table and chairs of cherry
wood; on the broad mantelpiece, for the fireplace was large, were
several brass candlesticks, very bright, ranged with foreign
curiosities, and a few shells; half a dozen prints in frames ornamented
the walls; and on large nails drove into the panels, wherever a space
could be found, were hung coats, P-jackets, and other articles of dress,
all ready for the pilot to change whenever he came on shore wet to the
skin. Everything was neat and clean: the planks of the floor were white
as snow, yet the floor itself was sanded with white sand, and there were
one or two square wooden boxes, also filled with sand, for the use of
those who smoked. When I add that, opposite to the fireplace, there was
a set of drawers of walnut wood, with an escritoire at the top, upon
the flat part of which were a few books neatly arranged, and over it an
old-fashioned looking-glass, divided at the sides near to the frame into
sections, I believe that I have given a catalogue of the whole
furniture. When I followed Bramble into the room, a little girl of about
nine or ten years old ran into his arms, as he stooped down to receive
her. She was a pretty child, with a very fair skin and rosy cheeks, her
hair and eyes of a very dark brown, almost approaching to black; but she
was not, in my opinion, near so pretty as my sister Virginia. As Bramble
kissed her, she exclaimed, "Oh, father, I am so glad you are come home!
Mrs. Maddox has been in bed ever since you left; her leg is very bad
indeed."

"Whew!" whistled Bramble, "I'm sorry to hear that of the old lady; and
how have you got on without her assistance?"

"Why, don't you think I'm very tidy, father?" said she, looking round
the room.

"Yes, Bessy, you are very tidy; and it's a pleasure to come home to a
tidy clean house. Here is a companion for you. I told you he was coming,
and you know his name."

"It's Tom Saunders, isn't it, father?"

"Yes, that's his name, for want of a better--so I leave you to make
friends, while I go up and see the poor old lady."

"You look cold and pale, are you not well?" was the first question of
little Bessy.

"I'm cold, and not very well," replied I; "I have not been used to
knocking about on board ship."

"Very true; I forgot you had never been at sea before. Come to the fire,
then, and sit in father's big chair."

"I never knew that your father had been married. I thought Peter
Anderson said that he was a bachelor."

"And