the starboard-watch go below, and we, the larboard-watch, have the
first night-watch--just as they had it last night, and will the next
after. There is very probably plenty of work to do in shifting and
trimming sails and rigging till eight bells again strike (12 P.M.),
and then we summon the other watch with: 'Starbowlings, ahoy!' and go
below in turn; and so ends our day.

We have given a fair enough specimen of the twenty-four hours of a
sailor's life at sea; but of course he sometimes has an easier, and
sometimes a much harder life of it--depending on the kind of ship, the
nature of the voyage, the state of the weather, and the character of
the captain. Some sea-captains are excellent, kind-hearted men, and
make the unavoidably hard duties of their crew as easy as it is
possible; but others--and very many we fear--are terrible salt-water
tyrants. A captain is the absolute master of all on board--his
government, as we have said, is a despotism; and this ever-present
sense of his will being law while afloat, too often hardens and
brutalises an originally kind heart.

Landsmen! do you now envy and begrudge a living to the poor
blue-jackets, who risk limb and life to carry on your commerce with
the uttermost ends of the earth, and who man the wooden walls that
alone render Britain the invincible mistress of the world? Ladies!
dear, tender-hearted ladies! do _you_ feel indifferent to the hard lot
of the gallant fellows who sail the trackless ocean to supply you with
silks and diamonds, with sugar and tea, and every conceivable luxury
of dress and food? Be kind, we implore you, to Poor Jack, wherever you
meet him, for he would shed the last drop of blood in his veins to
defend you! Make every Christian allowance for his follies and his
sins when ashore. Do all you can--and we think you might do much if