Part 194

Section 227.

A TOUCHING SCENE AT SEA.

Two weeks ago on board an English steamer, a little ragged boy, aged nine years, was discovered on the fourth day of the voyage out from Liverpool to New York, and carried before the first mate, whose duty it was to deal with such cases. When questioned as to his object in being stowed away, and who brought him on board, the boy, who had a beautiful sunny face, and eyes that looked like the very mirrors of truth, replied that his stepfather did it, because he could not afford to keep him, nor to pay his passage out to Halifax, where he had an aunt who was well off, and to whose house he was going. The mate did not believe the story, in spite of the winning face and truthful accents of the boy. He had seen too much of stow-aways to be easily deceived by them, he said; and it was his firm conviction that the boy had been brought on board and provided with food by the sailors. The little fellow was very roughly handled in consequence. Day by day he was questioned and re-questioned, but always with the same result. He did not know a sailor on board, and his father alone had secreted him, and given him the food which he ate. At last the mate, wearied by the boy’s persistence in the same story, and perhaps a little anxious to inculpate the sailors, seized him one day by the collar, and dragging him to the fore, told him that (S. 211, N. 9) unless he would tell the truth in ten minutes from that time, he would hang him from the yard-arm.

+Vor vierzehn Tagen+, after which place predicate and subject [one discovered], since, as a rule, only one part of the adjuncts to the predicate should be placed before it.

as — away = +warum er aufs Schiff geschmuggelt sei+ (App. §§ 28 and 30).

I cannot afford to keep you, +meine Mittel gestatten mir nicht, dich zu ernähren+.

The relative clause ‘who — off’ may be avoided by using the adjective ‘+wohlhabend+’ before ‘aunt’.

here +glaubwürdig+; accents, +Sprache+.

‘the stow-away’ may perhaps be rendered by +der Eingeschmuggelte+.

It will easily be seen that, on account of the length of this period and of the many dependent clauses contained therein, it requires an altogether different form of construction in German. The author will, however, refrain from indicating the form to be used, the student being by this time expected to have attained sufficient skill and practice for dealing with such cases.

+aufs Vorderteil des Schiffes+.

Section 228.

A TOUCHING SCENE AT SEA.

II.

He then made him sit down under it on the deck. All around him were the passengers and sailors of the watch, and in front of him stood the inexorable mate, with his chronometer in his hand, and the other officers of the ship by his side. It was the finest sight, said our informant, that he ever beheld—to see the pale, proud, sorrowful face of that noble boy, his head erect, his beautiful eyes bright through the tears that suffused them. When eight minutes had fled, the mate told him he had but two minutes to live, and advised him to speak the truth and save his life; but he replied with the utmost simplicity and sincerity by asking (S. 111, N. 6) the mate if he might pray. The mate said nothing, but nodded his head, turned as pale as a ghost, and shook with trembling like a reed with the wind. And there, all eyes turned on him, the brave and noble little fellow, this poor waif, whom society owned not, and whose own stepfather could not care for him—there he knelt, with clasped hands, and eyes turned up to heaven, while he repeated audibly the Lord’s Prayer, and prayed the Lord Jesus to take him to heaven. There then occurred (S. 104, N. 19) a scene as at Pentecost. Sobs broke from the strong hard hearts, as the mate sprang forward to the boy, and kissed and blessed him, and told him how sincerely he believed his story, and how glad he was that he had been willing enough to face death and to sacrifice his life for the truth of his word.—REV. E. DAVIES.

Place ‘said — informant (here +Gewährsmann+, m.)’ after ‘that — beheld’.

= were over.

as — ghost, +geisterbleich+.

= in.

= said; audibly = aloud.

+Ein Schluchzen entrang sich+, followed by the Dat.

to face death, +dem Tode ins Antlitz schauen+, or +dem Tode trotz´bieten+.

Section 229.

AN ORATION ON THE POWER OF HABIT.

I will now speak of a habit which I believe is, more than any other, debasing, degrading, and embruting to man, both physically, intellectually, and morally. I am not going to give you an address full of my favourite theme [temperance], but I must speak of it. I must speak of it before this assembly, for I shall never see you again till we meet on that day when we shall see things as they are. Let me then speak of one habit which, in its power, and influence, and fascination, seems to rear its head like a Goliath or Saul above all its kindred agencies of demoralization; I allude to the habit of using intoxicating liquors as a beverage, until that habit becomes a fascination. You will allow me to give my opinions upon these points freely. I consider drunkenness not merely to be a moral evil, but also a physical evil, and it depends a great deal more upon the temperament, and the constitution, and disposition of the young man, whether if he falls into the drinking usages of society, it becomes a habit or not, than it does upon his strength of mind or firmness of purpose.

Take a young man, and he shall be full of fire and poetry. He shall be of a nervous temperament and generous heart; fond of society, and open and manly in everything he does. Every one loves him. That is the man most liable to become intemperate.

= as I believe.

is ... to man, +auf den Menschen wirkt+.