n. His kind and considerate captain was aware, that a lad who
creeps in at the hawse-holes--i.e., is promoted from before the mast,
was not likely to be favourably received in the midshipmen's mess,
especially by that part of the community who, from their obscure
parentage, would have had least reason to complain. He was therefore
consigned to the charge of the gunner.

Sincere as were the congratulations of the officers and men, Willy was
so much affected with the loss of his fond guardian, that he received
them with apathy, and listened to the applause bestowed upon his courage
with tears that flowed from the remembrance of the cause which had
stimulated him to the deed. At the close of the day, he saw the body of
his old friend committed to the deep, with quivering lips and aching
brow,--and, as it plunged into the clear wave, felt as if he was left
alone in the world, and had no one to love and to cling to.

We do not give children credit for the feelings which they possess,
because they have not, at their early age, acquired the power of
language to express them correctly. Treat a child as you would an
equal, and, in a few months, you will find that the reason of his having
until then remained childish, was because he had heretofore been treated
as a being of inferior capacity and feelings. True it is, that at an
early age, the feelings of children are called forth by what we consider
as trifles; but we must recollect, in humility, that our own pursuits
are as vain, as trifling, and as selfish--"We are but children of a
larger growth."

The squadron continued to hover on the French coast, with a view of
alarming the enemy, and of making a more fortunate attempt, if
opportunity occurred. Early in the morning of the fourth day after
Willy had been promoted to the quarter-deck, a large convoy of
_chasse-marees_ (small coasting vessels, lugger-rigged) were discovered
rounding a low point, not three miles from the squadron. A general
signal to chase was immediately thrown out, and in half an hour the
English men-of-war were in the midst of them, pouring broadside after
broadside upon the devoted vessels, whose sails were lowered in every
direction, in token of submission. The English men-of-war reminded you
of so many hawks, pouncing upon a flight of small birds; and the
vessels, with their lowered sails just flapping with the breeze, seemed
like so many victims of their rapacity, who lay fluttering on the
gr