and the colonies became a nation, and after due
consideration, I concluded to dwell among mine own people.
There I have continued, with the exception of one or two
short journeys for the benefit of my health, to the
present period. Parting with those whom I have known so
long and loved so well, is doubtless a trial to one whose
heart is still warm, while his nerves are weak, and whose
affections are greater than his firmness. But I weary
you with this egotism?"

"Not at all," I replied, "I am both instructed and
delighted by your conversation. Pray proceed, Sir."

"Well it is kind, very kind of you," said he, "to say
so. I will explain these sensations to you, and then
endeavour never to allude to them again. America is my
birth-place and my home. Home has two significations, a
restricted one and an enlarged one; in its restricted
sense, it is the place of our abode, it includes our
social circle, our parents, children, and friends, and
contains the living and the dead; the past and the present
generations of our race. By a very natural process, the
scene of our affections soon becomes identified with
them, and a portion of our regard is transferred from
animate to inanimate objects. The streams on which we
sported, the mountains on which we clambered, the fields
in which we wandered, the school where we were instructed,
the church where we worshipped, the very bell whose
pensive melancholy music recalled our wandering steps in
youth, awaken in after-years many a tender thought, many