The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-05-11

ana once IN awhile III look III.
SEVEN YEARS OLD.
Well, here we are Dolly. | almost forgot
Where put you 20 let you grow mended;
But you've only got dusty-not mended bit
And spose you'd just like to be ended.
I've brought some more fessions, but can't stop to
Mamma wrote them for me-she's lady;
They're under your pillow, and when you get well
You can read thenl-Im OFF now with baby.
That's who they're about, he's such a sweet dear,
I'm sorry I told you that other
About his red face-though il was awful queer,
For now he's beautiful brother.
Antarctic Expedition Three Hundred Years
Ago.
So YOU want me to tell you an Arctic
story, little people, says Capt. Hardis-
taY, looking up from his seat by the fire.
a." Hadn't you better wait till Cousin
Jack comes, and tells You what he's been
seeing for the last eighteen months with
Capt. Mares ThatH be a story worth
heAling !"
Ono, no, uncle, cry three voices in
shrill protest; 'we want story 0O2O!'
"Well, then, suppose you must have
il" says the Captain, with chucBle,
taking Alice on his knee, while Tom and
Hetty take their places ut his feet "but
/ can tell you, it Is pleasanter to talk
about these things beside warm fire,
with good supper on the table, than
when spars and stays are all sheeted
with ice, and tie huge, DIM giants of ice
bergs are looming all around you
through the darkness, and you have to
keep the deck four hours together, with
your eyes dropping out of your head
for want of sleep, and the bitter wind
and sleet tearing the very skin off your
face"
Alice shudders and nestles closer to
her uncle's breast.
$50, before you run away to sea, Tom,
my boy, just make sure that you'll like
it, when you get there. And now I'm
going to tell you a story which will show
you that voyages of discovery are not
always such good fun as you seem to
think"
"On the 18th of June, 1888, small
squadron sailed out of Cawsand bay
five ships, carrying 260 men-the largest
only 200 tons burden, the smallest not
more ten C)-srch craft as our big
steamers nowadays would hang over
their sides for quarter-boats. But it
discovered America, and shattered the
pride of the invincible armada.
"Many a man stood watching them
from the beach, as they melted into the
blue haze that covered the meeting of
sea and sky; for, in those days it was no
light thing to plunge into unknown
seas which are now mapped out and
fathomed, and traversed by telegraph ca
bles, and crossed by scores of steamers
every month. For in those days, men
believed in sea-serpents, dog-headed
men, and headless monsters with eyes
III their breasts, and other horrid things
which have never existed, and [ hope
never will. And, besides these imagin-
airy perils, there were real ones in
abundance-cruel Spaniards in the West
Indies, and fierce savages in North Amer
ica-hurricanes and calns, icebergs and
deadly fevers, and many more dangers
besides.
" Among the men who looked wistful-
ly after the disappearing ships was a
tall, handsome man, whose dark, JUS
trous eyes were clouded with bitter dis
appointment, for he had hoped to sail
with the adventurous fleet, and only the
Queens express order withheld him.
But he, before his life ended, was to do
deeds that should never be forgotten,
and to perish at last by yet sadder and
darker doom, for his name was Walter
Raleigh.
"And beside him, perhaps, may have
stood (for they were men who always
liked to be present when great deeds
were doing) sturdy Francis Drake, with
his brown hair curling crisply round his
granite-hewn face; and grim old Haw-
kins, twisting the ends of his bushy
beard and stout Martin Frobisher, with
the healthy brown of the sea upon his
bold, bluff visage: and brave John
Davis, whose name still lives in the soil
tudes of the Arctic ocean, and many a
brave man more.
"And so the little fleet went calamity
forth into the painless sea, taking with
them, in addition to the actual neces-
saries of their voyage, music in good
variety, together with morrice-dancers,
hobby-horses, and May-like conceits,
to delight the savage people, whom we
intended to win by all fair means pos
siblel'"
"WEat fun!'' cried Tom "fancy n
acknowledgement among the Indians
1t acould 'astonish the natives bit, /
fancy!"
"But, resumed the Captain, solemnly,
"there was doom upon the noble en-
terprise, as there is upon all great under
takings too lightly and hastily vcntured
upon. There's nothing upon earth
needs more care and Judgment Gas !
know welD than the picking of men for
n long VOYAGE and here it had been
done so carelessly that mischief was not
slow to follow. The sailors were q
rough, mutinous, piratical set, got
together ut hophazard, just as they of
fered. Thesmechanics were every bit as