It was early spring and the weather was pleasant. I thought Boston looked good from the sea, as we entered the very fine harbor in sunshiny weather. We were made aware of the fact we were in America, when the pilot came aboard, wearing a silk hat. American pilots (var ikka for katten) were not for the cat, we were made to understand.
When we opened the hatches and began to unload the sugar, it appeared, as we had imagined, that many barrels had been crushed, and there was loose sugar everywhere among the barrels that were intact. The gas from the sugar had laid a kind of silvery coating on all iron castings, and the steam had made a dew that covered everything. The loose sugar lay against the wet sides and bottom, and was partly melted. We had noticed that the water from the pumps had sugar in it. We could have eaten a ton of sugar or more on the way to Boston, and nobody could have given any account of it, or of how much had melted and was lost. When all the solid hogsheads had been unloaded, there remeained about 2 or 3 feet of loose sugar in the bottom of the hold, so we knew many barrels had been broken. The refining company which had bought the sugard sent their men aboard with empty barrels and they stood in sugar up to their knees and shoveled it into the barrels, and they did not appear to be careful where their tobacco spittle fell. As siad before, we had a cargo of coal to the West Indies, and we had cleaned the hold tolerably well after unloading the coal; but we did not think there would be loose sugar in the hold next. When we came down to the bottom and began to scrape up, which was done quite thoroughly, it appeared like a dirty, soft mud. But we supposed that would come out all clean when refined. In the meantime, there had been put aside several sacks of it, so the captain was probably not compelled to buy sugard as long as I was with him on that ship.
When we had unloaded the sugar, we took in a cargo of petroleum, in barrels, to go to Karlshamn, Sweden. So I was again to come into Kattegat and the Baltic Sea, but it would be summer now before we came into these waters, and my injured foot had by this time become entirely healed, so I had nothing against that cruise.
I had also received a letter from Olva, while in Boston, as I usually did in every harbor we entered. But in this letter there was a new and very pretty picture of her. One day a picture painter came onboard and showed us a sample of a picture he had enlarged and painted in oil in natural colors. He had that picture in a very nice frame, and he wanted an opportunity to enlarge and paint pictures for us, including framing, at a very reasonable price. I decided to try him, and let him have the new pciture of Olava, and a few days later he came with a painting, framed, nicer than I had expected, and I was surprised how little he charged for the work. The photograph had been enlarged, and then painted on a metal plate about 10x12 inches, and the frame was artistically made of some fine, durable wood. Judging from the small sum I paid, I reasoned it could not be as good as it appeared to be. But yet, now, after nearly 58 years from that time, and after many journeys, here and there, the painting as well as the frame are apparently just as good today as they were at that time, and have not deteriorated in the least. When I sit here now alone, and look at this painting, and think of the happy days of youth, a lump seems to come in my throat, and moisture comes into my eyes. O how everything can change in this world.
Before leaving Boston, I must tell about an amusing occureence. We had taken on the cargo, and our ship lay at anchor a small distance from the wharf, ready to sail. The captain and first mate had gone ashore to make a few minor purchases, and I was alone in the cabin. Night came on, and I expected them to come aboard at any time. Then I heard someone board the ship. I went to the railing and saw a man in a boat who said he had a few packages to be delivered to the captain. I received the packages, carried them to the cabin, and the man rowed ashore. Curious to see what the captain had bought, I opened one of the packages to investigate.