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M*
ENOCH ARDEN il 3Q
69
ENOCH SAILS AWAY
love and health and honorable toil. Enoch's fishing prospered, and his trade extended far beyond the little town. Two sturdy children played about the little home, and awoke in the father's heart new ambitions.
"The babes must have a better bringing up than ours has been," he said to Annie, and she, a proud, devoted mother, gave smiling assent.
But the fortunes of the little family changed. Enoch, climbing on a tall mast, slipped and fell, breaking a limb. While he lay recovering, the third child was born, a frail and sickly babe, needing costly care and attention to keep the tiny spark of life from dying out. Then a rival hand, busy while Enoch was helpless, stole away much of his trade. Doubt and discouragement crept into his brave heart.
"Must I see my Annie toil beyond her strength, and my little ones lack comfort, after all my labor?" he thought bitterly.
When his gloom was deepest, a
shipmaster, having a vessel bound for China, came, seeking for a boatswain.
"My boat will not leave port for seven weeks," he said cheerily, "and your hurt will be healed before that time. Come with me, Enoch. There is a good chance for trade and profit besides your wage."
Enoch consented eagerly. ' ' It will give me a new start," he reflected. "I will sell my boat, and with the money buy a stock of goods for Annie to keep a little store while I am gone. Why should I not make several voyages, thrive in trade, and at last be master of my own craft ? Then I could care for Annie and educate the babes, and at last end my days in peace and plenty."
Hopeful and confident as Enoch was, it was a hard task to break this news to Annie. He guessed rightly that her woman's heart would shrink from the long separation, and imagine all the perils and disasters that could befall him. But in spite of her tender, tearful pleading, he held firm