inute." The bull kept on pushing the tree; so the keelman
tried a totally irrelevant supplication. He said, "For what we are about
to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful." Teasing urchins
sometimes shout after the keelman, "Who jumped on the grindstone?" and
this query never fails to rouse the worst wrath in the most sedate; for
it touches a very sore point. Two men were caught by a heavy freshet and
driven over the bar. The legend declares that one of these mariners saw,
in the dusk, a hoop floating by. The hoop was full of foam; and with
swift intuition the keelman said, "We're saved; here's a grindstone
swimming!" He followed up his discovery by jumping on to the
grindstone--with most unsatisfactory results. His error has led to much
loss of temper among his tribe.

In the matter of sport the keelman's ideas are narrowed to one point. He
is only interested in boat-racing; but he makes up by fervour for his
want of extended views. For weeks before a great race the Sandgate
quarter is in a state of excitement, and wagering is general and heavy.
The faith which the genuine keelman has in his athletic idol is almost
touching. When the well-known Chambers rowed for the championship of
England in 1867, an admirer shouted as the rower went to the starting
point, "Gan on, Bob; I've putten everything I have on you." Chambers
shook his head mournfully and said, "Take it all off again, my man; I
cannot win." But the enthusiast would not accept even that excellent
authority. For a long time before the last championship race the
sporting keelmen put by money every week to back the Tynesider, and the
melancholy result of the race desolated Sandgate. Perhaps it was well
that the Englishman was beaten; for in the event of any athletic success
the whole Tyneside population become very arrogant, and the keelmen
insufferable. Each one of them takes credit for the victory, and the
community of Sandgate becomes a large mutual admiration society.

In politics the keelman's notions are crude. If a stranger spoke
disrespectfully of the present member for Newcastle in the hearing of a
keelman it is not improbable that a crowd would be called, and the
critic would be immersed in the river: but the crowd could not explain
lucidly their reasons for such strong political action. The fact is that
the keelman has no interest in the affairs that occupy people ashore.
The brown river, the set of the tides, the arrival and sailing of the
col