daily as that hour still returns, it brings with it a tinge of the peculiar sadness, which marked it then.

'As I approached our little village, I heard the bell which, according to a common practice in New-England, is tolled to announce the departure of the spirit from its house of clay. Whether it be a relic of popery, I know not: I had supposed it was of puritanical invention, intended as a means of giving additional effect to the impression of such events, until I afterward found that it was customary in the mother country. Be that as it may, it sounded to me, on this occasion, like my own death-knell.

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When I reached the house, I sought instinctively my sister's room, where I found her in convulsions of grief. We threw ourselves into each other's arms, and sobbed and wept together, until, after the first agitation was over, we began to realize that we were united again, after a long separation, and to feel that there was blessing even in mingling our griefs. Before we parted for the night, we repaired to our mother's room. had never seen but one person after death, and there were some circumstances associated with the recollection which inspired a feeling of sach dread as had prevented my ever looking at another - but it was not sufficient to counteract the heaven-directed impulse which first sends the infant to its mother's breast, and afterward, as the moral and intellectual wants of its nature are developed, still guides to her as to the fountain whence all wants are to be supplied, until at last, when the soul of the mother has fled, it prompts the child to hang lingeringly over her remains, as if to be with her was still the only solace.

• Death sometimes wears an expression which seems as if in mockery of life—but here it had no victory. The countenance was sweet and heavenly, as if the soul, in departing, had lingered there, and left a trace of itself. It was marked by a look of holy serenity, on the memory of which my mind has often reposed, and stilled its inquietudes, when it would find rest no where else. I passed in the chamber of death. nearly all the two days that intervened between that time and the funeral. What I felt when dust was committed to dust, I will not attempt to describe. Whoever has buried a beloved mother, has known something of the soul-stricken feeling the heart-chilling sense of desolation and irremediable loss - which comes over the child when he turns his back upon a mother's grave.

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There is something in the relation of mother and child which nothing else can ever supply. It is a tie that commences with our birth, is nourished with the milk which gives us sustenance, and the feeling of its value and endearment grows with our growth, and strengthens with our strength.' It is more intimate than the paternal tie, for the mother's province is with her children. She lives for them alone. She is seldom or never absent - she is their fixed and perpetual centre. She views their character, and interprets their conduct, with more indulgence than can be expected in any other relation — an indulgence which is more correspondent to the idea we entertain of the protecting tenderness and benevolence of the Deity, than any thing else that we ever experience. She feels for them as for a part of herself. The most disinterested beings have some portion of individuality; a mother seems to have none, when she views herself in connection with her children.

After my mother's death, my father thought it indispensable that I should return to complete my year at the school. When I first went there, it was with the purpose of fitting myself for college; but at my own and my sister's earnest entreaties, my father now consented that, at the expiration of the year, I should be placed in a law office in our immediate vicinity. I studied hard, that I might be better able to dispense with a collegiate course, and returned home with a sufficient store of Greek, Latin, and mathematics in my head, to answer all necessary purposes, and save me from mortification. Of course, I now attached myself more than ever to my sister. She was almost my only associate, and we were constantly pursuing some course of reading together, so that to her skilful, judicious guidance I am indebted for following those paths of literature, where the richest treasures are to be gathered. My mother's death had given to this world, and to every thing that surrounded me, a different aspect. It was the first serious sorrow I had ever experienced, and a deadly one. It converted into sources of anxious reflection many things which I had before regarded as mere matters of course. I never thought of murmuring at the dispensation from which I suffered so severely: my early training had subdued my mind into a habit of considering that whatever is, is right - which often is mere habit, I believe —just as much as the unenlightened submission of the lower orders of creation to its lords. But I began to feel my mind disturbed by the amount and the various forms of evil that existed in the world—by the reflection that so many beings seemed formed only to suffer and to die; that so many were necessarily trained up and confirmed in vice, before they were old enough to choose the good and refuse the evil.' Books of history and travels occasioned me more unhappiness than amusement. To read of the horrid abuses and iniquities that have been practised among mankind ever since the world began, and to know that even at the present comparatively enlightened period, such an immense proportion of human beings were without the lights, either of knowledge or religion, occasioned a feeling, that it was difficult to reconcile all this with the paternal character of God; and to think of the Supreme Being as divested of that character, was to make the universe worse than a blank. The inquisition- the slave trade-despotism, in every form, oppressing the free heart and spirit of man - and above all, the necessary entailment of vice upon generations, as they rise successively, where vice and ignorance prevail to see too, how few, even in Christian lands, make of virtue and religion much more than a name how selfishness wraps up the heart, and passion debases the nature of many who profess the Christian name these things occasioned me such uneasiness, that I might say with the Psalmist, my soul was disquieted within me.'

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'I did not communicate my feelings to my sister, because I could not bear to disturb the repose of her mind. My father was a great deal absent from home, and though of an affectionate disposition, had a reserve about him which was unfavorable to that free, confiding intercourse which ought ever to subsist between parent and child. So I kept all these thoughts within my own breast; but was unhappy at the feeling of estrangement from God, which they occasioned. I did not cease to pray to him, and my constant petition was, 'Help thou my unbelief.'

Had I early received such impressions of the Deity as may and ought to be conveyed to the mind of a child, by judicious instruction, I believe these harassing thoughts would never have disturbed me; for though many of the ways of Providence must forever be shrouded with inscrutable mystery, an enlightened faith in his goodness is seldom shaken.

I sought for traces of the image of the Deity in his children; but we were surrounded by farmers, whose mode of life is more favorable to the 'sobriety of virtue' than to its striking exhibitions, and the disgust which I sometimes experienced at the hollow-heartedness and hypocrisy of some, more than counteracted the satisfaction I derived from the unaffected simplicity and goodness of the rest. I sought as eagerly for every thing that would have a tendency to restore what had before been my habitual confidence in my Creator, as a fainting man seeks for something with which to revive his drooping nature. Nothing cheered me so much as to find eminent examples of goodness, whether among the poorer or the more wealthy classes of society. I was in the habit of accompanying my sister in her visits, which were many and frequent, to the poor, and was delighted with occasional exhibitions of the power of the religious principle in sustaining the spirit, when every other support had failed. I remember particularly, one poor invalid, who had been reduced by a complication of diseases to such a state of infirmity, that even the bed-the last resource of suffering humanitywas often no resting place for her; and for months together, she would be obliged to take all the repose she could get, in a sitting posture, leaning her head upon a table. She was, in one sense, alone in the world being the last of her family and she was supported by the contributions of a few ladies who rescued her from the poor-house. Yet in this condition, which would be deemed utterly cheerless, she was one of the happiest persons I ever saw - full of spirit and animation. Praise was always on her lips, as in her heart. She would say, that to be one of God's creatures, and capable of comprehending the relation she bore to him to have a place on his earth, to be an object of his care, and to hope for the immortality that had been brought to light-were privileges worth more than all the sufferings that could be inflicted. Truly said the Apostle,' she would exclaim, with great earnestness, this is eternal life-to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.' What are the evils of this earthly scene, to those who feel that they have laid hold on eternal life? If my father chastises me, it is in mercy.'

Still,' I said to myself, 'supposing all this were a delusion, might it not have the same effect upon the mind as if it were reality?' And then again I replied-No: if this faith were not of heavenly origin, it would partake of the perishable nature which stamps every thing earthly; it would contain the elements of its own destruction; and when every thing conspires against it, it would fall as falls the tower under which a mine has been sprung.' Thus my mind vacillated sometimes swayed by one set of feelings and opinions, sometimes by another.

'I now examined, for the first time in my life, with careful scrutiny, the evidences of Christianity, and they seemed to me perfectly satisfactory. Then I considered that our Saviour was exhibited to us as a transcript of the Deity, and that he was full of tenderness and benignity,

such as made him weep over the sorrows of his friends, and exercise his sublime power in behalf even of the humblest beggar. In thus making an investigation for myself, I was able to throw off some shackles which had fettered and galled my mind, and to remove some of my worst difficulties. I found, too, that even when my mind was in its most unsettled state, if I chanced in my reading to come across any sneers at a religious faith at rational sentiments concerning the being and providence of God - it revolted with disgust; and it was then I would discover, that I still clung to those persuasions which before I seemed ready to renounce. I remember in reading Voltaire, the idea. which he somewhere implies that the Deity deems us too insignificant for his notice, offended me very much. I felt that it was contradicted by my own experience of the bountiful provisions made for man's happiness and improvement and after all,' I would say to myself, what can poor ignorant mortals do, but judge by our own experience? I know that I have within me the elements of happiness, if I chose to make use of them as such, independent of any outward circumstances, and that happiness has extensively prevailed within the small limit of my observation. This world, perhaps, could not be otherwise than it is, if intended as a state of trial and probation; and it is certain that from him to whom little is given, little will be required. For the rest, it is matter of faith, such as Abraham exercised when he doubted not the reasonableness of the command which required him to offer up in sacrifice his only son to confide with the humility and teachableness of a child in the wisdom and goodness of that Being whose ways are past finding out' - and that this was the great faith upon which the Bible so much insists, I became more and more persuaded. Still, I would sometimes long for a clearer manifestation than such as is obtained by looking through a glass darkly,' and my doubts occasionally returned.

About this time, it was my happiness to become acquainted with one, the influence of whose character and example had more effect in establishing and confirming my mind on the only sure foundation, than all things else. He was a man of a most enlightened, independent, and upright mind: his character was marked by a purity that seemed uncontaminated with any thing worldly; he was one of the few in whom the image of God is not defaced. His heart, too, was full of benevolence that had the activity of a vital principle, and dispensed its lifegiving influences as freely and noiselessly as the sun and dew. These qualities were moulded together by religion unto the measure of the Christian stature' for he had a firm, practical belief in the religion of Jesus, and a perfect reliance on the benevolence of the Deity.

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'Soon after he came to reside in our village, I was transferred to his office, that I might have the benefit of his eminent professional excellence; and as his manners were particularly kind and encouraging to the young, I had every opportunity of knowing him intimately. I was never with him a day without perceiving that his conceptions of moral duty were of the most elevated kind, producing in his mind a genuine love of Virtue, who was not only his hand-maid, but his twin-sister. He was, moreover, without the stimulus- to which even religious minds are not entirely unsusceptible of sectarian popularity; for, differing from the prevailing faith of the community in which he lived, he gave of

fence, and was the innocent subject of much uncharitableness and censure. These things, however, never disturbed his serenity, nor excited, apparently, a single unhallowed emotion: on the contrary, he exercised the greatest indulgence toward the faults and infirmities of those from whom he differed, and who thought that intolerance was a virtue.

I was very much impressed with this feature of his character, upon an occasion which I thought would afford him a welcome triumph. There was in our village another gentleman of his profession, a Mr. Bond, whose talents were respectable, and who, notwithstanding he was opinionated, and self-complacent, had acquired considerable influence in society. On a public occasion when a question which concerned the religious interests of the people was discussed, my friend contended for some broader and more liberal principle than Mr. Bond approved, who therefore took this opportunity to assail him in the coarsest manner, attributing to him a secret, unfair method of using his influence, of which he was no more capable than the sun is capable of diffusing darkness. His uniform self-command, however, enabled him to preserve his equanimity under this pelting abuse.

Some time after, this same man, so ready to suspect others, was himself detected in dishonorable conduct, connected with his professional pursuits, which came to the knowledge of a full court, and which nothing but the greatest indulgence on the part of his brethren, and their unwillingness to disgrace a man whose parentage was highly respectable, and whose standing had until then corresponded to it, could have induced them to overlook. For some days, the affair was matter of public discussion, and though I heard it talked of in my friend's presence, not one remark upon it ever escaped from him, nor did any significant expressions of his face reveal what he might have forbidden his lips to utter. I thought of him, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again.

'Such a man must of course acquire extensive influence. He was a good deal in public life, and a large community were fixing their eyes upon him with admiration, respect, and high anticipations of his future usefulness. I remained with him four years: he was ardent and assiduous in every pursuit, and far too intensely occupied, for his health.

Upon an occasion of unusual excitement and labor in an important case, in which he had been retained, he became suddenly and dangerously ill there seemed a total suspension of his powers, which was attended with dangerous symptoms. These increased, until it was apprehended that to us he was already as one that is no more - that the spirit would pass without any parting recognitions: but, a few hours previous to his death, he revived, and to my latest day I shall bless God for having been permitted to witness the scene that followed. His mind which before had completely sunk under the effect of disease, roused from what had seemed the sleep of death, and in its strength burst for the time the withes and cords of mortality with which it was bound; nor was he in the least dismayed by the sudden conviction that death was upon him.

The King of Terrors seemed like an executioner, awed by the dignity of his victim to suspend his function, until the last adieus were uttered. Calmly and joyously did the spirit review its past career, and contemplate its future destiny; and the satisfaction which at such a moment the consciousness of his past fidelity to his master evidently im