ey not set me a good example, and
instilled into my mind the principles of religion. Often the lessons
they taught me were forgotten, and years passed away, when some
circumstance recalled them to my mind, and they brought forth a portion,
if not all, of the fruits they desired. Still I grew up a wayward,
headstrong boy. I heard some friends say that my heart was in its right
place, and that I should never come to much harm, and that satisfied me;
so I did pretty well what I liked without any qualms of conscience or
fears for the consequences.

I am not going to describe any of my youthful pranks, because I suspect
that no good will come from my so doing. If I did not reap all the evil
consequences I deserved, others might fancy that they may do the same
with like impunity and find themselves terribly mistaken. One of my
chief associates was a boy of my own age, called Charles Iffley. His
mother, like mine, was a Devonshire woman, and his father was mate of a
merchantman belonging to the port of Hull, but trading sometimes to
Plymouth, and frequently to ports up the Straits of Gibraltar. Charley
and I had many tastes in common. He was a bold dashing fellow, with
plenty of pluck, and what those who disliked him called impudence. One
thing no one could deny, that he was just the fellow to stand by a
friend at a pinch, and that, blow high or blow low, he was always the
same, merry-hearted, open-handed, and kind. These qualities, however,
valuable as they are, if not backed by right principle and true
religion, too often in time of temptation have been known miserably to
fail. On a half-holiday, or whenever we could get away from school,
Charley and I used to steal down to the harbour, and we generally
managed to borrow a boat for a sail, or we induced one of our many
acquaintances among the watermen to take us along with him to help him
pull, so that we soon learned to handle an oar as well as any lads of
our age, as also pretty fairly to sail a boat. When we returned home
late in an evening, and I went back to supper, my poor old grandmother
would complain bitterly of the anxiety I had caused her; and when I saw
her grief, I used to promise to amend, but I am sorry to say that when
temptation came in my way I forgot my promise and repeated my fault.

At length the schooner to which Charley's father belonged came into
Plymouth harbour. I went on board with my friend, and he showed me all
over her; I thought h