her work and smiled in sympathy, I
have even fancied that I was already there?

George William Curtis: "Prue and I."
(Adapted)

ALADDIN

When I was a beggarly boy
And lived in a cellar damp,
I had not a friend or a toy,
But I had Aladdin's lamp;
When I could not sleep for cold,
I had fire enough in my brain,
And builded with roofs of gold
My beautiful castles in Spain!

Since then I have toiled day and night,
I have money and power good store,
But I'd give all my lamps of silver bright
For the one that is mine no more;
Take, Fortune, whatever you choose,
You gave, and may snatch again;
I have nothing 'twould pain me to lose,
For I own no more castles in Spain!

Lowell

DRAKE'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD

Francis Drake was born near Tavistock in the year 1545. He served his
time as an apprentice in a Channel coaster, and his master, who had been
struck with his character, left the vessel to him in his will when he
died. He was then twenty-one. His kinsman, John Hawkins, was fitting out
his third expedition to the Spanish Main, and young Drake, with a party
of his Kentish friends, went to Plymouth and joined him. In 1572 "he
made himself whole with the Spaniards" by seizing a convoy of bullion at
Panama, and on that occasion, having seen the South Pacific from the
mountains, "he fell on his knees and prayed God that he might one day
navigate those waters," which no English keel as yet had furrowed.

The time and the opportunity had come. He was now in the prime of his
strength, thirty-two years old, of middle height, with crisp brown hair,
a broad high forehead; gray, steady eyes, unusually long; small ears
tight to the head; the mouth and chin slightly concealed by the
moustache and beard, but hard, inflexible, and fierce. His dress, as he
appears in his portrait, is a loose, dark, seaman's shirt, belted at the
waist. About his neck is a plaited cord with a ring attached to it, in
which, as if the attitude was familiar, one of his fingers is slung,
displaying a small, delicate, but long and sinewy hand. When at sea he
wore a scarlet cap with a gold band, and was exacting in the respect
with which he required to be treated by his crew.

Such was Francis Drake when he stood on the deck of the Pelican in
Plymouth harbour, in November, 1577. The squadron, with which he was
preparing to sail into a chartless ocean an