o the mark to-day; we probably got
a little cold at Mrs. C.'s grave, as the wind blew furiously, and the
hymn, and prayer, and benediction took quite a time.

_26th._--Dr. P. is worse. Papa has been to see him since church, and Dr.
B., who was there, said that Dr. Murray quoted from Katy in his sermon
to-day, and then pausing long enough to attract everybody's attention,
he said he wished each of them to procure and read it. I hope you and
Mrs. Smith won't get sick hearing about it; I assure you I don't tell
you half I might. _Evening_.--Mr. C. has been here this evening to
show us a poem by his wife, just come out in the January number of the
Sabbath at Home, in which she asks the New Year what it has in store
for her, and says if it is _death_, it is only going home the sooner.
Neither he, or anyone, had seen it or heard of it, and it came to them
with overwhelming power and consolation as the last utterance of her
Christian faith. [1]

_Dec. 30th, 1869._--Your letter came yesterday morning, after breakfast,
and was read to an admiring audience of Prentisses by papa, who
occasionally called for counsel as to this word and that. We like the
plan made for the winter, and hope it will suit all round. You had such
a grand birth-day that I don't see what there was left for Christmas,
and hope you got nothing but a leather button. My Percys end to-day, and
I am shocked at the wretched way in which I ended them. I wish you would
buy a copy of Griseldis for me. Why don't you tell what you are reading?
I got for M. "A Sister's Bye Hours," by Jean Ingelow, and find it a
delightful book; such lots of quiet humor and so much good sense and
good feeling; you girls would enjoy reading it aloud together.

_Jan. 3d, 1870._--You will want to hear all about New Year's day, and
where shall I begin unless at the end thereof, when your and Mrs.
Smith's letters came, and which caused papa ungraciously to leave me to
entertain, while he greedily devoured them and his dinner. In spite of
rain we had a steady flow of visitors. I will enclose a list for your
delectation, for as reading a cook-book sort of feeds one, reading
familiar names sort of comforts one. Mr. ---- was softer and more
languishing than ever, and appeared like a man who had been fed on honey
off the tips of a canary bird's feather.... Papa and I agreed, talking
it over last evening, that it is a bad plan for husbands and wives not
to live and die together, as the one who i