served besides to instil into me a calm and patient resolve to depend
solely on myself; and effacing, so far as I might, all hopes of tracing
out my family, I determined now to deem no labor too humble by which I
might earn a livelihood.

I am now speaking of fifty years ago, and the world has made rapid
strides since that. The growing necessities of our great population, and
the wide field for enterprise offered by our colonies, have combined to
produce a social revolution few could have predicted once. The well-born
and the tenderly-nurtured have now gone forth in thousands to try their
fortunes in far-away lands, to brave hardships and encounter toil that
the hard sons of labor themselves are fain to shrink from; but at the
time I speak of, this bold spirit had not burst into life,--the world
was insolent in its prosperity, and never dreamed of a reverse.

By transcribing letters and papers for one of the officials while in
jail, I had earned four shillings; and with this sum, my all in the
world, I now found myself following the flood-tide of that host which
moves daily along the Strand in London. I had breakfasted heartily
before I left the prison, and resolving to hoard up my little treasure,
determined to eat nothing more on that day. As I walked along I felt
that the air, sharp and frosty as it was, excited and invigorated me.
The bright blue sky overhead, the clear outline of every object, the
brisk stir and movement of the population, all helped to cheer my
spirits, and I experienced a sense of freedom, as that of one who,
having thrown off a long-carried burden, is at last free to walk
unencumbered. A few hours before I fancied I could have been well
satisfied to wear out life within the walls of my prison, but now I felt
that liberty compensated for any hardship. The town on that morning
presented an aspect of more than ordinary stir and excitement. Men were
at work in front of all the houses, on ladders and scaffoldings; huge
frameworks, with gaudy paintings, were being hoisted from the roofs, and
signs of wonderful preparation of one kind or other were everywhere
visible. I stopped to inquire the meaning, and was told, not without a
stare of surprise, that London was about to illuminate in joyful
commemoration of the treaty of peace just signed with France. I thanked
my informant, and moved on. Assuredly there were few in either country
who had less reason to be interested in such tidings than myself. I