{"id":"01KG8AM4MYCCYK3TPWM3B7JRQR","cid":"bafkreihx4vbqndxi4lwli5cxcvm2chrqkt7gphaa4oudtobciavo3oxa2u","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":297,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.981Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":235,"text":"                                   I\r\n\r\n\r\n                        (_An inside Narrative_)\r\n\r\n\r\nIn the time before steamships, or then more frequently than now, a\r\nstroller along the docks of any considerable seaport would occasionally\r\nhave his attention arrested by a group of bronzed marines, man-of-war’s\r\nmen or merchant sailors in holiday attire ashore on liberty. In certain\r\ninstances they would flank, or, like a bodyguard, quite surround some\r\nsuperior figure of their own class, moving along with them like\r\nAldebaran among the lesser lights of his constellation. That signal\r\nobject was the ‘Handsome Sailor’ of the less prosaic time alike of the\r\nmilitary and merchant navies. With no perceptible trace of the\r\nvainglorious about him, rather with the off-hand unaffectedness of\r\nnatural regality, he seemed to accept the spontaneous homage of his\r\nshipmates. A somewhat remarkable instance recurs to me. In Liverpool,\r\nnow half a century ago, I saw under the shadow of the great dingy\r\nstreet-wall of Prince’s Dock (an obstruction long since removed) a\r\ncommon sailor, so intensely black that he must needs have been a native\r\nAfrican of the unadulterate blood of Ham. A symmetric figure much above\r\nthe average height. The two ends of a gay silk handkerchief thrown loose\r\nabout the neck danced upon the displayed ebony of his chest; in his ears\r\nwere big hoops of gold, and a Scotch Highland bonnet with a tartan band\r\nset off his shapely head.\r\n\r\nIt was a hot noon in July; and his face, lustrous with perspiration,\r\nbeamed with barbaric good-humour. In jovial sallies right and left, his\r\nwhite teeth flashing into view, he rollicked along, the centre of a\r\ncompany of his shipmates. These were made up of such an assortment of\r\ntribes and complexions as would have well fitted them to be marched up\r\nby Anacharsis Cloots before the bar of the first French Assembly as\r\nRepresentatives of the Human Race. At each spontaneous tribute rendered\r\nby the wayfarers to this black pagod of a fellow--the tribute of a pause\r\nand stare, and less frequent an exclamation--the motley retinue showed\r\nthat they took that sort of pride in the evoker of it which the Assyrian\r\npriests doubtless showed for their grand sculptured Bull when the\r\nfaithful prostrated themselves. To return----\r\n\r\nIf in some cases a bit of a nautical Murat in setting forth his person\r\nashore, the Handsome Sailor of the period in question evinced nothing of\r\nthe dandified Billy-be-Dam, an amusing character all but extinct now,\r\nbut occasionally to be encountered, and in a form yet more amusing than\r\nthe original, at the tiller of the boats on the tempestuous Erie Canal\r\nor, more likely, vapouring in the groggeries along the tow-path.\r\nInvariably a proficient in his perilous calling, he was also more or\r\nless of a mighty boxer or wrestler. It was strength and beauty. Tales of\r\nhis prowess were recited. Ashore he was the champion, afloat the\r\nspokesman; on every suitable occasion always foremost. Close-reefing\r\ntopsails in a gale, there he was, astride the weather yard-arm-end, foot\r\nin ‘stirrup,’ both hands tugging at the ‘ear-ring’ as at a bridle, in\r\nvery much the attitude of young Alexander curbing the fiery Bucephalus.\r\nA superb figure, tossed up as by the horns of Taurus against the\r\nthunderous sky, cheerily ballooning to the strenuous file along the\r\nspar.\r\n\r\nThe moral nature was seldom out of keeping with the physical make.\r\nIndeed, except as toned by the former, the comeliness and power, always\r\nattractive in masculine conjunction, hardly could have drawn the sort of\r\nhomage the Handsome Sailor in some examples received from his less\r\ngifted associates.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKG13Y22S9NR20ZR4NM1Q","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM4MTFRB4Y7QCRF51ZYHK","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.294Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:34.541Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}