The notion of becoming anything but
sailors never entered their heads, and the parents were
usually proud of this ambition, and quite ready to allow
their offspring to launch out into the world while they were
yet little more than children. It very frequently happened,
however, that boys left their homes unknown to their
families, and tramped to the nearest seaport with the object
of engaging themselves aboard ship, and they nearly always
found some skipper or owner to take them. Swarms of Scotch
and Norfolk boys were attracted to the Northumberland ports
by the higher rate of wages. Many of them had to tramp it
all the long way from home, and quite a large number of them
became important factors in the shipping trade of the
district. It was a frequent occurrence to see a poor
child-boy passing through the village where I was brought
up, on his way from Scotland to Blyth, or the Tyne, his feet
covered with sores, and carrying a small bundle containing a
shirt, a pair of stockings, and flannel pants. This was his
entire outfit. My mother never knowingly allowed any of
these poor little wanderers to pass without bringing them to
our home.
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