2 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



pleasure granted him, not only out of parental love, 

 but with the constant purpose to shield him from dan- 

 ger and accident. His father was of an easy temper, 

 who interfered but little with his education, only exact- 

 ing strict obedience. 



It was not hard for the boy to give this obedience, 

 for the commands of the mother were never direct but 

 through the subtler influence of a strong maternal love, 

 and the disposition of the boy was one of generosity 

 and docility. He was a hard student, thorough in his 

 application to books, and faithful to his school work. 

 His spirit and energy, hemmed in upon the adventur- 

 ous side, found exercise in an intellectual ardor, and he 

 was a fiery little orator and writer. Nevertheless, and 

 it may be because of the repression to which he was 

 so constantly subjected, he was restless and filled with 

 an uneasy desire for larger liberty. 



"When he was eleven or twelve years of age he fell 

 in with some tales of naval exploits of the War of 

 1812, which recounted the heroism of young midship- 

 men. Porter and Farragut being especially named, and 

 his ambition was kindled to make as great a reputation 

 for himself in the same profession. Shortly after, in 

 1857, he was selected as a candidate, from the jDublic 

 school which he attended, for an appointment to the 

 Naval Academy, but his parents refused their consent, 

 to his bitter disappointment. They had other plans for 

 him, and proposed to enter him at the Free Academy, 

 now the College of the City of New York, when an 

 accident occurred which led to a change in his life. 

 On one of those straight marches home from school 

 which parental law had made a part of the routine of 

 his life, he was the mark for a party of his companions 

 who shot their snow and ice balls at the exclusive little 



