(_To be continued._)
[Illustration: family]
The Sailor’s Family.
There once lived in Ireland a sailor, who had a wife and one child. He
was poor, but still he provided a small house for his family, had it
decently furnished, and, as he always brought them money when he came
home from his voyages, they were quite comfortable.
He was very fond of his little boy, and he, too, was very fond of his
father. The sailor used to go in a ship to the West Indies, and, when
he returned, he always brought back some nice oranges and other good
things for his little son.
Well, the Irishman, whose name was Kelly, had once been gone on a
voyage to the West Indies for several months, and his family were
expecting every day that he would return. Whenever the door was opened,
the boy looked up to see if it was not his father who had come.
Four months passed away, and no news came. And now Mrs. Kelly had
become very much afraid that something had happened to her husband.
She feared that the vessel had been cast away upon some rocky shore,
or that it had sunk in the deep sea, or that some other misfortune had
occurred, by which her husband had perished.
The boy, too, became very uneasy, and was every day expressing his
wonder that his father did not come back. At length, a man, who lived
near by, came into the house, and told Mrs. Kelly that he had brought
sad news. He then went on to tell her that the vessel in which her
husband sailed, had been driven ashore in a gale of wind, and dashed to
pieces upon a rocky island, and it was supposed that all on board had
perished.
Some persons from another vessel had landed upon the island, and found
papers and pieces of the wreck upon the shore, by which they knew it
was the vessel in which Kelly had sailed. The island was small, and
there was no person upon it.
This was sad intelligence to the poor sailor’s wife, and it was long
before she could find it in her heart to break the news to her child.
When he heard it, he shed many tears, and peace returned no more to the
sailor’s home.
Being deprived of the assistance of her husband, Mrs. Kelly was obliged
to make great exertions to support herself and child with comfort. She
was, however, very industrious, and, for a time, she got along pretty
well.
At length she was taken sick, and a little girl was added to her
family. When she was partially recovered, she found herself poor, and
a good deal in debt to her landlord. He was a cruel man; he took away
her furniture for what she owed him, and then turned the widow and her
family into the street.
The poor woman was still unwell; and it was with great difficulty that
she walked about a mile to the house of a farmer, whom she knew, hoping
that he would render her assistance. But he would give her nothing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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