he young of the two sexes are left so much to
themselves, that it is no wonder children form that connection so often
without reflection and contrary to the wishes of their friends. Still,
the law of God is there, and we are among those who believe that a
neglect of its mandates is very apt to bring its punishment, even in
this world, and we are inclined to think that much of that which Mark
and Bridget subsequently suffered, was in consequence of acting directly
in the face of the wishes and injunctions of their parents.

The scene which had taken place under the roof of Doctor Yardley was
soon known under that of Doctor Woolston. Although the last individual
was fully aware that Bridget was what was then esteemed rich, at
Bristol, he cared not for her money. The girl he liked well enough, and
in secret even admired her as much as he could find it in his heart to
admire anything of Doctor Yardley's; but the indignity was one he was by
no means inclined to overlook, and, in his turn, he forbade all
intercourse between the girls. These two bitter pills, thus administered
by the village doctors to their respective patients, made the young
people very miserable. Bridget loved Anne almost as much as she loved
Mark, and she began to pine and alter in her appearance, in a way to
alarm her father. In order to divert her mind, he sent her to town, to
the care of an aunt, altogether forgetting that Mark's ship lay at the
wharves of Philadelphia, and that he could not have sent his daughter to
any place, out of Bristol, where the young man would be so likely to
find her. This danger the good doctor entirely overlooked, or, if he
thought of it at all, he must have fancied that his sister would keep a
sharp eye on the movements of the young sailor, and forbid him _her_
house, too.

Everything turned out as the Doctor ought to have expected. When Mark
joined his ship, of which he was now the first officer, he sought
Bridget and found her. The aunt, however, administered to him the second
potion of the same dose that her brother had originally dealt out, and
gave him to understand that his presence in Front street was not
desired. This irritated both the young people, Bridget being far less
disposed to submit to her aunt than to her father, and they met
clandestinely in the streets. A week or two of this intercourse brought
matters to a crisis, and Bridget consented to a private marriage. The
idea of again going to sea, leaving his