I've no band-box to kape the cowld from
desthroying my illigant bonnets," returned Jenny, laying her
hand upon the side of the sleigh.
"Go back, Jenny; go back," cried my brother. "For God's sake
take all that tom-foolery from off your head. We shall be the
laughing-stock of every village we pass through."
"Och, shure now, Mr. S - -, who'd think of looking at an owld
crathur like me! It's only yersel' that would notice the like."
"All the world, everybody would look at you, Jenny. I believe that
you put on those hats to draw the attention of all the young fellows
that we shall happen to meet on the road. Ha, Jenny!"
With an air of offended dignity, the old woman returned to the
house to re-arrange her toilet, and provide for the safety of her
"illigant bonnets," one of which she suspended to the strings of
her cloak, while she carried the third dangling in her hand; and
no persuasion of mine would induce her to put them out of sight.
Many painful and conflicting emotions agitated my mind, but found no
utterance in words, as we entered the forest path, and I looked my
last upon that humble home consecrated by the memory of a thousand
sorrows. Every object had become endeared to me during my long exile
from civilised life. I loved the lonely lake, with its magnificent
belt of dark pines sighing in the breeze; the cedar-swamp, the
summer home of my dark Indian friends; my own dear little garden,
with its rugged snake-fence which I had helped Jenny to place
with my own hands, and which I had assisted the faithful woman in
cultivating for the last three years, where I had so often braved
the tormenting mosquitoes, black flies, and intense heat, to provide
vegetables for the use of the family.
