indistinct idea that I might sometime be sent to America on a religious
visit."

"And, hast thou forgotten, friend John, the ear of Indian corn which my
father begged of thee for me? I can show it to thee now. Since then I
have seen this grain in perfect growth, and a goodly plant it is, I
assure thee. See," she continued, pointing to many bunches of ripe corn
which hung in their braided husks against the walls of the ample
kitchen, "all that, and more, came from a single ear no bigger than the
one thou didst give my father. May the seed sown by thy ministry be as
fruitful!"

"Amen," replied both the guests.

The next morning it was discovered that the snow had fallen during the
night in heavy drifts, and the roads were impassable. Elizabeth,
according to her usual custom, sent out men, oxen, and sledges to open
pathways for several poor families, and for households whose inmates
were visited by illness. In this duty John Estaugh and his friend joined
heartily, and none of the laborers worked harder than they. When he
returned, glowing from this exercise, she could not but observe that the
excellent youth had a goodly countenance. It was not physical beauty;
for of that he had but little. It was that cheerful, child-like,
out-beaming honesty of expression, which we not unfrequently see in
Germans, who, above all nations, look as if they carried a crystal heart
within their manly bosoms.

Two days after, when Elizabeth went to visit her patients, with a
sled-load of medicines and provisions, John asked permission to
accompany her. There, by the bedside of the aged and the suffering, she
saw the clear sincerity of his countenance warmed with rays of love,
while he spoke to them words of kindness and consolation; and then she
heard his pleasant voice modulate itself into deeper tenderness of
expression, when he took little children in his arms.

The next First Day, which we call the Sabbath, the whole family attended
Newtown meeting; and there John Estaugh was gifted with an outpouring of
the Spirit in his ministry, which sank deep into the hearts of those who
listened to him. Elizabeth found it so remarkably applicable to the
trials and temptations of her own soul, that she almost deemed it was
spoken on purpose for her. She said nothing of this, but she pondered
upon it deeply. Thus did a few days of united duties make them more
thoroughly acquainted with each other than they could have been by years
of fashionable