"At this moment our mother advanced to me; and is this,' she said, the one stray lamb that I have so longed to get into the fold?' My bonnet had fallen back-she laid her hand upon my head-her hand and arm were bare, and white and smooth as if they had been rounded out of the purest marble. My hair was dressed after the fashion of the world. You must forsake these vanities, Susan,' said she :-she did not speak sharply, though she could sometimes sharply rebuke sin :--she made a short pause, and then fixing her clear piercing blue eye steadfastly on me, as if she penetrated to the depths of my soul, she added, in a low solemn tone, "Susan, I bear a message to you the Master saith, forsake all and follow me, and ye shall have in this world an hundred fold, and in the world to come, life everlasting.'

"Emily, there was a celestial melody in mother's voice in the gift of speaking, and a weight in all her words, and though I gave no outward sign, they sunk deeply into my heart. She said no more to me at that time-she was never forward to speak. In her looks there was a boldness and an innocence that seemed, as it were, like the truth and the gentleness of the gospel she preached, written for a testimony in every line of her face.

"Ah! she had," continued the enthusiast, her eyes kindling and her face brightening, while her imagination magnified the graces of the leader who had captivated her youthful affections.-"Ah,

she had all the sweet qualities of woman, and yet Emily, for a season I turned my back on her. I returned to my natural mother-to the worldto-yes it is fitting you should know all my temptations--to one to whom I was deeply bound in my affections."

Susan paused-and Emily's sobbing, which had continued at intervals till this moment, ceased. She raised her face, now gleaming with faint streaks of red, from Susan's bosom, and fixed her eye on the speaker, who after some effort continued.

"William Harwood was a pleasant lad: we had been mates from our infancy, and had loved one another (loving no one else) with that faith which is the boast of the world's people: little did I think till the gospel was opened to me, that that love was the fruit of a depraved nature—that, if I would not perish eternally, it must be plucked off and cast from me. William pleaded for it, and my own heart pleaded more stoutly-Oh Emily! you know not how the natural man can talk-and oh, my innocent child, be thankful; you know not how the unregenerate heart goes forth in what the world calls love-how the breath of the body and the life of the soul seem bound up in the life and breath of another; how cheap the sacrifice of earth-yea heaven, to the idol seems-"

"Oh stop, stop," exclaimed Emily, falling on her knees, and clasping her hands in agony, "do not say any more to me, I cannot bear it"

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'Nay, my child," replied Susan, recovering her calm tone, and the self-command which had for a moment given way before the rush of natural feeling. "Nay, be quiet and listen, for grace obtained the victory. The conflict lasted for many months. I saw that I could in no way be justified but by obeying the gospel and setting out with the believers. Your grandmother hated the faith then as she does now. I could answer all she said, but when William told me with despairing looks that he should be a ruined man if I forsook him, my heart sunk within me. My flesh consumed on my bones as if there had been a curse upon me, and often, often between the setting and the rising of the sun my eyelids have not met, and in the morning I could wring from my handkerchief the tears that had poured from my eyes like rain in the night. But finally grace triumphed over nature: the strong man was bound, and I joined myself to the people. It is now thirty years since I believed, and," added she, raising her hands and eyes, and speaking with more energy than she had yet spoken, "I say the truth before God, and lie not: I have not repented for a moment-I have been heartily thankful that I have borne my testimonyI have purchased a peace that cannot be taken away, and cheaply purchased it."

"Then I am lost," exclaimed Emily.

"Nay, do not mistake me, child-I mean that having put my hand to the plough, I never turned back; but I had many heavy dragging hours,

much hungering after forsaken joys. It could not be otherwise, but again I say I never repented. You know already that when tribulation came, many fell away. Our mother was carried to prison. My father, your father, all my natural kindred left her-I alone remained to abide our day of wasteness and desolation."

"And did you ever again see William Harwood?" inquired Emily.

"Yea, yea, child, that was my chiefest sorrow; he never gave me up he would not believe that I would persevere in a celibious life-and after our family removed hither he came every month and sometimes every week to see me. He once came into our worshipping assembly, but the moment that I went forth in the dance, he fainted and fell to the floor. After that I saw him but seldom." Susan paused, and Emily asked "if he never married ?"

Nay," replied Susan.

"And is he dead ?" inquired Emily.

"Wait a moment, child, and ye shall hear it all-yea all." She pressed her hands on her forehead-"My head is giddy, and these thoughts have kindled strange fire in my heart." She re

mained silent for a few moments, and then, resuming her usual deliberate manner, she said, "William was an only, and an indulged child. His parents had never crossed him in any thing; and though he had a kind and a tender disposition, he could not brook a disappointment. He fell into a

weakly way, and then he took to ruinous habits. His poor old parents died, I fear, of a wounded spirit; for they laid his misfortunes sadly to heart. After their death his worldly affairs went fast to destruction, and he became a miserable vagHe would come here, and sit for hours on the door-step; at these times I kept to my room, for I could do nothing for him; and if he chanced to see me in his fits of intoxication, he would either upbraid me bitterly, or cry like a child-and both were trying to me.

rant.

"It is ten years ago the tenth day of last January--it had stormed for three days, and the roads were blocked with the drifted snows-and it had been a cruel cold night-and in the morning, a sabbath morning too, when we had risen and kindled a fire, one of the brethren opened the outer door, and there was lying a poor wretch across the door-stone-frozen to death-we all gathered round him-and oh Emily, child, it was❞— "William ?”

"Yea-yea-it was William himself."

"Oh misery, misery!" exclaimed Emily with a burst of sympathy which she could not repress. "Yea, it was misery. I forgot myself-forgot all that stood about me. I saw not his tattered dirty garments, nor his bloated face, but I saw him as in the days of our youth and our love, and I fell on his neck and wept-I could not help itbut thanks be rendered," she added, raising her eyes," it was the last struggle of nature-and it has been forgiven."