ir, ez I wor a-
sayin' whin you put me off me coorse, Larry, ye baste. Tom wor goin' on
ahid, wid `Gyp' a-kapin' behoind him, an' Oi, sure, behoind him agin wid
Miss Jenny, whin the monkey Jocko, who wor alongside of Tom's fayther,
catches sight of `Gyp,' and makes for the to'-gallant crosstrees ov the
mulberry-tree, faith. Now, Larry, ye moost rimimber the owld cockatoo
`Ally Sloper' wor alriddy oop there aloft; an' whin the burrd says Jocko
makin' fur him, he oop stick, or rayther oop wid his crist an' flies
down roight atop ov Tom's hid, shraykin' out, `Say-rah, Say-rah!' as
loud as the divvle could bawl. `Gyp' on this starts barkin' loike mad
at the blissid cockatoo; whin down cooms Masther Jocko fur to have his
share in the foight. Begorrah, ye nivver sayd sich a rumpus in yer
loife, Larry, 'specially whin Tom's fayther got overturned in his
armchair an' Misthress Bowlin' came out fur to say wot all the row was
about; whoile Miss Jenny an' Tom an' me, sure, wor all a-dyin' wid
larfin', bedad!"

I may add, in conclusion, that Mick and I went from the depot to the
_Excellent_, to go through a regular course of gunnery, preparatory to
our aspiring to the grade of `petty officer'; and I hope, as my old
friend the `Jaunty' of the _Saint Vincent_ prophesied, to rise bye-and-
bye to the rank of `warrant.'

It is a pity, though, that no chance is yet afforded in our service in
the present day, as used to be the case in the past, when many an
admiral `crept through the hawsehole,' as the saying was, for
respectable young fellows of good education and bright abilities to look
any higher; but, it is to be hoped that the day will come, as father's
old friend Captain Mordaunt said only the other day when talking to us
both under the old mulberry-tree in our garden, when this state of
things will be changed, and a boy who enters the service as I did on
board one of our training-ships, will, as Bonaparte said the conscript
carried a field-marshal's baton in his knapsack, keep snugly stowed away
an admiral's cocked hat in his ditty box!

However, be that as it may, and whether I ever rise to quarter-deck rank
or not, I have not a single regret at having ever joined the Navy; for,
no one glories more than I in serving our Queen and country under the
grand old flag that floats supreme over every sea where ship may sail.
Aye, and my proud boast is that I am still `Young Tom Bowling,' my dear
old father being yet alive; and tha