the Destroyer depart when one has sunk into a sleep
from which there is no awakening until the morn of the resurrection. He
claims another, and who shall resist that claim!

As the father looks upon the still forms of his children, as he sees the
compressed lips, the closed eyes of the beings who were but a few days
ago full of life and happiness, the iron enters his soul; but as the
Christian remembers who has afflicted him, his spirit rises above his
sorrow. Nor is there now any obstacle between him and the path of duty.
The one child that remains must be put in charge of those who will care
for her, and he will go where God directs.

But will the mother give up the last of her children? it matters not now
where she lives, but she must part with husband or child! Self has no
part in her schemes; secure in her trust in God she yields up her child
to her friend, and listens not to the suggestions of those who would
induce her to remain where she would still enjoy the comforts of life.
Nothing should separate her from her husband. "Entreat me not to leave
thee; where thou goest I will go, where thou diest I will die, and
there will I be buried."

And as the Dahcotah woman inquires of the justice of God, the faces of
her children rise up before her--first in health, with bright eyes and
lips parted with smiles, and then as she last saw them--their hands
white to transparency, the hue of death upon their features; the
shrouds, the little coffins, the cold lips, as she pressed them for the
last time.

The Dahcotah looked in astonishment at the grief which for a few moments
overcame the usual calmness of her kind friend; and as she wondered why,
like her, she should shed bitter tears, she heard herself thus
addressed--

"Do not think that you alone have been unhappy. God afflicts all his
children. There is not a spot on the earth which is secure from sorrow.
Have I not told you why? This world is not your home or mine. Soon will
our bodies lie down in the earth--and we would forget this, if we were
always happy.

"And you should not complain though your sorrows have been great. Do not
forget the crown of thorns which pressed the brow of the Saviour, the
cruel nails that pierced his hands and feet, the desertion of his
friends, his fear that God his Father had forsaken him. And remember
that after death the power of those who hated him ceased; the grave
received but could not keep his body. He rose from the dead, and w