too soon.'

'Yes, I'm feeling pretty sick,' said my father, as the glimmer of the
humorous side of it all touched his mind. 'Look here, my man,' he
continued, 'here's half a crown for you. I want to see the purser of
this ship. Just show me where I can find him, like a good fellow, will
you?'

We found the purser in that condition of harassment which appears to
belong, like its uniform, to his post, when a ship is clearing the
land. He was inclined at first to adopt a pretty short way with us. He
really didn't know what emigrants wanted these days. Did they think a
ship's steerage was a _ho_-tel? And so forth.

But my father was on his mettle now, and handled his man with
considerable skill and suavity. There was no second-class
accommodation on the ship. But in the end we were taken into the
first-class ranks, at a substantial reduction from the full first-class
fares, on the understanding that we contented ourselves with a
somewhat gloomy little single-berth cabin which no one else wanted.
Here a makeshift bed was presently arranged for me, and within the
hour we emigrants from the steerage had become first-class passengers.
The translation brought such obvious and real relief to my father that
my own spirits rose instantly; I began to take great interest in our
surroundings, and, from that moment, entirely forgot those prophetic
internal twinges, those stomachic forebodings which, in the 'other
place,' as politicians say, had begun to turn my thoughts toward the
harrowing tales I had heard of sea-sickness.

My father, poor man, was not so fortunate. He began before long to pay
a heavy price in bodily affliction for all the stress and excitement
of the past few days. For a full fortnight the most virulent type of
sea-sickness had him in its horrid grip. I have since seen many other
folk in evil case from similar causes, but none so vitally affected by
the complaint as my father was, and never one who bore it with more
patient courtesy than he did. Not in the cruellest paroxysm did he
lose either his self-respect, or his consideration for me, and for
others. The mere mention of this fell complaint excites mirth in the
minds of the majority; but rarely can a man or woman be found whose
self-control is proof against its attacks; and I take pleasure in
remembering my father's admirable demeanour throughout his ordeal. In
the steerage he had hardly survived it, I think. Here, with decent
privacy, no single complaint