I found that I had what they call fallen in life with absolute
success and verisimilitude. I was taken for a steerage passenger; no
one seemed surprised that I should be so; and there was nothing but
the brass plate between decks to remind me that I had once been a
gentleman. In a former book, describing a former journey, I
expressed some wonder that I could be readily and naturally taken for
a pedlar, and explained the accident by the difference of language
and manners between England and France. I must now take a humbler
view; for here I was among my own countrymen, somewhat roughly clad
to be sure, but with every advantage of speech and manner; and I am
bound to confess that I passed for nearly anything you please except
an educated gentleman. The sailors called me 'mate,' the officers
addressed me as 'my man,' my comrades accepted me without hesitation
for a person of their own character and experience, but with some
curious information. One, a mason himself, believed I was a mason;
several, and among these at least one of the seaman, judged me to be
a petty officer in the American navy; and I was so often set down for
a practical engineer that at last I had not the heart to deny it.
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