t with my years or the gravity of my
profession--but you seem sad, Mrs. Wolston."

"Yes, Frank; you have recalled my absent son, Richard, so vividly to
my memory, that I cannot help shedding a tear."

"Is your son in orders then, madam?"

"He is precisely what you have pictured yourself to be, a minister of
the gospel, and a most exemplary young man."

"If," remarked Becker, "we have hitherto refrained from inquiring
after your son, madam, it was because we had no wish to recall to your
mind the distance that separated you from him, and we should be glad
to know his history."

"There is little to relate; he is very young yet, and as soon as he
had obtained his ordination, he was offered a mission to Oregon, which
he accepted; but the ship having been detained at the Cape of Good
Hope, he regarded the accident as a divine message, to convert the
heathen of Kafraria, where he now is."

"It is no sinecure to live amongst these copper-colored rascals," said
Willis; "they are constantly stealing the cattle of the Dutch settlers
in their neighborhood. About twelve years ago, our ship was stationed
at the Cape, and I was sent with a party of blue jackets into the
interior, as far as Fort Wiltshire, on the Krieskamma, the most remote
point of the British possessions in South Africa. There we dispersed a
cloud of them that had been for weeks living upon other people's
property. They are tall, wiry fellows, as hardy as a pine tree, and as
daring as buccaneers. The chief of the _kraals_, or huts, wear leopard
or panther skins, and profess to have the power of causing rain to
fall, besides an endless number of other miraculous attributes.
Amongst them, a wife of the ordinary class costs eight head of cattle,
but the price of a young lady of the higher ranks runs as high as
twenty cows. When a Kafir is suspected of a crime, his tongue is
touched seven times with hot iron, and if it is not burnt he is
declared innocent."

"I am afraid," said Jack, "if they were all subjected to that test,
they would be found to be a very bad lot. But now, since we have all
decided upon a profession, let us hear what the young ladies intend
doing with themselves; let them consult their imagination for a
beautiful future gilded with sunshine, and embroidered with gold."

"There is only one occupation for women," said Mrs. Becker, "and that
is too well defined to admit of speculation, and too important to
admit of fanciful embellishments."