so badly that he had to stay at home a long time after
that. Poor fellow! he did not like to be shut up in the house. It was
hard work for him. But he could not go out, until his hip got well.
When he was able to sit up in a chair, I used to go and see him, and
hear him tell his stories. I did not go every day, because my mother
thought I had better not go every day. But I went as often as she
would let me go, and staid as long as she would let me stay.

Jack was always glad to see me, and glad to tell me stories. I was
always glad to hear his stories. Some sailors, who have spent a great
deal of time on board of a ship, and have seen a great many places,
are not good men. They do not always tell the truth. So, when they
tell stories about what they saw where they went, we do not know
whether to believe them or not. But Jack Mason was a good man, and I
knew he would not tell me what was not true.

Shall I tell you some of the stories that this good old sailor told me
when he had to stay at home, because he had broken his hip? I think I
can remember some worth telling again.

"O yes, Mr. Thinker, tell us all the stories the old sailor told you."

"No, I cannot do that. I cannot remember them all."

"Well, tell us all you do remember."

"I will see about it. I will tell you some of them, at any rate. Let
me see, what story shall I tell first? Shall I tell you his story
about what he saw once, when he sailed a great way north? I guess I
will."

[Illustration]

JACK MASON'S VISIT TO THE NORTH SEA.

If you should go a great way north, you would find it very cold. The
further you go north, the colder it is. I went so far that way one
time, that I got almost frozen. The ship I sailed in came close to
an iceberg once, and we all thought for a while that the ship would
strike the iceberg. If it had struck, it would have been broken all
in pieces, and we should have been drowned or frozen, every one of us.
God was kind and good to us, though. The wind was blowing very hard,
and right toward the iceberg. But just as we had got almost up to it,
the wind changed, and blew us away from it.

But I forgot that you do not know what an iceberg is. It is a great
hill of ice. In the North Sea, these ice-hills are often as high as
your church, and sometimes a great deal higher. These hills of ice
are floating along the water there, and when it is foggy or dark, the
sailors cannot always see them. So sometimes the ship s