"
THE ORATOR OF THE JERSEY
"During the period of my confinement the Jersey was never visited by
any regular clergyman, nor was Divine service ever performed on board,
and among the whole multitude of prisoners there was but one
individual who ever attempted to deliver a set speech, or to exhort
his fellow sufferers. This individual was a young man named Cooper,
whose station in life was apparently that of a common sailor. He
evidently possessed talents of a very high order. His manners were
pleasing, and he had every appearance of having received an excellent
education. He was a Virginian; but I never learned the exact place of
his nativity. He told us that he had been a very unmanageable youth,
and that he had left his family, contrary to their wishes and advice;
that he had been often assured by them that the Old Jersey would bring
him up at last, and the Waleboght be his place of burial. 'The first
of these predictions,' said he, 'has been verified; and I care not how
soon the second proves equally true, for I am prepared for the
event. Death, for me, has lost its terrors, for with them I have been
too long familiar.'
"On several Sunday mornings Cooper harangued the prisoners in a very
forcible yet pleasing manner, which, together with his language, made
a lasting impression upon my memory. On one of these occasions, having
mounted upon a temporary elevation upon the Spar-deck, he, in an
audible voice, requested the attention of the prisoners, who having
immediately gathered around him in silence, he commenced his
discourse.
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