Yes, it is Winnie's child; and she tells you, while a more thoughtful look sits upon her countenance, that the name of the little one is "Natalie;" although she adds, "as earnestly as I love my child, I know there can never be another like her"--and pointing to a portrait, draped in white, she presses her child more closely to her heart.
You look long and earnestly upon that countenance of the Madonna,--the one face representing mother and child. The portrait is the property of Clarence Delwood, he who is now known as 'the lone man of the shore;' and while you are yet gazing upon it, he enters, and pressing his lips to the canvas, he takes a bible from the case and reads. You accidentally observe the fly-leaf, upon which is written,--"To the Sea-flower, from her mother, on her second birthday;" and as he reads a smile lights up his countenance, for it is there written,--"thou shalt labor unto the Lord," and a more cheerful expression is his; for it is through his ready pen that the alms chest of the poor receives its liberal supplies.
Ere you depart, you inquire as to the fate of Mr. Sampson, learning that through his agency the widow Grosvenor has come in possession of a handsome fortune,--the daughter's gift to her mother,--so that now she is enabled to make comfortable many a cheerless fireside, where poverty, through the loss of a husband and father, as he went down to do business on the great deep, had reigned. Honest Mr. Sampson, after so many years spent upon the ocean, has concluded to live the remainder of his days on shore; and in the darkest night, when the hurricane roars, and the waves break high, the brilliant light entrusted to his care, may be seen for many miles around, by the voyager who may be sailing in the neighborhood of old Nantucket. Capt. Harry Grosvenor has also bade adieu to his much-loved home on the sea; for together with Winnie's entreaties, and the goodly amount of wealth, which she declares as rightly belonging to her husband as to herself, he has been induced to give his little wife the promise that he will sail the seas no more.
But there is one, who is no unimportant member of this happy family, for whom you have forgotten to inquire, so intent are you, as you pass out from them into the silent night, upon what you have seen and heard; but you are minded of this negligence by a voice near, and a negro, tottering from beneath the weight of years, whom you recognize at once as old Vingo, stands before you. His mind is much impaired, for he has attained his second childhood; yet from his disconnected remarks, it is evident that he still retains a pleasant remembrance of the past.
"Old Bingo neber want noting more," he replies to your question of what you can do for him; "nobody neber can do noting more for Bingo; for Missy Sea-flower hab gib Bingo, Phillis, and gib him Heaben, and what more does he want?"
"And where is your mistress's home?" you ask.
"Dar," said the negro, pointing to the skies, "dar is Heaben, dar am my missus's home; and dat is whar she tell me dat she wait for me if she go home first. If it hadn't been missy dat tole me, I couldn't beliebe dat such an ole brack fellow like me, go to dat white place; but I beliebes it now, for since missy gone home I's seen a new star up dar; and I knows it am her, for didn't she say she look down to me, jus' like ole Massa Grobener and dat poor brack Injin look down upon her! Yes, I know dat I shall meet her dar, and what am better, Phillis am going dar too! only sometimes she get skeered like, when she remember what her ole cotton massa tell her; for he tells her dat de hounds go to dat bright place, afore good for notin' niggar like her get dar; and she's afeared dey remember dar ole habits and hunt her up, for she run away from her ole massa, and gets sabed in dese free states, whar de folks don't mistake poor niggar for someting else dan a man."
"Farewell, faithful Vingo, and may the remainder of your days shed peace along your way. Thy portion here has not indeed been to sit in 'kings' courts,' yet thou hast so used the one talent lent unto thee, that at the last, when every "island shall have fled away, and the mountains shall not be found," thou shalt have a place at the right hand of that glorious throne, whose king is our God; thou shalt hear those blessed words,--'well done, good and faithful servant,' and the morning star shalt be thine; and there thou shalt again find that pure gem, who, in her little day on earth, led thee to the bright river of life, where thou hast sought and found that 'pearl of great price.'"
The blue waves have not yet tired of their unceasing sports; they still chase each other in mad glee from far over the sea, each striving to outdo his fellows, as they come tumbling in with deep-toned voices. The beaming beacon still keeps vigil over Nantucket's peaceful slumberers, while her little ones, in their gladsome dreams of childhood, wander up and down those shores, intent upon their search for the most delicate sea-mosses, exclaiming with each new found treasure,--"See! I have found a gem among the sea-weeds."
Gentle reader, you are weary, and I will here seek to bid you adieu, with many thanks for your kind attention; and great is my joy, if haply any have been impressed in spirit with that meek and holy submission which shall lead them to say,--"Thy will, O Lord, not mine, be done;" and when loved ones shall be borne away from us, may we take up our cross with renewed love for Him who gave, and hath taken away,--and say, "blessed be the name of the Lord," forever.