13 O B, 
 
 THE CABIN-BOY 
 
 SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 
 
 'idlp MUl.liEUKY-STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
BOB, THE CABIX-BOY. 
 
 Bob's father was dead. He died 
 when Bob was so young that the 
 child did not know as lie had ever 
 seen him. Don't you pity little Bob ? 
 Would not you feel very sorrv if 
 your father should be taken away 
 and you never see him again? 
 
 But Bob had a mother. Yes, that 
 
4 BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 
 
 was she on her last sick bed ; all the 
 long years since his father had died 
 she had worked hard to get enough 
 to live on with her little boy through 
 heat and cold, and wet and dry, till 
 at last she was worked out, and she 
 lay down to die. 
 
 She had been a good mother to 
 Bob ; she had read the Bible to him, 
 and told him all about God, and the 
 good place up in the skies where his 
 papa had gone, and where she was 
 going, and where he too would go if 
 
BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 5 
 
 he were good. And Bob loved his 
 mother very dearly, and he loved 
 the Bible and he loved God. A very 
 o-ood boy was little Bob; but it 
 was a sad, sad day to him when his 
 mother died. 
 
 lie sat by her side all the time 
 she was siek, and read to her from 
 the Bible, and talked with her till 
 he felt as if his little heart was ready 
 to break. "Mother, mother, take 
 me with yon, will yon not? "What 
 will become of vonr little Bob when 
 
() BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 
 
 '5 
 
 you are gone ? I shall have no 
 place to live in. I would so much 
 rather die and go to the good place 
 with you." 
 
 " Yes, my child," the mother 
 would say, " it grieves me to the 
 heart to leave } r ou here, and T can- 
 not tell where you will go ; but the 
 good Lord will take care of you, and 
 it will not be long ere you will come 
 to be with me. Be a very good boy. 
 Always be ready to do a kind act to 
 all that come in your way, and you 
 
BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 7 
 
 will find friends. Come and kiss 
 me, nry boy; 1 ' and then the poor 
 child would lay his head on the bed- 
 side and sob himself to sleep. 
 
 The poor woman had a few friends, 
 but they were as poor as herself, and 
 had little mouths in their own houses 
 to feed. But one that lived near by 
 said that he would take poor Bob 
 and care for him till he could find 
 some one else to take him, and so 
 the poor woman died with a smile 
 on her face. 
 
8 
 
 BOB, THE CABIN-BOW 
 
 Spring came. The leaves were on 
 the trees, and the gram was green 
 on the hi]hskles and in the grave- 
 yard ; but it had not grown much on 
 the new made grave, when a place 
 was found for Bob as cabin-boy on 
 board of a ship. It was not such a 
 place as his mother would have 
 wished for her boy, but it was the 
 best that could be done then, and 
 the poor man felt as if he could keep 
 him no longer. And so he went, 
 and though his little heart was 
 
■I 
 
 DOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 9 
 
 ready to burst with grief, he would 
 
 say to himself, "I must do good 
 
 and I will get friends, and it is only 
 
 a little while till I go to be with my 
 
 mother." 
 
 Sailors are a hard set of men. 
 
 They were so on the ship where Bob 
 
 was. They would swear, and drink, 
 
 and fight, and at first they made 
 
 fun of poor Bob ; but lie was so 
 
 active, and so ready to learn, and so 
 
 willing to do any little thing for 
 
 them, that he soon got their good- 
 
 1* 
 
JO BOB, THE CABIN-BO^. 
 
 will, though on the whole he led a 
 hard life of it. 
 
 The captain was a proud, cold, 
 hard man, and the sailors did not 
 like him. After a while he was taken 
 sick, and they would none of 
 them mind him. They took the 
 care of the ship into their own 
 hands, and if the poor sick man crept 
 out on deck they took no notice of 
 a word he said. Then he would 
 swear and rave away at them, and 
 this made him so much worse that 
 
BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 11 
 
 at last he was too sick to come out 
 at all, and none of them went in 
 to see him, so then he lay very ill 
 and quite alone. 
 
 Little Bob saw all this, but he 
 hardly knew what to do. The cap- 
 tain had always been cross to him, 
 and now he feared he would be 
 worse than ever. But he felt very 
 sorry for him, and his mother's 
 words came to his mind, "Be kind 
 to all," and he said to himself, "I 
 can but try it anyhow " 
 
12 BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 
 
 So lie went very softly to the cap- 
 .tain's door and tapped with his little 
 fingers. "Who's there?" asked the 
 captain in a very gm& voice. "It's 
 little Bob, sir. ; Can I do anything 
 for yon ?" 
 
 "Go jo your work you little 
 rascal," was the angry reply, "and 
 don't come here to plague me." 
 
 Little Bob stole away more softly 
 than he came, but there was no 
 anger in his heart toward the bad 
 man. There was pity there, and he 
 
BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 13 
 
 made up bis mind that he would go 
 ai>-ain the next dav. So the brave lit- 
 tie fellow went and tapped again at the 
 door, "Who's there?" was the re- 
 ply.' " Can't I do something for 
 you to-day, sir ?" asked the little boy. 
 "No, no; go away," said the hard- 
 hearted man. But Bob took notice 
 that his voice was not so harsh as 
 it was the day before, and he called 
 him no harsh names, and he said to 
 himself, " lie will let me in by and 
 by if I keep on." 
 
14 BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 
 
 He was so sure of this that lie 
 could not wait till the next day, but 
 lie went again toward night. All 
 the day the captain had thought 
 over the kind act of little Bob, the 
 only one of them all that had come 
 near him; and his hard heart had 
 begun to melt, and he made up his 
 mind that if he came again he would 
 let him come in. 
 
 So he was glad to hear that 
 little tap at his door. " Come in," 
 said he, and Bob came in softly on 
 
BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 15 
 
 "} 
 
 tiptoe, and said very gently, " Please, 
 sir, can I make your bed for you, and 
 get you a cup of tea ? I'll do it 
 very nicely and very quickly, sir." 
 
 "Well, Bob, } T ou may do it if } r ou 
 like." His little heart beat almost 
 wild with joy. The bed was soon 
 made, ami away he ran and soon 
 came back with a little tray on 
 which was a plate of toast, and a 
 cup of tea, and some crackers, and 
 it was so nice that the captain 
 aeo-med to like it very much. 
 
16 BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 
 
 Now Bob always carried his little 
 Bible that his mother had given him 
 in his pocket, and as he stood there 
 by the bedside the captain saw it. 
 
 "What book is that?" said he. 
 
 " It is a book my mother gave 
 me, sir," said Bob, " the nicest book 
 yon ever saw." 
 
 "Can you read it, Bob ?" 
 
 "0 yes, sir; my mother taught 
 me, and I should like to read it to 
 you if you please, sir." 
 
 "Well, yes, I don't care if you 
 
BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 17 
 
 do. The truth is I'm tired of lying 
 here alone with nothing to do. 
 Take away this tray now, I have 
 clone, and then you may read." 
 
 Bob took awav the tray, and then 
 sat down on a box by the bedside 
 and took out his Bible, lie found 
 one of the places where it tells about 
 Jesus, how he went about doing- 
 good, how kind he was to the poor, 
 and the sick, and the lame, and the 
 blind, and how he healed them and 
 forgave their sins. He read on a 
 
18 BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 
 
 long time, and the poor man drank 
 in every word, and when the boy 
 stopped he asked him to come again 
 the next day. 
 
 After this he was with the cap- 
 tain almost all the time. Tie took 
 the best care of him that he conld; 
 he brought him food and clean 
 clothes, and kept the room in order, 
 and, in short, made a very good little 
 nurse. Still he was more of a 
 teacher than a nnrse, and for lon<>- 
 hours they would sit and talk of 
 
BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 19 
 
 Jesus and the Bible, and how to be 
 good. Little Bob told lrim about his 
 mother, and all that she had taught 
 him, and all that he had learned at 
 the Sunday-school. It was a good 
 thing' that Bob had learned so much ; 
 it was a good thing that he did not 
 forget what he had learned, for he 
 was now able to tell almost all that 
 the captain wanted to know. 
 
 At last some of the crew began to 
 wonder what made Bob visit the 
 cross captain so much, and one came 
 
20 
 
 BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 
 
 •ind put his ear to the door from 
 day to day and heard some of the 
 things that were said. Then he 
 went and told the others, and then 
 they asked Bob about him, and he 
 told them that a great ehange had 
 come over the captain, and that lie 
 was now very kind and good. So 
 one by one they got leave through 
 Bob to come and see him, and they 
 begged his pardon and lie begged 
 theirs, and they were all friends 
 again. 
 
BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 21 
 
 But the captain did not get well, 
 lie seemed to grow worse and worse 
 each day, and he told Bob that he 
 did not think he should live long. 
 
 "0 then," said Bob, " you'll see 
 my mother, won't you? and will you 
 tell her that her Bob is trying to be 
 a good boy and meet her in heaven ?' 
 "Ah, Bob," was the reply, while 
 the tears rolled down the poor man's 
 face, " if I am ever so happy as to 
 get to heaven I shall try to see your 
 mother, to thank her for myself for 
 
~^ BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 
 
 the good that you have done me 
 through her teaching. Pray for me, 
 Bob, that I may get there." 
 
 Bob's little Bible now was the 
 great comfort of the captain, and he 
 read it for himself when he was able. 
 One night he asked Bob to leave it 
 
 with him that he might read it wl)en 
 lie was awake in the night, and Bob 
 did so. Early the next day he went 
 as he always did and tapped at the 
 door. There was no reply, and he 
 tapped again. Still no reply, and 
 
BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 23 
 
 then he walked in. There was the 
 captain on his knees, with the Bible 
 lying open on a chair before him. 
 Bob spoke, but there was no reply. 
 lie came close np, bnt the captain 
 did not stir. lie put his hands on 
 him, and then lie knew that the cap- 
 tain was dead. lie died on his 
 knees praying oyer the Bible. AVe 
 trust that through what he learned 
 of Bob he sought and found the 
 Saviour and went to heaven. 
 
 Happy Bob ! How well he was 
 
24 BOB, THE CABIN-BOY. 
 
 paid for doing good! Go, little 
 reader, and do good also. Do good 
 at all times to all you meet, and the 
 Lord will bless you. 
 
 THE EXD. 
 
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