Rocks: A Lesson for Young Sailors
Rocks.—A gentleman was once, when a lad, sailing down East River, near New York, which was then a very dangerous channel. He watched the old steersman with great interest, and observed that whenever he came near to a stick of painted wood he changed his course. “Why do you turn out for those bits of wood?” asked the boy. The old man looked up from under his shaggy brows, too much taken up with his task to talk, and simply growled out “Rocks.” “Well, I would not turn out for those bits of wood,” said the thoughtless boy; “I would go right over them.” The old man replied only by a look which that boy has not forgotten in his manhood. “Poor foolish lad,” it said, “how little you know about rocks!” So, children, shun the rocks as you would the way of death. There are plenty of buoys to warn you where they lie hidden; and whenever you meet one, turn aside, for there a danger lies.