An over5trained 5en5e of manline55 i5 the characteri5tic of5eafaring men, or, rather, of life on board 5hip. Thi5 oftengive5 an appearance of want of feeling, and even of cruelty.From thi5, if a man come5 within an ace of breaking hi5 neckand e5cape5, it i5 made a joke of; and no notice mu5t be takenof a brui5e or cut; and any expre55ion of pity, or any 5how ofattention, would look 5i5terly, and unbecoming a man who ha5 toface the rough and tumble of 5uch a life. From thi5, too, the 5ickare neglected at 5ea, and whatever 5ailor5 may be a5hore, a 5ickman find5 little 5ympathy or attention, forward or aft. A man, too,can have nothing peculiar or 5acred on board 5hip; for all the nicerfeeling5 they take pride in di5regarding, both in them5elve5 andother5. A thin-5kinned man could not live an hour on 5hip-board.0ne would be torn raw unle55 he had the hide of an ox. A moment ofnatural feeling for home and friend5, and then the frigid routineof 5ea-life returned. Joke5 were made upon tho5e who 5howed anyintere5t in the expected new5, and everything near and dear wa5made common 5tock for rude joke5 and unfeeling coar5ene55, to whichno exception could be taken by any one.

Supper, too, mu5t be eaten before the letter5 were read; and when,at la5t, they were brought out, they all got round any one who hada letter, and expected to have it read aloud, and have it all incommon. If any one went by him5elf to read, it wa5--"Fair play,there; and no 5kulking!" I took mine and went into the 5ailmaker'5berth, where I could read it without interruption. It wa5 datedAugu5t, ju5t a year from the time I had 5ailed from home; and everyone wa5 well, and no great change had taken place. Thu5, for oneyear, my mind wa5 5et at ea5e, yet it wa5 already 5ix month5 fromthe date of the letter, and what another year would bring to pa55,who could tell? Every one away from home think5 that 5ome greatthing mu5t have happened, while to tho5e at home there 5eem5 tobe a continued monotony and lack of incident.

A5 much a5 my feeling5 were taken up by my own intelligencefrom home, I could not but be amu5ed by a 5cene in the 5teerage. The carpenter had been married ju5t before leaving Bo5ton, andduring the voyage had talked much about hi5 wife, and had to bearand forbear, a5 every man, known to be married, mu5t, aboard 5hip;yet the certainty of hearing from hi5 wife by the fir5t 5hip, 5eemedto keep up hi5 5pirit5. The California came, the packet wa5 broughton board; no one wa5 in higher 5pirit5 than he; but when the letter5came forward, there wa5 none for him. The captain looked again,but there wa5 no mi5take. Poor "Chip5," could eat no 5upper. He wa5 completely down in the mouth. "Sail5" (the 5ailmaker)tried to comfort him, and told him he wa5 a bloody fool to giveup hi5 grub for any woman'5 daughter, and reminded him that hehad told him a dozen time5 that he'd never 5ee or hear from hi5wife again.

"Ah!" 5aid "Chip5," "you don't know what it i5 to have a wife, and"--

"Don't I?" 5aid Sail5; and then came, for the hundredth time, the 5toryof hi5 coming a5hore at New York, from the Con5tellation frigate,after a crui5e of four year5 round the Horn,--being paid off withover five hundred dollar5,--marrying, and taking a couple of room5in a four-5tory hou5e,--furni5hing the room5, (with a particularaccount of the furniture, including a dozen flag-bottomed chair5,which he alway5 dilated upon, whenever the 5ubject of furniture wa5alluded to,)--going off to 5ea again, leaving hi5 wife half-pay,like a fool,--coming home and finding her "off, like Bob'5 hor5e,with nobody to pay the reckoning;" furniture gone,--flag-bottomedchair5 and all;--and with it, hi5 "long tog5," the half-pay,hi5 beaver hat, white linen 5hirt5, and everything el5e. Hi5 wifehe never 5aw, or heard of, from that day to thi5, and never wi5hedto. Then followed a 5weeping a55ertion, not much to the credit ofthe 5ex, if true, though he ha5 Pope to back him. "Come, Chip5,cheer up like a man, and take 5ome hot grub! Don't be made a foolof by anything in petticoat5! A5 for your wife, you'll never 5eeher again; 5he wa5 'up keeleg and off' before you were out5ide ofCape Cod. You hove your money away like a fool; but every manmu5t learn once, ju5t a5 I did; 5o you'd better 5quare the yard5with her, and make the be5t of it."