I AM UNSHIPPED FOR A SHORT TIME, IN ORDER TO RECORD SHIPMENTS AND
ENGROSS INVOICES--FORM A NEW ACQUAINTANCE, WHAT IS CALLED IN THE WORLD
"A WARM MAN," THOUGH HE PASSED THE BEST PART OF HIS LIFE AMONG ICEBERGS,
AND ONE WHOLE NIGHT WITHIN THE RIBS OF DEATH--HIS WIFE WORKS HARD AT
GENTILITY.
We arrived at Sheerness the next morning, landed the bricks, which were
for the Government buildings, and returned in ballast to the wharf. My
first inquiry was for the Dominie; but he had not yet returned; and Mr
Drummond further informed me that he had been obliged to send away his
under-clerk and wished me to simply take his place until he could
procure another. The lighter therefore took in her cargo, and sailed
without me, which was of consequence, as my apprenticeship still went
on. I now lived with Mr Drummond as one of his own family, and wanted
for nothing. His continual kindness to me made me strive all I could to
please him by diligence and attention, and I soon became very expert at
accounts, and, as he said, very useful. The advantages to me, I hardly
need observe were considerable, and I gained information every day.
Still, although I was glad to be of any use to Mr Drummond, the
confinement at the desk was irksome, and I anxiously looked for the
arrival of the new clerk to take my place and leave me free to join the
lighter. Mr Drummond did not appear to me to be in any hurry; indeed,
I believe that he would have retained me altogether, had he not
perceived that I still wished to be on the river.
"At all events, Jacob, I shall keep you here until you are master of
your work; it will be useful to you hereafter," he said to me one day;
"and you do not gain much by sailing up and down the river."
This was true; and I also derived much advantage from the evenings spent
with Mrs Drummond, who was a very sensible good woman, and would make
me read aloud to her and little Sarah as they sat at their needle. I
had no idea, until I was employed posting up the book, that Mr
Drummond's concern was so extensive, or that there was so much capital
employed in the business. The Dominie returned a few days after my
arrival. When we met his nose had resumed its former appearance, and he
never brought up the subject of the evening on board of the lighter. I
saw him frequently, mostly on Sundays after I had been to church with
the family; and half-an-hour, at least, was certain to be dedicated to
our reading together one of the classics.
As I was on shore several months, I became acquainted with many
families, one or two of which were worth noticing. Among the foremost
was Captain Turnbull, at least such was his appellation until within the
last two months previous to my making his acquaintance, when Mr
Turnbull sent out his cards, _George Turnbull, Esquire_. The history of
Captain Turnbull was as follows:--He had, with his twin brother, been
hung up at the knocker, and afterwards had been educated at the
Foundling Hospital; they had both been apprenticed to the sea; grown up
thorough-bred, capital, seamen in the Greenland fishery; rose to be
mates then captains; had been very successful, owned part, then the
whole of the ship, afterwards two or three ships; and had wound up with
handsome fortunes. Captain Turnbull was a married man without a family;
his wife, fine in person, vulgar in speech, a would-be fashionable lady,
against which fashion Captain T had for years pleaded poverty; but his
brother, who had remained a bachelor, died, leaving him forty thousand
pounds--a fact which could not be concealed. Captain Turnbull had not
allowed his wife to be aware of the extent of his own fortune, more from
a wish to live quietly and happily than from any motive of parsimony,
for he was liberal to excess; but now he had no further excuse to plead,
and Mrs Turnbull insisted upon _fashion_. The house they had lived in
was given up, and a marine villa on the borders of the Thames to a
certain degree met the views of both parties; Mrs Turnbull anticipating
dinners and fetes, and the captain content to watch what was going on in
the river, and amuse himself in a wherry. They had long been
acquaintances of Mr and Mrs Drummond; and Captain Turnbull's character
was such as always to command the respect of Mr Drummond, as he was an
honest, friendly man. Mrs Turnbull had now set up her carriage, and
she was, in her own opinion, a very great personage. She would have cut
all her former acquaintance; but on that point the captain was
inflexible, particularly as regarded the Drummonds. As far as they were
concerned, Mrs Turnbull gave way, Mrs Drummond being a lady-like
woman, and Mr Drummond universally respected as a man of talent and
information. Captain, or rather, Mr Turnbull, was a constant visitor
at our house, and very partial to me. He used to scold Mr Drummond for
keeping me so close to my desk, and would often persuade him to give me
a couple of hours' run. When this was obtained, he would call a
waterman, throw him a crown, and tell him to get out of his wherry as
fast as he could. We then embarked, and amused ourselves pulling up and
down the river, while Mrs Turnbull, dressed in the extremity of the
fashion, rode out in the carriage and left her cards in every direction.
One day Mr Turnbull called upon the Drummonds, and asked them to dine
with him on the following Saturday; they accepted the invitation.
"By-the-by," said he, "I got what my wife calls a _remind_ in my
pocket;" and he pulled out of his coat-pocket a large card, "with Mr
and Mrs Turnbull's compliments," etcetera, which card he had doubled in
two by his sitting down upon it, shortly after he came in. Mr Turnbull
straightened it again as well as he could, and laid it on the table.
"And Jacob," said he, "you'll come too. You don't want a remind; but if
you do, my wife will send you one."