I had plenty of money, and a
sailor's disposition to get rid of it, carelessly, and what I thought
generously. It was Evacuation-Day, and severely cold, and the hot-stuff
pleased everybody, on such an occasion. Nor was this all. In passing
Whitehall slip, I saw the Ohio's first-cutter lying there, and it happened
that I not only knew the officer of the boat, who had been one of the
midshipmen of the Constellation, but that I knew most of its crew. I was
hailed, of course, and then I asked leave to treat the men. The permission
was obtained, and this second act of liberality reduced me to the
necessity of going into port, under a pilot's charge. Still I had not
absolutely forgotten the sermon, nor all my good resolutions.
At the boarding-house I found a Prussian, named Godfrey, a steady, sedate
man, and I agreed with him to go to Savannah, to engage in the
shad-fishery, for the winter, and to come north together in the spring. My
landlord was not only ill and poor, but he had many children to support,
and it is some proof that all my good resolutions were not forgotten, that
I was ready to go south before my money was gone, and willing it should do
some good, in the interval of my absence. A check for fifty dollars still
remained untouched, and I gave it to this man, with the understanding he
was to draw the money, use it for his own wants, and return it to me, if
he could, when I got back.
Pages:
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328