to the bed-side of her husband, and found him evidently sinking under the violence of his disease.

The excitement of Mrs. Savage's feelings enabled her to keep up, when her want of strength, under other cir cumstances, would have prevented her doing so. But as she saw that death was advancing, with rapid strides, to mark her beloved husband as his victim, she felt not her bodily infirmities, but endeavored, by her welcome presence and assiduous attentions, to smooth the dying pillow of him whom she loved with all the ardor of her heart.

The day but too soon dawned upon Mrs. Savage, so fatal to her earthly comfort, the day on which he, who for so many years had been the partner of her joys and sorrows, was to close his eyes forever upon this world, and bid adieu to a helpless family, whom he loved with a father's fond affection.

His sickness was consumption, of the most rapid character, which prostrated its victim in the short space of one month. His sufferings were intense; but his wife was consoled, in some degree, by witnessing his patient endurance of them.

Once, during his dying hours, when he appeared overcome by seeing the sorrow of his beloved companion, he grasped her hand convulsively, and attempting to draw her towards him, exclaimed, 'Come, let us sleep in death together.'

He soon regained his composure, however, and calmly bade his wife and children farewell, after which he cheerfully said, 'O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory!' and quietly fell asleep in death, with scarce a struggle or a groan.

The afflicted woman, on witnessing her husband's last conflict with the king of terrors, was overpowered with the intensity of her emotions. She retired to her bed, upon which lay her infant which had been ushered into this now darksome world, only one fortnight before he was made fatherless.

6

This was an inscrutable Providence; one of those events, the design of which we may not know now, but shall know hereafter.' The pious can always derive comfort from the reflection that the Judge of all the earth doeth right.' He, too, sees the end from the beginning, and 'does not willingly afflict nor grieve the children of men,' but always

'Wounds them for His mercy's sake,

And wounds to heal.'

Mrs. Savage was a stranger to vital godliness, at the time that she was, under such circumstances, bereaved of that friend to whom she had given her undivided affection, forgetting that He who had bestowed so great a blessing upon her, was entitled to the first place in her heart. Of that Being she had been unmindful, until, overtaken by the dark tempests of sorrow, she had, like the mariner, when surrounded by dangers on the tempestuous ocean, called upon him in distress.

Glad indeed should we be, to be able to inform the reader that the severe affliction experienced by Mrs. Savage, at this time, was the means of leading her to place her confidence in Him who knows not even the shadow of a turn, but is the same yesterday, tɔ-day, and forever; yet such is not the fact, though it indirectly was the means of

doing so at a period in life remote from this occasion of never-to-be-forgotten sorrow.

It was with difficulty that Mrs. Savage sustained herself during the funeral services of her husband; and after the remains of him so precious to her sight were carried to the grave, and the assembly of pitying friends had withdrawn from the house, she was compelled to take her bed immədiately, from which she did not arise for many weeks. A fever, which was the result of the too great effort she had made, reduced her very low; and her life was despaired of for many days.

At this time, an epidemic fever raged in Roxbury, the place in which she now dwelt; many fell victims to its malignant power; among them the valued nurse of this lady, who had taken care of her during the height of her sickness. The widow felt, when her kind attendant was obliged to be carried sick from the house, that all these things were against her.

Her children were all sick with the prevailing disorder, except the babe, which had been carried to a nurse living a few miles distant from its mother. It was hard for Mrs. Savage to procure a nurse, even at an exorbitant price, and harder still to find those who were not afraid to watch; a few only ventured to take care of the sick during the night, and such as did so demanded an unreasonable price for their services. A sad comment this, it will be admit ted, upon poor human nature! who that knows this fact but will acknowledge its selfishness?

Dr. Walton Mrs. Johnson Husband absconded Loraine in His return. - Eliza.

the army

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WE ought to have informed the reader, that only a few months previous to the death of Mr. Savage, he had removed his family to a place upwards of fifty miles distant from Brookfield. Consequently, at the time when his disconsolate and greatly afflicted widow stood most in need of the society and sympathy of those whom she had ever been accustomed to regard as friends, she found herself in the midst of a circle composed almost entirely of strangers. Yet there were rays of light beaming through the dark cloud which overshadowed her earthly prospects, which faintly illumined her lonely dwelling.

She was not destitute of means to procure whatever was necessary for the comforts of herself and children, and there were some dear friends whose kindness and occasional presence in her sick room, were among the mercy. drops commingled by indulgent Heaven with the bitter draught He at this time saw best to cause her to partake

of.

Slowly did Mrs. Savage recover from this sickness, and glad would she have been, as she sometimes said, to have been at that time removed from earth, had it not been

true that she was the mother of six fatherless children, the eldest of whom was only fourteen years of age.

Her physician was a truly good man, and did as much to benefit the afflicted lady by the manifestation of kind feelings, united with friendly counsel, as by administering physical restoratives to her frail and care-worn body.

Mrs. Savage was greatly attached to Dr. Walton, grateful for the interest he showed in her family, by his faithful attention not only to herself, but to her suffering little ones, who were deprived, in the hour of greatest need, of that untiring care which is prompted only by a mother's love.

Well would it be were all medical men, like Dr. Walton, governed by the loftier feelings of their souls, as they would thus be the means of exerting a most salutary influence wherever, in the providence of their Heavenly Fa ther, they might be called.

Doctor Walton saw, with heartfelt pleasure, that the strength of Mrs. Savage was gradually returning, so as to enable her again to take care of her fatherless children; and he advised her to mingle, as much as her health would permit, in cheerful society; saying, at the same time, that duty called loudly upon her to do so, not only for her own sake, but for the sake of those dependent beings her Father in heaven had entrusted to her care.

Great was the conflict in the mind of Mrs. Savage, ere she could cease to dwell upon her afflictions, for she felt that she was hardly dealt with that the chastising rod which it had pleased her Father, God, to lay upon her, had been too heavily inflicted. Recently arisen from a bed of sickness, surrounded by children who were but par