Year: 1873

When I was @ boy, nothing ever af- fected me so much as the story of Gas abianca. My boyish breast was rent Tn twain, torn in two, broken asunder as 1t were, and the copious---yes, that's the word---copious tears rolled from my eyes in cataracts, and you could see the course they took for whole day, by two clean streaks down my cheeks.

 I have attempted to recite. it dramati- cally on the stage, but I would be so overcome by the terrible story, that l invariably broke down and never suc- ceeded in getting the boy off the burn ing deck, whence n1l but him had the good sense to flee.

 I longed to emulate him, and once, fired by reading it, l rushed out and set the pig-pen atire, and got upon the roof and stood there, beautiful and bright as born to rule the storm,' and l called aloud, "Say, father, must stay ?' and my father came running out and said he guessed not, and jerked me down so suddenly and went to work on me with barrel stave, that I thought the deck had blown up, and the enemy's hundred pounders were still blazing away.

 This boy that stood on the decks name wasn't Casabianca, but plain Tom Dickenhara; and during the battle his father had told him to stay where he was till he came back, and he stayed there. He had probably tried that lit tie game of disobedience before, and knew what it would result in. Now, in my boyhOod I have often done good many things which seemed heroic, when in fact, I was constrained to be heroic for fear of getting an unnerciful lick idg; and, after all, I never got into the school-readers as a model. I don't think I ever had justice done, while other boys who have been brave and all that, have got themselves killed and done up in poetry for the benefit of other children, who are learning to read. Never mind, I am getting up Q new Whitehorn Reader, in every chap ter of which will appear to great ad- vantage and applause.

 As I was going on to say the boy stood on the burning deck, all alone, and kept the battle up himself nll the rest had jumped overheard, and swan ashore as fast as they could run, for they knew that, " He who fights and runs away will always live to draw his pay" This little at of boy would load big can non all by himself, take it up in his arms, and fire it right into the other vessels and all the while the flames rolled up on all sides of him and made him sweat they completely enveloped him, and he found that itwas absolutely necessary to pull off his coat; still he would brush the flames away, and load and fire the cannon so rapidly that 1t got red hot, and that was what he want ed, for he then could fire red-hot balls, and make general red-hot time, while he was at 1t.

 The cannon-balls flew around him. One of them struck him on the mouth, and nearly knocked tooth, a front one down his throat. When he ran short o1 balls, he would reach up and take il one on fly, and all the time he would shoNt, "Say, father, must stay ?"

 The flames burned all his clothes of him, but he said he didn't care cen

 for the loss of them, as he conld ge

 plenty more at a secondhand store. The

 flames wrapped around him, but he re

 marked that he didn't care for that a'

 he was getting mad, and even if he dit run away, the old gentleman would hal

 kill him any way.

 A mast fell, and he picked 1t up anl piched it over into one of the ships '' and it mashed in the deck and killed great many and he said he could d. without a mast, anyhow. And still ou above the booming of cannon and burst ,, ing of bombs, his voice was heard "Say, governor, don't you think would be consistent with the nature o things---I say with the nature of thing flor me to get out of this here ?' bu no answer came. A 15-inch shell pass , ed through his bosom, and at the sam time ball took off both his arms, bu

 he continued to put in his time at load

 ing and unloading the cannon as if nc

 thing had happened, until it melte = and ran over the burning deck, upo 8 which you have been informed, he stoo D whence all but him, etc.

 q At last all the skip was burned II : except the magazine, and the po*de r which had been burning for some mint f tes, took notion to go off;on a sudder h Well, the last that ever seen of him h : was about four miles up, still shouting : Say, father, is it incumbent on me | stay ?"