The Cockney
is a little given to talking, but he is a good man all the same.
In the smacks many lads from the workhouse schools are apprenticed, and
some of the smartest skippers in England come originally from Mitcham or
Sutton. Jim Billings was a workhouse boy when he first went to sea, and
he sometimes ran up to London after his eight weeks' trips were over.
When I first cast eyes on Jim I said quite involuntarily, "Bob Travers,
by the living man!" The famous coloured boxer is still alive and hearty,
and it would be hard to tell the difference between him and Jim Billings
were it not that the prize-fighter dresses smartly. Jim doesn't; his
huge chest is set off by a coarse white jumper; his corded arms are
usually bared nearly to the elbow, and his vast shock of twining curls
relieves him generally from the trouble of wearing headgear. On Sundays
he sometimes puts on a most comfortless felt hat, but that is merely a
chance tribute to social usage, and the ugly excrescence does not
disfigure Jim's shaggy head for very long.
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