and mother. They have taken good care for the supplies.

MAX. And another important matter is, our talks together

JULIA. Which you will certainly take charge of, Sir Doctor?

MAX. That is to be expected. I will willingly do it to the best of my powers. But you would like to know what I-I know.

MARIA. What is it?

MAX. Yes, yes, you would be glad to know what I know! to tell you the truth, I am rejoiced that winter has come.

Gus Do not be so long in making believe. Go on, and give us as well as you can what you do know?

MAX. Hear, then! You have often wondered when father lately was more busy and active than ever-when he went straight from the table into his study?

Gus. Yes, indeed! It occurred to me that father did not take his usual walkhis rounds in the garden. But what in the world has that to do with our winter quarters, I should like to know?

MAX. A great deal. Father has many evenings in a week wholly at liberty this winter.

JULIA. Grand! that will allow him to relate something to us. He will go from the north to the south.

Gus. From Leipzig to Waterloo. MAX. Now hear further. You have often missed me, have you not?

Gus. Yes.

JULIA. How important the young man feels.

MAX. I have always been with father. He said to me that he would relate some story during the long winter evenings, and so I have examined and arranged all the maps, all the sketches, engravings, and books-in short, everything which is necessary for our instruction, so that I may find every sheet of paper in the desk.

Gus. Thank you, dear Max. Now there will be something to be heard; many famous men to be paraded out; many celebrated names come to light.

MAX. And many things will be made plain to us which we have not, heretofore, fully known.

MARIA. Well, my spinning-wheel is at a stand. It would give you fine yarn. But might I not properly advise both of

you young sirs to look around you beti for some work to do?

MAX. Do not be troubled; I shall ga and bind books.

Gus. And I will trim them. My of instruments has everything necessar JULIA. If I cannot go on with my s ning, I will pick over the peas and be MARIA. That is well, dear Julia. know that father is never more chee than when all with him are busy.

S

At this moment a maid-servant ente to spread the table for supper. came the father and mother; both of th looked cheerfully on their children, they also looked up, full of expectation their father. "Now, children, are you! troubled about the weather?" he asked

MARIA. No, winter must come, and sooner it begins the sooner it will go o

Gus. Our winter - quarters, too, good; provisions and company not so; and these make it very endurab As for marching and encamping, indee it is not very convenient.

JULIA. And the weather keeps our co pany so friendly together.

MOTHER. The time will pass away more agreeably when you know how connect useful labours with pleasant co versation.

H

MARIA. That Julia and I have both us taken care of, dear mother. stands my spinning-wheel, and there 1 for each of us a set of knitting-needles.

FATHER. And I will relate to you son story. Max has, perhaps, already toldyc about it. Will our winter evenings the be long?

ALL. No, indeed! The watchman warn us of the hour of the night soor than we shall wish.

Contented and cheerful, the family a their moderate supper. The children h never looked for its close with such longing desire. They knew what th might expect, for they recollected t winter before, the long evenings of whi notwithstanding all the storms and u pleasant weather, had passed away so u noticed and so gaily. Now the table cleared away, and every child sought place. All begun their work, and the gre est silence reigned throughout the roon FATHER. Now, children, what wo you rather hear?

MARIA. Ah, dear Father, you know best. You know how many beautiful voyages we have made round the world together. JULIA. You mean in thought? MOTHER. And you can learn more in this way than many who travel in a coach. Gus. That is very true, mother. I can draw out the plans of all the most remarkable battles and sieges.

MAX. And I can trace the route of the voyages and travels of Prince Maximilian and Kotzbue.

JULIA. And I know Robinson Crusoe's island, and am well acquainted with his colony, as in our little city. I can find my way all about. I know where the hateful savages lived, and I know, too, about Robinson Crusoe's and Friday's but as well as our own house.

FATHER. Then we shall begin a voyage, a long voyage to-day. Will you readily follow, and not become tired?

Gus. Lead us as far as you will, we will follow you.

FATHER. Very well-I shall hold you to your word; but we must agree on something. We can begin to-day one of two voyages, and you may take your choice. MARIA. How so?

FATHER. I can lead you into the coldest regions of our earth, where eternal ice covers the sea, where are perpetual snow, frost, and cold, into regions in which, for months, you see the sun, and then you lose sight of it for as long a period. Or, I will go with you around Africa to the East Indies, to the Island of Ceylon, but where we must meet with tigers, and have to fight with monstrous serpents. Now it is for you to choose where we shall go. JULIA. Ah, dear mother, do you decide Our opinions may be different, and that will bring on a dispute which will waste the time.

for us.

MOTHER. Shall I do so, father?
FATHER. Yes.

MOTHER. Then take a voyage to the north. The story will be so much the more impressive when the snow beats against the windows, and the weathercock creaks in the storm. You can much the more vividly conceive of what is frightful in these countries, if you only step to the window. JULIA. You are right, mother; and we have also this advantage-that we shall only freeze in imagination

FATHER. Max, bring the maps. Sprea them out here on the table. Gustavus, what map is that?

Gus. Of Northern Russia. Here is Mojaisk, there Smolenzko, where the great battles were fought. Pultawa is not on it.

FATHER. Because this map only includes Northern Russia. Here we see, Max? MAX. Lapland, Nova Zembla, and between the two the government of Archangel.

FATHER. Right; and these countries lie?

MAX. Between the sixtieth and seventieth degrees of north latitude.

JULIA. Oh, how cold it must be!

FATHER. Yes, indeed-the elevation of the pole proves this; for, as you see, this whole region lies at the most northern point of the Baltic Sea,—or, Gustavus ?— Gus. At the Gulf of Bothnia.

FATHER. In the same latitude. Add to this cold, too, the Frozen Sea and the vast marshy surface which forms the soil of these countries. There are few forests there, as the cold hinders the growth of trees; we find there no mountains, and the eye beholds nothing there but a dead, almost uncultivated extent of country.

JULIA. How glad I am that I do not live there!

MOTHER. You have good reason to be so; but had you been born and brought up in that region, you might, probably, have been as much contented there as you now are here.

FATHER. Here, on the map, you further see, Maria ?—

MARIA. The White Sea.

FATHER. Very true. A gulf of the Frozen Ocean, which runs into the government of Archangel, and receives the Dwina, one of the chief rivers of Russia, on the bank of which lies- what city, Max?

MAX. Archangel; a city which is well known by its extended trade into the Northern Ocean.

FATHER. Very well. Here we will stop, and will now go on with our story. JULIA. A good voyage!

Gus. And a favourable wind, for I suppose we are to go by water.

FATHER. Not long since there lived in Archangel a merchant in very good circumstances, by the name of Osarow. He

had only one son, Ivan, an excellent boy, who was distinguished by his desire for knowledge, and by his untiring diligence in learning all things that might be useful to him. To what profession or business he should devote himself, he had not yet decided; but he was satisfied to learn everything that appeared to him he might possibly have occasion to make use of hereafter. He knew that useful knowledge would never do any harm, but that it was always profitable. Osarow's brother, also a merchant, died, and Ivan's father took the son left by his deceased brother into his own family. The two brothers had been united and affectionate friends during their whole life; this love was now transferred from the father to the son, and Ivan's father regarded Gregory, for this was the fatherless and motherless orphan's name, as his own son; and both boys, who were of about an equal age, were almost inseparable from each other. Gregory had great goodhumour; he was industrious, presevering, and decided, in short, he was a boy deserving of love, and so was Ivan; but the latter too often allowed himself to be led away by one fault. This consisted in a certain levity which frequently prevented him from acting rationally and decidedly. Though at this moment he was ever so firmly convinced of the importance of a thing, on the slightest occasion the whole became ridiculous to him. Though he might now promise something, with the most serious intention of fulfilling it, at the next moment all was forgotten. He regarded too little the consequences of his actions.

-

MOTHER. This is a great fault, and the source of various misfortunes. Shun this course, and be well convinced of its sad consequences. This I would say to you, particularly, Gustavus. You often act in your most impetuous violence, without thinking of the consequences.

Gus. Do not be troubled, good mother, I have already become much changed, and shall always more and more lay aside this fault.

MOTHER. God grant that it may be so. FATHER. Gregory had also the fault of undertaking many things, the consequences of which he had not always thought of, but often repented of having done them. Both of the young men had been obliged to

devote themselves to trade, according to the wishes of the aged Osarow; but the sitting still behind account books, writing many letters, and especially the waiting for the customers in the shop, during their years of learning,-all these things were particularly disagreeable to Gregory's taste. The old Osarow was a prudent man of good sense. He thought how different the views and inclinations are, which God has implanted in the hearts of men. He had often experienced how children thus became unhappy, while their parents forced them into a kind of life to which they felt the prompting of no inelination. As a prudent father, anxious for the true welfare of his child, he examined into their inclinations, and discovered in both of them an all-overpowering inclination to see the world, and make distant voyages. He represented to them the happiness of a quiet, peaceful, and domestic life, and he pourtrayed to them, in lively colours, the dangers and inconveniences they must meet with-but all in vain.

MARIA. That does not please me in Ivan and Gregory.

Gus. Now I do not know whether they exactly deserve blame. What do you think, father?

FATHER. That you are not wholly wrong, Gustavus. Both were quick, energetic, and resolute youths; they deserved to be praised for following out this preference of theirs, if they felt that, in this way, they could be more useful to the world than in any other.

MOTHER. Therefore God has wisely ordained that the inclinations of men should be as various as the features of their countenances. One chooses this condition, and another that; only a man should select a business adapted to his situation and powers, otherwise he occupies a false position, and will be unhappy.

FATHER. Very true. A man is never more unhappy than when he is not in his proper place. You will often see that in the world. God grant that you may not have to experience it. But to return to Ivan and Gregory. With the greatest respect and confidence, Ivan disclosed to his father his predominant inclination, and begged of him his consent, and promised to do all honour to him. Osarow

saw how much his heart was in it, and yielded to his wishes. MARIA. What choose?

profession did they

FATHER. Both of them felt the strongest inclination in general for voyaging; both of them wished to be useful to their country as seamen, and to acquire for themselves a celebrated name in the history of

MAX. Certainly; they must be at home in mathematics, and astronomy, in natural history and geography; and that they should be also acquainted with foreign languages, is self-evident.

Gus. Not to mention that they must understand swimming, fencing, shooting, and all kinds of bodily exercise, by all means, if they do not wish to be borne down by the first dangers.

FATHER. The aged Osarow had many friends, and so it was easy for him to get his two beloved children admitted at St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire, as naval cadets into the Imperial Academy of Cadets.

JULIA. Cadets ? naval cadets?

FATHER. This is the name given to those young persons who are educated particularly for future officers in a public institution. The institution itself is called an academy for cadets, and it is a very excellent institution, especially for those who are in want of means to learn what their future destination requires of them. They are here taught everything at the expense of the government; they are clothed, fed, and like children are obliged to perform all the services of a soldier in miniature. The naval cadet is very naturally educated only for the naval service, and for this object he is taught everything which he ought to know as an officer of a ship.

Ivan and Gregory were both admitted into this academy; they distinguished themselves by their order and industry; and even many of the little light-minded tricks which Gregory, and, led on by him, Ivan too, were guilty of, were overlooked, in consideration of their greater excellencies of character.

also regulations or laws for the navy.

Most commonly this expression is used respecting those ships which particularly belong to the warlike service. To receive an appointment in the navy, is the same as to be placed in the actual service on board of a ship of war.

Such a post our young men were expecting, in order to practise whatever they had learned in their profession.

Archangel, as is well known, is a city of considerable trade, and is the only harbour in the Northern Sea. Here are to be found ships and seamen of all the commercial nations, but especially there are many English vessels, who, as you know from other accounts of voyages, have the most extensive commerce. I need not, therefore, tell you that Ivan and Gregory sought the intercourse of experienced seamen, in order to enlarge their knowledge.

They became acquainted at a certain time with a captain of an English ship which lay in the harbour, and who was only waiting for a fair wind to go on his voyage. This man was very intelligent and agreeable in conversation. Besides, he manifested a social and affable conduct, by which he attached everybody to him who became acquainted with him; and in short, he won upon the two young men in such a degree, that they expressed the wish to undertake a distant voyage in his company, and on an English ship.

"This wish you can easily accomplish," replied the Englishman. "You need only determine upon it, and I will warrant you that a voyage in my ship will be of the greatest advantage to you. Probably I may make a voyage of discovery to the North Pole. Our Parliament has offered a large

reward to him who discovers a north-west