the tender anxiety of the Church, that those "who are ready and desirous to be confirmed, " but are unavoidably prevented, should not be excluded from the heavenly feast of their Saviour's Body and Blood.' 1 See the direction at the end of the Confirmation Service. Unto the Crucified She looks, like faithful bride, Blest they, whom God above Doth bind with cords of love: Them shall the heavenly Bridegroom own, In soul and body one. This union grant to me, Thrice Holy, One and Three: But with the meek abide ! Hymns from the Breviary. THE summer had made considerable progress, and every thing was in full brightness and beauty; the children played on the green; and even Susan seemed to partake, in some degree, of the enlivening effects of the beautiful weather; for she was now able to go where, a few months before, she never expected to have gone again,-to the school, where, lying on a kind of sofa which had been contrived for her, she was very tolerably E comfortable. It was a long garden-chair, on which there was a mattress; and the children were very much pleased to make it more easy with their cloaks or shawls; so she was able to lie there, and do a little work, and hear the children reading, and between the school-hours have a quiet talk with her mistress. This was one of her great delights; but more than that, she was able, by setting out very early, to go to the service. The distance from the school to the church was very short, the school being at one corner of the churchyard; still she was only able to walk very slowly. Sometimes during the service her poor back ached so violently, she was forced quite to lie on the seat; but, notwithstanding all this, the going to church was a great refreshment to her, and helped her through her days of weakness and languor. Three times during the winter the bleeding from the lungs had returned and weakened her extremely, so much that at times she was unable to speak even in a whisper. Then again she recovered strength enough to go down stairs, and remain there for a few hours; but, excepting for the refreshment that the little change of air was to her, she preferred being in her own room, because she could be quiet there. And she used to think that when she was praying for her father and sister, she might be of more real use to them than by any thing else she could say or do for them. Mr. Herbert did not very often call on her when she was able to go to the school, as he saw her there; and he thought that nothing could help her so much as praying for her and with her in church. Ill as poor Susan was, she was more happy than she had been for a long time; for she was able to go constantly to church; and when she was not there, she was with her dear mistress. It was very pleasant to her to hear the children at their lessons; and though sometimes the bustle rather tired her, still she liked to be with them; and she remembered how much of her present comfort was owing to her having been at this school when she was quite a child. The summer was very warm; and Susan felt at times as if the little strength she had would leave her; but still day after day she was able to get to school and to church. She had become too weak towards the end of July to walk at all; so Miss Herbert lent her a wheel-chair; and two of the little girls went every morning to fetch her to school; and when church-time came, they took her there. In a short time afterwards she was too weak to walk from the chair to her sofa; so the strongest of the girls lifted her (she was very light to carry), and also when she went to church. She was now unable to bear the fatigue of sitting on the seat; therefore Miss Herbert had an easy chair, with a pillow in it, placed in a corner of the church; and there Susan was able still to rest herself enough to join in the service. But every time she came seemed as if it might probably be the last. August had now begun, and St. Bartholomew's day was that which the Bishop had fixed for the Confirmation. When Susan felt her strength melting away, she tried to think how little she had expected in the winter to have been here now; and thus she was able to cast all anxiety away, and say to herself, "O Lord my God, Do Thou Thy holy will- Her cough had returned again with so much. irritation, that she could not sleep at all in the night, and the only rest she got was after her father and sister were up; then sometimes she sunk into a quiet sleep of two or three hours. More than once she did not wake till the bell was going for the service. This was a sorrow to her; but she tried to repeat the service as she thought with the small congregation; and then she comforted herself by thinking, that though she could not hear the absolution, still, if she had with deep penitence confessed her sins, it would not |