You
are not a correct reader though. It's very far from being wrong. You
understand? As far from being wrong as it can very well be. It ought to
teach you not to make rash surmises. You should leave that to the shore
people. They are great hands at spying out something wrong. I dare say
they know what they have made of the world. A dam' poor job of it and
that's plain. It's a confoundedly ugly place, Mr. Franklin. You don't
know anything of it? Well--no, we sailors don't. Only now and then one
of us runs against something cruel or underhand, enough to make your hair
stand on end. And when you do see a piece of their wickedness you find
that to set it right is not so easy as it looks . . . Oh! I called you
back to tell you that there will be a lot of workmen, joiners and all
that sent down on board first thing to-morrow morning to start making
alterations in the cabin. You will see to it that they don't loaf. There
isn't much time."
Franklin was impressed by this unexpected lecture upon the wickedness of
the solid world surrounded by the salt, uncorruptible waters on which he
and his captain had dwelt all their lives in happy innocence.
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