Note 47 — THEN AND NOW.

The following lines, published in 1832, and therefore referring to shipboard life of a date comparatively recent, illustrate the sufferings of passengers in the direction of the accommodation supplied:

“Soon as the twilight closed and I was able,

I left the cuddy and the folks at table

Reading the news; and heard not what they read,

For all I wanted was to find my bed:

Which, after searching ’tween decks all around,

Under a pile of hammocks there I found

All my clean sheets were scattered ’mongst the boxes,

My blankets, too, that I had bought at Cox’s,

Laid in a corner where a dog had lain,

And, curse the dogs! they’d stole my counterpane.

I managed to obtain a berth that night

To sleep in, but they woke me ere ’twas light;

A noise above, and from below a groan,

I heard a voice say, ‘Hang that holy-stone!’”