"

"I won't say I'll never touch it," Will said, "for I don't know,
yet, how I may want it--they say when you are cold and wet through,
at sea, it is really good--but I have made up my mind I'll never
drink for the sake of drinking. Half the men--ay, nineteen out of
twenty in the House--would never have been there, I've heard mother
say, if it hadn't been for drink; and I told her she need never
fear I'd take to that."

"If you can do without it on shore, you can do without it at sea,"
the skipper said. "I take it when I'm on shore, but there's not a
drop goes out on the Kitty. Some boats carries spirits, some don't.
We don't. The old man puts chocolate on board instead and, of a wet
night, a drink of hot chocolate's worth all the rum in the world.

"As for giving it up altogether, I see no call for it. There are
men who can't touch liquor, but they must go on till they get
drunk. That sort ought to swear off, and never touch it at all.
It's worse than poison, to some. But for a man who is content with
his pint of beer with his dinner, and a glass of grog of an
evening, I see no harm in it."

"Except that the money might be better spent, John."

"It might be, or it might not. In my case, the saving would be of
no account. The beer costs three pence, and the rum as much more.
That's six pence a day. I'm only at home ten days, once every two
months; so it come to thirty shillings a year, and I enjoy my
dinner, and my evening pipe, all the better for them."

"The thing is this, Will: you don't know, when you begin, whether
you are going to be one of the men who--like my John--is content
with his pint of beer, and his glass of grog; or whether you will
be one of them as can't touch liquor without wanting to make beasts
of themselves. Therefore the safest plan is, don't touch it at
all--leastways, till you've served your time. The others may laugh
at you, at first; but they won't like you any the worse for it."

"Thank you, ma'am. I will make up my mind to that--not to touch
liquor till I am out of my apprenticeship. After that, I can see
for myself."

"That's right, lad. When you come back from your first trip, you
can join the lodge, if you like. I and my girls are members."

"Thank you, ma'am," Will said; "but I won't take any pledge. I have
said I will not do it, and I don't see any use in taking an oath
about it. If I am so weak as to break my word, I should break my
oath. I don't know why I shouldn't be abl