. Stories for the household . ounced that the brandy would be capital for a bad diges-tion, inasmuch as it was mixed with medical herbs. The draught thatwas now poured into the bottle was not so good as the red wine withwhich it had once been filled; these were bitter drops, but even theseare sometimes good. The new big bottle was to go, and not the littleone; and so the bottle went travelling again. It was taken on boardfor Peter Jensen, in the very same ship in which the young mate he did not see the bottle; and, indeed, he would not have knownit, or thought it was the same one ou
. Stories for the household . ounced that the brandy would be capital for a bad diges-tion, inasmuch as it was mixed with medical herbs. The draught thatwas now poured into the bottle was not so good as the red wine withwhich it had once been filled; these were bitter drops, but even theseare sometimes good. The new big bottle was to go, and not the littleone; and so the bottle went travelling again. It was taken on boardfor Peter Jensen, in the very same ship in which the young mate he did not see the bottle; and, indeed, he would not have knownit, or thought it was the same one out of which they had drunk a healthto the betrothed pair and to his own happy return. Certainly it had no longer wine to give, but still it contained some-thing that was just as good. Accordingly, whenever Peter Jensenbrought it out, it was dubbed by his messmates The Apothecary. Itcontained the best medicine, medicine that strengthened the weak, andxt gave liberally so long as it had a drop left. That was a pleasant time, •. THE BOTTLE IS PBESENT 01T A JOYOUS OCCASION. and the bottle sang when it was rubbed with the cork ; and it was calledthe Great Lark, Peter Jensens Lark. Long days and months rolled on, and the bottle already stood emptyin a corner, when it happened—whether on the passage out or home thebottle could not tell, for it had never been ashore—that a storm arose;great waves came careering along, darkly and heavily, and lifted andtossed the ship to and fro. The mainmast was shivered, and a wavestarted one of the planks, and the pumps oecame useless. It was blacknight. The ship sank; but at the last moment the young mate wroteon a leaf of paper, Gods will be done! We are sinking ! He wrotethe name of his betrothed, and his own name, and that of the ship, andput the leaf in an empty bottle that happened to be at hand: he corkedit firmly down, and threw it out into the foaming sea. He knew notthat it was the very bottle from which the goblet of joy and hope hado
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