s, which greatly interested Mrs. Prentiss. She was almost as
fond of reading about remarkable eases in surgery as about remarkable
criminal trials.

Dr. Buck was one of the founders and first ruling elders of the Church
of the Covenant. His gratuitous labors in connection with the New York
Hospital and other public institutions were very great. He was a man of
solid worth, modest, upright, and devoted to his Lord and Master.

[19] "One of my brightest recollections of this season at Dorset is our
last Sunday before returning to town. We went in the phaeton to Pawlet,
where I preached for the Rev. Mr. Aiken. The morning was pleasant, the
road lay through a lovely mountain valley, and the beauty of nature was
made perfect by the sweet Sabbath stillness; and our thoughts were in
unison with the scene and the day. I preached on Rest in Christ, and the
service was very comforting to us both. How well I recall the same drive
and a similar service early in September of 1876, when prayer was my
theme! What sweet talks and sweeter fellowship we had together by the
way, going and coming!"--_Recollections of_ 1877-8.

[20] Recollections of 1876-7

[21] "Better is it sometimes to go down into the pit with him, who
beholding darkness and bewailing the loss of consolation, crieth from
the bottom of the lowest hell, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken
me? than continually to walk arm in arm with angels, to sit, as it were,
in Abraham's bosom, and to have no thought, no cogitation but this, '_I
thank my God it is not with me as it is with other men._'"--HOOKER.

[22] A list of Mrs. Prentiss' writings, with brief notices of some of
them, will be found at the end of the appendix, p. 568.

CHAPTER XV.

FOREVER WITH THE LORD.

1878.

"But a bound into home immortal, And blessed, blessed years."

I.

Enters upon her last Year on Earth. A Letter about The Home at Greylock.
Her Motive in writing Books. Visit to the Aquarium. About "Worry." Her
Painting. Saturday Afternoons with her. What she was to her Friends.
Resemblance to Madame de Broglie. Recollections of a Visit to East
River. A Picture of her by an old Friend. Goes to Dorset. Second Advent
Doctrine. Last Letters.

Mrs. Prentiss crossed the threshold of her last year on earth with hands
and thoughts still unusually busied. Her weekly Bible-reading, painting
in oils and in water-colors, needle-work, and other household duties,
left her no idle moment. "My fire