THOSE WICKED SAILORS.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 228, 24 January 1885, Page 3

THOSE WICKED SAILORS.

There seemed to be a slight difference of opinion between Bishop "Cowie and the deputation from the Mercantile Marine Association which waited upon him the other day regarding the establishment of a wellorganised Sailors' Home. The deputation, like practical business men who had some knowledge of the subject, appeared to be of the opinion that the great desideratum was to provide decent board and lodging for seamen ashore, especially as there is a sum of £13,000, and an excellent site suitable for the erection of a Sailors' Home, and the establishment of a fund towards its permanent maintenance. His Lordship, on the other hand, laboured under the apprehension that if the existing arrangements, which he admitted to be unsatisfactory, were disturbed, the poor mariners might be left to drift like rudderless ships on a sea of wickedness, without the favouring breeze of moral and spiritual improvement. In other words, the religious condition of i lie seamen is regarded by the CummiiU".' v -im now boss the Seaman's llest as of more importance than good meals and clean hods, comfort, quiet, and bodily health, and the great desideratum is to make Jack a goody-goody, who will never, or hardly ever, use a naughty 1).. chew or smoke, but read nice tracts, tell pious yarns, and turn the capstan to the Old Hundredth. Before pronouncing any decisive opinion on the matter, I should like to know what Jack himself thinks about it.