who could read and
write on ship-board; but, for myself, protest I never could do either
with the least possible satisfaction.

Last night the Connecticut steamer passed close by us, bound for
Havannah; I could not help wishing she had been compelled to give Billy
Shakspeare a pull.

Whilst at whist in the night, a passenger was reported dead of cholera.
"Well," said our chief, "if he's dead, we must bury him, that's all." It
was an old man, whose only daughter, with her husband and child, were on
board; and the report is, that he has been grossly neglected by this
pair, having been very well when received.

_Saturday, 28th._--Seven A.M.; went upon deck, and was delighted to find
stun-sails on both sides, a clear blue sky above, reflected on a sea of
the same colour, only crested with wreaths of snowy whiteness: wind
about west by north. What an instantaneous elasticity does the spirit
gather up from a change like this! I had quitted my room despondingly,
having slept sound and hearing no indications of a breeze; the dull
heavy creak of the bulk-heads alone spoke of motion; when, on gaining
the poop-deck, a fair, free breeze, and an atmosphere filled with life
and vigour, awaited to be hailed.

Our dead passenger was uppermost in my mind, and I made inquiry of the
officer of the watch respecting the hour appointed for committing the
corpse to the sea, until that time when Judgment might claim its own
from the deep caves of ocean. I found, however, that the old man was in
no way prepared to avail himself of this day's sunshine for his dark
journey, being, on the contrary, alive if not merry.

It appears that, whilst busied about the last offices offered by the
living to the dead, signs of life had been discovered by his attendants,
and the expiring flame gently reinvigorated by judicious friction and
brandy and water, the old man's ancient bane, and now his antidote. I
hastened to see this dead-alive, and found him perfectly conscious of
his restoration to "this breathing world;" but I imagine the respite can
only be for a very limited period. Captain Collins had the jolly-boat
fitted up for him on the main-deck, and, when placed in it on a clean
comfortable bed, his pulse was barely perceptible; his eye was glazed
and dim, and his frame emaciated to a degree that was painful to
contemplate. The daughter is a fair-haired devil of two-and-twenty, tall
and hearty, but exhibits a callous want of feeling and a disregard