Morgan Robertson

“ Such little vanities of dress, though sternly repressed in the younger men, were winked at in the older, and Finnegan's new trousers aroused disapproval in the mind of but one man—an unkind person named Thompson, the third master-at-arms—who had charge of the brig, and occasionally locked Finnegan therein. As he seldom met the old man when sober, he had formed an estimate of his character based wholly upon his aggressiveness and lack of reverence for petty officers when drunk, and his disapproval of the trousers was but part of a comprehensive disapproval of Finnegan. ”

“ Now be it said that Finnegan was the last man on board to be useful at a ball. His appointment was merely one of the hundreds of small favors which the old man continually received from officers and men; but he went forward, rejoicing in the official endorsement of his trousers, and became in time so puffed up with pride that, forgetting the officer's injunction to care for them he gave away to less fortunate ship-mates all his older and now despised duck trousers, leaving the new ones all he had to wear whenever the officer of the deck decreed that white was to be the uniform of the day. ”

“ The abashed petty officer departed, and the lieutenant said to Finnegan: "We will need a few neat and tidy men on the quarter-deck. Take care of those trousers," he said, "and perhaps we can use you at the ball." ”