128 REVERENCE FOR THE LORD'S DAT. 
a fervency demonstrative of the warmest 
affection." 
Captain Beechey observes, that Adams 
on no occasion neglected his usual devotions. 
The old man, while on board the Blossom, 
slept in that officer's cabin, in a retired cor- 
ner of which he fell on his knees each night, 
to say his prayers, and was always up first in 
the morning for the same purpose. Captain 
Beechey, who made many highly valuable 
notes respecting the character and customs of 
the people twenty-seven years since, gives the 
following remarkable account of them : 
" During the whole time I was with them 
I never heard them indulge in a joke, or 
other levity ; and the practice of it is apt to 
give offence. They are so accustomed to take 
what is said in its literal meaning, that irony 
was always considered a falsehood in spite of 
explanation. They could not see the pro- 
priety of uttering what was not strictly true 
for any purpose whatever. The sabbath-day 
is devoted entirely to prayer, reading, and 
serious meditation. No boat is allowed to 
quit the shore, nor any work whatever to 
be done, cooking excepted, for which prepa- 
