thrown, where a carpet of the softest grass overspread a perfect level
of about twelve feet in length, and nearly the same in width. Here I
fell, with no other injury than a contusion on the hip. The gig was
completely reversed, the horse dashed on till he ran one of the shafts
into a bank, and set himself fast.

My sojourn in this interesting country was of two years' duration,
marked with many mercies, among the greatest of which was the
uninterrupted enjoyment of perfect health, although my first winter
there was the most severe that had been known for thirty years, and the
following summer one of the most oppressively hot they had ever
experienced. The gradations of spring, autumn, and twilight, are there
scarcely known, and the sudden transition from summer to winter is as
trying to the health of an European as that from day to night is
uncongenial to the taste. Here, too, I repented at leisure, and amended
with no small difficulty and labor, my neglect of those accomplishments
to which my dear mother had so often vainly solicited my attention. The
pencil was profitless; I had long thrown it by: books were no longer an
adequate set-off against realities, even could I have conjured up a
library in the wilderness of Nova Scotia's inland settlement; but the
culinary and confectionary branches were there invaluable, and in them I
was wofully deficient. Had I not coaxed the old French soldier who
officiated as mess-cook to give me a few lessons, we must have lived on
raw meal and salt rations during weeks when the roads were completely
snowed up, and no provisions could he brought in. However, I proved an
apt scholar to poor Sebastian, and to the kind neighbors who initiated
me into the mysteries of preserves and pastry. Young ladies cannot tell
into what situations events may throw them; and I would strongly
recommend the revival of that obsolete study called good housewifery.
The woman who cannot dispense with female servants, must not travel. I