was rather of a questionable character ashore, but the officers had
their dinners, their dances, and their afternoon receptions.

The social centre for a portion of the rank and file was a sailors'
institute. As this was a temperance institution, it was only
patronized by a small percentage of them. Here we had frequent
receptions, afternoon teas, lectures, and religious meetings. Here the
secret societies met--the Free Masons, Odd Fellows, Foresters,
Orangemen, etc. Thursday afternoons we had a half-holiday on board. It
was called "Make-and-Mend-Clothes Day." The upper decks belonged to
the crew that afternoon, and every conceivable kind of activity was in
operation. It looked something like an Irish fair. It was a day on
which most men wrote home; but there were sewing, boxing, fencing, and
on this afternoon at least almost every man on the ship worked at his
hobby. My hobby at this time was mathematics and I could not do that
in the crowd, but on Thursday afternoons I rather enjoyed watching the
boxing and fencing. My experience in the game had given me at least a
permanent interest in it, and as I stood by the ropes the blood
tingled in my veins. I was anxious many a time for a rough and tumble,
but my religious friends saved me from this indulgence. There were
sixteen men in my mess. It was in a corner of the main gun battery
alongside one of the big "stern-chasers." We had a table that could be
lowered from the roof of the gun battery, and eating three times a day
with these men, I knew them fairly well and they knew me. Each
man-of-war's man is allowed a daily portion of rum, and I was advised
by the small group of Christians to follow their example and refuse
to permit anybody else to drink my portion. It took me a long time to
make up my mind to follow their advice. It was, of course, considered
an old-womanish thing to do, but I finally came to the point when I
asked the commissariat department to give me, as was the custom, tea,