PREFACE. To those who, in happy homes, can look around on an unbroken family circle, who have never known the agony of seeing one after another of their beloved little ones pass away from earth,-this volume may be read with little interest; but how few are in such circumstances! The number is very, very small. There is but here and there a household that the angel of death has not visited, to select some lovely flower (perhaps the fairest and sweetest) and transplant it to the world above. It is then to the many bereaved parents, mourning over "little graves" in which some of their ear It liest and brightest hopes lie buried-that this volume is affectionately dedicated. may open to them a fountain of consolation in the midst of the valley of tears, and reveal a "light" which will penetrate their deepest gloom. |