knew he couldn't be the son of very poor parents, for he did not speak like boys brought up in the street, and his hand was as white and soft as that of a fine lady.

17. "One day I was up on the cross-trees, and George was with me, as I said before. We were on the lookout for whales, and he was just as anxious to discover one as though he had been the captain of the ship.

18. "While we were sitting there, we fell into a conversation; and I asked George how it happened that he came to sea. He was reluctant to tell me at first, but after a while he confessed that he had run away from home, and that his mother did not know where he was. I asked him if he had ever written to her; and he said he had not, adding, that it would make her very unhappy if she knew he was on board a whale ship. But I told him she would be a great deal more unhappy at not hearing from him at all; and so, after much persuasion, he promised me that he would write to her.

19. "Pretty soon after we had this talk, I saw a whale far off on the sea. In a few minutes the men had a boat out, and George and I were with them pulling away towards the great fish.

20. "We rowed close up to the whale, and sent one iron into him. Before we could strike him again, he turned upon us, and with one blow smashed our frail boat all to pieces."

21. "Dear me!" exclaimed little Flora, with a shudder.

22. "Another boat from the ship picked us up. George was a good swimmer; but I saw that he was sinking this time, and I bore him up in my arms till

he was taken into the boat. I found that he was badly hurt, for his face was deadly pale, and he was so faint he could hardly speak. We had lost the whale; so we

went back to the ship."

1 MONSTER. Something out of the 3 CONVERSATION. Talk.
common order of nature, some-
thing excessively large.
LANCE. A weapon in the form of a
slender spear.

4 RELUCTANT. Unwilling.

5 CONFESSED. Admitted, owned.

6 PERSUASION. Endeavor to influence by advice, counsel.

1. "I CARRIED George in my arms to the deck, and then bore him to his bunk' in the forecastle.2

299

2. "That was a room to sleep in - wasn't it?" asked Nellie.

3. "Yes, child; but it wasn't any such place as your chamber. It was cold, dark, and damp. I laid the poor boy in his bunk, and tried to find out where he was hurt; but he was so weak he could tell me nothing.

4. "If he had been my own son, I could not have felt any worse. I could not help thinking of his poor mother, as I sat by the side of his bunk, watching over him. What would she have said if she could see her darling child, sick in that dirty, dark place? How she would have wept!

5. "I did not think poor George was very badly

hurt; I did not want to think so, and I suppose this is the reason why I did not. The captain went down to see him, and then got some medicine for him.

6. "In the evening he seemed to be a little better, and I hoped he would be well in a day or two. He talked a little with me, and told me where his pains were. He spoke of his mother and his home, and seemed to feel very sad to be so far away from them.

7. "I sat by his side till eight bells-that is, till twelve o'clock. He slept much of the time, and as I bent over him and listened to his quiet breathing, I thought he was better, and that he would be able to go on deck the next day.

8. "You don't know much about the life of a whaler, I suppose; so you can't tell how tired and worn out he gets sometimes. The boats are often out all night, and the men have to row, when they are so sleepy and tired that they can hardly hold their heads up.

9. "Well, I had been out in the boat all the night before, and I was just as tired as a man could be. I could hardly keep my eyes open, as I sat at the side of the poor sick boy; but I did not once lose myself while I was on this duty3.

10. "At twelve o'clock, finding that George slept easily, I called one of my shipmates to take my place. He was very willing to do so; but before I left him, I . charged him, over and over again, to keep awake and mind the boy. He promised me he would, and I went to my bunk.

11. "I was so tired that I slept till eight bells, which was four o'clock in the morning. My first thought was of poor George, and jumping out of my

berth,' I hastened to his side. My shipmate whom I had left to watch him was fast asleep.

12. "I felt very angry with him; but such was my desire to learn how the sick boy was, that I could think of nothing else. I looked into the bunk, and all was as still as when I had left, and I thought he was asleep. 13. "All was still and calm in the berth so still and calm that I trembled with fear. I listened to hear his breathing, but no sound reached my ear. I then placed my hand upon his brow. It was as cold as marble.

14. "Poor George was dead!

15. "O children, I can't tell you how I felt then. It seemed just as though our angel had been taken out of the ship. I wept for him as if he had been my son or my brother.

16. "From that sleep in which I had left him he had never awakened, for he lay just as he was at midnight. There was not a dry eye in the ship when it was told that poor George, whom we all loved, was dead.

17. "We dressed him in his clean clothes, and bore his body upon deck, where we covered it with the American flag. At noon the sad cry of All hands to bury the dead' sounded gloomily through the ship.

18. "The body of poor George, sewed up in a piece of sail-cloth, was placed on a plank, still covered with the American flag. It was raised upon the rail, ready to be cast into the sea.

19. "The captain, with his eyes brimful of tears, and hardly able to speak from grief, read prayers; and all was ready to lower the body into the deep. The canvas' had been left open at the head, and the wind

blew the fair, brown locks upon the cold brow of poor George, just as when he had stood by my side on the

cross-trees.

20. “One by one the sailors kissed his marble cheeks, kissed him for his mother, and wiped the tears from their brown faces. The canvas was sewed up, the word was given, and the body slid off the plank into the great ocean, there to sleep till the graves give up their dead.

21. "The ship sailed away upon her course, and it was many and many a day before we ceased to think of the poor boy in his ocean grave."

1 BUNK, A place in a ship to sleep 4 CHARGED. Requested earnestly, en

1. "WHERE did you come from? say, pretty brook!

And whither away so fast?"

2

Asked a thoughtful' child of a babbling brook,
As it leaped in gladness past.

2. "Ah, ha! little girl, my mother spring3