positive intoxication to them in the mere dance--in the mere holding at
Nieuwediep Anniken or Bibecke, or at Portsmouth Mary Ann, by the waist;
and Mary Ann and Bibecke perfectly understand this, and for the moment
feel themselves persons of no small importance. There is no element of
coarseness in the feeling. The sailor is more given to sentiment proper
than perhaps any other class of men, and generally speaking a more
romantic feeling for woman is cherished on board ship than anywhere else
in the world. If we wish to find in these times quietly romantic
enthusiasm, we must be the companion of the sailor on his lonely watch,
or listen to him as he lies on the forecastle and talks with _naïve_
simplicity about his wife or his sweetheart--how their attachment came
about, and what he means to buy for her when he gets into port. Love on
board ship is a more naturally rich and varying theme than it is in the
peasant's monotonous life; and being in love, by reason of separation
from the object of his love, is a different thing to the sailor, a
something more entirely of the heart and the imagination, which does not
lose its ideal hue in the wear and tear of everyday use. A married
sailor is always an object of quiet respect to his comrades who have not
had means to take the same step themselves; and without exaggeration it
may be said that woman is present in her truest sense in the midst of
the often outwardly rough life on board ship--warm, loving, and
venerated, and surrounded by all the enchantment which distance can
supply. If we are tempted to think otherwise, we have not penetrated to
the simple, childlike nature which underlies the sailor's rough
exterior.

The exteriors, indeed, in the dancing-room of the Aurora that evening
were rough enough. Through the cloud of steam and tobacco-smoke, men of
the most various physiognomies were to be seen, the majority tanned and
bearded, with their hats on the back of their heads, and short clay