e sure it is not as good as ours; but I could
not help liking this boy's warm, honest love of his native soil. Even
Clarendon admired it, and, when he had done repeating his favorite
lines, handed him a silver dollar, saying,--"There! buy yourself a book
of just such poetry, if you choose, and if you can find any in praise of
the Old Dominion, read it for my sake."

I knew that brother meant to do a gracious thing; but still there was
something about David's appearance which would have made me afraid to
give him money, and I was not surprised at the indignant flush which
rose to his cheek, or the scornful way in which he threw the poor dollar
over the rock into the sea.

"I am Captain Cobb's son, Sir," he said very proudly, "and must tell
you, that, though a New England boy is not ashamed of earning money in
any honest way, he never takes it as a gift from strangers. I should
have pocketed your silver with great pleasure if I had sold you its
worth in fish, or taken you out in the skiff for a day's excursion; but
my mother would scorn me if I had taken alms like a beggar-boy."

I never saw Clarendon more confused than he was at this speech; yet he
has so much pride himself, that he could not help liking the boy's
honest love of independence. His curiosity was so much excited, that he
prolonged the conversation, and discovered that David was the son of the
captain of the Go-Ahead, the very schooner in which we are to sail
to-morrow for Newfoundland. It will he the fourth of July, and the
sailors were at first averse to going out upon that day, but concluded
to celebrate it on shore in the morning, and depart in the afternoon.
David is going to accompany his father on the trip, having studied a
little too hard at school, and it being the custom here to intersperse
study with seasons of labor.

"You see," he said, "that I am rigged already sailor-fashion"; and he
pointed to his wide trousers, round jacket, and tarpaulin.

"O brother! can't I have just such clothes?" I asked. "They would be so
comfortable, and I should have no fears of hurting them, as I should
these I have on."

"You got yours for economy, did you not, boy?" said brother to David.

"Not altogether, Sir. They are the only ones proper for fishing. Of
course, if you are going to work, you will get some of the same kind;
for that finery of yours would be very much out of place."

Finery! Could you have heard David's tone of contempt, and seen his
glan