WENTY ONE.

There was one thing which had made a great impression on me in the
conversation with the men in the morning. They called me a savage, and
said that I had not sufficient clothes on; and as I observed that they
were all dressed in jackets and trousers, which covered them from head
to foot, I took it for granted that my shirt, which was all that I wore,
was not a sufficient clothing. This had never occurred to me before,
nor can the reader be surprised at it. I had been like our first
parents in Eden--naked but not ashamed; but now that I had suddenly come
in contact with my fellow-men, I felt as if something were amiss. The
consequence was, that I went to the chest and got out a pair of white
trousers, and put them on. I thought them very uncomfortable and very
unnecessary articles; but others--wore them, and I felt that I must do
so also. They were rather long for me, but I rolled up the bottoms of
the legs, as I observed that the seamen did, and then came out on the
platform, where the missionary's wife was still seated, looking out upon
the waves as they lashed the rocks. She immediately observed the
addition that I had made to my dress, and said--

"That is a great improvement. Now you look like other people. What is
your name? You have not told me."

When I had answered the question, I said to her--

"I have brought up more of the potatoes, as you call them; what am I to
do with them?"

"First tell me, have you any spot that you know about the island where
there is mould--that is, earth, like you have in your garden--where we
can plant them?"

"Yes," replied I, "there is some up there;" and I pointed to one-third
up the ravine. "I brought all this earth from there, and there is
plenty of it; but what is the good of planting them?"

"Because," said she, "one of the potatoes planted will, in a very short
time, grow, and then it will produce perhaps thirty or forty potatoes at
its roots as large as these; they are excellent things for food, and
where there is nothing else to be had, may be the means of preserving
life."

"Well, that may be," replied I, "and if we were going to remain on the
island, it would be well to plant them; but as we are going away the day
after to-morrow, what's the use of it? I know that they are very nice,
for I had some for supper last night."

"But are we only to think of ourselves in this world, and not of
others?" replied she, "Suppose, two or three years