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- 3981
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z
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- structure-extraction-lambda
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- 3931
- text
- during our watch on deck; “snivelized chaps only learns the way to take
on ’bout life, and snivel. You don’t see any Methodist chaps feelin’
dreadful about their souls; you don’t see any darned beggars and pesky
constables in _Madagasky, I_ tell ye; and none o’ them kings there gets
their big toes pinched by the gout. Blast Ameriky, I say.”
Indeed, this Larry was rather cutting in his innuendoes.
“Are _you_ now, Buttons, any better off for bein’ snivelized?” coming
close up to me and eying the wreck of my gaff-topsail-boots very
steadfastly. “No; you ar’n’t a bit—but you’re a good deal _worse_ for
it, Buttons. I tell ye, ye wouldn’t have been to sea here, leadin’ this
dog’s life, if you hadn’t been snivelized—that’s the cause why, now.
Snivelization has been the ruin on ye; and it’s spiled me complete; I
might have been a great man in Madagasky; it’s too darned bad! Blast
Ameriky, I say.” And in bitter grief at the social blight upon his
whole past, present, and future, Larry turned away, pulling his hat
still lower down over the bridge of his nose.
In strong contrast to Larry, was a young man-of-war’s man we had, who
went by the name of _“Gun-Deck,”_ from his always talking of sailor
life in the navy. He was a little fellow with a small face and a
prodigious mop of brown hair; who always dressed in man-of-war style,
with a wide, braided collar to his frock, and Turkish trowsers. But he
particularly prided himself upon his feet, which were quite small; and
when we washed down decks of a morning, never mind how chilly it might
be, he always took off his boots, and went paddling about like a duck,
turning out his pretty toes to show his charming feet.
He had served in the armed steamers during the Seminole War in Florida,
and had a good deal to say about sailing up the rivers there, through
the everglades, and popping off Indians on the banks. I remember his
telling a story about a party being discovered at quite a distance from
them; but one of the savages was made very conspicuous by a pewter
plate, which he wore round his neck, and which glittered in the sun.
This plate proved his death; for, according to _Gun-Deck,_ he himself
shot it through the middle, and the ball entered the wearer’s heart. It
was a rat-killing war, he said.
_Gun-Deck_ had touched at Cadiz: had been to Gibraltar; and ashore at
Marseilles. He had sunned himself in the Bay of Naples: eaten figs and
oranges in Messina; and cheerfully lost one of his hearts at Malta,
among the ladies there. And about all these things, he talked like a
romantic man-of-war’s man, who had seen the civilized world, and loved
it; found it good, and a comfortable place to live in. So he and Larry
never could agree in their respective views of civilization, and of
savagery, of the Mediterranean and _Madagasky._
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