THE SEA-SERPENT. 
13 
For over us, as over all, 
Thy tender mercies still extend, 
Nor vainly shall the contrite call 
On thee, their Father and their Friend.” * 
Dick Forbes could sing nothing so good as that, 
so he tuned his guitar with a careless air, and, 
sighing, declared the B string flat, and wondered 
what maid in the schooner there, possessed such 
voice, such feeling and skill, and who in the 
world the man was who sang with the maid and 
kept time so ill ; — he was sure he could teach 
him a thing or two. u That 5 s malice prepense, 5 ’ 
cried the gay Miss Wood ; u I never heard better 
time or tone ;— excuse me, but pray, Sir, be so 
good, ere you criticize others, to mend your own . 55 
Miss Wood was one of those fairies who can 
say whatever they choose in a certain way; when 
you gaze on her face, you are more than man, if 
you dare to dispute her magic sway. 
Forbes felt all this, so he didn’t speak, for he 
knew in a minute again she’d turn and ask him to 
* “ A Psalm of Night.” —W. H. Burleigh. 
