tary, particularly in diseases of the chest, soon made a pleasant drink for his sister. To this he added a morsel of barley-cake, which Florine had baked with peculiar care, but for another than herself, and having softened it in the fluid, carried it to her bed-side.

Florine had just lain down. Fatigued with the exertion of undressing, she complained of exhaustion, and seemed greatly distressed by her cough, which had not yielded hitherto to any of the remedies they had tried. "Dear Florine," said the kind-hearted youth, "I am sorry, very sorry, to hear you coughing so much; but sit up and endeavour to take this warm drink that I have just prepared, and you will soon be better." Florine assented,

and raised herself in the bed, while Althun supported her with the pillow, and threw his mountain cloak about her. Having eaten the bit of barley-cake, and drank the beverage her brother had brought her, she felt sensibly revived, as she had fasted the greater part of the day. Her appetite, in

deed, was now small, and she seldom tasted any substantial food; but her brother had generally some little delicacy for her, though frequently procured with difficulty. Sometimes he would purchase a little of a farinaceous mixture at the neighbouring hamlet: at others he would kill a kid, or perhaps a lamb, which, as the weather was becoming colder, would keep very well for a fortnight, and furnish his sister with a pleasant meal during that period; and as she was herself skilful in the cookery of her country, with the aid of various kinds of herbage which grew wild among the hills, and which Althun carefully provided for her, they frequently made some tolerable potage, which was not of strength sufficient materially to increase the fever of which Florine occasionally complained, while it tended to support her enfeebled frame.

As soon as Florine had again composed herself for the night, Althun opened the Testament, and having read a chapter, knelt down, and humbly commended his sister

and himself to the protection of their God and Redeemer. Then assuming a smile of cheerfulness, which indeed sadly belied the feelings of the heart that ached beneath it, he wished her good night, adding, that he hoped to find her quite renovated in the morning.

"If it be God's will," Florine calmly replied; "but it becomes us, dear Althun, to be in readiness. Life is always uncertain, and the youngest frequently fall victims to diseases, which the robuster constitutions of those more advanced in years might have resisted. But I am better now, and I trust I may yet experience some amendment in my health."

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May a heavenly Father grant it," deeply ejaculated Althun as he shut the door, a tear springing unbidden to his eye while he spoke. "Ah! my poor Florine," said he within himself, as soon as he had again reached the outer apartment of the cottage, and had seated himself in his sister's easy chair: "Ah, my poor Florine!

I am afraid I shall quickly be deprived of thy society and counsel. That hoarse cough, and that deep flush, which I have heard my mother say are infallible symptoms of decline, and which were alas! but too true in her own case, create me much uneasiness on thy account. Dear Florine ! thou didst watch too closely by her dying bed! But let me not murmur against the will of my heavenly Father. If I am bereaved, and left to go solitarily on my way, like the lonely inhabitant of the wilderness, it still equally flows from the unchanging love of my Almighty friend."-It was thus, that Althun was comforted. He felt, and deeply felt, the afflictive hand of heaven; but he derived consolation from the filial and unwavering reliance, which he reposed in the Sovereign disposer of events. From those sacred sources of joy and peace, which spring up with so reviving an influence in the bosom of the Christian, like wells of refreshing water in a desert land, he drew silent but firm support. He bowed

with resignation to whatever He who made him should ordain; for he was intimately persuaded that nothing would be permitted to befal him, that could be eventually injurious to his well-being; and ready to acquiesce in the Divine appointment, he found his mind invigorated to undergo the trials, however severe they might be, of his path below, and to endure unto the end-yea, enabled, in the glorious prospect of ere long entering a country where all is blessednessuninterrupted felicity-even to smile upon the rod that chastened him.

-"Hope in that humble heart derived
Such rooted strength and confidence, assured
In righteousness, that 'twas to him-through faith
In that propitiatory sacrifice

Upon the cross of Calvary offered once-
An everlasting sunshine of the soul,
Illumining and quickening all its powers."

It was, in fact, as Althun apprehended. His mother, who had been a widow from the birth of Florine, her husband having