Of triumph blent with nature's gush of weeping."

I left my little son in the care of his Irish nurse, and quitted my
friend's house, with a heavy heart, for my new settlement at Otonabee.



CHAPTER IX.

RETURN TO OTONABEE. -- BENEVOLENCE OF MY NEIGHBOUR. -- SERIOUS ACCIDENT
TO A SETTLER. -- HIS SINGULAR MISFORTUNES. -- PARTICULARS OF HIS LIFE.

I RETURNED in sadness to my lonely and desolate home, feeling like a
shipwrecked mariner, cast upon a desert shore. In fact, I had to begin
life again, without the stimulus of domestic love to quicken my
exertions. I had left my land unsown, and therefore the prospect of a
crop of wheat for the next year's harvest was, I felt assured, entirely
gone. Upon reaching my clearing, I was surprised to find my fallow not
only sown but showing the green blade, for some friendly hands had been
at work for me in my absence, that pecuniary losses might not be added
to my heavy domestic bereavement.

On inquiry, I found I was indebted to the considerate kindness of my
excellent neighbour Mr. Reid and his sons, for this act of Christian
benevolence. I hurried to his house to thank him for the important
service he had rendered one, to whom he was almost a stranger. He
considered, however, that he had done nothing more than a neighbourly
duty, and insisted that I should take up my abode with him, instead of
returning to my unfinished and melancholy home.