I know I am naughty,
And often it makes me cry:
I think it would count for something,
If they knew how hard I try.

But I'll try again in the new year,
And oh! I shall be so glad
If I only can be a good little girl,
And never do anything bad!

HOW SUNKEN SHIPS ARE RAISED.

When a ship sinks some distance from the shore in several fathoms of
water, and the waves conceal her, it may seem impossible to some of our
readers that she can ever be floated again; but if she rests upon a firm
sandy bottom, without rocks, and the weather is fair enough for a time
to give the wreckers an opportunity, it is even probable that she can be
brought into port.

In Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, and New Orleans,
large firms are established whose special business it is to send
assistance to distressed vessels, and to save the cargo if the vessels
themselves can not be prevented from becoming total wrecks; and these
firms are known as wreckers--a name which in the olden time was given to
a class of heartless men dwelling on the coast who lured ships ashore by
false lights for the sake of the spoils which the disaster brought them.

When a vessel is announced to be ashore or sunk, the owners usually
apply to the wreckers, and make a bargain with them that they shall
receive a certain proportion of her value if they save her, and the
wreckers then proceed to the scene of the accident, taking with them
powerful tug-boats, large pontoons, immense iron cables, and a massive
derrick.

Perhaps only the topmasts of the wreck are visible when they reach it;
but even though she is quite out of sight, she is not given up, if the
sea is calm and the wind favorable. One of the men puts a diving dress
over his suit of heavy flannels. The trousers and jacket are made of
India rubber cloth, fitting close to the ankles, wrists, and across the
chest, which is further protected by a breastplate. A copper helmet with
a glass face is used for covering the head, and is screwed on to the
breastplate. One end of a coil of strong rubber tubing is attached to
the back of the helmet, to the outside of which a running cord is also
attached, and continued down the side of the dress to the diver's right
hand, where he can use it for signaling his assistants when he is
beneath the surface. His boots have leaden soles weighing about
twenty-eight pounds; and as this, with the helmet, is insufficient to
allow his