imagination only, and produces a distaste for instructive books, merits unqualified condemnation. It is not simply time wasted, which is bad enough, it is time perverted. And as regards such writings of a higher class, if only a limited amount of time be at command, surely the useful should be preferred to the agreeable. In no case ought works of fiction to be regarded as more than condiments. Truth requires it to be stated, that such was the relation in in which they subsequently stood to Miss Hessel. Let no one plead her authority for light literature, who does not couple with it as much of solid.

While at Ventnor, Miss Hessel had formed a very agreeable acquaintance with two young ladies from Cambridgesisters, one of whom was seeking rescue from the ravages of consumption. A brief correspondence ensued. In reply to the communication announcing the decease of the invalid, she wrote on April 27th :-"Try to regard her removal as a wise and merciful dispensation towards her, and a no less wise and salutary one towards yourself. To her, who now reaps the full reward of her martyr-like patience before the throne of God, it was a dispensation fraught with richest mercy. To you, it may prove of incalculable benefit. There is a chain of many links encircling bright affections here. Some of these links extend to heaven, and the chain centres in God himself. He has seen fit to draw another link from earth, but it is there in heaven, and you shall find it. No canker worm can mar its brightness and beauty there. This thought has been my consolation. It was associated with my earliest bereavement; and as I have passed onward through life, and have suffered the loss of friends, I have thought, as I watched their flight from earth, another link has been hid-not severed or lost-'for the whole family in heaven and earth are one,' and though the chain is diminishing here, it is lengthening there-there where every link is completed in beautiful harmony, and where the whole shall be perfected and purified for ever."

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On the 19th of June, besides having to inform Mrs. G of the continued indisposition of her brother, who, having "tried to speak once or twice on the platform, found his voice to fail, and become almost inaudible," she has to report also the unexpected arrival of her sister as an invalid. "As I know of little beyond the incidents of our family circle which can possibly interest you, I must give you a few of my joys and sorrows, and trust to your goodness of heart, for that sympathy which alone will make my egotistical tale endurable. Well! soon after our return to Thorp-Arch-not more than a month after-poor Sophy came home from Leeds with an affection of the spine, which has caused us much anxiety. It is likely to be a very tedious, but I hope not eventually serious affliction. She is already considerably better, and under the skilful treatment of our medical attendant, we hope to see her quite restored. It was a bitter trial, and when it first came upon us, seemed almost insupportable. She is undergoing a severe course of treatment, but her resignation and cheerfulness deprive the pain of seeing her suffer of much of its poignancy."

If this sickness served no other valuable purpose, it unfolded a lovely feature in the character of our friend. In a subsequent part of the same letter, she says: "To-morrow morning there will be a public breakfast given to Dr. Bunting in the Brunswick rooms, in Leeds. William has gone, but I am left. I have only to raise my head, and glance at the sofa, to feel satisfied that my path of duty is here. Although Sophia was quite willing I should go, yet I knew how much of sacrifice was implied in that willingness. The Doctor preaches on Friday. He must be gratified at this demonstration of Yorkshire feeling. And nowhere, throughout the land, will he find more noble, heart-warm friends than in Leeds. Pardon this eulogy on dear old Leeds. Amid the incessant din of its busy commerce, and the eternal smoke of its factories, there are more

true-hearted, noble-minded men in it, than can be found in any town of equal size in the kingdom. And now I must conclude. I hope you will not be quite tired of my long, common-place epistle. But to tell you the truth, I have been very matter of fact lately, and with the exception of a few strolls along my favourite walk, I have been occupied with such vulgar cares as every-day life furnishes. But I should not forget that God may design to teach me many useful, aye, and sublime lessons too, of high and holy trust, and perfected patience, in these trials which beset my path. It is not in the hour of calm, nor the sunshine of prosperity, that the heart unfolds its richest treasures. I know not that these lessons are not preparing me for still severer trials, but I feel that I can leave myself in his hands, who has hitherto guided my erring footsteps, and led me by a right way. How much I feel this, I cannot possibly make another understand. My own heart rejoices in the fact, and offers its modicum of gratitude for the goodness and wisdom which have marked out my path, and directed my goings in that path."

Another extract from the paper furnished by Miss S. R, here claims insertion: "Shortly after leaving school, being on a visit at Thorp-Arch, Eliza and I met again, no longer as school-girls. We soon found we had kindred sympathies which drew our hearts together, and formed the basis of a lasting friendship. For this friendship I have indeed reason to be both proud and thankful. To it I owe more than I can ever express. It would, however, be a much easier matter to speak of it, if I were not also speaking of myself. Our minds were then in leading-strings, and we each resolved to strike out an independent course of thought, firmly believing that a candid, honest inquirer after the truth will certainly find it at last. This was a kind of creed with us, and we held tenaciously by it. Through a good deal of chaos we both groped for sometime, often involved in mists, or misled by false glimmers. But

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REMINISCENCES BY MISS S. R

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Eliza soon emerged into the light, and ever after became my pioneer in all that was good.

"The remembrance of the many happy days we have spent together is 'as ointment poured forth.' Every nook and glen around our separate homes have we explored together, and enjoyed, with full hearts, the silent eloquence of nature's ever changeful beauty. Eliza's mind was peculiarly attuned to poetry, which oftenest means beauty. This imparted a peculiar charm to her society. In books, or conversations, or scenery, she always managed to cull whatever of beauty was there, were it ever so subtle or concealed.

"You have seen from her letters something of the interchange of thought and feeling we mutually enjoyed; but you get from them only a meagre idea of what she was, when in the trustfulness of love, she unveiled her inmost thinkings to her friend.

"Her visits were indeed no common pleasure. It was my own fault if I were not made both wiser and better by her intercourse. Before coming, she used to apprise me of an accumulation of books to read, and topics to converse upon, urging me to be similarly prepared. Sometimes, like children, who delight in danger for the daring's sake, we trod forbidden ground, tracing out bye-paths that led to Doubting Castle. At first, I think we did it simply from love of adventure, but afterwards from an earnest desire to know why we rejected certain phases of belief and accepted 'the one.' Some of this reading did us harm no doubt. It caused many terrible mental conflicts, but Eliza has said they left her convictions stronger after the struggle.

"After the important change which transpired in our ' dear old dining-room' as she calls it, the result was most evident. Her whole character received a higher tone. She raised a very lofty standard of excellence, and was constantly striving to attain it. Her talents and energies found new development in the service of God."

This "important change" it will be the object of the next chapter to narrate.

CHAPTER III.

Anxious for the enjoyment of religion-Experiences a clear sense of God's pardoning love-The hindrances to the earlier experience of this blessing-Remarks on the importance to the young of a religious training.

THERE is one event, which by the new direction it gives to the aims, and the ennobling influence it exerts upon the character, as well as the pure and satisfying joy it creates, constitutes an epoch in the life of every christian. It is the fact of conversion. We now arrive at the period in the history of Miss Hessel, in which this momentous change was experienced.

For some years past a great religious awakening had existed in various parts of Scotland. The instruments were ministers who were persuaded they had received "new light" on several important points of christian doctrine. Renouncing the restricted views in which they had been trained, they vigorously advocated the universal love of God to man; and strenuously insisted that faith in the Scripture testimony concerning the sacrificial death of Christ, is the simple condition of salvation. In the spring of 1850, a number of these zealous men made an evangelistic tour into several northern counties of England. One of them-the Rev. George Dunn-visited Boston Spa, and conducted an out-door service in the afternoon of a Sunday in July. Miss Hessel was a hearer. By that sermon, together with a subsequent conversation, her mind was excited to inquiries which issued in the joyous consciousness of her acceptance with God. We have ample means of ascertaining her state