684 A DAY OF ENJOYMENT. 



and the lane being narrow, were waiting till we should proceed. The 

 presence of two horses prevented my discharging the gun, while the 

 eagerness of three bipeds to assail friend A -- 's eatables, effectually 

 put a stop to my withdrawing the charge ; so I popped the hammer 

 down, jumped into the gig, and away we went. At the identical angle 

 of the lane, where I had seen in her the morning, stood the little old 

 woman. " I am determined I will not be baulked this time," said I ; 

 and recollecting there was a shilling in the cushion pocket of the gig, 

 I turned quickly to get it, when my right hand coming in contact 

 with the muzzle of the gun, the same instant it exploded, and my 

 hand was blown to atoms. " God of heaven !" cried I, " what have I 

 done ? " but it was the only exclamation I made. In a moment I was 

 calm ; in a moment I was resigned ; and in one little moment I knew 

 the worst. On being conveyed to a surgeon's, immediate amputation 

 was found necessary, and it was a relief to my friendly operator, that 

 I felt as much aware of the necessity as himself. In a short half hour 

 I had lost my dearest limb : but I have said I was resigned I'will 

 not therefore attempt to excite those feelings in others, which I felt 

 it my duty to subdue myself. 



From the surgeon's I was taken to my friend A - 's. I re- 

 membered the pleasure I had promised myself at his hospitable 

 board, and contrasted it with the sorry figure I made above stairs. 

 Instead of asking the lovely Mary A -- to take wine with me, 

 she was administering a cup of thin gruel to me as a patient ; instead 

 of the jovial song, the friendly toast, and noisy jollity that I had 

 pictured, all below was silence, sorrow, and sadness and I the cause ! 

 I felt this more than all the rest. At an early hour the guests de- 

 parted with heavy hearts, and broken was the rest of poor A - and 

 his household that night. 



It would be tedious to recount my gradual return to health, though 

 gratifying to express my sense of the kind care and solicitude with 

 which I was tended at Hockitt's Hall. In a week I was enabled to 

 leave my room; in a fortnight declared well enough to journey home ; 

 and in a month became reconciled to my new self, thankful that the 

 reality, though stern, exceeded not the warning of my dream. 



J. W. 



TO ns 





lod* 

 i niq 

 > orb ioi 



lw> raqsq gi bfoil 

 . muteib ibrij avjsrf joix 

 iij saocjoiq oi %ed aw' ,bns 



, b/iB <ta9e!9te,- ->rfj'iol foffeUdBteo rfriw&TKv 



^tbA lOTitfiftlla lo 



