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Harper's Young People, May 4, 1880 By: Various |
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YOUNG PEOPLE AN ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY.]
VOL. I. NO. 27. PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. PRICE FOUR
CENTS. Tuesday, May 4, 1880. Copyright, 1880, by HARPER & BROTHERS. $1.50 per
Year, in Advance.
[Illustration: "THERE SAT THE OLD ONE LEGGED SAILOR, JACK
PEABODY." [SEE NEXT PAGE.]] ROB'S NAVY. BY W. O. STODDARD.
The tide was just out on the Staten Island shore, and the water in the
little cove below Mr. Drake's residence was as smooth as a pan of milk
with the cream on. Nothing in the shape of a ship ought to have tipped over in such water
as that. So Rob Drake had thought, but every time he shoved his new ship away
from the flat rock at the head of the cove, over she went. First on one
side, then on the other, it did not seem to make much difference which.
She stood up well enough so long as Rob kept hold of her, but as soon as
ever he let go, down she tumbled. Rob was about twelve years old, and he believed he knew all about ships. Did he not live on Staten Island, right across the bay from New York?
Did he not go over to the city on the great ferry boat every now and
then, and see all the shipping at the wharves, and sail past all sorts
of craft on the way there and back? Some of them, he knew, came from almost all the countries in the world,
and he had seen hundreds of them sail out of the harbor to go home
again. Of course Rob knew all about ships; but this one, on which he and Larry
McGee had been whittling and working for a week, seemed determined to
float bottom up. What could be the matter? "Larry, she's top heavy." "No, she ain't. It's ownly a sort of a thrick she's got. All she wants
is practice." Larry was Mr. Drake's hired man, and knew a little of everything, only
he knew more about a horse than he did about any kind of sailing vessel. "The boy's right, my hearty. She's more hamper than hull, and she's no
ballast at all." Rob and Larry looked behind them when they heard that. They had not
heard him come along the sandy beach, they had been so busy, but there
he was: a short, thin old man, with broad shoulders, dressed like a
United States "man o' war" sailor, and with a wooden leg that was now
punching its round toe deep into the sand. "'Dade, sor," said Larry, "it's a good ship she is, av she wouldn't lie
down that way." "She's a ship, then? I'm glad to know that. It's a good sign for the boy
that he's taken to ships. There's not many boys care for 'em nowadays." "Why, of course it's a ship," said Rob, as he pulled his craft ashore
and held her up to let the water drip from her wet sails. "Didn't you
know what she was?" "Old fellows like me don't know much nowadays. You've put in four masts,
and a bowsprit at each end, and I couldn't tell just what she was." "Oh," said Rob, "that's nothing. I saw a steamer with four masts the
other day." "There's no accounting for steamers, my boy. And I've heard men call 'em
ships, too, that ought to have known better." "Don't I know a ship?" proudly exclaimed Rob. "Can't I tell a schooner
from a sloop, and a bark from a brig? I know. It's the masts and rigging
make the difference." "Well, now," said the old man, "you're a bright boy. What's your name?" "Robert Fulton Drake." The old man shook his white head solemnly, and took off his round Scotch
cap. "Drake's a good name. There was a great sailor of that name once.
He was an admiral, too. But Fulton Robert Fulton it's awful the
mischief we owe to that man." "Fulton? He a bad man?" said Rob, with all sorts of wonder in his face.
"No, sir. He was a great man. He invented steamboats." "So he did so he did. More's the pity. Ships were ships till Fulton
came. Now they're all great iron pots, and go by steam. No use for
sailors now." "Steam ships have to have sailors." "What for, my boy? Well, yes, they do have a few lubbers on board that
they call sailors. And there are some ships left too pretty good ones... Continue reading book >>
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