Packman

“ The pack-horse idea is as old as America, but in its perfection it is the product of the Spanish Southwest. We read in history of the progresses of royal personages in ancient times in the Old World, where frequent mention is made of the number of sumpter-mules that attended the caravans in those roadless days. The sumpter-mule was the forerunner of the pack-mule, though it is to be doubted if any servant of an old-time king ever learned to do such impossible things with the sumpter-mule as the American packer did as a matter of course with his beasts of burden. ”

“ Traverse under the cliffs of the Northeast Ridge to enter the Grand Basin.
The Labor of Packing
Something has already been said about the fatigue of packing, and one would not weary the reader with continual reference thereto; yet it is certain that those who have carried a pack only on the lower levels cannot conceive how [Pg 83] enormously greater the labor is at these heights. As one rises and the density of the air is diminished, so, it would seem, the weight of the pack or the effect of the weight of the pack is in the same ratio increased. ”

“ Another girl stood ready with my machine to label the corked bottles and hand them to the three packers, who slipped them into their outer papers and put them, with a pad of corrugated paper between each pair, into a little groove from which they could be made to slide neatly into position in our standard packing-case. It sounds wild, I know, but I believe I was the first man in the city of London to pack patent medicines through the side of the packing-case, to discover there was a better way in than by the lid. ”

“ Sir Richard looked as serious as a naturally dull-witted young man can look: which is very serious indeed. “The packet,” he said slowly, “will be delivered by the postman in the morning. You don't happen to know at which office it was handed in?”
“It won't be there now, anyway,” Leslie returned. “And, my dear Dicky, don't begin to hope that there's the slightest chance of recovering the packet from the post-office, either by burglary or bribery—”
“But we must get it somehow! Ruby would never forgive me, and if the Earl—oh, you know what an old puritan he is, especially about the stage.” ”

“ Some of us are carrying portage packs which we can dump off our shoulders at the end of the "carry," some of us are carrying hiking packs which we must carry through life and can never dump from our shoulders until we cross the Grand Portage from which no voyagers ever return. All our packs vary in weight, but none of them is easy to carry if we fret and fume and complain under the load.
We outdoor folks call our load "pack," but our Sunday School teachers sometimes speak of the pack they bear as a "cross." ”

“ About the year 1780, as was detailed before a committee of the House of Commons, a sailor called at the General Post-Office, to announce the capture of the Packet in which he sailed. He described the gallant stand which his officers and his fellow seamen had made against hopeless odds, spoke feelingly of the cruel captivity they had undergone, in which some of them were still languishing, 25exhibited the scar of the wound he had received, and confidently claimed the “smart money” which he had earned so well. ”

“ But the great paradox of packing is that a trunk is always full when you close it and always three-quarters empty when you open it. The trunk that nothing but violent stamping will shut is the very trunk that, a few hours later, bounces your possessions about like beans in a rattle ”

“ I know Pagett's "little holes"—he usually has the best cabin on the ship.
"I'm sorry the Captain didn't turn out for you this time," I said sarcastically. "Perhaps you'd like to dump some of your extra luggage in my cabin?"
Sarcasm is dangerous with a man like Pagett. He brightened up at once.
"Well, if I could get rid of the typewriter and the stationery trunk——"
The stationery trunk weighs several solid tons. It causes endless unpleasantness with the porters, and it is the aim of Pagett's life to foist it on me. It is a perpetual struggle between us. ”

“ I don’t know whether pack-rats an’ trade-rats is the same varmints or not; but neither one of ’em has a grain o’ sense, though some tries to stick up for the trade-rats on account o’ their tryin’ to be honest. A pack-rat is about three times as big as a barn rat, an’ fifteen times as energetic. His main delight is to move things. Horace said ’at he was convinced they were the souls o’ furniture-movers who had died without repentin’ of all the piano-lamps an’ chiny-ware they had broke. A pack-rat don’t care a peg whether he can use an article or not ”

“ I imagine that a pickpocket, proud of his light fingers, must feel a sort of indignation with the careless woman who leaves in a cab a vanity-bag with all her jewels in it. Nature had made him a butt, but had denied him insensibility. ”

“ His couple of 12–pounder carronades were double-shotted, and as the lugger sheered up under the stern of the “Cornwallis” she got such a storm of grape and canister along her decks as took the heart out of her for boarding; while as she fell away in some confusion the Packet’s starboard guns came to bear, and were discharged at short range with terrible effect. ”

“ The very packhorses, sorry jades that they were, felt the spur of spring:167 they hinnied, squealed, headed off the track to gallantry and combat, till at last they broke into a frenzy of kicking and galloping which brought their packs about their heels and their panting drivers’ fists about their heads. A packhorse, who fancies himself Pegasus, is the most laughable beast on earth till he begins to scatter your bedding, your instruments, your garments and your food over a mile of rock or bog. ”

“ Any uncomfortable pack is an abomination; too heavy a pack is an unhappy burden, no pack at all is fine—until you reach camp and hunt around for something to answer for a toothbrush, comb and brush, something on which to sit and sleep, something overhead to protect you from the rains and dews of heaven, something to eat and something to eat with besides your fingers, something from which to drink which holds water better than the hollow of your hand or the brim of your hat, and, in fact, all those necessary little comforts that a fellow wants on an overnight hike. ”

“ There are a few well-known successful pickpockets of this order, and they are rated high among their fellows, but the more general custom is for what is called a "mob" of men to travel together, one known as the "tool" doing the actual picking, and the others attending to the "stalling." A stall is the confederate of the pickpocket, who bumps up against people, or arranges them in such a way that the pickpocket can get at their pockets. Practically any one who will take a short course of instruction can learn how to stall, but there are naturally some who are more expert than others. ”

“ When we speak of "fighting the pack" we mean fighting the load; that does not mean getting one's load up against a tree and punching it with one's fists or "kicking the stuffings out of it," but it means complaining and fretting because the load is uncomfortable.
There are two kinds of "packs"—the pack that you carry day after day on a long hike, and the pack that you carry when on a canoe trip and you are compelled to leave the water and carry your canoe and duffel overland around some bad [154] rapids or falls. ”

“ I do not suppose there is sufficient business in the ordinary town for a packer all the year round, but I am quite certain that once it were known that you could pack well, when the going-away time came your services would be in great demand and you would seldom be out of work. ”

“ Compare it with another public notice which is sometimes exhibited in the darker cities of England: “Beware of pickpockets, male and female.” Here, again, there is information. A pickpocket may come along presently, just like a tram, and we take our measures accordingly. But there is something else besides. Atmosphere is created. Who can see those words without a slight sinking feeling at the heart? All the people around look so honest and nice, but they are not, some of [Pg 9] are pickpockets, male or female. They hustle old gentlemen, the old gentleman glances down, his watch is gone. ”

“ The Packet made a stout resistance, and at first with some hope of success, notwithstanding the obvious superiority of the enemy, a Privateer carrying fourteen 4–pounders and a hundred men, whilst the “King George” had only twenty-six men and six guns. The Falmouth men served their guns well, but they suffered so heavily in their spars and rigging that at last, after a heavy cannonade lasting nearly an hour, the enemy obtained an opportunity of boarding.
From that moment the last chance of saving the Packet disappeared. The French poured fifty men, chiefly blacks, upon her decks. ”

“ We've got an old steer out at the packinghouse that stands around at the foot of the runway leading up to the killing pens, looking for all the world like one of the village fathers sitting on the cracker box before the grocery—sort of sad-eyed, dreamy old cuss—always has two or three straws from his cud sticking out of the corner of his mouth. ”

“ A man whose duty it is to place and adjust the loads of pack-animals and to take charge of them upon the march. As packing requires long training and experience, packers are usually hired when needed. ”

“ The emptying of pouches continues; package after package of letters roll out on the counter as though they were potatoes rather than the dumb expression of every human emotion, or the innocent touchspring of their awakening. The pouches are labeled to indicate those requiring the earliest attention, as are also the packages of letters they contain; this plan prevents, to a great extent, the carrying of mail past its destination. ”

“ The Earl of Aylesford in the sixties was the owner of Packington Hall, and a princely income, and it was whilst I was staying with George Graham (owner of the famous Yardley stud where the great Stirling “stood”) that a jovial party drove over from p. 109Packington. Luncheon as served in those days was an important item in the programme, and long before the Packington party began to think of returning more than one had succumbed to the rivers of champagne that flowed. ”

“ Few industries in the United States have shown such rapid growth as has the packing house business. The modern packing house, as it exists today, may be said to be less than forty years old since its inception. ”

“ I came here to be a pack-mule, and I intend to be a pack-mule until something stops me, and if that something is one man, he can look out for himself."
The bags were heavy and their contents were rough and galling to the shoulders, but the captain was strong and his muscles were tough, and as he walked he planned a pair of cushions which he would wear under his golden epaulets in his future marches. ”

“ One is told that the English are the best packers in the world, but I have had more damage done in two cases sent from Bristol to London than in eighty cases sent from Boston to Liverpool. The three men worked three weeks, and then took all the cases out of the house and put them on the freight steamer, and the price of all this wonderful packing was about forty pounds. What will surprise an English person is that not one of these men expected a fee. My one ceaseless regret is that I did not take everything, from the kitchen poker to the mouse-trap. ”

“ It is not asserted that every Packet whose capture is mentioned in these pages was surrendered without firing a shot; but it is certainly true that in hardly one case did any serious fighting occur. The very sailors who were captured were not devoid of spirit, as appeared in the case of the “Marquis of Kildare,” whose loss was mentioned above. The greater part of the crew of this Packet remained prisoners on board the Privateer, but twelve were left on their own ship, in charge of a prize crew. ”

“ And in that case, we should have to assume that the place where the packet was found was, approximately, the place where the crime was committed. For, as the packet was never immersed, it could not have been carried to that place by the tide, and one cannot think of any other agency by which it could have been moved. Its clean and unopened condition seems to exclude human agency. The question then naturally arises, Is the place where the packet was found, a place at, or near, which the tragedy could conceivably have occurred? ”

“ Careful packing of goods, a matter of the greatest importance, has for years been continually urged, without avail or with but slight improvement. It is as true now as seven or eight years ago that packages from the United States on the dock in South American ports may be picked out on account of their disreputable appearance. Boxes splitting open, bags and bales ripping apart, many goods lost or ruined, is the continual complaint. ”

“ As an afterthought, he drew the package from his pocket, seated himself at a table, then wrote his name and address on the outside of the package. He then replaced it in his pocket.
This was a habit of Johnny’s, of long standing. Not for ten years had he carried a package a distance of so much as one block without first writing his name and address upon it. Absent-minded people should keep their records well. Johnny was, at times, absent-minded. ”

“ This, it may be added, was by no means the 187only case in which the crew of a Packet, flushed with success, were compelled to refrain from pushing their victory to a conclusion, and so to abandon the prize money which was almost in their grasp. It was hard to let a beaten enemy escape, and it is a striking proof of the good feeling existing among the sailors on the Falmouth Packets that they tolerated such an event without a mutinous outbreak. ”