THE BALD-HEADED AMERICAN EAOLE. 13 



tlic numerous little islands about, a little isle of 

 about a quarter of a mile each way, wbicli -was 

 divided from tbe mainland by a gut, no wider tban 

 tbe Seine is at Paris, and balf-dry at low tide. 

 Here, in a little cottage, and about tlie year 1840, 

 lived a young girl, of about twenty-two years old, a 

 vigorous, masculine creature, witb an expression 

 gentle and stern at tlie same time, and a voice so 

 sympathetic, that it reminded me of the warbling of 

 an American thrush roosting over its young. Jessie 

 (that was the name of my poor little cottage-girl 

 who lived on the shore) had lost lier mother, 

 and her father was an infirm old man, who sat all 

 day crouching in the chimney-corner smoking his 

 pipe, and as quiet as the grave. Grief had well- 

 nigh made him mad; but Jessie took care bravely of 

 her four brothers, and thanks to the abundant 

 fishing which Avas in the neighbourhood, to the eggs 

 of the sea-birds, and to the wild deer which they 

 trapped, there was never any want of food in the 

 poor little home. The eldest of the boys was 

 about twenty years old, and the youngest (who had 

 been the innocent cause of his mother's death) was 

 about fourteen. This little fellow, who was st) 

 small of his age that no one would have supposed 

 liim to be more than eight years old, Avas the pet of 

 the family, and if ever the father had a smile for 

 anyone, it was for him. Ben was not clever at 

 fishing, or at cultivating the soil, or working in the 



