reat," "Our House," "The Sailor's Welcome Home," "The
Jolly Tar," and "The Flowing Sea Inn" are favorite names with these
places. The entrance is generally low and narrow, and conducts the
visitor to the main room, which is often the bar, of the house. This is
a small, low-pitched apartment. The floor is sanded, and the ceiling is
lined with tissue paper pendants cut in various designs. The mantelpiece
is adorned with various seamen's trophies and curiosities from foreign
lands, the majority of which have been stolen from the poor fellows, who
brought them home for a different purpose. The bar is adorned with a
multitude of bottles, decanters, and glasses, and the liquors give no
indication to the eye of their deadly properties. A person accustomed to
cross the ocean in the luxurious cabin of a Cunarder, would not find the
place very attractive, but to Jack, who has never known anything better
than the forecastle, it has many attractions, and he falls an easy victim
to it.

The landlords of these places are simply the meanest of thieves and
bullies. They charge a uniform price of about seven dollars per week,
for which they give a mean bed in a dirty room occupied by five or six
other persons, and three indifferent meals a day. They do not, however,
reap their profits from their legitimate business. Their principal
earnings are gained by their crimes.

They keep their runners in the harbor on the watch for ships coming in
from long voyages. These board the vessels as soon as they reach the
bay, and at once begin to extol the merits of their several
establishments. They are adepts at their art, and before the vessel has
cast anchor at her berth, they have secured one or more men apiece for
their houses. They never leave them after this, but "stick to them"
until they receive their wages, after which they conduct them to the
boarding-house, and turn them over to the landlord. If the sailor is
unwilling to promise to become a guest at the boarding-house, the runner
has but little trouble in inducing him to "drop in and look at it." The
great object is to get him within its doors. The first sense of freedom
from the confinements of the ship is very grateful to Jack, and puts him
in a good humor with himself and everybody else. This renders him the
easier a victim.

When he has been brought within the portals of the boarding-house, the
next step is to induce him to drink. Sailors are very tough, but even