There was scarcely a young beginner in the laborious
and ill-requited husbandry of the township he inhabited, a district at no
time considered either profitable or fertile, who could not recall some
secret and kind aid which had flowed from a hand that, to the world,
seemed clenched in cautious and reserved frugality; nor did any of the
faithful of his vicinity cast their fortunes together in wedlock, without
receiving from him evidence of an interest in their worldly happiness,
that was far more substantial than words.
On the morning when the vehicles, groaning with the household goods of
Mark Heathcote, were seen quitting his door, and taking the road which
led to the sea-side, not a human being, of sufficient age, within many
miles of his residence, was absent from the interesting spectacle. The
leave-taking, as usual on all serious occasions, was preceded by a hymn
and prayer, and then the sternly-minded adventurer embraced his neighbors,
with a mien, in which a subdued exterior struggled fearfully and strangely
with emotions that, more than once, threatened to break through even the
formidable barriers of his acquired manner.
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