Oor ain folk times

A VISIT TO THE SCHOONER 149
to the casual observer ; but beneath all this forbidding
exterior there lurked the kindliest and most lovable
traits of character, and to the simplicity of a child in
money matters there were added the tender-heartedness
of a woman to any one in distress, and the free
open-handed generosity of the proverbial stage sailor,
whom we find so often depicted in old plays. Indeed,
the Baltic skippers were a class which, on the high seas,
was in many respects similar in idiosyncrasy and
character to the small farmers and freeholders from the
high lands of my native county. Alas ! both classes
have almost entirely disappeared before the modern
march of so-called progress. The crews were nearly
all recruited in the town to which the vessel belonged.
All had to serve a long apprenticeship either in the
fishing-boats along the coast or in the northern trading
craft. Although the discipline was strict, and the
fare such as would horrify even the least fastidious
sailor of these latter days, still, as a rule, very kindly
relations existed between captain, officers, and crew.
No doubt the spirit of localism had much to do with
this. Then the forced competition of modern times
did not reduce profits to a vanishing point, so that the
grain and timber trade which were then the staples
kept jogging along in an old-fashioned, humdrum, but
fairly remunerative way, and possibly there was more
real happiness, contentment, and prosperity than there
is now.
I have a lively recollection of the first time when,
with my brother Bob, we managed to escape from our
grandmother's comfortable villa in the suburbs of
Montrose, and made our way down to the docks,