By this time you can imagine us to be pretty well out at sea, and now the sight of a vessel is no uncommon occurrence. A sailing vessel, with her sails all filled with wind, was a beautiful sight, and scarcely a day passed without seeing one or more of them. Many, many years ago steamships were unknown, and a voyage across the Atlantic was not accomplished in as short a period of time as in these days. You know that when a vessel depends upon wind to move it along there is danger of its progress being hindered, for sometimes the wind is from the contrary direction. Each day brought with it something new which amused the passengers. One day we found ourselves standing at the railing of the ship watching porpoises as they rushed along in the water below. Porpoises are of a sociable turn, and are seen swimming in schools close by the vessel’s side. Their color is a dark gray, or almost black, and the under side of them approaches a pure white; their length when full grown is five feet or more. There was a time when the meat of porpoises was eaten and considered good; but now they are rarely if ever eaten; the blubber or fat alone is used for the oil which it contains. They are great fellows to spring up out of the water, and it is then that their full length and color are seen. That action greatly amused the children, and they called out, “O, look at the fish; just look at them!” And then the merry peals of laughter sounded throughout the ship. We never knew how long a time the porpoises traveled with us, for standing became tiresome, and one by one we turned away, leaving them without an admirer. Sea gulls began flying about the ship by this time, and the indications were that land was not very far distant. How pleased we were to see them, and when land was mentioned our hearts swelled with joy. The gull is a web-footed sea fowl with long, narrow wings and straight beak, hooked at the tip. Occasionally you see some that are gray in color, but the most of them are all white. They feed upon fish, yet very willingly do they eat the scraps which the cooks throw to them. Did you ever go fishing? Well, I’m very sure you had more trouble to catch fish than those gulls had. They would not be bothered with hook and line, and neither would you if it were possible for you to catch fish as they do. While flying above the water a sharp lookout is kept for fish below, and when one is seen they dart down upon it; and the next instant it is theirs. You would be surprised to see with what ease and grace they ride upon the waves, seemingly resting as comfortably as we who were upon the ship sitting in steamer chairs. We imagined they were tired, and that sitting on a wave was their method of resting, and a sort of pastime for them.