d out that there's a comfort
in reading the Bible; but you must promise me never to speak about it.
I'm a foolish old fellow to tell it to you, Jack, I do believe, but I'm
fond of you, boy, and I don't like to say `no' to you. Now come to an
anchor close to me. The bells are ringing for dinner--I shall lose my
meal, but you will not lose your story, and there will be no fear of
interruption.

"My father was brought up to the sea, Jack, and was a smart young man
till he was about thirty, when a fall from the main-yard disabled him
from hard duty and going aloft; but still he had been brought up to sea,
and was fit for nothing on shore. So, as he was a clean likely fellow,
he obtained the situation of purser's steward in an Indiaman. After
that he was captain's steward on board of several ships. He sailed
originally from Yarmouth, and going home after a voyage to see his
relations, he fell in with my mother, and they were spliced. He was
very fond of his wife, and I believe she was a very true and good woman,
equally fond of him. He went to sea again, and I was born. He made
another voyage to India, and when he came back I was two years old. I
do not recollect him or my mother. My father had agreed to sail to the
West Indies as captain's steward, and the captain, with whom he had
sailed before, consented that he should take his wife with him, to
attend upon the lady passengers; so I was left at Yarmouth, and put out
to nurse till they came back. But they never came back, Jack; and, as
soon as I can recollect, I found myself in the workhouse, and, when old
enough, was sent to sea. I had been told that my father and mother had
been lost at sea, but no one could tell me how, and I thought little
more about it, for I had never known them, and those we don't know we do
not love or care for, be they father or mother.

"Well, I had sailed four or five voyages to the north in the whalers,
and was then about twenty-five years old, when I thought I would go back
to Yarmouth and show myself, for I was `harpooner and steersman' at that
early age, and not a little proud. I thought I would go and look at the
old workhouse, for it was the only thing I could recollect, and see if
the master and mistress were still alive, for they were kind to me when
I was living with them. I went to Yarmouth, as I said. There was the
workhouse, and the master and mistress both alive; and I made myself
known to them, and the old people lo