of most boys of his class but he learned more from men

than from books. The story of these lessons from nature can best be told in his own verses.

I sought the town and to the ocean gave

My mind and thoughts as restless as the wave:

Where crowds assembled, I was sure to run,

Heard what was said and mused on what was done;

Attentive listening in the moving scene,

And often wondering what the men could mean.

When ships at sea made signal of their need,

I watched on shore the sailors and their speed:

Mix'd in their act, nor rested till I knew

Why they were call'd and what they were to do.

Whatever business in the port was done,

I, without call, was with the busy one;

Not daring question but with open ear
And greedy spirit, ever bent to hear.

To me the wives of seamen loved to tell

Why storms endanger'd men esteem'd so well,
What wond'rous things in foreign parts they saw,

Lands without bounds and people without law.

No ships were wrecke d upon that fatal beach,
But I could give the luckless tale of each;
Eager I look'd till I beheld a face

Of one dispos'd to tell their dismal case,
Who gave the sad survivors' doleful tale,
From the first brushing of the mighty gale
Until they struck, and suffering in the ir fate,
I long'd the more they should its honors state;
I sought the men returned from regions cold,

The foreign straits where icy mountains roll'd;
Some I would win to tell me serious tales

Of boats uplifted by enormous whales,

Or, when harpoon'd, how swiftly through the sea