Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/318

 CHAPTER XVIII

New York the same evening for Boston. All glad to see me home once more. My brothers and sisters were much pleased with their little presents. Soon visited the National Theater and saw the officer, "Old Dexter." He gave me some good advice. A few days afterward, met with Father Taylor, who gave  me one of the best lectures I ever listened to. He advised me to sail with a good Christian captain, so I  next shipped in the bark Laura, Captain Leach, bound  to New Orleans, thence to London, then to return to  some port in the United States. This trip was put into a sailor’s ditty by one of the crew.

"From old Boston city we did set sail In what appeared to be a fine craft, — It was the Laura, a bark Which looked neat and handy from forward to aft.

"Our captain’s name is Leach, by the way, A moral man he’s thought to be; But salt water has his conscience stretched In a manner strange to see,

"As you’ll perceive, if you but hark And listen to what I say; For he had all hands trimming his bark The first Sabbath at sea.