An Autobiography for Boys
by Captain Mayne Reid
We have chosen to include this here rather than in The YoungShellback's Library, since it is written in a very adult style. While the author writes about his experiences before the mast from when he is a boy, those experiences are adult to say the least. There were no "boys" before the mast; even the boys were men! As Reid says in the first chapter, "As I grew older, certain books had chanced to fall into my hands, and these related to the sea;--they told of lovely lands that lay upon its shores,--of strange races of men and animals,--of singular plants and trees, . . .These books strengthened the inclination I already felt to wander abroad over the ocean. . . . no wonder I became tired of home, no wonder my natural inclination grew into a passion. I could no longer resist. No wonder, I ran away to sea." When our young hero "runs away to sea" he is appalled to learn when first out at sea that he has shipped aboard a slaver! He is befriended however by another and older sailor who also wishes to escape and together, and after many perilous adventures, they finally succeed.
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