mind has been somewhat saddened it is true in the vain effort to realize the mode of her present being, the employments of her mind, the nature of that intercourse with the highest intelligences of the universe. Let the thought comfort us that whatever changes we experience here, her love cannot change." A sentiment uttered by her cousin, and worthy of being deeply pondered by the gay and busy, is communicated to Mrs. W— on May 8th: "I often think of dear Polly's remark, made in her earnest whisper, with that expression in her eye which gave such force to her utterances: ‘I never could have believed that life, and all it contains, would have assumed the aspect to my mind it has done, since I have been laid aside in a sick room.' 'Ought we not,' she adds, 'to gird on our armour afresh and faint not in the strife, seeing we have but the day wherein to work, and that day so brief and uncertain?” Her spirits happily now began to recover something of their former tone. On the 13th she writes to Mrs. Pafter having stated her proposed arrangements for her visit : "With you I think that put-off visits, like put-off weddings, are very dubious things. My present purpose, however, is to cheat the goddess who presides over such matters, and present myself at Congleton Station, for your further disposal next Tuesday evening, unless your domestic divinity, or some other untoward event forbid.”—On that day our habitation received such an accession to its hearthjoys as a visitor has rarely furnished. whom business Through the kindness of Mr. F called to Manchester, she had a peep into life, on her way to Congleton, under a phase entirely new to her. Instruction was derived as well as curiosity gratified. She wrote to him next day : I have enjoyed what I saw in Manchester yesterday more to-day than I did at the time perhaps. Various reflections have been suggested by the remembrance, which 1856] CONGLETON. 225 I value. I saw some phases of life which were quite new to me, and you would smile perhaps were I to mention them. Possibly they would not interest you, for they related to strangers, and to those with whom perhaps you had little to do. But I read another page of your character as you walked with your memorandum book dotting down that, and crossing out the other, and tossing over your quick-made purchases. What compound beings we are! What a contrast often between our outward and inner life. Well, a day in Manchester warehouses is a very edifying thing in its way, and I thank you for the lessons suggested. They may have their uses some day." Of Congleton, after a brief inspection, she says: "The surrounding scenery is beautiful. The town clean and rather pretty. The suburbs especially so, for it abounds in villas and large quiet looking houses embowered with trees. Vegetation is considerably more advanced here than in our more northern latitude. "In my Iwalk with Mrs. P- I had a long talk about Mary. How invariably anything beautiful in nature suggests to me thoughts of her, and often, alas! these thoughts are associated with her living presence, and the fact that she is no more, is for the time being, entirely forgotten. Then the truth flashes upon me with startling freshness. Do you ever feel this? Perhaps not; for to you the consciousness of her loss must be more constantly present. "I feel impressed to day with a sense of the insignificance of all the appendages of life as compared with its one great object-spending it for God's glory and the benefit of our fellow beings. Dr. Kitto has undoubtedly left this impression on my mind. What a noble work he pursued under peculiar disadvantages." "I read a review of Dr. Kitto's life in 'The Electic,' yesterday," she writes to Miss S. R on the 22nd, "What a tale of thrilling interest it must be. Q A workhouse lad totally deaf, and of course with imperfect speech, disappointed or rather betrayed in a most passionate attachment by a faithless lady, and finally married to a gem of a woman, who was thrown upon his sympathy and kindness when suffering from the bereavement of her affianced husband. Her path seems to have been a difficult and blessed one. She was never absent from his side for ten hours together during all their wedded life. Yet she ransacked libraries for him, and laboured to advance his works with all her might. Of their union she beautifully says, 'I prayed that God who had chosen my difficult path would enable me rightly to walk in it."" "In Who of us, holding opinions to which we attach importance, may not ponder beneficially the sentiment she transmits to Mr. W- -t on May 26th: my earnest condemnation of bigotry I have sometimes felt myself indulging in uncharitableness of spirit. The very same bitterness may mark my condemnation of bigotry which marks the bigot I condemn. I say not this, believe me, with any reference to your letter. I speak only of myself. I have deeply felt since I came here how far I have erred in this respect." Though written some years previously, the following was furnished to the public during this spring. THE LEPER. WOE, woe is me! far from the abodes of men, I thirst-I burn, no hand may give me drink, An outcast vile, from those-from all-I shrink, Whose voice might soothe, whose hand relief bestow. My cry of misery doth but echo there. The past comes o'er me like a troubled dream, One voice is with me now! Her gentle tone, So pure, so fervent, so intense-it woke Hark! 'tis a footstep. Who approaches near It is the scoff'd, revil'd-the Nazarene ! Lord, if thou wilt, thou can'st bid me be clean! Low at the Saviour's feet the outcast knelt, His eye in tenderest pity viewed him there : And heard with joy, "I will that thou be clean! " 227 CHAPTER X. Her views on a vital Christian Doctrine temporarily unsettled-The benefit to be secured from the little things of daily life-Christian liberty-The triple nobility of nature, culture, and faithImportance of an habitual recognition of God-John Sterling— Her brother's decision to embark for Australia-Glimpses of the grand possibilities of our being-Departure of her brother-The duty of cultivating a thankful spirit—The privileges supplied by trials—The glory to be revealed-Emerson's "English Traits "The Jehovah-Angel-American writers of fiction - Scanty aids for self-improvement. THEY who would enjoy the sweets of repose must first experience the bitterness of toil. This is as true of the mind as the body. Miss Hessel's views had become unsettled on a doctrine she felt to be of vital importance; and she was now therefore experiencing great solicitude. In a letter to Mr. W―t, a portion of which is given at the close of the preceding chapter, she says: "I have had a floating intention for some time past of asking you for an elucidation of some points in a grand doctrine of Christianity which has somewhat perplexed me. I have been so fearful of being misunderstood if I asked any of my orthodox friends how they would meet such and such objections, that I have let my troubled thoughts heave and surge on while the mists gathered more thickly. Yesterday, in a conversation with Mr. P—, the subject was drawn out of me. He answered my questions without expressing the slightest surprise, furnished me with his strongest arguments, and though he seemed instinctively to understand how far I had gone, uttered no word of reproach, but said cordially, 'I am glad |