into her heart, as if a good seed for the future had been sown in her soul. I was the only one of the elder ladies who did not give the young girls a moral lecture. If the truth must be spoken, I had more inclination to address, as a sister, the sweet young girl who had received the motherly rebuke so beautifully. Perhaps she understood my good-will, for certain it is that during the day, she seemed to wish to prove to me hers by various little agreeable services; and when we, in the evening, separated, she took leave of me in a manner which made me give her a cordial “God bless you!” Why were such young lambs sent out alone into the wilderness among wolves and eagles without any controlling or guiding friend? It is neither right nor well. My faith in the good and the pure in young girls is great, and has been strengthened even by this little occurrence; but people should not treat young children as if they had already cut their wise teeth.
Our journey was enchanting the whole day; we emerged from the narrow, winding river-passes into a large, clear lake, surrounded by luxuriant, verdant banks. The affluence of vegetation and animal life seemed to increase with every hour; the Flora of the tropics and the atmosphere of the tropics seemed to approach; we advanced into the home of eternal summer. The wild sugar-cane, the maiden-cane grew along the banks, and showed that the soil was favourable for sugar cultivation. The temple of nature became still richer. Beautiful, gorgeous flowers, red and blue, upon long stalks, white lilies, and gigantic water-plants, among which was the tall alisma plantago, shone like stems of light beneath the dark-green arches; flocks of little green parrots flew twittering over the wild sugar-cane and into the palm-groves; wild turkeys, larger than our tame ones, were seen on the shores; lovely, slender water-fowl fluttered fearlessly around us, and equally fearless, but much less
