in
commencing a long journey, in which his vocation was to be to sympathise
with the poor and afflicted.

Since we landed safely on shore a circumstance has occurred which has
brought a gloom over us. One of our shipmen being busy about the sails,
part of a beam fell from the top-mast and struck him on the head. He never
spoke more, but died instantly. He has left a widow and two children, not
only to weep for him, but also to feel bitterly his loss in a pecuniary
way. We intend to recommend their situation to some of our benevolent
friends in London. My heart is much affected in having to commence my
journal on a foreign shore by recording such an afflicting event. And, as
it regards ourselves, how much we have which calls for thankfulness that
we have so mercifully escaped.

From Rotterdam they directed their course to Pyrmont, passing through
Gouda, Utrecht, Arnheim, and Muenster; at the last place they were laid by
from the heat and weariness. They reached Friedenthal on the 4th of the
Eighth Month, and John Yeardley makes the following reflections on
re-entering his German home:--

As I find myself again in this country, many thoughts of former days
spring up in my mind. Since I was last here I have passed through much;
nevertheless the Lord has guided my steps, and I have cause to give Him
thanks.

They visited Minden and the little meetings around, bestowing much labor
on them; but at Pyrmont, to suffer, rather than to do, was their allotted
portion.

It sometimes seems to me, writes J.Y., that we have in this place little
to do and much to suffer. I am often cast down, and have to sit in silence
and darkness. This state of mind is an exercise of faith and patience,
through which much may be gained if it is turned to right account.

Of the Two Months' Meeting, he says:

On the whole a favorable time. But I am not without my fears that the
little Society in this place will lose ground, in a religious sense, if
more faithfulness is not manifested in little things.

Soon after their arrival in Germany they turned their steps towards the
north-west corner of that country, and the borders of Holland. The object
of this journey was to visit some places on the shores of the North Sea,
near Friesland, where the inundations of 1825 had caused great desolation,
and where a new colony had been formed by the government from among the
ruined families. This little journey was so emphatically, an act of