called, "A
Donation to Poor Widows with Small Children;" the other, "A Second
Visit to Poor Widows with Small Children." And lest it might be said
it was cheap to give advice, she usually gave a small sum of money
along with the tracts she distributed. There was at this time neither
a Bible nor Tract Society in New York. Mrs. Hoffman accompanied her in
many of her excursions. In the course of their visits, they discovered
a French family from St. Domingo in such extremity of distress as made
them judge it necessary to report their case to the Honorable Dewitt
Clinton, then mayor of the city. The situation of this family being
made public, three hundred dollars were voluntarily contributed for
their relief. Roused by this incident, a public meeting was called at
the Tontine Coffee-house, and committees from the different wards were
appointed to aid the corporation in ascertaining and supplying the
immediate wants of the suffering poor. The zeal of Mrs. Graham and
Mrs. Hoffman paved the way for this public-spirited exertion, which
probably was the means of saving the lives of some of the destitute
and friendless.

*The following notice of these scenes appeared in one
of the periodical publications of the day:

"When sorrow shrunk before the piercing wind,
And famine, shelterless, in suffering pined;
When sickness drooped in solitary pain,
Mid varying misery's relentless reign;
Oh, then tumultuous rose the plaints of grief,
And loud and strong the clamors for relief!
Then active charity, with boundless care,
From gloomy faces chased the fiend Despair,
Dispelled the horrors of the wintry day,
And none that asked went unrelieved away.
"Yet there are some who sorrow's vigils keep,
Unknown that languish, undistinguished weep;
Behold yon ruined building's shattered walls,
Where drifting snow through many a crevice falls;
Whose smokeless vent no blazing fuel knows,
But drear and cold the widow's mansion shows;
Her fragile form, by sickness deeply riven,
Too weak to face the driving blasts of heaven,
Her voice too faint to reach some pitying ear,
Her shivering babes command her anguished tear:
Their feeble cries in vain assistance crave,
And expectation 'po