Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/27

 had gone with Napoleon through all his campaigns, and, at length, determining that war was not a thriving occupation, had pitched upon a way of making his fortune by taking a dapper little Mexican body, for his wife, and the "hatting business," as a trade.

In fact, we had on board specimens of all that active industry and fearless enterprise, which push the fortunes of our native and adopted citizens all over the world, and make our country known as much by the resistless energy of her children, as by the political liberty they enjoy at home, or which is extended to them by the protection of her flag abroad.

I commenced this voyage in low spirits, and with but a slight desire to partake of the pleasures of the cabin; but, what with charming weather and good companionship, I was soon drawn forth from my state-room, to the social table, and rarely have I passed a more agreeable time in a voyage at sea. The variety of character thus blended together, was both amusing and instructive. There were tempers to suit the grave and the gay; and when the hour came for separation, we met for the last time around the board with saddened hearts, at the contemplation of the certainty that by far the larger portion of us would meet no more, and that all were about to encounter the uncertainties of fortune in a strange country, amid prejudices, disease, and revolutions.