as by accident that she met the poor mother with her two little
children, and when she heard her story, she pitied her very much. She,
too, made friends with the children, and later when their mother was
confined to her cabin, she took them on deck and told them many
interesting stories of land and sea, and of kings and queens, and of
the Indians that roved in the forests of their new country.

As she was blessed with sufficient funds, she had richly provided
herself with special and delectable food so that the children received
many a dainty morsel which they had never tasted in their lives.

In this way the children very soon became attached to the strange, fine
lady, who wore such rich clothes and had such winning ways; and while
she could never take the place of their mother, they nevertheless were
comforted when their mother grew so ill that they were not allowed to
see her.

When finally she died, they clung with cordial confidence to their new
friend, who now taught them to call her mother.

At night Mrs. Bradley would point them to the heavens, when the skies
were clear, and told them of the blessedness of their mother who was
now with the holy angels and beheld the glory of the Lord Jesus.

"You see the beautiful stars up there?" she asked them. "Oh, how many
there are! When I was young my mother told me that each was a window
in heaven through which the angels looked to see whether all was well
with God's people. Every time a star twinkled, she said, an angel
looked down, and it was the glory of his face that shone so brightly."

"But is that true?" Fred asked, for he was well instructed, as all
Puritans were, in the Bible. "Our teacher told us that the angels are
ministering Spirits. That is what the Bible says, and we must not add
thereunto." He said it almost sternly and quite reprovingly, for the
Puritans were very religious and followed the Bible closely. Mrs.
Bradley had been raised in a rich home, and although her parents had
joined the Puritans, they remained much more genial than were their
sterner brethren.

"Well, yes," the lady admitted; "perhaps you are right, but isn't it a
good story, nevertheless? I love to think of the stars as being so
many messengers of God watching over me in this poor life. But the
angels are much nearer to us than the stars, and our Lord is still much
nearer than they."

"Is He here on the ocean, too?" asked little Agnes who was a bright
girl and very