which I often encountered during the meal, and once or twice before she retired, which she did at a very early hour. In bidding me good-night, she pressed my hand tenderly in both her own, and again looked earnestly at me as she left the apartment.

A kiss the next morning awakened me. On opening my eyes, they encountered the tearful ones of the lady of the last night-Mrs. Seytoun. "I trust you will pardon me," she said, while she parted the tangled tresses away. from my forehead, "but you wear in your face a look my dead Margaret had, and I could not leave this morning without seeing you once more. Have I disturbed you, my dear?" Her tone, at once so mild and sorrowful, touched me. I put up my arms impulsively and clasped her neck. She held me a moment to her bosom, pressed upon my lips a close, trembling kiss, that ended in a sobbing sigh, looked once more earnestly at me, and was gone.

A fortnight afterwards the news of Amy Seytoun's death reached Glen-Beck.

Mrs. Seytoun was a childless widow.

+

+

"Life is full of sorrow.

Many a secret grief

Weighs the heart-to which, alas !

Time brings no relief;

Struggles that no friend can share;

Weakness unrevealed;

Passion burning fiercer far,

Because so close concealed."

"Comfort!-comfort scorned of devils-this is truth the poet sings,

That a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things."

M

IRABILE DICTU, Bessie," wrote Charley, "we are arrived, settled, snugly housed, though a panther in

the shape of a hungry Indian looks in now and then at the window, and the wolf Poverty

++

is barely kept from overstepping the thresh-
old. Our tenement is of logs; our clothing,
not skins, we still wear what garments we
brought with us from the East; but we shall
come to these anon, for lack of better. Our
beverage is the clearest water, gurgling and
sparkling past our door, from some far-away
source; and our food (do not make a grim-
ace, adorable sister)-incontestably, we have
frequently dined upon bear's meat, and find it
palatable to a degree. To be sure, mother's
fork touches it rather daintily; but then a
prairie-fowl serves to stay a stomach that has
shown no symptoms of dyspepsia since our
progress hitherward has been accomplished.

"At this present writing, father and Russell
are absorbed in Virgil, the huge old Lexicon
open between them. Mother is-well, I must
out with it, engaged in knitting stockings.
Admirable employment for fingers that kept
fashionable ears 'wide' at our private con-
certs last winter. Horace is upon the second
page of a theme-subject The Uses of Labor'
-which he intends shall convince us all that our
present mode of existence is infinitely pref-

+

erable to a city life, with its effeminate cus

toms, and so forth.

paper; but lend me

It looks very well on

your ear, sister: like

Charles Surface in the School for Scandal,' I have no penchant for 'sentiment.'

"Bridget, our 'help,' who accompanied us from Buffalo, made a flitting shortly after our arrival, for a captivating son of Erin sang 'Biddy machree' so meltingly that her heart yielded at once; and we are now left dependent upon our own energies for the supply of our daily wants. But our spirits never flag. We men-folks-Western term for the genus homo-hunt, explore, dig, and plant, while it is day; when night comes, we exercise and strengthen the thinking principle--vide Abercrombie-preparing ourselves for the mental gymnastics of the coming years at college.

Bessie, are you in love with our life here?" A letter from my mother accompanied Charley's, strong, tender, full of sympathizing love and counsel.

"Is the wind tempered, my love?" she wrote. "Do you find your situation less irksome and disagreeable than you anticipated?

So you wrote me. I am comforted. It was a severe trial for me to leave Kate and yourself; but when grief was at its flow, when the distance lengthened between us, until I thought my yearning arms could never clasp you more, then the angel of mercy came. God will take care of His own. He who went to prepare 'heavenly mansions' for His beloved hath a place for us also. An earthly home is good, but it is not the best. Believe this, my child, and let your trial, your great sorrow become a sanctification and a blessing. Your mother suffers with you. How willingly would I have taken the cross and borne all the burden myself. My Bessie, let us go calmly through life, as we may, carrying with us each moment of time the reverent, loving conviction that Divine eyes are constantly upon us, marking every thought and deed. Let us seek to perform with energy the tasks that lie nearest us.' Making Faith our watchword, Patience our motto, let us trust to enter heaven, when this earthly vesture is cast down, through the merits of the All-perfect, All-atoning, Son of God. We would not have effortless years rise up be