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Untitled Article
on the water . Don ' t believe , reader , that I had never seen or sailed in—no , not sailed , but moved in—a boat before . I had seen hundreds of coal barges on the Dudley canal , towed by skeleton horses , whose food was some pint of beans per diem , and their drivers whipped them with those iron cranks which they use occa * sionally for winding up the paddles at the locks , though the chief use of these cranks was as a whip . But here we skimmed along across the ripple , made by the uniform dipping of the oars , so gaily , so lightly , that my fears were smoothed as I admired the motion of men and boat , which latter was advancing obliquely on the tide towards a ship which was pointed out to me by pigtail Hopkins . Is that a French ship ?* I inquired of him . A gruff ' yaw , hah , ah ! ' chorussed from the six rowers , which ended on a cadenza from pigtail Hopkins . < I wish she was a French ship out at sea , and you and me in a good cruiser in chase of her ,
though her cargo is no great shakes ; her name is the rnendship , and a rare friend she is to some folks . ' ' Clap a stopper on your (jawing tackle , Hopkins , ' said another . But Hopkins would * spin his yarn . ' There ' s many a chap aboard of her as would have his running geer choked in the luff , or his life lines stranded , if we had not shipped him . ' Choked in the luff ! what does that mean ? I asked myself . ' Ay , or he ' d catch toko fau ' n yam , sarved out by the parish beadle , at the cart ' s tail , instead of beef and burgoo , aboard o ' that craft . ' < Toco fau ' n yam at the cart ' s tail ! ' I laughed at the jest , the whole boat ' s crew thought it something funny , but I could not understand it . ' What is that long thing like a coachman ' s whip , flying at the topmast head ? ' said I , somewhat proud of my nautical knowledge . ' Top mast ? said
Hopkins , contemptuously , ' you mean to say the main tu gallon must head , but that ' s the main truck as it flies from . Wh y that ' s his majesty ' s pennant , what he flogs the French with . ' 'Oh !' here I felt a kind of rumbling under my ribs . Fighting was very amusing , very interesting matter in a book , but the firs ^ feeling that I was probably to be occupied in furnishing , or assisting to furnish materials for a tale of battles , had something in it of a strange , and not particularly ngreeable nature . But then I might live , escape to tell the tale myself . Ah I there ' s the balm ; there ' s the momentum ; the putter on , the magnet which attracts , the excitement that stimulates many an honourable hero . Hero ! this I certainly never expected to be , this I certainty never shall be , except by accident , as many heroes have been made ; though I sometimes dreamt of it as a thing to be wished . Now we were approaching very near the ship , ' Unrow , ' and up at once flew the oars out of their rullocks : * Boat your oars ; ' and 1 scrambled after Hopkins and n youngster ( who had been silent during the transit ) up the ship ' s side , and stood on board his Majesty ' s tender , Friendship . Hopkins gave the note to Lieutenant , who , after a word or two of question to me and my
Untitled Article
Autobiography of Pel . Verjuice . 543
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1833, page 543, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2620/page/31/
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