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 tfred 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 1 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 в 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." A place in a ship to sleep, CHARGED. Requested earnestly, en BUNK, : FORECASTLE. The fore part of the vessel, under the deck, where the sailors live. & DUTY. What ought to be done. joined. 5 MIND. Attend to, heed. 6 LOWER. To cause to descend. 7 CANVAS. A coarse cloth, used for sails, tents, &c. 1. "WHERE did you come from? say, pretty brook! And whither away so fast?" Asked a thoughtful' child of a babbling' brook. 2. “Ah, ha! little girl, my mother spring3 I leaped from her lap like a truant' boy, 3. "But what is your hurry? Please tarry a while Just up in this flowery nook, Where violets cluster, blue as the skies." "I can't," says the hurrying brook. 4. "Fie, fie, naughty brook! Just linger, I pray, And chat a few moments with me.' "I can't, little girl; I'm quite out of breath 5. "But what is the song you sing, pretty brook, With voice so pretty and sweet?" "The song, little girl, is the holiday song Of the pebbles beneath my feet." 6. "No one will miss you, I'm sure, pretty brook; There is nothing for you to do." "Nothing for me? Ha, ha! little girl, There is more for me than for you. 7. "The flowers are drooping down in the glen, They hang their heads on their withering stalks, 6 8. "And I turn the mill at the foot of the hill, Then how can I stay? I must hurry away, 9. "Good by, little girl; I have tarried too long While I run to the sea, full of frolic and glee, ! THOUGHTFUL. Full of thought. BABBLING. Idly talking. 4 TRUANT. Idle, wandering from school or business. 3 SPRING. An issue of water from the 5 NAUGHTY. Mischievous, wayward. XVI.—THE DISCONTENTED RIVULET. ō-ver-shǎd'ōwed/ squirrels (skwer'relz) fa-tîgued's (fa-tegd') měl'an-chŏl-y nǎr'rōw 5 im-pa'tient (-shent)o-be'di-ent 1. As I was walking, one hot, summer day, in a thick wood, through a narrow valley, I came suddenly upon a little gurgling' brook. The trees and wild shrubs overshadowed it so completely, that, had I not heard the sweet music it made running over the loose pebbles, I might have been near it for some time without knowing it was there. 2. I sat down upon a green, mossy bank, under an old elm tree, whose branches hung over the little tream. The flowers dipped their modest leaves into the silvery waters, and the birds and the squirrels came there to drink. 3. I was fatigued; and the coolness was so refreshing, and the gurgling sound of the flowing water so soft and lulling, that I leaned my head against the old tree, and fell asleep. |