"All right, ma'am. What name?" "Well, now," said she, "my husband, the father of Jonas, and the grandfather of the little Jonas, he always sailed in a schooner, and the ship was the _Bold Venture_." "The _Bonaventura_, I think. I remember her." "I'm sure she was the _Bold Venture_." "I think not, Mrs. Rea." "It must have been the _Bold Venture_ or _Bold Adventurer_. What sense is there in such a name as _Boneventure_? I never heard of no such venture, unless it were that of Jack Smithson, who jumped out of a garret window, and sure enough he broke a bone of his leg. No, Mr. Elway, I'll have her entitled the _Bold Venture_." "I'll not gainsay you. _Bold Venture_ she shall be." Then the painter very dexterously and daintily put the name in black paint on the white strip at the stern. "Will it be dry by to-morrow?" asked the old woman. "That's the little lad's birthday, and I promised to have his schooner ready for him to sail her then." "I've put dryers in the paint," answered Mr. Elway, "and you may reckon it will be right for to-morrow." That night Betty was unable to sleep, so eager was she for the day when the little boy would attain his ninth year and become the possessor of the beautiful ship she had fashioned for him with her own hands, and on which, in fact, she had been engaged for more than a twelvemonth. Nor was she able to eat her simple breakfast and noonday meal, so thrilled was her old heart with love for the child and expectation of his delight when the _Bold Venture_ was made over to him as his own. She heard his little feet on the cobblestones of the alley: he came on, dancing, jumping, fidgeted at the lock, threw the door open and burst in with a shout-- "See! see, granny! my new ship! Mother has give it me. A real frigate--with three masts, all red and green, and cost her seven shillings at Camelot Fair yesterday." He bore aloft a very magnificent toy ship. It had pennants at the mast-top and a flag at stern. "Granny! look! look! ain't she a beauty? Now I shan't want your drashy old schooner when I have my grand new frigate." "Won't you have your ship--the _Bold Venture_?" "No, granny; chuck it away. It's a shabby bit o' rubbish, mother says; and see! there's a brass cannon, a real cannon that will go off with a bang, on my frigate. Ain't it a beauty?" "Oh, Jonas! look at the _Bold Venture_!" "No, granny, I can't stay. I want to be off and swim my beautiful seven-shilling ship." Then he dashed away as boisterous as he had dashed in, and forgot to shut the door. It was evening when the elder Jonas returned home, and he was welcomed by his son with exclamations of delight, and was shown the new ship. "But, daddy, her won't sail; over her will flop in the water." "There is no lead on the keel," remarked the father. "The vessel is built for show only."