"It's all like a dream-to me, Miles," Moses at length muttered--"more out of natur' like, than setting up for a hermit." "You'll soon get accustomed to the change, Marble; then everything will seem in the ordinary way, and natural." "To think of my being a son, and having a real, living mother!" "You must have known that you had parents once, though you are fortunate in finding one of them alive at your time of life." "And she an honest woman! A mother the President of the United States, or the first commodore in the navy, needn't be ashamed of!" "All that is fortunate, certainly; especially the first." "She's a bloody good-looking old woman in the bargain. I'll have her dressed up and carry her down to town, the first opportunity." "What would you give an old woman that trouble for? You'll think better of these matters, in the long run." "Better! Yes, I'll take her to Philadelphia, and perhaps to Baltimore. There's the gardens, and the theatres, and the museums, and lots of things that I dare say the dear old soul never laid eyes on." "I'm mistaken in your mother, if she would not prefer a church to all of them put together." "Well, there's churches in all of them towns. Put it on a religious footing, if you will, and I ought to take my mother as soon as possible down to York. She's old, you see, and cannot live for ever, just to oblige me; and here has she been tied down to one church all her days, giving her no ch'ice nor opportunity. I dare say, now, variety is just as agreeable in religion, as in anything else." "You are nearer right there, Moses, than you think yourself, possibly. But we can talk of all these things to-morrow. A good night's rest will give us cooler heads in the morning." "I shall not sleep a wink for thinking of it. No, no--I'll make the old lady pack up before breakfast, and we'll sail in the sloop. I'll take her aboard the Dawn with me in town, and a comfortable time we'll have of it in her cabins. She has as good state-rooms as a yacht." There were no liners in those days; but a ship with two cabins was a miracle of convenience. "Your mother will hardly suit a ship, Moses; and a ship will hardly suit your mother." "How can any of us know that till we try? If I'm a chip of the old block, they'll take to each other like rum and water. If I'm to go out in the ship, I'm far from certain I'll not take the old woman to sea with me." "You'll probably remain at home, now that you _have_ a home, and a mother, and other duties to attend to. I and my concerns will be but secondary objects with you hereafter, Mr. Wetmore." "Wetmore be d----d! D'ye mean, Miles, that I'm to give up my calling, give up the sea, give up _you_?"