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 makes 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 changed 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 
relicf or palliation for it in the philosophical reflections and teach- 
ings of alife time. There is an end to all things, and we de- 
voutly 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 
work—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 aslight 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 impending danger and basked on deck in the warm rays 
