"I am captain of the Janson, and have called to inquire
about my steward?" said the Captain.
"Ah! yes,--you have a nigger fellow in jail. Oh! by-the-by, that's
the one there was so much fuss about, isn't it?" said Mr. Grimshaw,
looking up.
"It is an imperative duty on me to seek the comfort of my officers
and crew," said the Captain. "I received a note from my steward,
this morning,--here it is, (handing him the note,) you can read it.
He requested me to call upon him at the jail, where I lost no time
in going, and found what he stated there to be too true. How is it!
From the great liberality of tone which everywhere met my ears when
I first arrived, I was led to believe that he would be made
comfortable; and that the mere confinement was the only feature of
the law that was a grievance. Now I find that to be the only
tolerable part of it. When a man has committed no crime, and is
imprisoned to satisfy a caprice of public feeling, it should be
accompanied with the most favoring attendants. To couple it with the
most disgraceful abuses, as are shown here, makes it exceedingly
repugnant. If we pay for confining these men, and for their living
while they are confined, in God's name let us get what we pay for!"
The reader will observe that Mr. Grimshaw was a man of coarse
manners and vulgar mind, with all their traces preserved on the
outer man.
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