perhaps, always remembered her, and made a point, when they returned in
their vacations, of coming to tell their experiences to such a
sympathetic listener.

"April 18, 1855. A young sailor boy came to see me to-day. It pleases me
to have these lads seek me on their return from their first voyage, and
tell me how much they have learned about navigation. They always say,
with pride, 'I can take a lunar, Miss Mitchell, and work it up!'

"This boy I had known only as a boy, but he has suddenly become a man
and seems to be full of intelligence. He will go once more as a sailor,
he says, and then try for the position of second mate. He looked as if
he had been a good boy and would make a good man.

"He said that he had been ill so much that he had been kept out of
temptation; but that the forecastle of a ship was no place for
improvement of mind or morals. He said the captain with whom he came
home asked him if he knew me, because he had heard of me. I was glad to
find that the captain was a man of intelligence and had been kind to the
boy."

Miss Mitchell was an inveterate reader. She devoured books on all
subjects. If she saw that boys were eagerly reading a certain book she
immediately read it; if it were harmless she encouraged them to read it;
if otherwise, she had a convenient way of _losing_ the book. In
November, when the trustees made their annual examination, the book
appeared upon the shelf, but the next day after it was again lost. At
this time Nantucket was a thriving, busy town. The whale-fishery was a
very profitable business, and the town was one of the wealthiest in the
State. There was a good deal of social and literary life. In a Friend's