en made by sectarians to separate the
children of God, fell down between these two friends at the cry of
affliction, and were consumed on the altar of Christian love. Arm in
arm, and heart to heart, they visited the abodes of distress,
dispensing temporal aid from the purse of charity, and spiritual
comfort from the word of life.

At each annual meeting, Mrs. Graham usually gave an address to
the Society, with a report of the proceedings of the managers through
the preceding year.

In April, 1800, she stated that "again the pestilence had emptied
the city; again every source of industry was dried up; even the
streams of benevolence from the country failed. Those storehouses,
from which relief was issued to thousands in former calamities, now
disappointed their hopes; and those spared by the pestilence were
ready to perish by the famine. Such widows as had no friends in the
country, under whose roof they might for a time seek shelter, were
shut up to the only relief within their power, even to that society
which had formerly saved them in many a strait. They came, were
received with tenderness, assisted with, food, advice, and medicine.

"Four of the society's board, at the risk of their lives,
remained in the city, steady in the exercise of their office. One
hundred and forty-two widows, with four hundred and six children,
under twelve years of age, by far the greater part under six, have,
from time to time, during the winter, been visited and relieved. Widow
is a word of sorrow in the best of circumstances; but a widow left
poor, destitute, friendless, surrounded with a number of small
children, shivering with cold, pale with want, looking in her face
with eyes pleading for bread which she has not to give, nor any
probable prospect of procuring--her situation is neither to be
described nor conceived. Many such scenes were witnessed during the
last winter; and though none could restore the father and the husband,
the hearts of the mourners were soothed by the managers, while they
dispensed the relief provided for them by their Father and their
Husband, God."

In the summer of 1800, Mrs. Graham again visited her friends in
Boston, whence she wrote her daughter Mrs. B---- as follows:

"BOSTON, August, 1800.

"I yesterday received my dear J----'s letter, which gives fresh
cause for thankfulness. The more my absence is lengthened, the less I
am