Year: 1876

--N@ IL AAGb1C UldlAs DIRTY


tenanee fell, but he explained: I" She


would be 50 glad if l brought back nv


papa, that she wouldn't care If I did go


without her knowing il" Barry was on


dangerous ground for " Mothers Boy." :"


After many mysterious talks and move


nents, which took several days. Old


Kutch agreed that Master Barry should


get up early some fine morning, and steal


away to the boat at the wharf At


night, Barry scarcely slept at all and


when he dreamed, it was of curious and


often frightful sights in foreign lands.


When day broke, he was in such haste


that he scarcely dressed himself He


might have gone out at the door; but


creeping past his mothers chamber, he


got out by the hall window, stole down


through the orchard, scrambled over the
stone wall, slid down the bank, and was


soon on board the Polly Ann, COM


manded by Capt. Kutch. It was great


adyentuTe- he was going to sea in


search of his lati4er. I5is heart was y


little heavy when be looked back at the


old farmhouse where he had left his


mother. But the Polly Ann was under


way, and, with q curious sort of feeling
in his throat, he watched the village fade


away. He was at sea- It would not be


pleasant for me to tell YOU of all the


troubles that befell Master Barry that
day. In the first place he was very
hungry; and he ate great deal of a


nice luncheon which one of the fisher
men produced from big basket, strangely


like one of his mammals. Then, when
he had satisfied his hunger, his luncheon
did not agree with him at all. He
felt very queer. Everything seemed
going around. His stomach was all in


whirl. He was sea sick, and he lost all


interest in what was going on about him.


The Polly Ann was very lively, and, al
though she was anchored on the fishing
grounds, she bounced about at a great


rates The sun was hot, and, as Barry
looked over the bulwark where he lay,
he saw nothing but horrid, tumbling


waves everywhere. No land in sight,


unless low cloud on the dull, gray hOri-
zOn were land, He was home-sick; and
if he cried silently behind the ill-smell-
ing tarpaulin that screened him, 1 do not
think any of my boy readers should
laugh at him. / have been in Just such
a plight, and probably did Just as Barry


did. What was worse, there was no sign
of the Flying Fish, or anything that
looked like her. Once in a while, brown
sail crept up from the horizon, drilted
along against the sky, and melted away
into the dim distance. 1t was a Down
East coaster loaded with lime," old Kutch
would say, unless he was too busy with
his fish to say anything. Barry only
wanted to get home once more. Oh,
what will my poor, dear mamma say ?'' he
You oughter thought of that
afore," Capt. Kutch made answer. And
50 he should have. Meantime, was Mrs
Dingle going up and down the beach,
crying out for her Mothers Boy F'
Strange to say, she was doing nothing
the sort. She sat at the gable window
that overlooked the sea, and, as she sewed
or read, she glanced out over the sap
phire waters of the bay, and over the
shining waves that rippled toward the
sunset as brightly and silvery as though
there was no such thing as sea-sickness
and discomfort in all the world She
was possibly thinking Of the hen and her
willful duckling. That night, when the
stars came out and the Polly Ann drifted
up Sagadunk harbor, the most tried,
weary and hUme-sick little chap you ever
heard of, scrambled out into the small
boat which was to take him ashore. Mrs.
Dingle, somehow, happened to be on the
landing; and when Barry jumped into
her arms and cried, "I couldn't find
papa !" she only hugged him tight and
whispered, Mothers BoyP It seemed
an age to Barry since he had been gone.
The familiar little bed, with its blue
check cover, looked like an old
friend from foreign parts; and the holly
hooks in the parlOr fireplace were fresher
and brighter by candle-lght than any
hollyhOcks he ever saw. 1 need not tell
you how Barry settled affairs with his
mamma. When he found Old Hutch,
after that, one leisure day ashore, that
venerable skipper asked him when he
proposed going again on a voyage of dis
covery. Barry replied {" shall not be
so naughty and run away again, for / am
Mothers Boy you see." "Why she
knowed it all the time" And so she
did; and when she let Barry go off in
charge of Old Kutch, she was trying two
xperiments-oDe on herself and one on
% Mothers Boy"-t Nicholas.