necessity, except the indulgence of his restless humor, || been sent on board. The night passed, the last morning he made trading voyages to different parts of the came, but still no tidings of their freight. world. Arnold walked the deck impatiently. He Some years elapsed before he visited America. could not help looking with admiration and interest upon the United States-regarding that nation, then in its infancy, as destined to enact a mighty part in the history of the world. One day, as his vessel lay at anchor in the bay of New-York, and he was standing idly on deck, a small canoe, pulled by a negro, came alongside, and a tall, thin, pale faced man stepped on board. He gave a look round the vessel, as if examining her tackling, and appearing satisfied, went up to the quarter-deck, where the captain met him with a surly, "What is your will, sir?" "Let me not disturb you, captain, I have plenty of leisure, and can wait," said the stranger, and walking | up and down the deck, gave time to Arnold to survey him from head to foot. He was a middle aged man, rather prepossessing in appearance, but there was a fire in his deep dark eyes, that gave a sinister expression to his countenance. At the captain's repeated invitation to unfold the object of his visit, he smiled complacently, and said, "I foresee, captain Schorr, that we shall be very good friends in time. I am aware that you have at present nothing to do in this part of the world, either with your craft or your men, and that it would not be disagreeable to you to set sail again. Now I am in want of a vessel to convey me and my cargo to the island of Madeira. If you will undertake to oblige me, I will warrant you that you shall not be overfreighted, and that you shall have no cause to quarrel with me for driving a hard bargain in the matter of payment. I shall be ready to sail when you please." "Well, sir," replied Arnold, "you will find me also no niggard, and if it suit you, the bargain shall be struck." They shook hands, and the captain called out-"Holloa, my lads! Timo! Fetch a flask of Madeira for this gentleman and me." The wine was brought, and before the flask was emptied, the arrangement was concluded between them. The stranger engaged to have his effects on board by the third day after, when every preparation was to be made for setting sail immediately. "On my part, Master Arnold Schorr," said his visitor, "you may expect the utmost punctuality. Max. Saunders, I say it not boastfully, is famous for it. Take out none of your ballast, for my cargo will not take up much room, though it is more in weight than you would fancy from its bulk. On Thusday, before noon, I will be with you, good bye 'till then." He shook the captain's hand, and stepping into his canoe, was soon pulled to the shore. For the next day, and the next, all was bustle on board, preparing for their trip; for it was Arnold's pride to have his vessel in first-rate order. All was ready the evening of the second day after his conversation with the stranger, but not an article of the expected cargo had "If this man Saunders," he said to the mate," is not here by noon, I shall hold our bargain broken. We will weigh anchor, and sail where it please us to go." "As you please, sir," answered the mate, we have on board freight enough without this vagabond Saunders' cargo, to coast the United States safely. If you like, we can sail this very hour." "Wait 'till noon, and not a moment later. We have a fair wind, and ought not to loose it. This Saunders-" If you please to look over the starboard," said the pilot, "you will see him coming." Four oarsmen were pulling a boat towards the vessel, Saunders sat at the helm. As they came alongside, he stood up, waved his cap, and cried, "Good morning, captain. I hope you have not waited for me. A rope, my lads, let me come aboard." Arnold was out of humor. "I thought better of your punctuality—it is almost noon, and we have not seen a bit of your freight. I have half a mind to break the bargain." Saunders sprang on board, and shook the captain by the hand. "What time," continued the latter, "have you left us for loading the vessel? Do you think my men have twenty arms apiece?" Loading the vessel?" repeated Saunders, indifferently, "I said not a word of it. I only spoke of my own luggage, and all I have is in the boat." Arnold could not help laughing when he found that his anticipations of a cargo were fulfilled only by a trunk, bandbox, and umbrella, besides half-a-dozen little ironbound kegs. "Is that all?" asked he, and when his passenger nodded in the affirmative, added" I fear you will ruin the business of the United States, if you carry away so much property at once!" terra firma, and shall count the hours. I will pay you like a prince, captain, when I am once on shore." "Have no fear," said Arnold, "so long as the wind blows my good ship will hold on, and if we come across ugly fellows, pirates I mean, we have guns and cutlasses aboard." Some weeks passed, with nothing to beguile the time, but the monotonous occupations of a sea-voyage, the wind continuing fair. At last Saunders could descry, looming dimly on the horizon, the long wished for land. "We are not ashore yet!" observed the captain, in reply to his burst of exultation. “It is too late to come to anchor to-night. There is a heavy gale rising, and I fear we shall have tough work yet, before we get into the Bay of Funchal." "How unlucky!" cried the passenger. "But surely we can make the harbor before the storm comes upon us?" "I am afraid not," answered Arnold. "If you will listen, you will perceive there is no common tempest brewing." Saunders watched with increasing anxiety the indications of the heavens, which were threatening enough. Dark masses of clouds piled up in the sky, were ever and anon, rent by angry flashes of lightning. As the sun went down, the land they were approaching, was lost in the lowering blackness. The sea seemed boiling up from its depths, and the dark waves were crested with white foam, swelling higher as the fitful blast swept over them. The heat of the atmosphere was intolerable, and the gush of wind felt like the breath of a furnace. The sails were taken in, and every effort made to keep the vessel out of the currents, in which there was danger of her being driven violently towards the shore. But the agitation of the sea was more violent than could be accounted for, even by the effect of the gale. The very deep seemed to reel, the billows suddenly rose to a formidable height, and a noise louder than a hundred peals of thunder, convulsed the air. The energy of the men was completely paralyzed. "For mercy's sake, what does this mean?" cried Saunders, grasping the captain's arm. "An earthquake!" replied Arnold, in a deep and hoarse, but calm voice. "It is time for each of us to commit our souls to the master we have served during life. I have nothing to fear for my own part. How it stands with you, Saunders, I cannot tell; but I fear me, your gold pieces will bring a sorry harvest, the way they are likely to be sown, It would take a long sickle to reap them at the bottom of the sea." "Can you never have done jesting?" exclaimed the other, in an agony, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. hurricane. The hapless ship was now the sport of the waves, and before the order could be given to take in sail, the mainmast bent, creaked, and snapped in two, and her lay a log upon the deep. Her fate was not long undecided. At one instant she struck with such violence, that her planking was broken in-the next, a mountain billow swept over her, and "The Lost Heart" was engulfed in the waters. The morning sun rose clear in the bright blue sky. The storm was over-the sea smooth, the breeze being scarcely enough to ripple its surface. The luxuriant vegetation of the beautiful island looked more brightly green in the sunshine. The foliage was glistening with drops brilliant as diamonds. Delicate plumaged birds were fluttering from bough to bough. The human beings to be seen were chiefly country people, in light and picturesque costume, with all the gaiety of a delicious climate in their faces. A few fishermen were busied at different places on the shore, singing merry songs to beguile their labor. Two men, seated on a rock by the sea-side, formed a striking contrast to the cheerfulness of the country people. Their clothing was wet and torn, their head and feet were bare, while their whole appearance betokened that they had just escaped with their lives from shipwreck. They sat a long while in silence, at length one, who seemed the most wretched of the two suddenly looked up, and burst into a peal of unnatural laughter. Have you gone mad, Saunders ?" asked his companion, "or what can move you to laugh at such a time?" "The fiend I have served my life long !" answered he bitterly. "You know I was rich-do you know how I came by it? I owned a slave ship and a privateer! That is the way I came by so much gold, and it is now in the bottom of the sea!" "And your guilt," muttered Arnold, has sunk my good vessel-and lost me the lives of four of my men! But 'tis no use dealing in reproaches. I will make my way to Funchal, and try to get a place as a sailor, where I can earn my bread." "No," returned Saunders, "I can do better for you than that. I have not lost all. I have a ship in the bay of Funchal which I will bequeath to you, for I will never go to sea again. I have also a house there, where my daughter lives-my daughter-for whose sake I coveted wealth. You shall go with me to find her." The two, accompanied by the others who had escaped the wreck, walked to Funchal, and found, without difficulty, the house belonging to Saunders. It was situated in the suburbs of the town, and surrounded by citrons and orange trees. Arnold remained long in the house of his friend, who was seized with a melancholy that rapidly undermined his health. The recollection of his past lawless life filled him with remorse, and dread of the future. He strove, however, to conceal his misery from the eyes of his daughter, Leyda, a lovely girl, who had seen but thirteen summers. Never had Arnold's fancy painted such a vision of innocence and beauty. Her gentle influence softened his restless spirit, and taught him a love for goodness and virtue. "Trust me for that," replied the boatswain, laughing. “It must be a hard piece of wood my knife cannot cut. I have brought many an idle fellow to his bearings. Nay, were he the imp himself-I beg your pardon, captain, but what is your will?" One day, he found her in the garden, weeping alone. [rough unbroken hand, can you manage him, think you, But little entreaty was necessary to persuade the open- and turn him off an adroit seaman?" hearted girl to confide to him her griefs. The loss of her father's wealth had alienated from him his summer friends, and those who had flattered him in his prosperity, now that he had barely sufficient for a maintenance, spoke freely of his former course of life. Leyda heard the rumors, and was shocked to think that he whom she had been taught to venerate and love from childhood, should be branded as a man of crime, while his gloomy mood tended to confirm suspicion. Arnold could not deny to the heart-stricken girl that her father's past career had been one of sordid vice; he had learned the truth from Saunders' own confession, but he held out to her the hope of his reform, and showed how she might lead him to repentance. From that moment the childish gaiety of Leyda was gone; she never left her father's side and the instructions she had herself received from Farther Marco, the priest in Funchal, she repeated to him. She pleaded the cause of religion, day by day, 'till the hard heart of the sinner was melted within him. Saunders looked back with horror on his past life, and longed for the seal of Heaven's forgiveness. His daughter led him to Father Marco; the priest received his confession, and taught the penitent to seek pardon at the feet of Him who "despiseth not the contrite heart, nor the desire of such as are sorrowful." Nor was this solemn lesson without its effect upon Arnold Schorr. Who could have been unmoved by the sight of a daughter leading back her parent to the way of life he had forsaken? The captain felt as he had never felt before, and when the reformed Saunders pressed upon him his gift, the good ship "Lucifer," Schorr made a vow in presence of Leyda and the priest, that his future life should be devoted to acts of mercy and benevolence, and that on such errands would he sail to different parts of the world. "I brought such a one from Hamburg with me. He was living in idleness on his poor old mother, wasting her earnings in drink, and repaying her with hard words and abuse. What think you of him?" "Give him to me, I will deal with him," and his gesticulation expressed his meaning. "You understand me, sir, I will make him a useful lad." "I will bring him up to you. Steersman, Mertens." 'Ay, ay, sir!" was the answer. "Take my place here while I go below a few minutes. Keep up sail, and as close to the wind as possible. If anything is wanted, call me." The steersman took his place, the boatswain left the quarter-deck, and Arnold descended into the cabin. A lamp, suspended from the roof, gave a dim light. Matthias was sitting up, but seemed not more than half awake, stupified by the motion of the vessel as well as the fumes of liquor. Arnold roused him with some difficulty. He stood up and stared about him with a bewildered air, saying, "No more folly!" said Schorr, "we will teach you better behavior. Come with me." And he took him To be brief, for we have been at retrospection long by the arm, but the youth, who had just began to comenough, Arnold had since that time, made many successful prehend his situation, broke away from him, and staggervoyages, and amassed considerable wealth, which he em-ing across the floor, stumbled against a glass case, and ployed in promoting the happiness of his fellow creatures, wounded his head slightly with the broken pieces of and found his reward in the consciousness of fulfilling his glass. duty, and in the love of the pious Leyda, whom he married when she arrived at a suitable age. The captain was roused from his revery by the approach of the mate, who came to receive his orders for the night. Having given the necessary directions, and ordered lights in his cabin, Schorr called out, as if a sudden thought had struck him, "Boatswain!" "Ay, ay, sir!" promptly answered a short, thick set personage, thoroughly a sailor in appearance, coming to him. "It bids fair to be a clear night," observed the captain. Ay, sir," returned the man; "there is nothing like being at sea in fine weather, with a merry heart and plenty of provisions. Do you know, captain, I have never set foot on the land, for the last ten years." "You are a skilful and experienced seaman and the pride of my vessel. Many a brave lad has learned the sailor's art in your school. Now, suppose I give you a "Come, away, sir. My cabin is no place for you. Up to the deck, and learn your duty!" and he led him, now unresisting, up the stairs. "Holloa-boatswain! here is your recruit. Away with him." "Ay, ay, captain," was the reply, while the sturdy seaman laid hands on the trembling Matthias. "Take it away, Matthias," replied Schorr, "and then go into the cabin and bring me segars and a bottle of Madeira." plined and instructed. I have tried to do my duty by him, and as our preacher says, he has brought forth much fruit under my teaching. I will venture to say he under The young man did as he was bid, and returned stands ship-service as well as any hand on board, and is promptly. "Shall I strike a match," asked he, " or bring a candle for you to light your segar?" disposed to do his best. 'Twould be a great encouragement, should you promote him. If you will take the advice, sir, of your old and true friend, choose Matthias." Bring a candle, and be careful the wind does not Having made an unusual exertion in delivering so long a blow it out." "Never fear," said Matthias, and turned to go after the light, when the boatswain, who was at the helm, called out, Have you no better manners, than to speak so saucily to your captain? How dare you say to him, 'never fear?'" "I beg your pardon, captain," said the youth, coloring, "I did not mean to speak so heedlessly, and will be more careful in future." Begone," answered Schorr. Matthias obeyed, and immediately re-appeared with the light. The captain lighted his segar, poured out some wine, sipped it slowly, praising its excellent quality, then filling a glass, he offered it to Matthias. "I dare not drink," said the young man. "How!" asked the captain, surprized, fuse ?" "do you re More than a year had passed, and still the Legacy Ship was on the broad ocean. The captain and officers were assembled on the quarter-deck; the men stood around in silence. They had been engaged in a solemn duty, that of committing to the deep the body of the mate, who had died after a short illness. "We must now return each to our business, comrades," said Schorr. "We will long remember him whom we have lost, for all loved him. As to the next-" here his eye fell on a young sailor who stood near him"my second steersman will take the post occupied by our late friend; his place is now vacant. Shall I name you for steersman?" speech, the seaman wiped his forehead and retired. "Do you all agree with him?" asked Schorr of the officers. "Yes, sir, choose Matthias!" was the general voice, and the sailors expressed their satisfaction by a buzza. The captain then formally invested Matthias with his new dignity, shook hands with him, and left him to the congratulations of his comrades, particularly his master, the boatswain, who took the credit of all his good fortune to himself. I shall not stop to show how Matthias acquitted himself, but it may be conjectured from his beginning, that he did well. - Dame Otto sat alone in her little shop one evening, listening to the monotonous tickling of the clock, and thinking of her son, whom she had not now seen for eighteen months. She was so much absorbed that she scarcely heard the door open, but was all surprize when she saw dress he wore when she saw him last. Arnold Schorr standing before her, in the same seaman's "Good evening, dame," said he. "Is your rum as good as it used to be, I wonder?” The old woman stood up, and looked bewildered at her guest. "What! is it possible you do not know me? and yet I thought-" Before he could finish the sentence, she caught hold of his hand, exclaiming,-" Arnold Schorr; you took away my son-my Matthias, and promised to bring him back to me! What have you done with him? Where have you left him?” "He is here," said Arnold. "Do you wish to see him?" The dame uttered a scream of eager delight. thias! my boy! where is he?" "Mat "Here, mother!" cried a voice, and the lad rushed in and fell upon his mother's neck. But we cannot describe a scene like this. "The Once more we change the scene, to the lovely island of Madeira. The day was bright and beautiful. Lucifer" lay at anchor in the bay, looking as if she had found her home, after so many perilous voyages. And there were happy hearts among the crew who sympa. thised with the joy of their captain. He returned to his wife, his beloved Leyda, resolving never to part with her again. Saunders had long been the victim of a wasting illness. His mind as well as his body, had suffered, but the genthe care of his daughter, and the kindness of the good old priest, had recovered him from his mental malady. Now he lay on the bed of death, but he had strength enough left to welcome Arnold, and to bless him for having so well fulfilled his vow. "You bring me peace," said the feeble old man, "for I know I leave my Leyda with one who will comfort her, and never grieve her as I have done. Where is my daughter?" "Here, dear father!" answered Leyda, who knelt weeping, by the bedside. Saunders grasped her hand, "God bless you, my loved one," he murmured, "and he will-he pardons me-even me through the merits of a Redeemer. My hour is come. Where is Father Marco?" "I am here," answered the aged priest, and at the request of the dying man, they all knelt in prayer. His voice trembled from the infirmity of age, but fervent were his thanksgivings, and his petition that a happy entrance might be granted the departing soul into the kingdom of bliss. When he ceased, all was silent. Saunders had breathed his last. Old Burkhardt, the pilot, added a note to this narrative, mentioning that some years after, he chanced to be at Funchal, his vessel lying at anchor in the bay. Passing the house which had formerly belonged to Saunders, he saw a matron of graceful appearance walking in the garden with an old woman, who seemed to take great delight in tending the flowers. An elderly man came up and joined them,-it would not have been difficult to recognize him as Captain Schorr, though for the present he had laid aside the mariner's garb. Burkhardt heard him say to the dames, who listened with great pleasure, "I have news for you; here is Matthias returned, with the "Lucifer" in capital trim; he will remain several months quietly with you, before he is ready to sail again." BEHOLD! afloat on the murky air, My first-the fleecy snow. But when array'd in green, are the glade Appears, with her flowery crop; MRS. L. F. FEARNHEAD. |