Then Came The
Ten Commandments; The Thirty-Ninth Chapter Of Job, And A Few
Other Passages From Scripture.
The next in the order, that I
never varied from, came Cowper's Castaway, which was a great
favorite with me; the solemn measure and gloomy character of
which, as well as the incident that it was founded upon, made it
well suited to a lonely watch at sea.
Then his lines to Mary,
his address to the jackdaw, and a short extract from Table Talk;
(I abounded in Cowper, for I happened to have a volume of his
poems in my chest;) "Ille et nefasto" from Horace, and Goethe's
Erl King. After I had got through these, I allowed myself a more
general range among everything that I could remember, both in prose
and verse. In this way, with an occasional break by relieving the
wheel, heaving the log, and going to the scuttle-butt for a drink
of water, the longest watch was passed away; and I was so regular
in my silent recitations, that if there was no interruption by
ship's duty, I could tell very nearly the number of bells by my
progress.
Our watches below were no more varied than the watch on deck.
All washing, sewing, and reading was given up; and we did nothing
but eat, sleep, and stand our watch, leading what might be called a
Cape Horn life. The forecastle was too uncomfortable to sit up in;
and whenever we were below, we were in our berths.
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