and happy member of a large and affectionate family; who had but a few days past been moving about in gay scenes of fashion and of earthly pleasure. What must have been the misery and horror of my condition, as I stepped out alone and unnoticed from the humble cottage where I had been glad to find a refuge, and entered by a little wicket into the orchard which joined my father's garden, being afraid at each step of meeting some one who might tell me that my father or my sisters were no more! The orchard is extensive, and is deeply shadowy in some places. A few benches were set here and there under the trees. I remembered scenes which had passed in each of these places. There I had sat when a little child on my father's knee-there I had been with my sisters engaged in dressing our dolls-there I had gone alone to learn my lessons-and there our mother had sat with her young ones around her to amuse them with such little tales as children love. But all these recollections only added to my anguish, and every object I beheld seemed only to make me more and more miserable. At length I was seen from an upper window of my father's house, as I stood leaning against the railing at the bottom of the garden, by the same servant who had spoken to me in the morning, and the next minute she appeared in the garden, but stopped at some distance from me. "How is my father, Susan?" said I. She hesitated a little, and then replied, "Much the same, miss." "He is worse," I answered. "I am sure he is worse." "No," she replied; "no, I hope not, but he is very bad; I would not deceive you, dear miss. There is nothing now to be done for him but to pray that he may be spared to his family; but, dear miss, you must not come nearer. Your mamma sends her kindest love to you, and begs you as you value her blessing not to come here. She is very sorry for you. She wept when she heard you had returned, and she approved of what I advised you to do; but you must not come a step nearer." So saying she turned away, and I saw that she was weeping. I dropped on the grass at the moment Susan turned from me, and I think that for some seconds I must have quite lost my recollection, VOL. XIII.-G 13 for I can remember, as I came to myself, that all the objects in the orchard seemed to be reversed, and that it was some time before they appeared to settle again into their places. A violent burst of tears then relieved me, and I continued to weep for a length of time. Now it so happened that as I was drawing out my handkerchief from my pocket to wipe away my tears, that my long-neglected little Red Book came out with it, and fell at my feet. It is written, "Cast thy bread upon the waters, and after many days thou shalt find it." My father had done this, and it was at this time that his act of faith was to receive its reward. My eyes, as I wiped the tears from them, fell upon my book, and at the same time a tender and sweet recollection presented itself of the day and hour, and paternal manner, in which that book had been given to me; and with these recollections came (I think I may venture to say) the first truly gracious experience of contrition I had ever known; from that instant a sort of childlike feeling of sorrow for my past hardness and selfishness was shed over my mind, and I began to see that all I now suffered was no more than I had deserved for my undutiful and unfeeling conduct towards my parents. And whereas, a moment before, I had thought myself the most unfortunate of human beings, I now began to see that I had been dealt most mercifully with, in having (against my inclination) been brought so near my parents, that I could hear hourly of my father's state of health, and look at the house which contained him, instead of being obliged to wait in cruel suspense at Barmouth, for the coming in of the post every fourand-twenty hours. In this, I trust, improved state of mind, I took up my little book, resolving to make it my friend and counsellor; and opening it casually, I found this passage, May, 14th: "He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted."-Psalm xxii., 24. "Afflictions, though they seem severe, In mercy oft are sent; They stopped the prodigal's career, "Despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction; for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth."-Prov., iii., 11, 12. And is it possible, I thought, that all these trials have been brought upon me to bring me to that which is right! and does my God love me notwithstanding my pride and my rebellion! and I fell on my knees, and, if I mistake not, poured forth my whole soul in a prayer which denoted a contrite and a truly childlike spirit. Although I had heard no good news, yet my mind was assuredly in a less miserable state when I returned to the cottage to dinner than it had been in when I left it. Yet I had that intolerable anxiety and restlessness upon me, that I had scarcely tasted what had been provided for me, before I again returned to the orchard to watch for any one who could give me information. My mother, I found afterward, could not bring herself to see me; but the gardener spoke to me, and tried to comfort me, although he had no good news to tell me, for my sisters were worse, and my father no better; and as I still lingered in the orchard, the nurse came out to me towards sunset, and begged me to return to the cottage, assuring me that I should become ill if I exposed myself to the night air. Neither did I get any comfort from this second messenger, but during the whole of that long evening I had from time to time been consulting my little Red Book, and had been particularly struck by some passages which I had found, referring to the month of August. Among them I may mention August 18. "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."—Psalm xxxvii., 5. "All my times shall ever be Times of triumph and relief." "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps."Jer., X., 23. In meditating on these passages I had been strongly impressed with the duty of acquiescence in the divine will, and in consequence, when the nurse admonished me to leave the orchard, I answered not a word, but returned to the cottage with my little Red Book in my hand, and actually fell asleep repeating the texts I had learned in the orchard. Little then did I think how near relief was at hand, and how very soon I should be set free from that horrible suspense in which I had lingered for the last twelve hours. During that night I was taken ill with a complaint in the head, by which I was so entirely deprived of my recollection, that many days, nay, some weeks passed, without my being able to remember any thing that took place. My life was long despaired of; but at length my disorder took a favourable turn, and after a long and deep sleep I opened my eyes, and found my father sitting on one side of me, and my mother on the other; and in a few days I was conveyed from the friendly cottage to my happy home. Since that period, all my sisters have been united with me in the tenderest bonds of affection, being made of one heart and one mind with me. Neither have we, ever since our restoration to health, omitted the daily study of that little Red Book, which was my sole guide and counsellor in the hour of my deepest distress, DUDLEY CASTLE. ALTHOUGH I have prefixed a lofty title to my book, I am myself but a very little person, having never been of any consequence in the world; though I once, as I shall explain by-and-by, had a very strong desire to be what I considered a great lady. My notions, however, on these subjects were irrational, though such as many others have entertained besides myself. In fact, we poor human beings, big and little, young and old, have all by nature very false notions of real greatness, making it in our vain imaginations to consist of many things, in themselves as light and empty as any bubbles which float for a few moments in the air, displaying every variety of beautiful colours, and then vanishing in an instant. We must all of us recollect having had wishes, and hopes, and prospects, as gay and empty as these gaudy bubbles; and perhaps those should be esteemed the most happy whose bubbles burst the soonest. I have already said that I was never of any consequence in the world. I shall now proceed to tell the reader who I am, and what I was. I am at present the wife of a worthy tradesman, and the mother of several children; and if I am content with my lowly and peaceful lot, I can feel that I must attribute it in a great measure to the divine blessing shed upon the lessons received in childhood from my truly pious parents. My native place lies on the road between West Bromwich and Dudley, a part of England which was once very beautiful, exhibiting such a rich diversity of hill and dale as only required to be left to the hand of nature to render it delightful to the eye; and, in times past, as ancient records tell us, these hills and dales were planted with fir forests, extending for many miles, and interspersed at intervals with a few thatched cottages, a convent, or an embattled tower. But more recently it was discovered that there were mines of coal, and iron, and limestone, of considerable value, under the surface of this fair country; and, in consequence of this discovery, there is now little to be |