FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   419   420   421   422   423   424   425   426   427   428   429   430   431   432   433   434   435   436   437   438   439   440   441   442   443  
444   445   446   447   448   449   450   451   452   453   454   455   456   457   458   459   >>  
ny more million miles have we got to creep under this awful sun before we camp?" It was a relief to cast all these torturing little anxieties far away--ropes of steel they were, and every one with a separate and distinct strain on it --and feel the temporary contentment that is born of the banishment of all care and responsibility. We did not look at the compass: we did not care, now, where the ship went to, so that she went out of sight of land as quickly as possible. When I travel again, I wish to go in a pleasure ship. No amount of money could have purchased for us, in a strange vessel and among unfamiliar faces, the perfect satisfaction and the sense of being at home again which we experienced when we stepped on board the "Quaker City,"--our own ship--after this wearisome pilgrimage. It is a something we have felt always when we returned to her, and a something we had no desire to sell. We took off our blue woollen shirts, our spurs, and heavy boots, our sanguinary revolvers and our buckskin-seated pantaloons, and got shaved and came out in Christian costume once more. All but Jack, who changed all other articles of his dress, but clung to his traveling pantaloons. They still preserved their ample buckskin seat intact; and so his short pea jacket and his long, thin legs assisted to make him a picturesque object whenever he stood on the forecastle looking abroad upon the ocean over the bows. At such times his father's last injunction suggested itself to me. He said: "Jack, my boy, you are about to go among a brilliant company of gentlemen and ladies, who are refined and cultivated, and thoroughly accomplished in the manners and customs of good society. Listen to their conversation, study their habits of life, and learn. Be polite and obliging to all, and considerate towards every one's opinions, failings and prejudices. Command the just respect of all your fellow-voyagers, even though you fail to win their friendly regard. And Jack--don't you ever dare, while you live, appear in public on those decks in fair weather, in a costume unbecoming your mother's drawing-room!" It would have been worth any price if the father of this hopeful youth could have stepped on board some time, and seen him standing high on the fore-castle, pea jacket, tasseled red fez, buckskin patch and all, placidly contemplating the ocean--a rare spectacle for any body's drawing-room. After a pleasant voyage and a good rest, we
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   419   420   421   422   423   424   425   426   427   428   429   430   431   432   433   434   435   436   437   438   439   440   441   442   443  
444   445   446   447   448   449   450   451   452   453   454   455   456   457   458   459   >>  



Top keywords:

buckskin

 

costume

 

father

 
drawing
 

pantaloons

 

jacket

 

stepped

 

society

 

Listen

 
conversation

customs

 
accomplished
 
manners
 

habits

 
cultivated
 

prejudices

 

failings

 

Command

 
respect
 
opinions

refined

 
polite
 

obliging

 

considerate

 
gentlemen
 

abroad

 

injunction

 
suggested
 

brilliant

 

company


ladies

 

standing

 

castle

 

hopeful

 

tasseled

 

pleasant

 

voyage

 

spectacle

 

placidly

 

contemplating


regard

 

friendly

 
voyagers
 

forecastle

 

unbecoming

 

weather

 

mother

 
million
 

public

 

fellow