As soon as they recovered their strength, Mrs. Graham and her elder daughter set about providing themselves with garments out of the slop-chest. By great good luck, there was in the bottom of the slop-chest a roll of blue cloth, of the same kind and quality as that of which the sailors' jackets and trousers were made. With a little alteration some of the ready-made jackets fitted the women very well, and were not at all bad in appearance. From the roll of cloth they made the lower half of their dresses.
Candor compels me to say that the fitting was not quite equal to that of a fashionable dressmaker, but for an impromptu affair made on shipboard it was entirely satisfactory. I hardly had a glimpse of the women and the girl until the dresses were complete; then they came out into the cabin and were quite sociable with everybody. By keeping my ears open I quickly ascertained that the eldest daughter's name was Violet, and the second one, Mary. Both were very refined in their manners, and they could hardly help being so in view of the excellent example which they received from their parents.
In the latter part of the voyage I had frequent conversations with Miss Violet, who had a good many questions to ask about the United States, and the way the people lived there. She asked about the cities, and I was obliged to say that I knew nothing about them. I told her I had been in only one large city, Boston, and remained there only a very short time.
"I suppose," said Miss Violet, "that you came directly from the country to go on board the Washington, did you not?"
"Yes, miss," I answered; "my friend David and I walked from our homes in New Hampshire to Boston; and the very morning we arrived there we signed the ship's articles and went on board the Washington."
"Then you don't know what a great city is. I hope sometime you will be able to see London and go all over it. You will have to stay some time to do it," she added with a laugh, "as London is the greatest city in the world."
I replied that I believed it was, and probably my sailor's life would take me there some time.
She was very much interested in the account I gave her of country life in New Hampshire,--of the deep snows in winter; the distance between houses; the long distance we had to go to church on Sunday; and the schools we attended in winter. I told her all about our farm-life,--how we worked in the fields in planting-time, haying-season, and harvest, and what we had on our tables for our meals at different seasons of the year. Every time I had a conversation with her, her younger sister listened for a while with almost as much interest as Miss Violet did, but after a time she grew listless and turned away. When she did so I usually thought I had talked quite enough, and so I changed or dropped the subject, and then proceeded about my duties.