wreck had almost entirely melted into the yeast of waves. As she went down, the crew gave three hearty cheers, and then finally abandoned the scattered fragments of what had been their house and home for nearly seven years.

The fog still continued as thick as ever; and, as the binnacles had both been washed overboard, no compass could be procured. The wind also being still light, there was great difficulty in steering in a straight line. In this dilemma, a resource was hit upon, which for a time answered pretty well to guide them. It being known loosely before leaving the wreck in what direction the land was situated, the three boats were placed in a row pointing that way. The sternmost boat then quitted her station in the rear, and pulled ahead till she came in a line with the other two boats, but took care not to go so far as to be lost in the fog; the boat which was now furthest astern then rowed ahead, as the first had done; and so on, doubling along, one after the other. This tardy method of proceeding answered only for a time; for at length they found themselves completely at a loss which way to steer. Precisely at this moment of greatest need, an old quarter-master, Samuel Shanks by name, recollected that at the end of his watch-chain there hung a small compass-seal. This precious discovery being announced to the other boats by a joyous shout from the pinnace, and the compass being speedily handed into the gig to the captain, it was placed on the top of the chronometer, so nobly saved by the clerk. As this instrument worked on jimbles, the little needle remained upon it sufficiently steady for steering the boats within a few points. The course now secured insured their hitting the land, from which they had been steering quite wide.

Before reaching the shore, they fell in with an old

fisherman who piloted them to a bight called Portuguese Cove, where they all landed in safety, at the distance of twenty miles from the town of Halifax. The fishermen

lighted great fires to warm their shivering guests, most of whom being very lightly clad, and all, of course, dripping wet, were in a very sorry predicament; many of them, also, were miserably cramped by close packing in the boats. Some of the men, especially of those who entered the boats last, having been obliged to swim for their lives, had thrown off everything but their trousers, so that the only respectably-dressed person out of the whole party was old Shanks, the owner of the watch and compass-seal, a steady hard-a-weather sailor, who throughout took the whole affair as deliberately as if shipwreck had been an everyday occurrence. He did not even take off his hat, except, indeed, to give his good ship a cheer as she went to the bottom.

Their subsequent measures were soon decided upon. The captain carried the three boats round to the harbour, taking with him the men who had suffered most from fatigue, and those who were worst off for clothes. The officers then set out with the rest, to march across the country to Halifax, in three divisions, keeping together with as much regularity as if they had been proceeding upon some previously arranged piece of service. Very few of the party could boast of shoes, an inconvenience which was felt more severely than it would otherwise have been, from their having to trudge over a country but partially cleared of wood. Notwithstanding all this, there was not a single straggler; and the whole ship's company, officer, man, and boy, assembled in the evening at Halifax, in as exact order as if their ship had met with no accident.

I have been more particular in describing this ship

wreck, from its appearing to offer several uncommon and some useful details, well worthy, I think, of the notice of practical men, in every profession.

It is rather an unusual combination of disasters for a ship to be so totally wrecked, as to be actually obliterated from the face of the waters, in the course of a quarter of an hour, in fine weather, in the daytime, on well-known rocks, and close to a light-house, but without the loss of a single man, or the smallest accident to any person on board.

In the next place, it is highly important to observe, that the lives of the crew, in all probability, would not, and perhaps could not, have been saved, had the discipline been in the smallest degree less exactly maintained. Had any impatience been manifested by the people to rush into the boats, or had the captain not possessed sufficient authority to reduce the numbers which had crowded into the pinnace, when she was still resting on the booms, at least half of the crew must have lost their lives.

It was chiefly, therefore, if not entirely, to the personal influence which Captain Hickey possessed over the minds of all on board, that their safety was owing. Their habitual confidence in his fortitude, talents, and professional knowledge, had, from long experience, become so great, that every man in the ship, in this extremity of danger, instinctively turned to him for assistance; and seeing him so cheerfully and so completely master of himself, they relinquished to his well-known and often-tried sagacity the formidable task of extricating them from the impending peril. It is at such moments as these, indeed, that the grand distinction between man and man is developed, and the full ascendancy of a powerful and well-regulated mind makes itself felt. The slightest

hesitation on the captain's part, the smallest want of decision, or any uncertainty as to what was the very best thing to be done, if betrayed by a word or look of his, would have shot, like an electric spark, through the whole ship's company-a tumultuous rush would have been made to the boats-and two out of the three, if not all, must have been swamped, and every man in them drowned.

Captain Hickey and his crew had been serving together in the same ship for many years before, in the course of which period they had acquired so thorough an acquaintance with one another, that this great trial, instead of loosening the discipline, only augmented its compactness, and thus enabled the commander to bring all his knowledge, and all the resources of his vigorous understanding, to bear at once, with such admirable effect, upon the difficulties by which he was surrounded.

There are some men who actually derive more credit from their deportment under the severest losses, than others can manage to earn by brilliant success; and it may certainly be said that Captain Hickey is one of these; for, although he had the great misfortune to lose his ship, he must ever enjoy the noble satisfaction of knowing, that his skill and firmness, rendered effective by the discipline he had been so many years in perfecting, enabled him to save the lives of more than a hundred persons, who, but for him, in all human probability, must have perished with their hapless chief.

THE HORSE AND THE LOADED ASS.

A man who kept a horse and an ass was wont on his journeys to spare the horse, and put all the burden on the ass's back. The ass, who had been sometime ailing, besought the horse one day to relieve him of part of his load. 'For if,' said he, 'you will take a fair portion, I shall soon get well again; but if you refuse to help me, this weight will kill me.' The horse, however, bade the ass get on, and not trouble him with his complaints. The ass jogged on in silence, but presently, overcome with the weight of his burden, dropped down dead, as he had foretold. Upon this, the master coming up, unloosed the load from the dead ass, and putting it upon the horse's back, made him carry the ass's carcass in addition. Alas for my ill-nature!" said the horse; by refusing to bear my just portion of the load, I have now to carry the whole of it, with a dead weight into the bargain.'

THE FIR-TREE AND THE BRAMBLE.

A fir-tree was one day boasting itself to a bramble: 'You are of no use at all; but how could barns and houses be built without me?' 'Good sir,' said the bramble, 'when the woodmen come here with their axes and saws, what would you give to be a bramble and not a fir?'