Old Jack | Page 5

fall
in with a little ragged fellow, to whom they'll be a rich prize."
As we went along, two or three boys begged of us, and pointed to their
rags as a plea for their begging. "They'll not do," said he; "the better
clothes would ruin them."
At last, passing along the quays, we saw a little fellow sitting on the
stock of an anchor, and looking very miserable. He had no shoes on his

feet; his trousers were almost legless, and fastened up over one
shoulder by a piece of string, while his arms were thrust into the
sleeves of an old coat, much too large for him, and patched and torn
again in all directions. He did not beg, but just looked up into my tall
friend's face, as if he saw something pleasing there.
"What do you want?" said the sailor.
"Nothing," answered the boy, not understanding him.
"You're well off then, lad," said the tall sailor, smiling at him. "But I
think that you would be the better for some few things in this world--
for a suit of clothes, for instance."
"The very things I do want!" exclaimed the lad. "You've hit it, your
honour. I'd a dacent suit as ever you'd wish to see, and they were run
away with, just as I'd got the office of an errand-boy with a gentleman,
and was in a fair way to make my fortune."
"Well, then, here's a suit for you, my lad," said the sailor; "just get your
mother to give them a darning up, and they'll serve your purpose, I
daresay. Give him your bundle."
"Sure your honour isn't joking with me!" exclaimed the lad, his
countenance beaming with pleasure as he undid the bundle of clothes,
which were certainly very far better than those he had on. "I'm a made
man--that I am! Blessings on your honour, and the young master
there!"
"You're welcome, lad, with all my heart," answered my friend.
"Oh, it's Terence McSwiney will have to thank you to the end of his
days, and ever after!" exclaimed the boy, as we were walking on.
"Well, Terence, I hope you'll get the post, and do your duty in it," said
the tall sailor, moving off to avoid listening to the expressions of
gratitude which the lad poured forth.

The incident made a deep impression on me. I learned by it that others
might be worse off than I was, and also that a gift at the right time
might be of the greatest service. Of this I had the proof many years
afterwards. If the rich and the well-to-do did but know of what use their
own or their children's cast-off clothes would be to many not only
among the labouring classes, but to people of education and refinement,
struggling with poverty, they would not carelessly throw them away, or
let them get into the hands of Jews, sold by their servants for a sixth of
their value. I must observe that, in the course of my narrative I shall
often make remarks on various ideas which, at the time I speak of,
could not possibly have occurred to me.
The tall sailor and I walked along the quay. All of a sudden it occurred
to me that I did not know his name. I looked up in his face and asked
him.
"I'm called Peter Poplar," he answered, with one of his kind smiles.
"The name suits me, and I suit the name; so I do not quarrel with it.
You'll have to learn the names, pretty quickly too, of all the people on
board. There are a good many of us, and each and every one of them
will consider himself your master, and you'll have to look out to please
them all."
"I'll do my best to please them, Mr Poplar," said I.
"That's right! But I say, lad, don't address me so. Call me plain Peter, or
Peter Poplar; we don't deal in misters aboard the Rainbow. It is all very
well for shore-going people to call each other mister; or when you
speak to an officer, just to show that he is an officer; but sharp's the
word with us forward--we haven't time for compliments."
"But I thought you were an officer, Peter," said I. "You look like one."
"Do I?" he answered, with his pleasant smile. "Well, Jack, perhaps I
ought to have been one, and it's my own fault that I am not. But the
truth is, I haven't got the learning necessary for it. I never have learned
to read, and so I haven't been able to master navigation. Without it, you
know, a man cannot be an officer, however good a seaman he may be;

and in that point I'll yield to no man."