' wild place they
ca' Canada?" "We maun try to be reasonable, woman," said his father,
"but I canna deny that the thought o' our first born son gaun sae far
awa gie's me a sair heart." It was equally hard for the son to bid
farewell to the land of his birth, and of a thousand endearing ties; but
prudence whispered that now was his time to go, while he had youth and
health, to meet the hardships that often fall to the lot of the
emigrant. When his parents saw how much his mind was set upon it they
ceased to oppose his wishes, and with his wife and children, he soon
joined the large numbers who, at that period, were leaving the British,
for the Canadian shores.
As may be readily supposed, the parting between the two families was a
very sad one; but the last adieus were finally exchanged, and the poor
emigrants were borne away on the billows of the Atlantic. During the
first few days of their voyage they all, with the exception of their
youngest child, suffered much from sea-sickness. This child was a little
girl about three years old; and it seemed singular to them, that she
should escape the sickness from which nearly all the passengers
suffered, more or less. They soon recovered; the weather was fine, and
many of their fellow passengers were very agreeable companions, and they
began really to enjoy the voyage. But this happy state of things was but
of short duration. Their little girl, wee Susie, as they called her, was
seized with illness. They felt but little anxiety at the first, thinking
it but a slight indisposition from which she would soon recover; but
when day after day passed away with no visible change for the better
they became alarmed, and summoned the physician, who pronounced her
disease a slow kind of fever, which he said often attacked those who
escaped the sea-sickness. He told the anxious parents not to be alarmed,
as he hoped soon to succeed in checking the disease. But with all the
physician's skill, aided by the unceasing attention of her fond parents,
the sad truth that wee Susie was to die soon became evident. When the
sorrowing parents became sensible that their child must die, they prayed
earnestly that her life might be prolonged till they should reach the
land. But for some wise reason their prayer was not granted; and when
their voyage was but little more than half accomplished she died, and
they were forced to consign her loved form to a watery grave. The lovely
prattling child had been a g
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