Adittybagapprenticeship
1 A DittyBagApprenticeship EE HOW SHE SCHOONS! Cutting a feather in the various elements upon which its survival Sa four-lower breeze, sails filling in powerful depended was once an absolute necessity, and curves and pulling like the muscles ofa draft horse there were always men aboard capable of handl with a heavy load; sails straining under therelent ing the various materials, not the least ofwhom less force ofthe wind! was the sailmaker. He was not alonein working By moonrise, the wind's diminished to a with canvas; even the greenest hand had to take whisper-hardly a ripple on the water as she up needle and palm when there was extensive ghosts slowly along under light sails; great cloth work to be done. Seafaring people ashore, out of phantoms tranquillybillowing in the moonlight. geographical or economic necessity, had no less a Or in an oily calm, the limp cloth slats andslams need to be self-sufficient in the manufacture and from side to side, awaiting the day when it might repair of the sails for the boats with which they explode from its boltropes under the force of a earned their livelihood. Those Johnny New howling gale and be lashed and beaten to useless combes who'd assist the seagoing sailmaker were 'hreds. Harmony and discord in the marriage of often initiated into the sailor's arts by the making 'ud, wave, wood, and cloth. ofa ditty bag. Those small bags were sometimes Cloth is admirable for bothwhat itis andwhat it elaborately andintricatelyfinished, thus offering a s. First a fiber, spun into thread and woven into means of self-expression and furnishing some workable, versatile, yet vulnerable fabric, cloth is thing to occupy idle hands and to keep the mind ade into sails, the soul and salvation ofthe sailing alive.
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