Judge — July 18, 1885 — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

es = =z We do not know just how many churches in New York have missions especially devoted to the spiritual care of sailors, but there are a great many, besides which, a number of river front churches on both sides of the island have for years made special efforts to get sailors to attend the meetings held in little halls and chapels at convenient distances from the water. It was not very long ago that the pastor of one of these small churches up-town on the Westside, after a visit to the big man-of-war at the foot of West Twenty-sixth street, determined to interest her crew in his work, and began by inviting Jack Servenmalet, who had served the preacher’s party asa guide, to bring his mess to a festival which was to be held in a Tenth avenue hall. Ja after some little parley, agreed to go and bring his messmates if he could. When the evening arrived Jack had no difficulty in obtaining shore leave for himself and the rest of the mess and all went ashore with very bright white tape on the broad blue collars of their shirts and very clear white lanyards around their necks and fastened to the keen-edged Ieasp-knives, which all naval tars carry in the little pockets on the left breast of their shirts. Just as they were going down the ladder on the side of the ship to get into the boat, an old sailor handed a quar- ter to the second-rate ap- prentice and asked him to bring a paper of snuff back with him, and this the youngster readily agreed to do. It was a very pleasant evening and the sailors were all in high spirits in antic tion of a very pleasunt time at the festival, until they all stopped at a to- bacco store in Tenth Avenue while the second- rate apprentice bought the snuff. There the sounds of revelry from a piano, a banjo, a pair of bones, many quick-step- ping feet and clinking glasses which floated out of a near-by saloon, up- set the good resolutions of all the mess except Jack, the carpenter's mate and the second rate apprentice, and without a second glance at the open door of the saloon these three, leaving their comrades behind, started up the avenue, the second-rate apprentice shoving the thin paper full of snuff into his pocket beside his knife. A walk of half an hour which carried them past many other saloons where jingling music invited them to tarry, they reached the hall where the festival was to be held. The three climbed the stairs, with Jack taking the lead and the second-rate apprentice behind. Half an hour or more later, a fat policeman saw them emerge from the doorway in like order, all very much excited and the second- class apprentice in tears.’ He stopped them, and having been a sailor himself, listened appreciatively while Jack sai ‘We wus invited to the festival and we went. Afore our eyes had got rightly used to the binnacle lights in that ere meetin’ house we sce the dominie headin’ for us with all sail set and both flippers out. He is the one as invited usand he was layin’ hisself out like. He shook us all most cordial and says he ‘L’es look around at the tables,’ which they was wery fine to look at piled full of no end of wittles and cabin grub fit for a admiral of the fleet. Every place we comes to, the dominie he says: ‘This is my friend, Brother Servenmalet, and his messmates as I was telling you about,’ and then the gray-haired matrons and the wery plump youre ladies and the young men as had fergot to brusk their hair ack offen their foreheads, comes around from behind the tables and tells us they was glad we come, and shakes both hands to oncet, Idon’t mind tellin’ you as how it wasa very a-fectin scene, “‘T reckon we'd cruised about half-way around the harbor, when we comes to a big table as was loaded down to the scuppers with nuthin’ but roses and green stuff and nobody there only three young ladies as was the loveliest we'd overhauled yet. THE JUDGE. SOMETHING WRONG WITH. | us blames him for cause he couldn't be exp THE ROSES. Jack Servenmalet and His Shipmates have an Adventure at a Church Festival. just beginin’ totic up the roses into boquets, and one on ‘em as had blue eyes and wavy hair a hangin’ down her back says to the dominie as soon as we'd hove to along side the ledge. *** Doctor,” she say lof us forgot to bring scissors. please borrow a knife for us?” “Then she looked outen th Won't you corner of her eyes at the boy here while she tried to bite off the small stuff she'd been a sewin’ the flower stems with. Now the boy here has the makin’ of a fine sailor man into him if he is a second-rate apprentice, and he whips out his knife in a instant and he cuts the twine for her, and then shoves it back into his pocket without shuttin’ of it up though the aper of snuff didn’t leave no great room neither, which none of cted to get his bearins’ just right, and them three wery pretty girls all havin’ small stuif as needed cuttin’, As I was sayin,’ me an’ the carpenter's mate here, and the dominie, we pulled away under short sail leavin’ the boy ve much occupied with the flower stand, and when we gets clear around to the place where we'd took our departure we tinds some wery comfortable seats, and the dominie he had to cast off for toopen the meetin’ with prayer, “ECT been a your man as IT was oncet | should a bin slighted to sce the way them girls took to the boy her ust he'd cut a bit of twine for one on ‘em; then he'd shove his knife in his pocket along side the snuff while he held the flowers so as the girls could sewer ‘em proper: then he'd have to do suthin’ ¢ then out ‘ud come the knife agin, and all the while hea sayin’ things to ‘em as made “em blush and laugh fit to kill, while the young men as hadn't brushed their hair back had a expression like the dominee on the ship has when he says ‘let us unite an’ pray.” “As I was sayin,’ the preacher he had c gets to the pulpit, the boy here walks over, and touchin’ his fore- ad proper, like he was on the quarter-deck afore the Admiral elf, and he plamps a big boquet onto the pulpit which it made rybody pat their hands very lond and rapid. Meantime, a lot of little chicks had been a navigatin’ the intricacies of the crowd a sellin’ the boquets and me an’ the carpenter’s mate we bought two of the biggest of ’em. So when the dominic he shuts his eyes and kneels down behind the pulpit and bows his head over the Lig boquet, everybody else most Powe their heads over their boquets, and the boy here he stands at parade r with the three girls alongside of hima makin’ a wery pretty picture te The dominie he draws in his breath impressive like to give his sails a good full for the next maneuver, kinder hesitates a moment, twitches his face and then humps hisself and sneezes like he'd ried away the whole of his headgear. Then one of the old sisters as was a holdin’ a boquet to her nose on the front seat she sneezes in a thin quaverin’ voice and was followed by the carpenter's mate, who sounded like a fog horn as had just bu Then the dominie sneezed agin and so did the sister, and the three pretty girls as was a posin’ around the boy they sneezed altogether and looked up at him with tears in their eyes. My own nose was a tinglin’ and I remembered about the way the boy was a shovin’ his knife into the pocket with the snuff. The sneezin’ was a spreadin’ then rapid, and the snuff into the roses was doin’ of it. ‘There wasn’t no time to lose. I catches the boy’s eye and finds him very ed and so I puts my fingers to my nose like I was takin’ a pinch of snuff. He sees me do it and ecoots for deep water and I signals the rest of the fleet to foller, and we sails out leavin’ that whole meetin’ a off, and just as he They was | sneezin’ as if their heads would come off.” comicbooks.com ;