Farragut At Ten

Woukl y ou like to know how I was eiiubled to serve my country ? It was all owing to a resolutíon I forrned when I was ten years of age. My fatlier was sent down to New Orleanswith theüttle navy we tlien liad, to look after the treason of Bnrr. I aeoompanied liim as cabin boy. I liad somc quiüities tliat I thought made man of me. I eotild swear like an old salt; could drink as stiff a glass oí grog as if I had doubled üsii-, Horn, and could smoke like a locomotive. I was great at cards, and fond of gambling in every shape. At the close of the dinner, one day, my father turncd everybody out of the cabin, locked the door, and said to me : " David, v.'hat do you mean to. be?" " I mean to follow the soa." "Follow the sea! Yes, be a poor, miserable, dranken sailor beíore the mast, kicked and cuffed about the world, and die iu some fevcr hospital in a forcign clime. " "No," Isaid, " I'll tread tho quarterdeck, a; d cominand, as you do." "No, D.ivid; no boy ever trod the quarter-deck Rjth such principios as you have, and such habits as you exhibit. You '11 have to chango your whole course of life if yon ever become a man." My fatlier left me, and went on deck. íwas stünnea by the rebuke, and overwliclmed witli mortilication. " A poor, miserable, drunken saüor before the mast, kicked and cuífed about the wörld, and to die in uome f ever hospital ! That's my fate, Í3 it ? I'll chango my life, and change it at once. I will never otter anotnëf oath; I will never drink ánother drop of iutoxicating liquors; I wili never gamble." And as God is my ,vitnos-, I have kept tliose tnree vowa to this hour.