, keen frosty mornings, the pleasant jingling
of scores of bells, jets of white vapor from the nostrils of the
prancing horses, and a quick electric tingle to the blood, that makes
every pulse beat a thanksgiving. Squire Elderkin never made better
jokes, the flame upon his hearth never danced more merrily,--the Doctor
never preached better sermons, and the people never listened more
patiently than in those weeks of the dead of winter.

But in the midst of them a black shadow fell upon the little town. News
came overland, (the river being closed,) that Mrs. Bowrigg, after an
illness of three days, was dead; and the body of the poor woman was to
come home for burial. She had been reared, as we have said, under a
harsh regimen, and had signalized her married escape from the somewhat
oppressive formalities of home by a pretty free entertainment of all the
indulgences accessible in her new life. Not that she offended against
any of the larger or lesser proprieties of society, but she showed a
zest for the pleasures of the world, and for a certain measure of
display, which had been the occasion of many a sober shake of the head
along the streets of Ashfield, and the subject of particular
commiseration on the part of the good Doctor.

Now that her brilliant career (as it seemed to many of the staid folk of
Ashfield) was so suddenly closed, the Doctor could not forbear taking
advantage of the opportunity to press home upon his people, under the
influences of this sombre funeral procession, the vanities of the world
and the fleeting character of its wealth and pride. "We may build
palaces," said he, (and people thought of the elegant Bowrigg mansion,)
"but God locks the door and assigns to us a narrower home; we may court
the intoxicating air of cities, but its breath, in a day, may blast our
strength, and, except He keep us, may blast our souls." Never had the
Doctor been more eloquent, and never had he so moved his people. After
the evening prayer, Adele stole into the study of the Doctor, and
said,--

"New Papa, it was well I stayed with you."

The old gentleman took her hand in his,--

"Right, I believe, Adaly; but vain, utterly vain, except you be counted
among the elect."

The poor girl had no reply, save only to drop a kiss upon his forehead
and pass out.

With the opening of the spring the townspeople were busy with the
question, if the Bowriggs would come again to occupy their summer
residence, that, with its c