he has given us the promise of a home where there will be no more
parting,--never a farewell? and he will guide your footsteps; make him
your friend, and though all others should forsake you, you will be
happy. He will be a better friend to you than ever I have been, and
remember, Winnie dear, when I am gone, should sorrow come to you, or
bitter trials mark your way, go to our Father for counsel, and he will
give you sweet rest."

Thus did the Sea-flower endeavor to leave upon Winnie's heart that which
should prepare her for meeting the trials which she but too plainly
foresaw would be her lot, from the unmotherly spirit evinced by Mrs.
Santon. Blessings on thee, noble girl! would there were more like thee
to be found in this sinful world below! But what is a blessing craved by
the lips of frail mortal, compared with the seraph blessings showered
upon thy gentle head, from her who is looking down upon her child, as
thy voice is raised in prayer to the God of this motherless one, that
she may find refuge beneath the shadow of his wing.

The last farewell was spoken by poor Winnie, with an aching heart, Mr.
Santon had pressed the Sea-flower's hand, with a tear in his eye, as if
reluctant to let her go, lest the severing of one of the last ties
which bound him to happy days, should be too much for his sorrowing
heart,--and she had gone, leaving her impress upon the hearts of all who
had met and loved her. Her spirit was the spirit of love, forgiving as
she hoped to be forgiven,--her sins, which, had it not been said of man,
"not one is perfect," we should have looked upon as of no deeper stains
than are of the newly washen lambs, gambolling in fresh pastures of
innocence. Even to Mrs. Santon's unpardonable slight, in not giving her
a parting salutation, pleading one of her timely headaches as an excuse
for her non-appearance at the hour of separation,--the Sea-flower had
left for her a kind farewell.

After an absence of nearly three years, Natalie stood once again upon
the shores of her island home. Everything was as when she had left, for
the bustle and change of the outer world does not disturb the quiet of
this sea-girt isle. Her mother received her with tears of joy, that
fulness of joy which only the mother can feel, who, after a long
separation from the child whose beauty of character sheds a halo of
honor around the household name, holds her to her heart again, where she
knows her to be safest from the world's c