idual into whose hands it first fell, being of the name, read it
first, as a matter of course, when he carefully folded it up, and placed
it in a pocket-book which he was much in the habit of carrying in his own
pocket. On what principle this letter, unfinished and without a signature,
with nothing indeed but its general and comprehensive address to point out
its origin as well as its destination, was thus appropriated to the
purposes of a single individual, we shall not stop to inquire. Such was
the fact, however, and none connected with the equipment of the Sea Lion,
of Holmes' Hole, knew anything of the existence of that document, its
present possessor excepted. He looked it over occasionally, and deemed the
information it conveyed of no trifling import, under all the circumstances
of the case.

Both the enterprises of which we have given an opening account were
perfectly characteristic of the state of society in which they were
brought into existence. Deacon Pratt, if he had any regular calling, was
properly a husbandman, though the love of money had induced him to invest
his cash in nearly every concern around him, which promised remunerating
returns. The principal owners of the Sea Lion, of Holmes' Hole, were
husbandmen also; folk who literally tilled the earth, cradled their own
oats and rye, and mowed their own meadows. Notwithstanding, neither of
these men, those of the Vineyard any more than he of Oyster Pond, had
hesitated about investing of his means in a maritime expedition, just as
if they were all regular ship-owners of the largest port in the Union.
With such men, it is only necessary to exhibit an account with a fair
prospect of large profits, and they are ever ready to enter, into the
adventure, heart, hand, and pocket. Last season, it may have been to look
for whales on the coast of Japan; the season before that, to search for
islands frequented by the seals; this season, possibly, to carry a party
out to hunt for camelopards, set nets for young lions, and beat up the
quarters of the rhinoceros on the plains of Africa: while the next, they
may be transporting ice from Long Pond to Calcutta and Kingston--not to
say to London itself. Of such materials are those descendants of the
Puritans composed; a mixture of good and evil; of the religion which
clings to the past, in recollection rather than in feeling, mingled with a
worldly-mindedness that amounts nearly to rapacity; all cloaked and
rendered decent