164 ISLES OF SUMMER. 
York, den for all der mutton in Nassau.” Though much in- 
terested in, he was glad to escape from New York, and affirmed 
that he did not get the deafening din of its horrible noises out 
of his head for more than two weeks after he left that city. 
For two or three hours after we landed, we were busy at times 
wiping the crystals of salt out of our eyes, which were occasioned. 
by the waves outside of Nassau light endeavoring to take posses- 
sion of our boat. As we recall this rather foolhardy sail, it brings 
to mind the anecdote of the newly-converted negro who was per- 
suaded to be baptized by immersion in the ocean, and having 
accidently slipped from the grasp of the officiating clergyman 
while his woolly head was under water, declared, so soon as he 
could get the sca out of his eyes and mouth—‘‘Some ean 
kum nare losing a good nigger by dis yere cussed foolishness.” 
Man is a gregarious animal, and when circumstances bring to- 
gether a large number of persons who are mostly strangers to 
each other, they soon feel the influence of some subtle social law, 
and form into groups. The foolish walk in company over the 
paths of folly in search of pleasure. Here music binds together 
with her tuneful strings and harmonious cords, those whose 
hearts are attuned to melody. There, sparkling wit, and amus- 
ing story, and clever anecdote, flash and scintillate from the 
erystalizing centers of another happy group. The staid, sedate, 
practical, matter-of-fact people, in their little corner, meditate 
and moralize upon the solid and substantial things of life, and 
mourn over the fast and foolish ways and the constantly increas- 
ing extravagance of the present degenerate age. Some are soli- 
tary, and get all the light and heat they seem to need by burning 
oil in their own little lamps. 
We cannot explain how it happened, but at Nassau we gener- 
ally found ourselves surrounded by congenial people. We fre- 
quently speculated upon what we had lost by not having known 
