The Wrong Man — page 34: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

86 THE WRONG MAX. port, where his wife and children had passed the winter months, to his native place, intending to trust the seas no more. The husband of his sister, whe was interested with him in the voyage, was also ov board. They had reached within a few hours’s ajl of their destination, when a storm arose, which soon put a fatal termination to the plans of life the mind of Sed] had fondly busied itself in framing. The vessel, deeply laden, was not long able to sustain the fury of the tempest; and tlie tortured parent was doomed to see his wife and one of bis tw. children sink before his eyes, while, almost in the same moment, his brother-in-law was washed off by a wave and carried in ar} Instant beyond the reach of succor, Sedley and his son were res- ened from the wreck a day or two after, the former in a state of despondency bordering upon madness. Returning to his desolate home, the bearer of the sad tidings to his widowed sister, he was seized with an illness which for some weeks seriously threatened his life. The natural strength of his constitution, hardened by long habits of activity, at. last triumphed; but on — his recovery he could not bear to remain amid scenes where every object reminded him of his loss; and, gathering up the small relics of his property, le emigrated to the West. His cup ? of affliction, however, was not yct full. He had resided there but a few years, when both his son and sister fell victims to one of those epidemic fevers which sometimes made sad havoc among the early settlers in that luxuriant region. The care and attention required by the lovely orphan—the only child of his widowed sister, left by this event to his sole guardianship —in some measure tended to divert his mind and bluat the of anguish; and the little prattler herself, too young to know the full extent of her loss, seemed to strive by every engaging art of childhood to win her uncle from despondency. s she grew up toward womanhood, Lucy Dayton exhibited traits of personal loveliness which few maidens could have rivaled: and a degree of intelligence not often surpassed by those who have had greater opportunities of mental culture. Though so young when her mother died, the — precepis and instructions of that exemplary woman probably had not os been without their effect in forming her character;.as the dews of early spring exert an unseen influence in promoting the luxuriance of summer, Her books, almost her only compan- ions, had been perused with an understanding spirit ; eiut Ten ae these her mind had been stored and her taste cultivated to a ; dcyrce that formed a beautiful contrast with the native sim- : | plicity of her manners and the artless freshness of her unsophis- : | ticated pape gp Her igre ae small, well formed and graceful; and her face was lighted with that sweet expression __ __ ‘which has been called “ the sunshine ofthe heart.” e It is a homely saying, as old as homely, and, like a good _ many old saws, more venerable for its antiquity than its truth _