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ying, "Come, Señora, go with me on deck and
see the day arise." We did so and were charmed with the beautiful
scene. At first the sky was "deeply, darkly blue," and the stars were
gleaming with a brightness never seen in more northern regions. Slowly
a gauzy veil seemed wafting over them, and along the east sprang up,
as it were, banners of purple and rose-color, and the intense azure of
the heavens melted into a soft gray hue. Soon streaks of golden light
flashed through it, and the glorious sun came forth, converting the
mirror-like ocean into a sea of radiance, burnished and glittering
like myriads of gems. And this was morning upon the Atlantic!

At mid-day there was a cry of _tierra! tierra!_ (land! land!) which
sent a thrill of joy to many hearts. We had seen none, except the
island of Santa Maria (one of the Azores, near which we passed), since
we left the Antilles. We ran on deck, and in a few moments

 "Fair Cadiz, rising from the dark blue sea,"

was revealed to our longing eyes. Like a great white dove, with
out-spread wings, resting upon the calm waters, appeared the distant
city. Ah! long shall I remember the delight of that first look upon
lovely Cadiz! The day was exquisite; the air fresh and balmy, and the
sea like a smooth inland lake. Gentle spirits seemed hovering around
to welcome us, while a warm glowing pleasure filled our hearts.

Nearer and nearer we approached, domes, spires, and turrets gradually
rising to view, until the entire outline of the city, with its
snow-white houses and green alamedas, was before us. . . . . . .

Cadiz is a very ancient city. It was founded by the Phoenicians,
hundreds of years before the building of Rome. Upon the coat-of-arms
of the city is the figure of Hercules, by whom the inhabitants say it
was built. Then came the dominion of the Moors, and afterwards the
Spaniards. When America was discovered, a golden prosperity beamed
upon Cadiz, which was lost as soon as the Spanish Possessions in the
New World proclaimed themselves free. It is strictly a commercial
place, and has now only a population of sixty thousand. The city is
upon a rocky point of land, joined to the peninsula by a narrow
isthmus. The sea surrounds it on three sides, beating against the
walls, and often throwing the spray over the ramparts. On the fourth
side it is protected by a strong wall and bridges over the wide ditch.
At night, they are drawn up, thus isolating the town completely. . .
. . .

Leaving the bay, we plunged into the long rolling billows of the
Atlantic, and bade

 "Adieu! fair Cadiz, a long adieu!"

then turning the cape, upon which was once the Phoenician
light-house called "the Rock of the Sun," we came to St. Lucar. There
Magellan fitted out the fleet which first circumnavigated the
globe. . . . We passed the mouth of the Rio Tinto, upon which stands
the convent [La Rabida], where Columbus, an outcast and wanderer,
received charity from the kind prior, who interceded with Isabella and
thus forwarded the plans of the great discoverer.

LOUISA SUSANNAH M'CORD.

~1810=1880.~

MRS. M'CORD, daughter of the distinguished statesman, Langdon Cheves
[pron'd Cheeves, in one syllable], was born at Columbia, South
Carolina. She was educated in Philadelphia; and in 1840 she was
married to David James M'Cord, a prominent lawyer of Columbia, at one
time law-partner of Wm. C. Preston. They spent much of their time at
their plantation, "Langsyne," near Fort Motte on the Congaree.

She was a woman of strong character and of commanding intellect as her
writings show. Speaking of her home life, a contemporary says, "Mrs.
M'Cord herself illustrates her views of female life by her own daily
example. She conducts the hospital on her own large plantation,
attends to the personal wants of the negroes, and on one occasion
perfectly set a fracture of a broken arm. Thoroughly accomplished in
the modern languages of Europe, she employs her leisure in the
education of her children." See under _Wm. C. Preston_.

WORKS.

 Caius Gracchus: a Tragedy.
 "Sophisms of the Protective Policy," from the French.
 My Dreams, [poems].
 Articles in Magazines.

WOMAN'S DUTY.

(_From Enfranchisement of Woman, in "Southern Quarterly Review,"
April, 1852._)

In every error there is its shadow of truth. Error is but truth turned
awry, or looked at through a wrong medium. As the straightest rod
will, in appearance, curve when one half of it is placed under water,
so God's truths, leaning down to earth, are often distorted to our
view. Woman's condition certainly admits of improvement, (but when
have the strong forgotten to oppress the weak?) . . . Here, as in all
other improvements, the good must be brought about by working with,
not against--by seconding, not opposing--Nature's laws. Woman, seeking
as a woman, may raise her position,--seeking as a man, we repeat, she
but degrades it. . . . . . .

Each can labour, each can strive, lovingly and earnestly, in her own
sphere. "Life is real! Life is earnest!" Not less for her than for
man. She has no right to bury her talent beneath silks or ribands,
frippery or flowers; nor yet has she the right, because she fancies
not her task, to grasp at another's, which is, or which she imagines
is, easier. This is baby play. "Life is real! Life is earnest!" Let
woman so read it--let woman so learn it--and she has no need to make
her influence felt by a stump speech, or a vote at the polls; she has
no need for the exercise of her intellect (and woman, we grant, may
have a great, a longing, a hungering intellect, equal to man's) to be
gratified with a seat in Congress, or a scuffle for the ambiguous
honour of the Presidency.

Even at her own fire-side, may she find duties enough, cares enough,
troubles enough, thought enough, wisdom enough, to fit a martyr for
the stake, a philosopher for life, or a saint for heaven.

There are, there have been, and there will be, in every age, great
hero-souls in woman's form, as well as man's. It imports little
whether history notes them. The hero-soul aims at its certain duty,
heroically meeting it, whether glory or shame, worship or contumely,
follow its accomplishment. Laud and merit is due to such performance.
_Fulfill_ thy destiny; _oppose_ it not. Herein lies thy track. Keep
it. Nature's sign-posts are within thee, and it were well for thee to
learn to read them. . . . .

Many women--even, we grant, the majority of women--throw themselves
away upon follies. So, however, do men; and this, perhaps, as a
necessary consequence, for woman is the mother of the man. Woman has
allowed herself to be, alternately, made the toy and the slave of man;
but this rather through her folly than her nature. Not wholly _her_
folly, either. _Her_ folly and _man's_ folly have made the vices and
the punishment of both.

Woman has certainly not her true place, and this place she as
certainly should seek to gain. We have said that every error has its
shadow of truth, and, so far, the [Woman's Rights] conventionists are
right

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