Alice and Beatrice

								

‘He is steering, miss,’ said Bartlett.
‘But what is steering?’
‘Steering means guiding the boat; and this is done by a piece of wood at
the end, which Jack moves backwards and forwards in the water, and this
makes the boat go to the right or to the left, as his father tells him.’
‘How funny that is! How can a bit of wood make a boat go one way or
another?’ said Alice.
‘I cannot explain it to you now, dear Alice; but when you are older I
will show you how it moves, and what it does. This piece of wood is
called the rudder;’ and Alice watched the rudder some little time.
‘Why is there a hole in the sail, Jack?’ asked little Beatrice. ‘Is the
sail old?’
‘No, little miss,’ said Bartlett, ‘it is quite a new sail; but a lady
let her dog make that hole only last week.’
‘Why did she let her dog make that hole and spoil your new sail?’ asked
Alice.
‘The lady was playing with her dog, as she sat on the beach, and threw
stones for him to fetch; and at last she threw a stone on to the sail,
that was lying next my boat, and the dog jumped upon the sail, and
turned it over the stone, and then he bit and gnawed at the sail to get
it out. The lady did not think what harm she did me in letting her dog
make a hole in my new sail,’ said the boatman.
‘Did she not give you anything for the mischief her dog had done?’ asked
grandmamma.
‘No, ma’am, nothing; and she did not even say that she was sorry, but
took no notice, and walked away.’
‘That was naughty of her,’ said Beatrice; ‘I will not let our good dog
Wolf bite any sail.’
The wind filled the sails, and the boat glided quickly through the
water. The children began to enjoy the pleasant movement, and liked to
watch the mark in the water that the boat left behind it; and asked if
they might put their hands into the clear green water, which grandmamma
allowed them to do.
Alice soon cried out, ‘Oh, grandmamma, how far I can see into the sea!
How deep it is, and how green, and how pretty!’
‘Very pretty,’ repeated Beatrice; and both children looked long over the
side of the boat.
‘What is Jack doing now?’ asked the children suddenly, when they saw the
boy unwind some cord from a piece of wood, and throw the end of it into
the sea; then he threw another piece of cord, and then another, till at
last there were four strings in the sea, two on each side the boat.
‘He is fishing,’ said grandmamma.
‘Fishing!’ cried Alice; ‘please tell me how he is fishing.’
‘Each of these cords has a hook at the end of it,’ said grandmamma, ‘and
on each hook is a little bit of fish or meat. When the fish try to catch
hold of it to eat it, the hook sticks in their throats, and they cannot
get away.’
Just now Bartlett called to his boy, and said, ‘Jack, you have got a
fish on that line;’ so Jack pulled up the line—and it was a very long