ed to lead sinners to destruction. I
transcribe a verse from a most affecting hymn, composed by that gifted
man--'"

"_Oh, d----n the hymn!_" roared my father; "_on with you, Frank, and
my benison light on the composer of it! Don't stop to favor us with
his name, and pass over the filthy doggerel!_"

I proceeded under orders accordingly.

"'Remember, James, you are now sixty-one; repent, and, even in the
eleventh hour, you may be plucked like a brand from the fire. Avoid
swearing, mortify the flesh--that is, don't take a third tumbler after
dinner--'"

My father could not stand it longer. "_Oh, may Cromwell's curse light
upon her! I wonder how many glasses of brandy-and-water she swallows
at evening exercise, as she calls it, over a chapter of Timothy?_"

"'I would not recall the past, but for the purpose of wholesome
admonition. The year before you married, and gave up the godless life
of soldiering, can you forget that I found you, at one in the morning
in Bridget Donovan's room? Your reason was, that you had got the
colic; if you had, why not come to my chamber, where you knew there
was laudanum and lavender?

Poor Constance could not stand the fresh allegation; and, while my
mother looked very grave, we laughed, as Scrub says, "consumedly." My
father muttered something about "cursed nonsense!" but I am inclined
to think that aunt Catharine's colic charge was not without some
foundation.

"'I have now, James, discharged my duty: may my humble attempts to
arouse you to a sense of the danger of standing on the brink of the
pit of perdition be blessed! Pay the principal and interest over to La
Touche. Mr. Selby Sly hinted that a foreclosure of the mortgage might
expedite matters; and, by saving a term or two in getting in the
money, two or three hundred New Zealanders would--and oh, James! how
gratifying would be the reflection!--be saved from the wrath to come.

"'This morning, on looking over your marriage settlement, Mr. Sly is
of opinion that, if Mrs. Hamilton will renounce certain rights he can
raise the money at once, and that too only at legal interest, say six
per cent.--'"

Often had I witnessed a paternal explosion; but, when it was hinted
that the marital rights of my poor mother were to be sacrificed, his
fury amounted almost to madness.

"Damnation!" he exclaimed; "confusion light upon the letter and the
letter-writer! You!--do you an act to invalidate your settlement!
I would see first every