STRAY LEAVES FROM MY DIARY.

Southland Times, Issue 942, 29 April 1868, Page 3

STRAY LEAVES FROM MY DIARY.

♦ Bx an EaneniAiriWFßOH the Clyde to the Blttff, in 1864. * IV.— A LONQ, A LAST ADIEU. MAY 21st. About 6 o'clock p.m. the anchor was -weighed, and the white sails of the ship were soon fluttering in the breaze which was to waft us afar from the beloved land of our fathers. The evening was beautiful, though somewhat chill, and I repaired to the poop to take a " last fond look " of the distant mountain summits, and therippling waters of the bay, now illumined by the golden beams of the setting sun. As I stood there gazing on the gorgeous panorama which lay spread out before me, the book of remembrance was opened, and the past, with all its hopes and fears, its joys and sorrows, its fleeting visions and its stern realities, was unrolled, and scenes and associations which I thought had long been buried in oblivion now passed before my mind in rapid succession ; and hallowed visions o' bygane times brought tears into my een, and made mo almost regret that I wa9 leaving " Caledonia, the land of my sires," never to behold it again. J3ut when the reminiscencies of the past had vanished away like " spectres of the night," and had given place to the duties of the present and the hopes of the future in the new land, with a last good night I descended to the regions below, repeating, as I went, the well-known lines of Tupper — All's for the best, be sanguine and cheerful, .. . Trouble and sorrow are friends in disguise, Nothing but folly goes faithless and fearful, Courage for ever is happy and wise. All's for the best, if a man would but know it. Providence wishes us all to be blest, This is no dream of the pundit or poet, Heaven is gracious, and all's for the best. ;