was crowded with bales of goods, casks of water, cabs, trucks, &c. Business men were hurrying to and fro, sailors were shouting to each other, and friends were hastily clambering up

have trodden the plank, regained the wharf, and now turn, before departing to their respective homes, to take a farewell glance at the steamer, as she moves slowly and gracefully away, bearing, it may be, from many their heart's

ing costume. She is alone, for her companion, an elderly gentleman, has left her

made to Mr. Cameron by his friend, the Rev. Mr

Wiltshire

I recognized the countenanc

ad a previous acqu

not, of Mr. Denham, of B--; but I first met her when she was visitin

relatives had become alarmed at her failing health,

he is goi

or her to be bride's maid. Miss Wiltshire has never seen any of the family as yet, with the exception of Mr. Edwards,

who for many years has been an intimate friend of mine, insisted on my performing the marriage ceremony. I maintained that it was the lady's privilege t

u again, and she will now have more agreeable company than an old man like me can possibly be; so i

ith one whom I had learned, during her brief sojourn, so highly

fondly on the shores fast fading in the distance. She was not apt to be melancholy; indeed, she seldom allowed herself to indulge in a mood so opposed to that cheerfulness which should characterize a Christian; but as she stood there gazing

t of her uncle, that if, on the expiration of her sojourn among strangers, her fanatical views; as he termed them, remained unchanged, she must expect to find herself banished from the home of her childhood. Poor Agnes! a painful decision awaited her. With all the affection of her warm and unsophisticated spirit, had she repaid the tenderness that had been lavished upon her, and now to find herself charged with having acted a foo

s applied to her agitated mind, "When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the floods, they shall no

ng to fear,"

ommands the

s the sto

is arm be st

o strong

her reverie by Mr. Ca

e, allow me to present

, for though Mr. Dunseer, having shortly after Agnes's departure for the city left that part of the country, had consequently heard nothing more of her, he still remembered his young and atten

xception of Mr. Edwards, she was totally unacquainted; and from the depth of her heart she silently thanked the kind Providence

weeping across the sky like armies gathering to battle, had obscured the light of the rising moon, that Agnes, with a heart peaceful and trust

t she was indeed "on the wide billows of the raging sea." Drawing aside the curtains from her berth, she glanced out into the cabin. It was not day, for the lights were burning brightly, but the place was a scene of wild dismay; women wringing their hands; children cl

ter?" was her fi

ick, my dear girl, secure whatever you find to be mo

about her person a small purse of money, and then aided the other lady passengers in their frantic efforts to prepare for this t

y her two friends, and followed by a number of the other passengers, ascended the

by deluging it with buckets of water, to mitigate in a measure, its ravages. All the fore-part of the vessel was burning, and awfully sublime was the spectacle as the flames mounted higher and higher, casting their lurid glare over the inten

tuous, was almost lost sight of in contemplation of the nearer and more fearful fate that awaited

a life-preserver, as soon as she was safely seated handed it to her, observing that if

a time, Agnes inquired anxiously of the two ge

than the lady passengers and the sailors who are to manage it. We are to embark, as soon as you are safely off, in another, but as both will s

bove the roaring flames and raging billows, "we are steering, I trust, for the same shore, and should we never meet aga

"If anything should happen to me, and you again behold my friends, tell them, oh, tell them, that my last thoughts were f

e sentence; she could no l

Mr. Cameron, after promising compliance with

e solemn ejaculation of Mr. Dunseer, as pressing for the last time her hand, the final order was given, the boat pushed out from the side of the