Friend and Foe by Charlotte Maria Tucker

"You'll never succeed, Ned! " cried Bessy Peele, with a little laugh, as she stood watching her maimed brother's attempts to write a letter.

Twice, the wind coming through the cottage door had sent his paper fluttering to the ground. Ned had raised it, and then tried to fix it by placing a pebble upon it, but the paper had slipped from under the pebble as soon as the sailor had begun to write.