Monday, October 21st

After a sound sleep, found on waking that there had been a tremendous row overhead. The wind had suddenly blown up in a squall and almost carried away our topgallant mast. The topmast was found afterwards to be sprung and had to be spliced and fished. No harm done, but the noise and bustle of all hands being called on deck to send down topgallant mast and up again, frightened the women in the steerage dreadfully. Margaret came rushing into our cabin exclaiming that the 'ship was going overboard' and they were all lost. However, I was asleep, and did not hear of anything till the morning. Lat. 25.43 S. Hamilton was careless enough to go up the rigging with his French book stuck into the shallow pocket of his pea jacket, and let it fall overboard—a most provoking accident, for after going so far on Arnold's system page 54he would almost have to begin over again with another, and nothing can replace the book for excellence, sense of teaching and learning. Today the air is quite brisk and Octoberish—we are glad to wear pea jackets on deck. Today Margaret Ferguson came into my cabin, and in a flurried angry way, asked whether she was bound to attend to Margaret Wilson's children on board the ship, for she got no time to earn anything by flowering with attending to them. She had hardly finished her speech when Margaret W. came in and confronted her, and after some sulky words from M.F. and recrimination from M.W., I told M.F. that I considered that the return she was bound to make to me for having taken her out was to help Margaret Wilson in every way she could. I asked her if this was not common gratitude for what had been done for her, that, only for M. Wilson, she would have been left unprotected and helpless in Ireland, and that she had intreated me to take her when I was quite unwilling to burden myself with so many. She seemed not at all touched, but obstinate and sullen. Margaret declared that she never offers to help her or Robert with the children, and whenever she is asked to do it, she either refuses or does it unwillingly. If she persists in refusing, I can easily punish her by stopping her means of making any money on board, and by withdrawing protection from her when she arrives—but I suspect there are faults on both sides and that at any rate the wound, whatever it is, will soon be healed. Hamilton tells me this evening that it is a false alarm about the loss of the French book—that one of the sailors took it out of his pocket before he went up.