The Alabama had now been upwards of
seventy days at sea, and during nearly the whole of that period her crew
had subsisted entirely on salted provisions. Happily, as yet, no ill
effects had appeared; but the fresh vegetables came most opportunely to
ward off any danger of that scourge of the sailor's existence, scurvy,
to which a longer confinement to salt diet must inevitably have exposed
them.
Indeed, but for the consciousness of how vitally necessary a change of
diet is to the health of a ship's crew, there would have been something
almost ludicrous in the delight with which the men, who for the last six
months had been almost daily destroying thousands of pounds' worth of
the most valuable property of every description, now hailed the
acquisition of a sack or two of turnips and a few strings of humble
cabbages. But abstinence is a wonderful quickener of apprehension; and
for teaching the true value of the good things of this life, there are
few recipes more effectual than a voyage in the forecastle of a cruising
man-of-war.
Besides the cabbages and turnips, which were so welcome forward, the
Levi Starbuck contributed not a little to the comfort of the after-part
of the vessel by her contribution of newspapers, which passed eagerly
from hand to hand, through wardroom and steerage, affording a pleasant
change from the worn-out topics of discussion that had now grown
threadbare through the wear-and-tear of many a dull day and stormy
night.
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