Page:Samuel Carter Hall.pdf/12

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340
Our Oldest Friend.
[March,

(their name is Legion,) and every morning I take my way to the store, give out flour, sugar, butter, etc., and am learning to scold, if I see any dust or miss the customary polish on the tables. I am actually getting the steward of the ship, who is my right hand, to teach me how to make pastry. I will report progress in the next. We live almost entirely on ducks and chickens; if a sheep be killed, it must be eaten the same day. The bread is very good, palm wine being used for yeast; and yams are an excellent substitute for potatoes. The fruit generally is too sweet for my liking; but the oranges and pine-apples are delicious. You cannot think the complete seclusion in which I live ; but I have a great resource in writing, and I am very well and very happy. But I think even more than I expect-

ed, if that be possible, of my English friends.
Your truly affectionate
L. E. Maclean.

She had signed her name "L. E. Landon," but had erased "Landon," and written in "Maclean," adding, "How difficult it is to leave off an old custom!"

Poor girl! She thus fulfilled her own mournful prediction, though speaking of another:—

"Where my father's bones are lying;
    There my bones will never lie!
.......
Mine shall be a lonelier ending,
    Mine shall be a wilder grave,
Where the shout and shriek are blending,
    Where the tempest meets the wave:
Or perhaps a fate more lonely,
    In some drear and distant ward,
Where my weary eyes meet only
    Hired nurse and sullen guard."