Jack Mason, the Old Sailor | Page 6

had
very hard work to row the boat. The wind blew very hard at one time,
and the little boat was blown back again almost to the shore. But they
tried again, and after a long time they got to the ship. Then some of us
got into the boat, and the men rowed us to the shore. After that, the boat
went back to the ship again, and got the rest of the men.
But I have not told the best of the story yet. When we all got into the
house, where it was warm, we told the fishermen that they were very
good to come and help us get away from the ship. We thanked them
very much. And then they told us that we must not thank them; and
they pointed to a little boy about as old as you are, I guess. "There,"
they said, "that little boy is the one to thank. We should not have gone,
if it had not been for him. We were afraid the waves would dash over
the boat, and that we should be drowned. We did not dare to go. But
this good boy said, 'Do go! oh, do go! The poor men in the ship will get

drowned, if you do not go. I will go if my father will let me. I do not
think father's boat will get lost. God will not let us drown, if we go and
try to save the men.'" Well, the boy said so much, that the fishermen
told him they would go, and they did go.
This little boy's name was George, and this is the one that I told you we
all liked so well. The captain was so pleased with him, that he asked his
father to let the little boy come and sail in his ship. His father said he
wished his boy to be a sailor, and the boy wanted to be a sailor, too;
and that if the captain would be kind to him, little George might go. So
he went, and he was the very best boy I ever saw in my life. He used to
talk to the sailors; and when they did wrong, when they said bad words,
he would tell them it was naughty, and God would not love them if
they did so. The sailors did not get angry with him, because they all
saw that little George was good and kind, and that he wanted to do
them good. I know of a good many sailors who stopped swearing,
because little George told them, in his kind way, that he could not bear
to hear them swear, and that God would not love them if they did so.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Rocks in the Sea.]

THE WRECK.
The captain of this ship--the same one that loved little George so
well--was drowned not long after that. My little friends, I cannot help
crying when I think that this good captain, who used to be so kind to
the sailors, was lost at sea. I was not in the ship at the time. I was in
another ship. I got sick of catching whales, so I did not want to go in a
whale-ship any more.
The ship in which this captain was sailing was very near the shore, and
there were some high rocks that stood quite down to the edge of the
water. It was foggy at the time. The captain did not know that the ship
was so near the rocks, because he could not see through the fog. The

wind blew very hard, and blew the ship upon the rocks. In a minute the
ship broke in pieces, and all but two or three of the men who were in it
were lost. The captain was lost among the rest. So was little George.
When the storm was over, and the wind stopped blowing, that dear boy
was found on the shore, dead. There was a smile on his face, just such a
smile as he used to have when he was living. There was a little Bible in
his pocket. It was all wet with salt water. But there was some writing
on one of the leaves which anybody could read. It said, "This book was
given to little George by his dear mother."
[Illustration: The Pyramids and the Sphynx.]

THE PYRAMIDS.
I once went to a place called Egypt. There I saw a great many strange
things. The pyramids are wonderful enough. Did you ever hear about
them? They are made of stone, and are very large. I should think it
would take a great many years to make one of them, if there were a
hundred men at work all the time. They must