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Seeing , now , that there were no curtains to the window , and that the street being very narrow , the house opposite commanded a plain view into the room , and observing more and more the indecorous figure that Queequeg made , staving about with little else but his hat and boots on ; I begged him as well as I could , to accelerate his toilet somewhat , and particularly to get into his pantaloons as soon as possible . He complied , and then proceeded to wash himself . At that time in the morning any Christian would have washed his face ; but Queequeg , to my amazement , contented himself with restricting his ablutions to his chest , arms , and hands . He then donned his waistcoat , and taking up a piece of hard soap on the wash - stand centre table , dipped it into water and commenced lathering his face . I was watching to see where he kept his razor , when lo and behold , he takes the harpoon from the bed corner , slips out the long wooden stock , unsheathes the head , whets it a little on his boot , and striding up to the bit of mirror against the wall , begins a vigorous scraping , or rather harpooning of his cheeks . Thinks I , Queequeg , this is using Rogers’s best cutlery with a vengeance . Afterwards I wondered the less at this operation when I came to know of what fine steel the head of a harpoon is made , and how exceedingly sharp the long straight edges are always kept . The rest of his toilet was soon achieved , and he proudly marched out of the room , wrapped up in his great pilot monkey jacket , and sporting his harpoon like a marshal’s baton . CHAPTER 5 . Breakfast . I quickly followed suit , and descending into the bar - room accosted the grinning landlord very pleasantly . I cherished no malice towards him , though he had been skylarking with me not a little in the matter of my bedfellow . However , a good laugh is a mighty good thing , and rather too scarce a good thing ; the more’s the pity . So , if any one man , in his own proper person , afford stuff for a good joke to anybody , let him not be backward , but let him cheerfully allow himself to spend and be spent in that way . And the man that has anything bountifully laughable about him , be sure there is more in that man than you perhaps think for . The bar - room was now full of the boarders who had been dropping in the night previous , and whom I had not as yet had a good look at . They were nearly all whalemen ; chief mates , and second mates , and third mates , and sea carpenters , and sea coopers , and sea blacksmiths , and harpooneers , and ship keepers ; a brown and brawny company , with bosky beards ; an unshorn , shaggy set , all wearing monkey jackets for morning gowns .
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