saw cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high, 15
And the coast-guard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.

The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;
The good red fires were burning bright in every 'longshore home;
The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;
And I vow we sniffed the victuals, as the vessel went about. 20

The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;
For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn,
And the house above the coast-guard's was the house where I was born.

O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there, 25
My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;
And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves,
Go dancing round the china plates that stand upon the shelves.

And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,
Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea; 30
And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas day.

They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall.
"All hands to loose topgallant sails," I heard the captain call.
"Captain, she'll never stand it," our first mate, Jackson, cried. 35
"It's the one way or the other, Mr. Jackson," he replied.

She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good,
And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood.
As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night,
We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light. 40

And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me,
As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,
Was just that I was leaving home, and my folks were growing old.

--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ (_By arrangement_)

PREPARATORY.--Supply an introduction and a conclusion
for the story suggested by this poem.

Indicate the pauses which should be made in this poem
after words and phrases: (_a_) because of the Imaging
process, (_b_) in order to conceive the thought more
fully, (_c_) in passing from the narration of one action
to that of another, (_d_) because of direct speech
interrupted by narrative. (Introduction, pp. 7, 24, and
27.)