330 ISLES OF SUMMER. 



tic white-feathered water fowls, they unceasingly cut and skim- 

 med the dimpled waters which constitute that grand navigable 

 highway that separates and yet inakes one two great cities! At 

 half -past three o'clock, a steamer more beautiful than the rest, 

 with a proud air of conscious superiority, made her appearance, 

 and as she clianged her course to enter Peck's slip, the name 

 '•'Continental" was plainly discernable. The next twenty min- 

 utes were the longest and most anxious ones we ever experienced. 

 Stars may wander from their spheres and be lost forever, and 

 not affect us in the least — but to lose all one's wardrobe, includ- 

 ing one's newest and best *• store-clothes " — ah! that was alto- 

 gether more than our equanimity could endure; there was no 

 relief or palliation for it in the philosophical reflections and teach- 

 ings of a life time. There is an end to all things, and we de- 

 A'outly thank God that suspense and fear have their limits. The 

 last one of at least fifty baggage wagons that we examined con- 

 tained the missing objects of our heart's then, fondest affections. 

 The countenance of that old Jew who welcomed back the return- 

 ing prodigal son, was certainly less wreathed with smiles, and less 

 illumined with the light of a new joy, than was ours at beholding 

 at that auspicious but late hour, those missing trunks; and, after 

 seeing that they were properly checked and shipped, we went 

 again on board and were soon employed in reading Milton's great 

 Avork — so evidently composed for such an occasion as this — " Par- 

 adise Regained." 



The sea treated us tenderly. For a time it foamed, hissed, 

 howled and shook us up, but only, by giving us a slight taste and 

 token of its powers, to make us more appreciate the greatness 

 and goodness of its forbearance. For perhaps a hundred miles 

 each side of Hatteras, we crossed the great ocean storm belt, and 

 the sky lowered upon us as if in anger, but we soon sped away 

 from the impendnig danger and basked on deck in the warm rays 



