ty was painfully impressed by the appearance and conduct of her
mother. She had never before seen her so calm and resigned to those
dreadful sufferings. She had heard her complain and murmur at her hard
lot, and wonder why she should be thus sorely afflicted. She feared
that some appalling event, which she dared not define and call by its
name, was about to happen. She dared not think of the future, and she
wondered that her mother could be so calm while she endured so much.

"Katy," said Mrs. Redburn, after the long silence that followed the
reading of the hymn, "I feel very weak and ill. Take my hand."

"You are burning up with fever!" exclaimed Katy, as she clasped the
hand, and felt the burning, throbbing brow of her mother.

"I am; but do not be alarmed, Katy. Can you be very calm?"

"I will try."

"For I feel very sick, but I am very happy. I can almost believe that
the triumph of faith has already begun in my soul. The world looks very
dim to me."

"Nay, mother, don't say so."

"I only mean that as heaven seems nearer, my hold upon earth is less
strong. You must be very resolute, my child, for I feel as though the
sands of life were fast ebbing out; and that in a few hours more I
shall be 'where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at
rest.' If it were not for leaving you, Katy, I could wish to bid
farewell to earth, and go up to my eternal home, even on this bright,
beautiful Christmas day."

"O mother!" sobbed Katy, unable any longer to restrain the expression
of her emotion.

"Do not weep, my child; I may be mistaken; yet I feel as though God was
about to end my sufferings on earth, and I am willing to go."

"O, no, mother! It cannot be!" exclaimed Katy, gazing earnestly,
through her tearful eyes, upon the pale but flushed cheek of the
patient sufferer.

"I only wish to prepare you for the worst. I may get well; and for your
sake, I have prayed that I may. And, Katy, I have never before felt
prepared to leave this world, full of trial and sorrow as it has been
for me. Whatever of woe, and want, and disappointment it has been my
lot to confront, has been a blessing in disguise. I feel like a new
creature. I feel reconciled to live or die, as God ordains."

"Do not look on the dark side, mother," sobbed Katy.

"Nay, child, I am looking on the bright side," returned Mrs. Redburn,
faintly. "Everything looks bright to me now. Life looks bright, and I
feel that I could be happy for many