Produced by Annie McGuire
[Illustration: HARPER'S
YOUNG PEOPLE
AN ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY.]
* * * * *
VOL. I.--NO. 31. PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. PRICE FOUR
CENTS.
Tuesday, June 1, 1880. Copyright, 1880, by HARPER & BROTHERS. $1.50 per
Year, in Advance.
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[Illustration: THE MORAL PIRATES EXAMINE THEIR CRAFT.]
THE MORAL PIRATES.
BY WM. L. ALDEN.
CHAPTER I.
"The truth is, John," said Mr. Wilson to his brother, "I am troubled
about my boy. Here it is the first of July, and he can't go back to
school until the middle of September. He will be idle all that time, and
I'm afraid he'll get into mischief. Now the other day I found him
reading a wretched story about pirates. Why should a son of mine care to
read about pirates?"
"Because he's a boy. All boys like piratical stories. I know, when I was
a boy, I thought that if I could be either a pirate or a stage-driver I
should be perfectly happy. Of course you don't want Harry to read
rubbish; but it doesn't follow, because a boy reads stories about
piracy, that he wants to commit murder and robbery. I didn't want to
kill anybody: I wanted to be a moral and benevolent pirate. But here
comes Harry across the lawn. What will you give me if I will find
something for him to do this summer that will make him forget all about
piracy?"
"I only wish you would. Tell me what your plan is."
"Come here a minute, Harry," said Uncle John. "Now own up: do you like
books about pirates?"
"Well, yes, uncle, I do."
"So did I when I was your age. I thought it would be the best fun in the
world to be a Red Revenger of the Seas."
"Wouldn't it, though!" exclaimed Harry. "I don't mean it would be fun
to kill people, and to steal watches, but to have a schooner of your
own, and go cruising everywhere, and have storms and--and--hurricanes,
you know."
"Why shouldn't you do it this summer?" asked Uncle John. "If you want to
cruise in a craft of your own, you shall do it; that is, if your father
doesn't object. A schooner would be a little too big for a boy of
thirteen, but you and two or three other fellows might make a splendid
cruise in a row-boat. You could have a mast and sail, and you could take
provisions and things, and cruise from Harlem all the way up into the
lakes in the Northern woods. It would be all the same as piracy, except
that you would not be committing crimes, and making innocent people
wretched."
"Uncle John, it would be just gorgeous! We'd have a gun, and a lot of
fishing-lines, and we could live on fish and bears. There's bears in the
woods, you know."
"You won't find many bears, I'm afraid; but you would have to take a
gun, and you might possibly find a wild-cat or two. Who is there that
would go with you?"
"Oh, there's Tom Schuyler, and Joe and Jim Sharpe; and there's Sam
McGrath--though he'd be quarrelling all the time. Maybe Charley Smith's
father would let him go. He is a first-rate fellow. You'd ought to see
him play base-ball once!"
"Three boys besides yourself would be enough. If you have too many,
there will be too much risk of quarrelling. There is one thing you must
be sure of--no boy must go who can't swim."
"Oh, all the fellows can swim, except Bill Town. He was pretty near
drowned last summer. He'd been bragging about what a stunning swimmer he
was, and the boys believed him; so one day one of the fellows shoved him
off the float, where we go in swimming at our school, and he thought he
was dead for sure. The water was only up to his neck, but he couldn't
swim a stroke."
"Well, if you can get three good fellows to go with you--boys that you
know are not young scamps, but are the kind of boys that your father
would be willing to have you associate with--I'll give you a boat and a
tent, and you shall have a better cruise than any pirate ever had; for
no real pirate ever found any fun in being a thief and a murderer. You
go and see Tom and the Sharpe boys, and tell them about it. I'll see
about the boat as soon as you have chosen your crew."
"You are quite sure that your plan is a good one?" asked Mr. Wilson, as
the boy vanished, with sparkling eyes, to search for his comrades.
"Isn't it very risky to let the boys go off by themselves in a boat?
Won't they get drowned?"
"There is always more or less danger in boating," replied Uncle John;
"but the boys can swim; and they can not learn prudence and
self-reliance without running some risks. Yes, it is a good plan, I am
sure. It will give them plenty of exercise in the open air, and will
teach them to like manly, honest sports. You see that the reason Harry
likes piratical stories is his natural love of adventure. I venture to
predict that if their cruise turns out well, those four boys will think
stories of pirates are stupid as well as silly."
So the matter was decided. Harry found that Tom Schuyler and the Sharpe
boys were delighted with the plan, and Uncle John soon obtained the
consent of Mr. Schuyler and Mr. Sharpe. The boys immediately began to
make preparations for the cruise; and Uncle John bought a row-boat, and
employed a boat-builder to make such alterations as were necessary to
fit it for service.
The boat was what is called a Whitehall row-boat. She was seventeen feet
long, and rowed very easily, and she carried a small mast with a
spritsail. By Uncle John's orders an air-tight box, made of tin, was
fitted into each end of the boat, so that, even if she were to be filled
with water, the air in the tin boxes would float her. She was painted
white outside, with a narrow blue streak, and dark brown inside. Harry
named her the _Whitewing_; and his mother made a beautiful silk signal
for her, which was to be carried at the sprit when under sail, and on a
small staff at the bow of the boat at other times. For oars there were
two pairs of light seven-foot sculls, and a pair of ten-foot oars, each
of which was to be pulled by a single boy. The rudder was fitted with a
yoke and a pair of lines, and the sail was of new and very light canvas.
On one side of the boat was a little locker, made to hold a gun; and on
the other side were places for fishing-rods and fishing-tackle. When she
was brought around to Harlem, and Harry saw her for the first time, he
was so overjoyed that he turned two or three hand-springs, bringing up
during the last one against a post--an exploit which nearly broke his
shin, and induced his uncle to remark that he would never rise to
distinction as a Moral Pirate unless he could give up turning
hand-springs while on duty.
Harry could row very fairly, for he belonged to a boat club at school.
It was not very much of a club; but then the club boat was not very much
of a boat, being a small, flat-bottomed skiff, which leaked so badly
that she could not be kept afloat unless one boy kept constantly at work
bailing. However, Harry learned to row in her, and he now found this
knowledge very useful. He was anxious to start on the cruise
immediately, but his uncle insisted that the crew must first be trained.
"I must teach you to sail, and you must teach your crew to row," said
Uncle John. "The Department will never consent to let a boat go on a
cruise unless her commander and her crew know their duty."
"What's the Department?" asked Harry.
"The Navy Department in the United States service has the whole charge
of the navy, and sends vessels where it pleases. Now I consider that I
represent a Department of Moral Piracy, and I therefore superintend the
fitting out of the _Whitewing_. You can't expect moral piracy to
flourish unless you respect the Department, and obey its orders."
"All right, uncle," replied Harry. "Of course the Department furnishes
stores and everything else for a cruise, doesn't it?"
"I suppose it must," said his uncle, laughing. "I didn't think of that
when I proposed to become a Department."
The boys met every day at Harlem, and practiced rowing. Uncle John
taught them how to sail the boat, by letting them take her out under
sail when there was very little breeze, while he kept close alongside in
another boat very much like the _Whitewing_. Harry sat in the
stern-sheets, holding the yoke lines. Tom Schuyler, who was fourteen
years old, and a boy of more than usual prudence, sat on the nearest
thwart, and held the sheet, which passed under a cleat without being
made fast to it, in his hand. Next came Jim Sharpe, whose business it
was to unship the mast when the captain should order sail to be taken
in; and on the forward thwart sat Joe Sharpe, who was not quite twelve,
and who kept the boat-hook within reach, so as to use it on coming to
shore. The boys kept the same positions when rowing, Tom Schuyler being
the stroke. Uncle John told them that if every one always had the same
seat, and had a particular duty assigned to him, it would prevent
confusion and dispute, and greatly increase the safety of the vessel and
crew.
It was not long before Harry could sail the boat nicely, and the others,
by attending closely to Uncle John's lessons, learned almost as much as
their young captain. So far as boat-sailing can be taught in fair
weather, Harry was carefully and thoroughly taught in six or seven
lessons, and could handle the _Whitewing_ beautifully; but the ability
to judge of the weather, to tell when it is going to blow, and how the
wind will probably shift, can, of course, be learned only by actual
experience.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
KENSINGTON CLOVER.
BY MARCIA D. BRADBURY.
Such a hubbub in the meadow!
Such a rustling in the grass!
"I feel injured," sighed the daisy,
"Things have come to such a pass.
To be worked in colored worsted,
Ev'ry shade and line complete,
Isn't very compliment'ry
To a stylish marguerite."
"One might call it," said the poppy,
In a tone of sleepy fun,
"Flowers raised by _crewel_ culture--
Only, please, excuse the pun."
"Oh, don't joke on such a subject,"
Said an innocent, rather low,
While from sev'ral other quarters
Came a disapproving "No."
"Really," laughed a sweet red clover,
"I flushed up quite nervously
When I saw a head on canvas
So exceedingly like me.
If the honey-bee had been there,
He'd have buzzed about that leaf.
Ah! I only wish he had been;
'Twould have served him right--the thief!"
Suddenly through all this chatter
Came a voice, like music's flow,
From a little yellow violet
Growing in the marsh below.
All the flowers nodded silence
As she said--a little pause--
"What a foolish fuss, my field-mates,
You have made with no real cause!
"Are they fragrant? Can you smell them?
Though they are so bright and fair,
Do the breezes, when they touch them,
Carry incense on the air?
When they fade, will hidden blossoms
Take the places of those dead?
Shooting stems and growing leaflets
Crown the drooping plant instead?"
And the others, well contented,
When the violet's song was o'er,
Tossed their pretty heads and said they
Wouldn't worry any more.
A TREE ALBUM.
Many of our boys and girls, we venture to say, would like to know how to
make a collection of specimens illustrating the trees of their own
neighborhood and of other parts of the country. We hardly need remind
them that the only way to get a complete knowledge and to enjoy the
beauty of natural objects is to examine them closely, and find out all
their little peculiarities. We may take long walks through the groves
and woods, and spend a great deal of time there, and yet when we get
home we may know very little about them. We might remember that we had
seen a great many trees, but not be able to tell of what kinds they
were, how their branches and leaves were shaped, how tall they were, or
anything about them.
Now such knowledge is very pleasant to have, and will afford a great
deal of pure enjoyment. The more we know about the beautiful trees, the
more we will value them, and find entertainment in admiring them.
It is a good plan to bring home from our rambles small portions of them,
so that we can examine them minutely at our leisure. The bark, the
leaves, and the blossoms are the most important; they are what we look
at to recognize a tree, and we should have specimens of each. The first
necessary step is to find some way of arranging and preserving them. A
good method is to get some pasteboard or stout paper, and cut it into
sheets of convenient size--say eight inches long and five wide. Then a
box will be needed to keep them in, so that they will not get lost or
soiled. Give one sheet to each tree, and upon it paste a piece of the
bark, a leaf, and a blossom. The bark should not be taken from the tree
where it is too coarse and clumsy, but where it is nearly smooth and
perfect, and gives the best idea of the tree; nor should too thin a
piece be taken, as when it gets dry it may wrinkle up and crumble to
pieces. It may be well to take off with the bark a thin layer of the
wood to stiffen it and keep it smooth. A piece of bark about three
inches long and two wide would be of a good size.
The blossoms will have to be pressed and dried before they are attached
to the sheet. Take care to lay them so as to show the face and the
inside parts as plainly as possible. It may be well in some cases to
press two or more blossoms, laying them in different positions, so that
every part can be seen.
The leaves will be easy, as they are mostly flat. If they are small,
several may be taken, or a little twig. If the under side of the leaf is
very different from the upper, or is remarkable for its hairs, or for
any reason, one leaf should be placed with the under side upward. Care
should be taken to do the pasting neatly, so that the sheet will look
pretty, and the parts can be readily examined by the eye alone, or with
a magnifying-glass or microscope, which reveals many interesting facts
that can not be discovered by the eye unassisted.
In this way the trees can be studied at any time, even in winter, when
the world outside is bare and dreary, and the evenings are long, and
afford fine opportunity for such amusement. And what is more important
still, the sheets prepared as we have shown can be sent through the mail
to distant parts of the land, where the trees displayed on them do not
grow, and are wholly unknown.
Thus our young readers, scattered over the United States and Canada and
elsewhere, can supply each other with specimens, so that each may make
up a collection from the trees growing over a very wide area.
Most trees are very long lived, and some are still living that are known
to be hundreds of years old. Certain kinds of wood, too, seem almost
incapable of decay if protected from the weather.
Probably the oldest timber in the world which has been used by man is
that found in the ancient temples of Egypt, in connection with the
stone-work, which is known to be at least four thousand years old. This,
the only wood used in the construction of the temple, is in the form of
ties, holding the end of one stone to another. When two blocks were laid
in place, an excavation about an inch deep was made in each block, into
which a tie shaped like an hour-glass was driven.
The ties appear to have been of the tamarisk or shittim wood, of which
the ark was constructed--a sacred tree in ancient Egypt, and now very
rarely found in the valley of the Nile. The dovetailed ties are just as
sound now as on the day of their insertion. Although fuel is extremely
scarce in the country, these bits of wood are not large enough to make
it an object with the Arabs to heave off layer after layer to obtain
them. Had they been of bronze, half the old temples would have been
destroyed years ago.
If those among our young friends who are alive to the charms of nature
will arrange some specimens of trees on the plan we have explained, and
label the sheets with the common names of the trees, and the scientific
names also, if they can find them out from their parents, we will be
glad to hear from them, and will publish their letters in the
Post-office Box, so that they can make exchanges with each other.
Very little folks, who may find it too hard to get the bark and the
blossoms, can begin by making collections simply of the leaves. Be
careful to cut the sheets exactly of the size we have mentioned, so
that when laid together they will make a nice even pile like a book.
And, remember, don't send them to us; only write, and let the
Post-office Box know when you have them ready for exchange. We will
publish the fact in the YOUNG PEOPLE, so that you can send the specimens
to each other, and make up the collections among yourselves.
[Begun in No. 19 of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE, March 9.]
ACROSS THE OCEAN; OR, A BOY'S FIRST VOYAGE.
A True Story.
BY J. O. DAVIDSON.