POSH'S SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE
The hopes for the home fishing of 1869 should have been good. On August
30th, 1869 (_Two Suffolk Friends_, p. 114), FitzGerald wrote to Mr.
Spalding from Lowestoft: "You will see by the enclosed that Posh has had
a little better luck than hitherto. One reason for my not going to
Woodbridge is, that I think it possible that this N.E. wind may blow him
hither to tan his nets. Only please God it don't tan him and his people
first."
Herring are, as our East Anglian fishermen say, "ondependable" in their
travels. They come south along the coast from the north of Scotland till
they are in their prime (full-roed, fat fish) off Yarmouth in October.
But their arrival at the various ports along the east coast can never be
fixed for a certain date. This year, for instance (1907), owing to the
warm August and September they have been late in coming south from Hull.
Generally "longshores" are caught off Lowestoft late in August or early
in September, and by the end of September the home and Scotch fleets are
congesting the herring basins. This year, however, I had my first
longshores brought me yesterday, the 1st of October, and there are not a
dozen Scotch craft to be seen in the basins.
FitzGerald stayed at Lowestoft till the north-easters _did_ blow Posh
home. And perhaps he would have been happier had he gone back to
Woodbridge before the return of the _Meum and Tuum_. As it was, Posh had
"some bare" on regatta day (very late that year), and this upset his
"guv'nor." He wrote to Mr. Spalding on the 4th September (_Two Suffolk
Friends_, p. 115): "I would not meddle with the Regatta. . . . And the
Day ended by vexing me more than it did him [Newson]. . . . Posh drove
in here the day before to tan his nets: could not help making one with
some old friends in a Boat-race on the Monday, and getting very fuddled
with them on the Suffolk Green (where I was) at night. After all the
pains I have taken, and all the real anxiety I have had. And worst of
all after the repeated promises he had made! I said there must be an end
of Confidence between us, so far as _that_ was concerned, and I would so
far trouble myself about him no more. But when I came to reflect that
this was but an outbreak among old friends, on an old occasion, after (I
do believe) months of sobriety; that there was no concealment about it;
and that though obstinate at first as to how little drunk, etc., he was
very repentant afterwards--I cannot let this one flaw weigh against the
general good of the man. I cannot if I would: what then is the use of
trying? But my confidence in that respect must be so far shaken, and it
vexes me to think that I can never be sure of his not being overtaken so.
I declare that it makes me feel ashamed very much to play the judge on
one who stands immeasurably above me in the scale, whose faults are
better than so many virtues. Was not this very outbreak that of a great
genial Boy among his old Fellows? True, a Promise was broken. Yes, but
if the Whole Man be of the Royal Blood of Humanity, and do Justice in the
Main, what are _the people_ to say? _He_ thought, if he thought at all,
that he kept his promise in the main. But there is no use talking,
unless I part company wholly, I suppose I must take the evil with the
good. . . ."
FitzGerald probably got to the very heart of the misunderstanding between
himself and Posh as to the merits and demerits of "bare" when he wrote
that Posh was a little obstinate as to "how little drunk," etc. Moreover
he understood the nature of the man--"a great genial boy"--but he did not
understand that these "great genial boys" have all the mischievous
tendencies, and all the irresponsibility of real boys. He was kind and
forbearing enough, God knows. But he had set up his Posh on such a
pinnacle of pre-eminence over all his fellow-men that it is possible that
his bitterness in discovering that after all his protege was merely a
well-built, handsome, ordinary longshoreman caused a greater revulsion
than would have occurred had his first estimate of Posh's character been
less exalted.
It is to the credit of the great heart of the man that he never lost his
love of Posh (Posh is certain about this), though he undoubtedly did lose
his confidence in and respect for him.
And Posh did not give way to his "guv'nor" as he might have done. That
fine old East Anglian spirit of independence (which is so generally
admirable) was in this particular instance sheer brutal ingratitude when
shown by Posh to FitzGerald. No one has a greater admiration than I for
this magnificent claim of a MAN to be MAN'S equal. It kept the race of
Norfolk and Suffolk longshoremen worthy of their traditions until the
cockney visitors, with their tips and their hunger for longshore lies,
ruined the nature of many of our beach folk. But with FitzGerald, that
kind, solicitous gentleman who never asserted the claims of his station
in life before an inferior, the obtrusive display of this spirit of
independence was as unnecessary as it was cruel. And I think Posh
understands this now. He certainly never meant to hurt the feelings of
his old governor. But he chafed at the care which his friend took of
him. He said to me the other day that he wished his old master were
alive now to take such care. "Ah!" he said, "he'd take hold o' me like
this here" (and here, as I have described on a previous page, Posh
pinched up his blue knitted jersey), "and say, 'Oh, my dear Poshy! Oh
dear! Oh dear! To think you should be like this! Oh dear! Oh dear!'"
And Posh's old eyes will water. Indeed, I have noticed a likeness
between the thoughts of Posh in reference to FitzGerald and the remorse
of the son of a loving father who had tried his sire hard in lifetime and
understood that he had done so after his father's death. Even now, this
old man of sixty-nine leans, metaphorically, on the recollection of the
man who loved him so. Even now he says, "Ah! that would ha' upset him if
he'd known I should ha' come to this!"
But in 1869 Posh thought that he was a very fine fellow indeed, and was
not going to be "put upon" by any "guv'nor," no matter how kind the
"guv'nor" had been to him. He was half owner of a fine drifter and
skipper as well, to say nothing of having designed the boat. He would
assert himself.
He did.