Returning Home

The narrator says it is generally supposed that the people who live at home value home the most, and best appreciate all the comforts of that cherished institution, but is inclined to doubt this. The narrator thinks it is to those who live farthest away from home, and find the greatest difficulty in visiting home, that the word conveys the sweetest idea. The city of San José stands on the central plain of that portion of Central America which is called Costa Rica, in the middle of the coffee district, surrounded by rich soil on which the sugar-cane is produced.

The text names the spot Carablanco, where travellers found a woman living all alone whose husband was away, she told them, at San José. Mrs. Arkwright asked the woman in a whisper whether the road is very bad, and the woman answered that it is a bad road. The text says that Mrs. Arkwright sank at once on being precipitated into the water, and that the poor Indian made two attempts to save her.