One trip the captain had a clergyman on board, but did not know he was a
clergyman, since the passenger-list did not betray the fact. He took a
great liking to this Reverend Mr. Peters, and talked with him a great
deal; told him yarns, gave him toothsome scraps of personal history, and
wove a glittering streak of profanity through his garrulous fabric that
was refreshing to a spirit weary of the dull neutralities of undecorated
speech. One day the captain said, "Peters, do you ever read the Bible?"
"Well--yes."
"I judge it ain't often, by the way you say it. Now, you tackle it in
dead earnest once, and you'll find it 'll pay. Don't you get
discouraged, but hang right on. First, you won't understand it; but by
and by things will begin to clear up, and then you wouldn't lay it down
to eat."
"Yes, I have heard that said."
"And it's so, too. There ain't a book that begins with it. It lays
over 'm all, Peters. There's some pretty tough things in it--there
ain't any getting around that--but you stick to them and think them out,
and when once you get on the inside everything's plain as day.
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