JACK. Think of it? Why, Tom, I always _thought_ well of it, though I can't say that I have latterly _practised_ it much; but I like it now better than ever. I have ruminated a good deal upon its evils, both at sea and ashore. Don't you think, Tom, that rum is at the bottom of nine out of ten of the floggings that take place in the navy? TOM. Yes, indeed, Jack, I am sure of it. And I think, moreover, that if it were discarded _entirely_ from the government and merchant service, insubordination and floggings would be of rare occurrence in the one, and trouble and mutiny in the other. And there would be fewer vessels and lives lost in the merchant-service, in the bargain. JACK. I have often thought, Tom, what a degrading thing that flogging is. It sinks a man below the level of a brute, both in his own and the eyes of others. It seems to me that if I had ever been triced up at the gratings, and had a stroke of the cat, it would have completely crushed my spirit, if it had not broken my heart outright. TOM. I think it would have had the same effect on me too, Jack. I am sure I could not have stood it. JACK. And, Tom, to show more of the bad effects of liquor, I remember that I was once in Port-au-Prince, in the island of St. Domingo, during the sickly season, when a fearful mortality raged among the shipping, so that every vessel lost some of her men; most of them bringing on the yellow-fever by their intemperance. There were three ships that were left without a man; all were swept off from the captain to the cook. TOM. Awful, Jack, awful. I have also seen many a stout and noble-hearted tar, in those yellow-fever countries, stowed away under a foot of earth for the landcrabs to feed upon, just from drinking rum, or the strong brandy of the country. I'll tell you what it is, Jack, when the coppers are scalded by rum, physic can't get a hold--it is just like casting anchor on a rocky bottom--and so the grip of the grim monster Death is sure. The only safe man there, as well as everywhere else, indeed, is the teetotaler. JACK. What is a teetotaler, Tom? I have often heard the term, without fully knowing what it meant. TOM. A teetotaler, Jack, is one who conscientiously abstains from every description of intoxicating drink: rum, whiskey, brandy, gin, cordials, wine, cider, ale, and even beer. JACK. What, Tom, you don't mean to say that you give such a wide berth to _beer_? Tell that to the marines, for old sailors won't believe it.