_PEACE, YACHTING FOR PLEASURE, THE FAIRY BARQUE VISION ITS APPOINTMENTS AND FURNITURE. VISITING PLACES OF OLD REMEMBRANCES. THE ISLE OF MAN AND THE IRISH SEA. FANNY AND LOVELL LISTEN TO FORECASTLE YARNS THAT WILL INTEREST THE READER, ABOUT THIS RENDEZVOUS FOR THE RENOWNED FREEBOOTERS OF ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. AN EXCURSION PLANNED UPON THE LAND._ |Peace came with all its smiles and drove away the grim spirit of war that had so long scowled upon the colonies of North America, now acknowledged free and an independant nation. The bond was severed, the child sprang at once to the estate of manhood and to all its responsibilities and cares; but it was under the divine guardianship of the spirit of peace and the especial guidance of Freedom herself; with such patrons she was sure to prosper, and how she has prospered, let the present state of the Union bear testimony. Let the twenty millions of freemen who now people the land speak. From a tender plant as it were, we have grown to a large and powerful oak whose branches are spread far and near, and under whose shadowing protection millions may shelter. We may say peace with all its smiles had come again; Fanny and her husband were settled in domestic enjoyment, and thrice happy were they in the love of each other, a love which had been proved in storms and in calms, in peace and in strife. Habit, how strong a hold does it take upon our very natures; how unseen yet sure is the progress it gradually makes in binding us to its ways, and how certain is it of its final success in bringing us, either for good or for evil, to its supreme and indisputable will. Fanny, who had tasted the excitement of a life at sea, who had dwelt upon its breast as a home for many months, had imbibed, as the sailor seems always to do, an ardent love for it. This feeling was reflected in the breast of her husband, for William Lovell was in every sense of the word a sailor, and he too pined for the excitement he had been accustomed to. ‘William,’ said Fanny one fine evening as they sat by their own hearth, ‘I think we might love each other just as well were we to be on the element we have both proved so successful upon.’ ‘I see no reason to the contrary, Fanny,’ said Lovell. ‘Then let us once more to sea, husband, if it be only to take a farewell cruise upon the domain of old hoary Neptune.’ ‘With all my heart.’ ‘And when shall it be?’ ‘At as early a day as you please.’ ‘Oh, this will be very fine, no enemy to look out for now, but I have got so well used to that, I don’t know that I should regret if there was.’ ‘How shall we go, Fanny?’ ‘It must be in a craft of our own, for I would go just where it may seem pleasant to us.’ ‘True, we must obtain a yacht.’ ‘Let it be a small one, such as can be worked by a few hands, William; we’ll be our own masters.’ ‘So it shall be.’