292 ALL ABOARD FOR SUNRISE LANDS.

be the able man he really was. In the year 1745, as I make it out, a
young fellow stepped on board an English collier at Whitby, and asked
for a position as cabin boy. Depend upon it, there were some hard
things and some menial things to be done, but you all know there is
a chance to get up from the hold of a ship to the mast-head, if one
is willing to climb; and so it is about the positions in all sea-service.
James Cook was the one to climb. I imagine that he was no loafer ;
that he was prompt and obedient, and that he was just the one to
be thoughtful and studious. Such a boy watching the tops of the
ships go down at sea, would be likely to infer it was one proof that
the world was round. I can easily imagine James Cook to be that kind
of a thinking lad. The cabin boy began to go up. He became a
mate and then a master.

- “Tn 1755, Cook entered the royal navy, still climbing up, climbing
up, just as when he was on board a collier. He was finally appointed
to the frigate Mercury, a vessel that took part in the expedition of
Gen. Wolfe to Quebec — is there a boy here who has not read that
story? James Cook piloted the fleet up the St. Lawrence, making
soundings, and setting buoys. He led the boats of the fleet to the
attack upon the French, and saw that the soldiers were successfully
landed. ;

“ Another thing for us all to remember is that James Cook never felt
that he was too old to learn. Stepping to a higher position, promoted
to the Northumberland flag-ship, how did he spend his leisure time —
smoking a dirty pipe, and sipping grog? Look into the cabin of the
Northumberland. 'There he is, bending over books on mathematics and
astronomy. One who studies about the sea, cannot well dispense with
a knowledge of the heavenly bodies. Take that question of the tides:
It is thought that the moon attracts and raises the water, producing
high tide, and when the sun and moon draw together — for the sun has