Authors, English -- 20th century -- Biography; Reynolds, Stephen Sydney, 1881-1919
But, with his father's boat, Tony did work far harder--hooking mackerel
at dawn, in with a catch and out to sea again, or up on land hawking
them round; out drifting all night; crabbing, lobster-potting,
shrimping,[4] wrinkling,[5] or taking out frights,[6] wet and dry,
rough and calm, day and night. "Aye, an' I be suffering from it now.
Thees yer bellyache what thins me every summer an' wears a fellow out,
don't come from nothing but tearing about then. I wer al'ays on the
tear, day an' night, in from sea to meals an' out again 'fore I'd had
time to bolt down two mouthfuls. Often I wer so tired that Father'd hae
to call me a dozen times afore I cude wake up, an' then I'd cry, _cry_,
if I wer ten minutes laate to work--when I had summut to du on land,
that was. Half the day I wer more asleep than awake, wi' bein' out
fishing all night. But I didn' let 'em see it. Not I! Rather'n that,
I'd go up to the closet an' catch off there for five minutes, before
they shude see I wern't fit to du me work. An' I never had nort o' me
own for years, for all I done. Whether I earned two pound, or thirty
shillings, or nothing at all, I never had so much as a penny for
pocket-money, to call me own. I had to take it all in house--aye! an'
tips too, when I got 'em. Father, he wern't doing much then, an' ther
were seven younger'n me. That's where my earnings went. An' me, as did
the work, was wearing Mother's boots an' Father's jacket."
[4] Prawning.
[5] Periwinkle gathering.
[6] Freights, _i.e._ pleasure parties.
When Tony was indisputably grown up, one half of what he earned went,
according to custom, to the boat-owner, in this case his father,
frequently had be thu to pay for repairs and new gear. That went on for
years after he was married--'hauling an' rowing an' slaving an' pulling
me guts out wi't!'--until, in fact, the present Mrs Widger insisted on
his buying boats of his own.
[Sidenote: _THE DEAD NOT WHOLLY SO_]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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