good part which shall never be taken from her. To thy mercy, oh thou orphan's God, I commend her. Good-night, Julia."

"Tuesday Afternoon. I have been washing, and am very tired. House-work is too hard for me, and I would not do it except to oblige Mrs. Walling."

"Wednesday. I have once more taken up my pen, after the labors of the day are over, to write a word to Julia. I believe Mr. W.'s people think I go to bed very early; but I have been watching those little sparklers in yonder heaven. The moon looks calm and beautiful as she sails through the deep blue sky, and I wonder if Julia watches her too, and thinks of her sister

"MARY."

"Thursday Evening. Another day has passed, and a day of probation too. A day is a considerable portion of our life, and all'our days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle.' Oh! Julia, how much have we to excite us to husband our time with the greatest frugality. Since I began to write, I have heard the awful intelligence that another human being has just dropped into eternity in a frightful manner. Mr. L. L last

night laid down in a barn on fresh hay, and was found dead this morning. He laid down in health and thoughtlessness, and woke in eternity. Oh! let us be ready.

"YOUR OWN SISTER MARY."

None of her productions for the year 1828 are preserved, except a short letter addressed to the same sister with the last epistle. She says

"I have been thinking what my life is worth. Wherein am I useful to society? Of what advantage am I to my friends; or what am I doing for the cause I have espoused? Ah! me my life is nothing but vanity. Day after day, and week after week passes by, never to be recalled; and yet I am the same sinful being, vile in my own eyes; and oh, how much more so in the sight of Infinite Holiness! I have wandered far from the straight and narrow path of self-denial I engaged to tread. Turn me, oh my Father! lest I wound thy cause and ruin my soul; heal my backslidings, and blot out my iniquities from thy book. Oh that I could live entirely devoted to God, and exert all my energies, and consecrate all my acquisitions, to the honor of God and the happiness of my species. Oh Julia! let us serve him who is alon

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worthy of our devotion, and whose Spirit alone can inspire our praises. Let us honestly ask ourselves if this world does not usurp the throne of our affections."

*

*

*

We are now compelled to pass over a year in her history, which was fraught with interest, because we have none of her writings during the period.

In the absence of writings we cannot have recourse to incidents in her history, for she trod an obscure path. Her biography must be a moral and intellectual sketch; a history of genius throwing off the incumbrances of misfortune, and breaking forth in light and verdure amidst surrounding sterility. It must be a story of the

heart.

CHAPTER XI.

"They go on from strength to strength; every one of them appeareth in Zion."

"While I mused, the fire burned."

DAVID.

AFTER her union with the church, her astonishing growth in grace was observed by all who knew her. She spent much time in solitary devotion and religious engagements; and it is an old maxim of Christianity, that solitude is favorable to devotion, while action is friendly to benevolence of character. The truth of this her experience fully illustrated. The person who retires often from the world must have time for reflection, and in the shades of solitude he will analyse his feelings, and establish his principles of action, guided by his high communings with a brighter sphere. His intercourse with heaven will be more pure and spiritual, his penitence more deep and his faith more vigorous.

Such a Christian is conscious of possessing within himself resources of happiness, which lie

beyond the reach of earthly alloy or invasion. He cannot stoop to laugh away his probation in the frivolous amusements of pleasure, or lavish his affections upon objects of human ambition.

Solitude is also the nurse of enthusiasm, and "enthusiasm is the parent of genius." There is society in the deepest solitude, and society which combines the highest and noblest elements. These facts indicate to us the kindness of Providence in placing on a level in spect the rich and the poor.

this important reFor the garret of

the necessitous student is more favorable for intellectual exertion and advancement in holiness, than the lofty apartment of the lettered son of fortune in the midst of his alcoves and pictures of the mighty dead.

Mary was poor, and could not purchase books; she was obliged to labor constantly, and if she had had them, she could not have found leisure to read them.

But she loved the plea

sures of solitude, and many a day she has passed in the garret by her wheel, drinking from the purest fountains in both worlds.

D'Israeli has a striking thought in his "Literary Character" kindred to this:

"The desert of solitude, so vast and so dreary