ame
more in keeping with the ideas of the world. What was the name of the
lost one the sad gentleman mused of?"

"He spoke of the long time ago, before his own Natalie had gone."

"Poor man! Each life must have its portion of bitterness. Natalie,--I
like the sound; it reminds me of my home on the waters. With your
consent, my wife, the Christian name of the child shall be Natalie, for
she came to us from the sea."

CHAPTER II.

THE ISLAND HOME.

"Long may this ocean-gem be bright,
And long may it be fair,
In Freedom's pure and blessed light,
And Virtue's hallowed air!
While still across its ocean bound,
Shall e'er be borne the truthful sound,
Our island home! our island home!
We love our island home!"

MRS. J. H. HANAFORD.

"And yet that isle remaineth,
A refuge for the free,
As when true-hearted Macy
Beheld it from the sea.
God bless the sea-beat island!
And grant for evermore,
That Charity and Freedom dwell,
As now, upon the shore!"

J. G. WHITTIER.

Gentle reader, pause a little, and let us for a few moments turn our
thoughts toward that Island of the sea, upon which it was the fate of
our heroine, through the guidance of a divine providence, to find a home
in the bosoms of those whose hearts' beatings were of love for our
unknown. Yea, love ever encircleth purity.

Properly, this chapter, descriptive of the Island of Nantucket, should
have been our first; but had that been the case, alas, for the simple
tale of Natalie! How many would have passed it by with but one thought,
and that thought invariably,--Nantucket! pooh! a fish story, strikingly
embellished with ignorance. And you may indeed discover in the
feebleness of my unpretending pen, much that is food for critics; yet
give not a thought of ridicule to Nantucket's favored ones, for it is
not for me to enlist under her banner of superiority of intellect. To
the many questions which I know you have it in your heart to ask, as
touching the civilization, etc., of these islanders, I do not reply, as
I might be tempted under other circumstances to do, that it would be
advisable to procure a passport before landing on those shores, lest one
might stand in danger of being harpooned by the natives; but rather let
me, in as correct a light as I may, set forth to those who have
heretofore known but little of those who inhabit that triangular bit of
land in the w