_The same subject, concluded._
1. In this hour of deep distress, he found a person willing to take his
draft for five guineas on the Royal Society of England. With this
assistance, he arrived in the land of our forefathers.
2. He immediately applied to his ever-ready friend, Sir Joseph Banks,
for employment. Sir Joseph, knowing that nothing suited him better than
perilous adventures, told him that a company had just been formed, for
the purpose of penetrating into the interior of Africa, and discovering
the source of the river Niger.
3. Burning sands, savage negroes, venomous serpents, all the frightful
animals of the torrid zone, could not alarm the intrepid soul of
Ledyard. He immediately expressed his desire to go.
4. When the map was spread before him, and his dangerous journey pointed
out, he promptly exclaimed, "I will go to-morrow morning."
5. The gentleman smiled at his eagerness, and gladly intrusted him with
an expedition in which suffering and peril were certain, and success
extremely doubtful. He left London on the 30th of June, 1788, and
arrived in Grand Cairo on the 19th of August.
6. There he spent his time to great advantage, in searching for and
deciphering the various wonders of that ancient and once learned land.
7. His letters from Egypt were delightful. They showed much enthusiasm,
united with the most patient and laborious exertion. The company formed
great hopes concerning his discoveries in Senaar, and awaited letters
from that country with much anxiety.
8. But, alas! he never reached there. He was seized with a violent
illness at Cairo; died, and was decently buried beside the English who
had ended their days in that celebrated city.
9. We should never read accounts of great or good men without learning
some profitable lesson. If we cannot, like Ledyard, defend Gibraltar,
sail round the world with Captain Cook, project trading voyages to the
north-west coast, study Egyptian hieroglyph´ics, and traverse the dreary
northern zone on foot,--we can, at least, learn from him the important
lesson of _perseverance_.
10. The boy who perseveringly pores over a hard lesson, and who will not
give up an intricate problem until he has studied it out, forms a
habit, which, in after life, will make him a great man; and he who
resolutely struggles against his own indolence, violent temper, or any
other bad propensity, will most assuredly be a good one.