Captain John's Adventures; or, The Story of a Fatherless Boy

CAPTAIN JOHN’S ADVENTURES OR The Story of a Fatherless Boy
EDINBURGH & LONDON OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER
MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.

CAPTAIN JOHN’S ADVENTURES
THE FISHERMAN’S DWELLING—HOME MADE DESOLATE.
RICHARD LEDDAM was a poor man, who obtained a subsistence by toiling in all weathers in catching fish and oysters, which he sold to persons whose business it was to supply the city market. The village in which he lived was exposed on one side to the ocean waves, the other was washed by the calmer waters of a bay. Here a few families were induced to dwell, invited by the facilities for procuring fish.
Lonely as the village was, it was not an unpleasant spot; the grounds were shaded by fine trees, and the constant sea breeze rendered the atmosphere cool and healthy. On a little indenture of the shore, where the bay setting in formed a cove, stood the cabin of the fisherman. It was built of logs, and a sloping shed protected the house from winter storms and summer suns. Beneath this shelter were kept, when not in use, the fishing boat and the fishing tackle. Here too the family assembled in fine weather, and thence the anxious wife sent many a wishful glance, when expecting her husband’s return.
Their family consisted of two boys, John and Henry, and three daughters.
Here they lived in rude comfort—poor, but not destitute; and when, after a successful day, the family met in their humble home, from which they looked out on the sparkling waters, while the father related his adventures, they might be called happy, as far as exemption from care could make immortal beings happy.
But of his glorious birthright as an immortal spirit, Richard Leddam thought not. If he mentioned the name of his Creator, it was only to profane it. There was no prayer offered to God in that family, and Sabbaths came and went, not reverenced, almost unheeded. Once, while at a neighbouring city, where he had gone with a boat load, his little vessel was visited by a Christian gentleman, who gave him a Bible, which he brought to his wife; but whether it was prized as it deserved to be, or whether the fisherman, in his solitary hours upon the sea, ever turned in repentance to his God and Saviour, none can tell.