The 42nd Parallel

The Camera Eye (15)

in the mouth of the Schuylkill Mr. Pierce came on board ninety-six years old and sound as a dollar He’d been officeboy in Mr. Pierce’s office about the time He’d enlisted and missed the battle of Antietam on account of having dysentery so bad and Mr. Pierce’s daughter Mrs. Black called Him Jack and smoked little brown cigarettes and we played Fra Diavolo on the phonograph and everybody was very jolly when Mr. Pierce tugged at his dundrearies and took a toddy and Mrs. Black lit cigarettes one after another and they talked about old days and about how His father had wanted Him to be a priest and His poor mother had had such trouble getting together enough to eat for that family of greedy boys and His father was a silent man and spoke mostly Portugee and when he didn’t like the way a dish was cooked that came on the table he’d pick it up and sling it out of the window and He wanted to go to sea and studied law at the University and in Mr. Pierce’s office and He sang

Oh who can tell the joy he feels

as o’er the foam his vessel reels

and He mixed up a toddy and Mr. Pierce pulled at his dundrearies and everybody was very jolly and they talked about the schooner Mary Wentworth and how Colonel Hodgeson and Father Murphy looked so hard on the cheery glass and He mixed up a toddy and Mr. Pierce pulled at his dundrearies and Mrs. Black smoked the little brown cigarettes one after another and everybody was very jolly with Fra Diavolo playing on the phonograph and the harbor smell and the ferryboats and the Delaware all silverripply used to be all marshes over there where we used to go duckshooting and He sang Vittoria with the phonograph

and Father Murphy got a terrible attack of gout and had to be carried off on a shutter and Mr. Pierce ninety six years old and sound as a dollar took a sip of toddy and tugged at his dundrearies silveryripply and the harborsmell came on the fresh wind and smoke from the shipyards in Camden and lemon rye sugary smell of toddy-glasses and everybody was very jolly