第32章 1！5！

    i liked to watch the ships as they came in with their white sails spread to

    the wind

    i liked to think of the strange lands which they must have visited, and of

    the many wonderful things they must have passed

    i wished to be a sailor i thought how grand it must be to sail and sail on

    the wide blue sea, with the sky above and the waves beneath nothing

    could be pleasanter

    my father wanted me to learn a trade but i could not bear the thought

    of it i could not bear the thought of working every day in a dusty shop

    i did not wish to stay in york all my life i wanted to see the world i

    would be a sailor and nothing else

    my mother was very sad when i told her

    a sailor"s life, she said, was a hard life there were many storms at sea,

    and ships were often wrecked

    she told me, too, that there were great fishes in the sea, and that they would eat me up if i fell into the water

    then she gave me a cake, and kissed me "how much safer it is to be at

    home!" she said

    but i would not listen to her my mind was made up, and a sailor i would

    be

    when i was eighteen years old, i left my pleasant home and went to sea

    (300 words)

    chapter 2 i make my first voyage

    i soon found that my mother"s words were true a sailor"s life is indeed

    a hard life

    there was no time for play on board of our ship even in the fairest

    weather there was much work to be done

    on the very first night the wind began to blow the waves rolled high

    the ship was tossed this way and that never had i seen such a storm

    all night long the wind blew i was so badly frightened that i did not

    know what to do i thought the ship would surely go to the bottom