his arm, or surrounding his person, accompanied him into the vestry. His church was soon filled with such as worshipped God in spirit and in truth; and he still labours, it is believed, with growing pleasure, and increasing success, in his Master's vineyard, blessing the time that he first met with the pious Captain Arnold, or slept in a Two-BEDDED ROOM.

LAKE ERIE;

OR,

THE INDIAN MOTHER.

A mother! oh! who like a mother can feel?
Oh! who like a mother can love?
No pen can its bliss or its anguish reveal,
Nor the tongue of a seraph above.

AFTER a night of wind and tempest, that threatened to destroy those fragile habitations of man, which here and there dotted that part of the United States, which formed a line of demarkation between them and the British possessions,-day dawned, and with a brightness not always known even in the sunny regions of the south. The regent of day, like some paragon of beauty emerging from a dark veily covering, broke forth from the misty exhalations which rose from the celebrated Lake Erie, and illumined, with a dazzling brilliancy, that extensive sheet of unruffled water.

The storm which had but recently passed away, had been accompanied with those fearful consequences which not unfrequently take place here, when the wind blows strongly from one point of the compass. A dangerous and destructive surf, enveloped in a mist, of so dense a quality, that no object could be distinguished at a greater distance than ten yards from the shore, had proved fatal to more than one of those trading vessels which are here called batteaux, while many a son and father, whose return was anxiously looked for by parents, wives, and children, were swept away from time, having perished in the cold embraces of the troubled waters. The Lake, in consequence of its remarkable shallowness-it being, on an average, not more than from fifteen to eighteen fathoms deep, although it is upwards of two hundred and seventy miles long, and between sixty and seventy broad-had been boisterously rough. The bold and ragged points of land, towards its western extremity, had been washed by the "white crested" surf: the crashing of vessels had been heard, and the thrilling shrieks of agony rising from the bruised and drowning men, had mingled with the pelting blast in wildest uproar; but now, all was calm and quiet.

"The

morn was up again; the dewy morn,

With breath all incense, and with cheek all bloom,
Laughing the clouds away with playful scorn,

And living as if earth contained no tomb,

And glowing into day."

A stillness, as if it had never been broken up, reigned: a placid smoothness rested on the bosom of Lake Erie, as if it had never been ruffled. Along the beach, a few broken fragments of the recentlywrecked boats were still seen, while a vast quantity of dead fish, and curious shells, lay scattered, at various distances, from the edge of the waters, as the Lake had heaved with more or less fury. The bold eagle, the crow, and the sea-gull, with a number of other aquatic birds, of various kinds, had alighted on these shores of devastation, and were ravenously devouring everything of a digestible kind, which the waves had not swallowed up.

Solitude appeared to reign here, with almost undisputed and universal authority. A dreary loneliness existed, of an appalling nature, at which, with a species of instructive disapprobation, the mind seemed to shudder. Cowper has assisted us to conceive of it, in his celebrated description of Juan Fernandez :

"O, Solitude! what are thy charms,

That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms,
Than reign in this horrible place.

I am out of humanity's reach,

I must finish my journey alone,
Never hear the sweet music of speech,

I start at the sound of my own."

The foot of a human being has, perhaps, never yet trod some of the wide extended shores, and mazy

forests, which border the Lake Erie. A solitary cottage may, indeed, occasionally be descried, but very unfrequently; and at various periods, a few members of some scattered and predatory tribes of Indians may be seen, winding their way among the matted herbage of the country, or issuing in search of prey, from the rude projections of shattered rocks and sand-banks, which form partial barriers to the waters of the Lake.

Notwithstanding the loneliness of the place, and the almost total desertion of it by mankind, there are, during the warm season especially, many objects of importance, curiosity, and beauty, which irresistibly lead the pious observer to adore the "Architect Divine," and feel the contemplation leading the soul

'Through nature, up to nature's God.”

Trees, of astonishing magnitude and of luxuriant foliage, give a richness and sublimity to the land scenery, while innumerable shrubs and wild flowers adorn the vicinity of the Lake. Occasionally, fruit is seen growing naturally on the lofty, and in some places perpendicular banks, over which the wild grape frequently hangs in tempting clusters.

Towards the end of the day, which I have already referred to, repeated indications were given, that the tempest, which had raged with such destructive force on the preceding night, was again