He is never happier than when he hears a gale howling through the cordage of his ship." "I have heard him spoken of as a very daring and self-relying commander.
But _you_ cannot entertain such feelings, Admiral Bluewater; for to me you seem better fitted for a fireside, well filled with friends and relatives, than for the conflicts and hardships of the sea." Mildred had no difficulty now in forcing a smile, for the sweet one she bestowed on the veteran almost tempted him to rise and fold her in his arms, as a parent would wrap a beloved daughter to his heart.
Discretion, however, prevented a betrayal of feelings that might have been misinterpreted, and he answered in his original vein.
"I fear I am a wolf in sheep's clothing," he said; "while Oakes admits the happiness he feels in seeing his ship ploughing through a raging sea, in a dark night, he maintains that my rapture is sought in a hurricane.

I do not plead guilty to the accusation, but I will allow there is a sort of fierce delight in participating, as it might be, in a wild strife of the elements.

To me, my very nature seems changed at such moments, and I forget all that is mild and gentle.

That comes of having lived so much estranged from your sex, my dear; desolate bachelor, as I am." "Do you think sailors ought to marry ?" asked Mildred, with a steadiness that surprised herself; for, while she put the question, consciousness brought the blood to her temples.
"I should be sorry to condemn a whole profession, and that one I so well love, to the hopeless misery of single life.

There are miseries peculiar to the wedded lives of both soldiers and sailors; but are there not miseries peculiar to those who never separate?
I have heard seamen say--men, too, who loved their wives and families--that they believed the extreme pleasure of meetings after long separations, the delights of hope, and the zest of excited feelings, have rendered their years of active service more replete with agreeable sensations, than the stagnant periods of peace.