rambling statement of accidents that had happened, and the
wild wrath that follows in the wake of a ship sailing on the
forbidden day! These prejudices still survive in a modified
form. The younger generation of seamen do not view the
presence of the parson on board their ship with any strong
objection. In many cases he is rather welcomed than
otherwise. But the last generation had a strong tradition,
which could not be subdued, that no clerical gentleman
should be looked upon with favour as a passenger. The
boycott was sometimes carried out against him during the
voyage with unrelenting cruelty. Ever since the Lord
commanded Jonah, the son of Amittai, to arise and go to
Nineveh, and the Hebrew preacher took passage aboard the
ship of Tarshish instead, there has been trouble. The
senseless antipathy has been handed down the ages, and the
legacy comes from a shameless gang who were cowardly
assassins, from the skipper downward! Poor Jonah! The
tempest did not unnerve _him_; for, while the other
drivelling creatures were chucking their wares overboard, he
slept peacefully, until the bully of the crowd, and no doubt
the greatest funk, called out to him, "What meanest thou, O
sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will
think upon _us_ that we perish not!" These creatures always
want sacrifices made to save their own precious skins; and
they found in the poor penitent Hebrew a willing sacrifice.
He _agreed_ that they should cast him into the sea! It is
not recorded what methods of torture were used in order to
extract his consent; but it is pretty safe to assume that
the Tarshish crew made it so hot for the poor man that he
was glad to say to them, "Take me up and cast me forth into