! it is
difficult to lay aside the wine cup, when its intoxicating touch
is familiar to the lips, and so of the other forbidden pleasures
of life. To one of Walter's temperament there is two-fold danger.
Walter is gambling, too, and bets high; he will, of course, be a
prey to the more experienced ones, who will take advantage of his
youth and generosity to rob him. For, is a professed gambler
better than a common thief?

"'It is needless for me to say, I have shed many tears over this
letter. Tears are for the living, and I expect to shed them while
I wear this garment of mortality. Can it be that in this case the
wise Creator will visit the sins of the father upon the child? Are
are all my tears and prayers to fail? I cannot think so, while He
reigns in heaven in the same body with which He suffered on earth.
In the very hand that holds the sceptre is the print of the nails;
under the royal crown that encircles His brow, can still be traced
the marks of the thorns. He is surely, then, touched with a
feeling of our infirmities, and He will in the end, bring home
this child of my love and my adoption. I often say to myself,
could I see Alice and Arthur and Walter happy, how happy should I
be! I would be more than willing to depart; but there would be
still a care for something in this worn-out and withered frame. It
will be far better to be with Jesus, but He will keep me here as
long as He has any thing for me to do. The dear girls! I am glad
they are enjoying themselves, but I long to see them again. I hope
they will not be carried away by the gay life they are leading. I
shall be glad when they are at their home duties again.

"'It will be well with Arthur and Alice; you know old maids are
always the best informed on other people's love affairs. When
Arthur left home Alice felt only a sisterly affection for him;
when Walter went away it was really no more for him either, but
her kind heart grieved when she saw him so situated: and sympathy,
you know, is akin to love. She must remember now the importance
that attaches itself to an engagement of marriage, and not give
Arthur any more rivals. She was off her guard before, as her
feeling an affection for Arthur was considered rather too much a
matter of course; but she cannot fail at some future day to return
his devoted aff