as his old eyes were dimmed for the sake of
those who were gone, gave a fervent blessing on the new mistress of the
house, and prayed that she might long be spared. The neighbours, even
they who had best loved the dead, came in with cheerful countenances,
and acknowledged in their hearts, that since change is the law of life,
there was no one, far or near, whom they could have borne to see sitting
in that chair but Alice Gray. The husband knew their feelings from their
looks, and his fireside blazed once more with a cheerful lustre.

O, gentle reader, young perhaps, and inexperienced of this world, wonder
not at this so great change! The heart is full, perhaps, of a pure and
holy affection, nor can it die, even for an hour of sleep. May it never
die but in the grave! Yet die it may, and leave thee blameless. The time
may come when that bosom, now thy Elysium, will awaken not, with all its
heaving beauty, one single passionate or adoring sigh. Those eyes, that
now stream agitation and bliss into thy throbbing heart, may, on some
not very distant day, be cold to thy imagination as the distant and
unheeded stars. That voice, now thrilling through every nerve, may fall
on thy ear a disregarded sound. Other hopes, other fears, other
troubles, may possess thee wholly--and that more than angel of Heaven
seem to fade away into a shape of earth's most common clay. But here
there was no change--no forgetfulness--no oblivion--no faithlessness to
a holy trust. The melancholy man often saw his Hannah, and all his seven
sweet children--now fair in life--now pale in death. Sometimes, perhaps,
the sight, the sound--their smiles and their voices--disturbed him, till
his heart quaked within him, and he wished that he too was dead. But God
it was who had removed them from our earth--and was it possible to
doubt that they were all in blessedness? Shed your tears over change
from virtue to vice, happiness to misery; but weep not for those still,
sad, mysterious processes by which gracious Nature alleviates the
afflictions of our mortal lot, and enables us to endure the life which
the Lord our God hath given us. Ere long husband and wife could bear to
speak of those who were now no more seen; when the phantoms rose before
them in the silence of the night, they all wore pleasant and approving
countenances, and the beautiful family often came from Heaven to visit
their father in his dreams. He did not wish, much less hope, in this
life, for suc