These Associations
Have Taken Hold In The Right Way, And Aimed Both At Making The
Sailor's Life More Comfortable And Creditable, And At Giving Him
Spiritual Instruction.
Connected with these efforts, the spread of
temperance among seamen, by means of societies, called, in their own
nautical
Language, Windward-Anchor Societies, and the distribution
of books; the establishment of Sailors' Homes, where they can be
comfortably and cheaply boarded, live quietly and decently, and be
in the way of religious services, reading and conversation; also the
institution of Savings Banks for Seamen; the distribution of tracts
and Bibles; - are all means which are silently doing a great work for
this class of men. These societies make the religious instruction
of seamen their prominent object. If this is gained, there is no
fear but that all other things necessary will be added unto them.
A sailor never becomes interested in religion, without immediately
learning to read, if he did not know how before; and regular habits,
forehandedness (if I may use the word) in worldly affairs, and hours
reclaimed from indolence and vice, which follow in the wake of the
converted man, make it sure that he will instruct himself in the
knowledge necessary and suitable to his calling. The religious
change is the great object. If this is secured, there is no fear
but that knowledge of things of the world will come in fast enough.
With the sailor, as with all other men in fact, the cultivation of the
intellect, and the spread of what is commonly called useful knowledge,
while religious instruction is neglected, is little else than changing
an ignorant sinner into an intelligent and powerful one.
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