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Chapter 1 QUICK QUIZ

1-1. (factual-5) In explaining adult development, psychologists must


. a. explain both changes with age and continuities
b. focus primarily on explaining changes with age
c. focus primarily on explaining continuities with age
d. deal most centrally with individual differences in responses to life problems

1-2. (factual-8–9) Which of the following groups would be described as a


“cohort”?
a. all adults presently with middle-class
jobs b. all unemployed adults
c. all adults who exercise regularly
d. all adults born between 1970 and 1975

1-3. (applied-18) If a researcher interviews a group of 20-year-olds, a group of 40-year-olds,


and a group of 60-year-olds about their gender role attitudes, this would be an example of
which sort of research design?
a. cross-
sectional b.
longitudinal
c. time-sequential
d. sequential

1-4. (factual-21) The Duke studies of aging involved the selection of separate groups of
adults aged 45, 50, 55, 60, and 65. Each group was then retested at 2-year intervals for
a total of 6 years. This is an example of what general type of research design?
a. longitudinal
b. panel
c. sequential
d. cross-sectional

1-5. (conceptual-19) Which of the following is a major argument in favor of cross-


sectional research designs in the study of adulthood?
a. They allow researchers to collect information about age differences on some
variable quite rapidly.
b. They allow researchers to answer questions about individual continuity over
time. c. They unconfound age and cohort.
d. They clarify the relationship between age and family life cycle.

1-6. (factual-18) Of the following research methods, select the one that studies the same
subjects over a period of time, observing whether their responses remain the same or
change in
systematic ways?
a. sequential
b. experimental
c. cross-
sectional d.
longitudinal

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights


reserved.
55
1-7. (applied-7) Which of the following timing/experience combinations would be likely to
create the LEAST stress and disruption, according to the shared experience/social clock
model?
a. the death of your father when you are 60 years old
b. retirement because of ill health at age 50
c. being fired from your job when you are 40 years old
d. becoming a parent for the first time when you are 16 years old

1-8. (conceptual-7) In our culture, adults in their early 20s are expected to marry, start
families, establish themselves in jobs or careers, and settle themselves in separate
households; 45-year- olds are expected to be launching their children into independence,
to be reaching the peak of their careers, and to be caring for their own aging parents. Such
expectations illustrate which concept?
a. cohorts
b. generations
c. shared experiences
d. cross-sectional comparisons

1-9. (factual-9) Which of the following is a common characteristic of U.S. adults who were
young children during the Great Depression of the 1930s, according to Elder’s research?
a. negative effects in adulthood
b. a large number of
children c. stable careers
d. late marriage

1-10. (conceptual-27) Which of the following research designs would be the least useful
when using a sample population of a typical college freshman class to make
comparisons of preretirement and postretirement exercise regimen on positive
outlooks?
a. experimental design
b. quasi-experimental
design c. correlational
design
d. surveys

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights


reserved.
56
ANSWER KEY: Chapter 1 QUICK QUIZ

1. Answer: a
Page in text: 5
Topic: Basic Concept in Adult Development
Question type: factual; Difficulty level: moderate

2. Answer: d
Page in text: 8–9
Topic: Sources of Change
Question type: factual; Difficulty level: easy

3. Answer: a
Page in text: 18
Topic: Developmental Research
Question type: applied; Difficulty level: easy

4. Answer: c
Page in text: 21
Topic: Developmental Research
Question type: factual; Difficulty level: difficult

5. Answer: a
Page in text: 19
Topic: Developmental Research
Question type: conceptual; Difficulty level: moderate

6. Answer: d
Page in text: 18
Topic: Developmental Research
Question type: factual; Difficulty level: easy

7. Answer: a
Page in text: 7
Topic: Sources of Stability
Question type: applied; Difficulty level: moderate

8. Answer: a
Page in text: 7
Topic: Sources of Change
Question type: conceptual; Difficulty level: difficult

9. Answer: a
Page in text: 9
Topic: Sources of Stability
Question type: factual; Difficulty level: moderate

10. Answer: a
Page in text: 27
Topic: Sources of Stability
Question type: conceptual; Difficulty level: moderate

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights


reserved.
57
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO ADULT
DEVELOPMENT

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1-1. (applied-24–26) Suppose a researcher, using a cross-sectional design, finds that the
incidence of depression is highest among young adults and lowest among the elderly.
Which of the following is a possible valid interpretation of this result?
a. It reflects a basic, shared biological change with age.
b. It reflects a shared, “age-graded” change resulting from common adult tasks
and family life cycles.
c. It reflects cohort differences; current young adults experience more stress than
the previous generation did.
*d. any of the above

1-2. (conceptual-7) Which of the following is NOT an example of a potential shared,


“age- graded” change in adulthood?
a. a loss of fitness (e.g., aerobic capacity) beginning in the 30s and 40s and
continuing into old age
b. an increase in the frequency of contact with siblings between middle age and old age
*c. a higher average number of years of education among current 25-year-olds
than among current 65-year-olds
d. a greater susceptibility to disease among current 65-year-olds than among current 30-
year-olds

1-3. (conceptual-8–9) For which of the following cross-sectional research findings would you be
MOST likely to suspect a “cohort effect” as the primary explanation?
a. lower bone density among 70-year-olds than among 35-year-
olds b. faster recall of lists of words by 20-year-olds than by 60-
year-olds
*c. higher percentage of blue-collar workers among 50-year-olds than among 30-
year- olds
d. a lower rate of marital satisfaction among couples in their 30s than among
couples in their 50s

1-4. (factual-8–9) Which of the following groups would be described as a “cohort”?


a. all adults presently with middle-class
jobs b. all unemployed adults
c. all adults who exercise regularly
*d. all adults born between 1970 and 1975

1-5. (factual-8–9) Which of the following groups would NOT be described as a “cohort”?
*a. everyone who was once a preschooler with a working
mother b. everyone born during the Great Depression of the
1930s
c. everyone in high school or college during the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s
d. everyone who remembers the day President Kennedy was shot in 1963

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights


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58
1-6. (factual-5) In explaining adult development, psychologists must
.
*a. explain both changes with age and
continuities b. focus primarily on explaining
changes with age
c. focus primarily on explaining continuities with age
d. deal most centrally with individual differences in responses to life problems

1-7. (conceptual-7) According to the theory about the impact of the social clock of adult
life events, which of the following individual patterns is associated with the most
upheaval or disruption or personal difficulty—at least for current cohorts?
*a. having your parents both die when you are in your
20s b. having a first child at age 30
c. receiving your last work promotion at age
40 d. retiring at age 65

1-8. (factual-8) What is the term used to describe large social environments where
development takes place?
a. cohorts
b. generations
*c. cultures
d. age periods

1-9. (factual-7) Experiences linked to age and occurring with most adults are called
. a. tribalizations
*b. normative age-graded
influences c. age periods
d. cohorts

1-10. (factual-11) Which of the following is a major research technique used in


“behavior genetics”?
a. comparisons of individuals from different ethnic groups
*b. comparisons of identical and fraternal
twins c. comparisons of young and old
subjects
d. comparisons of males and females

1-11. (applied-18) If a researcher interviews a group of 20-year-olds, a group of 40-year-olds,


and a group of 60-year-olds about their gender role attitudes, this would be an example of
which sort of research design?
*a. cross-
sectional b.
longitudinal
c. time-sequential
d. cross-
sequential

1-12. (conceptual-17–21) If I want to know whether IQ scores tend to remain constant in


individuals over the adult years, which of the following research designs should I use to
study the question?
a.
longitudinal
b. sequential
c. cross-sectional
*d. either a or b

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights


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59
1-13. (conceptual-21) If I want to know whether successive cohorts show the same
pattern of decline in frequency of close friendships in their 30s, which research
design should I use?
a. time-lag
*b. sequential
c.
longitudinal
d. cross-sectional

1-14. (conceptual-19) What research design would I need to use to discover if work
efficiency or productivity rises, remains constant, or declines over the years from age 20
to age 65?
a. cross-sectional
*b.
longitudinal c.
time-lag
d. either b or c

1-15. (factual-21) The Duke studies of aging involved the selection of separate groups of
adults aged 45, 50, 55, 60, and 65. Each group was then retested at 2-year intervals for a
total of 6 years. This is an example of what general type of research design?
a.
longitudinal
b. panel
*c. sequential
d. cross-sectional

1-16. (factual 18) The large-scale research project known as the Midlife in the United States
(MIDUS) National Survey included questions pertaining to personal health that was
sent out to 7000 participants between the ages of 25 and 74. This type of study in
which data is gathered at one time from groups of participants who represent different
age groups is an example of what general type of research design?
*a. cross-sectional
b.
longitudinal
c. sequential
d. panel

1-17. (applied-24) Suppose I am interested in knowing whether adults who are very
introverted at age 20 are still highly introverted at age 50. Which of the following
statistical analyses will I be most likely to use?
a. a comparison of average introversion scores for a sample of adults aged 20 and
another sample aged 50
b. a comparison of average introversion scores at age 20 and age 50 for the same
adults assessed longitudinally
c. an analysis of the average amount in introversion between any 2 measurements of
the same people over time
*d. a calculation of the correlation between scores on the key variable at 2 time
points in a group of subjects studied longitudinally between age 20 and age 50

1-18. (conceptual-21) What would be the very best research design to determine whether
middle- aged adults are really more psychologically “mature” than are young adults?
a. a longitudinal design, with a large representative sample studied from 20 to 45
b. a cross-sectional study in which a large, representative sample of adults of each
age from 20 to 45 (e.g., 20-year-olds, 25-year-olds, etc.) is studied once
c. the same cross-sectional design as in b, but repeated at 10-year intervals
*d. a sequential design in which each age interval is studied longitudinally in more
than one cohort

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights


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60
1-19. (applied-18–19) After doing a large-scale cross-sectional study, a researcher finds that
each successively older group does slightly less well on a test of memory for 10-digit
telephone numbers. Which of the following is the best interpretation of this result?
a. A basic biological change underlies the observed steady reduction of memory skill.
b. Cohort differences probably explain at least part of the observed differences,
because today’s young adults are better educated and more technically
sophisticated than their elders.
c. The difference reflects level of use or practice of memory skills.
*d. Any of the above could be true.

1-20. (conceptual 19). Some cross-sectional studies do not use age groups. Instead they
use stages in life. Which cross-sectional study would be the most suitable using stages
in life?
*a. Comparing young couples without children to couples who have already had
their first child to see the effects of parenthood on marriage.
b. Comparing answers to survey questions from men and women aged 35-44 years old
c. Comparing a freshman and senior high school student grade point average and
athletic ability
d, Comparing twins personality inventories every five years

1-21. (factual-21) A researcher selects a sample of 65-year-olds and interviews and tests
them every 2 years for 14 years. Over these years, some of the subjects die or drop out of
the study due to poor health. This phenomenon is referred to as _ .
*a. selective attrition
b. terminal drop
c. longitudinal
loss d. selective
bias

1-22. (conceptual-20) A researcher finds in a longitudinal study that her subjects are
significantly more open to new experiences at age 50 than they were at 30. This change
might reflect
.
a. a cohort
difference b. age-
related change
c. a developmental change
*d. either b or c

1-23. (factual 8) One of the most common instruments to gather data is a personal
interview. Which of the following questions/statements might a researcher ask in a
structured interview?
a. If you could have the perfect job, what would it be?
b. Describe a time when you communicated some unpleasant news or feelings
to a friend. What happened?
*c. Would your spouse describe you as a warm fuzzy or a cold prickly?
d. Think of a day when you had many things to do and describe how you scheduled
your time.

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights


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61
1-24. (factual-21) If I were to select a sample of 30-year-olds, another sample of 40-year-
olds, and a third sample of -year-olds, test or interview them once, and then test or
interview them again 10 years later, this would be an example of what kind of research
design?
a. cross-
sectional
*b. sequential
c. longitudinal
d.
correlational

1-25. (factual-19) If I select one sample of 30-year-olds and follow them over a
decade, interviewing or testing them repeatedly, this would be an example of
what kind of research design?
a. cross-
sectional b.
sequential
*c.
longitudinal d.
correlational

1-26. (applied 22) Which of the following scenarios best represents a cross-sectional
research design?
*a. A study examines individual political views across a life span. The
researcher’s hypothesis is that as individual’s age, they become more
conservative. The researcher randomly selects a sample from various age
cohorts, to examine their political views on capital punishment,
immigration, and federal spending.
b. A study examines individual political views across a life span. The
researcher’s hypothesis is that as individual’s age, they become more
conservative. The researcher randomly selects a sample from selected high
school population and follows them for 50 years.
c. A study examines the relationship of individual political views and the amount of
education they have completed. The researcher’s hypothesis is that there is a
positive relationship between education and liberal political views.
d. . A study examines how individual political views change between 1981-1991
and
2001-2011.

1-27. (factual-19) If, every 5 years, I study the gender-role attitudes of the same
group of individuals, this would be an example of what kind of research design?
a. cross-
sectional b.
sequential
*c.
longitudinal d.
correlational

1-28. (factual-18) When researchers compare the behavior or responses of adults in


different phases of the family life cycle, this is most like which type of research
design?
*a. cross-
sectional b.
sequential
c. longitudinal
d.
correlational

Weasel 10/26/10 12:06 PM


Comment: Ed: I wasn’t able to find this in the
text.

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights


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62
1-29 (factual-18) Of the following research methods, select the one that studies the same
subjects over a period of time, observing whether their responses remain the same or
change in
systematic ways?
a. sequential
b. experimental
c. cross-
sectional d.
longitudinal

1-30. (factual-24–25) Which of the following correlation coefficients shows the


strongest relationship between the 2 variables entered into the correlation?
a. -.35
b. +.70
*c. -.82
d. +.55

1-31. (applied-7) Which of the following timing/experience combinations would be likely


to create the LEAST stress and disruption, according to the shared experiential/social
clock model?
*a. the death of your father when you are 60 years
old b. retirement because of ill health at age 50
c. being fired from your job when you are 40 years old
d. becoming a parent for the first time when you are 16 years old

1-32. (factual-21) A sequential research design includes .


a. 2 or more longitudinal comparisons following different age groups
*b. 2 or more cross-sectional comparisons taken at different
times c. at least 2 separate representative samples
d. both multiple cross-sectional and longitudinal samples

1-33. (conceptual-19) Which of the following is a major argument AGAINST the use of
cross- sectional research designs in studying adult development?
a. They require too much time to collect data.
b. They typically involve non-representative samples.
*c. They confound age and cohort.
d. They do not allow comparisons of sub-groups, such as middle-class and working-
class, or black and white.

1-34. (factual-19) If a researcher begins a study of a group of 20-year-olds and then a few
years later continues the study on the same group, this would be an example of what
type of research design?
a. cross-sectional
b. time-
sequential
*c. longitudinal
d. cohort-sequential

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights


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63
1-35. (applied-19) Using a standard treadmill test, I observe that today’s 30-year-olds are
more aerobically fit than are today’s 60-year-olds. Which of the following is the LEAST
plausible explanation of this observation?
a. Fitness is more highly valued in today’s society, so the younger cohort exercises
more regularly than the older cohort does now or did when they were 30.
b. In our society, jobs and lifestyles become more and more sedentary as adults get older.
The observed difference thus reflects a genuine change with age, but not
an inevitable one.
c. Inevitable physical changes associated with basic biological aging lie behind
the observed difference.
*d. It is more difficult to test the aerobic capacity of 60-year-olds, so the findings
are probably misleading.

1-36. (conceptual-7) In our culture, adults in their early 20s are expected to marry, start
families, establish themselves in their jobs or careers, and settle into separate households;
45-year-olds are expected to be launching their children into independence, to be
reaching the peak of their careers, and to be caring for their own aging parents. Such
expectations illustrate which concept?
a. cohorts
b. generations
*c. shared experiences
d. cross-sectional comparisons

1-37. (factual-9) Which of the following is a common characteristic of U.S. adults


who were young children during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, according
to Elder’s research?
*a. negative effects in
adulthood b. a large number of
children
c. stable
careers d. late
marriage

1-38. (factual-4) According to the text, emerging adulthood begins in the age decade of .
*a. the
20s b. the
30s c. the
40s d. the
50s

1-39. (factual-7–9) Which is NOT a major category of influence that helps to explain
both the ways we tend to be alike and the ways we tend to be different in our adult
journeys?
*a. biologically influenced
change b. unique experiences
c. cultural-cohort effects
d. shared, age-graded change

1-40. (conceptual-7) Biologically influenced changes in adulthood occur


. a. at the same age in all adults
*b. at varied ages but in a similar
sequence c. at varied ages and in varied
sequences
d. at the same age and in the same sequence

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights


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64
1-41. (conceptual-7) Which shared developmental change is the most likely to be universal?
a. retirement at age
65 b. negative
ageism
*c. reduced muscle mass in old age
d. young adults leaving home at age 18

1-42. (applied-10) Which of the following scenarios is MOST likely a nonnormative life event?
a. a couple in their 20s first marry then have a
child. b. A grandfather of 2 retires at age 65.
*c. Two nursing home residents marry at ages 80 and 82.
d. A young woman graduates with a bachelor’s degree at age 22.

1-43. (conceptual-27) Which of the following research designs would be the


LEAST useful when using a sample population of a typical college freshman
class to make comparisons of preretirement and postretirement exercise
regimen on positive life outlooks?
*a. experimental design
b. quasi-experimental
design c. correlational
design
d. surveys

1-44. (applied-24) Three groups of males take a timed reaction test. All the males in Group 1
are aged 20. The males in Group 2 are all aged 40. The males in the last group (Group 3)
are all aged 60. The statistic reported to describe the differences in reaction times
between groups is each group’s mean score. However, this mean score does NOT
identify .
a. which group has the fastest reaction
times b. a trend for reaction times based
on age
*c. any individual’s reaction time
d. the group that would include the best candidates for a job requiring excellent
reaction times

1-45. (applied-24–25) There is a significant positive correlation between IQ scores and


academic performance (grades). Given this statistic, we can reasonably conclude that
.
a. low IQ scores and low grades are related
b. high IQ scores are a predictor of good grades
c. high IQ scores are NOT the established cause of high grades
*d. All of the above are reasonable conclusions.

Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights


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65
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

1-46. List and briefly describe the four most common methods of data collection. Make
sure to include the pros and cons of each.

1-47. A researcher reports that adults in their forties have fewer close friends than do adults in
their twenties. List briefly at least two (three if you can manage it) broad types of
explanations for this finding.

1-48. Describe and discuss at least two categories of shared, age-graded experiences that
can shape adult development.

1-49. Briefly describe two of the significant problems with longitudinal design.

1-50. There are at least three factors or processes that produce age-graded changes.
Briefly list and describe them.

ESSAY QUESTIONS

1-51. Explain briefly why differences in the average level of education between older and
younger adults might affect our interpretation of age differences in such variables as
intellectual performance or work satisfaction.

1-52. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of cross-sectional and longitudinal


research designs.

1-53. Suppose you wanted to know whether adults become more religious in their forties
and fifties than they were at earlier adult ages. Briefly describe a study you would design
to answer this question.

1-54. Describe two different types of sequential research designs and give an example of each—
either an example of an actual study, or one you make up.

1-55. Design an experiment to test the proposition that older adults gain less (learn less in a
given amount of time) from training in some new skill than do younger adults.

1-56. What are the advantages of a time-lag design compared to a cross-sectional design?

1-57. How can we tell the difference between a cohort effect and a genuine
developmental pattern? What kind of evidence do we need to make the distinction?

1-58. Describe the major adult age strata present in our culture, and describe the
major expectations and responsibilities associated with each stratum.

1-59. Describe the difference between shared and non-shared events. Include examples of each.

1-60. Explore the concepts of individual difference in terms of stability and change, using
either an example from your family or one that you make up from imagination, providing
definitions in your own words and applied examples.

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66
1-61. Create an example of a fictitious individual: use that person’s chronological age,
biological age, psychological age, social age, and functional age to describe them at any point
in adulthood that you choose.

1-62. (applied-5). Evaluate the impact of stability and change during your developmental
process. Explain, with at least one example each, how the concept of change and stability
manifest in your life, and whether you envision a stable theme throughout your life.

1-63. (applied-13). Explain in what ways a person’s social age will impact his or her activity
level in public places if his or her chronological age is between 60-70 years old. Provide an
example that illustrates this impact.

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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tough yarns,
vol. 1
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
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are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: Tough yarns, vol. 1


A series of naval tales and sketches to please all
hands, from the swabs on the shoulders down to the
swabs in the head

Author: M. H. Barker

Release date: February 20, 2024 [eBook #72996]

Language: English

Original publication: Philadelphia: E. L. Carey and A. Hart, 1835

Credits: hekula03, Terry Jeffress and the Online Distributed


Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book
was produced from images made available by the
HathiTrust Digital Library.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOUGH


YARNS, VOL. 1 ***
TOUGH YARNS;
A SERIES

OF

NAVAL TALES AND SKETCHES


TO PLEASE ALL HANDS,

From the Swabs on the Shoulders down to the Swabs in the Head.

BY THE OLD SAILOR,


AUTHOR OF “GREENWICH HOSPITAL,” ETC.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

Vol. I.

PHILADELPHIA:
E. L. CAREY & A. HART.
BALTIMORE:
CAREY, HART & Co.
BOSTON:
WILLIAM D. TICKNOR.
1835.
E. G. Dorsey, Printer,
12 Library Street.
TO

CAPTAIN MARRYATT, R. N.
AUTHOR OF

‘The King’s Own,’ ‘Newton Foster,’ ‘Peter Simple,’


etc., etc.

THESE PAGES ARE DEDICATED

BY

THE OLD SAILOR.


CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

PAGE
Greenwich Hospital, 9
Tom Brookes, 145
Daddy Davy, the Negro, 159
PREFACE.

Once more I present myself before the Public in a Book; and


whatever all hands may think of it, I can assure them it is no joke to
keep one’s brains like a winch, continually spinning yarns. However,
as my “Greenwich Hospital” met with a favourable reception, I
have been induced to try another launch—and—here I am at the
service of my readers.
THE OLD SAILOR.
TOUGH YARNS.
GREENWICH HOSPITAL,
The grand depository of human fragments,—the snug harbour for
docked remnants,—Greenwich Hospital! Who is there that has stood
upon that fine terrace, when the calm of evening has shed its
influence on the spirit, and nature’s pencil intermingling light and
shade has graced the landscape with its various tints, without feeling
delighted at the spectacle? No sound is heard to break the stillness
of the hour, save when the sea-boy trills his plaintive ditty, studious
to grace the turnings of his song, for it was his mother taught it him,
and her he strives to imitate. To him the tide rolls on unheeded; he
sees not the tall mast, the drooping sail; ah, no! his heart is in the
cottage where he knew his first affection, when with a smile of
infantile delight he drew his nourishment from that fond bosom lately
bedewed with tears at parting.
Who is there that has not exulted in the scene, when the proud
ship has spread her canvass to the breeze to carry forth the produce
of our country to distant lands? or when returning to her own home-
shores, laden with the luxuries of foreign climes, the gallant tars
have

“Hailed each well-known object with delight!”

Ay, there they stand! the veterans of the ocean, bidding defiance to
care and sorrow, full of mirth and jollity although they are moored in
tiers. They are critics too, deep critics; but they cannot fancy the
steam vessel with a chimney for a mast, and fifty yards of smoke for
a pendant. These are the men that Smollett pictured,—the Jack
Rattlins and the Tom Pipes of former years. Ay, those were rattling
days and piping times! There is no place upon earth, except
Greenwich, in which we can now meet with them, or find the
weather-roll or lee-lurch to perfection. They are all thorough-bred,
and a thorough-bred seaman is one of the drollest compounds in
existence; a mixture of all that is ludicrous and grave,—of undaunted
courage and silly fear. I do not mean the every-day sailor, but the
bold, daring, intrepid man-of-war’s man; he who in the heat of action
primed his wit and his gun together, without a fear of either missing
fire.
The real tar has a language peculiarly his own, and his figures of
speech are perfect stopper-knots to the understanding of a
landsman. If he speaks of his ship, his eloquence surpasses the
orations of a Demosthenes, and he revels in the luxuriance of
metaphor. The same powers of elocution, with precisely the same
terms, are applied to his wife, and it is a matter of doubt as to which
engrosses the greatest portion of his affection,—to him they are both
lady-ships. Hear him expatiate on his little barkey, as he calls his
wooden island, though she may carry a hundred-and-fifty guns and a
crew of a thousand men. “Oh! she’s the fleetest of the fleet; sits on
the water like a duck; stands under her canvass as stiff as a crutch;
and turns to windward like a witch!” Of his wife he observes, “What a
clean run from stem to starn! She carries her t’gall’nt sails through
every breeze, and in working hank for hank never misses stays!” He
will point to the bows of his ship, and swear she is as sharp as a
wedge, never stops at a sea, but goes smack through all. He looks
at his wife, admires her head-gear, and out-riggers, her braces and
bow-lines; compares her eyes to dolphin-strikers, boasts of her fancy
and fashion-pieces, and declares that she darts along with all the
grace of a bonnetta. When he parts with his wife to go on a cruise,
no tear moistens his cheek, no tremulous agitation does discredit to
his manhood: there is the honest pressure of the hand, the fervent
kiss, and then he claps on the topsail-halliards, or walks round at the
capstan to the lively sounds of music. But when he quits his ship, the
being he has rigged with his own fingers, that has stood under him in
many a dark and trying hour, whilst the wild waves have dashed over
them with relentless fury, then—then—the scuppers of his heart are
unplugged and overflow with the soft droppings of sensibility. How
often has he stood upon that deck and eyed the swelling sails, lest
the breezes of heaven should

“Visit their face too roughly!”


How many hours has he stood at that helm and watched her coming
up and falling off! and when the roaring billows have threatened to
ingulf her in the bubbling foam of the dark waters, he has eased her
to the sea with all the tender anxiety that a mother feels for her first-
born child. With what pride has he beheld her top the mountain wave
and climb the rolling swell, while every groan of labour that she gave
carried a taut strain upon his own heart-strings!
Place confidence in what he says, and he will use no deception;
doubt his word, and he will indulge you with some of the purest
rhodomontade that ingenious fancy can invent. He will swear that he
had a messmate who knew the man in the moon, and on one
occasion went hand-over-hand up a rainbow to pay him a visit. He
himself was once powder-monkey in the Volcano bomb, and he will
tell you a story of his falling asleep in the mortar at the bombardment
of Toulon, and his body being discharged from its mouth instead of a
carcass. With all the precision of an engineer, he will describe his
evolutions in the air when they fired him off, and the manner in which
he was saved from being dashed to pieces in his fall. All this he
repeats without a smile upon his countenance, and he expects you
to believe it: but you may soon balance the account, for tell him what
absurdity you will, he receives it with the utmost credulity and is
convinced of its truth. His courage is undoubted, for he will stand on
the deck undismayed amidst the blood and slaughter of battle; yet on
shore, he is seized with indescribable apprehensions at the sight of a
coffin. The wailings of distress find a ready passport to his heart; but
to disguise the real motives which prompt immediate aid, he swears
that the object of his charity does not deserve a copper, yet gives a
pound with only this provision,—that the individual relieved does not
bother him about gratitude. You may know him from a thousand; for
though in his dress conspicuously neat, and his standing and
running rigging in exact order, yet they are arranged with a certain
careless ease, as if he had but just come down from reefing topsails.
The truck at the mast-head does not sit better than his tarpaulin hat,
neither does the shoe upon the pea of the anchor fit tighter than his
long quartered pumps. Grog is his ambrosia, his necktar; and he
takes it cold, without sugar, that he may have the full smack of the
rum.
And these are the characters at Greenwich Hospital, who after
fighting the battles of their country are honoured with a palace. Oh, it
was a proud display of national gratitude to such brave defenders!
England has been compared to a huge marine animal, whose ports
were its mouths, and whose navy formed its claws. What then is
Greenwich but a receptacle for superannuated claws? I dearly love
to get amongst them,—nearly two thousand shattered emblems of
Britain’s triumphs,—the returned stores of our naval glory. Ay, there
they are with their snug little cabins, like turtles under their shells.
But let us enter the

Painted Wall,

formerly the refectory for the pensioners, but now devoted to the
commemoration of their gallant achievements. There are the
portraits of the heroes of the olden time, whose memorials cannot
perish; and there too is old Van Tromp, the Dutchman, who is
honoured with a distinguished place amongst the brave of England’s
pride.
Here the old blades are a cut above the common; the small iron-
bound officers who attend on visiters and point out the well-
remembered features of commanders long since numbered with the
dead.
“That ’ere, sir, on your right, is the battle of Trafflygar,” said a
short thickset man, apparently between sixty and seventy years of
age. His countenance was one of mild benevolence, and yet there
was a daring in his look that told at once a tale of unsubdued and
noble intrepidity; whilst the deep bronze upon his skin was finely
contrasted with the silky white locks that hung straggling on his brow.
—“That ’ere, sir, is the battle of Trafflygar, in which I had the honour
to be one.”
“Were you with Nelson?” inquired I.
“I was, your honour,” he replied, “and those were the proudest
days of my life. I was with him when he bore up out of the line off
Cape St. Vincent, and saved old Jarvis from disgrace. I was one of
the boarders, too, when we took the Saint Joseph,—there’s the
picture, there in the middle of the hall;—and I was with him in that
ship there,—the Victory,—though it arn’t a bit like her,—and stationed
on the quarter-deck at Trafflygar.”
This was spoken with such an air of triumph, that the old man’s
features were lighted up with animation; it called to his remembrance
scenes in which he had shared the glory of the day and saved his
country. His eye sparkled with delight, as if he again saw the British
ensign floating in the breeze as the proud signal for conquest; or was
labouring at the oar with his darling chief, like a tutelar deity of old,
guiding the boat through the yielding element, and leading on to
some daring and desperate enterprise.
“I don’t like the picture,” said I; “the perspective is bad, and the
ship is too long and flat; besides the colour is unnatural.”
“Why, as for the matter of the prospective, sir,” replied the
veteran, “that’s just what his present Majesty, God bless him!
obsarved when he came to look at it; and for the colour, says the
king, says he, ‘why the painter must have thought he’d been
cooking, for he’s shoved the Victory into the hottest of the fire and
done her brown;’ it was too bad, your honour, to singe her in that ’ere
fashion, like a goose. Mayhap, your honour arn’t seen them there
paintings of the battle at a place they call Exeter Hall, in the Strand.
Now they are some-ut ship-shape, and the heat of the engagement
warms a fellow’s heart to look at. An ould tar of the name of Huggins
painted ’em, and I’m sure it’s right enough, for he’s made the Victory
hugging the enemy just as a bear would a baby. I could stand and
look at them pictures for hours, till I fancied myself once more in the
midst of it, measuring out fathoms of smoke and giving ’em full
weight of metal. The Victory has just fell aboard the French
Redhotable and the Golision, as they calls it, gives each of ’em a lust
different ways that looked so natural-like, that I felt myself getting a
heel to port in the ould Victory as I looked at her. Then there’s the
gale o’wind arter the battle; why, blow my ould wig, but you may feel
the breeze and shake yourself from the spray. God bless his
Majesty!—for they are the king’s, your honour;—long may he live to
view ’em, and long may Huggins hug to windward under royal
favour! I went to see him,—not the king, your honour, but Muster
Huggins, and when he found I was ‘the Old Sailor,’ what gave some
account of the life of a man-of-war’s man in ‘Greenwich Hospital,’ he
whips out his old quid, flings it into the fire, and we sported a fresh bit
o’bacca on the strength of it.—That was a welcome worthy a great
man, and he could’nt ha’ done more for the king, though I arn’t quite
sure that his Majesty does chaw his pig-tail.”
There certainly was ample scope for the remarks of my old friend,
and I could not but consider the picture a complete failure. “And so
you were at Trafalgar,” said I.
“Ay, and a glorious day it was, too, for Old England,” replied the
tar. “Never shall I forget the enthusiasm which animated every
breast, as we bore down to engage; it was indeed a noble sight, and
so your honour would have said, if you had but have seen the
winged giants of the deep as they marched majestically before the
breeze, all ready to hurl their thunders at the foe. But the best
scenes were at the quarters, where the bold captains of each gun
stood cool and undaunted, waiting for the word: but for the matter o’
that, every soul, fore and aft, seemed to be actuated by one and the
same spirit. ‘Look there, Ben,’ said Sam Windsail, pointing out of the
port-hole at the Royal Sovereign, just entering into action, ‘look
there, my Briton; see how she moves along, like a Phœnix in the
midst of fire,—there’s a sight would do any body’s heart good. I’d bet
my grog, (and that’s the lick-sir of life) I say I’d bet my grog agen a
marine’s button, that old Colly’s having a desperate bowse at his
breeches; he’s clapping on a taut hand, I’ll be bound for him.’ Just
then the Sovereign hauled up a little, and opened her fire. ‘Didn’t I
say so,’ continued Sam; ‘look at that! my eyes but he makes ’em
sheer agen! Well behaved my sons of thunder! The old gemman
knows the French are fond of dancing, so he’s giving them a few
balls and routs! Ay, ay, we shall be at it presently, never fear; our old
chap arn’t the boy to be long idle, but then, d’ye mind, he never does
things by halves; so he loves close quarters, and as he is rather near
with his cartridges, why he doesn’t like to throw a shot away.
Howsomever, he’ll go it directly, like a doctor’s written orders,—this
powder and these pills to be taken immediately,—eh, Ben? Next
comes funny-section, or flay-bottomy, as the surgeons call it:—my
eyes, there goes old Colly’s breeches agen, he’ll make a breach in
the enemy’s line directly; ay, he’s a right arnest sallymander.’ By this
time, your honour, we’d got within gun-shot, and the enemy opened
a tremendous fire upon the leading ships of our division, which
played up old Scratch upon the fokstle, poop, and main-deck; for as
we bore down nearly stem on, and there was but a light breeze, they
raked us fore and aft.
“But I should have told you, sir, that just before going into action,
the admiral walked round the quarters attended by the captain and, I
thinks, Mr. Quillem, the first leftenant, but I won’t be sure. The
gunner, Mr. Rivers, was along with ’em, I know, and a worthy old
gemman he was; his son, a midshipman, was stationed on the same
deck with us,—a fine spirited youth, with his light hair flowing about
his ears and his little laughing eyes,—up to all manner of mischief.
Well, round they came, and the hero seemed proud of his men; he
stopped occasionally to speak to one and to another, and his keen
eye saw in a moment if any thing wasn’t ship-shape. His
countenance was rather stern, but there was a look of confidence
that told us at once the day was our own;—nay, for the matter o’ that,
Sam Windsail began to reckon what he should buy for Poll with his
prize-money.
“When they reached the quarters where young Rivers was
stationed, Nelson looked at the son and then at the father, as much
as to say, ‘he’s a fine youth, you ought to be proud of him,’ as no
doubt the old gemman was, for he knew his gallant boy would do his
duty. But still the tender solicitude of a parent’s heart is not to be
repressed, however it may be concealed; and as he followed the
admiral, his head was frequently turned back to take another look at
his child, and perhaps he thought ‘mayhap it may be the last.’ Well,
as I was saying before, the enemy’s balls began to rattle into us like
hail-stones through a gooseberry bush, and many a poor fellow was
laid low. ‘Arrah, bad manners to ’em, what do they mane by that?’
cried Tim Doyle, as a whole shoal of shot travelled in one another’s
wake, and swept the entire range of the deck. ‘Come, don’t be
skulking down there, Jack Noggin,’ continued Tim, ‘but lay hoult of
the tackle-fall.’ Jack never moved. ‘Och bother, don’t you mane to
get up?’ But poor Jack’s glass was run, his cable was parted; so we
launched his hull out at the port, stock and fluke.
“Mayhap you never saw a battle, sir. It is no child’s play, take my
word for it. But the worst time is just before engaging, when silence
reigns fore and aft, and a poor fellow douses his jacket without
knowing whether he shall ever clap his rigging on agen. Then it is
that home with all its sweet remembrances clings round the heart.
Parents, or wife, or children, become doubly dear, and the fond ties
of kindred are linked by stronger bonds. Howsomever, as soon as
the first shot is fired, and we get within a sort of shake-hands
distance of the enemy, every other thought gives way to a steady
discharge of duty.
“Well, d’ye see, close upon our quarter came the Trimmer-rare,
98, and as we hauled up a little, we brought our larboard broadside
to bear upon the great Spanish four-decker;—there, that’s she in the
picture showing her galleries, just by the Victory’s starn:—so we
brought our broadside to bear, and oh, if you had but have seen the
eager looks of the men as they pointed their guns, determined to
make every shot tell,—and a famous mark she was, too, looming out
of the water like Beachy-head in a fog. ‘Stand by,’ says Sam
Windsail, looking along the sight with the match in his hand; ‘stand
by, my boy; so, so,—elevate her breech a bit,—that will do. Now,
then, for the Santizzy-mama-Trinny-daddy, and I lay my life I knock
day-light through his ribs. Fire!’ and the barking irons gave mouth
with all their thunder. A few minutes afterward, and slap we poured
another raking broadside into the Spaniard, and then fell aboard a
French seventy-four.
“Well, there, d’ye see, we lay, rubbing together with the muzzles
of the lower deckers touching one another. When our guns were run
in for loading, the ports were instantly occupied by the small-arm
men, and several attempts were made to board the enemy. At this
time one of the Frenchmen kept thrusting at us with a boarding-pike,
and pricked Tim Doyle in the face. ‘Och, the divil’s cure to you,’
bawled Tim; ‘what do you mane by poking at me in that way. A joke’s
a joke, but poking a stick in a fellow’s eye is no joke, any how; be
aisey then, darlint, and mind your civility.’ As soon as we had fired, in
came the pike agen, and Tim got another taste of it. ‘Och bother,’
said Tim, ‘if that’s your tratement of a neighbour, the divil wouldn’t
live next door to yes! But faith, I’ll make you come out o’ that, and
may be you’ll be after just paying me a visit.’ So he catches hold of a
boat-hook that was triced up in a-midships, and watching his

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