It was the memorable 1st of June. A sea fight ever to be renowned in history was raging between the fleets of England and France. The great guns were thundering and roaring, musketry was rattling, round-shot, and chain-shot, and grape, and langridge, and missiles of every description, invented for carrying on the bloody game of […]

I heard the trailing garments of the Night Sweep through her marble halls! I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light From the celestial walls! I felt her presence, by its spell of might, Stoop o’er me from above; The calm, majestic presence of the Night, As of the one I love. I heard […]

Tell me not, in mournful numbers, “Life is but an empty dream!” For the soul is dead that slumbers. And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; “Dust thou art, to dust returnest,” Was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment, and not […]

There is a Reaper, whose name is Death, And, with his sickle keen, He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, And the flowers that grow between. “Shall I have nought that is fair?” saith he; “Have nought but the bearded grain? Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me, I will give […]

NIAGARA–ITS GRANDEUR AND DANGERS–FANNY REJECTS FRANK BECAUSE HE IS NOT A HERO–SCARCITY OF HEROES–FANNY’S NEPHEWS GET INTO A BOAT–THEY DRIFT AWAY–NO HOPE–HELP AT THE LAST–A FEARFUL STRUGGLE–FANNY FINDS FRANK IS A HERO AFTER ALL. Niagara, the father of waters! The name is significant of something grand; words are inadequate to describe the mighty cataract. The […]

A BIG SCAMP AND A TRUE MAN–ELLIS VISITED BY HIS SWEETHEART–READS HIS BIBLE ON BOARD SHIP–TRIALS AND PERSECUTIONS–ELLIS KNOCKS JONES DOWN– DANGER–JONES SHIRKS AND ELLIS ENCOUNTERS IT–A CHRISTIAN WOMAN’S TEST– A TERRIBLE PREDICAMENT–THE MIDDY SAVED BY ELLIS–AND THE SAILORS ASCRIBE IT TO THE POWER OF PRAYER. I was many years ago, first-lieutenant of the Rainbow […]

NED BURTON LOSES HIS MOTHER, AND IS LEFT PENNILESS–WALKS TO PORTSMOUTH, AND IS DISHEARTENED–IS CHEERED, DIRECTED, AND HELPED BY OLD MOLL–GETS ON BOARD THE TRAINING SHIP–AND MAKES A FRIEND–BUT IS REJECTED FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO READ–COMFORTED BY BILL HUDSON–BILL’S SHIPMATES HELP NED TO FIELD LANE–BILL TAKES HIM THERE–HE IS KINDLY RECEIVED–IS MADE A SAILOR […]

THE MUTINY AT SPITHEAD–AN EXCEPTION–VALUE OF A CHRISTIAN CAPTAIN–THE MUTINY BREAKS OUT AT SHEERNESS–ANOTHER LOYAL SHIP–THE MUTINY QUELLED. In the year 1797 an event occurred connected with the navy of England, which cannot even now be thought of without sorrow and shame. The crews of most of the ships of the Channel fleet then anchored […]

THE SMUGGLER’S WIFE–HANSON STARTS ON HIS TRIP–HIS WIFE’S ANXIETY–THE REVENUE OFFICERS APPROACH–THE SMUGGLERS TAKE TO THE WATER–THE FIGHT–A FEARFUL END. “Good-bye, Susan–good-bye, my wife. I’ll bring thee over a silk gown, and such Brussels lace as you’ve never yet set eyes on. It will make a lady of you; and you’re not far off being […]

THE HALF-BREED TRAPPER LA TOUCHE–HIS WIFE KAMELA–THEIR CHILDREN–THEY ARE SENT ON AN EXPEDITION–THE ENCAMPMENT–ATTACKED BY BLACKFEET, AND THE MEN SLAIN–THE YOUNG WIDOW FLIES–ALMOST CAPTURED–BACK TO THE FORT–THE REFUGE DESTROYED!–WOLVES–FURTHER FLIGHT–REFUGE AT LAST. Great Britain possesses the sovereignty over a rich extent of country, extending from the Atlantic on the east to the Pacific on the […]

THE NORTH SEA FLEET–SUNDAY AT THE FISHING GROUND–THE MISSIONARY SERVICE–THE GALE–A MISHAP TO THE SEA-GULL AND HER CAPTAIN–A CRASH– THE CAPTAIN’S DEATH–ALL LOST BUT TWO BOYS–DOING ONE’S DUTY–MORNING– ALONE WITH A DEAD MAN–BREAKFAST–TO THE PUMPS–SAVED AT LAST. A fleet of a hundred vessels or more lay together, dotting the surface of the German Ocean, or […]

CHAPTER ONE. THE PROTESTANT LOVERS–A RIVAL–DIEDRICH FINDS HIS FOOTSTEPS DOGGED– FINDS A FRIEND IN THE FERRYMAN–THREATENED WITH THE INQUISITION–FLIES TO SEA. Not far from the broad and slow-flowing river Meuse stands the town of Brill. Flanders, in which it is found, formed at the period to which we refer a province of the dominions belonging […]

CHAPTER 1. NOTES FROM PRINGLE RUSHFORTH’S SEA LOG. A LETTER TO BROTHER HARRY, AT ETON. It has become a reality, dear Harry. I feel very strange–a curious sensation in the throat, just as if I was going to cry, and yet it is exactly what I have been longing for. You know better than any […]

One morning, by break of day, old Josiah, who lived in the little cottage he had built, on the borders of the Great Forest, found his wife awake long before him–indeed she had scarcely closed her eyes that night; and she was ready to speak the moment his eyes opened; for she had promised their […]