eartfelt joyousness, the cause of
which I must record as a tribute of gratitude due to one of the "not
unwashed," but muddy-minded multitude.

I was stealing along mournfully under the play-ground wall with no hasty
or striding step, not particularly wishing any rough or close contact of
certain parts of my dress with my person, my passing schoolmates looking
upon me in the manner that Shakespeare so beautifully describes the
untouched deer regard the stricken hart. My soul was very heavy, and
full of dark wonder. The sun was setting, and, to all living, it is
either a time of solemn peace, or of instinctive melancholy when looked
upon by the solitary one. Of a sudden I was roused from my gloom by the
well-known, yet long missed shout of "Ralph! Ralph!" and, looking up, I
discovered the hard-featured, grinning physiognomy of Joe Brandon,
actually beaming with pleasure, on the top of the wall. How glad he
was! How glad I was! He had found me! Instead of seeking the Lord in
his various conventicles on the Sunday, he had employed that day,
invariably, after I had been taken from his house, in reconnoitring the
different boarding-schools in the vicinity, and at some distance from
the metropolis. To this, no doubt, he was greatly instigated by the
affection of my nurse, but I give his own heart the credit of its being
a labour of love. The wall being too high to permit us to shake hands,
at my earnest entreaty, he went round to the front; but, after having
made known his desire,--literally, "a pampered menial drove him from the
door." Well, the wall, if not open to him, was still before and above
him, and he again mounted it. Our words were few, as the boys began to
cluster around me. He let drop to me fourpence-halfpenny, folded in a
piece of brown paper, and disappeared. Oh, how I prize that pilgrim
visit! Forget it, I never can! That meeting was to me a one bright
light on my dark and dreary path. It enabled me to go forward; there
was not much gloom between me and happier days--perhaps the light of joy
that that occurrence shed enabled me to pass over the trial. It might
have been that, at that period, I could have borne no more, and should
have sunk under my accumulated persecutions. I will not say that so it
was, for there is an elasticity in early youth that recovers itself
against much--yet I was at that time heavy indeed with exceeding
hopelessness. All I can say to the sneerer is, I wish, that at