60. The Sailors and Ship.
Tom Hazard was an unthinking boy, and would not settle to any business at home, and so ventured one day in a frolic to go on the water with a party of young folks; and, as Tom staid out late at night, he was met on coming ashore by a press-gang, who took him on board a man-of-war, from which, after some time, he made his escape, and entered on board the Desperate Privateer, hazarding his life for a golden chain, or a broken limb. And now, poor fellow, when it is too late, he sorely laments his situation, for, having lost a leg, he wanders with some of his companions, and joins in their mournful ditty.
We poor sailors, lame and blind,
Now your charity would sue;
Treat us not with words unkind,
But a spark of pity shew.Where the stormy billows roar,
Many a year we plough’d the main:
Far, to east or western shore,
Luxuries for you to gain.Far from friends and houses warm,
(Comforts such as you can boast,)
We have braved the howling storm,
Shipwreck’d on a desert coast.Many a hardship have we known;
Round and round the world we’ve past;
Now, our limbs and eye-sight gone,
Come to beggary at last!