Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/48

 CHAPTER II.

N March, 1831, I engaged my passage in the ship ‘Francis,’ that was to sail from Greenock on the 4th of April. I left Edinburgh, and went to bid adieu to my native village. The voyage was a very different thing then from what it is now. The Atlantic seemed wider; the new land less known.

“One good woman took me aside, and kindly urged me to take a wife with me to America. ‘Ye’ll get naething there but a Yankee, and they’re a’black.’ The separation from home and friends was most trying.

“At six o’clock in the morning of my departure, about thirty acquaintances and friends assembled in my home, and many of them were deeply affected. As I arose to go, my mother, who had embraced me most tenderly, fainted and fell on the sofa. My friends said, ‘You had better go now before she returns to consciousness.’ My father and many friends accompanied me. They dropped off two by two, till, after walking ten miles, my father and a very dear friend alone were left. We parted in silence. I gazed after them till they reached the top of a little hill, and gradually disappeared from view. I then sat down by the silvery Tweed and gave full vent to my feelings. I was alone with God. In a more fervent prayer than perhaps I had ever offered before, I commended myself and my father’s family to His keeping, washed my face in