ange of occupation. Arrangements
were accordingly made by which I was to bid adieu to the seas forever.

It cost me something to abandon a vocation to which I had looked for
years as the stepping-stone to success in life; and as my health and
spirits returned, I began to doubt whether I was acting wisely; but
having embarked in a new pursuit, I determined to go ahead, and to this
determination I unflinchingly adhered, for at least THREE MONTHS, when
I fell in with a distant relation, Captain Nathaniel Page, of Salem,
who was about proceeding on a voyage to the Brazils. After expressing
surprise at my course in abandoning the sea, he more than hinted that if
I wished a situation before the mast with him, it was at my service.

This was applying the linstock to the priming with a vengeance. My good
resolutions vanished like a wreath of vapor before a westerly gale.
Those longings which I had endeavored to stifle, returned with more than
their original force. In fancy's eye, I saw a marlinspike where Macbeth
saw the dagger, and snuffed the fragrance of a tar-bucket in every
breeze.

At the expiration of three days after my interview with Captain Page, I
took the stage coach and proceeded to Salem. The brig Clarissa was then
preparing to take in cargo for Maranham and Para, ports on the north
coast of Brazil, which had just been thrown open to American commerce.
The Clarissa was a good-looking, substantial vessel, of about two
hundred tons burden, belonging to Jere. L. Page, Abel Peirso, and
others, and had recently returned from a successful voyage to Calcutta.

The sight of the brig, and the flurry about the wharves, where several
Indiamen were discharging cargoes or making ready for sea, confirmed
me in my resolution to try the ocean once more. Indeed I began to be
heartily ashamed of having seriously entertained the idea of quietly
settling down among "the land-lubbers on shore," and felt that the
sooner I retrieved my error the better.

Filled with this idea, I sought Captain Page, and without further
consideration, and without daring to consult my friends in New
Hampshire, lest they should overwhelm me with remonstrances, I engaged
to go in the Clarissa as one of the crew before the mast.

I returned home with all speed, gathered together my few sea-going
garments and nautical instruments, again bade adieu to my relations,
who gravely shook their heads in doubt of the wisdom of my conduct, and
elated by visions