I received it with two or three other papers, from our
friend Dora, a few minutes before we assembled. She knew we should
be explaining the Atlantic to-night, and begged I would introduce
this at the meeting.
#The Seaboy's Grave.#
"'There was a poor little middy on board, so delicate and fragile,
that the sea was clearly no fit profession for him; but he or his
friends thought otherwise; and as he had a spirit for which his
frame was no match, he soon gave token of decay. This boy was a
great favorite with everybody; the sailors smiled whenever he
passed, as they would have done to a child; the officers patted
him, and coddled him up with all sorts of good things; and his
messmates, in a style which did not altogether please him, but which
he could not well resist, as it was meant most kindly, nicknamed
him, "Dolly." Poor fellow! he was long remembered afterwards. I
forget what his particular complaint was, but he gradually sank, and
at last went out just as a taper might have done, exposed to such
gusts of wind as blew in that tempestuous region. He died in the
morning, but it was not until the evening that he was prepared for a
seaman's grave.
"'I remember in the course of the day, going to the side of the
boy's hammock; and, on laying my hand upon his breast, being
astonished to find it still warm; so much so, that I almost imagined
I could feel the heart beat. This, of course, was a vain fancy; but
I was greatly attached to my little companion, being then not much
taller myself, and I was soothed and gratified, in a childish way,
by discovering that my friend, though many hours dead, had not yet
acquired the usual revolting chilliness.
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