they are thus enabled to ride and rule triumphant over an element so limitless, and of a power so immeasurably vast; for the love of dominion is a deep-seated principle in human nature. But, whatever the cause, Alice enjoyed her trip exceedingly; her spirits rose with the accustomed exercise, from which she had been debarred all the winter; and as she plied her oars vigorously and skillfully, bursts of glad girlish laughter, and snatches of sweet old songs—ballads learned far away in the Scottish home of her infancy—-floated after her.
She had meant but to take a short pull, just to practice her arms; but the beauty of the day tempted her on farther and farther, and she scarcely paused until she had reached the shore of Marblehead. She did not land there, but turning toward home, rowed a little way, and then, resigning her oars, she reclined lazily in the boat, suffering it to drift slowly homeward on the incoming tide; while she lay building castles in the air, such as youth and idleness are wont to make pleasure-houses of.
But at last a gleam of western brightness
