"Now if you could have a nice looking lady operator, and could attach your tubing to the back of her head, and have her transmit the kiss as the mouthpiece of the machine, I should think your invention might be very popular."
Lovey received this suggestion with entire good faith. "Miss Anton," he said, beseechingly, "won't you act as mouthpiece and let me send a kiss to Dr. Curtiss?" And he could never quite decide why Emma Jane, who was usually so kind, declined in great confusion to render him this trifling service.
There was another little boy in the Home who made remarkable drawings--the one already referred to as Merry Twinkle. All of his family, even the female portion, were sea-faring people; his grandfather had been a sailor, and was now an inmate of the Sailors' Snug Harbor. His mother sometimes took Merry to visit him when she was back from a voyage, for she was stewardess on an ocean steamer. His father had been engineer on the same boat, but had been killed by a boiler explosion, and Merry had been _boarded_ hitherto with Mrs. Grogan.
One evening, after a visit to his grandfather, Merry handed Emma Jane a series of wonderful marines.
"Grandfather sang me a very old song to-day," he said. "It went this way:
Two gallant ships from England sailed; Blow high, blow low, so sailed we: One was the _Princess Charlotte_, the other _Prince of Wales_, Cruising down on the coast of Barbaree.
"This is a picture of the _Princess Charlotte_," handing Emma Jane his drawing.
"It is night, and the captain is pacing the lonely deck; he has set his lantern on a small stand, and has put his hands in his pockets to keep them warm. The second verse goes this way:
'Up aloft! up aloft!' our gallant captain cried; Blow high, blow low, so sailed we. 'Look ahead, look astern, look aweather, look alee,' Cruising down on the coast of Barbaree.
'Oh, I've seen on ahead, and I've seen on astern,' Blow high, blow low, so sailed we; 'And I see a ragged wind and a lofty ship at sea,' Cruising down on the coast of Barbaree.
'Ahoy! ship ahoy!' our gallant captain cried, Blow high, blow low, so sailed we; 'Are you a man-of-war, or a privateer?' says he; Cruising down on the coast of Barbaree.
'Oh! I am no man-of-war or privateer,' says he, Blow high, blow low, so sailed we; 'But I am a jolly pirate seeking for my fee,' Cruising down on the coast of Barbaree.