Quotation from: The Strength of the Strong

Written by: Jack London


Samuel became a teacher, much to his father's disgust, and even
took extra certificates, going to Belfast for his examinations.
When the old master retired, Samuel took over his school.
Secretly, however, he studied navigation, and it was Margaret's
delight when he sat by the kitchen fire, and, despite their
master's tickets, tangled up his brothers in the theoretics of
their profession. Tom Henan alone was outraged when Samuel, school
teacher, gentleman, and heir to the Henan farm, shipped to sea
before the mast. Margaret had an abiding faith in her son's star,
and whatever he did she was sure was for the best. Like everything
else connected with his glorious personality, there had never been
known so swift a rise as in the case of Samuel. Barely with two
years' sea experience before the mast, he was taken from the
forecastle and made a provisional second mate. This occurred in a
fever port on the West Coast, and the committee of skippers that
examined him agreed that he knew more of the science of navigation
than they had remembered or forgotten. Two years later he sailed
from Liverpool, mate of the Starry Grace, with both master's and
extra-master's tickets in his possession. And then it happened--
the thing the old crones had been shaking their heads over for
years.

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