luxuriant in life and beauty; and the voices of ma- | had been disturbed by the fluctuations of hope and nifold birds, happy beyond utterance, were pouring out the living strains of joy, love, and harmony. Our children, as happy as they, were playing on the daisied lawn; and the elder one frequently running across the path of his aunt, aware of her infirmity, challenged her with an amusing mixture of fear and confidence to catch him. fear, relative to her proposed plans of employment. While there was a reasonable prospect of effecting them, she resolved they should be effected; and now that prospect was completely veiled, she resigned them with meekness. In either alternative, her strength of character was brought to severe trial; and it was nobly sustained. In her love of independence, there was nothing of pride or caprice: in her reliance on her friends, there was noreliance was exercised only as it was necessary; and then it was exercised with a truly delicate, cheerful, and obliging confidence. Her mind was not under the influence of worldly opinion in this conduct; it was regulated by Christian and conscientious motive; and those who are ruled by any thing less, will undoubtedly fail in this double test of character. But Martha's mind was too highly wrought to be playful; it was dwelling with uncommon interest on all the sounds and sights by which she was sur-thing of careless obtrusion, or of sullen regret; her rounded. She too was happy; but it was a troubled happiness; it was the happiness we feel in the presence of a friend from whom we are about to be separated. I understood her state of feeling; and winding away from the little prattlers, we pursued our path in silence, which was only broken by simple remarks on the objects before us. She carefully visited all her favorite plants; she spoke of many of them with more admiration than ever before; and we jointly paid them any little attention which they happened to require. Pained and wearied by her exertion, I led her to her chosen seat for repose. It was embowered in the fresh and thick spreading foliage of the nearer trees; and the last rays of the sun were glowing on the trunks of the more distant ones. The whole scene was becoming more calm and peaceful; and twilight was touching all things with its own soft and pensive hues. Martha fed upon it in quiet ecstasy. How beautiful it is!-How beautiful it is!" she repeated; while the play of the muscles round her lips showed with what mixed and strong emotion her heart was filled. Of course it became my duty and pleasure to throw round Martha's confinement what comforts I could command. We had previously sent the children down to her; and now, to render her situation less solitary and inconvenient, we determined to make it a partial residence; with the understanding that I would see as much of her as my public duties permitted. This arrangement operated most beneficially on the mind of the beloved invalid. She now felt the cottage to be entirely a home to her; and for her amusement, she took a share in the domestic management of the little family. This brought her necessarily into communication with the servants; and, as the children and Maria were mostly with her, she was effectually relieved from every sentiment of desertion or banishment. If ever this sentiment possessed her, it was under other circumstances. It would be on the holy Sab bath, which called away the members of her household to the higher services of the sanctuary. It was then she would feel that she was shut up from the house of God and the people of God, whom she loved; and frequently, when the children, with Maria, came in dressed to take their parting kiss, the silent tear would fall and mix with the emYet she did not waste sacred time in useless regrets. She regulated the movements of those about her on this revered day with the watch in her hand, and was particularly careful that no one should leave too late for the very commencement of public worship. Quite unwilling to shorten her pleasures, I yet feared the effect of excitement, and proposed retiring to the cottage. "One more walk, brother," was her reply: "Nature is so beautiful to-night." We took another walk-and another. At length her measure of strength was exhausted, and we turned towards our quiet habitation. Her eye caught the latticed window of the room to which she was about to ascend, and from which she might never come down! The big tears started from her eyelids, and were suppressed again. We approach-braces. ed the entrance; her spirit recoiled from it, like the bird from its cage. "One last look, brother!" said she, as she turned round on the spot which had so often contributed to her innocent gratification. She looked again and again; and then, mastering her feelings, she turned resolutely away, and passed into her dwelling. It was indeed the last look she was taking, and she was entering her habitation to come out no more. CHAPTER XX. For herself, she generally sought to occupy the time similarly to what she supposed those were doing who were more privileged; and she often found pleasure and assistance in reflecting, that her engagements were those of the manifold congregations of the saints. While she was thus holding a spiritual communion with the church of the living God, it was unattended with any reproaches of conHow commonly are events the very reverse of science; she had never trifled with the means, while what we expect them to be! Those occurrences they were in her power. It had, indeed, been often which we are looking for with restless expectation, painful to see what she endured in giving her atare charged with disappointment and vexation; tendance; but it was continued to the very last. and those which we wait for with shuddering fear, Although the chapel to which she had to go was bring with them "blessings in disguise." Martha not a hundred paces from her present abode, the could not enter on the measure which she was now last time it received her she was above twenty miadopting without anxiety and alarm. It was cer-nutes in reaching it; and was throughout the sertainly wise and remedial; but the very idea of confinement, for at least many months, could not be received without pain. Yet, no sooner was the experiment made, than half the terrors which surrounded it were dissipated; and very considerable advantages were as quickly enjoyed. The irritation which had attended exertion passed off; her sleep, her appetite, and her tone of spirits were restored; and suffering only "ordinary pain," she was ready to think she suffered nothing, Her mind also returned to that equanimity which vice distressed with pain from the exertion. Martha was now thrown very much into new circumstances, compared with those in which we last traced her efforts of usefulness, and she was anxious to turn them to account. But it will probably be inquired, "What could she do?" Those who have followed her history thus far will be prepared to admit, that the devoted inclination to do good may remain, while they will be disposed to question the present ability and opportunity. But it may generally be said, that those who will do good shall do good; so much are the will and the act, in this case, identified, that we have insensibly learned to designate both by one name, which literally is of more limited acceptation-benevolence. Certainly no situation could promise much less of continued and successful effort than Martha's at this period; she was always a sufferer, frequently a very considerable one; she was confined, not only to her chamber, but to her bed; and, by her change of dwelling, she was cut off from some little facilities for usefulness which her intimate acquaintance with the former hamlet of the village supplied. Thus circumstanced, if it shall be found that she was able to give efficiency to her predominant desires, the conclusion may fairly be, that none, even in privation, sickness, and seclusion, are deprived of the occasion, or exempt from the responsibility, of doing what is emphatically "the work of our generation." Let us pursue the inquiry. was preventing what had been already cultivated from sinking into weedy desolation. Her next concern was to improve her situation, as the centre round which her little household was revolving. The servants were in her estimation an important charge; and, while they were ministering to her in carnal things, she was desirous of rewarding them by those which are spiritual. She laid down simple plans of reading and conversation, which were rendered as pleasing as they were likely to be profitable; and certainly she did not labor in vain. But the children were the particular objects of her domestic attention. Living now, as they mostly did, in her presence, and contributing largely to her recreation, she had great delight in uniting with their mother to superintend their early education; a period of instruction which, if it requires but little of school accomplishment, cannot be rightly met without just views of human nature, and of the springs of human conduct. These views Martha had derived essentially from the Scriptures and observation; they were enlarged and confirmed by the careful perusal and comparison of all the best treatises on the subject; and she had acquired a peculiar aptitude in making them available by longcontinued practice. In relinquishing what was impracticable in her former benevolent pursuits, she did not indiscriminately abandon them all. Her affections and her habits were now so blended with the welfare and society of children, that a prevalent concern was to preserve one class still for her instruction. It was proper to confine it to those of her own sex; and, as many respectable neighbors, who could readily give a common education to their family, were anxiously Yet it was not by any superior skill, or any marequesting admission for their children, Martha gic of method, beyond the limits of common acquihad an opportunity of selecting her objects, where sition, that her efforts were rendered successful; it her designs were most likely to be available. To was by the power of sympathy. Education was her and to her young pupils, the Sabbath afternoon never to her a formal task, and therefore it was not was the most favorable period, as they did not re-so to her little pupils. She put her heart into the emquire, and she did not desire to impart, any other ploy, and made herself one with them. Sympathy than religious knowledge. pervaded all she said and did, and became a key to In all her intercourse with children, Martha never the understanding and the passions. By this myshad a more promising band of scholars than this. terious power she could call in the wandering atShe became most earnestly interested in their wel- tention, and touch the dormant affections; she could fare, and it was discovered so effectually, that they the temptation to disobedience; she could render subdue the propensities to perversity, and anticipate soon formed towards her the strongest attachment. her authority the more effectual, by making its Indeed, there was throughout something peculiarly affecting in the communion which existed, in this yoke easy and its burden light. By sympathy she instance, between the teacher and the taught. It knew how to seize those favorable moments for inwas affecting to see them in succession approach the struction which come over us all; and was prepared bedside of their friend, in clean and well-adjusted to detect the first shoots of rising conceptions, and dresses; and presenting, with a gratified smile of conscious existence in mind and memory, when to assist the gratified child in giving them a *good-nature, some little offering of love, either fruit or flowers, which they had solicited from their pa- By sympathy, she knew how to select her subjects, they would otherwise have prematurely perished. rents, for the luxury of having it kindly received. how to clothe them with illustrations; and when It was affecting to see these children, blooming in the faculties of each child had been sufficiently exhealth and void of care, forming themselves into a tended and employed, without urging them to weaquiet and listening circle around the couch of the riness and disgust. Sympathy enabled her to mark sufferer; while she, deviating for the happy interval distinctly the opening variations of temper and of from the prescribed posture, and supported on pil- character, and to mould them by the gentle touch or lows, was preparing to impart her instructions. firm pressure to her will, without which a misapAffecting it was to hear her accompany the reading plied firmness might have urged fear into hypoof the Scriptures, with the simple explanation, the practical remark, the heart-breathing, affectionate crisy, or a mistaken lenity ripened heedlessness into entreaty, which finally found utterance in prayer; her practical knowledge were only the prepared indolence. Her imagination, her judgment, and while the guileless countenances of her little audi-instruments of education; they were directed, ani tors would be moved sometimes to smiles, some- mated, and sustained by the living soul of symtimes to tears, always to serious attention. It was affecting to see that they were brought sensibly nearer to each other by this short but happy intercourse; and that they could seldom part with satisfaction without some kindly words, and the anticipated kiss, which, if ever it merited the name, was surely "the kiss of charity." Meanwhile, Martha was influencing her willing friend, Maria, to supply her lack of service, by attending her school at the widow's in addition to her former engagements; while she kept some hold on the children and their families still, by talking with the elder ones occasionally, and continuing the circulation of her library among them. Thus, while really occupying new and valuable ground, she pathy. her instructions were of a religious nature; and, Never was her sympathy so fully awake as when as nothing is thought so difficult at this early stage as rightly to interest children in divine subjects, it is important to remark, that Martha was eminently successful. Our children were never so attentive to her as when she spoke of heavenly things. They were nearest her heart; and they were felt to be so even by infancy. Whenever allusions were made to religion, it was always as to something higher and better, and far more important than the things which led to it; and when it was made the subject of a regular lesson, it was as a treat rather than a task. It was thus introduced with pleasant asso ciations; nor did the issue lead to disappointment. license was procured; preaching was regularly Religion, made impressive by her own seriousness, commenced on the Sabbath evening; and a Sunday and clothed in her own happy smiles, and glowing school was readily established, which was taught in in the warmth of her own affections, was so attrac- the afternoon of the day. The attendance was eager tive and wonderful as effectually to interest the cu- and overflowing; and quickly some good fruits arose riosity and feeling of the children. It was impossible from it. to be a partial spectator of her tenderness, earnestness, and love, in aiding the new-born perceptions to spring into the light and joy of an unseen and spiritual world, without an involuntary application of Goldsmith's similitude The report of these proceedings, and of the suc cess which crowned them, gave Martha such joy as angels know. The place was associated with some of her happiest recollections; it was connect ed with some of her most earnest prayers; her hope concerning it had been long deferred; and now that all, and more than all she had imagined was accomplished, and accomplished when she could have least expected it, she could not think of it without shedding the joyous tears of benevolence and gratitude.* The wine of joy on Martha's mind shed not an intoxicating, but an invigorating influence. Her labor had not been in vain in the Lord, and therefore she resolved to abound in it. She had long thought that a much more extensive effort might be made for the religious instruction of the rising generation than had yet been tried; and with the influence she now possessed among the students who kindly listened to her proposals, and the assistance she could raise elsewhere, she concluded she might safely press them to an experiment. To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies; She tried each art, and checked each dull delay, Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way." But it was not enough to this imprisoned invalid to be thus blessing her family, and occupying, by her own and her friends' exertions, a sphere of accustomed usefulness beyond the domestic circle; her vigilant and benevolent eye perceived that there were yet other advantages supplied to her from her present situation. She was now living in the vicinity of the college, at which a number of young men were preparing themselves for the Christian ministry. She had long been desirous that, while qualifying for larger scenes of labor, their attention might be directed to the claims of a neighborhood in which they were temporary residents. Hitherto The experiment was made. A Sabbath school, delicacy had withheld her; but now that she was distinct from Martha's own select class, was origidwelling with her brother, and that she was the sub-nated in her own habitation, which soon swelled to ject of such bodily infirmity as would prevent any such magnitude that it was necessary to move it to misconception of her motive, she thought she might the college chapel; where it continues to flourish make the attempt consistently, and therefore re-under the patronage of the presiding tutor and his solved to make it. Opportunities soon arose in the calls of some of the senior students on the family, and they were readily embraced. She was gratified to find that they were likeminded with herself; and that, if they had not heeded the events of the surrounding villages, it was because, in the strangeness of a new situation, and the pressure of new duties, united with the transitory term of their continuance, they had not properly occurred to their thoughts. They had now a kind and modest monitor; and they, in a Christian temper and with a most obliging kindness, were ready to become the executors of her suggestions. They quickly learned to appreciate her character; and still reckon among their happiest hours at this period, those passed in her society conversing of the good things of the kingdom, and planning for its prosperity. They took fire from her altar, and bore it away to strengthen the flame where it did exist, and to kindle it where sin and death were reigning in unmolested darkness. One of Martha's earliest and most urgent representations was in favor of Newgate-street. It had never been out of her mind or her prayers since her first visit, and she had entertained considerable confidence about it; but hitherto little had arisen to give her encouragement. It had remained as it is described, with the exception of a few visits from Maria. But it was too distant for the female foot to reach it with frequency, and the impression made by an occasional visit is weak and desultory. This was the time, Martha conceived, to make a better attempt; and she succeeded in interesting her new coadjutors in the work. One of them visited the spot and explored the neighborhood; and was at once impressed with the duty of endeavoring to benefit its inhabitants. He sought the opinion of the people, and found them well disposed to his intentions. He inquired for suitable accommodation for the purposes of worship and the management of a school; and he obtained it at the cottage which first received my sister when she visited the hamlet. The principal persons around were consulted; a family. Already the field of instruction and benevolence here presented to the laborer had been entered by Mr. Raikes in a spirit worthy of the name and the family; and now the combined exertions of the church and chapel promised to occupy it in the length and breadth thereof. One step leads to another. This endeavor to raise a school where many works of charity were already in action, made a more regular visit to the dwellings of the poor necessary. The object was not to recruit for a new and opposing interest, but to urge the duty of worshipping God somewhere; and of giving the children, by some means, the advantages of religious instruction. Inquiries were made as to the supply of Bibles in the respective families; and, of course, in these researches, an abundance of distress was discovered. Children were willing to be taught who had not garments in which they could decently appear; parents were willing to labor who vainly asked for occupation. The times were just then pressing on the agricultural poor; and want and sorrow became residents in those cottages which ever before had been enlivened by industry and contentment. Martha considered this outward distress as a call in Providence to exertion. She thought that the deplored scarcity of bodily supplies might possibly be overruled to create an hungering and thirsting for the bread which giveth eternal life. Yet she could not overlook temporal and present want, while urging the desires to pursue a spiritual and durable portion; and the difficulty was, how to meet those * Last June I had a mournful pleasure in visiting this place, and addressing the humble villagers. The room in which we met was confined, but it was full; and the preacher was so placed as that he could be as well heard and seen without as within. Those within were serious and attentive; and the mothers with their little ones, unused to worship, took their stand among the flowers in the garden without. It was an interest ing specimen of village preaching. Some efforts are making to provide a neat little place of worship. claims of the body without expenses which she variations of judgment and of denomination, every could not sustain. However, she roused herself Christian would hail every other Christian as his and her assistants to the occasion. Help was sought brother and his friend; and the church of God from the hands of affluence; and she applied to her would shine forth glorious as the sun, fair as the friends in and out of the family for cast-off gar-moon, terrible as an army with banners; and would ments, tracts, Bibles, and useful books. The appeal sustain one victorious conflict only with those who was well made, and as well received. Subscrip- war against "the Lord and his anointed;" and who, tions came in to support the school, and sufficient to in warring against them, war against the peace of give outward apparel to the more destitute children; humanity and their own salvation! and parcels arrived, enclosing money and clothes to be made up for the suffering poor, so as to exceed even eager expectation. Martha's peaceful cottage now wore a busy though still a peaceful aspect. What with the presence of children; what with the cutting out and making up of garments; what with the attendance of distressed persons; and what with the frequent little cabinet consultations with her companions in works of mercy; it assumed to the imagination the different appearances of a seminary, a manufactory, an asylum, and a levee room. But whatever were its varying appearances, it was always sacred to charity while her spirit presided in it; and now it is sacred in memory by these and yet tenderer recollections, to those who were certainly not careless spectators of her doings, but who could afford her only poor and occasional assistance, as they were employed in another and a distant sphere. Oh for the day, whenever it shall beam, And the slain Lamb's eternal supper share!" CHAPTER XXI. SUSPENSE. 1820-21. ALTHOUGH the hand of heavenly wisdom may lead us to drink at the springs of pure happiness, they will not, in this life, remain untroubled. Religion had revealed to Martha in its enjoyments and pursuits, the only unpolluted sources of happiness; but she was still exposed to those regrets and anxieties which more or less attend a state of imperfection and discipline. Some of her regrets, in the fall of this year, arose from her communications with London. She heard of changes transpiring, and friends becoming ill, nigh unto death, and restored again to health and activity, while she lay in the same helpless state; and this would sometimes give a lengthened and hopeless form to her confinement. She received many expressions of affectionate esteem and desire from her former companions; and they awakened similar desires, once more to meet them and cooperate with them in the flesh. But especially she It is little to say that Martha was happy in these beneficent pursuits; but there was one incident arose from the mass, which, as it gave her much gratification, may find its place in closing this chapter. Among the spreading distress which revealed itself, was that of the family belonging to the individual who was alluded to as giving my sister so much annoyance and pain on her first visit to Cheshunt. He had run the course which his ominous beginning promised; had failed in his trade; was imprisoned for debt; and, in consequence, his wife and children were destitute. The ill-treatment Martha had received, the unhallowed reprobation of her religious profession, were not checks, they were motives to her kindness. She behaved to the wife with marked attention; she consoled her un-had to regret the wastes of mortality in her old and der her trials; and she gave her what assistance she could. She might readily have given this assistance from the stores of which others had made her the almoner; but this, in the peculiarity of the case, would not satisfy her mind. To stand well with her conscience, and to enjoy the full exercise of forgiving love, she must give of her own; and it was with a most free and willing hand she disposed of the last shilling in her purse for the aid of this family. beloved connections. Particularly one of her dearest young friends, in whose welfare she was interested as in her own, had become a happy mother, had sickened, had languished, had died, had been buried, and the infant had sunk into the same grave; and Martha had not been able to utter one word for her consolation, shed one smile on her sorrows, or drop one tear on her grave. The suspense which hung over Martha's situation gave her occasional concern. Though a priThis is illustrative of her generosity of feeling; soner, and enduring much affliction, there was noyet another slight incident of this period may be thing in her present bodily estate to excite alarm added as illustrative of her generous opinions. In for the issue; while, therefore, she had contentedly the wide distribution of the Bible and Testament resigned all worldly pursuits, she was often perwhich was now effecting, many of the poor ex-plexed to decide whether it were her duty to prepressed a wish to subscribe also for a prayer book, pare herself for future usefulness here, or to look coupled with a fear "that perhaps the lady might only on eternity. not like that." They, however, were mistaken in their judgment of the lady; Martha immediately obtained a supply of the Common Prayer book, and whoever desired to contribute for one was at full liberty to do so. But these are poor illustrations of liberality as it shone in ber character. It seemed to have nothing to struggle against; it flowed naturally from her as water from a fountain. There were no unhealthy constrictions about her head or heart; nor was there any unnatural and dangerous enlargement. Her liberality was not of that spurious kind which gives no value to principle-no blame to doubt and ignorance; it arose, not from the neglect of truth, but from confidence in the truth. Would that such a liberality prevailed' Then, whatever might be our If suspense, however, gave her some perplexity, she did not permit it to betray her best interests. She was aware of its sinister influence, and kept a strict watch against it. "You would imagine," she observed to her sister, "that death would be no surprise to me; but I have been so long in this position, that I do not perhaps expect a change any more than others. The mind may be held in a middle state of suspense, till it becomes nearly indifferent to it." In her correspondence with a friend, she say"The state of my health has been extremely critical; it is now better, and I may linger as I am for many months; and, perhaps, after all, it may terminate differently to what can be expected. Yes, I may yet perfectly recover, and trip with as light a foot over your green as any lass of sixteen! But, whatever the event, I desire to be ready for my last | contents formed an important link in the chain of summons! O how differently does death appear knowledge; but they were not to be trusted as the when seen obscurely at a distance, and when stand-guides of unformed opinion, and young impassioning just before one ready to give the blow! Truly ed feeling. With a regulated mind and most seriit is a serious thing to die. O that our lives may be one habitual preparation for this last conflict!" Prayer has a reflex action. The desires we breathe animate the efforts we make. Never were desires more fully realized than those she here expresses. Suspense could not weary her; hope could not allure her from the post of watchfulness. She knew not the hour when the Son of Man should come, and therefore she was anxious to be always waiting for his coming. She sought to make her calling and election sure, knowing that this blest assurance would alike aid her in this life, or prepare her, with faith and without "sudden amazement," for the opening of another. It will scarcely be supposed, after the statements of the preceding chapter, that Martha's regrets at this period, were sometimes increased by a sense of uselessness. Yet it appears, from what her hand has at intervals minuted, that she was subject to depression on this account. She refers to the "useless life she is leading," requiring the help of others, and able to do nothing in return," and "fears that her life will be run out before she had done any thing for Him who gave it;" and if ever she now thought of her situation with pain, it was uniformly in connection with these impressions. ous views before her, Martha now read what was valuable in the writings of these exceptionable writers, not only without danger, but with benefit.— She despised the sly sophistry of the infidel historian, who would travel willingly out of his way, to make a side-thrust at a religion he had taken no pains to understand. She pitied the poor poet, who, in the conflicts of an ambitious and carnal spirit, was alternately aspiring to dwell among the stars, and floundering in the mire of sensuality and selfishness. She condemned the moralist, professedly Christian, who, seeking to illustrate moral conduct, as connected with revelation, in the most elegant and interesting manner, feared to incur the world's blame, by any decided allusions to those peculiarities in revelation, which distinguish and exalt Christianity from every false system. The more she became acquainted with general literature and with the literary world, the more she was convinced, that real science and real happiness were inseparable from religion. The only invaluable lights of the world, whether civil, moral, or literary, were those which shone from heaven; and without them, the gleams of reason, the glow of feeling, and the sparklings of genius were such as would blind, bewilder, and deceive us. The uncertainty of all things, even of those which she most admired and pursued, was more apparent to her; she pressed the Bible closer to her heart, and fixed her faith and hope more assuredly in the haven of a better world. Would that the same course of study had always led to the same conclusions! But it has often been commenced with a mind ignorant of re If such anxieties as these, in such a person, were not expected, they are yet capable of explanation. Though Martha was the living centre of so much devoted activity, her humility prevented her from ascribing these exertions to herself; and the very bustle that would often be created by the execution of her own plans, while she kept one fixed position, would occasionally affect her with a sense of help-ligious truth, and unaffected by religious principles; lessness and inutility. The high standard to which she always brought herself had also the same tendency. Compared with her principles, compared with her obligations, compared with what her Saviour had done, and commanded her to do, she had done nothing. An elevated standard had given elevation to her mind. She looked not at what was done, but at what was to do; and while she sighed over woes unhealed, sins unsubdued, a world unregenerated, her mightiest effort was but as a drop of heavenly rain falling on the great salt waters. and nothing is so seductive on a young and aspiring spirit as the pleasures of literature. Unhappily these pleasures, in an unprepared state of mind, cannot be safe or innocent. The great mass of our existing literature is an array against godliness, and it is yet mostly in the hands of those who, in pledging their devotedness to the muses, are too much disposed to stone or despise the prophets. Martha had now spent nearly six months on her bed in nearly the same position; but neither the indefinite term of her confinement, nor the transitory As these regrets did not influence Martha to dis- regrets which sometimes gave a pensive coloring to regard her spiritual interests, so they did not divert her thoughts, nor yet the serious direction of her her from those which are intellectual. She did not mind to high and benevolent pursuits, had deprived allow the idea, that her mental improvement might her of her wonted cheerfulness in domestic life. never be useful to her in this life, to break up her Her chamber was not the place of complaint, reststudies. She connected the sound cultivation of the lessness, and vapid wishes; it was the happiest mind with a future life, and the nearer, therefore, room in the house, and it was made so by its chief she might approach it, the more important and in- inhabitant. When we were away, many of her teresting was the duty. She considered "that spi- | thoughts were employed to make it attractive; and ritual and intellectual treasures are the only ones when we were present, she was anticipating us by we can carry with us to a better world, and that every little act of kindness, catching and returning we ought to value and pursue them accordingly." every look of love, and shedding over her guests Acting under such sentiments, she still gave herself the soothing influence of her glad words, undissemdiligently to reading and meditation; her pleasure bled smiles and frank good-nature. It was evident increased as she advanced; and never have I met that all this sprang from her heart, and that, while with a more palpable proof of the advantage accru- she was intent on promoting the happiness of others, ing to a young person from the careful perusal of she was positively the most happy of the little comwell-selected books. This will have been traced pany. This conduct insensibly led us to associate already in her past progress; but it was still so con- the idea of comfort with her chamber; if the childspicuous at this period as to require observation.-ren had met with any troubles below stairs, they Her understanding was yet more enlarged; her judgment ripened; her fancy quickened; the store of her conceptions enriched; and, consequently, the means of mental gratification improved and multiplied. In her present course of reading, it was deemed lesirable that she should be introduced to some ooks, which had hitherto been proscribed; their fled to it as a sanctuary; and if their parents desired an hour's quiet enjoyment, they were commonly disposed to seek it here rather than elsewhere. How unlike the sick-room as we frequently find it! where peevish complaint and selfish passion are multiplying themselves in sorrow, by driving those from their presence who should be their most tender comforters. |