school, which was then the height of her ambition, but to establish schools in Canada wherever they were required, and also such Gospel missions as embraced within their range the whole of British America. Over this vast field of usefulness Madame Feller was the sole directress, a position for which her experience amply fitted her, not less by the keen perception of the requirements of the several mission stations, than by the love and heart-service which was so much a part of her nature. Difficulties in her enlarged sphere of action she had to meet, but they were now met with fixedness and calmness; they could not destroy or disturb the serenity of her soul, or the certain conviction that they would be overcome. Such was Madame Feller. In the single objects and pure purposes of her life, and in the courage and determination with which they were accomplished, she has left to all an example which will not only bless the world, but will also bless those who, in a like dependence on the arm of the Universal Parent, learn to do likewise. "And what I do with my delight, Hesley Lane, THE PHILANTHROPIC NEGRESS. THE truest bravery is the bravery of a true life. There are many, perhaps the most, who could assume a momentary courage, who yet would lack the perseverance and the determination needful to pursue a purpose through a long course of years. Little by little, day by day, undiscouraged and undismayed, in the midst of opposition and restraint, to strive after one object, and that object outside of ourselves, and therefore an unselfish one, is to manifest the truest bravery of which we are capable. This bravery may be manifested by those whose lot in life is the most humble; often is it, indeed, so manifested, for the greatest sympathisers with the poor are the poor. And although they cannot minister in material things, yet they can and do give the service and the sympathy which soothe the shattered and the broken spirit, and thus in words of hope and trust minister in truest gifts. Sometimes, as in the case of Hester Lane, by the sacrifice of toil, by the constant accumulation of small gains, applied to purposes of pure philanthropy, an amount of good may be accomplished, which may cause the on-looker to be astonished, and which may carry blessings to thousands to remote periods. Hester Laneand we note the fact, because it is assumed by some men of intelligence and superior culture that the negro race is a lower race-was a negress; if the position or assumption be correct and we stay not now to argue the matter, as our readers, without any aid but that of common sense, have long since for themselves settled the question-then in the performance of the highest duties of the Christian life the greater honour is due to Hester Lane. This good woman, whom we should delight to clasp by the hand, and call by the reverent and holy name of sister, when visited by the friend of the negro, Mr. Abdy, was between fifty and sixty. He describes her reception of him as being open and without affectation; just such a reception as any sensible cultured woman, of whatever colour, would have given him. By her own hard earnings in Philadelphia, which, as a member of the despised coloured race, would indeed be hardly earned, she managed during a long course of years, with the utmost resolution, never for an instant relaxed, to accomplish an almost incredible amount of good. She had at different times, by her own unaided efforts, purchased from slavery eleven human beings. The first slave redeemed by her was a girl of eleven years of age; the price was a hundred dollars. She had been present when she was born, she afterwards assisted at her marriage, at the birth of her four children; and then, when she died, had the mournful satisfaction of assisting at her funeral. Her next purchase was a boy of fourteen, for whom she paid two hundred dollars. She then bought a man thirty years of age for two hundred and eighty dollars. Her next purchase was a man, his wife, and child. As the parents were old and sickly, she was permitted to purchase the three for one hundred and forty dollars. Owing to their incapacity for labour, however, their. subsequent maintenance largely devolved upon her. The fifth case was that of a woman and three children, whom she bought by auction in Maryland subsequently she purchased the husband for two hundred dollars, not without great difficulty, as the owner insisted upon having three hundred dollars. She was not content with redeeming the children from slavery, but considered that her duty consisted in caring for their morals and paying for their education. When Mr. Abdy called upon her, she was teaching herself French; she had also succeeded in discovering a new method of colouring walls, from which source, and the proceeds of a small shop, she had been enabled to maintain herself, and make the important purchases we have intimated. This woman belonged to a lower race of beings! What may the higher actions of the highest race be? Hester, with that indignation which became her, spoke of the treatment which she and her race received from the hands of the whites, who, in their self-assumption, treated them as only upon a level with the dirt under their feet. She could not do other than consider the dispensations of Providence as wise and good; yet it was mysterious to know that the African should be subjected to unmitigated and unmerited bondage; and when freed from the yoke, still to be subjected to contempt and reproach. She, however, would not be cowed and subdued by the circumstances which surrounded her people; but she would, as we have seen, live bravely, work out her own independence, and make it thus manifest that if she was of a lower race, she could practise the higher Christian virtues. Another member of this "lower race" visited by Mr. Abdy was Christiana Gibbons, whom he describes as a woman of singular intelligence and good breeding. Her manners were those of a richly-trained gentlewoman. Her age was between thirty and forty; she was of pure African descent, with a very expressive countenance; the grand-daughter of a prince of the Eboe tribe, and was bought, when fifteen years of age, by a Christian lady, and was by her emancipated. When her benefactress died, she left her a legacy of eight thousand dollars. The whole of this money was unfortunately lost by the failure of the bank in which it was lodged. But Christiana had by her own industry obtained property which yielded her five hundred dollars per year. Her agent, Colonel Myers, who had been much indebted to her for many instances of kindness, had, at the time of which we write, failed to remit the rent of the estate, which was situated in Savannah, in Georgia. Christiana, sorry enough at the disappointment, the most miserable part of it being the exposure of the dishonesty of the agent, did not permit it so to affect her as to draw her from her duty. She had removed from Georgia to escape the insults and annoyances to which she was there so much exposed. upon And now, when the means of subsistence which she had calculated were denied her, she refused no work or employment in which she could engage without injury to her conscience, or which carried no moral taint. Her |