The Young Emigrants; Madelaine Tube; the Boy and the Book; and Crystal Palace | Page 2

I like."
"You mean she will not let you break your neck, foolish boy. You
know well, Tom, your mother refuses you no reasonable amusement.
Hey, look there!" As Mr. Lee spoke, a dozen or so of flying fishes rose
from the sea, and fell again within a yard of the ship's side. As the sun
shone on their wet glittering scales, you might have fancied them the
broken bits of a rainbow. Annie clapped her hands and screamed with
delight, and even Tom's sulky face brightened.
"Why, father," cried he, "I never knew before that there were fishes
with wings!"
[Illustration]

"These have not exactly wings, though they resemble them," answered
Mr. Lee, "but long fins, with which they raise themselves from the
water, when too closely pursued by their enemies. But I came to call
you to dinner--your mother is waiting. Should it be pleasant to-night,
we will bring her on deck, when George and Willie are in bed, and
show her the sights."
"What sights, what sights?" cried both the children at once, but their
father was already on the ladder, and did not reply.
The night was mild and clear, and the bright full moon shone high in
the heavens, when the little Lees came up again with their father and
mother. Tom was no longer the discontented grumbling boy he seemed
in the morning, for though he often spoke thoughtlessly, and murmured
sometimes at his parents' commands, he knew in his heart that all they
wished was for his good, and soon returned to his duty, and recovered
his temper. He was just turned twelve, and considered himself the man
of the family in his father's absence, often frightening poor Annie, who
was a year younger, and of a quiet, timid disposition, by his
declarations of what he "wouldn't mind doing." Little George, who was
seven, admired and respected him exceedingly.
"I promised to show you some sights, this evening," said Mr. Lee, as
they walked slowly up and down the deck, "and is not this ship
bounding over the heaving ocean, with its white sails spread, and its tall
masts bending to the wind, a most striking one? Is it not a great
specimen of man's skill and power? And look above at that starry sky,
and that bright lamp of night which shines so softly down on us,--look
at the dashing waters, whose white crested waves sparkle as they break
against our vessel--are they not wonderful in their beauty?"
"They are indeed beautiful," replied his wife, "and man's work shrinks
into nothing when compared with them! And how fully the sense of our
weakness comes upon us while thus tossing about upon the broad sea.
What a consolation it is to remember, that He who neither slumbereth
nor sleepeth, protects us ever."
"Father," cried Annie, after a short silence, "I do not understand at all

how the captain finds out the way to America. It is so many miles from
any other land! Tom knows all about it, but he says he can't exactly
explain."
"Come, come, Tom," said his father, "try; nothing can be done without
a trial; tell us now what you know on the subject."
"Well, father," answered Tom, "the man at the wheel has a compass
before him, and he looks at that, and so knows how to point the ship's
head. As America is in the west, he keeps it pointed to the west."
"Quite right, so far," said his father, "but tell us what a compass is."
"Oh! a compass is a round box, and the bottom is marked with four
great points, called North, South, East, and West; then smaller points
between them; and in the middle is a long needle, balanced, so that it
turns round very easily, and as this needle always points to the North,
we can easily find the South, and East, and West."
"But, father," cried Annie, "why does that needle always point to the
North? my needle only points the way I make it when I sew."
"Your needle, dear Annie, has never been touched by the wonderful
stone! You must know that some few hundred years ago, people
discovered that a mineral called the loadstone, found in iron mines, had
the quality of always pointing to the North, and they found, too, that
any iron rubbed with it would possess the same quality. The needle
Tom tells us of has undergone this operation. Before the invention of
the compass, it was only by watching the stars that sailors could direct
their course by night. Their chief guide was one which always points
towards the North pole, and is therefore called the Pole star. But on a
cloudy night, and in stormy weather, when they could not read their
course in the