"Twelve dollars, sir, and my boord, if it be plasing to you."

"No, no, my good fellow; I do not please to do any such thing, and I do
not think any one else in his senses will, either. I think you had
better apply for work to the road-contractors, who require a good deal
of spade-labour, which I think is at present all you are fit for."

Upon returning to my shanty in the evening, I was surprised to find
that my brother-in-law had just arrived with the intelligence of the
birth of my first-born son, and the dangerous illness of my dear wife.
Little hope was entertained of her recovery. My poor Emma had been
safely delivered of a fine boy, and was supposed to be progressing
favourably, when some alarming symptoms appeared which made it
necessary to send immediately for me.

Long before dawn I was some miles upon my sad journey to Darlington. I
had no horse. The way was long and toilsome; and I had had neither time
for rest nor appetite for food. I loved my amiable and excellent wife
with all the warmth of a youthful husband united to the object of his
affections. I am very fond of little children, and the idea of having
one of my own to pet and work for had given a stimulus to all my
labours. My first-born seemed dearly purchased now at the cost of his
poor mother's peril. Still, my ardent temperament led me to hope that
my dear wife would be spared. Her loss seemed an event too dreadful to
realize, for the boy-husband had had no experience in sorrow then, and
his buoyant spirits had never anticipated the crushing blow that had
already annihilated his visions of domestic happiness. Fifty-five miles
lay between me and my suffering wife. The roads were heavy from the
effects of the late rains, and I had the misfortune to lose my way,
which added three miles to my long pedestrian journey. Once I overtook