* *

TO MY WORTHY AND MUCH ESTEEMED FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR OF "THE CLOCKMAKER."

MY DEAR FRIEND,

Often have I looked back to the pleasant hours we passed on board the
good brig Tyrian, when, in the spring of 1838, we were quietly floating
over the waves of the broad Atlantic.[see Note 1] Never do I remember to
have crossed them so smoothly, and never certainly with more agreeable
companions. One of our party has long since departed for that country
from whose bourn no traveller returns. Poor Fairbanks! you knew him well
and valued his friendship--knew him to be a kind and a good man, and
that he loved his country well. Had he been as anxious to introduce
Railways into it as he was zealous about his Shubenacadie Canal, he
might perhaps have served it more effectually.[see Notes 2 and 37]
Another of our party, a true and hearty lover of his country, is still
amongst you; may his powerful mind so direct his great abilities as to
enable him to use them for his country's good; for much may yet be done
for Nova Scotia. Both he and you, I know well, have a friendly feeling
towards me, and you may perhaps have sometimes regretted, though not so
warmly as I have done (living as you both have been for years in the
midst of political excitement), that we have been so completely
separated. With this short preface, as an excuse for introducing your
names, I will now proceed, by recalling that moment so full of
excitement at the time and never to be forgotten,--when, to our
astonishment, we first saw the great ship Syrius steaming down directly
in the wake of the Tyrian. She was the first steamer, I believe, that
ever crossed the Atlantic for New York, and was then on her way back to
England. You will, I dare say, recollect the prompt decision of
Commander Jennings to carry his mail bags on board the steamer, and our
equally prompt decision not to quit our sailing craft, commanded as she
was by so kind and so excellent an officer. You will, I dare say,
recollect how soon flew the question through the captain's trumpet,
"Will you take charge of the mail?" "Yes, but be quick;" and the
trembling anxiety with which we watched mail bag after mail bag hoisted
up the deep waist of the Tyrian; then lowered into the small boat
below,--tossed about between the vessels, and finally all safely placed
on board the Syrius. It was a bold measure; for had one mail bag been
lost, our gallant commander would in all prob