The History of Little Peter, the Ship Boy - William Henry Giles Kingston

Again the Edgar had a prosperous voyage, and Peter having yet further increased his means of supporting a wife, Mrs Sandford no longer hesitated to allow her daughter to marry. She had a further reason; her own health was failing, and before the Edgar was ready for sea Susan lost her mother.

When Peter proposed that his wife should accompany him, she gladly consented, and as the natives among whom his father lived had promised to collect a large quantity of cocoanut oil to ship on board the Edgar, Peter was once more able to visit the island.

He was told on his arrival that his father was ill.

The old man’s eyes brightened up at the sight of his sweet-looking daughter-in-law and son. He blessed them both, and entreated that they would spend the evening at his house. He spoke cheerfully, and with great thankfulness, of the progress of the Gospel in the island. Peter hoped that he might yet be spared to spend many more years in his useful labours among the dark-skinned natives.

The following day, however, a relapse occurred, and holding his daughter with one hand, his head resting on his son’s arm, and his faithful friend Mr Wilson and the two catechists standing by, the old sailor breathed his last—a heavenly smile resting on the face of the once “roaring Jack Gray.”

Peter made many voyages accompanied by his loving wife, and by foresight and prudence having realised a little independence, added to what her father had left Susan, he was able to purchase the plot of ground on which his mother’s cottage stood with several acres around. Here having built a neat house, he settled down, and making his Bible a light to his path and a lamp to his feet, his abode was truly as a light set on a hill, he and his family proving a blessing to all around.