Ben Hadden

Ben Hadden.

by W.H.G. Kingston.

CHAPTER ONE.

BEN"S HOME.

On the east coast of England, there is a small hamlet surrounded by high sand-hills, with scarcely a blade of gra.s.s or even a low shrub to be seen in its neighbourhood. The only vegetable productions, indeed, which can flourish in that light soil, are the pale green rushes, whose roots serve to bind the sand together, and to prevent the high easterly winds, so constantly blowing on that coast, affecting it as much as they would otherwise do. Even in spite of the opposition of the rushes, several deserted huts have been almost entirely covered up by the drifting sand. See Note 1.

The population of the village consists of seafaring people and their families. The men form the crews of the numerous vessels employed in the herring fisheries which belong to the various fishing-places on the coast. Nowhere along the sh.o.r.es of England are finer sea-boats or more hardy crews to be found.

Most of the herring vessels are luggers, from thirty to forty tons burden, and entirely decked over. Each carries from eight to ten men.

They are divided below into compartments, or tanks: in one compartment, salt is stowed; into another, the herrings, as soon as caught, are thrown; in a third they are salted, and are then packed away in lockers, on either side of the vessel, till she is full. She is then steered for the sh.o.r.e to the point nearest to a railway, or where there is a market.

Each vessel has several long nets: the upper part of the net floats close to the surface of the water, buoyed up by bladders; the lower part is kept down by small bits of lead, and one end is moored to the bottom by a heavy weight. The fish, as they swim in large shoals, strike against the net as against a wall, and are caught in the meshes.

Herring fishing is carried on at night, when the fish cannot see the nets. When a vessel or boat has cast out her nets, she hangs on to the lee [See note 2] end of them till the morning.

Besides these large herring luggers, many open boats are used; and great numbers of other boats from the coasts of Scotland and the North of England resort to these seas in the herring season. There is yet another cla.s.s of vessels which frequent this coast. They are the deep-sea fishing smacks--cutters measuring from thirty to fifty tons, each carrying about ten men. Their nets differ much from those used by the luggers and boats. They fish with trawls, and so are called _trawlers_. A trawl is a net with a deep bag fastened to a long beam, which long beam has a three-cornered iron at each end. This beam is dragged along at the bottom of the sea, and stirs up the turbot, bream, plaice, soles, and other flat-fish which lie there; when they swim into the bag and are caught. These trawlers fish in the North Sea, sometimes a hundred and a hundred and fifty miles away from England, off the Texel. Other fishing grounds are from twelve to twenty miles off the British coast. At times, more than a hundred vessels are together, forming a large fleet. One of the oldest and wisest of the captains is chosen as their head man, and is called the admiral of the fleet.

They have, of course, many rules and laws to govern them. When they fish far from the land, they remain out six weeks, or more; and do not once, all that time, go into port. There are, however, steamers employed, which run to and fro to carry them food and fresh-water, also to take ice to them. With this ice the fish are packed, as soon as caught, in large baskets. The steamers then collect the fish from the different fishing-vessels, and carry it to London, or to the nearest port where there is a railway station. This account will give an idea of the many thousand people employed as fishermen on the eastern coasts of our country. In summer, while the weather is fine, their calling is pleasant and healthy; but when storms arise the hardships and perils are very great, and many of the men every year lose their lives, leaving widows and orphans behind them.

There was belonging to Sandhills, the little hamlet about which I have spoken, as fine and bold a set of fishermen as any to be found on the British coast. There were from fifteen to twenty families. The largest family was that of old John Hadden. He had eight sons and several daughters: three of his sons were away at sea--two of these were on board men-of-war, and the third was on board a trading-vessel; four followed his calling as fishermen, and formed part of the crew of the lugger of which he was master; the youngest, the eighth--Little Ben as he was always called, the son of his old age--was as yet too young to go regularly to sea. He, however, went with his father and brothers in the summer season, when fine weather was looked for, and he would not probably be exposed to hardships too severe for his tender years.

The fishermen of that coast were long known as rough and careless men, thinking nothing of religion, and utterly ignorant of religious truth.

It used to be said of them, that as a rule they lived hard and died hard, caring for n.o.body, and n.o.body caring for them. This was too true of many, but not of all. It was not true of John Hadden. His outside was rough enough, and very much so in winter, when he had on his high fishing-boots, broad-flapped sou"-wester, thick woollen comforter, Guernsey frock, with a red flannel shirt above it, and a pea-coat over all. But he had an honest, tender, true, G.o.d-loving, and G.o.d-fearing heart. As he had been brought up, so he brought up his children in "the way they should go," trusting "that when they were old they would not depart from it."

John Hadden was able to do what many of his friends could not; he could read, having learned early in life. Not that he read very well, but well enough to study the Book of books so as to understand what it teaches. There are many, alas! who _can_ read it far more easily than could John Hadden, but do _not_. How many have the Bible, but do not even look into it, treating it as though it were of less value than any common book! How many would rather read light foolish books than the "Holy Scriptures," though they "are able to make us wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus!"

What does that verse mean? That if we read and study the Scriptures, with faith in Christ Jesus, they will show us how we may, without fail, gain more joy, happiness, wealth, and glory than words can tell; not such as will pa.s.s away in a few short years, but such as will last for ever and ever.

John Hadden prized the Bible as the only light which could point out to him the way of eternal life. He read and read, and, more than all, he prayed as he read, till he understood the Bible well, and was able to shape his own course by it, and to point out to his sons how they might shape theirs. When he took up the Bible he humbly prayed, "Lord, teach me that I may read and understand Thy holy Word aright." These words, and the spirit of these words, he taught his children.

John Hadden and his family neglected no means or opportunities of knowing more about the Bible, or of obtaining instruction. He did not say, as some do, "I can read, and I can pray; and so why should I go away from my own home and own fireside to listen to another man?" John Hadden was a real Christian, and therefore he was a humble Christian.

The place of public worship was far off, and the road was rough; but John, with his wife and children, never failed when he was on sh.o.r.e, unless hindered by sickness, to go there on the Sunday to hear the Word of G.o.d read and explained, and to pray with other Christian people.

When John and the boys were at sea, Mrs Hadden and the other children went, and she used to say she dearly loved to do so, because then she could pray with others to the good Lord, and say, "That it may please Thee to preserve all that travel by land or by water." John often also said that when he was away on the ocean, he always felt happy as the hour of public service came round, because he knew that his wife and children, and other Christian friends, would be praying for him and his companions at sea.

Among the precepts which John Hadden found in his Bible was this: "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy G.o.d. In it thou shalt do no manner of work."

Now John Hadden was a plain man, and he understood things plainly.

When, early in life, he first understood this commandment, he determined that he would keep it; and so, while others cast out their nets on Sat.u.r.day night, as usual, John always kept his in. If he could, he ran into harbour, and worshipped G.o.d with his fellow-men on sh.o.r.e; if not, he and his sons and the rest of his crew united in prayer: he also read to them from the Holy Scriptures, and often besides from some religious book likely to feed their souls with spiritual food. John Hadden had acted in this way for years. The masters of other boats had tried in vain to make him give up this practice. They told him he would be ruined; that he had a large family to bring up; that it was foolish, and not required; that such commandments wore for sh.o.r.e-going people, and not for poor fishermen. But John"s answer was always the same: "I"ll tell you what, mates: G.o.d says, "Do no work on the Sabbath"--don"t fish, that means; and I"m very certain that what He says is right. So it is not right to fish more than six days in the week. What I tell you, mates, and what I tell my boys, is this: "_Do right whatever comes of it_.""

Note 1. This plant is the round-headed rush, or _Juncus conglomeratus_ of naturalists, and is cultivated with great care, especially on the banks of the sea, in Holland, to prevent the water from washing away the earth; for the roots of these rushes strike very deep in the ground, and mat together near the surface so as to form a hold on the loose soil.

These rushes do not grow so strong in England as in the richer soil of Holland.

Note 2. Sailors call the side on which the wind strikes, the weather or windward side, and the opposite to it the lee side. A net is cast out to windward, and the vessel drops slowly down from it till it is all out, when she remains at the lee end. Sometimes the nets are left with only a buoy to mark their position, and the vessel goes to a distance to cast out others.

CHAPTER TWO.

BEN"S FATHER AND HIS MOTTO.

It would be well if all, of high or low degree, landsmen and sailors, gentle and simple, kept to old John Hadden"s rule. How much misery and suffering would be saved! how much remorse of conscience! how much grief and shame! How much better would Satan, that great foe of man, be kept at a distance! That is just the reason he whispers, whenever he can get an opening, "Do wrong that good may come of it," or, "Do a little wrong, just a little, and no harm will come of it;" or again, "Commit a small sin; G.o.d will not see it, or if He does, G.o.d will not care for it."

That is just what Satan has been saying over and over again since he first tempted and deceived Eve in the garden of Paradise. He spoke then from envy, to drive our first parents out of an earthly paradise; he in like manner lies now to us, to hinder us from getting into the heavenly paradise, prepared for those who love and obey G.o.d. John Hadden knew this full well, and so he would allow no departure from that rule; he would have it stuck to closely. He was for ever saying to his sons, "Do right at all times, my lads; it is not your business to think of what will happen afterwards. G.o.d will take care of that; He will guide you better than you can guide yourselves. If you act as I say, no real evil will befall you. You may fancy that what happens is an evil just for the time; but, depend on it, what seems an evil will turn out for your good in the end."

A stranger, visiting in the neighbourhood, once walked over to Sandhills. He had a talk with John Hadden, who happened to be on sh.o.r.e.

He soon found that John was a Bible-reading man, and that he obeyed the law of the gospel.

"And so you have followed this plan of yours for some time, and have found it answer?" said the stranger.

"Yes, sir," said John, "I have followed it since I was a young man, and now I am an old one. I never have fished on a Sunday, and I hope that I never shall. Look at me, sir. Am I more feeble, am I thinner, am I more sickly than my neighbours? am I less able to work?"

"No, indeed you are not," answered the stranger; "you are the stoutest and one of the most able-bodied men I have seen in the place."

"Am I poorer? is my cottage less comfortable? are my children worse educated? are they inferior in health, strength, or activity to the children of others in the hamlet?" asked John, warming with the subject.

"No, my friend," answered the stranger; "your sons are the finest young fellows in the place, and the best brought up, as I hear from all sides, while your cottage is the neatest and most comfortable."

"That it is; that"s what I say to my brother fishermen," exclaimed John Hadden, warmly. "Now, sir, I will tell you more than this. Instead of being a poorer man for not fishing on a Sunday I know that I am a richer one, and I can prove it. G.o.d knows what is best for us; so in His love He gave us the Sabbath, that we might rest, and that our souls might turn to Him and be glad. While others have been toiling all the year round, day after day, wearing out their bodies, and dulling and saddening, so to speak, their souls, I have rested one day out of seven, and on that day my strength and my spirits have been renewed. I have not grown old so fast as they have. Then again, if I had been toiling and working for the bread which perisheth, and made my sons toil and work with me, how could I have fed my soul and their souls with that bread which will make us live for ever? Instead of being steady, honest, hard-working, G.o.d-fearing young men, a credit to me, and respected by all who know them, they would have been careless, idle, and vicious. Neighbours often say to me, "How is it, John Hadden, that your sons are good steady young men, and do as you tell them?"--then I say, "It is just this, because I bring them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. The Bible tells me how to bring up my children, and I do it.

If you brought up your children as the Bible tells you to do, your children would make you as happy as mine do me."

"But, sir, I was speaking about fishing on a Sunday. Now look here, sir; there is another reason why I have an advantage over those who fish every day in the week: my nets will last longer than theirs, and at the end of a couple of years are worth one-third more. While their nets have always been wet,--for they have not had time to mend them properly,--I have had mine brought on sh.o.r.e on Sat.u.r.day morning, spread out all day in the sun, mended in the evening, and left to dry all the next day. The wear and tear of the boats and the boats" gear also have been saved. So you see that those who break G.o.d"s commandments for the sake of gain do not find it all profit. There is an old saying, sir, that "The devil"s wages slip through the fingers." Whose wages are those gained by working on the Sabbath but his? A man fancies that he has got them safe in the palm of his hand, and when he wants to spend them, they are gone. At the end of the year,--I have said it, and I know it,--by following G.o.d"s commandments, simply because He has commanded, I have been a richer man than those who disobeyed them; and I know surely that I have been a stronger, a more healthy, a happier, and a more contented one.

"Again, sir, look here; many say they can"t work on from the beginning to the end of the fishing season without drink: no more they can, maybe, but rest is better far than drink; and if they would take the Sabbath-day"s rest they might save the cost of the week"s drink, and that"s more by a long way than the Sabbath-day"s toil gives them. So, as I say, when we obey G.o.d we do the best thing for ourselves, even in this life; and that to my mind shows what a merciful and loving G.o.d He is. He does not want to make us suffer pain or grief, He wants to make us happy; and so all His laws are such that if we would obey them, we should be happy. It is because men do not obey them that they are unhappy. There, sir, that"s my belief. I"m an old man now; but I thought so when I was a young one, and every year since I have had good cause to think the same."

"You speak nothing but the truth, my friend," observed the gentleman; "I will tell others what you have said to me, and how you have acted, and I will try to persuade them to follow your example."

"My example, sir!" said John Hadden gravely. "Say rather, sir, the same example I try to follow."

"You are right, my friend," said the gentleman, wringing the fisherman"s rough hand and walking thoughtfully away.

Some time after this, John Hadden was sitting with his spy-gla.s.s resting across his knees, at the top of the highest sand-hill near the village.

A strong gale from the north-east, which would not let any of the fishing-boats put to sea, was blowing. It was at the time of the year when the larger fishing-vessels are laid up. John had more than once put his gla.s.s to his eye; he now kept it there, and made a crutch of his left arm to hold it up. While thus employed, he was joined by one of his sons.

"If he don"t take care he"ll be on the bank as sure as my name is John Hadden," he cried out, pointing to a large ship which had stood in from the offing (that is, from the sea far off), and was trying to work to the northward. A slant of wind which would allow the stranger (see note 1) to lay well up along sh.o.r.e, had tempted him to stand in closer than he should have done. Old Hadden and his son watched the strange vessel for some time with great interest. Still he stood blindly on.

"There, I feared that it would be so!" exclaimed John; "and if help don"t go to them before high water, not a soul of all on board will escape."

Too true: the fine ship lay fast, her broadside struck again and again by the heavy seas, which came rolling in from the eastward.

"Jem, we must go to her!" exclaimed John Hadden suddenly. "Call your brothers, lad; it won"t do to let these poor fellows perish for want of help."

Scarcely two minutes pa.s.sed after this, before John Hadden and his five sons--for Ben also went--were launching their yawl through the surf which broke on the sandy beach. A few of the people of the village nearest the water came running down to see the boat off, but John had not time to tell his wife and daughters of what he was going to do. He would fain have given them a parting kiss, but time was precious. He sent up a lad, though, to his home. "Tell them," he said, "we are doing our duty; we shall be cared for." Away through the foaming sea the brave men pulled their stout boat. The spray flew over her, and speedily wetted them through, but for that they cared nothing. The seas, however, sometimes broke on board, and little Ben was kept hard at work, baling out the water.

"She is well out at the end of the spit, lads," observed old Hadden; "we may get close enough for them to heave a rope on board us, if she hangs together, and I don"t see that there is much doubt about her doing that."

They pulled on for some time, without any one again speaking. "She will hang very well together," observed John; "but, oh! more"s the pity, they seem to be lowering one of their boats, instead of waiting for our coming, as if they could reach the sh.o.r.e in her." Such was indeed the case. A small boat was lowered, and several people were seen to leap into her. She shoved off, but a current, of which the strangers could not have known, swept the boat towards the breakers. In another instant she was rolled right over, and all in her must have perished. Still the Haddens, thinking that others might be left on board, pulled on l.u.s.tily to give them help.