Charlie Codmans Cruise 7

Charlie Codmans Cruise 7

CHARLIE AT HOME.

 

 

The tenement-house owned by Peter Manson was a three-story wooden

building, very much in need of paint. It was scarcely likely to be

pointed out by any one as one of the architectural ornaments of the

city. Years before it had fallen into Peter's hands at a small price,

and he had every year since realized from it in the way of rent a sum

equal to one half the purchase-money. No one who has lived in a city

can help knowing how much more proportionally the poor are compelled

to pay for their scanty and insufficient accommodations than the rich,

or those in moderate circumstances. No class of property is made to

pay a larger percentage than the wretched tenement-houses which seem

adapted to furnish as little accommodation as possible to those who are

compelled to occupy them.

 

The tenement-house in which Charlie and his mother lived was no better

than the average. It was the home of a large number of persons of

various occupations. Seamstresses, mechanics, washer-women, and many

others found a home under this one roof.

 

Mrs. Codman occupied a room on the third floor. As we enter the

room it is easy to see what a charm can be thrown around even the

humblest place by the presence of refinement and good taste. All the

appointments of the room, indeed, were of the cheapest description.

Probably the furniture did not exceed in cost that of the room

opposite. Yet there was a considerable difference in the appearance

of Mrs. Codman's room and that of Sally Price, who, if she had ever

possessed an organ of neatness, had lost it years ago.

 

The old-fashioned windows were washed as clean as water could make

them, so as to admit all the sunshine which could find its way over

the tall roof on the opposite side of the street. They were hung with

plain chintz curtains, separated in the middle and looped on either

side. The floor was quite clean as far as it could be seen. In the

centre was spread a floor-cloth some eight feet square, which relieved

its bareness. There was a small round table near the window, and a

small square work-table of no very costly material, in another part of

the room. On this was placed a rose-bush in a flower-pot. It had been

given to Charlie by an old gentleman who had taken a fancy to him. In

another quarter was a home-made lounge, the work of Charlie's hands. It

had originally been a wooden box, given him by a shopkeeper near by.

This box had been covered with calico stuffed with cotton, so that it

made quite a comfortable seat. It was used besides as a wood-box, its

legitimate province, but when the cover was closed it was nevertheless

a very respectable article of furniture. There were besides a few plain

wooden chairs, and a small rocking-chair for Mrs. Codman. Opening out

of the main room was a small bedroom, occupied by the mother, while

Charlie had a bed made up for him at night in the common sitting-room.

 

A few books--a very few--were piled upon the little table. They were

chiefly schoolbooks,--an arithmetic, a geography, and an atlas, over

which Charlie would generally spend a portion of every evening, and

occasionally a boy's book, lent him by his friend Edwin Bangs, who,

together with his brothers, had quite a large juvenile library.

 

Mrs. Codman is sitting by the window industriously engaged in

needle-work, and intent on accomplishing a certain amount before

nightfall. She was past thirty-five, yet, in spite of the trials which

have left their impress on her brow, she would readily be taken for

five years younger. She has drawn her chair to the window to make the

most of the rapidly fading daylight. As with swift fingers she plies

the glistening needle, and the sun touches her cheek with a beaming

glow, we can see that not only has she been beautiful, but is still so.

 

A hasty step is heard on the stairs, there is a stamping at the door,

and in rushes a bright, handsome boy, with rosy cheeks and dark hair.

 

The mother's face lights up with a bright smile as she turns to her

son, the only one she has left to love.

 

"You're a little later than usual, Charlie, are you not?"

 

"A little, mother. You see I didn't get a job till late, and then two

came together."

 

"What were they?"

 

"A gentleman wanted me to take his carpet-bag from the Maine depot, and

I had to carry it away up to Rutland Street."

 

"Did he go with you?"

 

"No; he had to go to his counting-room in State Street."

 

"Was he willing to trust you? Some boys might have made off with the

carpet-bag, and he would have never seen it again."

 

"He thought of that, but he said--and I think he's a real

gentleman--that he knew I was honest by my appearance, and he was

willing to trust me."

 

"Quite complimentary, Charlie. How much did he pay you for your

trouble?"

 

"Half a dollar."

 

"Then you have done a good deal better than I have. I have been

working all day, and shall not realize more than twenty-five cents for

my labor."

 

"I wish you didn't have to work at all, mother."

 

"Thank you, Charlie; but I dare say I am happier for having something

to do. I wish I could get better pay for my work. But you haven't told

me what the other errand was. You said you had two."

 

"Yes," said Charlie, "I had just got back from Rutland Street, and had

bought two or three evening papers which I was going to try to sell,

when a man came up to me, and after looking at me for a minute or

two, asked me if I would take a little walk with him. He said he was

a stranger in Boston, and didn't know his way about much. He asked me

if I had lived here long, and what my name was. He told me he would

pay me if I would go around with him, and point out some of the public

buildings. He told me he would pay me at the rate of twenty-five cents

an hour for my time. I told him I had one or two papers to dispose of."

 

"'Never mind about them,' said he, 'I will take them off your hands.'

 

"'But they are alike,' said I.

 

"'Never mind,' he answered; so he paid me the full price for two

Journals and two Transcripts, and off we went."

 

"What sort of a person was he?"

 

"He was a stout man, over forty, and looked to me like a sailor. I

shouldn't wonder if he was an officer of some ship."

 

"Did you like his looks?"

 

"Why," said Charlie, hesitatingly, "not exactly; not so much as I did

of the other gentleman. There was something about his eye which I

didn't like. Still he acted up to his agreement, and paid me all he

promised."

 

"How long were you together?"

 

"About an hour and a half. We walked round the Common and the Public

Garden, went into the State House and the Public Library. However, he

didn't seem to care much about them. He seemed to take more interest

in me, somehow, and asked me a good many questions; whether I had any

parents living, and how long I had lived in the city. When I told him

you were born in Havana, he said he used to live there himself."

 

"Indeed!" said Mrs. Codman.

 

"He also told me that he might like to have me go round with him

again, and told me to call to-morrow at the Quincy House, where he is

stopping. But, mother, isn't it most time for supper? Here, just let me

set the table, if you are busy."

 

"Very well, Charlie; I shall be glad to have you do so, as I am in a

hurry to finish my sewing."

 

In the evening Charlie read to his mother while she sewed. Neither of

them suspected that it was the last evening they would spend together

for several months.

 

 

 

 

VII.

 

CAPTAIN BRACE.

 

 

Lying at one of the wharves was a ship of moderate size, evidently

fast getting ready for sea. The cargo had all been stowed away, and,

notwithstanding the confusion, it was easy even for a landsman to see

that the ship was about ready for departure.

 

The ship was the Bouncing Betsey, commanded by Captain Nathaniel Brace.

As to the peculiar name of the vessel, I can give no information

whether or not there was a real Bouncing Betsey after whom it was

named. The probability however is, that it was a purely ideal name, the

sound and alliterative character of which had commended it to the one

upon whom rested the selection of a name.

 

A few words now about Captain Brace, with whom we shall become better

acquainted by and by.

 

He was a short, stout, broad-shouldered man. He was no fresh-water

captain, but from the age of thirteen had been tossing about on the

ocean. It is my privilege to know many sea captains who do honor to

their calling, high-toned, gentlemanly, and intelligent men; not

learned in books, but possessing a wide range of general information.

I am sorry to say that Captain Brace was not a man of this class. He

had little education beyond what was required by his profession, and

was utterly lacking in refinement and courtesy. He was not an amiable

man, but rough, stormy, exacting, and dictatorial. The crew under his

command he looked upon as so many machines, whose duty it was to obey

him with scrupulous exactness, whatever might be the nature of his

requisitions. When he got into one of his fits of passion, he would

stamp and rave, kicking and striking this way and that with the most

reckless disregard of human lives and human feelings. In fact, he was

one of those pests of the merchant service, an unfeeling tyrant, who

did all in his power to degrade the profession which he had adopted,

and add to the hardships which lie in the path of the sailor.

 

The employers of Captain Brace were far from being aware of the

extent to which he carried the severity of his discipline; brutality,

indeed, would be the more appropriate word. They supposed him to be

a strict commander, who liked to preserve a proper subordination in

those under his command, and this they were disposed to commend rather

than to complain of, more especially as the captain was master of his

profession, and had usually made quick and profitable voyages. This, as

may be supposed, was enough to cover a great many defects in the eyes

of those whose pecuniary interest he subserved, even if the captain had

not been shrewd enough to conceal his more disagreeable traits when on

shore, under an affectation of bluff frankness.

 

There was a time when there were many captains in the service no better

than the one we have just sketched, but both in the naval and merchant

service there has undoubtedly been a great improvement within a few

years.

 

Without dwelling further on the personal characteristics of Captain

Brace, with whom we shall have abundant opportunity to become

acquainted, since we purpose going to sea with him on his approaching

voyage, we introduce him pacing the deck of his vessel with a short

black pipe in his mouth, on the very morning he intends to sail.