mpressive they seemed to her, coming,
as they did, in the midst of His last conversation with His disciples--a
conversation so full of divine tenderness and love. This was almost the
last of innumerable and never-to-be-forgotten talks which we had had
together, during more than a third of a century, upon passages of Holy
Scripture.

After breakfast she went to her workshop and painted six large titles;
and then went down to the piazza and painted a chair for Hatty. She also
assisted the girls in watering her flowers. "She came round to the back
stoop Thursday morning (one of the servants told me afterwards) and I
said to her, 'Mis Prentiss, and how d'ye feel?' and she said, 'Ellen, I
feel _weak_, but I shall be all right when I get my strength.'" I still
felt troubled about her holding the Bible-reading and tried to dissuade
her from attempting it. She had set her heart upon it, however, and said
that the disappointment at giving it up would be worse than the exertion
of holding it. Her preparation was all made; the ladies would be there,
some of them from a distance, expecting to see her, and she could not
bear to lose the meeting. So I yielded. We were expecting Dr. Vincent by
the afternoon train and I was to go to the station for him. Just as I
was seated in the carriage and was about to start, she came out on the
porch, already dressed for the Bible-reading, and with an expression of
infinite sweetness, half playful and half solemn, pointing at me with
her finger, said slowly: "_You pray--one--little--prayer for me_." Never
shall I forget that arch expression--so loving, so spiritual, and yet
so stamped with marks of suffering--the peculiar tones of her voice, or
that dear little gesture!

Of her last Bible-reading the following brief account is prepared from
the recollections kindly furnished me by several of the ladies who were
present:

HER LAST BIBLE-READING.

There was something very impressive in Mrs. Prentiss' Bible-readings.
She seemed not unlike her gifted father in the power she possessed of
captivating those who heard her. Her manner was perfectly natural,
quiet, and even shy; it evidently cost her considerable effort to speak
in the presence of so many listeners. She rarely looked round or even
looked up; but a sort of magnetic influence attracted every eye to _her_
and held all our hearts in breathless attention. Her style was entirely
conversational; her sentences were short, clear as crystal, full