d lay
at the end of the wharf in Burlington, the little town nearly opposite
to Bristol, where she attracted a great deal of the attention of all the
youths of the vicinity. Mark was at home, in a vacation, and he passed
half his time in and about that ship, crossing the river in a skiff of
which he was the owner, in order to do so. From that hour young Mark
affected the sea, and all the tears of his mother and eldest sister, the
latter a pretty girl only two years his junior, and the more sober
advice of his father, could not induce him to change his mind. A six
weeks' vacation was passed in the discussion of this subject, when the
Doctor yielded to his son's importunities, probably foreseeing he should
have his hands full to educate his other children, and not unwilling to
put this child, as early as possible, in the way of supporting himself.

The commerce of America, in 1793, was already flourishing, and
Philadelphia was then much the most important place in the country. Its
East India trade, in particular, was very large and growing, and Dr.
Woolston knew that fortunes were rapidly made by many engaged in it.
After, turning the thing well over in his mind, he determined to consult
Mark's inclinations, and to make a sailor of him. He had a cousin
married to the sister of an East India, or rather of a Canton
ship-master, and to this person the father applied for advice and
assistance. Captain Crutchely very willingly consented to receive Mark
in his own vessel, the Rancocus, and promised "to make a man and an
officer of him."

The very day Mark first saw the ocean he was sixteen years old. He had
got his height, five feet eleven, and was strong for his years, and
active. In fact, it would not have been easy to find a lad every way so
well adapted to his new calling, as young Mark Woolston. The three years
of his college life, if they had not made him a Newton, or a Bacon, had
done him no harm, filling his mind with the germs of ideas that were
destined afterwards to become extremely useful to him. The young man was
already, indeed, a sort of factotum, being clever and handy at so many
things and in so many different ways, as early to attract the attention
of the officers. Long before the vessel reached the capes, he was at
home in her, from her truck to her keelson, and Captain Crutchely
remarked to his chief mate, the day they got to sea, that "young Mark
Woolston was likely to turn up a trump."

As for Mark hims