for she must know you have committed folly before she commiserates you, and pity is akin to smothered contempt. "Do not allow the bright qualities of your soul to lie dormant; you have genius, Mr. Cunnington, and it is sinful to neglect so high an offspring of the mind. "Farewell now, a long, a parting farewell; such an adieu as I shall shortly give to this island, which, from tender associations, I ever must love. God bless you! Mr. Cunnington; to you the future Baroness de Scala signs her last fond wishes as "ANNA DI LUCIA." CHAPTER XI. That curse shall be forgiveness. Have I not- Because not altogether of such clay As rots into the souls of those whom I survey? BYRON. Happy is childhood in its thoughtless mirth; the dimpled cheek so easily beams with a sunny laugh; the warm young heart so readily forms friendship! if for a moment tears dim the lustre of the bright eyes, the sobs of childhood are easily hushed, and a smile rewards the patience of him who comforts the young mourner. Poor little Rosa, she was a swarthy little creature, with a huge mouth, and woolly hair, but had been a joyous little being,—a slave only by name, but a free-hearted creature, bounding from mountain to mountain, culling the freshest flowers to present to the grandmother she loved. And the poor child was actually employed in that innocent recreation, actually breathing childish imaginings of pleasing others, when her hands were rudely seized, and her cries more rudely hushed - and stunned, unhappy, half dead with fright, poor Rosa found herself a slave in a vessel which was shortly to sail far, far away. How she wrung those tiny hands, not yet shackled by the chains of slavery; how the tears streamed down her cheeks! and then she threw herself on her knees, she clasped the captain's hands, and he, monster!-he laughed. He laughed at her childish burst of sorrow; and young as that Negro heart was, it was proud, and Rosa arose from her knees sadly, determined to kneel no more at the captain's feet. Poor Rosa! Suddenly she ceased her tears; she remembered that she had heard there was One good and holy who dwelt beyond this world of sin; she remembered that He had said He would look upon little children; so once again Rosa knelt, not to mortal man stained with sin, but to the Father of the fatherless. Blessings on the Christian man who had planted the seeds of faith in that little Negro heart; how rewarded he would have been had he seen the effect of his pastoral instructions. Even the rude captain dared not repeat that laugh, when he involuntarily listened to Rosa's words: "Dem wicked men," she cried, dey hab take poor leetel Rosa, dem want her for wark in dem foreign land; but de great and good God, who lib in de blue sky, He look upon Him child, and Him pity Rosa, and Him take him under Him care, and some day, when poor Rosa under de ground, God call him to Himself, and him be berry happy in heaven." "Take the child below," cried the captain; "those missionaries have been busy with her." And Rosa was taken away, but he who led her took hold of her hand so gently that the child looked at him with unfeigned astonishment. Eldrido, the Spanish youth, for such was the name of the person whom the reader has heard conversing with the baron, smiled sadly as he caught that astonished expression, and he softly whispered, "All men are not hard-hearted." But little Rosa only shook her head: |