PERSEVERANCE.

THE FARMER'S STORY.

PART I.

1. You may perhaps have heard that my father was a man of good estate;1 he thought of nothing, poor man, but how to spend it. He died at the age of five-and-forty, and left his family beggars. I believe he would not have taken to drinking, as he did, had it not been for his impatient temper, which made him fret and vex himself for every trifle, and then he had nothing for it but to drown his care in liquor.

2. It was my lot to be taken by my mother's brother, who was master of a merchant ship. I served him as an apprentice several years, and underwent a good deal of the usual hardship of a sailor's life. He had just made me his mate in a voyage up the Mediterranean, when we had the misfortune to be wrecked on the coast of Morocco. The ship struck at some distance from shore, and we lay a long stormy night with the waves dashing over us, expecting every moment to perish. My uncle and several of the crew died of fatigue and want, and by morning but four of us were left alive.

3. My companions were so disheartened that they thought of nothing but submitting to their 1Of good estate, well to do, rich, possessing property.

fate. For my part, I thought life still worth struggling for; and the weather having become calmer, I persuaded them to join me in making a kind of raft, by the help of which, with much toil and danger, we reached the land. Here we were seized by barbarous inhabitants, and carried up the country as slaves to the Emperor.

4. We were employed about some public buildings, made to work very hard with the whip at our backs, and allowed nothing but water and a kind of pulse. I have heard persons talk as if there was little in being a slave but the name; but they who have been slaves themselves I am sure will never make light of slavery in others. A ransom was set on our heads, but so high, that it seemed impossible for poor friendless creatures like us ever to pay it. The thought of perpetual servitude,2 together with the hard treatment we met with, quite overcame us; my poor companions drooped and died one after another. I was at first much downcast, and when all my companions had died and were gone I felt very lonely. Presently, however, I began to think it not impossible to mend my condition, and perhaps to recover my freedom.

5. We worked about twelve hours in the day, and had one holiday in the week. I employed my leisure time in learning to make mats and flag baskets, in which I soon became so expert as to have a good many for sale, and thereby got a little

2

1 Pulse, grain contained in a pod or case, such as peas and beans.

* Perpetual servitude, never-ending slavery.

money to purchase better food, and several small conveniences. We were afterwards set to work in the Emperor's gardens; and here I showed so much good-will and attention, that I got into favour with the overseer. He had a large garden of his own, and he managed that I should be suffered to work for him alone, on the condition of paying a man to do my duty.

6. I soon became so useful to him that he treated me more like a hired servant than a slave, and gave me regular wages. I learned the language of the country, and might have passed my time comfortably enough, could I have accommodated myself to their manners and religion, and forgot my native land. I saved all I could in order to purchase my freedom; but the ransom was so high that I had little prospect of being able to do it for some years to come. A circumstance, however, happened which brought it about at once.

7. Some villains one night laid a plot to murder my master and plunder his house. I slept in a little shed in the garden, where the tools lay; and being awakened by a noise, I saw four men break through the fence, and walk up an alley towards the house. I crept out with a spade in my hand, and silently followed them. They made a hole with instruments in the house wall big enough for a man to enter at. Two of them had got in, and the third was beginning to enter, when I rushed forward, and with a blow of my spade I struck down one of the robbers, and

gave the other such a stroke on the shoulder as disabled him; I then made a loud outcry to alarm the family.

8. My master and his son, who lay in the house, got up, and having let me in, we secured the two others after a sharp conflict, in which I received a severe wound with a dagger. My master, who looked upon me as his preserver, had all possible care taken of me, and as soon as I was cured, made me a present of my liberty. He would fain have kept me with him, but my mind was so much bent on returning to my native country, that I immediately set out to the nearest seaport, and took my passage in a vessel going to Gibraltar.

9. From this place I returned in the first ship for England. As soon as we arrived in the Downs, and I was rejoicing at the sight of the white cliffs, a man-of-war's boat came on board, and pressed into the King's service all of us who were seamen. I could not but think it hard that this should be my welcome at home after a long slavery, but there was no remedy. I resolved to do my duty in my station, and leave the rest to Providence. 1 was abroad during the remainder of the war, and saw many a stout fellow sink under disease and despondence.1

10. My knowledge of seamanship got me promoted to the post of a petty officer, and at the peace I was paid off, and received a pretty sum 1 Despondence, low spirits.