as soon as the vessel arrives has not infrequently
been the cause of irreparable mischief. If the relatives of these men
could only witness the eagerness with which the arrival of the captain
or his agent is watched for each day at noon, in the hope that letters
may have come for them, they would realize how necessary it is to
attend regularly to this phase of domestic life, and how little the
trouble is compared with the joy it gives. On the other hand, I think
if those who do not carry out the behest could see the effect of their
callousness, they might either be frightened or filled with remorse and
pity. But they cannot see it, and the poor fellows are often too
sensitive about showing what would appear to them as feminine weakness,
and so the thing in some cases drifts on, each not knowing the ugly
consequences that are being inflicted on the other, until the climax
inevitably comes and it is found the wreck cannot be repaired. I have
drawn an extreme case, but there are such cases, and it is because I
know of them that I have made the picture emphatic. All manner of
excuses are made, such as being a bad letter-writer, and having so much
to attend to, and "he doesn't reply to my or our letters as he should."
My reply to this nonsense is, never mind whether he reciprocates your
extreme condescension or not. The communication with him should be kept
going, and if letters are bright, chatty, and without a word of
indiscreet reproach for any lack of attention on his part, depend upon
it he will ultimately melt into penitence and become a self-accused
rascal. Of course I have known many cases where unjustifiable cruelty
has been shown by sailors in not writing and in not answering letters
sent to them by their wives, mothers or sisters. They did not really
mean to cause suffering. They merely drifted into a condition of
recklessness which perhaps their environments predisposed them to
without ever reflecting that they owed the same duty to their relatives
as they invariably complained was not being done to themselves.

I am reminded of a beautiful instance of unwavering devotion to a poor,
wayward fellow, who was engaged to serve in the far eastern trade for
three years. At each port the vessel touched at on the way out, letters
were sent home, and every mail took letters to him, so that when he
arrived at the port of discharge quite a batch were received. He wrote
regularly for some months, then his letters began to f