Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/329

 OR, VULCAN S PEAK. 89 the American wife clings to her husband. She is literally &quot; bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh.&quot; It is seldom that her wishes cross the limits of the domestic circle, which to her is earth itself, and all that it contains which is most desirable. Her husband and children compose her little world, and beyond them and their sympathies, it is rare indeed that her truant affections ever wish to stray. A part of this concentration of the American wife s exist ence in these domestic interests, is doubtless owing to the simplicity of American life and the absence of temptation. Still, so devoted is the female heart, so true to its impulses, and so little apt to wander from home-feelings and home- duties, that the imputation to which there is allusion, is just that, of all others, to which the wives of the republic ought not to be subject. It was even-tide before the governor was again seen among his people. By this time, the immigrants had taken their first survey of the Reef, and the nearest islands, which the least sanguine of their numbers admitted quite equalled the statements they had originally heard of the advantages of the place. It was, perhaps, fortunate that the fruits of the tropics were so abundant with Socrates and his companions. By this time, oranges abounded, more than a thousand trees having, from time to time, been planted in and around the crater, alone. Groves of them were also appearing in favourable spots, on the adjacent islands. It is true, these trees were yet too young to pro duce very bountifully; but they had begun to bear, and it was thought a very delightful thing, among the fresh arri vals from Pennsylvania, to be able to walk in an orange grove, and to pluck the fruit at pleasure ! As for figs, melons, limes, shaddocks, and even cocoa- nuts, all were now to be had, and in quantities quite suffi cient for the population. In time, the colonists craved the apples of their own latitude, and the peach ; those two fruits, so abundant and so delicious in their ancient homes ; but the novelty was still on them, and it required time to learn the fact that we tire less of the apple, and the peach, and the potato, than of any other of the rarest gifts of nature. That which the potato has become among vege tables, is the apple among fruits ; and when we rise into 8*