[lemma=school | tag=□ | □]
[lemma=school | tag="," | □]
[lemma=school | tag="``" | □]
It was a lad , between fifteen and sixteen years of age , who went by the name of the " reefer , " having been a midshipman in East India Company 's ship . " down the hatch-way , singing , " Oh , no , we never mention him . One of them , however , an old salt , who had seen something more of the world ashore , set all to rights , as he thoughts - " Oh , ' vast there ! A broad-backed , big-headed Cape Cod boy , about sixteen years old , had been playing the bully , for the whole voyage , over a slender , delicate-looking boy , from one of the Boston schools , and over whom he had much the advantage , in strength , age , and experience in the ship 's duty , for this was the first time the Boston boy had been on salt water . The dancing is kept up , at intervals , throughout the day , but the crowd , the spirit , and the elite , come in at night . It was , course , too cold to carry on any ship 's work , and we had only to walk the deck and keep ourselves warm . One of the green-hands was a Boston boy , from one of the public schools , and , of course , knew many things which we wished to ask about , and on inquiring the names of our two Boston boys , found that they had been schoolmates of his . The carpenter , who was an intelligent man , and a thorough seaman , and had great influence with the crew , came down into the forecastle , and tried to induce the crew to go aft and ask the captain why he did not run , or request him , in the name of all hands , to make sail . " If we were only here for the last time , " we had often said , " with our top-gallant masts housed and our sails unbent ! " - " Ice ahead ! The tea for the cabin is , of course , made in the usual way , in a tea-pot , and drank with sugar . Few words were spoken between the watches as they shifted , the wheel was relieved , the mate took his place on the quarter-deck , the look-outs in the bows ; and each man had his narrow space to walk fore and aft in , or , rather , to swing himself forward and back in , from one belaying pin to another , - for the decks were too slippery with ice and water to allow of much walking . My companion on the yard was a lad , who came out in the ship a weak , puny boy , from one of the Boston schools ; - " no larger than a spritsail sheet knot , " nor " heavier than a paper of lampblack , " and " not strong enough to haul a shad off a gridiron , " but who was now " as long as a spare topmast , strong enough to knock down an ox , and hearty enough to eat him .