Hurrah for New England! | Page 6

more of that horrid
sea-sickness. Hard biscuit and water are just as good as any thing else,
if you only get used to it, and the fish which we caught this morning are
delicious. We came upon a fine shoal of them, and for several hours
had nothing to do but pull them in, one after another, as fast as we
could put our hooks down. I got hold of a very big fellow, myself, but
he was nearer drawing me out of the schooner than I him into it, till
David Cobb came to the rescue, and gave such a tug at the line, that he
was soon floundering about on the deck. I never knew what an apt
comparison "like a fish out of water" is, till I saw him flapping round.
If you only knew David I am sure you would like him. He is as
different as can be from our Virginia boys, and yet we are excellent
friends. I thought at first that he did not know any thing, when I found
out that he had never even heard the names of some of our most
distinguished families, and I suspect he despised me in his heart
because I was so ignorant about the old Pilgrim Fathers.
We have many an argument about New England and the Old Dominion,
but keep our tempers pretty well, and each of us finds a great deal to
boast of. There is one thing I can say which really troubles him, for he
can't deny that it is a great honor to the State, and that is, that General
Washington was born and brought up and died in Virginia. O, how he
glories even that Washington was an American, and what would he not
give if he could claim him for his dear Massachusetts! I used to think
that the Yankees were all cold-hearted and never got excited about any
thing; but David looks as if his soul was all on fire when he speaks of
the Father of his Country, and he drinks in every word I can tell him of
Mount Vernon. He has made me tell him over as much as three times

all the stories grandfather told us of the time when he belonged to
Washington's military family, and what he said to grandmother when
they were both children.
There goes Clarendon, staggering up and down the deck from
sea-sickness. He will not take enough of the sailor's fare to do him any
good, and the wry faces which he makes over a few mouthfuls are
pitiful. Before he could get the sails shifted, I am sure the wind would
change, and though the crew try to be polite, they can't help laughing to
see what an awkward hand he is at doing any thing. There goes the
"Heave ho!" which sounds so delightfully to me.
There is one man who has just come up from below that interests me so
much that I can't help watching him all the time he's in sight. The first
time I saw him was the day we came on board. The schooner had
dropped down a mile or two, and Captain Peck, our worthy host at
Marblehead, came out in a little boat to bring some of Clarendon's
clothes, which had been left by accident. He is a clever fellow, for
though Clarendon was not half civil to him, he was always polite in his
way, and his frank, well-meaning civility so won upon brother, that
when they parted he apologized for his rudeness, and told the Captain
that he had shown himself the most of a gentleman of the two.
Beside brother's extra trappings, Captain Peck brought a package of
books, which Captain Cobb looked at with surprise, and asked, with an
oath, who they were for. O Bennie! I should enjoy myself a great deal
more if two or three of the sailors did not swear so dreadfully; but I
hope when they have read those books they will stop using such wicked
words; for what should they be but Bibles, sent on board by the
Seamen's Friend Society.
"Let us throw them overboard," said "Brown Tom," a coarse,
red-featured man, who is more fond of grog than reading.
"Pshaw! Tom, don't talk of treating a lady's present in that way,"
exclaimed Captain Peck, who, after his fashion, has a great respect both
for religion and womankind, and his own wife in particular.

"O, if that's the case," remarked a melancholy looking man, who had
not before spoken, "let us stow them away somewhere; for women
always mean well, and perhaps it would be better for us if we followed
their advice."
I thought he sighed as he said this, and I wondered what made him so
unhappy.