THE LUCK O' THE _MUM TUM_
"Neighbour's fare" was long in coming to FitzGerald in his venture as a
"herring merchant." But he was happy enough in the consciousness that he
was doing Posh a good turn. Whether or not Posh had a greater share of
the earnings of the boat than he was entitled to I cannot say. Certainly
he began to thrive exceedingly about this time, and, as an old
longshoreman seven years Posh's senior, said to me the other day, "He
might ha' been a gennleman! He used to kape his greyhounds, and he had
as pratty a mare as the' wuz in Lowestoft. Ah! Mr. FitzGerald was a
_good_ gennleman to him--that he _wuz_!"
Once again the epithet "good," which he so pre-eminently merited.
But whether the year had been bad or good, it was necessary for the
sleeping partner to look into the accounts of the firm.
On Christmas Day of 1867, when the season was over and all the herring
drifters had "made up," that is to say, had worked out their accounts and
struck a balance of profit or loss, Fitzgerald wrote to Posh:--
"WOODBRIDGE, _Christmas Day_.
"DEAR CAPTAIN,
"Unless I hear from you to-morrow that _you_ are coming over _here_, I
shall most likely run over myself to Miss Green's at Lowestoft--by the
Train which gets there about 2.
"I shall look in upon you in the evening, if so be that I do not see
you in the course of the day. I say I shall look in upon [_sic_] _to-
morrow_, I dare say:--But, as this is Christmas time and I suppose you
have many friends to see, I shall not want you to be at school every
evening.
"This is Newson's piloting week, so he cannot come.
"E. FG."
Posh did not go to Woodbridge, so FitzGerald went to Miss Green's,
whence, on December the 28th, he wrote one of his most characteristic
letters (in that it embraced interests so widely different) to Professor
Cowell. The letter begins with a reference to M. Garcin de Tassy and his
"annual oration," and continues with some passages of great interest
concerning the _Rubaiyat_ and Attar's "Birds." (Dr. Aldis Wright's
Eversley Edition of _Letters_, II, 100.) Then from a delicate and dainty
piece of criticism the poet turns to his herring business. "I have come
here to wind up accounts for our Herring-lugger: much against us as the
season has been a bad one. My dear Captain [Posh], who looks in his
Cottage like King Alfred in the Story, was rather saddened by all this,
as he had prophesied better things. I tell him that if he is but what I
think him--and surely my sixty years of considering men will not so
deceive me at last!--I would rather lose money with him than gain it with
others. Indeed I never proposed Gain, as you may imagine: but only to
have some Interest with this dear Fellow."
Well, he had his wish, though Posh maintains that there _was_ gain in the
business at a certain time to be referred to hereafter, and that there
might have been plenty of gain but for the "interfarin' parties" before
mentioned.
From the first there was a difficulty in persuading Posh to keep any
accounts of either outgoings or incomings. He seems to have paid a bill
when he thought of it, or when he had the money for it handy. But no
idea of book-keeping, even in its most rudimentary form, was ever
entertained by him.
And FitzGerald had, before ever the partnership was an accomplished fact,
impressed on Posh the importance of remembering his debts.
Before the spring fishing began in 1868 the question of accounts came to
the fore. On March the 29th the sleeping partner wrote from Woodbridge:--
"DEAR POSHY,
"I have your Letter of this Morning:--I suppose that you have got mine
also. I hope that you understood what I said in it--about the Bills,
I mean--that you should put down in writing _all_ outgoings, and in
such a way as you, or I, might easily reckon them up: I mean, so as to
see what _each_ amounts to--No man's Memory can be trusted in such
matters; and I think that _your_ Memory (jostled about, as you say,
with many different calls, [_sic_ no close to parenthesis] needs to
have _writing_ to refer to. _Do not suppose for one moment_ that I do
not trust you, my good fellow: nor that I think you have made any
great blunder in what Accounts you _did_ keep last year. I only mean
that a man ought to be able to point _out at once_, to himself or to
others, all the items of an Account; to do which, you know, gave you
great Trouble--You must not be too proud to learn a little of some one
used to such business: _as Mr. Spalding_, for instance.
"If you think the Oil and _Cutch_ are as good, and as cheap, at
Lowestoft as I can get them here, why not get them at once at
Lowestoft? About that _green Paint_ for the Lugger's bottom:--Mr.
Silver got some _so very good_ for _Pasifull's_ Smack last year that I
think it might be worth while to get some, if we could, from _his_
Merchant. You told me that what _you_ got at Lowestoft was _not_ very
good.
"I am _very glad_ that the Lugger is so well thought of that any one
else wants to build from her. For she was _your_ child, you know.
"Mr. Durrant has never sent me the plants. I doubt he must have lost
some more children. Do not go to him again, if you went before. I
daresay I shall be running over to Lowestoft soon. But I am not quite
well.
"E. FG.
"Remember me to your Family: you do not tell me if your Mother is
better."
The Mr. Spalding here referred to was at that time the manager for a
large firm of agricultural implement makers. Subsequently he became the
curator of the museum at Colchester, and the letters from FitzGerald to
him which were handed to Mr. Francis Hindes Groome formed the most
valuable part of the second part of _Two Suffolk Friends_ called "Edward
FitzGerald. An Aftermath."
"Oil" and "cutch" are preservatives for the herring nets. The oil is
linseed, and the nets are soaked in it before they are tanned by the
cutch. Cutch is a dark resinous stuff, which is thrown into a copper
full of water and boiled till it is dissolved. Then the liquid is thrown
over the nets and permitted to soak in. After the nets are soaked in
linseed oil, and before they are tanned, they are hung up to dry in the
open air. The process has to be repeated several times during each
fishing, and those who are familiar with Lowestoft and Yarmouth must also
be familiar with the sight and smell of the nets, hanging out on
railings, either on public open spaces or in private net yards. Where
rails are not obtainable the nets are often spread on the ground, and an
ingenious idea for the quaint shape of Yarmouth (unique with its narrow
"rows") is that the rows represent the narrow footpaths between the
spaces on which the nets used to be laid to dry.
"Pasifull" is sometimes called "Percival," sometimes "Pasifall," and
sometimes as in this letter. His Christian name was Ablett, and he was
both a fisherman and a yacht hand.
Mr. Durrant was a market gardener and fruiterer in Lowestoft, and his
sons carry on the same business in three shops in Lowestoft now. One of
them remembers FitzGerald as a visitor and "a queer old chap," and that's
all he knows about him.
I do not think Posh troubled himself much about the accounts. But there
was another subject already broached which was to cause some
unpleasantness between the partners.
Some of FitzGerald's friends, both at Lowestoft and elsewhere, had become
uneasy at the hold which Posh had obtained over him. They feared lest he
should become a baron of beef at which Posh could cut and come again.
More than one advised him that he should have some better security than a
mere partnership understanding, that he should, in fact, insist on having
a bill of sale, or mortgage of the _Meum and Tuum_ and her gear to secure
the money he had found. Possibly he was swayed by Posh's backwardness in
the matter of account. Certainly he came to the conclusion that his
friends were right, and that he should have a charge on the boat and her
gear. Now I believe that Posh tells the truth when he says that in the
first instance there was no mention of any such charge. And he was not a
business man enough to see the reasonableness of FitzGerald's demand. He
was, moreover, urged by the secretiveness of his race, the love of
keeping private affairs from outsiders, and he bitterly resented the
proposition. Indeed, during the early months of 1868, there were
constant semi-quarrels, which were as constantly patched up. FitzGerald
loved the man too well to quarrel with him definitely. Besides, Posh had
not been well. In January FitzGerald wrote to Professor Cowell
(_Letters_, II, 103, Eversley Edition): "I have spent lots of money on my
Herring-lugger, which has made but a poor season. So now we are going
(like wise men) to lay out a lot more for Mackerel; and my Captain (a
dear Fellow) is got ill, which is the worst of all."
But in this first instance Posh gave way. On April 14th FitzGerald wrote
Mr. Spalding: "I believe that he and I shall now sign the Mortgage Papers
that make him owner of _Half Meum and Tuum_. I only get out of him that
he can't say he sees much amiss in the Deed." But Posh is still bitter
about that deed, and still blames his old "guv'nor" for having listened
to the "interfarin' parties." He does not know what was the matter with
him that spring. "I was quare, sir," he says. "I don't know what ta
was. But I was quare."
He got well in time to go off after the spring mackerel, which used to be
a regular fishing season off Lowestoft, though now mackerel are getting
as scarce as salmon off the Norfolk and Suffolk coast. But the _Meum and
Tuum's_ bad luck still followed her with the longer and bigger meshed
nets. On June 16th, 1868, FitzGerald wrote to Mr. Spalding (_Two Suffolk
Friends_, p. 113):--
"Mackerel still come in very slow, sometimes none at all: the dead
calm nights play the deuce with the Fishing, and I see no prospect of
change in the weather till the Mackerel shall be changing their
Quarters. I am vexed to see the Lugger come in Day after day so
poorly stored after all the Labour and Time and Anxiety given to the
work by her Crew; but I can do no more, and at any rate take my share
of the Loss very lightly. I can afford it better than they can. I
have told Newson to set sail and run home any Day, Hour, or Minute,
when he wishes to see his Wife and Family."
Newson and Jack were down at Lowestoft with the _Scandal_, and it was
characteristic of FitzGerald to give his skipper leave to run home when
he wished. FitzGerald always liked the _Meum and Tuum_ to be in harbour
on a Sunday so that the men could see their wives and families and have a
"good hot dinner."