westward. There was the majestic ship from India or
Liverpool; brigs from the Mediterranean, from Portugal, South America,
and the West Indies; schooners from the southern states, with flour, and
from Maine, with boards; packet sloops from New York, Philadelphia, &c.;
chebacco-boats from fishing on "Georgis;" and schooner-rigged
pilot-boats, darting about under jib and mainsail, and boarding every
vessel that carried the star-spangled "jack" at her
fore-topgallant-mast head. Nothing could surpass the tranquil life of
the scene: more than a hundred vessels, of all descriptions, were
gradually but rapidly approaching a common focal point, the narrow
entrance of Boston harbor, under the impulse of a fresh breeze from the
south-east, that had not as yet brought forward its accompanying fogs and
haze. The Albatross, her thin masts clothed from trucks to deck with
snow-white canvass, dashed rapidly up the bay, the jack flying at her
fore-royal-mast head, passing the low-decked molasses-loaded brigs from
the West Indies, or the faster sailing topsail-schooners from the
Chesapeake, inquiring the news, and furnishing matter for speculation to
their crews.

On the passage from China to Boston, Morton expressed some impatience,
particularly during the prevalence of calms or head winds; but Isabella,
like all young ladies similarly situated, was perfectly composed. Why is
it, dear dissemblers, that you always _seem_ to enter the holy state
with either reluctance or lukewarm indifference? when every body, with
half a head, _knows_ that matrimony is the "hoc erat in votis," the
grand object of all your wishes. Strange! that the laws of female
modesty should decree it absolute indelicacy for a girl candidly to show
her preference for a particular individual before the rest of his sex.
Strange! that modern mothers should uniformly caution their daughters
against marrying for love, as the most dangerous rock in their voyage
through life. Solomon could find but four strange things in his day, and
those four I do not care to repeat; if he had lived in these times, he
might find a hundred and fifty connected with a single matrimonial
engagement.

The Albatross arrived at Long Wharf early in the afternoon; and Morton,
having deposited his dear messmate and watchmate in the house of a
widowed sister of his father, went in search of a messenger to convey a
letter to his father; for, unless I am much misinformed, the mail only
went at that t