Pirate Coat

The Coat's Tale "'Twas a hard thing to be a coat, sir, in those years when pirates roamed the sea lanes, on the prowl for any sort of plunder. If your man took a notion for a voyage, all his wearables set sail in fear and tremblin', knowin' they would be forfeit--aye, down to the last stocking--if they were catch'd  by pirates. Not so much as a button would escape. "And so it was with me, on the day we were taken by Captain Vane and his crew--a vile, ragged lot they were! No hope I'd be overlooked, not with me wide cuffs and me two good pockets, and me fine, flared skirts in the latest fashion. Sure, I was seized--pressed, as it might be--me, who had always been a respectable coat!" How did I outlast wind and rain, shot and shipwreck, with both me sleeves on, and nought but a patch or two the worse for it, though I am old and wrinkled? Be so good as to cast your eye upon me label: White Pavilion, it says. That's the secret to a ripe old age." --From The Narrative of an Anonymous Coat,