LETTER VIII. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." "We see but dimly through the mists and vapours; What seem to us but dim funereal tapers, May be Heaven's distant lamps." MY DEAR MRS. L., LONGFELLOW. I now come to the period of our child's illness; to Christian hope and faith, a bright, a glorious history; but to the sorrowing, stricken mother's heart, so fraught with sad, with agonizing memories, of the suffering, the weariness, the wearing out of my precious child, that I have been tempted here to lay down my pen, and "I can write no more." say, Yet duty and a desire that the Master may be glorified in the work of His own hands, urges me on; and yet I scarcely know how to write, of what my thoughts are ever dwelling upon. Those scenes,-I would not lose their memory for worlds, and yet how often am I obliged to turn resolutely from them, and occupy myself with different and remote thoughts, to escape the agony which would wither the inmost heart. O, my child, my beloved one, how lonely is our home without thee, thy quiet, gentle voice, thy cheerful smile, thine ever-ready ministerings. Thou hast left a vacant place in our dwelling that can never be filled. Oh may we with redoubled fervour press forward to that glorious Home above, till we shall all again be united, and a whole family in Heaven, join ceaselessly our voices in praising Him, who through much tribulation hath safely brought thither our weary feet, and heavy-laden hearts, that there we may rest, and rejoice for ever. It was on Saturday, the 18th of August, 1849, that our dear child first manifested symptoms of indisposition, which resulted in the illness. that terminated so fatally. Her indisposition was, however, so slight apparently, that, had we not been in the midst of a removal, we should have felt little anxiety about it, and as the symptoms yielded easily to simple remedies, we did not deem it necessary to call in the advice of a physician. Feeling the importance of perfect quiet, we required her to desist from any active participation in the occupations of the rest of the family; the more strenuously, as we feared she had been too much fatigued by exertion in the few previous days,—so anxious had she been to do all that lay in her power to save her mother from fatigue. An incident of that day often returns to my memory, and it seems as if the dear child had even then a presentiment of the shadows upon her path. Observing, with some anxiety, that although she obeyed our injunction "to do nothing," yet that she followed me as I went about the house; and, fearing it would do her harm, I gently remonstrated with her, saying, I feared that going up and down stairs would injure her quite as much as any thing else that she could do. She replied, in a sad, dejected tone of voice," Well, mother, I will sit still if you think so, but you don't know how much good it does me to look at you; I don't seem to want to do any thing else;"-and she burst into tears. I saw she was nervous and depressed, and I sat down by her side and soothed her, and, with the promise of coming very often into the room where she sat, left her more cheerful. This unwillingness to have me out of her sight increased to the last; I am thankful that strength was given me to be her constant nurse by night and by day, through those long-long, sorrowful weeks. As she continued somewhat unwell, the next morning we deemed it advisable to consult our physician, that the illness, though slight, might, if possible, be entirely removed before our change of residence. He thought her case not at all serious, and before the evening of that day she H Ο 9 seemed almost well yağaindı. On Monday her symptoms rafLdisease returned, iand, for seme hours wogave up the expectation of removing her that day, but after consultation with our physician, we concluded it best to do sóg as the did not appear very ill; and beri symptoms were again yielding ito medical treatment.) jThe change of air[too, beɛ hoped, would materially benefit chertz Beside thisagremoved of) some kind, was necessary, our house being in no state for usɓto remain, bour furniture having gone early in thkorning of that/day, before she apr peared to be any worse. woy tud 02 daidt voy of Sbe bord the journey better than we feared, and theɗnexthday appeared decidedly better. Weebad spent the night of Monday at the house of a friend, 20úrowni being yet unfit to receive wywhere we met witho all the comforts of a home, tendered with the grace and joordiality of géguine Christian hospitality.zz.Our kind friends urged us talremain another night, and as the dear invalido also expressed wish to remain thinking that she would be and better able to bear the ΠΟΣ more freated then ride, we concluded not to remove her to our own home until Wednesday noBut on the levening of Tuesday, she was taken suddenly and alarmingly, illisiz her disease becoming decided dysenteryd Wesumi moned physician immediately, but she grew rapidly worse, tillicon Thursdayd we began to ว W entertain, serious apprehensionsrespecting the issue of the disease. «Бетіпрі эн On Sabbath (the.126th), the physichanl apprizėdi tiso that hell thought herillsinking! "and that, in all probabilility, she could not survive the next twenty-four hours) Overwhelmed as we -were ourselvesɗsbyi the sudden blow, we scarce knew how to impart the information to our child, fearing it might agitate and sexcites hevzinjuribusly. But itqueas, our duty,dandɗnever oah we -forget the fainting and a trembling of heart with which we set about dur dreaded task, nor the Isurprise and relief which her perfect balmness produced.of Not on muscle quivered, as she replied instantly, and without the slightest hesitation Wellyel am Iready as I had hoped toget well, but if it is God's will to take me now, I am Tready and perfectly willing."sobi eme ofT 20 9 This day was the disis of the odisease, and -after that had passed, our only earthly hope was vil sustaining her physical strengthom Through -the whaleivof that daybrand night, Indurishimento and stimulus in very small quantities Iwered administered every ofive minutes Toawards morning, her pulse increased in strength, and our hopes revived, though i several days - passed before she seemed to have ɗimproved muchten 9lingy bas baid odt got ;bete! Tod On Monday 27th-I told her that we felt a little encouraged about heriq bed tomoobod |