Little Jemmy Galt, on the contrary, though he accompanied his friend Billy in all his ramblings, never took an active part or interest in them. He was of a much more quiet and gentle nature, and endeavored to restrain his friend in his thoughtless pranks. He used especially all his little powers of persuasion with him to prevent him from engaging in his frequent pitched battles; but when his remonstrances were all in vain, he barely stood by him, holding his cap and jacket during the contest, and anxiously acting the good Samaritan, in arranging the disordered dress, and removing the stains of dirt and blood from his friend. This truly kind and humane nature often served to check the cruel propensities of his friend, and saved many a poor bird or animal from torture. But if the spirited Billy carried away the palm in the pastimes of the fields and woods, his quiet comrade was no less distinguished and pre-eminent in the school-room; for here his studious habits and intelligent mind gave him a marked precedence. And here his skill in mastering a difficult task enabled him to reward the protecting services of his friend, by helping him through the slough of many a tough sum in the arithmetic, or many a deep bog in grammar, from which less acute Billy was vainly endeavoring to extricate himself. It seemed to be a mutual alliance, in which the one was to fight the battles of the other in return for the intellectual aid rendered him in the school-room.
I happened one bright holiday afternoon to overhear a conversation between them, which may well serve to illustrate their several minds. The subject of their discussion related to the choice of their future profession in life, and the selection of each was such as I should have readily anticipated.
“It is my wish and intention,” said Bill, “to be a sailor. That is the profession that my poor father loved and followed, and nothing but the sea and a ship will ever satisfy my mind. To be sure, you may say that he, poor man, was lost, together with all who sailed with him, on a distant coast, and in a dreadful tempest, but that is no reason why I should meet with the same misfortune. How many there are who sail the ocean for a good long life-time in perfect safety, and at length, after earning a heap of gold and silver, die quietly in their beds at home, mourned and respected by all who knew them. I never look on those rusty old pistols and cutlass in our parlor, which my father always prized so dearly, without a keen desire to pack them away in a chest of my own, and hasten away to B., and enter upon my voyagings in one of those noble ships that you may always see there at the wharves. And then, when I look at those beautiful sea-shells that adorn our mantel, and the shark’s jaw, and the whale’s spine, and the stuffed flying-fish, I feel the strongest inclination to sail myself to foreign shores, and gather such curiosities with my own hands, and bring them home, to still further adorn our little room. Heigho! I wish I had a pea-jacket and was bound for sea to-morrow!”
“I regret,” said master Jemmy, “the choice you have made; for I think you are about to devote yourself to a hard and dangerous life. Far better were it for you to hold the plough than the rudder, to plough up the rich furrows of the farm, than the rough billows of the ocean. Consider how many privations you will have to endure, and what perils you must face. Think of the dark, stormy nights at sea, with the wild winds howling through the rigging, the mast creaking, and bending, and ready to break, and the torn sails flapping and struggling to break free from your feeble grasp. Then will come the pelting rain, and the blinding snow, and the sharp sleet, and the blood will freeze in your veins, and every limb become benumbed with the cold. Then you must endure the sharp and bitter taunts and execrations of your officers, and, after a hard and thankless struggle with the storm, creep to your wet and cheerless hammock, in the dark and comfortless forecastle, and sigh for death, or lament that you ever left the warm fireside and the kind friends of your country home. I have no taste myself for such a boisterous life, and prefer to cultivate my mind, and devote myself to some gentler and more studious employment. How pleasant to stand at the bar and plead the case of some forlorn body, falsely accused, or to visit and heal at the sick bed, or to minister in the sacred desk, or even to preside over the little school in some humble village. Such is the height of my ambition.”
“You present to my view,” said Bill, “only the dark side of the picture. Think, on the contrary, of the brave, stout ship, with all its gaudy streamers flying from each spiring mast, all its snow-white canvass bellying on the tall spars, the fresh breeze blowing us on our course, and the bright and boundless sea smiling, and shining, and rolling around the bow. Then think of the visit to the green islands of the Bermudas and Madeira, and all the fruit-bearing isles of the West Indies. Think of the glorious gallop among the mountains and plantations of Cuba. There the loveliest fruits grow as plentifully as the apples in our orchard, and you have only the trouble to help yourself to the plantain, the banana, the pine-apple, the orange, and the melon. Think of the delicious groves of palm and lemon that cover the land, filled with numberless birds of the richest plumage. Then also what famous shores may we not visit in our voyagings. We may drop anchor at Liverpool and London, and view without cost all the wonders of those mighty cities; view the multitudes of strange faces, and elegant shops, and splendid edifices, palaces, halls, and churches—view at pleasure the Tower, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s, and all the noble parks of London. Then also we may touch at Havre, or Rochelle, or Marseilles, and take a trip to gay and lively Paris, and visit Versailles, the Tuilleries, the Boulevards, and the Palais Royal; or perhaps touch at Leghorn, and thence make a trip to the Leaning Tower of Pisa—of which we have a print in our school-room—or ride over to Florence and see the beautiful Duomo, and all the rare palaces and galleries of the Medici, of whom we read in our school history;—or perhaps sail into the glorious bay of Naples, and ascend to the very summit of Mount Vesuvius, and bring home to the good folks of our village specimens of the sulphur from the very crater of the burning mountain;—or even ride over to old Rome itself, and visit the Vatican, with all its fine pictures, and the great St. Peter’s, which is said to be bigger than all the churches of Massachusetts put together. Then also we may sail up the blue Mediterranean, and visit Sicily and Malta, and Athens, and all the isles of Greece, and cast anchor off Smyrna and Constantinople, or coast along the shores of Syria, or sail up the harbor of Alexandria and take a look at the Nile, the Desert, and the Pyramids, and get a glimpse of Mehemit Ali himself, in the midst of his wild Egyptian guards. What could you desire better than all that? And all this I can enjoy by only going to sea as a sailor. Then also I can sail across the Pacific and Indian oceans, and take a look at the wonders of Bombay, Madras, Manilla, Calcutta, and Canton, and walk the streets of Pekin itself.”
After some further conversation the two friends parted. Each of the little fellows followed in course of time their several inclinations. Jemmy, after many struggles against poverty, overcame all difficulties, and at length quietly settled down as the “orthodox preacher” in a pleasant, quiet, and happy little village of New England, where he married a pretty little wife, and reared up a thriving and numerous progeny, who, I hope, are following in the good example set before them by their amiable parent. Master Billy had his wish and went to sea, where he was tossed and knocked about by the winds and waters for many a year, and, after rising to the command of a ship, finally retired from the service, and purchasing a farm with the fruits of his hard earnings, quietly settled down as a parishioner of his boyhood’s friend. He several times, however, suffered shipwreck; and at one time nearly lost his life while out in a whaleboat, engaged in that perilous fishery; was once taken by pirates, and had nearly been compelled to “walk the plank.” But he luckily escaped all these perils, and now loves to recite them over to his listening neighbors; but he never omits to confess the errors of his boyhood, and to declare that the habits he then formed had nearly proved fatal to his success in life.
(To be continued.)
Egyptian Schools.
Among the people of Egypt, parents seldom devote much of their time or attention to the education of their children; generally contenting themselves with instilling into their young minds a few principles of religion, and then submitting them, if they can afford to do so, to the instruction of a schoolmaster. As early as possible, the child is taught to say, “I testify that there is no deity but God; and I testify that Mohammed is God’s apostle.” He receives also lessons of religious pride, and learns to hate the Christians, and all other sects but his own, as thoroughly as does the Moslem in advanced age. Most of the children of the higher and middle classes, and some of those of the lower orders, are taught by the schoolmaster to read, and to recite the whole, or certain portions of the Koran, by memory. They afterwards learn the most common rules of arithmetic.