t
of dark recollections pressing heavily upon his spirit. And at last he
sought forgetfulness of his errors in the sparkling wine-cup, whose
draught he drained with an intense eagerness, for it enabled him to
mock at his misery.

And so five more years passed on, during which period his mind was
seldom free from the delirium produced by the practices to which he
had resorted; and having, in utter recklessness of spirit dissipated
his property, deprived, through his own weakness, of his rank as
captain, he was at length forced to lower himself to the grade of a
common sailor, for the purpose of obtaining the means of subsistence.
Then a severe illness, caused by free indulgence in intoxicating
liquors, overtook him--and with sickness came reflection, and he
resolved to yield no longer to the voice of the tempter. He recovered
from his dangerous indisposition, but remaining fearfully weak, the
physician declared that his constitution was completely shattered, and
that he was no longer fit for service. At first he insisted upon
resuming his wonted occupation, for he had no other way of maintaining
himself. The physician seemed to comprehend his reluctance to obey his
command, and he now reminded his patient of an institution in the
vicinity of New York, where the indigent mariner might find a home.

It was then that Captain Sydney--for so let me still continue to call
him--sought the peaceful shades of "the Harbor," where for two years
he had, indeed, found all the external comforts of a home, and but
for the voices of the past he would have had no cause to repine.

About a twelvemonth after his arrival at "the Harbor," a new inmate
was admitted there, in the person of an invalid sailor, who was said
to be in a deep decline. He seldom left the apartment allotted to him,
save now and then of a warm sunny day, when he would go forth, leaning
upon the arm of an attendant, and seating himself upon a bench in the
garden beneath the shade of a tree, remain there for hours, gazing
silently upon the blue waters of the bay before him. Regarded by all
as in a dying state, no one strove at these times to disturb his
reverie. His situation had excited universal sympathy, and frequently
the other sailors would steal to his side and softly deposit there a
small basket of fruit, or some little delicacy which they knew would
prove acceptable to him on whom it was bestowed.

Habitually reserved, and cultivating but little intercourse w