CONTENT S.

LETTER I.

Early infancy.-An incident of that period. Delicacy of

health during childhood.-Early maturity of character.—

Its causes.-Love of Order.-Submission; an incident.-

Desire to be useful.-Religious feelings; a conversation.-

Effect of these upon conduct,

LETTER II.

page 17

Growth in grace.-Love of prayer.-Overcoming faults and

seeking forgiveness.-New impulse to her religious feel-

ings.-Desire of uniting with the church. Objections

made to it.-Determination to defer it.-Religious teach-

ing. Doctrine of native depravity.-Reasons for objecting

to an early profession of Religion.— Christian nur-

ture,

LETTER

-

III.

page 28

School

Letters to young friends. Traits of character.

duties. Testimony of her teacher.--Sensitiveness.— An

incident. Plan for the day--Love of order; an inci-

dent. - Trial of temper.-Faithfulness to her sisters.

-Letters to friends. Attachment of her compan-

ions,

LETTER IV.

page 40

Sadness at the season of communion; its cause.-Renewal of
desire to profess Christ.-Reasons for it.-Conversation on
the subject.-Love for the cause of Christ.-Self-denial.-

Pocket-money.-Letter from her pastor.-Letters to her

friends.-Examination before the Session.-Uniting with

the church.-Desire for the conversion of her friends.-

Sense of consecration to the service of Christ.-Humility.

-An incident of school life.-Letter.-Favourite portions

of Scripture,

--

LETTER V.

page 54

Letters. Summer in the country.-Study of the Bible.-
Letter-Her mother's illness.-Her faithfulness as a nurse.
-Rapid development of character. - Letter.-School in-
cidents; communion Sabbath; her birth-day; remarks upon
death. Leaving School on account of health. — Home
duties.-Secret of influence,

LETTER VI.

page 68

Death of her little brother. Her attachment to him.--

Letters on the occasion of his death.-Letter to a young

friend. Improvement of health.-The Cholera.-Visit to

her grandfather. Home Letters.-Her faithfulness for

Christ. Solicitude for the souls of her own family.-A

favourite hymn-Her sisters; an incident of Christian

fidelity. A child's grief.-Readiness to amuse children.

-Their love to her -A child's testimony to her excel-

lence. Influence of the eldest sister in the family, page 82

LETTER VII.

Love for the house of God.-For the Sabbath school.-Will-

ingness to relinquish these, when duty required.—The

Bible Class.-Message to the class from her sick bed.—

Letter from a friend.-Love of religious reading" Me-

moir of Mrs. S. L. Smith."-The "Guide to a Young Dis-

ciple;" interesting fact.-Her studies.-Reading History.

-Music-Letter from a friend.-Cheerful submission-

Dress. Fear of display; a incident.-Conversations.-

Incident of school days.-Usefulness to school-mates.

"It was not worth telling."-Desire to be like Christ.-

Fulfilment.-Letter from a friend. Another letter, page 97

LETTER VIII.

Indisposition.-Preparations for removal from the city

Incident. Increased illness.-Journey to the country.-

Kind friends.-Improvement.-Alarming illness.-Readi-

ness to depart and be with Christ.-Love of life.-Desire

to go to her father's house.-Resignation. The kind and

gentle watcher.-Improvement.-Home.-The river, the

hills; sunset.-Hopes and fears.-Apparent amendment.-

Sudden change.-Request that her books might be put

away." The Saint's Rest."-" The precious Bible, more

easy to listen to."-Favourite chapters. Twenty-third

Psalm; "there is no darkness here."-Maturity of expres-

sion.--Not precocity,

LETTER IX.

page 111

Giving up the desire for life; the joy set before her.-Mes-
sage to her sister.-Resignation.-Trust in the promise
of the Redeemer.-Doubts, and questioning of her mother

-

Simplicity of faith.- Poetry; its soothing effect.-

"Heaven."-One want.-Service of the Saints in Heaven.

-The idea of rest.—Messages to a beloved friend.-A for-

mer friend and school-mate. -Flowers-Gratitude for

them.-Patient suffering.-Solicitude for others, awake

and asleep.-Farewells. Her money.-A few Bibles and

Testaments." It will be but a little while."-" Let me

go, for the day breaketh,"

LETTER X.

page 124

Cheerful waiting.-A farewell—A favourite hymn.-Suffer-

ing Hope revived.. - Farewells to beloved friends.-

Perplexity resolved.-Preference for God's will.-"He will

do all that is right."—"A delightful night.”—Remark

to her physician-To a friend -The last scene, page 138

LETTER XI.

The home she left. A fragment of thought.-Hymns

APPENDIX.

I.

PAGE

"LINES OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF JULIA,"

159

II.

"THE SISTER'S LAST WORDS TO HER ELDER BROTHER,"

III.

'HEAVEN," (by Caroline Southey,)

163

LETTER I.

"Of such is the kingdom of Heaven."

"Around her brow, as snow-drop fair,
The glossy tresses cluster;

No pearl, nor ornament was there,
Save the meek spirit's lustre."

MY DEAR MRS. L.,

S. J. HALE.

The kind and affectionate interest you have ever expressed in my children, leads me to feel assured that in addressing to you these sketches of the short and quiet life of our departed child, I am speaking to one in whose heart my simple history will meet with warm and tender sympathy. You knew her from infancy, and though only seeing her at intervals of years, will yet from memory be able to fill up these outlines, and bring her before you, as she was in our home, and in her every-day duties there. I shall say nothing of my own unfitness for the work, nor shall I dwell upon its painfulness; I leave that for your own heart to imagine. I shall seek simply to recount what God hath wrought; that you may be led yet more to adore

B