We are all alone in the nursery, And I want to talk to you, dear; So you must come and sit by me, And make believe you hear.
You see, there's a new year coming-- It only begins to-day. Do you know I was often naughty In the year that is gone away?
You know I have some bad habits, I'll mention just one or two; But there really is quite a number Of naughty things that I do.
You see, I don't learn my lessons, And oh! I do hate them so; I doubt if I know any more to-day Than I did a year ago.
Perhaps I am awfully stupid; They say I'm a dreadful dunce. How would you like to learn spelling? I wish you could try it once.
And don't you remember Christmas-- 'Twas naughty, I must confess-- But while I was eating my dinner I got two spots on my dress.
And they caught me stealing the sugar; But I only got two little bits, When they found me there in the closet, And frightened me out of my wits.
And, Pussy, when people scold me, I'm always so sulky then; If they only would tell me gently, I never would do it again.
Oh, Pussy! I know I am naughty, And often it makes me cry: I think it would count for something, If they knew how hard I try.
But I'll try again in the new year, And oh! I shall be so glad If I only can be a good little girl, And never do anything bad!
When a ship sinks some distance from the shore in several fathoms of water, and the waves conceal her, it may seem impossible to some of our readers that she can ever be floated again; but if she rests upon a firm sandy bottom, without rocks, and the weather is fair enough for a time to give the wreckers an opportunity, it is even probable that she can be brought into port.
In Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, and New Orleans, large firms are established whose special business it is to send assistance to distressed vessels, and to save the cargo if the vessels themselves can not be prevented from becoming total wrecks; and these firms are known as wreckers--a name which in the olden time was given to a class of heartless men dwelling on the coast who lured ships ashore by false lights for the sake of the spoils which the disaster brought them.
When a vessel is announced to be ashore or sunk, the owners usually apply to the wreckers, and make a bargain with them that they shall receive a certain proportion of her value if they save her, and the wreckers then proceed to the scene of the accident, taking with them powerful tug-boats, large pontoons, immense iron cables, and a massive derrick.