Clinton by Walter Aimwell

The sun, streaming in from the window, awoke Jerry from his slumbers, / after his first night in Boston. On getting up he found that his room / was higher than the surrounding buildings, affording an extensive / prospect. One of the first objects that met his eye he concluded must / be Bunker Hill Monument, as it resembled the engravings he had seen of / that structure. There were a great many church-steeples in sight, and / the houses seemed to be crowded together almost as close as they could / be packed. He could also see a strip of water, with numerous vessels, / one or two of which were very large, noble-looking ships. These last / were men-of-war, belonging to the American Government, and were / anchored off the Navy-Yard at Charlestown.

But Jerry did not stop to gaze long at the novel scene spread before / him. Other matters claimed his attention. As he dressed himself he / began to consider what he should do next. He was acquainted with but / one family in the place,-that of his uncle,-and he did not dare to go / to them, lest they should send him back to his home. If Oscar had only / been at home, he would have lost no time in seeing him; but he knew, / from letters received by his parents, that his wayward cousin had gone / to sea, several months before. A stranger, in a great city, with no / one to advise or assist, and cast entirely upon his own resources, it / must be confessed that Jerry felt rather dull, that morning. And yet he / did not wish to return to his home, and his greatest fear was that his / friends would discover where he was. He thought it would not be safe / to stay long in Boston, and so he determined to try at once to get a / chance to go to sea-a design on which he had set his heart, before he / started from home.