"But these hours of waiting, like all things earthly, at length had their end, and just as the moon gilded the cypress-trees with golden glory, the wheels began to move and we again worried our tortuous way up the North River. 'Ah,' said the melancholy-looking man who had been long gazing in silence at the sad waves below, 'alas, here I am, friendless and alone in this wretched country, peddling beeswax and eggs for hog and hominy, chills and fever; but I was once a schoolmaster with $1,200 a year, down in Connecticut; wine and women did it. But,' said he, 'I'll be rich yet--I've got it--I've discovered perpetual motion, and the world will honor me yet.' "'Wish you would apply it to this old tub at once,' said the professor; and the forlorn peddler went his way to cherish visions of coming glory. Just then we were electrified by a cheer from the doctor, as the lights of Norfolk flashed over this splendid harbor, yet to float the commerce of a great city. "We bade farewell without a single regret to the old tub _Astoria_, and entered the narrow streets, reeking with the horrors of a thousand and one stenches, stumbling over the prostrate forms of sleeping negroes to the hotel, where we indulged once more in the luxury of a bath, which the nasty water of North Carolina had forbidden for many weary days. Suddenly the city was aroused by the roll of drums and the shouts of hundreds, calling to a mass meeting in Court House Square. Thither we followed the crowd, listening for awhile to the blatant Southern orators roaring about the future greatness of the 'Mother of Presidents,' deploring the reign of carpet-baggers and calling for a white man's government amidst the shouts of the great unwashed; while the sons of Ham looked silently and sullenly on. "We gladly responded to the steamer's shrill call and sailed away to our home in the great and glorious North." CHAPTER XI. IN ARCADIE. I gladly returned, like a tired child, to the kindly faces and hearty greetings of my loving and much loved father, mother, brothers, green fields, and all the beautiful children of summer. "Born where the night owl hooted to the stars, Cradled where sunshine crept through leafy bars; Reared where wild roses bloomed most fair, And songs of meadow larks made glad the summer air, "Each dainty zephyr whispers follow me, Ten thousand leaflets beckon from each tree; All say, 'why give a life to longings vain? Leave fame and gold: come home: come home again.' "I hear the forest murmuring 'he has come' A feathered chorus' joyous welcome home; Each flower that nods a greeting seems a part Of nature's welcome back to nature's heart."