etired woman was
extricated from the coil of mortality, her intellect grew brighter, her
powers of discernment stronger, and her character in every respect
more elevated and commanding. Although she had said much less about our
firesides and altars than her husband, I see no reason to doubt that she
had ever been quite as faithful as he could be to the one, and as
much devoted to the other. I shall describe the important event of her
passage from this to a better world, as I have often had it repeated
from the lips of one who was present, and who has had an important
agency in since making me the man I am. This person was the clergyman of
the parish, a pious divine, a learned man, and a gentleman in feeling as
well as by extraction.

My mother, though long conscious that she was drawing near to her
last great account, had steadily refused to draw her husband from his
absorbing pursuits, by permitting him to be made acquainted with her
situation. He knew that she was ill; very ill, as he had reason to
think; but, as he not only allowed her, but even volunteered to order
her all the advice and relief that money could command (my ancestor was
not a miser in the vulgar meaning of the word), he thought that he had
done all that man could do, in a case of life and death--interests
over which he professed to have no control. He saw Dr. Etherington,
the rector, come and go daily, for a month, without uneasiness
or apprehension, for he thought his discourse had a tendency to
tranquillize my mother, and he had a strong affection for all that left
him undisturbed, to the enjoyment of the occupation in which his whole
energies were now completely centred. The physician got his guinea at
each visit, with scrupulous punctuality; the nurses were well received
and were well satisfied, for no one interfered with their acts but
the doctor; and every ordinary duty of commission was as regularly
discharged by my ancestor, as if the sinking and resigned creature
from whom he was about to be forever separated had been the spontaneous
choice of his young and fresh affections.

When, therefore, a servant entered to say that Dr. Etherington desired
a private interview, my worthy ancestor, who had no consciousness of
having neglected any obligation that became a friend of church and
state, was in no small measure surprised.

"I come, Mr. Goldencalf, on a melancholy duty," said the pious rector,
entering the private cabinet to which his applic