money would allow them to do so), deplore the introduction
of a larger educational system and the enactment of more
rigid laws to provide against a despotism that had become a
national disgrace! And it was not until a few demoniacs had
committed hideous murder, and were hung for it, that the
legislature took the trouble to inquire into what was going
on upon the high seas--nay, at times even before their very
eyes.

One duty of a young sailor is to tar down the fore and aft
stays. At any time and under any circumstances this was a
precarious undertaking, and yet these fine young athletes
would undertake it quite joyously, provided it was called
for in the ordinary course of their duty, and there was no
intimation or suspicion of it being intended as a "work-up"
job, as they called it. The main and mizen stays stretched
from mast to mast; the fore stays were more perpendicular,
as they stretched from the masts to the jib-boom and
bowsprit. It was usual to have a boatswain's chair to sit
and be lowered down in while tarring these stays. Some mates
disdained pampering youths with a luxury of this kind, so
disallowed it, and caused them to sit in a bowlin' bight
instead. But the most villainous thing of all was when a boy
for a mere technical offence, perhaps, indeed, no offence
at all, would be ordered to ride a stay down without either
chair or bowlin'. The tar-pot was held in one hand, the
tarring was done with the other, and the holding on was
managed by a process of clinging with the legs and body as
they slid along in a marvellously skilful way; and woe to
the unhappy culprit who allowed any drops of tar to fall on