Hurrah for New England! | Page 8

even my coarse shirt did
not prevent from stinging. "They all envy you, for I used to talk just as
they do, and when at the worst I would have changed places with any
body who had a fair chance of landing in heaven."
While this conversation was going on, Clarendon bit his lips with
displeasure, and the next day he told me that I might as well say my
prayers after I got into my berth. I was surprised that my proud brother,
who scorns the idea of being influenced by the opinion of any one,
should want to have me ashamed of worshipping God before those
whom he pretends to despise. Though I love him dearly, I did not
follow his advice, and when the second night I did the same thing, no
one laughed at me.
The next day, David Cobb shook hands heartily with me, and said I
ought to have been a Yankee boy; for though he had not been brought
up to say his prayers himself, if he had, there was not that man living
who should laugh him out of it. I shall try and persuade David to do
right himself, as well as to approve it in others, for I remember mother's
saying,--"Even a boy has his share of influence, and it is a talent for
which he must account."
I will tell you more about Old Jack and Moody Dick when I next feel
like writing. I do not know when I shall have a chance to send a letter,
but I shall try and have one ready all the while. Give my love to all the
children, and don't forget to remember me to the servants, especially
old Aunt Molly.
Your absent but loving cousin,
PIDGIE.

LETTER IV.

TALK ABOUT GREAT MEN.
FROM PIDGIE TO BENNIE.
Banks of Newfoundland, July 15th, 1846.
I begin to feel, dear Bennie, very much as if I should like to hear from
you, and sometimes I am a little homesick, when I think how pleasantly
Bellisle is looking, and how happy you all must be. Then what would I
not give for your pet bookcase with its treasures, the nice Rollo books
and Marco Paul's adventures, and dear old Robinson Crusoe! I am tired,
too, of looking at men, and fairly long to see some one who will remind
me of mother, or my sweet sister Nannie, or of the "Queen of
Flowers,"--you know who I mean.
I suspect that brother Clarendon has something of the same feeling, for
yesterday I saw him take a miniature out of what I had always thought
before was a watch-case, and it was such a pretty face that I don't
wonder that he sighed when he looked at it.
But in spite of sighing and groaning, and hard fare and hard work,
Clarendon is getting better very fast, and some of the sailors, who at
first laughed at his affectation, are beginning to have a profound respect
for him, and he in his turn seems to look much more benevolently upon
mankind in general, and to be able to interest himself in the rough
characters around him. I think he cut the greatest figure washing out his
red-flannel shirt yesterday, and he laughed himself at the idea of some
of his fashionable friends catching a glimpse of him while thus
employed.
I do not like Captain Cobb much, though he is very shrewd, and
sometimes tells David and me such funny stories; but he seems to have
no principle, and has brought up David to think that if he can ever be a
great man it is no matter whether he is a good one.
Yesterday, David and I were having one of our long talks, for we pass a
great deal of time in chatting when the weather is not favorable for
fishing, and I think we shall soon know pretty well the history of each

other's lives. He was telling me about the Latin High School in Boston,
and, from what he says of it, I am sure if a boy don't learn there it must
be his own fault.
One day we were discussing our favorite characters in history, just as
you and I used to do at Bellisle, and David was very much amused
when I told him that those I most admired were Aristides, St. Paul, and
General Washington. His favorites are Alexander the Great, Napoleon
Bonaparte, and Washington. So we agree about one of them, but differ
widely as to the other two. David absolutely laughed when I mentioned
St. Paul with Aristides, and seemed to think that I only named him
because I had been taught that it was right to do so. I asked if he had
ever read the