HISTORY OF THE REDLON FAMILY.
UNIVERSAL family tradition, handed down from father to son through
six generations, and held in every branch of the connection, has presented
our ancestor about as follows: He was born somewhere in Scotland,
went to England when a young man, was pressed on board a man-of-war,
taken to the New England coast, when he deserted and settled in Saco,
where he married, raised his family, and died. This tradition, so far as
proof is known to the contrary, is in the main supposed to be a true out-
line of our ancestor's early history.
Born in an inhospitable country, reared among the rude fishermen
of Shetland, and invested with physical hardihood and courage, this self-
reliant young man leaves the land of his nativity and goes boldly forth
into the great world to seek his fortune amongst strangers. How little
did he anticipate the adventitious experience that awaited him! The little
stone crofter's cottage of his birth was to be left forever; parents were to
be seen no more; brothers and sisters with whom he had spent the happy
days of childhood were to be looked upon for the last time, and all the
scenes of his early years never to be seen by him again.
Let the imagination paint the parting scene. The family hive was be-
coming full, and some of the eldest must give place to the increasing
number; in accordance with universal custom the eldest son must remain
at home as successor to his father, and Magnus was to depend upon his
self-reliance in future. The hour ever-sad hour of parting had
come, and the lad, clad in the rude costume of the northern seamen, with
bundle in hand, is standing at the cottage door; around him were
gathered fair-haired and blue-eyed sisters, stalwart brothers, and, conspic-
uous in the group, stand the parents, their foreheads furrowed by the share
of time. The mother, with her head upon the shoulder of her departing
son, embraces him and weeps in silence; the father, with quivering lip
and voice tremulous with emotion, holds his boy by the hand and gives
his last admonition and benediction; then the hands are pressed, the part-
ing kiss given, the farewell faintly spoken, and with swelling heart the
youth breaks away, climbs the stile, passes beyond the hill, and is lost to
the view of the group about the door.
With tears falling like rain, the parents and children cast a last longing
look after the beloved son, and in silence, their hearts too full for utter-
ance, they go about the duties of life. What a void is left in that family-
circle! What sad emotions fill the hearts of that group around the ingle
and humble board! Sadly, pensively, they gaze upon the vacant seat,
and for many days, their food seemed tasteless to them in consequence of
