living, it must have been a score of years since she bought her first
glasses.

No doubt I should have been of a pleasanter disposition, had I not been
the only boy and the youngest child. I was made too much of. Aunt Chloë,
who was aunt to the neighborhood, and did its washing, said I was
"humored to death."

We had a great family of girls, but Mary was the one I loved best. She
was a saint. Her face made you think of "Peace on earth, and good-will
to men." Aunt Chloë used to say that "Mary Bond was pretty to look at,
and facultied; pity she hadn't the 'one thing needful.'" For Mary was
not a professor.

I went pretty steadily to school until about sixteen. At that time I had
a misunderstanding with father. I got the idea that he looked upon me as
an incumbrance, and declared I would go to sea.

Mother and the girls were full of trouble, but I wasn't used to being
crossed, and to sea I went. I knew afterwards that father had set his
heart upon my getting learning.

He said going to sea was a dog's life. But I liked it, and followed it
up. I think it was in my twentieth year that I shipped on board the
Eliza Ann, Captain. Saunders, bound from Boston to Calcutta. This was my
first long voyage as a sailor. Among the crew was one they called Jamie,
as smart as a steel-trap, and handsome as a picture. He was not our
countryman. I think he was part Scotch. The passengers were always
noticing him. One day, when he stood leaning against the foremast, with
his black hair blowing out in the wind, a young man with a portfolio got