nt of
delight which bewildered me. There was a dainty little sail sweeping
across just at the bend of the river; I have seen many since; I never
forget that one. There was a shoulder of one of the eastern hills,
thrown out towards the south-west, over which the evening light fell
in a mantle of soft gold, with a fold of shadow on the other side. The
tops of those eastern hills were warm with sunlight, and here and
there a slope of the western hills. There was a point of the lower
ground, thrust out into the river, between me and the eastern shore,
which lay wholly in shadow, one shadow, one soft mass of dusky green,
rounding out into a promontory. Above it, beyond it, at the foot of
the hills, a white church spire rose as sharp as a needle. It is all
before me, even the summer stillness in which my senses were wrapt.
There was a clatter in the house behind me, but I did not hear it
then.

I was obliged to go away to get ready for tea. The house was full;
only one room could be spared for Mrs. Sandford and me. That one had
been engaged beforehand, and its window looked over the same view I
had seen from the piazza. I took my post at this window while waiting
for Mrs. Sandford. Cooler and crisper the lights, cooler and grayer
the shadows had grown; the shoulder of the east mountain had lost its
mantle of light; just a gleam rested on a peak higher up; and my
single white sail was getting small in the distance, beating up the
river. I was very happy. My school year, practically, was finished,
and I was vaguely expecting some order or turn of affairs which would
join me to my father and mother. I remember well what a flood of
satisfied joy poured into my heart as I stood at the window. I seemed
to my self so very rich, to taste all that delight of hills and river;
the richness of God's giving struck me with a sort of wonder. And then
being so enriched and tasting the deep treasures of heaven and earth
which I had been made to know, happy so exceedingly--it came to my
heart with a kind of pang, the longing to make others know what I
knew; and the secret determination to use all my strength as Christ's
servant--in bringing others to the joy of the knowledge of Him.

I was called from my window then, and my view was exchanged for the
crowded dining-room, where I could eat nothing. But after tea we got
out upon the piazza again, and a soft north-west breeze seemed to be
food and refreshment too. Mrs. Sandford soon found a col