They are neither seamen nor
landsmen, good whips nor decent shots, their hair is not woolly enough
for niggers, and their faces are too black for white men. They ain't
amphibious animals, like marines and otters. They are Salamanders. But
that's a long word, and now they call them stokers for shortness.
"Then steamers carry a mob, and I detest mobs, especially such ones as
they delight in--greasy Jews, hairy Germans, Mulatto-looking Italians,
squalling children, that run between your legs and throw you down, or
wipe the butter off their bread on your clothes; Englishmen that will
grumble, and Irishmen that will fight; priests that won't talk, and
preachers that will harangue; women that will be carried about,
because they won't lie still and be quiet; silk men, cotten men,
bonnet men, iron men, trinket men, and every sort of shopmen, who
severally know nothing in the world but silk, cotten, bonnets, iron,
trinkets, and so on, and can't talk of anythin' else; fellows who walk
up and down the deck, four or five abreast when there are four or five
of the same craft on board, and prevent any one else from promenadin'
by sweepin' the whole space, while every lurch the ship gives, one of
them tumbles atop of you, or treads on your toes, and then, instead of
apoligisin', turns round and abuses you like a pick-pocket for
stickin' your feet out and trippin' people up.
Pages:
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49