as easily as he has this
poor unworthy one.' I told him, I should like to sit up and watch
by him, but he objected, and said in a tender supplicating tone,
'Cannot we sleep together?' The rain still continued, and his cot
was wet, so that he was obliged to lie on the bamboo floor. Having
found a place where our little boy could sleep without danger of
falling through openings in the floor, I threw myself down,
without undressing, beside my beloved husband. I spoke to him often
during the night, and he said he felt well, excepting an
uncomfortable feeling in his mouth and throat. This was somewhat
relieved by frequent washings with cold water. Miserably wretched
as his situation was, he did not complain; on the contrary, his
heart seemed overflowing with gratitude. 'O,' said he, 'how kind
and good our Father in heaven is to me; how many are racked with
pain, while I, though near the grave, am almost free from distress
of body. I suffer nothing, _nothing_ to what you, my dear Sarah,
had to endure last year, when I thought I must lose you. And then I
have you to move me so tenderly. I should have sunk into the grave
ere this, but for your assiduous attention. And brother Mason is as
kind to me as if he were my own brother. And then how many, in
addition to pain of body, have anguish of soul, while my mind is
sweetly stayed on God.' On my saying, 'I hope we shall be at home
to-morrow night, where you can lie on your comfortable bed, and I
can nurse you as I wish,' he said, 'I want nothing that the world
can afford, but my wife and friends; earthly conveniences and
comforts are of little consequence to one so near heaven. I only
want them for your sake.' In the morning we thought him a little
better, though I perceived, when I gave him his sago, that his
breath was very short. He, however, took rather more nourishment
than usual, and spoke about the manner of his conveyance home. We
ascertained that by waiting until twelve o'clock, we could go the
greater part of the way by water.

"At about nine o'clock, his hands and feet grew cold, and the
affectionate Karens rubbed them all the forenoon, excepting a few
moments when he requested to be left alone. At ten o'clock, he was
much distressed for breath, and I thought the long dreaded moment
had arrive