VI years.

"'With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days
understanding.'"

Myrtle recalled his kind care of her in her illness, and paid the
tribute of a sigh to his memory,--there was nothing in a death like his
to call for any aching regret.

The usual routine of small occurrences was duly recorded in the village
paper for some weeks longer, when she was startled and shocked by
receiving a number containing the following paragraph:--

"CALAMITOUS ACCIDENT!

"It is known to our readers that the steeple of the old
meeting-house was struck by lightning about a month ago. The
frame of the building was a good deal jarred by the shock, but
no danger was apprehended from the injury it had received. On
Sunday last the congregation came together as usual. The Rev.
Mr. Stoker was alone in the pulpit, the Rev. Doctor Pemberton
having been detained by slight indisposition. The sermon was
from the text, '_The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and
the leopard shall lie down with the kid_. (Isaiah xi. 6.) The
pastor described the millennium as the reign of love and peace,
in eloquent and impressive language. He was in the midst of the
prayer which follows the sermon, and had just put up a petition
that the spirit of affection and faith and trust might grow up
and prevail among the flock of which he was the shepherd, more
especially those dear lambs whom he gathered with his arm, and
carried in his bosom, when the old sounding-board, which had
hung safely for nearly a century,--loosened, no doubt, by the
bolt which had fallen on the church,--broke from its
fastenings, and fell with a loud crash upon the pulpit,
crushing the Rev. Mr. Stoker under its ruins. The scene that
followed beggars description. Cries and shrieks resounded
through the house. Two or three young women fainted entirely
away. Mr. Penhallow, Deacon Rumrill, Gifted Hopkins, Esq., and
others, came forward immediately, and after much effort
succeeded in removing the wreck of the sounding-board, and
extricating their unfortunate pastor. He was not fatally
injured, it is hoped; but, sad to relate, he received such a
violent blow upon the spine of the back, that palsy of the
lower extremities is like to ensue. He is at present lying
entirely helpless. Every attention is paid to hi