Page:The Naval Officer (1829), vol. 1.djvu/16

 contempt among my associates. I therefore adopted the motto of some great man "to be rather than seem to be." I led in every danger; declared war against all drivellers and half measures; stole every thing that was eatable from garden, orchard, or hen-house, knowing full well that whether I did so or not, I should be equally suspected. 'Thenceforward all fruit missed, all arrows shot into pigs, all stones thrown into windows, and all mud spattered over clean linen hung out to dry, were traced to Tom and myself; and with the usual alacrity of an arbitrary police, the space between apprehension and punishment was very short—we were constantly brought before the master, and as regularly dismissed with "his blessing," till

we became hardened to blows and to shame. Thus, by the covetousness of this woman, who was the grey mare, and the folly of the master, who, in any thing but Greek and Latin, was an ass, my good principles were nearly eradicated