and Mary busied in a
multiplicity of household occupations, to which their white hands and
ringing voices gave elegance and grace--Sophia tying a rose to the
neck of a blue antelope which she had adopted as a companion--Frank
distributing food to the ostriches and large animals, and admit, if
there is a paradise on earth, it was this spot.

Compare this scene with that presented by any of our large cities at
the same hour in the morning. In London or Paris, our dominion rarely
extends over two or three dreary-looking rooms--a geranium, perhaps,
at one of the windows to represent the fields and green lanes of the
country; above, a forest of smoking chimneys vary the monotony of the
zig-zag roofs; below, a thousand confused noises of waggons, cabs, and
the hoarse voices of the street criers; probably the lamps are just
being extinguished, and the dust heaps carted away, filling our rooms,
and perhaps our eyes, with ashes; the chalk-milk, the air, and the
odors are scarcely required to fill up the picture.

Breakfast was spread a few paces from Mr. Wolston's bed, whom the two
young girls were tending with anxious solicitude, and whose sickness
was almost enviable, so many were the cares lavished upon him.

"You are wrong, Mrs. Becker," said Mrs. Wolston, "to make yourself
uneasy, the sea has become as smooth as a mirror since their
departure."

"Ah, yes, I know that, my dear Mrs. Wolston, but when one has already
undergone the perils of shipwreck, the impression always remains, and
makes us see storms in a glass of water."

"I am certain," remarked Mr. Wolston, "the cause of their delay is a
concession made to Willis."

"Very likely he would not consent to return, unless they went as far
as possible."

"By the way, madam," said Mary, "now that you have got two great girls
added to your establishment, I hope you are going to make them useful
in some way--we can sew, knit, and spin."

"And know how to make preserves," added Sophia.

"Yes, and to eat them too," said her mother.

"If you can spin, my dears, we shall find plenty of work for you; we
have here the Nankin cotton plant, and I intend to dress the whole
colony with it."

"Delightful!" exclaimed Sophia, clapping her hands; "Nankin dresses
just as at the boarding-school, with a straw hat and a green veil."

"To be sure, it must be woven first," reflected Mrs. Becker; "but I
dare say we shall be able to manage that."

"By the way, girls," said Mrs. Wols