manifest both
faith and hope, under so severe and trying a dispensation. Let me
entreat you to remember the many instances recorded in scripture,
where answer has been given from on high to the prayers of those who
can faithfully cling to them." But while the worthy man strove to lead
the sufferer beyond this sublunary sphere, his heart bled for the poor
children she was leaving. The first blow she received, was the sudden
news of her husband's death in the Crimea, which came to her ears so
abruptly, that her nerves received a shock, from which she did not
rally for months. This was followed by a letter, informing her that
some property which had been left to her a few months previous to
Captain Willoughby's departure, had been claimed by a distant branch
of the family, as heir at law, the testamentary document being found
invalid. These circumstances, joined to delicate health, following
each other so quickly, proved too much for feeble nature, and she sunk
under them.

Her excellent daughter, whose fragile form seemed little calculated to
breast the storms of adversity that now threatened her, was unwearied
in attention to her dying parent. She saw there were heavy trials
before her, and knew they could not be averted, though she could not
tell how she was to meet them; but there was a trusting feeling in her
young heart, that must ever be inseparable from a trust in God's
over-ruling providence; and as she sat through the long nights,
watching by her mother's bed, a thousand vague shadows of the future
flitted before her, and many schemes offered themselves to her mind;
she tried to drive them off, for it seemed to her sinful. She durst
not _think_, but she could _pray_; and she did so; and oh! the
eloquence of that simple trusting prayer, that her God would protect
and bless her and the two young beings, whose sole dependance she was
soon to be. How widely changed was her position in a few short months!
The petted, and almost idolized child of doting parents, whose every
wish had been anticipated, must now soon exert herself to support her
orphan brother and sister.

Mrs. Willoughby, as is often the case with those suffering from
pulmonary affection, went off very suddenly; and now was every
threatened evil likely to burst on poor Helen's devoted head; but
though weak in the flesh, she was strong in faith. Relying, as she had
been early led to do, on her God, she seemed to rise with fresh energy
under accumulated