I take part in all the innocent amusements
that are not inconsistent with my years or the gravity of my
profession--but you seem sad, Mrs. Wolston."
"Yes, Frank; you have recalled my absent son, Richard, so vividly to
my memory, that I cannot help shedding a tear."
"Is your son in orders then, madam?"
"He is precisely what you have pictured yourself to be, a minister of
the gospel, and a most exemplary young man."
"If," remarked Becker, "we have hitherto refrained from inquiring
after your son, madam, it was because we had no wish to recall to your
mind the distance that separated you from him, and we should be glad
to know his history."
"There is little to relate; he is very young yet, and as soon as he
had obtained his ordination, he was offered a mission to Oregon, which
he accepted; but the ship having been detained at the Cape of Good
Hope, he regarded the accident as a divine message, to convert the
heathen of Kafraria, where he now is."
"It is no sinecure to live amongst these copper-colored rascals," said
Willis; "they are constantly stealing the cattle of the Dutch settlers
in their neighborhood. About twelve years ago, our ship was stationed
at the Cape, and I was sent with a party of blue jackets into the
interior, as far as Fort Wiltshire, on the Krieskamma, the most remote
point of the British possessions in South Africa.
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