to interest those at all acquainted
with her writings, to learn how she mingled the most intense faith and
devotion to her own people, with respect for the teachers of
Christianity. Well as we knew her, we were quite unacquainted with her
religious habits; though the odor of sanctity exhaled from all she did
and said, she never assumed to be holier than others; never sought
discussion; never, in her intercourse with Christians, though sometimes
sorely pressed, gave utterance to a hard word or an uncharitable
feeling; even when roused to plead with eloquent lips and tearful eyes
the cause of her beloved Israel.

It is a beautiful picture to look upon--this young and highly endowed
Jewish maiden, nurtured in the bosom of her own family, the beloved of
her parents,--themselves high-class Hebrews,--gifted with tastes for the
beautiful in Art and Nature, and a sublime love for the true; leaving
the traffic of the busy city, content with a moderate competence,
soothed by the accomplishments, the graces and the devotion of that one
cherished daughter, whose high pursuits and purposes never prevented the
daily and hourly exercise of those domestic duties and services, which
the increasing indisposition of her father demanded more and more.

Stimulated by the counsel of a judicious friend, who, while she admired
the varied talents of the young girl, saw, that for any _great purpose_,
they must be concentrated, Grace Aguilar prayed fervently to God that
she might be enabled to do something to elevate the character of her
people in the eyes of the Christian world, and--what was, and is, even
more important--in their own esteem. They had, she thought, been too
long satisfied to go on as they had gone during the days of their
tribulation and persecution; content to amass wealth, without any
purpose beyond its possession; she panted to set before them "The
Records of Israel," to hold up to their admiration "The Women of
Israel," those heroic women of whom any nation might be justly proud.
Here was a grand purpose,--a purpose which made her heart beat high
within her bosom. She knew she had to write _against_ popular feeling;
she had the still more bitter knowledge that the greater number of those
for whom she contended, cared little, and thought less, of the CAUSE to
which she was devoted, heart and soul. But what large mind was ever
deterred from a great purpose by difficulties? The young Jewish girl,
with few, if any, literary con