ith the command. I was sorry to take him away from the
line he was following, and yet it was a great thing to have all my
family together. He wished to come, and did not disappoint my
expectation.

Mark and John, my next boys, were always together, and yet very
different. Mark was one of the merriest chaps you ever saw, and up to
all sorts of harmless pranks. John looked like gravity itself, but that
arose from his eyes and the shape of his mouth; give him anything to
laugh at and he would indeed laugh heartily. Mark was his chief object
of admiration. He thought no one his equal, yet many people liked John
the most. He was so humble and gentle, and never thought a thing about
himself.

My eldest girl, Mary, was like her elder brother as to steadiness and
discretion, just what an elder sister should be; so good-natured and
kind, too, it was pleasant to see her standing all the bothering the
young ones gave her without a word of complaint. It was a valuable
quality in a person who was to be shut up for four or five months in a
small craft with a number of youngsters. She was next to Peter in age,
and then came Susan, as kind-hearted, industrious a little creature as
ever lived, not very bright, but wanting to do right; and then the two
boys, and then Margaret, a bright-eyed, fair child, such a little dear;
then another boy, Tommy, always in a mess because he didn't know how to
keep out of one; and one more girl, Sarah Ann, and there you have the
whole lot of them; they, with their mother, a good woman if any one ever
deserved the name, with the two men and myself, made up the complement
of the human souls embarked on board the _May Flower_.

Then we had a dog, _Steadfast_, and a cat, _Duchess_, the only thing of
much rank aboard us; two fine cocks and ten hens for laying eggs,
besides a couple of dozen other fowls, to be eaten by my wife and the
girls. We had a pair of pigeons, a pair of robins and sparrows, and a
hen lark--her mate died just as we were going on board--belonging to
Mark and John. I don't think we had much else. Yes, we had some
primrose, violets, snowdrops, daisies, and other roots and small plants,
which took up little space, to remind us of old England.

We sailed in the autumn, so as to arrive in the summer, and to get
housed before the rains set in. We took our departure from Ashanto, and
shaped a course for Rio Janeiro, in the Brazils, there to take in a
further supply of water and