husband. I was considered to be of some service, at one time, in ministering to the necessities of the sick and disabled soldiers; but when I lost my sight I was only an encumbrance."

“Ah! poor woman, your lot has been none of the smoothest; how did you manage to keep up with the movements of the army? There has been some hard work for our poor soldiers, and I should think not very easy for the followers of the camp?

"Indeed. Sir, there has been great difficulty, but for many months I found shelter in a religious house." “That was a nunnery, I suppose ?”

“Yes, Sir, a nunnery; and there I found the character of the good Samaritan realised.”

"There will be no necessity for asking any more questions; the result of our deliberations shall be made known to you at the close of the vestry." Squire Clayton, with all his faults, was not unfeeling or ungenerous. He proposed that the parish should provide for the petitioner without sending her to the poor house; it would be ungrateful to degrade the wife and child of a brave man who was fighting for his country's honour. "There is the cottage on the green now vacant by the death of Widow Gale, let us give it to the poor woman; the expense will be a little more, but then we shall have the satisfaction in proving that we can appreciate the services of humble individuals in the army."

The pastor seconded the resolution, using the beautiful language of inspiration, "He that giveth unto the poor, lendeth unto the Lord."

The clouds of prejudice gathered thick on the mind

of Mr. Harrison, and the storm rose in his soul, as he pondered over Judith's residence in a convent. He could not reconcile this with his own views of religion. If it had been his own case, he would have suffered rather than have done that; nay, he would have preferred a glorious martyrdom; and then she spoke with affection for that scarlet abomination. "She must be a Romanist," he remarked, "perhaps a Jesuit." •

The pastor had previously spoken of the high Christian character manifest in the conversation and bearing of Judith, and dwelt upon the letter from the regimental chaplain at some length, which accorded so much with his own impressions.

Mr. Harrison could see no beauty in any religious sentiment, except that which adorned the particular household of faith to which he was attached. He continued his remarks with great warmth of temper, arising from the fear that Judith had imbibed the spirit of Popery, and made allusions to the near approximation of the national religious establishment of our own country. "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump," he added, and proposed that Judith should be sent to the poor house, where there would be less to fear from dangerous communications, and it would save expense. He then concluded with an ejaculatory prayer, "May the Lord deliver us from the worship of idols!"

A quiet farmer reproved the last speaker for his want of charity. Another (good humouredly) said that he did not much approve of the extra expense, but if we should ever be led to bow the head, or bend the knee, to an idol, he hoped there would be some

B

thing more attractive than round hats and leathern jackets. This caused a general laugh, in which Mr. Harrison could not withstand the temptation to unite.

The pastor felt wounded by Mr. Harrison's attack. "If the poor woman was a Romanist, (which he did not believe,) she was still a human being, created in the image of God, and he hoped that she bore the impress of his countenance on her heart. There are Jesuits of all denominations," he said with an emphasis, "the Jesuit Romanist, the Jesuit Churchman, and the Jesuit Dissenter, but personal holiness is a more comely robe than spiritual pride. Let us endeavour to cultivate a lowly and obedient heart, and feel for others as we should wish to be felt for ourselves."

The squire then made another appeal in Judith's favour, and his proposition was carried, that she should live in the cottage on the village green.

CHAPTER III.

HOME THE VISIT OF THE PASTOR AND HIS DAUGHTER -MARTHA, THE SERVANT-CONVERSATION, ETC.

Ir Judith could have seen the comfortable, yet lowly cottage, with its straw-thatched roof and ivy-covered walls, so neatly furnished by the unostentatious hand of charity; for most of the villagers who could afford it, brought a free will offering to the blind stranger; could she have peeped out of the little window at the children playing on the green so joyfully, and her own little Violet so happy amongst them, it would have gladdened her heart. Could she have seen the sun rise in all its glory, above the beautiful hills, or witnessed its splendour at departing day, as it sank beyond the western vale, it would have been a home suited to her reflective and imaginative mind. She listened with pleasure to the descriptions of the natural beauties of the scenery (in answer to her own inquiries); then she would amuse and instruct in her turn by recalling the scenery, and manners and customs of the people of other lands. Sometimes a dark cloud would pass over her mind when she remembered her sorrows, but emotions of gratitude like the radiance of a sun-beam, would break through the gloom and revive her drooping spirits. Yes, she felt thankful that she could hear. She could listen to the lark's

last vesper hymn, far away in the deep blue sky, and to the hoarse murmurs of the mountain stream, and the lowing herds on the distant hills, and to the sweet sounds of music floating on the calm breath of evening, and to all the pastoral associations so dear to the lovers of rural life. She could listen to the beloved accents of her own little Violet, and feel her loveliness entwined around her own poor heart; she could think of the many mansions in her Father's kingdom prepared for those that love Him, and of the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of neaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and the pearly gates, and golden streets, and the temple of the Lord God and the Lamb. She could contemplate the time when she should see His face, and have His name written on her forehead, and that if faithful she should reign with Him for ever and ever. She was wont to muse in this way, and gather the flowers of reflective piety, strewn so profusely in the path of the wayfarer (whose home is beyond the swellings of the turbulent Jordan, the land of glorious promise ;) thus she could weave the garlands of hope from the loveliest flowers of the wilderness, and hang them upon the rugged rocks which frowned upon her onward path.

Judith Corn was sitting at her cottage door with little Violet upon her knee; the day had been hot, and the fresh breeze from the hills invited her to taste of its invigorating influence, and to add to the cup of blessing, the pastor and his daughter called that evening, to give her an invitation to the parsonage on the morrow.