180 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



not yet left her berth at all. To-day, however, several new faces 

 appeared at luncheon, and it is actually possible to take a rueal with- 

 out clutching frantically at the plate to prevent it from jumping into 

 one's lap. I think it immense fun, but stand alone in that opinion. 

 3y the way, everyone will call me " Doctor." It is of no use ex- 

 plaining. They all say that they have been accustomed to call me 

 " Doctor " as long as they can remember, and think they cannot call 

 me by any other title. 



Throughout my whole memory of him my father 

 was always very contemptuous with regard to the 

 " Mizpah " rings which have been and still are so 

 fashionable ; and he never lost an opportunity, in ser- 

 mon or in ordinary conversation, of inveighing against 

 them, and showing the fallacy of the misinterpretation 

 to which they owe their existence. For, as he was con- 

 tinually pointing out, the sentence, " The Lord watch 

 between me and thee when we are absent one from 

 another " (Gren. xxxi. 49), was not spoken in a friendly 

 manner at all, but merely implied that neither of the 

 covenanting parties could put the least faith in the 

 other. So far from being a prayer or a blessing, in 

 fact, it was practically an implied curse. And he seems 

 to have taken the opportunity of working this into one 

 of the " unconventional discourses," for on October 

 23rd, the " log " runs : 



It is so absurd. Lots of the passengers came up to thank me for 



my semi-sermons, and Judge F was very emphatic. He said 



that they never got such sermons in America, doctrine and florid 

 eloquence being paramount. He was delighted with " Mizpah," and 

 e^er so many of the passengers came to me lamenting that they had 

 sent Mizpah rings, &c., to their friends before starting. This even- 

 ing I gave the " Cockroach," putting up with a tarpaulin very 



