love education

Chapter 48 June (4)
But first, I want to thank you, my father, for being my first teacher, my first close friend, for giving me so much wise advice, for teaching me so many things, And now, you are still working hard for me, hiding all your sorrows from me, trying to make my studies easier, and trying to make me feel that life is good; With you, my mother who longs for beauty, my most beloved and respected mother, you are my guardian angel. You have always liked my favorites and worried about my worries. You have experienced all my happiness and endured all my worries. For all my sorrows, you have been working, studying, and crying with me, you often touch my forehead with one hand, and point the other hand in the direction of heaven.I want to kneel in front of you like I was when I was a child, thank you for making so many sacrifices and love for me in the past 12 years, and you are just injecting your tenderness into me little by little Heart.

A Shipwreck (Story of the Month)

On a December morning just a few years ago, a huge steamer sailed from the port of Liverpool, England, with more than 200 passengers on board, including a crew of sixty.The captain and most of the crew were English, but among the passengers were several Italians, among them three gentlemen, a priest, and several musicians.The steamer was bound for the island of Malta, and the weather at sea was very bad.

There was a little Italian boy in the third class, he was about twelve years old, he was a little short for his age, but he was still strong, he had a beautiful serious face, he was Sicilian.He was alone on the fore-mast, sitting on top of a pile of hawsers, with a battered little suitcase by his side containing the meager necessities of life.He put one hand on the small suitcase and kept stroking it.His skin was tan, his long black, wavy hair fell to his shoulders, his clothes were ill-fitting, and a tattered cloak was draped over his shoulders, slung across his shoulders A battered leather pouch was tied to his belt.His eyes were deep, and he looked around coldly at the passengers, the big ship, the busy crew members, and the rather unsettled sea.He looked like a child whose family had just suffered an accident. Although his face was that of a child, his expression was very mature.

Not long after the ship left the shore, a gray-haired Italian sailor came to the bow and led a little girl. They stopped in front of the little Sicilian boy, and the sailor said to him:

"Mario, I found you a travel companion."

After speaking, she left, and the girl sat next to the boy on the pile of cables, and they began to observe each other.

"Where are you going?" asked the little Sicilian.

The girl replied:

"First to Malta, and then to Naples."

The girl added:
"I'm going to find my father and mother, they are waiting for me there, my name is Guileta Fagini."

The boy didn't say anything, and after sitting like this for a few minutes, the boy took out some bread and some shriveled fruits from his little bag, and the girl took out some biscuits, and they ate together up.

"Watch that over there!" cried the Italian sailor, passing quickly past them, "there's going to be a wind!"

The wind had been blowing constantly, and it was blowing harder, and the boat was heeling badly, but the two boys were not bothered by any seasickness, so they didn't notice it at all.The little girl smiled happily. She was about the same age as the boy, but much taller. She also had a brown face and a slender figure. She didn't look so healthy, but she was well dressed.She has short curly hair, a red square scarf on top of her head, and a small silver ring on each ear.While eating, they talked about their own stories.The boy's mother had died early, and his father, a tradesman, had also died in Liverpool a few days earlier, leaving him an orphan.Under the care of the Italian consulate, he was sent back to his native Palermo, where he had several distant relatives.The girl had been brought to London by a widowed aunt of hers, who was so fond of her that her parents gave her the child, expecting an inheritance in due time.However, a few months later, the girl's aunt was unfortunately killed by a carriage, but she didn't even leave her a copper coin.The child had to ask the consulate there for help, and they put the child on the same boat to be sent back to Italy.Coincidentally, these two children were handed over to the same Italian crew member, and asked him to help look after them.

"Originally," the little girl concluded, "my father and mother thought I would come home with a lot of money, but I didn't have anything, but they loved me just as much, and so did my little brothers. I have four younger brothers. I am the oldest at home. I often help them dress. They must be very happy when I come home. They will come out on tiptoe to meet me. Ouch! The wind and waves are really too dangerous.

Then the girl asked the boy:
"So you're going to live with your relatives?"

"Yes, if they want me."

"Don't they like you?"

"I do not know either."

"By Christmas I'll be 13," said the girl.

The two sympathetic children began to chat about the sea and the passengers who were with them on the deck.The two little fellows stayed together all day long, chatting now and then, and the passengers thought they were brother and sister, and while the little girl was knitting socks, the boy was lost in thought.And the sea got worse, and when it was time to go to bed at night, the girl said to Mario:
"Sleep well!"

"No one sleeps well, my poor children!"

At this time, the Italian sailor ran past them, he had just received the captain's order.The boy was about to say "Good night!" to the girl, when a wave accidentally hit the boy, which hurt him so badly that the boy was pushed down on the seat.

"Oh dear friend, you are bleeding!" cried the girl, throwing herself on the boy.

At this point, the passengers were too busy fleeing below decks to pay attention to the fact that a child had been injured.The boy fell unconscious from the blow.The girl knelt beside him and helped him wipe off the blood on his forehead. She also took off the red scarf on her head, trying to tie it on the boy's head.She held the boy's head to her chest to fasten the kerchief, leaving a bloodstain on the girl's yellow tights, just above the belt, as Mario struggled to sit up.

"Are you feeling better?" the girl asked. "I don't feel any pain anymore," the boy replied.

"Go to sleep, then," said Gilletta. "Good night!" Mario replied.

They went down the next two flights of stairs and returned to their respective rooms.Before long, the crewman's prophecy came true.Before the two children fell asleep, a terrible storm broke out, just like countless horses rushing against the ship. In a few minutes, a mast was broken and the side of the ship was thrown. The three lifeboats tied to it were blown away, and the four cows on the bow were blown away as easily as a few leaves.There was a sudden commotion on the steamboat, and panic seized everyone's hearts.Some screamed, others cried, and others kept saying prayers, enough to make hair stand on end.The storm lasted all night, and by dawn there was still no sign of it abating.Those dreadful waves lapped the hull and beat the decks wantonly, and then broke up and rushed everything around them back into the sea.The wooden outer wall of the steam engine room was pierced by seawater, and the raging sea roared and rushed into the engine room, instantly extinguishing the boiler.The engineers in the steam engine room ran away in fright.But the unscrupulous sea water was still rushing around, and suddenly heard a voice like thunder:
"Go to the pump!" It was the voice of the captain, and the crew rushed to the pump.At this moment, the ferocious sea water slapped the stern of the ship frantically, smashing the protective fence and the hatch, and a torrent poured into the cabin. Most of the [-] passengers died at once, and the rest hid in the huge public hall in.The captain stood up.

"Captain! Captain!" Everyone shouted the captain's name together, "What's going on now? Where are we? Can we be saved? Please save us!"

The captain waited for them all to calm down, then said calmly:
"Let's obey the destiny!"

A woman shouted:
"May God have mercy!"

There was a terrible silence, no one dared to say anything, and fear seized everyone.After a long time like this, the cabin was as quiet as a grave, and everyone was pale, staring at others blankly.And the sea, at this moment, was still furious and roaring, and the ship was heeling badly.At one point the captain tried to lower a lifeboat with five crew members on it, but the boat sank and the waves turned the boat over and two crew members drowned instantly, one of whom was the Italian crew.The rest tried desperately to grab the rope and climb aboard, and after this attempt all the crew lost faith in the method.

Two hours later, the ship sank to the portholes, and the deck was a bleak, terrifying scene, with mothers clutching their babies to their breasts; friends embracing each other Finally, they said goodbye to each other; some people were afraid of seeing the sea when they were dying, so they simply hid in the cabin; another passenger shot himself through the head with a pistol, and he fell headfirst at the bottom of the stairs. There they died; some women convulsed violently with convulsions; many more clung to each other, trembling like mad.Here is a sea of ​​crying, like the cries of countless people singing in a chorus, including the wailing of babies, and all kinds of strange and sharp cries.Everywhere you see people standing still like statues, dumbfounded, their pupils dilated and lifeless, like the faces of dead people or madmen.The two children, Gilletta and Mario, clung to a mast and stared out at the dark sea as if unconscious.The sea has calmed down a lot, but the ship continues to sink slowly. For them, life is only a few minutes left.

"Leave the longboat!" cried the captain.

Then, the last lifeboat was also thrown into the sea, fourteen crew members and three passengers all sat on board, while the captain remained on the deck, "Come down to us quickly!"

People in the boat shouted from below to above.

"I swear to live and die with my ship!" replied the captain.

"There's a ship coming toward us," the crew shouted to him. "We're going to be rescued in a moment. Come down quickly. Are you crazy?"

"I want to stay."

"There's room for one more person!" shouted the crew, turning to the others, "Let's give it to a woman!"

A woman came forward with the help of the captain, but when she saw the distance of the boat from her, she immediately lost the courage to jump, and she took a step back and fell on the deck.Almost all the other women on board fainted or were already half dead.

"Call a boy over here!" The crew continued to shout. By this time, the Sicilian boy and his little friend had already been frightened out of their shells. At this time, when they heard someone calling themselves, they The two seemed to be stimulated by a strong instinct at the same time, wanting to take this opportunity to save their own lives, they let go of the hands holding on to the mast almost at the same time, ran to the other end of the ship, screaming in unison:

"Take me away! Take me away!" He kept grabbing the opponent back, like two ferocious beasts.

"Only the youngest!" shouted the crew. "The lifeboat is overloaded! The youngest child!"

As soon as the girl heard this, she immediately let go of her arms, stood there motionless as if struck by lightning, and looked at Mario with dull eyes.Mario also looked at her, he saw the bloodstain on the girl's tights, and quickly remembered what happened yesterday.Suddenly, a holy light flashed in the boy's heart.

"Littlest child, come on!" The crew shouted in unison, already impatient, "We have to go now!" At this time, Mario shouted in a voice that didn't seem to be his own:
"You are lighter than me, you should go up, Gilletta, you still have your father, and your mother. I am alone now, and I have given you my seat. Come down!"

"Throw her overboard!" shouted the crew.Mario immediately grabbed Gilletta and threw her into the sea. The girl screamed and caused a big splash when she fell into the water.A crew member grabbed the girl by the arm and dragged her to the lifeboat.The boy was still standing on the side of the ship at this time, his head was raised high, his long hair was dancing in the strong wind, he stood there motionless, his expression was so calm and refined.The lifeboat left immediately, because the steamboat would create a huge eddy current when it sank, and it was very likely that the lifeboat would be caught in it and overturned.And the girl, who had been unconscious at first, was now staring at the boy and uttering an earth-shattering wail.

"Goodbye, Mario!" the girl sobbed, bursting into loud cries from time to time, her hand waving vigorously in the direction where the boy was standing. "Goodbye! Goodbye! Farewell!"

"Farewell!" cried the boy too.

At this time, Mario raised his hands high, and the lifeboat quickly left the dangerous sea under the dark night. No one shouted on the deck anymore, and the icy water had already started to beat and hit the deck. edge.Suddenly, the boy fell to his knees, clasped his hands, and looked towards the direction of heaven, while the girl couldn't help covering her eyes with her hands.When she raised her head again, she looked in the direction of the ship, and the huge motorboat had long since disappeared.

(End of this chapter)