The Life of a Ship

Song of the Sailor Boy. Oh! I love the great blue ocean, I love the whistling breeze,When the gallant ship sweeps lightly Across the surging seas.I watched my first ship building; I saw her timbers rise,Until her masts were towering Up in the bright blue skies. I heard the cheers ascending, I saw her kiss the foam,When first her hull went plunging Into her ocean home.Her flags were gaily streaming, And her sails were full and round,When the shout from shore came ringing, “Hurrah! for the Outward-bound!” But, alas! ere long a tempest Came down with awful roarAnd dashed our ship in pieces Upon a foreign shore.But He who holds the waters In His almighty hand,Brought all the sailors safely Back to their native land. Davy was a fisher boy; and Davy was a very active little boy; and Davy wanted to go to sea. His father was a fisherman, his grandfather had been a fisherman, and his great-grandfather had been a fisherman: so we need not wonder much that little Davy took to the salt water like a fish. When he was very little he used to wade in it, and catch crabs in it, and gather shells on the shore, or build castles on the sands. Sometimes, too, he fell into the water neck and heels, and ran home to his mother, who used to whip him and set him to dry before the fire; but, as he grew older, he went with his father in the boat to fish, and from that time forward he began to wish to go to sea in one of the large ships that were constantly sailing away from the harbour near his father’s cottage. One day Davy sat on a rock beside the sea, leaning on his father’s boathook, and gazing with longing eyes out upon the clear calm ocean, on which several ships and boats were floating idly, for there was not a breath of wind to fill their sails. “Oh, how I wish my father would let me go to sea!” said Davy, with a deep sigh. “I wonder if I shall ever sail away beyond that line yonder, far, far away, where the sky seems to sink into the sea!” The line that he spoke of was the horizon. Davy heaved another sigh, and smiled; for, just at that moment, his eyes fell on a small crab that stood before him with its claws up as if it were listening to what he said. “Oh, crab, crab,” cried the little boy, “you’re a happy beast!” At that moment he moved the boathook, and the crab ran away in such a desperate hurry that Davy opened his eyes wide and said, “Humph! maybe ye’re not a happy beast after all!” While he sat thus, a stout fisherman came up and asked him what he was thinking about. On being told, he said, “Will you come with me, boy, to the building-yard, and I’ll show you a ship on the ‘stocks.’ I’m goin’ as one of her crew when she’s ready for sea, and perhaps by that time your father will let you go too.” You may be sure that Davy did not refuse such a good offer; so the man and the boy went hand in hand to the yard where ships were built....
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Adams Fables

ADAMS FABLES is colorfully illustrated with double-entendre puns and fun. The cast of playful animals gently teaches life’s lessons to the small child within everyone.EVER WONDER WHY:Coyotes howlPenguins wear tuxedoesHummingbirds humCheetahs cry Giraffes have long necksLions roarFlamingos stand on one legBasenjis yodelAnd so much more.Alive is the dark and depressing tale of Scorpina’s birth and potential. She will have to fight for freedom and learn to exist in a society that sees her as abnormal.Born different, instilling fear in the hearts of all. Scorpina is a mutant humanoid with scorpion features, her life is forged on a whim and she struggles to escape from her dangerous insectoid creators. Will Scorpina find purpose in life and will Scorpina even survive escaping from the insectoid lair?Scorpina’s tale continues in a larger novel soon to grace the world, in life or death.
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A New Star

A Children's Nativity Musical. Suitable for Year 3 (approx. age 8) - whom the main text is aimed at, and under, although others can also get involved. You can download all of the audio tracks for free from the website associated with this work. This work is offered free to schools, nurseries and church groups that wish to raise funds for themselves, their PTAs or their closely related charities.This is an original musical, written in 2008 and now offered free on smashwords to schools, nurseries and church groups anywhere in the world that wish to raise funds for themselves, their PTAs or their closely related charities.It lasts around 20 - 25 minutes. There are nine songs, and four instrumental pieces. The music is supplied! You do not have to provide musicians because you can download all of the audio practice and backing tracks, for free, from the website associated with this work (see script for details). You can also download PDF versions of the script (in "Director" and "Performer" formats) from the associated website.You do not need a licence to perform this work, and no commission is payable. Your licence to perform this work, if you fulfill the above criteria, is hereby granted.The key points are, though: you mustn't change the script, you mustn't the lyrics and you must show my name as being the author.That's it. Have fun. Spread the word.
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After All

A fake relationship? √ Lovers to enemies to lovers? √ A steamy one-night stand turned into a wild publicity stunt? √ A hot & cocky Hollywood actor meets his match when he falls for the sassy girl next door in AFTER ALL. Light, fun and sexy as sin, it's the PERFECT SUMMER READ. From the NYT and USA Today bestselling author of The Pact and Before I Ever Met You. Emmett Hill is the perfect gentleman. At least that's what his PR team wants the world to think. Tall, handsome, and wickedly charming, Emmett is in the midst of a career comeback, having landed the role of a villain in a popular TV show. The only problem is, Emmett has come a long way from the "nice guy" characters he used to play and his old squeaky clean image is quickly being tarnished by bar fights, womanizing and bad boy behaviour. Considering he's two years shy of forty, it's an act he needs to drop. And fast. Enter Alyssa Martin. At twenty-eight, Alyssa is tired and ready for a change. Her job as office manager has grown stagnant and unfulfilling, while she's become continuously frustrated with Vancouver's lackluster dating scene, always searching for Mr. Right in a city of Mr. Wrongs. When Emmett and Alyssa's paths cross at a mutual friend's wedding, their chemistry is off-the-charts hot, culminating in a steamy one-night stand. What neither expected was for the media catch wind of their coupling - and run with it. Now Emmett has to convince Alyssa to date him for the sake of his image. Her curvy, cute and "normal" persona is just the ticket to smoothing out his reputation, while Emmett provides Alyssa with the excitement and change her life has been lacking. The only problem is, the two fight like cats and dogs outside of the bedroom. And considering their arrangement is just for show, they shouldn't be in the bedroom with each other anyway. Right? Try telling them that.
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Colombiano

In Colombia you have to pick a side. Or one will be picked for you . . . All Pedro Gutiérrez cares about is fishing, playing pool and his girlfriend Camila’s promise to sleep with him on his sixteenth birthday. But his life is ripped apart when Guerrilla soldiers callously execute his father in front of him, and he and his mother are banished from their farm. Swearing vengeance against the five men responsible, Pedro, with his best friend Palillo, joins an illegal Paramilitary group, where he is trained to fight, kill and crush any sign of weakness. But as he descends into a world of unspeakable violence, Pedro must decide how far he is willing to go. Can he stop himself before he becomes just as ruthless as those he is hunting? Or will his dark obsession cost him all he loves? Colombiano is an epic tale of rural villages held to ransom, of jungle drug labs, cocaine supermarkets, witch doctors and buried millions, of innocent teenage love, barbaric torture and meticulously planned revenge. Superbly told and by turns gripping, poignant and darkly comic, Colombiano is the remarkable story of a boy whose moral descent becomes a metaphor for the corruption of an entire nation. Both blockbuster thriller and electrifying coming-of-age story, Rusty Young’s powerful novel is also a meditation on the redeeming power of love.
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The Hot Swamp

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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The Battery and the Boiler: Adventures in Laying of Submarine Electric Cables

In which the Hero makes his First Flash and Explosion. Somewhere about the middle of this nineteenth century, a baby boy was born on the raging sea in the midst of a howling tempest. That boy was the hero of this tale. He was cradled in squalls, and nourished in squalor—a week of dirty weather having converted the fore-cabin of the emigrant ship into something like a pig-sty. Appreciating the situation, no doubt, the baby boy began his career with a squall that harmonised with the weather, and, as the steward remarked to the ship’s cook, “continued for to squall straight on end all that day and night without so much as ever takin’ breath!” It is but right to add that the steward was prone to exaggeration. “Stooard,” said the ship’s cook in reply, as he raised his eyes from the contemplation of his bubbling coppers, “take my word for it, that there babby what has just bin launched ain’t agoin’ to shovel off his mortal coil—as the play-actor said—without makin’ his mark some’ow an’ somew’eres.” “What makes you think so, Johnson?” asked the steward. “What makes me think so, stooard?” replied the cook, who was a huge good-natured young man. “Well, I’ll tell ’ee. I was standin’ close to the fore hatch at the time, a-talkin’ to Jim Brag, an’ the father o’ the babby, poor feller, he was standin’ by the foretops’l halyards holdin’ on to a belayin’-pin, an’ lookin’ as white as a sheet—for I got a glance at ’im two or three times doorin’ the flashes o’ lightnin’. Well, stooard, there was lightnin’ playin’ round the mizzen truck, an’ the main truck, an’ the fore truck, an’ at the end o’ the flyin’ jib-boom, an’ the spanker boom; then there came a flash that seemed to set afire the entire univarse; then a burst o’ thunder like fifty great guns gone off all at once in a hurry. At that identical moment, stooard, there came up from the fore-cabin a yell that beat—well, I can’t rightly say what it beat, but it minded me o’ that unfortnit pig as got his tail jammed in the capstan off Cape Horn. The father gave a gasp. ‘It’s born,’ says he. ‘More like’s if it’s basted,’ growled Jim Brag. ‘You’re a unfeelin’ monster, Brag,’ says I; ‘an’ though you are the ship’s carpenter, I will say it, you ’aven’t got no more sympathy than the fluke of an anchor!’ Hows’ever the poor father didn’t hear the remark, for he went down below all of a heap—head, legs, and arms—anyhow. Then there came another yell, an’ another, an’ half a dozen more, which was followed by another flash o’ lightnin’ an’ drownded in another roar o’ thunder; but the yells from below kep’ on, an’ came out strong between times, makin’ no account whatever o’ the whistlin’ wind an’ rattlin’ ropes, which they riz above—easy.—Now, stooard, do you mean for to tell me that all that signifies nothink? Do you suppose that that babby could go through life like an or’nary babby? No, it couldn’t—not even if it was to try—w’ich it won’t!” Having uttered this prophecy the cook resumed the contemplation of his bubbling coppers....
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A Bear Grylls Adventure 2

The exciting second book in the new young readers series from survival expert and Chief Scout BEAR GRYLLS.Sophie loves activity camp . . . but is terrified of insects. It's so bad that she won't go into the tent on her own, just in case something flies at her, or she steps on a creepie-crawlie. But when she's given a compass by one of the other boys on the campsite, Sophie is magically transported to the desert on an adventure where they're impossible to avoid!With the help of survival expert Bear Grylls as her guide, she will learn how to withstand the extreme temperatures of the desert and how to spot mirages, encounter giant camel spiders, deadly scorpions and snakes . . . but will Sophie overcome her fear of insects back in the real world? And who will she give the compass to next?Each book in this fun new 12-book series from BEAR GRYLLS follows a different child on the outdoor activity camp. Once they are given the magical compass, they meet the...
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Gascoyne, the Sandal-Wood Trader

R.M. Ballantyne, in full Robert Michael Ballantyne (born April 24, 1825, Edinburgh, Scot.—died Feb. 8, 1894, Rome, Italy), Scottish author chiefly famous for his adventure story The Coral Island (1858). This and all of Ballantyne’s stories were written from personal experience. The heroes of his books are models of self-reliance and moral uprightness. Snowflakes and Sunbeams; or, The Young Fur Traders (1856) is a boys’ adventure story based on Ballantyne’s experiences with the Hudson’s Bay Company. Annoyed by a geography-related mistake he had made in The Coral Island, he afterward traveled widely to research the backgrounds of his stories.
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The Prairie Chief

R.M. Ballantyne was a Scottish author who wrote over 100 books and was best known for children’s fiction. Ballantyne was also a famous artist.
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The Red Man's Revenge: A Tale of The Red River Flood

It was midwinter. The owner of Willow Creek stood at his parlourwindow, smoking and gazing. There was not much to look at, for snow hadoverwhelmed and buried the landscape, fringed every twig of the willows,and obliterated the frozen river.(Illutrated)
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The Dog Crusoe and His Master: A Story of Adventure in the Western Prairies

The Backwoods Settlement—Crusoe’s Parentage and Early History—The agonising pains and sorrows of his puppyhood, and other interesting matters. The dog Crusoe was once a pup. Now do not, courteous reader, toss your head contemptuously, and exclaim, “Of course he was; I could have told you that.” You know very well that you have often seen a man above six feet high, broad and powerful as a lion, with a bronzed shaggy visage and the stern glance of an eagle, of whom you have said, or thought, or heard others say, “It is scarcely possible to believe that such a man was once a squalling baby.” If you had seen our hero in all the strength and majesty of full-grown doghood, you would have experienced a vague sort of surprise had we told you—as we now repeat—that the dog Crusoe was once a pup—a soft, round, sprawling, squeaking pup, as fat as a tallow candle, and as blind as a bat. But we draw particular attention to the fact of Crusoe’s having once been a pup, because in connection with the days of his puppyhood there hangs a tale. This peculiar dog may thus be said to have had two tails—one in connection with his body, the other with his career. This tale, though short, is very harrowing, and, as it is intimately connected with Crusoe’s subsequent history, we will relate it here. But before doing so we must beg our reader to accompany us beyond the civilised portions of the United States of America—beyond the frontier settlements of the “far west,” into those wild prairies which are watered by the great Missouri river—the Father of Waters—and his numerous tributaries. Here dwell the Pawnees, the Sioux, the Delawares, the Crows, the Blackfeet, and many other tribes of Red Indians, who are gradually retreating step by step towards the Rocky Mountains as the advancing white man cuts down their trees and ploughs up their prairies. Here, too, dwell the wild horse and the wild ass, the deer, the buffalo, and the badger; all, men and brutes alike, wild as the power of untamed and ungovernable passion can make them, and free as the wind that sweeps over their mighty plains. There is a romantic and exquisitely beautiful spot on the banks of one of the tributaries above referred to—a long stretch of mingled woodland and meadow, with a magnificent lake lying like a gem in its green bosom—which goes by the name of the Mustang Valley. This remote vale, even at the present day, is but thinly peopled by white men, and is still a frontier settlement round which the wolf and the bear prowl curiously, and from which the startled deer bounds terrified away. At the period of which we write the valley had just been taken possession of by several families of squatters, who, tired of the turmoil and the squabbles of the then frontier settlements, had pushed boldly into the far west to seek a new home for themselves, where they could have “elbow room,” regardless alike of the dangers they might encounter in unknown lands and of the Red-skins who dwelt there. The squatters were well armed with axes, rifles, and ammunition. Most of the women were used to dangers and alarms, and placed implicit reliance in the power of their fathers, husbands, and brothers to protect them—and well they might, for a bolder set of stalwart men than these backwoodsmen never trod the wilderness....
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Fighting the Flames

Frank Wilders is a bright, shining young star rising to distinguished heroism in the London Fire Brigade. No one is more proud of his accomplishments than his younger brother, Willie. As Frank battles the flames, Willie learns what the heart of a hero is made of. Through daring rescues, valiant hard work, plots of arson, attempted murder and winning the worthy hearts of virtuous young women, the best and worst of mid-19th century London is exposed. Fighting the Flames: A Tale of the London Fire Brigade is a masterpiece of fiction; a beautiful tapestry woven of adventure, heroism and the broad spectrum of human nature. R.M. Ballantyne expertly maneuvers his extensive and intricate cast of characters through a series of crossed paths, creating lively interplay between the wide varieties of human personalities and foibles that create the diversity of city life--all in the shadow of the great nightly battle with the flames.
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The Garret and the Garden; Or, Low Life High Up

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
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