CHAPTER IX.

Marriage of his Daughter. Accompanies her to her Missionary Home-Visits with Dr. Anderson the Stations in the Levant. - Return. — Death of Mrs. Van Lennep.

IN

N 1843, Mary, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Hawes, was married to the Rev. Henry J. Van Lennep. He was a member of the Armenian mission in Turkey under the direction of the American Board, and a native of Smyrna. He had been educated in this country for Christian work in his own.

Mary Hawes was a young woman of high culture; very lovely, and loving in her disposition; and earnestly devoted to her Saviour. Her connection with Mr. Van Lennep destined her to the missionary work in a foreign field. She had no reluctance to this except what arose from the pain of leaving her home, her friends, and her native land. It necessitated a long, perhaps a final, separation from all these; but she did not hesitate.

To the parents, the bereavement would be almost greater than to the child. Their only surviving daughter, she had been educated with particular carefulness and affection, and was their delight;

but she had also been consecrated to God in the covenant, and with no stipulation that she should serve him in this land. To the father, the trial was, at first, almost more than he could submit to: but when he heard the voice, and knew that it was God's, he "clave the wood, and took the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together unto the place of which God had told him." There he heard another voice, saying unto him, "Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy daughter, thine only daughter, from me."

"If Mary is happy and useful," said the more easily-yielding mother, "I shall not be greatly troubled about other things." Thus were they comforted in their sorrow.

Mr. and Mrs. Van Lennep were to sail for Smyrna in the autumn. Dr. Anderson, one of the secretaries of the American Board, had been appointed by the Prudential Committee to visit the stations on the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Dr. Hawes, after thirteen years, conceived the idea of another respite from labor, and of accompanying his daughter to her new home. Finding that he should have the company of Dr. Anderson, and, further, that he might be of some service to the Board, he decided on the expedition. The committee "wrote letters by them unto the brethren ;" and they went forth like Paul and Barnabas from the council at Jerusalem, conferring with the missionaries, and "confirming the churches."

The following extracts from a letter written by Dr. Hawes to his people just before sailing disclose

his feelings on the occasion of a second prolonged absence from them :

"BOSTON, Oct. 10, 1843.

"TO THE BELOVED PEOPLE OF MY CHARGE.

"Brethren and Friends, -It would have been a great satisfaction to me, had circumstances permitted, to express to you in person some of the thoughts and feelings which now fill my heart in the prospect of being absent from you several months. But I had not decided in my own mind, when I left the city, that I should not return to you this week; indeed, it was rather my expectation that I should: and it was only to-day that I fully made up my mind. that I should be in the way of my duty by taking the contemplated voyage to the Mediterranean. And now, as but a few hours remain before the vessel sails which is to bear me away from these much-loved shores, I can only snatch a few moments, in the midst of the hurry and fatigue of preparation, to express to you the grateful sense I entertain of the kindness you have always shown me as your minister, and my fervent prayer that the best of Heaven's blessings may ever rest upon the congregation and all the families and individuals connected with it. My heart is deeply affected with the kind and generous manner in which you treated my request; and those who differed from me in opinion in relalation to this matter did it with so much candor and good feeling, that my heart is drawn to them. with renewed affection and esteem. I cannot now, as I would if I were present, state all the reasons that have influenced me to the step I have taken. I can

only say, that, while other reasons have concurred, only this has decided me, the hope that I may do good and get good by taking the tour, and return invigorated and confirmed in health to serve you better, and do more to advance the cause of our common Lord. But the hour for embarking has come; and I can only add in the words of the apostle, 'Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect; be of good comfort; be of one mind; live in peace. And the God of love and peace shall be with you.' "Your affectionate friend and pastor, "J. HAWES."

His letters and journal will keep us in pleasant intercourse with him in his tour, and make us not only travelling-companions, but enable us to see with his eyes, and to hear with his ears. On the hark "Stamboul," Nov. 2, he writes,

"My dear Wife, As we are approaching Gibraltar, where we expect to find means of conveying letters to America, I gladly embrace the opportunity to write you. We have, on the whole, had, thus far, a prosperous voyage; though last Sabbath, while off the Western Islands, we encountered a severe gale, which lasted about twenty-four hours. I have heard of the waves running mountain-high, but never saw them before. The sea was lashed into a perfect fury. We were, however, in little danger, having sea-room enough; though we all suffered excessively from the tossing of the ship and from sea-sickness. How I fared, Mary, I presume,

will tell you. She makes a fine sailor. She was sick a few days after leaving Boston; but she soon recovered, and has since been in fine health and spirits. She says she is perfectly happy, except in leaving home. Dear child! I hope she is going to do good in her future home: if not, the sacrifice will indeed be to us a severe one, and without any compensation.

"Our home-affairs I must leave entirely to you. Bonny, I hope, is disposed of. Any advice you may need about temporalities, you will do well to seek of Mr. Parsons or Judge Williams; to whom I wish you to express my most affectionate regards. I trust you have before this set the young people to writing that long common letter. All may not be able to write but all can sign their names; and this I hope most of them will at least be induced to do. It will cheer my heart to hear from them in this way. Give my love to them all."

From Athens, Dr. Hawes sent a New-Year's address to his people :

"I write you in the midst of the ruins of human grandeur and human pride. From the room where I am sitting, the eye rests on the Acropolis, covered with the remains of altars, monuments, and temples, once the glory of Athens, and still the wonder of the world. At a little distance, separated by a valley, is the Areopagus, or Mars' Hill, where the apostle Paul, eighteen hundred years ago, delivered that admirable discourse recorded in the seventeenth