Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/296

 CHAPTER XVII

ashore, we headed directly for the sailors’ quarters, — the "Hook" and "Five Points," — where the sailors’ boarding-houses were located. We were greeted by the landlords, the landladies, and their daughters  with a profusion of smiles; and oh, how glad they were  to see us! If we had been their own brothers they could not have been more cordial. They showered upon us endearing expressions, such as, "My dear, long-lost Jack, I am ever so glad to see you home again!" "My shipmates," "My messmates," etc. This, however, was all taffy. They loved us only for the shot in the locker. When a sailor was flush they called him "Jack" and treated him like a king; when his money  was gone they called him "John" and turned him out.

The third day on shore we heard of the death of Vendovi, the Fiji chief. We also learned that we should not be paid off for a week. Feeling anxious to get home, and, I must add, thoroughly disgusted with  the vile set of land-sharks of both sexes, twenty of us  started for Boston. Arriving late in the evening, we came to at "Mother Paine’s" and "Jack Wright’s"  sailors’ boarding-houses, situated on Ann Street. Sunday morning, after breakfast, the boy, Isaac Carney, made for his home in East Boston; Bill Roberts, in