This was a windfall, and there was quite a contest, who
should have the carpenter to walk with him. As "Chips" was a man of
some little education, and he and I had had a good deal of intercourse
with each other, he fell in with me in my walk. He was a Fin, but
spoke English very well, and gave me long accounts of his country;-
the customs, the trade, the towns, what little he knew of the
government, (I found he was no friend of Russia), his voyages, his
first arrival in America, his marriage and courtship;- he had married
a countrywoman of his, a dress-maker, whom he met with in Boston. I
had very little to tell him of my quiet, sedentary life at home;
and, in spite of our best efforts, which had protracted these yarns
through five or six watches, we fairly talked one another out, and I
turned him over to another man in the watch, and put myself upon my
own resources.
I commenced a deliberate system of time-killing, which united some
profit with a cheering up of the heavy hours. As soon as I came on
deck, and took my place and regular walk, I began with repeating
over to myself a string of matters which I had in my memory, in
regular order.
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