good as you want, Neddy?" said the counsellor. The sum was named; but as it was known to the friends of Neddy that those who ask a favor diminish the necessary sum, he set down double as much as Neddy stated would suffice, and in a generous community soon obtained all he required, by a subscription among his circle of friends. In a few days Neddy was master and owner of just such a craft as his heart panted after; for he was desired to see the boat-builder, and agree as to size, material, and fashion of his boat; and Neddy, in his directions, said he wanted to have a little of the life-boat fashion in her, as he intended to earn some of the premiums given by the Humane Society for saving persons from drowning. The boat was finished as he desired, and in his gratitude he muttered, that he guessed he should get a share of 'that are money.' Neddy had already received several premiums from that society, for his exertions in saving shipwrecked mariners. The Troglodytes had been prosperous all that season, and held up their heads, conscious of their own exertions, and proud of the acquaintances they had formed. They were able all round to get a comfortable suit of go-to-meeting clothes, partly boughten, and partly made from the old wardrobes of their friends; and once or twice ventured to be seen in them. This was no small effort, for the envy of the vulgar is the greatest difficulty the humble have to surmount in their attempts to rise. Neddy now delighted in self-government. He had been worried in the Algerine community, aud was not fond of the civilization he had seen, to which he could

have no access.

Although he had not read Vattel or Azuni on the laws of nations, he understood his own rights as well as any one. He drew his living from resources that were inexhaustible,-from a bank which required no endorser for a discount, and from which no public functionary could withdraw the deposites,-a bank which was chartered in the morning of creation to run until the end of time, or as long as the "globe was poised, or the sea rolled a wave." The clam ground belonged to the public, and he felt that as a native, a descendant of the pilgrims, who lived so long upon faith and clams, that he had equal rights with all others around him, to the use of the Flats, and to take, without stint, the quohogs as he pleased.

A few years after the independent Troglodytes had been established, much to the benefit of society, the merchant and his friend took a ride to the island, as they were in the habit of doing. A bridge connected it with the main land; one to enjoy a sea-breeze, the other a seabath. The former was a Leander in swimming. He often amused himself for hours in the sea. Few dared to swim near the island, for in most parts of it there was a high surf, which was appalling to ordinary swimmers, but only a matter of amusement to him. He passed through the surf as easily as a Sandwich islander. It was a fine warm day in August,—the merchant went to his swimming, and the counsellor took his last Edinburgh Review from his pocket, to amuse himself until his friend returned to partake of the dinner of fried fish and chowder which was promised by the cook in the course of an hour. So intent

was the reader upon one of these racy articles in that
work, which, if they do not always convince, must certainly
chain the mind to the subject, from their power and spright-
liness, that for a long time he did not perceive a brazen
looking cloud arising from the west, and when he did ob-
serve it, a tornado instantly followed. It had passed down
the river, and went out to sea in a terrific fury. Before
it had reached the island, the superintendent of the light-
house had, from apprehension, hoisted his flag of distress,
and fired his six pounder, which he had at the foot of the
flag-staff, to give the swimmer notice of his danger, and
all, that some one was in distress; but the swimmer seem-
ed quite insensible of his danger, and at ease. The tor-
nado swept on, and he saw it too late to attempt to return,
and with the cool judgment which he always possessed,
prepared himself to be carried before it.
The waves,
which had been running high, were now struck down to
an almost smooth surface, ominous of some great convul-
sion. He thought that if it were true that the sea was a
monster that was constantly moaning for human victims,
he was now rebuked by some superior power. He was
during this whole time cool and collected, for he was a
child of the ocean, and could say,

"And I have loved thee, Ocean! and my joy
Of youthful sports, was, on thy breast to be
Borne, like thy bubbles, onward: from a boy
I wanton'd with thy breakers. They to me
Were a delight; and if the freshening sea
Made them a terror, 'twas a pleasing fear,
For I was as it were a child of thee,
And trusted to thy billow far and near,
And laid my hand upon thy mane."

After the tornado had swept along, the cry was heard,

"Colonel G. is still above water. I see his head! I see his head!" The counsellor, in the greatest distress, mounted his horse and rode with all possible speed through the sand to the Troglodytes, to call on them to succor his friend. They had been spectators of their patron's danger, and the first minute that it had been practicable, had manned their boat. I say manned her,—she had on board the old man, Ball, his two sons and two daughters. The girls were fair looking lasses, one about fifteen years of age, the other about thirteen. As the counsellor was approaching the boat, he saw the mother of the family hand her old night-gown to her oldest daughter. There is an instinctive delicacy about an innocent woman, in the humblest grades of life, that a man never knows. The counsellor rushed to the water's edge, and leaping from his horse, was about throwing himself into the boat, when the eldest girl, to prevent him from getting on board, shoved her off, with a cheek mantling with high feeling, and her fine blue eyes flashing with courage and decision of character; and as she cleared the boat from the shore, said with a loud voice, "No, Squire, you shan't come into the boat. If the Colonel should be drowned, and our boat swampt, and you were with us, who would there be to bury us, or to give our old mother a shilling to keep her from starving? You shan't go; an hundred of us had better be drowned than you: and then there is Miss Martha, what would she say, if I were to let you go with us and be drowned?" Not another word was spoken; the sons and daughters sat themselves down to their oars, the old man

took the helm, and the boat, built after the life-boat fashion, skimmed the waves like a nautilus. The sea, which had been flattened while the tornado was passing, now rose in long, heavy swells, which the light-house man thought quite as dangerous as the breakers. He ascended the flag-staff with his spy-glass, and gave the cheering intelligence that the Colonel's head was yet to be seen, and that he was still swimming off shore. This would have hardly been credited by the by-standers, if his extraordinary powers in the water had not have been known to all of them. The man with the glass next cried out, "The young Balls have jumped overboard, they are lifting him into the boat; he is in," was the next ejaculation. In a moment the man came down laughing. He begged pardon of the Squire, for he could not help laughing to see the Colonel, one of the best dressed men in the world, with mother Ball's night-gown on! The boat returned,—the Colonel was not much exhausted. While dressing himself, he very emphatically declared, that mother Ball's night-gown was never to be sent home; he would send one in place of it. The preserved officer requested the Troglodytes to come to town and see him, on the morrow, and enjoined it upon the old man to bring the whole group.

After eating a good dinner of fried fish, the friends mounted their horses and rode home. The news had reached the family of the Colonel before he did, and the subject was talked over in a full assembly of friends. It was agreed that the eldest girl was the soul of the expedition for his rescue. The counsellor, who had baptized them