124 TWO WAYS TO GO TO SEA:

his father. ‘Perhaps he will let you go,’
said he, ‘and then my father will be more
likely to let me.’

“«No,’ said John, ‘I don’t want to go.’

“¢ But you said you meant to go to sea.’

“¢So 1 do, but not in this way.’

“<< How are you going ?’

«“¢O, I mean to go, one of these days, in

my own way ; yow ll see ;’ and away he
went into school with his slate under his
arm.
“ A few days after this, Jack brought up
the subject again, with his father, but with
no better success. He wanted to go in the
Almira, but he could not get his father’s
consent; and at length she sailed without
him. In the mean time, he neglected his
studies more and more, and of course he
disliked school more and more, and he kept
constantly teasing his father and mother to
let him go to sea. They were, however,
firm and decided against it.

“He also tried again and again to get
John to feel some interest in going. He
told him how pleasant it would be to go up
the Mediterranean, and see all those places
that they had studied about so often in their