So, if any one man,
in his own proper person, afford stuff for a good joke
to anybody, let him not be backward, but let him cheerfully
allow himself to spend and to be spent in that way.
And the man that has anything bountifully laughable about him,
be sure there is more in that man than you perhaps think for.
The bar-room was now full of the boarders who had been dropping
in the night previous, and whom I had not as yet had a good look at.
They were nearly all whalemen; chief mates, and second mates,
and third mates, and sea carpenters, and sea coopers,
and sea blacksmiths, and harpooneers, and ship keepers;
a brown and brawny company, with bosky beards; an unshorn,
shaggy set, all wearing monkey jackets for morning gowns.
You could pretty plainly tell how long each one had been ashore.
This young fellow's healthy cheek is like a sun-toasted
pear in hue, and would seem to smell almost as musky;
he cannot have been three days landed from his Indian voyage.
That man next him looks a few shades lighter; you might say
a touch of satin wood is in him. In the complexion of a third
still lingers a tropic tawn, but slightly bleached withal;
he doubtless has tarried whole weeks ashore.
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