mals that preyed on the
human species were rare, and of dangerous serpents there were literally
none. These facts had been taught her by her father, and whatever her
feeble mind received at all, it received so confidingly as to leave her
no uneasiness from any doubts, or scepticism. To her the sublimity
of the solitude in which she was placed, was soothing, rather than
appalling, and she gathered a bed of leaves, with as much indifference
to the circumstances that would have driven the thoughts of sleep
entirely from the minds of most of her sex, as if she had been preparing
her place of nightly rest beneath the paternal roof. As soon as Hetty
had collected a sufficient number of the dried leaves to protect her
person from the damps of the ground, she kneeled beside the humble pile,
clasped her raised hands in an attitude of deep devotion, and in a soft,
low, but audible voice repeated the Lord's Prayer. This was followed by
those simple and devout verses, so familiar to children, in which she
recommended her soul to God, should it be called away to another state
of existence, ere the return of morning. This duty done, she lay down
and disposed herself to sleep. The attire of the girl, though suited
to the season, was sufficiently warm for all ordinary purposes, but the
forest is ever cool, and the nights of that elevated region of country,
have always a freshness about them, that renders clothing more necessary
than is commonly the case in the summers of a low latitude. This had
been foreseen by Hetty, who had brought with her a coarse heavy mantle,
which, when laid over her body, answered all the useful purposes of
a blanket Thus protected, she dropped asleep in a few minutes, as
tranquilly as if watched over by the guardian care of that mother,
who had so recently been taken from her forever, affording in this
particular a most striking contrast between her own humble couch, and
the sleepless pillow of her sister.

Hour passed after hour, in a tranquility as undisturbed and a rest as
sweet as if angels, expressly commissioned for that object, watched
around the bed of Hetty Hutter. Not once did her soft eyes open, until
the grey of the dawn came struggling through the tops of the trees,
falling on their lids, and, united to the freshness of a summer's
morning, giving the usual summons to awake. Ordinarily, Hetty was up
ere the rays of the sun tipped the summits of the mountains, but on this
occasion her fatigue had b