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