Writ

The Lesson In Holy

During his second voyage round the Horn, Bisset’s ship was becalmed off Pitcairn, the islanders came out, and Sisset swapped his Bible for three sou venir coconut boxes. The Bible had been fiven to him by his father before he lad first gone to sea and he had been nstructed to read it every day—but vhen he exchanged it for the souvenirs t was in mint condition.

The Mate had seen the transaction ind later took him to task. Bisset cas surprised because the Mate did lot appear to him as a religious man. fhen he was told this ta3e: When he Mate had gone to sea his aunt had iven him a Bible, extracted a promise hat he would read it every Sunday nd. If In dire distress, would read the Chapter of St. Matthew. The oyage lasted two years and the Mate, Ike all apprentices, spent most of the Ime being hungry and had not enough loney in ports to buy extras. But he ever read his Bible.

When he got home however, he ssured his aunt that he had, and ben she demanded *o see it; . She opened it at the Fifth hapter of St. Matthew and showed ic what was in It between the leaves -a new £5 note. T put it there for ou to find,’ says she, sarcastic, ‘but ow I know that you never opened aur Bible at all,’ and she put the £5 ote in her purse. How do you know,” ursued the Mate, “that there wasn’t £5 in that Bible you swapped this lorning for a mess of pottage?”

“I was so taken aback by this sug ;stion,” writes Bisset, “that I orried about it for weeks until I ime to the conclusion that my father ould not have played such a trick ith Holy Writ; but I never had the srve to ask him if he had.” —Sir James Bisset, in “Sail Ho”.