1 attached to her. When grown to womanhood, the two sisters removed to New York, and gained their living by their contributions to literature. It is said that in their religious creed they were Universalists; but however that may be, their hymns have been adopted by all sorts of hymn-book compilers, and sung by Christians of all denominations. It is said, too, that one of Phebe's hymns, “One sweetly solemn thought,” hummed over unconsciously in a gambling-den in China, was the means, by reviving old memories, of saving more than one man, who heard it, from the dissipations of gambling life. Alice Cary died in the beginning of 1871, and Phebe Cary died at Newport, Rhode Island, of grief and exhaustion, caused by the death of Alice, a few months later. The sisters "were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their deaths they were not divided." After twenty years of literary life, they both rested from "their labours." We quote, as a specimen of Phebe's poetic power, a piece little known to English readers, entitled "Overpayment." "I took a little good seed in my hand, And cast it tearfully upon the land, Saying, 'Of this the fowls of heaven shall eat, "Yet I, who sowed oppressed with doubts and fears, "A little child begged humbly at my door; But let my heart go with it; therefore we "My soul with grief was darkened, I was bowed "It roused me from my weak and selfish fears, "Once, seeing the inevitable way My feet must tread through thorny places lay, I cannot go alone,' I cried dismayed; 'I faint, I fail, I perish without aid.' "Yet when I looked to see if help were nigh, A creature weaker, wretcheder than I, "I saw, I paused no more; my courage found, "Once, when I hid my wretched self from Him, "A half-unwilling sacrifice I made, Ten thousand blessings on my head were laid; "I sought his mercy in a faltering prayer: ; Another little poem of hers, entitled "Chastening," though not strictly a hymn, is so good that it is worth quoting. "Crooked and dwarfed the tree must stay, Nor lift its green head to the day, "And thus doth human nature do : "For, but for chastenings severe, "We learn at last how good and brave "And after He has come to hide Our lambs upon the other side, We know our Shepherd and our Guide. "And, thus by ways not understood, "For faith is perfected by fears, And souls renew their youth with years, And love looks into heaven through tears." A CHAPTER IX. Minor hymn Writers. AMERICAN.—(Continued.) SWEET little hymn, composed upon the words, "Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me," was written by Miss MARY KENT STONE, daughter of Dr. Stone, Dean of the Theological School at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Of conflict, longing, vague unrest- And thou wilt lead my weary feet Through paths of everlasting peace, "Lord, dwell within my heart, and fill Set thou its hope above the reach Baptize its love, through suffering, Into thine own, And work in me a faith that rests On Christ alone." Miss MARY G. BRAINERD has given us a favourite hymn of trustfulness and confidence in God. It appears in a mutilated form in Sankey's "Songs and Solos," but we here give the whole of the poem. It is eminently suitable for the New Year. "I know not what shall befall me ; And every joy he sends me comes "I see not a step before me As I tread on another year; "For perhaps the dreaded future |