complain; but I can tell by the tone of her letters that she is hoping day after day that I will send her some money, or send for her and the children to come on here."

"My services were accepted, as I said," continued Hartley; "but, my dear fellow, I only held the situation for a few hours. The proprietor, after instructing me how to keep his books and make sales, if purchasers should call, went out, leaving me alone in the store. The little book-keeping that was to be done was soon completed, and then I set myself down, kicking my legs in a chair, and waiting for customers; but none came, and I therefore had nothing to do. Thinks I, "George Hartley, you haven't got a very lucrative situation, that's a fact; but you've got a mighty easy one;' and so I sat idle till dinner-time, when my employer returned—the boss, as they term the master here."

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Well, young man,' said he, 'how's trade been to-day— have you made any sales ?'

"None at all, sir,' I answered.

"Trade is mighty dull-that's a fact,' he replied.

But

go and get your dinner, and I'll keep shop till you come back, and be smart, for I haven't had dinner myself yet.'

66

'Well, I started out to the nearest eating-house, and got myself something to eat, keeping as much within bounds as was possible; and then hastened back to the shop.

666

Well,' said the boss, 'you've been pretty slick about your dinner-that's sartain; but, mister, what's your name ?' George Hartley, sir.'

666

66 6

'Well, George, seeing as there ain't much doing in the way of trade-s'pose, in the afternoon, you take the plane and just go over them box-lids there, which, you see, needs smoothing,' pointing to a heap of lids in one of the corners of the shop, buried up in shavings.

"I knew as much about a plane as a cat does about a razor; but still, I thought the job was a simple one enough, and would serve to while away the time; for I found it precious dull work, waiting, doing nothing in the shop. So, I set to work; but, at the very first motion of the plane, I drove it so deep that I spoiled the symmetry of one of the lids. I tried another, and succeeded, as I thought, better; but when I had finished, and stood back to see the effect, I was horrified at witnessing the havoc I had made. The chest-lid looked, for all the world, as if it had been ploughed in ridges; and while I was still regarding the destruction I had caused, who should come in but the boss!

"That's right, mister,' said he; 'I like to see young men

busy;-but, Jehoshaphat! what in the name of mischief have you been doing? Moses! but you've spiled that 'ere chest-lid, entirely!'

"And another one, too, sir, I fear,' said I; for I was desperate at the thought of the mischief I had done, and I pulled out the other lid from the heap of shavings.

"You should have seen how the old boss stamped and

swore.

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6

'You've done more mischief, mister,' said he, than a hull week's wages 'll pay for. I guess I sha'n't want you here any longer. You can go; but who's going to pay for them 'ere spiled kivers ?'

"I don't know, indeed,' said I. I have no money; besides, I did my best to obey your orders.'

"Did I order you to go and spile my property?' he asked.

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No, sir,' I replied; but you bade me employ myself in work that I knew nothing about. I never handled a plane before in my life. I engaged as salesman, not as a journeyman carpenter.'

"And what need, do you think, have I of a lazy chap hanging on about my store, merely to sell a chance chest or trunk? I want a handy chap as can turn himself to anything. I never saw no good come of you chaps as wasn't bred up to no trade. You can go, mister, and be mighty glad you've come off so cheap. I could make you pay for that 'ere spiled property.'

"It's hard stealing the breeks from a Hielanman,' thought I, recollecting the old proverb; but I reflected that I had really damaged the old man's property, and so I went off, without saying another word; and, that evening, I pledged my watch, and returned to New York-and here I am."

"And here am I," rejoined Edwards; " and I sincerely wish I was anywhere else in the wide world. "Oh! what a fool I was to give up a sure situation, however poor, for a mere chance, and such a chance as it has turned out to be."

The two young men walked on, silently and dejectedly, towards their lodgings in Greenwich-street. At length, Edwards, more for the sake of breaking the silence than for the sake of information, said :

"Have you no friends or relatives in the United States, Mr. Hartley?"

"I believe I have an uncle and an aunt, somewhere or other, in this country; but where, I know not. They came over from Ireland a long time ago, and I have never heard of

or from them since. True, I have not made much inquiry respecting them; for I do not anticipate, even if they are living, that they are in a position to do me much service."

They reached their lodgings without saying anything further. Both had gone abroad on the same errand, for each had received a gentle hint from the landlady, that their board for three weeks was due. The sacrifice of the long-cherished chain and the breast-pin had been the result. The articles had been kept as long as possible; for their absence was a perpetual reminder of the poverty that had now assailed the owners. We can afford to wear an old coat, an old hat, worn boots, faded attire; we can dispense with personal adornment when we do so of our own free will and pleasure, knowing that we can dress well if we choose; but to those who have been used to dress respectably; whose position in life, however humble, has compelled them to keep up appearances, the sacrifice, one after another, of those trifles which they may never be able to replace, and which have cost them so much to obtain, inflicts a pang which the wealthy can never know, and can therefore form no idea of.

Charles Edwards and George Hartley were now reduced to the lowest ebb. They had no better prospect-nay, not so good a prospect of procuring employment now, than they had had when first they landed in New York, flushed with hope and eager anticipations ; for now their appearance began to betray their poverty, and who is desirous of giving employment to the needy? What merchant will engage a poorly-dressed clerk when so many well-dressed gentlemen are ready to attend his beck and call?

But for these young men, now when their last coin was expended, and all seemed hopeless, better days were yet in

store.

CHAPTER VI.

THE PARENTS OF THE DESERTED CHILD-THE DEATHS ON BOARD THE EMIGRANT SHIP-THE KIDNAPPER.

"The plague seized them. It was the result of mismanagement, and non-attention to the commonest laws of nature. She will not per

mit these to be violated."-DEFOE's History of the Plague.

SOME years prior to the date of the conversation recorded in the preceding chapter, Bernard Hartley and his wife had left Ireland for that Eldorado of the West to the Irish people,

the United States of America. Bernard Hartley had for many years rented a small farm, which his father and grandfather had rented before him, in King's County, on the banks of the Shannon. There he and his ancestors had lived happily for many years, and would have lived happily still, nor thought of forsaking the soil of Green Erin even for the freer air of America, had not the lordly proprietor of the estate of which Bernard's small farm was a portion, forsaking the good old example set him by his ancestors, and, instead of living as they had done, in the midst of their tenantry, encouraging them by their example, and looked up to almost reverentially by them, adopted the principles of absenteeism, one of the sources of the woes of Ireland, and gone to reside in London, leaving his estates under the charge of an agent. The agent, with the object of increasing the rental, and thereby of adding to his own per-centage, and perhaps appropriating something more, let the estates out in portions to "middle men," as they are termed, who again, in their turn, raised the rents of the tenants beneath them, pressing so severely upon them, that it was with difficulty they could now exist on the property which for years had afforded them a comfortable living. Bernard Hartley was, in the course of a few years, reduced from the position of a well-to-do farmer, to that of an impoverished labourer, renting the farm, certainly, as of old; but continually getting poorer and poorer, until want so stared him in the face, and so blank and dismal looked his future, that he had taken the liberty of remonstrating with the landlord himself. His lordship had coolly replied to his letter, informing him that he trusted implicitly to the agent, and left all to his management; and the agent coming to hear that one of the tenants had dared to complain of him to the landlord, pressed him still more hardly, until Bernard was at last reduced to penury. Seeing no promise of redress-no hope for the future, he had reluctantly resolved to leave the spot where his earliest breath had been drawn-where his infantile and boyish years had been passed-where he had courted and claimed the hand of the fair Alice Meehan, the belle of the surrounding country -where he had lived and thriven until he had reached the middle term of life-and where the bones of his fathers for many generations were laid. To leave old Ireland and seek his fortune, with his wife, and his only remaining child-in the distant land of America, of which he had heard such glowing accounts, and where he had often been advised to emigrate to, but had until now steadily refused-for, "please God," said the honest man, "I will live and die, meself, me wife, an'

me child, on the dear old sod on which our ancestors have lived for centuries, and beneath which-God rist them!—their bones lie in peace, and where, I hope, mine_some day will lie wid Alice's and the boys', beside them.' But his trust had failed him, and at last the sad day had come when he must bid farewell, in all human prospect, for ever to his native land, and seek to earn the living that was denied to him at home, on a foreign soil. Bernard Hartley sailed from the port of Limerick for New York, and from that period none of his friends had heard of him. It was this recollection which had caused George Hartley to remark to Charles Edwards, that he did not believe, if his relatives were living, they were in a position to befriend him, and he spoke advisedly; for, to the credit of the Irish character be it said, they are always prompt to inform their friends if fortune favours them, and to invite them to share her gifts. The inference was just, that they were dead, or in a condition of poverty.

The novel-writer has this advantage, shared in by the novelreader-that he is not always obliged to wait till time lifts the veil of obscurity, and explains what to the actual mover and doer in this world is shrouded in darkness. It is as well that we explain to the reader at once wherefore it was that Bernard Hartley and his wife, contrary to the general practice of their countrymen and women, had never let the folks at home know of their welfare or of their disappointments-they were dead. Their grave was in the depths of the Atlantic. The moaning of the winds borne across the heaving waters of the ocean, had sung their requiem, and the shrill mournful shriek of the sea-bird had been for them a wail, more melancholy than ever came from the lips of keeners at a wake in their native land. They had not lived to see the land of promise to which they were hastening.

The good ship Margaret, of Limerick, sailed from that port for New York, having some four hundred emigrants on board, in the fall of the year 18-. Some years ago, emigrant ships were even worse provided than they are now, and that were needless. It was soon discovered that the Margaret was badly commanded, badly manned, and badly provisioned. The winds, too, were adverse, blowing strongly from the westward, and the vessel consequently made but slow progress on her way-while the continual storms, the crowded state of the vessel, and the want of proper food being provided, and proper attention being paid to ventilation, and indeed to every general arrangement and discipline, rendered the mortality exceedingly large. The vessel became waterlogged on the