The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1853-09-01

The crops that year were failure, ,ant
y the heart of the strong man began t.
= droop. He felt that labor in his nativ,
: land would no longer give his children
bread, and, unwilling to sink into tht
; lowest class, he wisely resolved, while ht
retained the means of doing SO, to emf
CRATE to America. His wife made no op
position to his wishes; his sons were de
lighted with the prospect of any ohang'
for the better, and if Annie felt passing
pang at leaving the daisied fields, and
her pretty playmates, the lambs, she hid
it from her parents. The dear home
stead, with its quiet rural orchard, and
trim hedgerows, fell to the hammer, nor
was the sunburnt cheek of the honest yeo-
man unmoistened with a tear when he
, saw it added to the enormous possession
of the lord of the manor.
After the sale was completed and the
, money it brought duly paid, Steel lost
no time in preparing for his emigration.
In less than fortnight he had secured
their passage to New York, and they were
already on their voyage across the At
lantic. Favored By wind and weather,
after the first effects of the sea had worn
off, they were comfortable enough. The
steerage passengers were poor, but re-
spectacle English emigrants, and they
made several pleasant acquaintances a.
mong them. One family especially at
tracted their attention, and so far engaged
their affections during their tedious voy-
age, that they entered into an agreement
to settle in the same neighborhood. Mr.,
Atkins was widower, with two sons, the
ages of Richard and Owen, and an elder
sister, primitive, gentle old woman, who
had been once both wife and mother, but
had outlived all her family. Abigail
Winchester, (for so she was called took
an especial fancy to our Annie, in whom
she fancied that she recognized strong
resemblance to a daughter whom she had
lost. Her affection was warmly returned
by the kind girl, who, BY thousand lit
tie attentions, strove to evince her graft
tude to Abigail for her good opinion.
They had not completed half their voy
age before the scarlet fever broke out a.
mong the passengers, and made dreadful
havoc among the younger portion. Steel's
whole family were down with it at the
same time, and, in spite of the constant
nursing of himself and his devoted part
ner, and the unremittiug attentions of
Abigail Winchester, who never left the
sick ward for many nights and days, the
two youngest boys died, and were COM
mittsd to the waters of the great deep be-
fore Annie and Richard recovered to
consciousness of their dreadful loss. This
threw a sad gloom over the whole party.
Steel said nothing, but often retired to
some corner of the ship to bewail his loss
in secret. His wife was wasted and
worn to shadow, and poor Annie looked
the ghost of her former self
Had we never left England she tho't
INV brothers had not died. But she
was wrong; God, who watches with pa
rental care over all his creatures, knows
the best season in which to reclaim His
own; but human love in its yearnings is
slow in receiving the great truth. 1t lives
in the present, fingers over the past, and
cannot bear to give up that which now is
for the promise of that which shall be-
The future separated from the things of
time, has always an awful aspect. A
perfect aud childlike reliance upon God
can alone divest us of those thrilling
doubts and fears which at times shake
the frmcst mind, and urge the proud Jun
yielding spirit of man to cleave SO strong
ly to kindred dust,
The sight of the American shores, that
the poor lads had desired SO eagerly to
see, seemed to renew their grief, and
sadder party never set foot upon foreign
strand than our emigrant and bis family.
Steel had brought letters of introduc-
ton to a respectable merchant in the city,
who advised him to purchase tract of
land in the then new State of Illinois,
The beauty of the country, the fine climate,
and fruitful sol were urged upon him
in the strongest manner. The merchant
had a scrip to dispose of in that remote
and as is usual in such cases,
he consulted his own interest in the mat
ter.
Steel thought that the merchant, who
was native of the country, must know
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