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He saw the men leap into the boat . He heard them call to him to come . He shook his head . " When father bids me , I will go , " he said . And now the flames were leaping up the masts . The sails were all ablaze . The fire blew hot upon his cheek . It scorched his hair . It was before him , behind him , all around him . " O father ! " he cried , " may I not go now ? The men have all left the ship . Is it not time that we too should leave it ? " He did not know that his father was lying in the burning cabin below , that a cannon ball had struck him dead at the very beginning of the fight . He listened to hear his answer . " Speak louder , father ! " he cried . " I cannot hear what you say . " Above the roaring of the flames , above the crashing of the falling spars , above the booming of the guns , he fancied that his father's voice came faintly to him through the scorching air . " I am here , father ! Speak once again ! " he gasped . But what is that ? A great flash of light fills the air ; clouds of smoke shoot quickly upward to the sky ; and — " Boom ! " Oh , what a terrific sound ! Louder than thunder , louder than the roar of all the guns ! The air quivers ; the sea itself trembles ; the sky is black . The blazing ship is seen no more . There was powder in the hold ! A long time ago a lady , whose name was Mrs . Hemans , wrote a poem about this brave boy Casabianca . It is not a very well written poem , and yet everybody has read it , and thousands of people have learned it by heart . I doubt not but that some day you too will read it . It begins in this way : — " The boy stood on the burning deck Whence all but him had fled ; The flame that lit the battle's wreck Shone round him o'er the dead . " Yet beautiful and bright he stood , As born to rule the storm — A creature of heroic blood , A proud though childlike form . " ANTONIO CANOVA . A good many years ago there lived in Italy a little boy whose name was Antonio Canova . He lived with his grandfather , for his own father was dead . His grandfather was a stonecutter , and he was very poor . Antonio was a puny lad , and not strong enough to work . He did not care to play with the other boys of the town . But he liked to go with his grandfather to the stone - yard . While the old man was busy , cutting and trimming the great blocks of stone , the lad would play among the chips . Sometimes he would make a little statue of soft clay ; sometimes he would take hammer and chisel , and try to cut a statue from a piece of rock . He showed so much skill that his grandfather was delighted .
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