ceaseless worship of my life is all my creed, all my
desire. Oh, for this pure, exalted state, how my soul pants after it!
In my nursery and kitchen and parlor, when ministering to the common
little wants of my family, and encountering the fretfulness and
waywardness of my children, oh, for the pure worship of the soul which
can enable me to meet and bear all the _little_ trials of life in
quietness and love and patience. This is the religion of Christ, and I
feel that no other can satisfy me or meet the wants of human nature. I
cannot sanction any other, and I dare not teach any other to my
precious children."

Thus it came to pass with them and with Theodore also, that to love
Jesus more, and to follow more and more after him, became the sum of
their religion. With increasing years and wider experiences, their
views broadened into the most comprehensive liberality, but the high
worship of an infinite God, and the sweet reverence for his purest
disciple never left them.

CHAPTER XVII.

In a letter to Dr. Harriot Hunt, Sarah Grimke thus describes Eagleswood:--

"It was a most enchanting spot. Situated on the Raritan Bay and River,
just twenty-five miles from New York, and sixty miles from
Philadelphia, in sight of the beautiful lower bay and of the dark
Neversink Hills, all its surroundings appeal to my sense of the
beautiful. In rambles through the woods or along the shore, new charms
are constantly presented. The ever-varying face of the bay alone is a
source of ceaseless enjoyment, and with the sound of its waves,
sometimes dashing impetuously, sometimes murmuring softly, the eye,
the ear, and the soul are filled with wonder and delight."

In this beautiful spot a commodious stone building was erected,
suitable for association purposes. One end was divided into flats for
a limited number of families; the other into school-rooms,
dormitories, and parlors for social uses, while the centre contained
the refectory for pupils and teachers, of whom there was an efficient
corps, and dining-rooms for the other residents and their visitors.
Several families of intelligence and culture resided in the immediate
neighborhood, adding much to the social life of the place. All who
were so fortunate as to be members of the Eagleswood family during Mr.
Weld's administration must often look back with the keenest pleasure
to the days passed there. It seems to me there can never be such a
centre to such a circle as the Wel