Mission Work Among Seamen
Mission Work Among Seamen
IN answer to my fourth question I would first repeat what I said inDog Watches at Sea: “Missions are not what they were twenty years ago. Then they were tame and unattractive; places where seamen thought men were made ‘goody goody.’ Seamen steered clear of them then. To-day the missions have excellent concerts, full of healthy fun and frolic to influence the sailor and to satisfy his social nature; pool and billiard tables, games and a smoking room. All these things are as good there as in a bar-room.”
The important aim of a sailor’s mission is the salvation of men. It is generally admitted that the sailor is, at heart, a religious man. During my twelve years at sea and my ten years as a missionary to seamen, I have never met one sailor who did not believe in God. Ido not mean that every sailor I have met was a professing Christian; that all have turned from sin and wrong-doing, and, being penitent, sought forgiveness from God; but rather that there is no doubt in their minds of the existence of God. “The Heavens declare the Glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.” Can we not see that as the shepherd boy whose life was in the open saw the Heavens declaring the glory of God, so may the same impression be made on the minds of others.
When the sailor stands his lonely watch at night, with the sea around him calm and peaceful as the sleep of his tired shipmates, slumbering below, the spreading canopy above him covered with countless stars, shew to him God’s handiwork. Again he is called on deck, the barometer has fallen, dark threatening clouds have gathered to windward and are rolling towards his craft. His vessel now groaning under the pressure of the gale with lee scuppers awash, the sea wild and fierce as an untamed beast, the lightning darting through the black and frightening sky, all speak to him of ahigher power; and as many a bad man has a good mother, so many a sailor, who, although living a life of recklessness, has no doubt of the existence of God, and that He is good.
The sailor has a religious nature. He is as other men and should be treated as such. Some seamen drink to excess, swear immoderately, and live loosely, so do some men on shore. I think it not only unnecessary, but wrong to approach a clean respectable seaman as he enters our presence and pounce upon him as though he were an object of our special religious efforts, or as though he required our charity, and thereby make him feel that he needs reforming.
I have met seaman’s missionaries who have told me that they have not time to entertain sailors, as their stay in port is of so short a duration that they feel it their duty to seek the salvation of Jack’s soul. Naturally such a missionary would have his mission strictly religious, if I may use such an expression. I have been shipmate with men who conversed about such places, and would never enter their doors, knowing what to expect therein. Who is there among us that would enter a Church, if we feltthat we were numbered among the fallen and it was known among the congregation that the service, the singing, and the sermon were for our special benefit?
I say again that the important aim of a sailor’s mission is the salvation of men for this world and all others, and any mission which fails in that is no better nor worse than a respectable club, which in itself is a grand institution. I understand the great desire there is in the Christian heart to have the men of the sea openly confess Christ as their Saviour, and of their aim to save them to Eternal Life with God; but are we reaching the great mass of seamen when we make our mission a church? A sailor’s mission is a church; but it is also a home for him while in port. It is not intended merely for use once or twice a week, but it is open from early morning till late at night, every day in the year, just as every home is open to the family that dwells therein. What sort of a home would it be with nothing in it but religious exercises? Where only hymns are sung, nothing is read but the Bible, no conversation but that of the joy of Heaven and the torture of Hell, no laughter, fun or frivolity, only thequiet, sober, slow going actions of a feeble person? Such a home to say the least would not only be monotonous but killing, especially to young people having physical, social and mental wants, as well as spiritual longings. Personally I will say that such a home would sink and submerge me into ineptitude. We have not reached Heaven yet, we are still on earth and to my liking, if Heaven is as some describe it, I for one prefer to remain on earth, or go to some place like it.
We have come to understand what St. Paul meant when he said our bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost, and that we are to glorify God in our bodies as well as in our spirit. Realizing this we have established gymnasiums for the development of the physical, built libraries for the growth of the mental and we support clubs for the improvement of the social.
Now if we who live on shore provide these things which go to make up the whole man, why should we expect the sailor to be debarred from them? Sure enough he doesn’t need a gymnasium for exercise, he gets enough of that aboard his ship, but he does enjoy these other things of which I speak. Men pay large sumsof money to join certain social clubs, and some who do not believe in clubs unite themselves with the Young Men’s Christian Association, but the sailor is expected to be content to sit in some religious reading room, stripped of all home appearances for the sake of sanctity, where, when the hour of the prayer meeting comes, he must put away his magazine to attend the meeting or go out on the street. Were I a sailor I would choose the street at such a time, that by so doing dispel from the missionary’s mind the idea that I was a bad child who needed his correction, and give him the thought that I were a man, if he could so receive it.
When the sailor visits the mission, his supposed home while in port, he does not care to sing hymns all the time, he will not constantly read the Bible for he enjoys the literature of the day. We must provide for him the homelife, sociability and freedom in the mission, or he will find it in that most democratic social settlement, the saloon. What we need is more good judgment, the knack of being a companion and a friend, and catch the meaning of the social teaching of Christ. “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these.”
The majority of people believe that sailors have a religious nature and all who are acquainted with Jack know how strong a social mortal he is. Whatever else he may lack, he surely has a longing for fun and frolic. It is easy for us to understand why his social instincts are so predominant when ashore, and knowing that he desires fun and amusement we place them in his home, thereby keeping him from seeking it in places whose very atmosphere is contaminating.
When a ship is in port and the day’s work is over, the men are anxious to leave the forecastle and hasten to the shore, where they may find enjoyment. They are away from their homes and loved ones, they have been isolated from the world perhaps for months, they have seen only the faces of their own shipmates, they have exchanged their thoughts till each man’s knowledge is thread worn. The work has become tiresome for want of change, the voyage with all its changes of storm and calm has grown monotonous. They hail with delight the pilot and with a light heart they walk ashore. Now Jack’s social nature asserts itself, and he seeks a place to satisfy it. It may be he is taking his bag of clothes with him steering a course for aboarding house. Is he at home when he enters such a door? True enough he has the money to pay for what he eats and drinks and where he sleeps; but has this temporary abiding place that which satisfies his social life? Far from it.
Take the sailor who is working on his ship in port, or is staying in a boarding house. Ask him to attend Church? Will he follow you? Yes, if he knows you and you have won his confidence and respect, and he believes you think he is as you are, namely, that we all need the Church, wherein all, both sailor and landsman, may be helped.
But believing that your mission is only a Church without the homelife, established for his sole redemption because he is such a wicked creature, he steers a course for the places which welcome him as an equal and not as some inferior outcast, even though it is to his detriment. There he is welcomed as the door swings open, he is greeted with warmth, he readily becomes acquainted, takes an interest in the fun, he stands the treat all around, joins in the dance, then becoming noisy and reckless he ends the night in a debauch robbed of whatmoney he possessed. Whereas if the missions had provided those social necessities he would have dispensed with so much alcoholic drinks and had a larger bank account.
I have in mind as I write a young man who had enlisted on the U. S. S.Vermont, in the Brooklyn navy yard. He was a machinist and had traveled from some one of our Western Cities to enlist in Uncle Sam’s employ. The easy life as a recruit on the cob dock became tedious. He grew restless. When on liberty there was no home to welcome him, no friends to receive him; he was a total abstainer, in fact he knew not the taste of alcoholic drinks. He played pool and billiards in his native city and accordingly for want of such amusements he frequented the pool rooms where liquor was sold, and there spent his evenings. Fortunately he was strong enough to resist the temptations surrounding these pool tables, and was not led astray.
He was a clean, manly fellow, and I remember his collecting money from the recruits and marines to purchase a pool table for the reading room, but those who had the power to grant us a pool table refused because certain peopleliving ashore held religious services there on Sundays. I have known young sailor lads who were clean in their habits to frequent dance halls. At first, their only desire was to enjoy a dance; but that very waltz was their downfall. It was not the dancing which brought about their ruin, it was the evil associations they encountered in such places.
Some of these young men had danced with the best young women of their town, their comrades and schoolmates, but now because the term sailor is attached to them and they have on the blue naval uniform they are debarred from every place except that of ill-repute. If Jack does not care to enter such a dive he must abide his time till he mingles with his own friends again though it may be for years, or it may never be, before he can step to a waltz, as no one of respectability dances with a sailor. The day may come when by providing the homelife in our missions for seamen we will have come to know them, our Christian young women will become acquainted with them and find that many young seamen are as clean and as moral as their own brothers, and they will dance with them as they do withyoung men of their acquaintance on land.
It is not that the sailor enjoys places of ill-repute more than something better. It is simply that is the best he finds after he leaves his ship. He likes the company of women; two-thirds of his life he is debarred from their society; he likes a social evening and he is bound to have it and all the fun he can so long as he is on shore.
Knowing then that they are as other men, we try to make the Sailor’s Haven not only a church but also a home for seamen. In our mission we hold religious services twice a week. At such times men are invited to attend; they have their choice. They can continue reading in the club rooms if it is Sunday, or play their games if it is a week night. Usually we have to lower some of the lights in the club rooms as the seamen have vacated them of their own free will and have attended the service.
Just the same as though I were visiting you and had enjoyed my stay, and as the evening hour drew near you invited me to join with you in your religious devotions, I kneel with you, so will the sailor who has that same freedom in a sailor’s mission, readily leave all games andeverything else and accept your invitation to your devotional exercises. Here in the service as men, we try to find out and understand the teachings of our Blessed Lord, that we may have as our own the real happiness and comfort that comes in living the Christian life. At such times the seamen give strict attention and are never tired of hearing someone tell about Jesus. They and us receive help by the good advice given, they join in the old familiar hymns and are taken back to their boyhood days and the old home rises up before them. We visit the sick, comfort the sorrowful, help the needy and in His Name brighten and cheer lives. We provide special concerts full of fun and entertainment. Not bringing in a few hymns and short addresses of exhortation which leave a bitter taste, because of their unfitness; but a real sing song lively concert, just the kind we would have if we had company in our homes and were entertaining them. At such a time we would not be so rude as to ask our guests, if they desired our religious help, then why treat a sailor differently when he is your guest if love is the propelling power and good taste turns the helm? He will appreciate your kindness if offered in theright way. Of all men he is easily approached. He likes music. You can serve it to him in any shape or form and he will enjoy it every time. Let it be the piano, fiddle, banjo, jewsharp, tin whistle or a big drum and he will shout with delight. His cares are forgotten when he hears the ladies sing, and his sorrows are brushed away when he drinks in the music of the male quartettes and choruses. And he himself is not selfish. Full of sea songs, he takes his place by the piano and rendersNancy LeeandTom Bowline, and to manifest to you that he is at home, he turns up the bottom edges of his trouser’s legs, and gives a step dance or a horn pipe for your amusement.
We provide suppers and treats of coffee and buns in the same spirit we invite any friends to sup with us, not because they are “poor hungry sailors” in need of these things; but as friends we meet and enjoy the very essence of sociability. All formality is blown to the winds, good cheer and freedom prevail, we meet from all corners of the earth, of different nationalities speaking different tongues, all petty grievances with our own shipmates are forgiven, we meeton common ground, and when we part we remember each other as friends.
I am safe in saying that nine out of every ten seamen smoke. Shall we send them on the street when they desire a pull on their pipes? We think it best to provide separate rooms for that. So aside from the hall where religious services are held we have these club rooms; here they can smoke, play pool and billiards and other games. They can take magazines and newspapers and read awhile. Social and scientific books are at their disposal, the same as the landsman reads, something besides a tract or circular asking them where they hope to spend Eternity. Here they can write to their friends for the material is on the tables for their sole use, they can play a solo at the piano, sing a song and while away the evening. When tired of one amusement they can turn to another, as there are many diversions to satisfy their social needs. Good women are present to talk with them, to write for those who cannot, to sing and play for any who desire it. They are received and treated as men without condescension or mock humility on the part of the missionaries, and welcomed not as inferior and illiterate beings, not aswild unregulated Ishmaelites nor as poor sailors, but as men.
We know that some games like ours are in the bar-rooms; but we have taken these enjoyable and harmless recreations from the surroundings that have done so much to degrade them, and are using them where they may not only be enjoyed without danger, but are means of shielding men from temptation. Some may ask, is it not enough to have a reading table and writing material, and perhaps a checker board? I answer, No. Even though you allow the seamen to smoke they, like other men, become tired of reading, and after a few games of checkers leave to find some other amusement.
Realizing the need of such a place for seamen and having a desire to work on such lines for their benefit, I left the sea.
A work of any kind must be judged by its results. Therefore is the Sailor’s Haven saving men? Are the seamen living cleaner and purer lives because of such work? Are they shielded from the land sharks and are they befriended? To all this and more I answer, Yes.
It would take many pages to tell of the men whose lives have been changed from recklessnessand wrong-doing to lives of service and helpfulness to themselves and others. Men who are trying to live Christian lives, who once delighted to dabble in sin. I refrain and finish by saying it is right to have pool and billiard tables in a seaman’s mission, and allow the men to fill that part of God’s House, the home, with tobacco smoke.