A time came when things were said to be as they ought not to be;
discontent became very prevalent. It is always thus; but the people, it
was said--and with some show of reason--had quarrelled with their
prosperity. Labour had combined against capital, and the workers refused
to work except upon their own terms. They demanded shorter hours and
more pay, Nor would they, if they could help it, allow others to labour.
The Buccaneer's system of education had perhaps something to do with
this state of things, for it taught his children almost everything,
except how to gain a living, gave many of them exalted opinions, crammed
their heads, but left their stomachs empty, until in time the serving
class bid fair to be educated out of his island. All wanted to be
masters and mistresses, and the kitchen was looked down upon. Things
came to such a pass that it was far easier to obtain a governess who
could teach almost anything, for thirty pounds a year, than a cook for
the same amount, whose knowledge of her trade barely soared as high as
boiling a potato, or grilling properly a mutton chop, and who even with
this small amount of professional skill was insolent if found fault
with.
Then the Buccaneer's tradesmen, being true chips of the ancient block,
were frequently extortionists, if not actual robbers. They were
certainly well imbued with his first principle of trade, namely, the
turning of their five talents into ten, and some at least were not above
selling short weight and adulterating their merchandise; but these of
course were the dishonest ones, the black sheep that are said to exist
in every flock. Then before things reached the consumer they had to be
dealt with by the middle men, a species of vampire who sucked a good
deal of the profit out of the article; so the consumer was driven into
the hands of the foreign cheap-Jack, who soon began to sell more than
ever. The Buccaneer's old coxswain, who, it must be owned, was a bit of
a preacher, and like all such a little prosy, spoke up as was his wont:
"Mates," he said, addressing a lot of grumblers, who had assembled
together to air their grievances, "don't you see you've got your ship's
head lying in the wrong direction? You are cutting your throats, my
hearties, like a swimming pig, for while some of you are quarrelling
with your masters, and others of you are going in for keeping up the
prices, these furrin cheap-Jacks are doing a thriving trade. Shipload
after shipload of their merchandise is coming in. They are ousting you,
my lads, out of your own markets, while you stand by, pipe in mouth and
hands in pockets, demanding your shorter hours and higher wages." "What
would you have us do, mate?" cried a burly fellow from the crowd, as he
held his pipe in one hand and a quart pot in the other. "Are we to work
our souls and bodies out, day after day, and year after year, while our
masters are building up a pile, and palaces to put it in? We ain't
agoing to work like some of our neighbours for a mere nothing; neither
are we agoing to live on black bread and sour crout; so unless our
masters are going to cave in and come down with the needful, we are
going to hold out. As for the cheap-Jack fellows, let our master make
'em pay toll. Let's have everything fair and above board. Put that in
your pipe, old man, and smoke it." "Lads!" cried old Jack, "you are
killing your goose that lays the golden eggs; or, you are frightening
her over the water, which amounts to the same thing." "Let her go, mate.
If she stays here and stops laying eggs, we'll wring her neck, and
divide her carcass amongst us. We shall have a good feed then anyhow,
and be equal all round." So there were strikes, and a great cry out
against capital, and trade began to work down towards the sea-shore, and
unfolding her wings, prepared to take flight to other and more congenial
climes.
Whenever the old coxswain got his master's ear upon the subject, his
favourite, Liberty, was sure to be on the other side, telling him to let
things alone. This aggravated old Jack, who one day exclaimed; "Pray,
madam! how far are you going to take our master along this road of
freedom?" "Good, honest Jack, that is for you to say," cried madam, with
a smile and a curtsey. "Aye, aye, that is all well enough, my fine lady.
But there is not a place you don't go to with those doctrines of yours.
You commenced upstairs in the parlour, and now you have gone down into
the kitchen, and heaven only knows where you intend to stop. What is the
use of my saying anything? Where you lead my master follows; no matter
whether the road you are on goes to the devil or not. It is no use my
holding on to his coat tails, when you are coaxing him, cajoling him,
and pulling him forward by both his hands." So saying the old coxswain
went his way, muttering something about women in general, that was not
altogether complimentary to the fair sex. But the honest coxswain, when
ruffled, said, like many other people, very much more than what he
meant.
In the general running down of things the Buccaneer's women did not
escape. At one time they had been famed both for their virtues, and
their beauty. Of the latter it was said there was a falling off. Indeed
they were so pulled to pieces all round, by the sharp talons of ill
nature, that they were not left too many virtues to plume themselves
with.
Beauty it is well known is only skin deep, and in very many cases it
does not penetrate even so far. It can be laid on in the morning and
dusted off at night without much trouble, though no doubt many beauties
prefer to go to bed with the bloom on. This kind of beauty has its
merits. It withstands to a certain extent the ravages of time; art
following close in the footsteps of nature with the paint brush filling
up the crevices, and washing out the marks of the years that have
hurried by. But it was said that a good deal of the bloom on the young
cheeks was not a constant quantity, and that the cherry lips were not a
fast colour. That eyebrows and eyelashes were pencilled and hair dyed.
If this was not a foul libel how much was it to be regretted? Youth
requires neither putty nor paint to deck it off. For the old it matters
little; the only people deceived are the artists themselves. You may
disguise the age somewhat, put back the hand of time a year or so, but
you can never make an old face look young; paint it up and putty it as
much as you like. In the Buccaneer's island there was indeed to be seen
strange contrasts, such as dark eyebrows and fair hair, but then nature
does at times play sad tricks, giving to animals more heads than one,
and occasionally more than the usual quantity of tails, and even legs.
Suppose the Buccaneer's daughter did call in the aid of art. They all do
it, and in doing it, a woman only follows the instincts of her nature,
though some are so strong minded as to pay little or no attention to
personal adornments. The instinct above alluded to is to be found in the
daughter of nature, as well as in her civilized sister, and is the one
great link that binds female humanity together. Is there a part of the
civilized world yet discovered where the female mind does not turn
towards the embellishment of the outward form? No doubt the first act of
Eve after the sad catastrophe in the garden of Eden, when she recovered
from the temporary fit of despondency, was to seek some smooth sheet of
water, on which her fair face and form might be mirrored, and with as
little doubt her second act was to procure the most becoming fig leaf,
that the whole garden of Eden could produce to deck herself in. In the
general effect perhaps she found some slight consolation, though she
might regret there were not more Adams than one. While in the West the
female head is decorated with hair taken, perhaps, from some one, who
having paid the debt due to nature has no further need for it, her
sister of ruder climes utilizes the bushy end of a cow's tail. While the
one uses cosmetics, pomades, and dainty perfumes, the other uses earth,
or clay, or things that by no means, or under any circumstances, can be
called dainty. In passing, we may perhaps call the attention to the
strange perversion of the order of things that seems to run through the
civilized male mind of the West. Hairs pulled from a horse's tail
decorate the wise heads of judges, while feathers plucked from the
nether end of a cock, float over the heads of Western warriors. Is there
any subtle influence of nature at work here? But to return to the
ladies.
The female child of nature, instead of hanging round her neck precious
stones, wears thin strings of beads, or berries, or even shells, and
this in many climates is no inconsiderable part of her attire. Then
where she places a bunch of reeds, or dried grass, her civilized sister
places tastefully a bunch of ribbons. The same parts, present the same
difficulties, as to picturesque decoration. The progress of civilization
is also shown in the use of nose, lip, and ear-rings. The two former
have vanished from the fair faces of the West, but ear-rings still
remain as a link to bind us to the past, and though ankle rings have
disappeared except on the legs of French poodles, bangles are still
worn.
As to the modesty of the Buccaneer's women. This is a delicate matter
and we pass over it with the remark that in this respect they would bear
favourable comparison with any of their neighbours, though their
language perhaps at times, and even their manners, left somewhat to be
desired. The modesty of a woman must not be treated lightly, for it is
to her, or should be, as a diadem studded with precious stones, and a
garment as lovely to behold as the mantle of our Creator when dipped in
Autumn's rich and ever varying colours.
What for the most part attracted the eye of censure was the manner in
which the fashionable daughters of the Buccaneer dressed of an evening.
Then, in many cases, there was very little clothing on above the waist;
but ample amends were made by the length of the skirts, which trailed
many yards in the dirt behind.
This display of what are usually called the charms of a woman, could not
have been from any base motive; for had such been the case the middle
aged and old, would not have indulged in the practice. There may be
something very attractive about the well-shaped neck and snow white
bosom of a young and pretty girl, when modesty is not altogether
outraged, but there can be nothing pleasing about too fleshy middle age,
or the skinny old. Besides had the desire been the base one of exciting
the worst of man's passions, the skirts of the fashionable dresses would
have been considerably shortened. A pretty foot and shapely ankle is
every bit as pleasing to the eye of man, as a naked bosom, though here
again the beefy heels of maturity, and the fleshless pegs of age must be
excepted.
We rather see in the above fashion an innate modesty born in the female
breast, and we detect in it a disposition ever present to go back to the
far off past. To that time, when the clothing of our first mother was
conspicuous by its almost entire absence. It was all the more
commendable on the part of the Buccaneer's daughters to endeavour to
re-establish this early state of innocence, because his climate was dead
against the movement, and it says no little for the hardiness of his
women, who could thus lay bare so much of their bodies in a temperature
notoriously inclement, without suffering any ill effects.