Harper's Round Table, March 3, 1896

Copyright, 1896, by Harper & Brothers. All Rights Reserved.

Can you not see the boy of 1775 now—his sturdy legs encased in stout black stockings, german-silver buckles to his knee-breeches, his hair plaited and tied with a smart black ribbon, and all this magnificence topped by three real silver buttons with which his hat is rakishly cocked? But the boy himself is better worth looking at than all his finery—so thought Captain Moore, of his Majesty's ship Margaretta , lying at anchor in the harbor of Machias. Jack Leverett was the boy's name—a handsome stripling of sixteen, with a quiet manner but a fearless eye.
Haul the bowline, our jolly ship's a-rolling, Haul the bowline, the bowline haul ! Haul the bowline, our jolly mate's a-growling, Haul the bowline, the bowline haul !
As soon as Jack decently could, he started to rise from the table. Captain Moore had observed that the glass of wine at Jack's plate remained untasted, and it suggested a means of finding out whether the Leveretts meant to go with the King or not.
Do not go, he said, until you have joined me in drinking the health of his Majesty King George.
Jack had no notion whatever of drinking the King's health, but he was at his wits' end how to avoid it. Just then, though, the Captain turned to speak to his orderly, and Jack took the opportunity of gulping down his wine with more haste than elegance. Captain Moore, seeing it, was surprised and disgusted at the boy's apparent greediness for wine, but raising his glass, said, To the King.
Excuse me, sir, answered Jack, coolly, but my father never allows me to drink but one glass of wine, and that I have already had.
Then I will drink the toast alone, said Captain Moore, with a stern look at the boy. Here is to his Majesty King George. Health and long life to him! God save the King!
As Captain Moore uttered this sentiment Jack rose and promptly put on his hat. The Captain was quite sure that the boy's action, like his gulping down the wine, meant a distaste for the King, and not a want of breeding. But he thought it best not to notice the incident, and said, civilly, to his young guest: