Chapter 12—Services On Board
The next day, the 31st of March, was Sunday. How would this day be kept on board? Would it be the English or American Sunday, which closes the “bars “and the “taps” during service hours; which withholds the butcher’s hand from his victim; which keeps the baker’s shovel from the oven; which causes a suspension of business; extinguishes the fires of the manufactories; which closes the shops, opens the churches, and moderates the speed of the railway trains, contrary to the customs in France? Yes, it must be kept thus, or almost thus.
First of all, during the service, although the weather was fine, and we might have gained some knots, the captain did not order the sails to be hoisted, as it would have been “improper.” I thought myself very fortunate that the scr
