the ship, whereas his boats did not 
 have even a pop-gun. It did not appear to him 
 to be at all enticing. In fact, he had concluded to 
 do no more hunting, so the boats were pulled to 
 an island. The men landed, and building a good 
 fire had their supper and turned in. The second 
 mate had a top coat that he was very proud of 
 and valued very highly. Towards morning the 
 fire had burned low and the officer got cold. In- 
 stead of replenishing the fire he laid down close 
 to the embers, before the feet of the men. The 
 men, noticing in a sleepy manner the lack of heat 
 from the fire, stretched out their legs and pushed 
 the mate, coat and all, into the fire. That was the 
 last of the second mate's coat, but not the last the 
 men heard about the loss. The next day the 
 boats returned to the ship and reported that they 
 could not find the runaways. It was learned a 
 long time afterward that the absconding crew 
 fled down the Japan Sea to the Amur River, 
 where they reported that the ship was wrecked 
 and that they were all that had survived. The 
 Russian government sent them to San Francisco, 
 Cal., as castaways. The two foremost hands in 
 the boat the boy saw years afterwards. One, 
 Finck by name, had a prominent jewelry store in 
 San Francisco. The other was a livery stable 
 keeper in San Jose, Cal. 
 
 Before the event just noted a party was got up 
 
n 
 
 to hunt bears one night. In this party was the 
 negro boy. The men went ashore and stationed 
 themselves near a runway where the bears came 
 down the hill at night to search the beach for dead 
 fish. The men had got nicely concealed when the 
 bears came, in their clumsy manner, down the 
 steep path, dislodging stones that preceded them 
 in their rumbling descent to the shore. The negro 
 boy then conceived the idea that he did not like 
 bears. He wanted to go to the ship and com- 
 menced to yell in terror. A comforter was 
 quickly fastened over his mouth. The bears con- 
 tinued to advance and two were shot. After the 
 cook had exhausted his skill over the meat, it was 
 thrown away as uneatable on account of its strong 
 taste. 
 
 The season being up, the ship started for Hon- 
 olulu, Sandwich Islands. The captain had not 
 kept discipline with the officers or men. His milk 
 and water action and lack of success was displeas- 
 ing to both. When the ship got in Honolulu har- 
 bor all the officers resigned. The men could not 
 resign, but the boy drew up a communication to 
 the American Consul which was signed by all. 
 It was placed in the hands of a bumboat man to 
 deliver. The ship was lying off and on, that is, 
 sailing in tacks before the harbor. The next day 
 there appeared a large rowboat alongside, and the 
 captain appearing, said that the Consul wanted 
 
78 
 
 to see one-half of the crew. The object was plain, 
 to split up the crew, and while one-half was 
 ashore, to overcome the rest. The crew objected 
 to the division and told the captain that all de- 
 manded to go ashore together. They wished to 
 lay their complaints before the Consul in a body. 
 The captain then left the deck and returned with 
 a pistol in each hand, accompanied by the new 
 officers bearing boxes of handcuffs. The men 
 were all gathered around the try-works, as intelli- 
 gent and as determined a body of men as ever 
 sailed the seas. The captain came forward and 
 placed the pistol close to the head of the ship's 
 carpenter, always called "Chips," and cried out, 
 "You, the ringleader, hold out your hands to re- 
 ceive the bracelets, or I will blow your head off." 
 Chips did not wink, held his hands by his side, 
 and said in a calm, dignified way, "Captain, you 
 can kill me, but you would not live three minutes 
 afterward." He knew the men and told the truth. 
 The captain, instead of browbeating the men, was 
 completely cowed himself. He comprehended in 
 an instant the conditions he was up against. He 
 dropped the pistol to his side and retired with the 
 officers, handcuffs and all. The next day a larger 
 boat came alongside and all the crew got in. They 
 marched up to the Consul's office for a memorable 
 interview. The Consul was a dignified man, and 
 asked the reason for the interview. He said he 
 
79 
 
 had got the communication that the boy had 
 drawn up. He stated that it was a strong presen- 
 tation; that the voyage had been unsuccessful so 
 far; but there was nothing shown that would 
 justify him in discharging the men from the ship. 
 Immediately one of the hotheads commenced a 
 tirade that caused the Consul to terminate the in- 
 terview with the statement that if the crew did 
 not return quickly and peaceably to the ship they 
 would be placed in the fort. The fort was a prison. 
 The men elected to go to the fort and they were 
 quickly transferred there. Bread and water, noth- 
 ing else, was the fare in that resort. The next 
 day all the crew, except the boy, Chips, and 
 another named Montrose, considered that the 
 ship's fare was preferable to the bread and water 
 diet of the prison, gave in, and were conducted 
 to the ship. The three mentioned said that noth- 
 ing had developed to change their minds. The 
 ship made off from port and the three thought 
 that they were elected for a long term in durance 
 vile ; but no, the ship returned in five days and the 
 three were escorted aboard without being asked 
 if they were willing or not. They were placed in 
 the lazaret and the ship proceeded on her voy- 
 age. The next day they rejoined the crew with- 
 out any further molestation. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The between season cruise was to the southard, 
 through the Straits of Sunda, where later the 
 greatest cataclysm of modern times occurred. 
 During this eruption the top of a mountain was 
 blown off and the waters of the straits left their 
 bed, showing a line of volcanic fire at the bottom. 
 The noise of the explosion was heard for a thou- 
 sand miles. The pumice stone emitted covered 
 the ocean so as to impede the sailing of ships. 
 Tidal waves were created that washed high up 
 the coasts of North and South America, as well 
 as the western coasts of the Pacific Ocean. Red 
 sunsets were noticed all around the earth, created 
 by the volcanic matter thrown into the upper re- 
 gions of the atmosphere. Although the country 
 around the straits were thinly populated, over 
 thirty thousand human beings were destroyed. 
 When the news of this catastrophe reached the 
 boy, years afterward, he had the whole region 
 clearly defined to his mind as it was photographed 
 in his memory during the slow beating through 
 the straits. 
 
 The ship proceeded on its voyage across the In- 
 dian ocean to an island near the coast of Africa. 
 This island, it is believed, was never approached 
 by a vessel before. The natives swarmed out in 
 
8i 
 
 their war canoes holding about thirty men each, 
 all armed with bows and arrows, also war clubs. 
 They were in fighting trim, entirely naked. The 
 only substance on their person was a band of 
 finely plaited colored grass around the arm oi 
 each head man in the boat. Their hair was worked 
 up high and powdered colored earths ornamented 
 the same. The ship's crew were all armed with 
 lances and after various signs passed, only one of 
 the natives' crews were allowed aboard of the ship 
 at a time. When the preliminaries were settled, 
 one of the savages jumped from his boat and 
 swam to the ship. He pulled himself up by the 
 chains, sprang over the rail and walked forward. 
 Nothing seemed to attract his attention until 
 reaching the heel of the bowsprit, he saw a big 
 American sow that had come aboard the ship as 
 a small pig. All the islands have pigs that never 
 grow large. Their bodies are short and their 
 heads are at least one-third the length of the pig. 
 They are savage creatures and a number together 
 will tackle a man. The native, seeing the im- 
 mense sow, with the same grunt as the diminutive 
 beast he was acquainted with, was surprised and 
 showed it by slapping his leg, singing out at the 
 same time in a loud voice, "Hi, Hi." The rest 
 of the crew immediately sprang out of the boat 
 and piled on deck. They all rushed to the sow 
 and kept up a chattering for a long time. That 
 
82 
 
 was the only thing they wanted to see. After be- 
 ing satisfied, they jumped over the rail and swam 
 to their boat. The rest of the crews took turns 
 in the same manner to see the sow. 
 
 The possibility of trade occurred to the old 
 man, as the captain is always called aboard ship. 
 Various signs were gone through to show the 
 desire. At last, one of the natives showed a small 
 piece of tortoise shell. It was made plain to him 
 that a quantity of such material would bring 
 trade. A boat started for the shore and soon re- 
 turned loaded with the precious stuff. Various 
 articles were shown for barter, but nothing 
 seemed worthy until a short-handled axe met their 
 unqualified approval. Then began the heaping 
 of shell on deck and negative nods were made to 
 increase the quantity until the heap contained all 
 they had. Then an axe was given to the head 
 man, who swam to his boat holding the axe high 
 in the air. This operation was repeated as other 
 boats were sent to the shore for additional sup- 
 plies, until the ship had all the shell and the na- 
 tives all the axes, twelve in number. The boy was 
 clerk of the ship and he knew the case of axes 
 cost twelve dollars when put aboard the ship. The 
 shell was sold for eight hundred dollars at Hono- 
 lulu. The next day, black fish appearing, several 
 were killed. After taking off the blubber the car- 
 casses were allowed to drift away. The natives 
 
83 
 
 swarmed around and towed them to shore, when 
 they had a high old feast, as fires were seen at 
 night all over the hills. The feast of gluttony 
 caused the natives to sleep all the next day for 
 they did not appear. The third day, the calm 
 continuing that caused our stay at the island, the 
 war canoes appeared again and one boat's crew at 
 a time, as before, was allowed aboard the ship. 
 Several of the large bows, over six feet long, were 
 obtained by the boy. They were splendid weap- 
 ons, woven all over with different colored grasses, 
 and could throw an arrow out of sight over the 
 water. These people were cannibals. They were 
 splendid looking animals, with tall, well-shaped 
 bodies and round limbs. They were entirely un- 
 acquainted with white people, as this ship's crew 
 was most likely the first they had ever met. To- 
 bacco in any of its forms was without their knowl- 
 edge. The boy induced one of the fellows to seat 
 himself beside the cook in his galley and then 
 pulled the short blackened pipe from the cook's 
 mouth and forced the same between the savage's 
 teeth. That caused him to spring up immediately, 
 and jumping over the rail, swimming quickly to 
 his boat. The pipe was spat out on deck, break- 
 ing in its fall, and the boy had to be lively in get- 
 ting away from the enraged cook, who made for 
 him with a cleaver to chastise him for being the 
 cause of the pipe's loss, a relic of several years* 
 
84 
 
 use, while producing its rich, brown color. While 
 a lot of the savages were gathered in the waist of 
 the ship, the boy received a command that neces- 
 sitated his passing through the group. He placed 
 his hands together in front to make a passage. 
 The savages fell back, right and left, until one 
 was met on the outskirts who sprang in the air 
 like a deer, at the same time backwards. The mo- 
 tion of the well-shaped fellow was so graceful that 
 it created surprise and the boy stopped with the 
 remark, "You are a gentleman." The savage 
 repeated back, like an echo, "You are a gentle- 
 man." This was astounding. The call for duty 
 was forgotten. Every endeavor was made to in- 
 duce a repetition, or the utterance of more English 
 words, without any result otherwise than a blank 
 look that might have appeared in the eyes of a 
 cow. 
 
 Late this day the savages aboard ship suddenly 
 sprang into the water, swimming rapidly to their 
 boat, and all the boats' crews were noticed string- 
 ing their bows, trying them ; taking up their war 
 clubs, looking them over, and pointing to a dis- 
 tant point of land for which they soon began to 
 paddle. At the same time the ship's crew noticed 
 some boats clearing the point. Evidently a battle 
 between two savage tribes would shortly occur. 
 All the crew were anxious to see the fight, but 
 fate decided otherwise, for at this time a breeze 
 
85 
 
 filled the sails that had been idly flapping against 
 the spars for three days, causing the ship to rap- 
 idly leave the island in the distance. 
 
 The cruise continued eastward and northward 
 along the China coast, across the Yellow Sea and 
 up the Japan Sea to Hackadada. The ship was 
 just about rounding the point to go into port, 
 when a terrific northeast gale sprang upon us at 
 8 o^clock in the evening. The gale was too heavy 
 to beat against, therefore the ship had to run be- 
 fore it under bare poles. The boy, who was con- 
 sidered the best helmsman aboard ship, was at 
 the wheel. After his trick of two hours was up, 
 the captain asked him if he could stand another 
 trick. That question was asked every two hours 
 until the gale broke at 8 o'clock the next morning. 
 The answer was always *'Yes, sir." When the 
 gale was over and beating back commenced, the 
 captain came to the wheel with the relief. "Go 
 below," he said, "and remain as long as you 
 wish." During the excitement of the run, steer- 
 ing by white water, that is, breakers on rocks, the 
 compass being used for the main direction only, 
 the boy did not feel tired. The pleasure of guid- 
 ing the ship was not unlike the elation caused 
 when driving a span of spirited horses. The ex- 
 citement over, then tired muscles and brain as- 
 serted themselves, causing a collapse that required 
 twenty hours of slumber to overcome. When the 
 
86 
 
 ship again got to the point around which was the 
 town, the sails were not set properly for the 
 changed direction of the breeze, causing a heavy 
 yawning. The harbor was full of Japanese junks, 
 anchored with grass hawsers. The boy was again 
 at the wheel, and it was a great pleasure to him 
 to see the Japanese crazy with excitement, beating 
 tom-toms, fearing that the ship when headed di- 
 rectly for the centre of their junks, would run 
 them down; but the boy knew his ship, and a 
 spoke or two would cause the vessel to turn neatly 
 around their sterns. 
 
 It was in May when the ship anchored in the 
 bay of Hackadada. It was quite cold here, in the 
 northern part of Japan. Banks of snow, remain- 
 ing from the winter, were on the ground and the 
 ship's crew wore the some clothing that they wore 
 in the Okhotsk Sea. The Tongoose men, who 
 were then held as slaves by the Japs, were pulling 
 about the harbor, clothed only with a tapa. It 
 could hardly be called pulling, however, as they 
 stood up in their boats sculling with oars at the 
 sides. Japan at this date was not an open coun- 
 try. Only in a few ports could foreign vessels 
 enter, and the crews would be bambooed if they 
 went more than about a half mile from shore. The 
 ship was fired upon when rounding the southern 
 point of Japan ; but the round shot fell short in 
 the water. There were two parties, one in favor 
 
87 
 
 of opening up the country and the other opposed. 
 In Hackadada the governing class was opposed. 
 One day in going up town two dead Japanese 
 were seen lying in the street. They had been run 
 through with swords. The explanation given 
 was that they had expressed themselves as favor- 
 ing foreigners and the police had killed them. The 
 first time the boy roamed in the city he went into 
 a small shop to buy some trinket. The proprietor 
 was very affable and brought out a blank book 
 in which he requested something being written 
 by saying "Write." The book contained a num- 
 ber of sentences written by visitors, therefore, 
 something suitable was written. The Japanese 
 pointed to the first word and said *'What?" The 
 word was pronounced. This was repeated at each 
 word. Then the Japanese read or pronounced 
 every word correctly. He could do the same with 
 all written in the book depending upon memory, 
 as he did not know one letter from another. The 
 boy became very chummy with this fellow during 
 several visits. One day, after writing something 
 in his book and going through the ''What" 
 process, the Japanese suddenly scowled and 
 throwing up his hands pushed the boy away. This 
 was too much to stand. With fists doubled up, a 
 spring was made for the native; but then he re- 
 ceived a reassuring smile and heard the words, 
 "You no see," and with signs let the boy know 
 
that a policeman was passing, and that if he saw 
 them speaking pleasantly together, the result 
 would be the loss of the Japanese's head. 
 
 A visit was made to a money changer and a 
 tempo, worth about six cents, was, by signs, di- 
 rected to be changed into "cash,'' a small iron coin 
 with a hole in the centre. The man, instead of 
 counting the "cash," with his two hands pushed 
 from a large pile a lot of the small coins. The 
 boy filled his two pockets with the cash and 
 marched out, feeling quite wealthy. He soon 
 reached a stand on the street containing sweets. 
 He took up a small confection about the size of a 
 little finger, and handed out three cash. A de- 
 cided shake of the head impelled the offering of 
 more cash. This was continued until all the cash 
 was in the hands of the dealer, and with a doubt- 
 ful expression he allowed the boy to depart in 
 possession of the sweet. With depleted pockets, 
 he found a posted man who informed that the 
 confection was the most expensive on the stand. 
 If he had taken up almost any other kind a few 
 cash would have been suf^cient. A man could 
 be shaved for three cash and the small money 
 had a wide use in producing service. Laborers 
 received only a few cash for a day's work. Since 
 the opening up of Japan, however, the wages have 
 gone up immensely, altho still very low according 
 to American standards. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 After leaving Hackadada the ship made for the 
 Arctic Ocean, where the luck changed, for up to 
 that time only the small sperm whale taken off the 
 River Platte, making only eight barrels, and a few 
 barrels of black fish oil taken in the Indian Ocean, 
 was the only result of many months' cruising over 
 the seas. When sailing up past Indian Point, 
 Eastern Siberia, an Indian was shipped. He was 
 a noted walrus hunter and could speak a few 
 words of English. Vermin was soon found on 
 him in such quantities that it was necessary to 
 remove his skin clothing, which was sewed up in 
 canvas so none could escape, and he was given 
 the same clothing that the rest of the men wore. 
 The misery of the man was painful to observe. 
 He suffered so much with cold that in a few days 
 his skin clothing had to be returned to him, after 
 as thorough a cleaning as possible. Here was a 
 man born and brought up amid the snows and ice 
 of Northern Siberia, who could not stand the cli- 
 mate clothed in the same clothing that was found 
 comfortable by the southern crew. Take the in- 
 habitants of the Arctic Circle, clothe and feed 
 them the same as men from the south, who brave 
 the rigors of the northern seas, and they would all 
 die off, leaving an uninhabited zone. 
 
go 
 
 Much information was gained from the Indian 
 during the run up to and through the Behring 
 Strait. He told of his people being driven away 
 from a country where large trees grew, many, 
 many years ago, when the stars were new, by men 
 on animals (horses) clothed in iron (armor). 
 His people were afraid to go back and learned to 
 love the barren earth and rocks, where no vestige 
 of foliage exists. The people live in walrus hide 
 tents near the seashore in summer, but go back 
 in the interior and build huts of ice for their win- 
 ter quarters. Their occupation while at the sea- 
 shore is hunting the seal, walrus and whales, the 
 meat of which they store for winter use. If at the 
 time of removal from the interior to shore or from 
 the sea back, any one is too old or feeble to stand 
 the journey, then it becomes the duty of the near- 
 est relative to kill them. The Indian told of 
 killing his mother. The news was received with 
 horror and so expressed. *'\Vhy," said the In- 
 dian, ''you suppose I leave her to be eaten by 
 wolves or some other wild animal? No, she 
 speak me kill her and I kill her." The mode of 
 burial is to sew the bodies up in dried walrus hide 
 wrapped around with animal sinews in such a 
 manner that no wild animal can get at the de- 
 parted, then they are left on the rocks. If a na- 
 tive dies in a hut or tent, the body is never taken 
 out of the opening used by the living, but a new 
 
91 
 
 Opening is made for that purpose. Walrus hides 
 are the currency of the country. Five will buy a 
 pretty good wife; but ten will buy the best. These 
 people have a moral code which keeps the women 
 virtuous. They are short, moderately thick-set 
 and white. Partial blindness is common, to avoid 
 which they wear hollow bone about an inch long 
 fastened over their eyes by sinews, to protect 
 them from the glare of the sun on the snow. 
 Their manner of capturing the whale is ingenious. 
 They will gather around the whale in their skin- 
 covered boats, when he comes up to breathe, and 
 thrust spears having bladders fastened to them 
 in his blubber in such numbers that the whale 
 cannot go down. Then they kill him with bone 
 lances. 
 
 When in the Arctic Ocean the business of the 
 voyage commenced lively, for soon was heard 
 from the crow's nest the welcome sound of 'There 
 she blows." The boats were in the water quickly 
 and soon one of the boats fastened. A lively bat- 
 tle commenced, for the whale proved a fighter. 
 Most bow-head whales are inert and easily killed ; 
 but this one was found to be an exception. He 
 pulled the boat lively through the water, taking 
 out a good deal of line in sounding. The crew 
 pulled it in again and down he wxnt carrying 
 more line. This operation was repeated several 
 times, when tiring, the line was pulled in and 
 
92 
 
 the officer changed places with the boat steerer, 
 who throws the harpoon to fasten. This chang- 
 ing of places always occurs after fastening, for 
 the officer always kills the whale. The lance was 
 thrust once, when the huge beast threw his flukes 
 around under another boat coming up, contain- 
 ing the boy. Up went the fluke bearing the boat 
 on top, high in the air, crushing it into kindling 
 wood. Down came the men in the water cov- 
 ered with floating ice, in which they had to swim 
 until picked up by the remaining boats. The 
 whale made another short sounding. On reach- 
 ing the surface again he was killed. When fas- 
 tened alongside by the fluke chain it was gener- 
 ally thought to be a two-hundred barrel fellow, 
 but he only stowed down one hundred barrels. 
 The whalebone was unusually long and fine look- 
 ing. Several whales were secured in rapid suc- 
 cession, keeping the try works busy. 
 
 A spell of a number of days then occurred in 
 which no whales were raised, and one day the 
 boats were lowered for walrus. They were swim- 
 ming around in the water and a large number 
 were on the floating ice. Indian John was landed 
 on the ice, upon his request, and he stationed him- 
 self alongside of a hole, with a spear, watching. 
 He sat awaiting the possible coming up of a wal- 
 rus where he was left. When the boats ap- 
 proached the ice all the walrus thereon slipped in 
 
93 
 
 the water and the boats were soon engaged in 
 killing them. During the engagement four of 
 the boats were pierced by walrus tusks, evidently 
 not intentional, but in throwing their heads 
 around when the boats were on top of them they 
 could hardly escape doing the injury. Forty of 
 the beasts were killed and towed to the ship, 
 where they tried out about fifty barrels of oil. 
 When the Indian was taken off the field of ice 
 late in the afternoon, it was found that the mighty 
 hunter had not secured a single trophy. He 
 would have been content to watch that hole for 
 a week to secure a single animal; but the ship's 
 crew worked differently. 
 
 The seasons change very rapidly in the Arctic 
 Ocean. The sun had been setting towards mid- 
 night for several days. The boy was in the crow's 
 nest during the midwatch, for it was broad day- 
 light all night, when he was astonished to see 
 the sun go down to near the horizon and glide 
 along to the east, and then begin to rise again. 
 For eight days the sun never went below the hori- 
 zon. A few weeks afterward it was dark at four 
 o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 A short time after the first walrus hunt the 
 boats were lowered again for them. The weather 
 soon changed to a rather high wind and became 
 bitterly cold. The boats were separated after 
 securing a few of the animals. Soon a walrus 
 
94 
 
 was raised to leeward on top of toadstool ice, 
 that is, ice that had been washed out on the sea 
 level so as to form a shape like a toad stool. Wal- 
 rus and seal will lie on the ice for a very long 
 time, and the smell from a lot of them when to 
 leeward is appallingly bad. This beast must have 
 laid for days, to give the sea time to hollow out 
 the base of his resting place. The second mate, 
 on whose boat the boy was, determined to run 
 down for this animal. A considerable sea had 
 developed, and when the boat was alongside of 
 the icy support for the beast, the boat steerer had 
 to throw his harpoon directly upward to strike 
 the game. Immediately on feeling the iron, the 
 huge beast tumbled off the ice directly over where 
 the boat was; but luckily, a sea washed the boat 
 away from the ice at the same time. All the star- 
 board oars were broken. If it had not been for 
 the sea pushing the boat away the animal would 
 have fallen directly into the boat, inevitably caus- 
 ing the death of all the crew. The walrus was 
 soon killed ; then the position of the boat and its 
 crew developed. There it was miles to the lee- 
 ward and a thick fog coming on, blotting out the 
 sun ; no ship in sight and its actual position being 
 in doubt. The game had to be cast adrift and 
 the boat's crew, with the few oars remaining, 
 began to pull laboriously to windward. It was 
 early in the morning before the boat reached the 
 
95 
 
 ship, and the exhausted crew had to be hauled 
 aboard with Hnes. It was no unusual thing for 
 boats crews to be thus hauled aboard, thoroughly 
 numbed and inert with cold. 
 
 Soon whales were seen again and a number 
 were got, enough to make the season's catch 
 amount to eight hundred barrels. 
 
 One day, late in the season, during a very 
 thick fog, which limited vision to six or eight 
 feet and an extremely light breeze blowing, those 
 on deck noticed another ship's flying jib-boom 
 alongside of theirs moving slowly. On it came, 
 breaking off the spritsail-yard and then fouling 
 the anchorstock, snapping off the heavy timber 
 as though it was a lead pencil; proceeding, the 
 starboard fore-rigging next went, cut through 
 as with a mighty knife. Then the ships parted 
 company for a few minutes, when the stranger 
 swung around the stern carrying away the spank- 
 erboom, and then disappeared in the fog. The 
 foretopgallantmast was snapped off close to the 
 topmast during the contact. The boy was below 
 during the first touch of the ship; but the call, 
 "All hands on deck!" caused him to spring out 
 of his bunk. While hastily dressing he ran his 
 right leg between his pantaloons and his draw- 
 ers. As soon as his head appeared out of the 
 scuttle, the mate ordered him aloft to send down 
 the heel of the topgallantmast. It was bitterly 
 
96 
 
 cold and all the standing rigging was frozen as 
 stiff as steel. In running up the shrouds he struck 
 a broken ratline that stuck out like a knife. This 
 pierced his pantaloons on the right side and tore 
 them down to his shoe. There was no time to 
 halt, besides he felt flattered to be detailed for 
 such an important job. With the bare skin of 
 his leg exposed, he proceeded with his work ; but 
 when he sang out, ''Lower away," and began to 
 descend, then it was apparent that his leg had 
 become frozen. Lying on deck, salt water was 
 thrown on him until life came to his leg, causing 
 great pain. 
 
 The fore-rigging had to be repaired imme- 
 diately. It was too stiff to work until it was bent 
 over to the cook's galley and thawed out. Then 
 the necessary repairs were made. With the 
 shrouds hanging loose, the foremast was in dan- 
 ger until they were fastened again to the dead- 
 eyes. The rest of the damage was soon made 
 good. The crew had a good example of the im- 
 mense force exerted by the collision of two ships, 
 moving along when under scarcely any steerage- 
 way. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 When about to enter the Arctic on this first 
 trip to that inhospitable region, the mate told the 
 men that the stove was ready for the forecastle 
 and they could place it when they wanted. The 
 boy argued with his mates to refuse the stove. 
 His point was that a stove in the contracted quar- 
 ters of the forecastle, where the men would be 
 coming in soaking wet, would be unwholesome; 
 that there was sufficient body warmth in the men, 
 crowded together to prevent suffering. He got 
 them to consent to a trial, and they were so well 
 satisfied that no stove went up that season or the 
 one that followed. All the other ships had stoves, 
 with the result that their crews suffered greatly 
 with colds and sore throats, while the old Mount 
 Wallaston's crew never had a case of sickness 
 aboard. 
 
 While cruising along in the Arctic, the ship 
 stopped at Icy Cape, Point Barrow, and other 
 places, where the natives were met with. They 
 were as previously described and wanted tobacco 
 badly. They called it "tebarma," and various 
 trades were made with them for this coveted 
 soother. They also wanted needles. The boy 
 had a paper of big ones that seemed good to their 
 eyes and he traded them for walrus tusks, scrim- 
 
98 
 
 schon work in ivory and other articles. The 
 weather became very stormy and the cold very 
 intense. The seas beating over the forward part 
 of the ship would freeze in large masses of ice on 
 deck. The ship was headed for the south and the 
 run for Behring Strait began. When nearing 
 Behring Island a vast field of ice was noticed, 
 driven by the wind and tides toward the Strait. 
 If this got to the opening first then the ship could 
 not pass, and it would have been compelled to 
 stop all winter in that desolate region ; so all sail 
 was put on to force the vessel ahead of the ice. 
 Royals were carried when, without compulsion, 
 close-reefed topsails would have been all the sail 
 out. The vessel made the point around which 
 it was necessary to pass to get into the Strait 
 only a few minutes before the immense flow of 
 ice bore down and crashed into Behring Island 
 with a sound that could not be equalled by many 
 parks of artillery. If the vessel had been delayed 
 only a very short time, it would have been crushed 
 like an eggshell. 
 
 The bargain made with Indian John when he 
 came aboard the ship was that he should be pro- 
 vided with food and given all the walrus hides 
 obtained. Over seventy hides had been secured, 
 enough to have made the Indian independently 
 wealthy. When the vessel got to Indian Point, 
 the place where the Indian was to be put ashore, 
 
99 
 
 it was found that the ice was jammed against the 
 land for miles out, making a landing impossible. 
 The ship's crew told him of the fine country that 
 would be met to the southard, where big trees 
 grew ; where the grass covered the earth, roamed 
 over by fine animals; where bright flowers per- 
 fumed the air, and gaily plumed birds made the 
 day gay with their songs. All this was rot to the 
 Indian. He wanted to get on the barren rocks 
 where his home was. He became wild and at- 
 tempted to get over the rail onto the floating ice, 
 which would have meant death to him. About 
 twenty miles below the Point was found a narrow 
 opening in the ice to the shore. A boat was low- 
 ered, and with the Indian aboard with three wal- 
 rus skins, all it could carry, the perilous passage 
 was made. It was a dangerous passage for the 
 ice was liable at any time to close up and crush 
 the boat. When the shore was approached a 
 heavy sea was found beating upon it. The Indian 
 made a risky jump and landed upon a large rock. 
 The last view of the stranger was when he sprang 
 from the rock to the shore and ran like a deer 
 to his far, desolate home, leaving great wealth be- 
 hind, for the walrus hides in the boat were thrown 
 overboard as well as all those on the ship. These 
 hides, at that time, had no commercial value in 
 the market. 
 
 Getting the ship in trim and cleaning bone oc- 
 
lOO 
 
 cupied the crew when saiHng to the southard. 
 This cleaning of the bone is a very important task. 
 The whalebone that hangs straight down in the 
 month is dark colored and with a fringed edge 
 to which the very small shell fish, which are the 
 food of the bowhead, becomes attached when the 
 whale moves slowly through the water on the 
 surface. When a sufficient quantity is taken in, 
 the mouth closes and the food is forced in the 
 stomach. This bone is spaded down from the 
 upper jaw, leaving about a foot of gum attached, 
 which has to be scraped off and then the bone is 
 hung in the rigging to dry. One day when the 
 ship's rigging was all decorated with bone, a quick 
 gale sprang up, causing lively action to get it 
 housed and to prepare the ship for the storm. 
 
 The ship made a quick run to Hilo, Sandwich 
 Islands. The stores that were left on the previous 
 visit were taken aboard, and a lot of natives were 
 sent back in the country to procure a timber from 
 which to make an anchorstock to replace the one 
 carried away in the Arctic. With oxen they 
 hauled the immense timber for miles over lava 
 flows to the beach, where "Chips," the ship's car- 
 penter, hewed it into shape. That operation re- 
 quired several days to accomplish. At night, after 
 the first day's work, the boy was sent to bring 
 Chips back to the ship. He jumped into the boat, 
 leaving his tools spread on the ground. He was 
 
asked if it was correct to leave the valuable im- 
 plements exposed to theft. He replied that they 
 were perfectly safe; that the natives were honest 
 as the missionaries had not made much progress 
 on that island in teaching the natives the ways 
 of white men. 
 
 When the anchor stock was finished, prepara- 
 tions were made to tow to the ship. That was 
 found impossible, as it sank like a rock. Even- 
 tually it was lashed between two boats and thus 
 carried to the vessel. 
 
 From Hilo the ship proceeded to Honolulu, 
 where the oil and bone taken was shipped back 
 to the States. During this visit to Honolulu the 
 boy roamed back in the town and eventually got 
 into a printing office where he met old Mr. Shu- 
 brim, the foreman, who was known favorably all 
 over our western coast as well as on the Islands. 
 Mr. Shubrim noticed the boy looking on at the 
 men setting type, and during the conversation 
 which followed, found out that the boy was con- 
 versant with the business. He immediately 
 showed much interest and said that he was greatly 
 in need of assistance ; but when informed that the 
 boy belonged to a ship he knew that he could not 
 get help from him. The boy was informed that 
 when he got clear from the vessel to come imme- 
 diately to the office and take a case. That visit 
 prompted an idea that had never entered the head 
 
of the boy before. He rather hked the sailor's 
 life, but with the new idea impressed on his mind, 
 he determined to leave the ship. There was in 
 port the ship Dreadnaught, that had sailed for 
 years in the old Black Ball Line between New 
 York and Liverpool, carrying passengers before 
 being replaced by the encroaching steamers. The 
 old ship was empty and the boy got aboard, stow- 
 ing away in the chain locker with some provis- 
 ions. Altho the ship was searched, the boy was 
 not found, and he remained in hiding until his 
 ship had left. Then he came out. His liberty 
 was brief indeed, for immediate arrest awaited 
 him. The ship returned in a few hours and he 
 was taken aboard. This ruse of leaving the har- 
 bor is often adopted, knowing that runaways will 
 then think that they are safe; but the kikoes, or 
 policemen, have orders to arrest on appearance. 
 The ship returns and all is over. 
 
 After the ship left Honolulu it proceeded on 
 the regular between season's cruise. With fair 
 winds and pleasant weather the lower California 
 coast was made. Devil-fish, or California Gray- 
 backs, was the game. This is a small species of 
 whale that seek the coast during the breeding 
 season. They are very pugnacious and great 
 caution is necessary in killing them to prevent 
 the loss of boats or men. The boats got a number 
 and towed them to the ship, anchored in a little 
 
I03 
 
 bay. One of the beasts upset the captain's boat 
 with his flukes, and the men were all swimming 
 around, occasionally resting by holding on to the 
 bottom of the boat. The captain could not swim 
 and the crew got him up on the overturned craft, 
 where he crouched in bad humor. There was 
 quite a sea on, causing the boat to toss about 
 badly, making the captain's position far from 
 pleasant. He sang out to the men to stop hauling 
 on the boat, forgetting for the instant that the 
 sea only was to blame. Soon the crew was picked 
 up by other boats and all was serene. The Cali- 
 fornia Grayback has the usual blubber on the out- 
 side, and also has what is called gut fat, or fat 
 on the intestines. The operation of getting this 
 fat is very disagreeable, and all were pleased 
 when a Spanish Don appeared over the sand 
 hills with a lot of Indians. He made an agree- 
 ment with the old man to take over the carcasses 
 after the blubber had been removed, haul them up 
 on the beach, cut out the interior fat, and after 
 trying out the oil place it in barrels, receiving as 
 his share one-half of the product. The old man 
 agreeing to furnish a try-pot, the barrels and a 
 boat during the operations, the Don's share of 
 the oil to be taken over by the ship at an agreed 
 price. Everything proceeded well, the Indians 
 working like beavers within half a mile of the 
 anchored ship, and quite a number of barrels of 
 
104 
 
 oil were made. It came time to change whaling 
 grounds. The next day an accounting was to 
 be had with the Don. The latter, in an interview, 
 expressed himself as highly pleased with his work 
 and the results. All hands turned in with the ex- 
 ception of an anchor watch on deck. The night 
 was very dark. The next morning, when the 
 crew turned out, the numbers of men who had 
 been so busy on the beach had disappeared; also 
 all the barrels of oil, try-pot and boat, had passed 
 from the vision. Quickly two boat's crews were 
 marshalled. They went to the shore, finding that 
 all the lost property had been loaded on drag 
 poles, leaving well marked trails. A pursuit was 
 started. It was kept up by the men for hours; 
 but the unaccustomed tramping over the sand 
 proved exhausting. The markings of the horses 
 and drag poles showed that the fleeing men were 
 gaining rapidly over the pursuers, therefore the 
 trail was given up and the men returned discon- 
 solate to the ship. It was supposed that the Span- 
 iards were not enterprising ; but this old Don was 
 enterprising enough to take from the ship valu- 
 able property, and had performed the act after 
 the most affable, impressive interviews. 
 
 The sand of the beach was full of clams and 
 the crew enjoyed a good feed from them. The 
 day before leaving several barrels were filled with 
 the rich bivalves, and the men expected to enjoy 
 
105 
 
 them for some time, but the next day they had to 
 be thrown overboard on account of smeUing very 
 ancknt. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The ship after leaving the Cahfornia coast 
 cruised amongst the various groups of Pacific 
 Islands. The v^eather v^as generally fine, and 
 altho the search was for sperm whales, the pass- 
 ing amongst these islands of the sea was impres- 
 sive and grand. Many were mere coral atolls 
 fringed with cocoanut trees. Many were large 
 and inhabited with gracious savages. Many were 
 mountainous, and some were populated by treach- 
 erous natives who had to be avoided. One time, 
 in passing near one of the latter lands, the wind 
 died down. In the distance many war canoes 
 were observed leaving the shore in the direction 
 of the ship. All hands were armed, prepared to 
 give the devils a warm reception. The natives 
 gained rapidly on the ship and all aboard expected 
 lively work in providing them with hospitable 
 graves in the ocean ; but luckily, when the rascals 
 got within a few hundred yards of the vessel the 
 wind sprang up and soon the savages were left 
 jabbering in their boats. They sprang up show- 
 ing their murderous war clubs, encircled with 
 shark's teeth, and sent many arrows which fell 
 short in the water. 
 
io6 
 
 Amongst the islands inhabited by friendly na- 
 tives, many events happened that gave the crew 
 much enjoyment. The bright sun, plenty of 
 fruit, the hearty a/o/ian^wi (gracious salutation) 
 of our naked visitors, all made up an atmosphere 
 of bliss. On meeting the long, low boats, gener- 
 ally manned by at least twenty, visiting their 
 friends on other islands, especially if met on 
 moonlight nights, gave a scene of enchantment, 
 all dipping their paddles in unison, chanting in 
 tune a low-voiced monotone that sounded grand 
 as they passed away in the distance. 
 
 The old man never had any confidence in him- 
 self. He would take the sun several times and 
 figure out the results with many misgivings. That 
 he was not correct in his figuring was proven 
 many times during the voyage, as he was contin- 
 ually making land miles out of the true course. 
 One dark, stormy night, when the boy was in the 
 lookout, with no thought of land, a streak of 
 moonlight broke through the clouds, lighting up 
 a rocky shore. The light was for an instant only, 
 but was sufficient to show the terrible danger 
 ahead. A quick cry of "Breakers ahead" caused 
 the officer of the deck to promptly order the 
 wheel hard up, and the ship turned as on a pivot, 
 her stern pounding an instant in the breakers as 
 she passed out of danger. The old man thought 
 that the ship was sixty miles to the southard of 
 
107 
 
 this land. This island was inhabited by canni- 
 bals, and if the vessel had run ashore those that 
 escaped the breakers and rocks would have been 
 killed by the natives. 
 
 Very often during dead calms in warm latitudes 
 the men would plunge in the water for a swim. 
 One day when becalmed near an island many of 
 the crew slipped overboard and were gaily sport- 
 ing around the ship in the deep waters. The boy 
 swam way beyond the rest, when a cry of sharks 
 was heard. Those near the ship soon scrambled 
 aboard. The lad made for the vessel in a vigor- 
 ous manner. When near he looked up and saw 
 the men looking over the rail in an anxious man- 
 ner. Two were in the chains and soon as possible 
 grasped the boy by the arms, throwing him over 
 on the deck. It was noticed that the shark's 
 mouth was within an inch of the receding heels. 
 This was a close shave. The next day when down 
 in a boat, a large shark bit off the blade of one 
 of the oars. The sharks have no friends amongst 
 sailors. 
 
 At one time during a very heavy gale the ship 
 was laying to and the boy was lying on deck 
 looking upwards. It was very warm altho the 
 crash of the seas and the fierce gale blowing 
 against the rigging made so much noise that one 
 could not hear another speak. Soon the boy no- 
 ticed a shadowy form coming over the ship, be- 
 
io8 
 
 tween the fore and mainmast. It was quickly 
 made out to be the jibboom of another ship. She 
 was also laying to. When both vessels yawned 
 in different directions the stranger's jibboom 
 fouled the ship's foremast and was snapped off 
 close to the nightheads. Then both vessels were 
 lying side by side. Without the support of the 
 foretopmaststay and the forestay, the foremast 
 could not stand in the heavy sea. It broke off 
 close to the deck, followed, as in pantomime, by 
 the mainmast and then the mizzenmast. Altho 
 both crews were hollering like demons, not a 
 human voice could be heard. Even the breaking 
 of the heavy spars and their crashing falls were 
 inaudible. Nothing was heard but the battle of 
 the elements. The wreck of the stranger then 
 drifted around the stern of the ship, carrying 
 away the spankerboom, and then disappeared in 
 the darkness as silently as she came. The dam- 
 age to the ship was much the same as occurred 
 during the collision in the Arctic, noted before. 
 The foretopmast was lost. A large section of the 
 bulwarks was stoven in. All the boats on the 
 starboard side went to destruction. The foreyard 
 would also have been carried away if it had not 
 been for the quick action of the boy. At the first 
 contact one of the stranger's yards fouled the 
 foreyard and was on the point of breaking it off 
 when the boy noticed the tightening brace on the 
 
109 
 
 belaying-pin. He sprang forward and threw off 
 the brace, which reheved the yard, allowing it to 
 swing around safely. In getting at the belaying- 
 pin it was necessary to push aside the second 
 mate who was standing directly alongside. The 
 only thanks he got was a scowl from the officer 
 for thrusting him aside, forgetting it was owing 
 to his slow wit only that made the action neces- 
 sary. There is an old superstition amongst sail- 
 ors that ships attract one another on the sea. 
 No ship had been seen for many days, and to 
 have these tw^o drift together in the darkness 
 while laying to in the waste of waters a thousand 
 miles from any land seems to give a semblance 
 of truth to the belief. With the approach of day- 
 light the next morning the stranger was seen, a 
 mere rolling hulk, miles off on the horizon. The 
 wind and sea had died down considerably and a 
 boat was sent to offer assistance. In approach- 
 ing the stranger, tossing like a log in the water, 
 a sea swept the boat against her, causing the 
 breaking of the gunwale. The stranger was 
 found to be a whaleship named Governor Troop. 
 The captain, when offered assistance by the offi- 
 cer on boat, appeared to be crazy. He jumped 
 up and down on deck and swore like a pirate. He 
 ordered the boat away to a very warm place, 
 where it is supposed no water exists. He yelled 
 out that if his order was not obeyed immediately 
 
no 
 
 he would blow off the heads of the crew. There 
 was nothing to do but return to the ship and re- 
 port. The vessel remained in sight of the wreck 
 all day, and towards night she was seen, with 
 temporary spars, making off slowly to some port. 
 It was afterwards found out that she got to Hono- 
 lulu and was refitted at a cost of twenty thousand 
 dollars; then sailing for the Arctic, was caught 
 by the Shenandoah, as described later, becoming 
 one of the seven vessels burned. 
 
 About this time much stormy weather was met 
 with. A succession of gales made the call of 
 "All hands on deck" quite common. During one 
 cyclonic tempest the water was whirling in heavy 
 seas that would twist around, lifting the vessel 
 up on top and then give away suddenly, allowing 
 the ship to fall with a crash. This peculiar action 
 of the water was appalling, causing even the offi- 
 cers to become white with apprehension. All the 
 men were lashed to belaying-pins, for otherwise 
 they would have been swept from the ship. A 
 man was made fast to each mast with an axe and 
 ordered to cut away when the word should be 
 given. The officers feared that such falling blows 
 would drive the masts through the bottom of the 
 vessel. Luckily the ship ran out of the boiling 
 waters before it became necessary to give the 
 order, much to the relief of the detailed men, for 
 they knew that if the masts were cut away they, 
 
Ill 
 
 in toppling over, would swing around and ten 
 chances to one crush the life out of them. 
 
 During this stormy weather the boy had a 
 never-to-be-forgotten dream in his watch below. 
 He heard beautiful singing in the distance. The 
 day was warm, with hardly a noticeable wind. 
 The singing sounded closer and soon it was no- 
 ticed to proceed from boats ladened with gaily 
 appareled ladies who were pulling towards the 
 ship. Soon they reached the tackles that were 
 lowered and then the crew run them up, joining 
 at the same time in the chorus. When the girls 
 tripped on deck many of them were recognized 
 as old friends. They began to dance around, 
 continuing their beautiful singing, when a heavy 
 banging on the scuttle was heard followed by a 
 stern command, "All hands on deck" to take in 
 the topsails. The contrast between the enchant- 
 ing vision and the gale-tossed vessel, laboring in 
 heavy seas, was overpowering. 
 
 The vessel approached the Ladrone Islands 
 late in the afternoon. The wind was light and 
 slow progress made. The anchor was dropped 
 long after daylight had departed. The boy 
 thought that the ship was not more than a mile 
 from shore. He induced a man called Smith, 
 but afterwards his real name was found to be 
 Montrose, and a chimmoria, as the natives of the 
 Ladrone Islands are called, to swim ashore. This 
 
 / 
 
112 
 
 chimmoria was considered important on account 
 of his claimed ability to talk the language of the 
 country. It was found out afterwards that owing 
 to leaving the Islands as an infant he knew noth- 
 ing of the language. These three men consti- 
 tuted the mid-anchor watch, and after 12 o'clock 
 they prepared to leave the ship. The native 
 could not swim, therefore a large plank which 
 was on deck was silently lifted over the side with 
 two small diameter casks, which the boy swim- 
 ming alongside attempted to lash to the plank, 
 one on each end. The casks proved unmanage- 
 able, and the boy could not lift the plank in the 
 water over them. Soon they got adrift and went 
 thumping against the ship in their journey aft, 
 much to the consternation of the men, who 
 thought that the noise would arouse the officers. 
 After waiting some time to find out the result, 
 and no officer appearing, the chimmoria was 
 placed on the plank, which he sank quite deep in 
 the water, and the other two men then began to 
 swim to land, pushing the plank between them. 
 The distance was found much more than ex- 
 pected, and afterwards it was found out that the 
 ship was anchored three miles out. The men 
 swam until exhausted. The land seemed to re- 
 cede. The wind began to spring up, causing 
 quite a sea, which was in the face of the runa- 
 ways. When nearing the shore heavy breakers 
 
113 
 
 were noticed. This condition had not entered 
 into the calculations of the swimmers, but they 
 were too far fagged out to return to the ship. 
 They must proceed and soon were tossing in the 
 surf. They knew nothing more after getting in 
 the breakers. They lost consciousness. The boy 
 was the first to regain his senses. When he 
 opened his eyes and saw the sun showing that it 
 must be at least ten o'clock in the morning, he 
 found himself lying bruised on a shaley beach. 
 He got up slowly, like Old Rip Van Winkle, 
 arousing himself from his twenty years' slumber, 
 and looked around. He saw the body of Smith 
 about two hundred feet down the beach. He la- 
 boriously crept to him, and finding him breathing 
 slightly, proceeded to do the resuscitation act. 
 After a while he got him on his feet and the two 
 went to the chimmoria, who was seen lying 
 about three hundred feet further down the shore. 
 It was pretty hard to bring him to life, but suc- 
 cess followed repeated endeavors. The plank 
 was not in sight. The three forlorn creatures, 
 leaning on one another, went slowly along the 
 shore and crept into a tropical growth of vines. 
 Soon they all lost knowledge of events in slum- 
 ber. They slept for hours, when the boy awaken- 
 ing, heard a whistle far off in the distance. This 
 was repeated by others in a semi-circle, and it 
 was noticed that the whistles became louder and 
 
114 
 
 more distinct, showing that the trackers were ap- 
 proaching in a curve. They rapidly came closer 
 and closer, until a circle of steel machettes sur- 
 rounded the elopers. The men holding the weap- 
 ons could not be seen on account of the thick 
 vegetation. Smith, who was always in trouble 
 on account of his thoughtless actions, attempted 
 to grab one of the machettes, when the savage 
 holder brought it down quickly on the right arm, 
 making a bad wound. Then the men were all 
 bound with their hands behind them, and marched 
 slowly through the tangled undergrowth to an 
 old Spanish fort, where they were put into a gun 
 embrasure, inhabited previously by chickens, who 
 had left a rich deposit of the usual kind. The 
 runaways were held in durance vile only a short 
 time. Soon they were marched, still bound, to a 
 bay, where the ship's crew were found filling casks 
 with water and towing them to the vessel. While 
 standing there some natives came up and began 
 to feel of the boy's body, jabbering in astonish- 
 ment. The governor of the island, a fine old 
 Spanish Don, who spoke English, was near, and 
 being asked the cause of the action, stated that 
 the natives thought the men were not human be- 
 cause they swam three miles in waters that 
 were infested with man-eating sharks to such an 
 extent that the inhabitants could not be enticed 
 to go to their knees in the sea. The men were 
 
IIS 
 
 placed in a boat and soon were hoisted on deck, 
 when the thongs binding their arms were cut. 
 The boy heard the old man say in a whisper to 
 the mate, "The rascals should be triced up in the 
 rigging by their thumbs" ; but the good old mate 
 whispered back that he thought it would be well 
 not to do so, as one of them was too good a 
 writer, and might cause trouble when they ar- 
 rived in port. The only punishment undergone 
 was pumping ship for hours. The next day four- 
 teen big man-eating sharks were noticed around 
 the ship. The crew spaded them until their en- 
 trails were exposed ; but still they snapped at food 
 thrown into the water. 
 
 After watering up, the old ship cruised after 
 the humpback whales. One stormy day when it 
 was really too rough to lower, a whale was raised. 
 The temptation could not be resisted, however, 
 and the boats were lowered. Soon the second 
 mate's boat, in which was the boy, fastened. Then 
 began a never-to-be-forgotten run. The whale 
 sounded, taking out two tubs of line, came up, 
 dragging the boat through the heavy seas, mak- 
 ing a wall of water high on each side. The men 
 worked with a will hauling in on the line, until 
 the whale sounded again, taking out all the line 
 hauled in. During these soundings and hauling 
 in it was noticed that another one of the boats 
 came very close to the running boat, but the mo- 
 
ii6 
 
 tion was so fast that the boat's crew did not know 
 that they had grazed the other. A whale boat 
 always carries four harpoons in the bows when 
 after whales. These are so placed as to be readily 
 grasped by the boat steerer in case the first misses. 
 During a slackness of the line the boat raised to 
 the top of a sea, when a flag was seen flying on 
 the ship which was a signal to cut the line and 
 return. Then the boat steerer noticed that one 
 of the harpoons in his arck had toggled. He was 
 very much surprised, but did not know the rea- 
 son why until returning to the ship. Then was 
 found aft, lying on his breast, one of the crew of 
 the other boat, with a ghastly Avound in his back. 
 During the almost instantaneous passing of the 
 boats one of the irons had entered the man's body 
 just back between the shoulder blades. The old 
 man sewed the wound up and he was taken for- 
 ward to the forecastle. Very stormy weather 
 was met with for weeks afterwards, and the poor 
 man lay tossing about in his bunk, causing the 
 stitches to often break, necessitating the agony of 
 another sewing. The man seldom ever groaned, 
 standing the pain like a stoic. That he ever re- 
 covered was a miracle; but he did, and returned 
 to duty, hearty and strong as ever. The only 
 after effect noticed was a slight stoop to remind 
 him of the terrible ordeal he had passed through. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The between-season cruise ending, the ship 
 made again for the Arctic Ocean. The ice to the 
 southard of Behring Strait was met with during 
 a dense fog. The fog lowered so that the man 
 in the crow's nest could see over it. He sang 
 out, "A vessel trying out on the starboard bow." 
 The third mate ran up and had hardly got in the 
 crow's nest before he sang out, "A steamer on 
 the starboard bow." On hearing this the old 
 man, who had never before during the voyage 
 been above deck, sprang in the rigging, with his 
 spyglass swung across his back, and soon orders 
 came thick and fast, to sheet home the foresail, 
 mainsail, set the aftersail, loosen the flying jib, 
 the topgallant sails and royals. In a few minutes 
 the ship was under full sail on the wind. The fog 
 then lifted and those on deck saw a steamer, after- 
 wards known as the rebel cruiser Shenandoah* 
 which had evidently captured seven whale ships, 
 for they were seen near at hand. The crews were 
 in their boats, fastened to a hawser trailing be- 
 hind the steamer. A gun on the stern was trained 
 on the men. At the same instant, all at once, the 
 ships blazed up with fire and burned fiercely. At 
 the same time the steamer, discovering the ship, 
 started in pursuit. It was gaining rapidly when 
 the fog descended again, shutting off vision com- 
 
ii8 
 
 pletely. The old man then gave orders to go 
 before the wind. The ship sailed to the southard 
 to St. Paul's Island, where it remained for a 
 month under the ice, fearing the reappearance of 
 the Shenandoah. It was learned later that the 
 steamer continued after the ship in the direction 
 it was sailing on the wind, and not seeing the 
 vessel again, sailed to the south the same day, 
 after placing aboard the bark Nancy all the cap- 
 tured crews. The Nancy was ordered to make 
 any port she pleased. The crowded vessel event- 
 ually got to San Francisco. It was also learned 
 how the cruiser got to the fleet. She did not in- 
 tend to go so far north, and was not provided 
 with necessary charts. The rebel captain thought 
 that the fleet was in the Okhotsk Sea, and pro- 
 ceeded there, capturing, the day he entered, the 
 Nancy, the only whaler in the Sea. He learned 
 from her crew that all the rest of the fleet had 
 sailed for the Arctic. He then called the cap- 
 tured crew together and stated that he would give 
 $2,000 gold to any one of them who would pilot 
 his vessel to the north. The mate of the Nancy 
 accepted the offer. A prize crew was placed upon 
 the captured vessel and both sailed in search of 
 the fleet, which was found and destroyed as re- 
 lated. All on board the burned vessels swore that 
 they would kill the mate on sight, on account of 
 his dastardly renegade action. To show how 
 
119 
 
 short are human animosities, that fellow was 
 harbor master in San Francisco for years after- 
 wards, meeting continually men who had sworn 
 to take his life. 
 
 The Mount Wallaston, on returning to Beh- 
 ring Strait, found it free from ice and sailed into 
 the Arctic Ocean. The burning of most of the 
 fleet made the w^haling grounds almost free from 
 competition and whales were captured in rapid 
 succession. Several boats were stove, but no loss 
 of men occurred. One large whale fastened to 
 proved unusually active. He threw his immense 
 flukes up alongside of the boat, breaking all the 
 oars on that side, smashing the gunwale, and, 
 curving over, knocked off the boy's cap, leaving 
 a patch of black skin on his head. If the flukes 
 had gone only one-half inch lower the boy's skull 
 would have been crushed. On account of losing 
 so much time early in the season, the old man 
 kept the ship unusually late in the ocean. The 
 cold became severe, and during the late lowerings 
 the crews suffered greatly. In almost every case 
 they had to be hauled out of the boats inert, and 
 had to go through the operation of being brought 
 to life by dousing of sea water. The catch was 
 over one thousand barrels and an immense quan- 
 tity of whalebone. The weather becoming 
 naughty, the ship was again headed to the south- 
 ard. 
 
120 
 
 In running up through the Behring Sea this 
 season large quantities of volcanic ash fell on the 
 deck, coming from some volcanoes then in active 
 eruption on the coast of Alaska. The ship also 
 passed through immense quantities of dead cod- 
 fish, covering the sea for many miles. This was 
 evidently the result of some subterranean dis- 
 turbance. 
 
 On the cruise downward a right whale was met 
 with and one of the boats soon fastened. He held 
 up the reputation of his species by proving to be 
 a first-class fighter. The small eyes of the right 
 whale are set so he cannot see forward, but can 
 only see over his flukes. A boat can go over his 
 head without danger ; but any careless officer who 
 attacks over his flukes runs a first-class chance of 
 losing his boat and crew. This beast stood on his 
 head and thrashed the air with his tail like a 
 whiplash. After a long struggle the whale was 
 secured without any loss. 
 
 The second day after securing the whale three 
 boat crews were picked up. They had lost their 
 ship in a fog while lowered for whales and had 
 drifted around for three days. They were all 
 Portuguese, and, of course, completely famished. 
 After being fed up with warm food they got in 
 good condition. An American or English crew 
 looks with contempt upon these dagoes. An ex- 
 tremely severe gale springing up, these men, in- 
 
121 
 
 Stead of assisting in the working of the ship, fell 
 down on their knees and began to pray to their 
 patron saint. The boy could not stand this. With 
 a swoop he sprang amongst the crowd, knocking 
 them over, and after a little persuasion of this 
 kind they stood on their feet. The second day 
 after picking up these men, their ship hove in 
 sight and the transfer was made, greatly to the 
 satisfaction of the Mount Wallaston crew. 
 
 The ship shortly arrived at Honolulu. Accord- 
 ing to law, a legal voyage is only three years; 
 therefore all the crew were entitled to their dis- 
 charge, as they had been on board three years 
 and six days. Only one man elected to remain. 
 He was a peculiar, reticent character. During 
 the voyage he never informed as to his history, 
 remaining quiet and reserved. He had a first- 
 class education and was liked by all. It was 
 learned afterward that in going to the Arctic for 
 the fourth season he was washed overboard and 
 drowned. The second mate who resigned after 
 the first season in the Okhotsk, shipped the next 
 season in another vessel, and while fastened to a 
 whale in the Arctic he thrust his lance into a bone 
 in the killing operation. He could not pull the 
 lance out, and having foolishly fastened, pre- 
 viously, the lance warp around his wrist, the 
 whale in sounding carried him out of the boat 
 and under the ice. He never appeared again. He 
 
122 
 
 had borrowed the boy's watch when the vessel 
 first made Hilo. It was never returned, and, 
 therefore, the boy has every reason to believe that 
 it rests at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean with 
 the bones of the second mate. Years afterward 
 the old Mount Wallaston was crushed in the 
 same ice floe that destroyed the Jeanette, during 
 the Jeanette expedition to find the North Pole. 
 So the timbers of both vessels rest together be- 
 neath waters of the Arctic. To show, how- 
 ever, the result of correct experience, the whaler's 
 crew escaped safely while the men of the Jeanette 
 nearly all perished in the fierce cold of Siberia. 
 
 The boy, unacquainted with the formalities 
 of revenue and duties, sent his donkey, or chest, 
 on shore unaccompanied and proceeded to the 
 ofiice, where the captain directed him to get a set- 
 tlement of his account. He found the place which 
 was upstairs, and met the only occupant, an old 
 clerk, seated on a high stool before an old-fash- 
 ioned desk. On giving his name, he was told that 
 he was indebted to the ship to the amount of 
 $320; but the amount could not be collected on 
 account of the impoverished condition of the ap- 
 plicant. The only thing required was that the 
 boy should sign a paper relinquishing all claims 
 against the ship. This information was received 
 with mild surprise. A demand to see the books 
 was met with the statement that they would not 
 
123 
 
 be understood and again the paper was placed be- 
 fore the boy for signature. Insistance caused the 
 day-book and ledger to be produced. There it 
 was shown that the escapade on the old ship 
 Dreadnaught was charged up to the tune of two 
 hundred and ten dollars. The swimming act at 
 the Ladrone Islands cost two hundred and thirty 
 dollars. The six dollars liberty money received 
 during the voyage was debited as twelve dollars 
 on account of the depreciated condition of the 
 American currency at the time. The various ar- 
 ticles got out of the slop chest, with three to four 
 hundred per cent, profit added, were duly re- 
 corded. All these items, balanced with the pro- 
 ceeds of the voyage, left the indebtedness as 
 stated. It was no use to question the correctness 
 of the charges. The boy had to be satisfied. To 
 leave the office, after three years and six days of 
 hard, laborious toil, without a cent of remunera- 
 tion, seemed, however, to be tough. A break was 
 made for the door, when the clerk sang out, 
 "Here, you have not signed the paper." The boy, 
 knowing that the law required a clear balance 
 sheet of the voyage, and that the account could 
 not be closed without this paper, stated that he 
 never made his signature without recompense, 
 and that he demanded payment for the act. The 
 clerk pleaded that he had to have the books bal- 
 anced and said it was a favor to cross off the 
 
124 
 
 amount owed the ship, all without disturbing the 
 boy's determination, however. The result was that 
 the clerk brought out a twenty dollar gold piece as 
 payment for the signature, which was duly made, 
 and all connection ended with the old Mount 
 Wallaston. On leaving the office several mem- 
 bers of the crew were met, all disconsolate on ac- 
 count of not receiving anything. They were told 
 of their foolishness in not demanding money for 
 their signature, receiving the information with 
 due resignation. 
 
 The boy then went to the dock to hunt up his 
 donkey. It was found, but upon opening it the 
 absence of many curios collected during the voy- 
 age was noticed, including some fine articles pro- 
 cured in Japan. On inquiry it was found that 
 the Custom Officers had condemned the articles 
 on account of non-payment of duties. He offered 
 to pay the duties, without result. Various ex- 
 cuses were given, but the articles never were re- 
 covered. The rascals had stolen them, a common 
 occurrence in that land of missionary dominance. 
 Early in the afternoon a visit was made to Schu- 
 brim, who was overjoyed to meet the boy again. 
 He stated that he had more work to do than was 
 possible, and urged an immediate beginning of 
 employment, with the result that the boy was 
 soon busy at a case. He had on only an old blue 
 denim suit with a pair of sea boots. Good old 
 
125 
 
 Schubrim supplied fat copy, which netted $38 the 
 first week. This seemed a princely income, com- 
 pared with the revenue from the whaling voyage. 
 The boy remained in the printing office for quite 
 a time, and enjoyed himself immensely roaming 
 about the Island in off hours. He acquired a 
 fair familiarity with the Kanaka language, and 
 found the people very agreeable, altho great hypo- 
 crites on religious questions. The missionaries 
 had only veneered them with church forms. They 
 still remained highly immoral, with the free care- 
 less ways natural to them long before the incom- 
 ing of the white people. Their hoola hoolas were 
 enjoyed, and their one, two and three-fingered 
 poy w^ere relished greatly. One day in roaming 
 the hills, an old naked Kanaka was seen seated 
 beside his hut. Greeting him with "Aloha neui/* 
 which means a friendly introduction, the native 
 arising returned the compliment. A conversation 
 was continued in Kanaka. He was asked if he 
 ever went to Honolulu. The answer was made 
 in a manly style. ''Oura, Oura." (No, no.) 
 "The white people make a law that I wear a 
 shirt. I no wear a shirt." As he was a splendid 
 specimen of manhood standing six feet tall, he 
 impressed the boy with his sterling opposition to 
 the useless apparel which the governing class was 
 trying to force on these harmless people. The 
 women only wore, in the towns, a single cotton 
 
126 
 
 dress cut like a mother hubbard. On horseback, 
 straddHng the animal like a man, and throwing a 
 gaily-colored cloth in front, they looked very pic- 
 turesque. One day, in going over a bridge near 
 the city, a woman was noticed lying at the bottom 
 of a clear stream, her dress undulating with the 
 running water. She appeared motionless, and 
 fearing that she was drowned, the boy watched 
 her intently. Soon she moved slowly and grace- 
 fully to the top, with a handful of vegetation 
 which was deposited in a calabash floating on the 
 water. Descending again and returning, the cala- 
 bash was soon filled and the maiden came on 
 shore. A long conversation followed. The na- 
 tives use a large quantity of such grasses, taken 
 from the bottom of streams, for food. The 
 Kanakas, like most native people, make a liquid to 
 produce intoxication. The custom is to have vir- 
 gins, seated around a calabash, chew a root and 
 spit the fluid into the central vessel. This ferments 
 almost immediately, and the resultant ''arra" is 
 distributed in small shells to the spectators, who 
 seem to enjoy the same. It certainly makes 
 drunkenness come quickly. The boy never found 
 out its taste, as knowledge of the making of it 
 satisfied him that his stomach would rebel. 
 
 The government of the Islands was a burlesque. 
 The outside people thought that the royal family 
 was a power. The fact was that Queen Emma, 
 
127 
 
 who was officiating when the boy was in Hono- 
 lulu, was a black wench, much darker than her 
 people, and when she went amongst them she 
 was treated with no more respect than any other 
 native woman. The heir apparent was a great 
 drinker and would often enter a saloon and treat 
 all the loungers with liquor at 25 cents a glass, 
 then retire to sleep off his too liberal potations. 
 The actual governing class were a parcel of rene- 
 gades gathered from all parts of the earth, prin- 
 cipally, however, from the United States, from 
 which they had emigrated to the benefit of that 
 country. The missionaries were a power, and 
 they seemed to work in with this horde of dissi- 
 pated citizens. To call the Islands a kingdom 
 was a misuse of the term. The boy strolled one 
 day along a long lane that led to the old palace. 
 This palace was a low, rambling building, sur- 
 rounded by a high board fence. On reaching the 
 gate, which was like one leading to a barnyard, 
 a Kanaka soldier was noticed on guard. He had 
 no shoes and only a pair of pantaloons covered his 
 legs, and a shirt, wide open in front, covered his 
 body. His musket leaned against a tree and he was 
 reclining against the fence. The boy demanded 
 entrance. "Oitra, Oiira," was the reply, when 
 the stranger grabbed the musket and, pointing it 
 at the guard, demanded the gate to be opened. 
 The fellow dropped on his knees and pleaded to 
 
128 
 
 be left alone. After some more fun with the na- 
 tive he received back his musket. The boy had 
 tested it with the ramrod to find out whether it 
 was loaded or not, and finding no load in the bar- 
 rel knew that the weapon could be delivered up 
 safely. He returned with not a very high opin- 
 ion of the army, which consisted of thirty such 
 ragamuffins. 
 
 After a long time the boy became restive. The 
 confinement of the printing office proved irksome. 
 He informed Schubrim that he intended to leave 
 and was met with pleadings to remain that were 
 hard to resist; but the fever of change was on; 
 therefore, soon he was on the water front looking 
 for a vessel to carry him to San Francisco. He 
 was abundantly able to pay for his passage, but 
 the lust of the sea was still forcible and he deter- 
 mined to ship. The old bark Smyrnaote was soon 
 found, bound the next day for the land of gold. 
 The captain was asked if he wanted a sailor. 
 Yes, he replied ; but he did not want such a land- 
 lubber as our friend. All the sea tan had left dur- 
 ing his stay on shore, and the clothing worn was 
 far from sailor-like. The boy fired at the old 
 man, "You know what the result will be if I ship 
 as a sailor and it is found out that I cannot per- 
 form the work." That remark was irresistible 
 to the captain. He told the boy to proceed to 
 the cabin and sign the articles. That was done 
 
129 
 
 as ordinary seaman. Soon busy with marlin- 
 spike and line, he was seizing up some casks on 
 deck. The old man was watching, and soon de- 
 manded why the boy had lied so confoundedly. 
 "Go back to the cabin," he said, **and cross out 
 ordinary seaman and write able seaman instead." 
 The old ship proved a very wet one. She was 
 continually throwing green water over the decks. 
 One day after she had dug her nose into a sea, 
 filling her up to the rails, washing all the crew 
 on deck aft to the lee-scuppers, an old lady pas- 
 senger, who saw the men picking themselves up, 
 after the water had run off, took from her cabin 
 two bottles of brandy, and calling one of the men 
 handed him the bottles, at the same time directing 
 him to tell all the men to go immediately below, 
 change their clothes, and drink some of the 
 brandy, which would prevent them from taking 
 cold. The brandy was taken with thanks; but 
 the idea of the crew going below seemed ex- 
 tremely funny to them. 
 
 One day the boy was directed to get some white 
 paint and paint under the skylight over the main 
 saloon. There was a fine Wilton carpet on the 
 floor of this room, therefore he started toward 
 the sail locker. "Where are you going?" cried 
 the mate. On replying that he was after an old 
 sail to cover the carpet, he was told to proceed 
 with the work, and that if he dropped any paint 
 
130 
 
 severe punishment would be the result. The 
 painting was done. Not a drop descended, but 
 the execution was slow and a very dry brush was 
 used. Why the officer gave such a command was 
 incomprehensible. Such stunts, however, were 
 often given and the men had to obey without de- 
 murring. 
 
 When near port at night, the boy noticed that 
 the lookout was on top of the galley instead of 
 being stationed by the nightheads, his proper po- 
 sition. He told the man that if the officer found 
 him there trouble would ensue. The bully replied 
 that they were near the end of the run and the 
 officer would not dare to interfere. Soon the sec- 
 ond mate came forward, and noticing the man 
 demanded that he go to the proper place. Re- 
 ceiving a saucy answer, he removed his coat and 
 catching the man by the heels pulled him off the 
 galley with a bang and immediately proceeded to 
 give him the punishment that was deserved, after 
 which the fellow was meek enough to obey or- 
 ders. Often the abuse of men at sea has been 
 mentioned; but never, in the experience of the 
 boy, has he ever observed any abuse that was not 
 richly deserved. No man who willingly obeyed 
 orders had any trouble. Only those who were 
 morose, extremely dilatory, careless or saucy 
 were made to toe the mark with blows of disci- 
 pline. 
 
131 
 
 The brig came gaily past the Heads into the 
 splendid harbor of San Francisco, and on a bright, 
 sunny day, the boy, now grown to man's estate, 
 left the ship and landed on shore in the year 1866. 
 His life that followed was the usual humdrum 
 existence that obtains on shore, without events 
 worthy of record, and thus he is left, with memo- 
 ries of events that cause pleasure. Even the ex- 
 treme hardships undergone are recalled as though 
 they were the most enjoyable happenings of his 
 experiences. 
 
BB 9.3.1 
 
BK- -'^'i !3I£ 
 
 ^ 
 
 One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
 

 .V ^ 
 
 .^■^ v^^ 
 
 
 ^"^^. 
 
 .0- 
 
 0' 
 
 
 1*°- V 
 
 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 '^MrS 
 
 iO^, 
 
 C" *^ 
 
 -./ "^^-^ ^^/ •^': %.^' ''^'- ^' 
 
 ■0 ^^ 
 
 ,<^^ ■^^ 
 
 vT 
 
 0°^ ,.-^% 
 
 
 ^°-^<^. 
 
 ^ 
 
<y , o " a ^ -^ 
 
 "t^-o^ ST. AUGUSTINE T- "^O V