ves of purity and peace. Receive the weary ones who have known
the vanity of earth; receive the little children, that they may never
learn that miserable lesson. And a blessing be upon your labors; so
that the time may hasten on when the mission of Mother Ann shall have
wrought its full effect, when children shall no more be born and die,
and the last survivor of mortal race--some old and weary man like
me--shall see the sun go down nevermore to rise on a world of sin and
sorrow."

The aged father sank back exhausted, and the surrounding elders
deemed, with good reason, that the hour was come when the new heads of
the village must enter on their patriarchal duties. In their attention
to Father Ephraim their eyes were turned from Martha Pierson, who grew
paler and paler, unnoticed even by Adam Colburn. He, indeed, had
withdrawn his hand from hers and folded his arms with a sense of
satisfied ambition. But paler and paler grew Martha by his side, till,
like a corpse in its burial-clothes, she sank down at the feet of her
early lover; for, after many trials firmly borne, her heart could
endure the weight of its desolate agony no longer.

NIGHT-SKETCHES,

BENEATH AN UMBRELLA.

Pleasant is a rainy winter's day within-doors. The best study for such
a day--or the best amusement: call it what you will--is a book of
travels describing scenes the most unlike that sombre one which is
mistily presented through the windows. I have experienced that Fancy
is then most successful in imparting distinct shapes and vivid colors
to the objects which the author has spread upon his page, and that his
words become magic spells to summon up a thousand varied pictures.
Strange landscapes glimmer through the familiar walls of the room, and
outlandish figures thrust themselves almost within the sacred
precincts of the hearth. Small as my chamber is, it has space enough
to contain the ocean-like circumference of an Arabian desert, its
parched sands tracked by the long line of a caravan with the camels
patiently journeying through the heavy sunshine. Though my ceiling be
not lofty, yet I can pile up the mountains of Central Asia beneath it
till their summits shine far above the clouds of the middle
atmosphere. And with my humble means--a wealth that is not taxable--I
can transport hither the magnificent merchandise of an Oriental
bazaar, and call a crowd of purchasers from distant countries to pay a
fair profit for the precious article