- end_line
- 1102
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 1063
- text
- not what to make of him; and was a little astonished, when he told me
he was an English boy, from Lancashire.
It seemed, he had come over from Liverpool in this very ship on her
last voyage, as a steerage passenger; but finding that he would have to
work very hard to get along in America, and getting home-sick into the
bargain, he had arranged with the captain to work his passage back.
I was glad to have some company, and tried to get him conversing; but
found he was the most stupid and ignorant boy I had ever met with. I
asked him something about the river Thames; when he said that he hadn’t
traveled any in America and didn’t know any thing about the rivers
here. And when I told him the river Thames was in England, he showed no
surprise or shame at his ignorance, but only looked ten times more
stupid than before.
At last we went below into the forecastle, and both getting into the
same bunk, stretched ourselves out on the planks, and I tried my best
to get asleep. But though my companion soon began to snore very loud,
for me, I could not forget myself, owing to the horrid smell of the
place, my being so wet, cold, and hungry, and besides all that, I felt
damp and clammy about the heart. I lay turning over and over, listening
to the Lancashire boy’s snoring, till at last I felt so, that I had to
go on deck; and there I walked till morning, which I thought would
never come.
As soon as I thought the groceries on the wharf would be open I left
the ship and went to make my breakfast of another glass of water. But
this made me very qualmish; and soon I felt sick as death; my head was
dizzy; and I went staggering along the walk, almost blind. At last I
dropt on a heap of chain-cable, and shutting my eyes hard, did my best
to rally myself, in which I succeeded, at last, enough to get up and
walk off. Then I thought that I had done wrong in not returning to my
friend’s house the day before; and would have walked there now, as it
was, only it was at least three miles up town; too far for me to walk
in such a state, and I had no sixpence to ride in an omnibus.
- title
- Chunk 3