on the other, much of that comfort which springs from
spontaneous tokens of disinterested goodwill and of gratitude, even from
the poor and humble; but the _mens conscia sibi recti_ enabled him to
bear the former with composure, and the latter without vain presumption.

The day of departure at length arrived--and, young as I was, I still
remember as well as yesterday some of the circumstances. The family
proceeded from the only home I had ever known, towards the harbour,
accompanied by some of the most respectable inhabitants of the village.

After passing by the chapel, which stood conspicuously on a rising
ground, the party descended a steep road--like a patriarch of old going
on a pilgrimage through the world, with his children around him--to the
quay at which the vessel that was to bear us away was moored. The sea
beach and quays were crowded. The entire population of the burgh seemed
assembled. There were no shouts; but uncovered heads, and outstretched
hands, and old visages glistening with tears of kindness, spoke a
language more eloquent than words can utter. I was carried with my
mother on board the ship. The sails were unfurled, while we were grouped
on the quarter-deck. Most of the family went into the cabin; but my
father sat on a coil of ropes, and I stood between his knees, encircled
by his arm, and looking up in his face, which was occasionally convulsed
with marks of strong but suppressed feeling. The vessel bounded over the
waves of the German Ocean. My father spake not. His eye was still bent
on the rocky cliffs (near which stood his church and dwelling of peace),
after it could not discern the people that clustered on their summits.
He wrapped me in his cloak, and held me to his bosom; and, for the first
time, I felt a sad consciousness that I was without a home in the world.

My first voyage in life was a rough one. The "Good Intent" of
Bellerstown, in which my father and his family had embarked, as already
stated, was a coasting trader, and was bound on this occasion for Leith,
whence the patriarch of this intended emigration, and his partner, and
little ones, were meant to be transferred to Greenock, as the port of
final embarkation for the United States. To those who have had occasion
to sojourn in such bottoms as the "Good Intent," ere yet the Berwick
smacks and other vessels of a superior class had been established in the
coasting trade of Scotland, it is needless to offer any description of
s