A subtle something was at work, and it gradually dawned on the young
student that these good folk had the sentiment of brotherhood which is
given by a common cause and a common secret. The early Christians loved
one another, and here, on that grey sea, our sceptic saw the early
Christian movement beginning all over again, with every essential
feature reproduced. All types were represented; the grave man, the stern
man, the sweet-faced dreamy man--even the comic man. The last-named here
was much beloved and admired on account of his vein of humour, and he
was decidedly the Sydney Smith of the fleet. His good-temper was
perfect; a large fellow of the Jutish type lifted him with one huge arm,
and hung him over the side; the humorist treated this experience as a
pleasant form of gentle exercise, and smiled blandly until he was
replaced on deck. When he was presented with a cigar, he gave an
exposition of the walk and conversation of an extremely haughty
aristocrat, and, on his saying, "Please don't haddress me as Bill. Say
'Hahdeyedoo, Colonel,'" the burly mob raised such a haw-haw as never was
heard elsewhere, and big fellows doubled themselves up out of sheer
enjoyment, the fun was so exquisite.
Lewis was struck by the men's extraordinary _isolation_ of mind; you may
not understand his thought now, but, when you visit the North Sea, the
meaning will flash on you. _Isolation_--that is the word; the men know
little of the world; they are infantine without being petty; they have
no curiosity about the passage of events on shore, and their solid world
is represented by an area of 70 feet by 18.
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