CONCLUSION. 



441 



sence. The joy of arriving is always marred by hopes and 

 fears for the health and lives of our dearest friends ; we had 

 been eight months without information from our homes, and 

 it was not till the return of mail, that we felt sure of their ex- 

 istence. Can any one figure to himself the state of feeling with 

 which the first letter is opened and read ? It is worth a three 

 years' cruise to feel the joyousness of the moment, when we 

 can pronounce to ourselves "All's well." 



t 



THE END. 



56 



