back. At last a sea captain came along, and hired him to go on a
distant voyage; and as he knew nothing about the rigging of a vessel,
he was ordered to do the most servile work on board. He swept the
decks and the cabin, and helped the cook, and was the servant of all.
He had the poorest food to eat he ever ate in his life. And when
night came, and he was so tired that he could hardly stand, he had no
soft bed upon which to lie, but could only wrap a blanket around him,
and throw himself down any where to get a little sleep. This unhappy
boy had acquired so sour a disposition, and was so disobliging, that
all the sailors disliked him, and would do every thing they could to
teaze him. When there was a storm, and he was pale with fear, and the
vessel was rocking in the wind, and pitching over the waves, they
would make him climb the mast, and laugh to see how terrified he was,
as the mast reeled to and fro, and the wind almost blew him into the
raging ocean. Often did this poor boy get into some obscure part of
the ship, and weep as he thought of the home he had forsaken. He
thought of his father and mother, how kind they had been to him, and
how unkind and ungrateful he had been to them, and how unhappy he had
made them by his misconduct. But these feelings soon wore away.
Familiarity with sea life gave him courage, and he became inured to
its hardships. Constant intercourse with the most profligate and
abandoned, gave strength and inveteracy to his sinful habits; and
before the voyage had terminated, he was reckless of danger, and as
hardened and unfeeling as the most depraved on board the ship. This
boy commenced with disobedience in little things, and grew worse and
worse, till he forsook his father and his mother, and was prepared
for the abandonment of every virtue, and the commission of any crime.
But the eye of God was upon him, following him wherever he went, and
marking all his iniquities. An hour of retribution was approaching.
It is not necessary for me to trace out to you his continued steps of