Towards morning the storm subsided, and the vessel floated until she
rested on a sand-bank. Assistance was afforded from the shore, and the
shipwrecked company took shelter in a small inn, where the men seemed
anxious to drown the remembrance of danger in a bowl of punch. How
faithful a monitor is conscience! This voice is listened to in extreme
peril; but O, infatuated man, how anxious art thou to stifle the
warnings of wisdom in the hour of prosperity. Thousands of our race,
no doubt, delay their preparation for eternity until, by sudden death,
they have scarcely a moment left to perform this solemn work.

Mrs. Graham retired to a private room, to offer up thanksgiving
to God for his goodness, and to commend herself and her orphans to his
future care.

A gentleman from Ayr, hearing of the shipwreck, came down to
offer assistance; and in him Mrs. Graham was happy to recognize an
old friend. This gentleman paid her and her family much attention,
carrying them to his own house, and treating them with kindness
and hospitality.

In a day or two after this she reached Cartside, and entered her
father's dwelling; not the large ancient mansion in which she had left
him, but a thatched cottage, consisting of three apartments. Possessed
of a too easy temper and unsuspecting disposition, Mr. Marshall had
been induced to become security for some of his friends, whose failure
in business had reduced him to poverty. He now acted as factor of a
gentleman's estate in this neighborhood, of whose father he had been
the intimate friend, with a salary of twenty pounds sterling per annum
and the use of a small farm.