This honest woman gave us Jack's wages to a cent, for I knew what
they had come to; and we made a collection of ten dollars for her,
calculating that Jack must have swallowed that much in three days. Jack we
took with us, bag and hammock; but he would eat nothing on the passage,
calling out constantly for drink. We gave him liquor, thinking it would do
him good; but he grew worse, and, when we reached Philadelphia, he was
sent to the hospital. Here, in the course of a few days, he died.
Never, in all my folly and excesses, did I give myself so much up to
drink, as when I reached Philadelphia this time. I was not quite as bad as
Jack Dove, but I soon lost my appetite, living principally on liquor. When
we heard of Jack's death, we proposed among ourselves to give him a
sailor's funeral. We turned out, accordingly, to the number if a hundred,
or more, in blue jackets and white trowsers, and marched up to the
hospital in a body. I was one of the leaders in this arrangement, and felt
much interest in it, as Jack had been my messmate; but, the instant I saw
his coffin, a fit of the "horrors" came over me, and I actually left the
place, running down street towards the river, as if pursued by devils.
Luckily, I stopped to rest on the stoop of a druggist. The worthy man took
me in, gave me some soda water, and some good advice. When a little
strengthened, I made my way home, but gave up at the door.
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