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1894
THE FEAR was on the cattle, for the gale was on the sea, | |
| An’ the pens broke up on the lower deck an’ let the creatures free— | |
| An’ the lights went out on the lower deck, an’ no one near but me. | |
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| I had been singin’ to them to keep ’em quiet there, | |
| For the lower deck is the dangerousest, requirin’ constant care, | 5 |
| An’ give to me as the strongest man, though used to drink and swear. | |
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| I seed my chance was certain of bein’ horned or trod, | |
| For the lower deck was packed with steers thicker’n peas in a pod, | |
| An’ more pens broke at every roll—so I made a Contract with God. | |
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| An’ by the terms of the Contract, as I have read the same, | 10 |
| If He got me to port alive I would exalt His Name, | |
| An’ praise His Holy Majesty till further orders came. | |
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| He saved me from the cattle an’ He saved me from the sea, | |
| For they found me ’tween two drownded ones where the roll had landed me— | |
| An’ a four-inch crack on top of my head, as crazy as could be. | 15 |
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| But that were done by a stanchion, an’ not by a bullock at all, | |
| An’ I lay still for seven weeks convalescing of the fall, | |
| An’ readin’ the shiny Scripture texts in the Seaman’s Hospital. | |
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| An’ I spoke to God of our Contract, an’ He says to my prayer: | |
| “I never puts on My ministers no more than they can bear. | 20 |
| “So back you go to the-cattle-boats an’ preach My Gospel there. | |
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| “For human life is chancy at any kind of trade, | |
| “But most of all, as well you know, when the steers are mad-afraid; | |
| “So you go back to the cattle-boats an’ preach ’em as I’ve said. | |
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| “They must quit drinkin’ an’ swearin’, they mustn’t knife on a blow, | 25 |
| “They must quit gamblin’ their wages, and you must preach it so; | |
| “For now those boats are more like Hell than anything else I know.” | |
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| I didn’t want to do it, for I knew what I should get, | |
| An’ I wanted to preach Religion, handsome an’ out of the wet, | |
| But the Word of the Lord were laid on me, an’ I done what I was set. | 30 |
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| I have been smit an’ bruiséd, as warned would be the case, | |
| An’ turned my cheek to the smiter exactly as Scripture says; | |
| But, following that, I knocked him down an’ led him up to Grace. | |
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| An’ we have preaching on Sundays whenever the sea is calm, | |
| An’ I use no knife or pistol an’ I never take no harm, | 35 |
| For the Lord abideth back of me to guide my fighting arm. | |
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| An’ I sign for four-pound-ten a month and save the money clear, | |
| An’ I am in charge of the lower deck, an’ I never lose a steer; | |
| An’ I believe in Almighty God an’ I preach His Gospel here. | |
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| The skippers say I’m crazy, but I can prove ’em wrong, | 40 |
| For I am in charge of the lower deck with all that doth belong— | |
| Which they would not give to a lunatic, and the competition so strong! | |
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