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the camp-meeting. Curving up from the brook, the tents were pitched in the form of a half-moon, extending about half-way up the side of the hill. Midway between the extreme tents, under a clump of noble trees, a temporary pulpit, or rostrum, was erected, from which the preacher addressed the multitude. The missionary preached, and most movingly. As I glanced at a group of fashionable loiterers, who had been sauntering through the camp, with easy indifference, uttering witless jests upon the scene, listening to him with attention, I thought of the line of the poet :

· And fools who came to scoff, remained to pray.' He spoke of the sustained contentment of the good man, amid all the ills of life, because of his heavenward hope, and contrasted his feelings with that of the wrong-doer, who, however well situated, in a worldly point of view, doubts and yet fears the great result beyond the grave. In speaking of the immortality of the soul, and the shrinking which it feels on leaving its earthly tenement, he employed an illustration which I have repeatedly heard since, but then for the first time. He compared the soul, about to take its upward flight, to an eagle, which, after long confinement, finds its prison door open. • How fearfully,' he said, in a faint voice — and he seemed to fear to raise his hand above the pulpit - how fearfully it looks forth at first, and then shrinks back! How, when it ventures forth, it gazes round and round, with a dazzled eye, and casts a wondering glance upon the day-god above. Here the speaker looked timidly up at the sun, which, through the trees, threw a tremulous ray upon him. • How feebly it essays a little circle, with wing but half expanded; then it feels its strength of pinion, and takes a broader sweep, yet casts a longing, lingering look upon its earthly tabernacle. Then,' continued he, while the wave of his arm waxed eloquent, and his tones heart-stirring, 'it circles wider and wider, farther and farther, higher and higher; its impulses lose their earthliness; it bathes and gladdens its outstretched wing in the refulgent beam; it feels the glory more and more, and its strength is renovated beyond the might of its prime; until, fixing its unblinking eye on the glorious orb, it darts upward to the sources of everlasting light! As he said this, he advanced, with upturned hands and eyes, while the rays of the sun, through an opening in the trees, flashed upon his long and silvery locks, and threw a halo round him, that made the man, like the sentiment, sublime. Methought I saw the heavens open, and the winged messenger pass the everlasting gates.

The speaker had scarcely concluded, when the sultriness, which had succeeded the warmth of the morning, became intense. For some minutes, not a breath of air stirred, not a leaf moved. Then the heavens became suddenly overcast; the clouds floated together, in dark masses, like the gathering of armies; and now and then a fierce flash broke forth; but as yet, though through the trees we could see the clouds moving, the leaves were motionless, and not a drop of rain fell.

The missionary came to our little group, for we were all together, and observed : 'Brother Godfrey, as I am to officiate at the funeral

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of Mr. Jones, and as you mean to attend, had we not better depart ? I fear we shall have a storm.'

We accordingly mounted our horses, and left the camp. When we were clear of the woods, and while we were ascending an eminence which commanded the prospect, the missionary asked Mr. Godfrey if we were subject to violent storms in that region. Being informed that we were not, he said that he had known a storm to force its way with such violence through a wood, as not to leave a tree standing in its path. If you were subject to such storms here,' he continued, I should say, from my experience, that we should have one now. God grant that it comes not over the camp!'

He had scarcely spoken, when the rain began to fall in big drops, and the roar of the winds, afar off, could be distinctly heard, as if they were muttering their wrath, and gathering their strength. He looked round, and said :

• We must ride fast : there is not air enough stirring here to give an indication of the way the storm will sweep; but I believe it will be on this side of the Run. We must hasten on.'

We accordingly put spurs to our horses, and rode rapidly toward the bridge. The dropping of the rain now ceased for awhile, but the heavens grew fearfully dark, and the air began to stir. Our horses threw back their ears, and seemned, like their riders, to observe the sky. At this moment, a bolt that seemed to rend the hills, made our path lurid with light, while our horses trembled, like ourselves, at the awful peal which accompanied it. The rain now burst forth, and in an instant the blast was down upon us, sweeping the valley with resistless violence. We cast our eyes anxiously to the camp. We could see, indistinctly, the white tents through the trees, but nothing more. Yet the fury of the storm seemed to be there, for the air

grew thick above it, with leaves and the sundered branches of trees; and presently the horses, having broken from their fastenings, came dashing madly past us.

• We are in the hands of God, children!' said the missionary, calmly; we must press for the bridge. The fury of the storm is not here, but this is dangerous.'

We urged our steeds at the admonition, and an intervening hill soon hid the camp from our sight; but the frightened horses of the worshippers still came dashing on. A tree not fifty yards to our right, as we turned to the left, was prostrated with a terrible crash. We reached the stream in safety. The storm was not so furious there, but the mad waters came leaping down the ravine, and throwing their waves toward the bridge, as if anxious to sweep it away. Several horses, from the camp, stood by the bridge, evidently desirous to cross, but apparently kept back by an instinctive sense of danger.

• Will it not be hazardous to cross the bridge ? asked Mr. Godfrey.

* I think not,' replied the missionary. 'Let us pass one at a time. I see your horses are frightened — mine is not. I'll lead the way.'

No,' said Adam, dismounting and giving to Harry the bridle of his horse, let me lead yours over. You can walk ; it will be safer.' But the missionary said there was no danger, and spurred his horse toward the bridge.

The well-trained animal drew back for a moment, and then passed VOL. XIV.

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The bridge was about ten yards long. We held back our horses, that now seemed to have no sense of danger, as their fellow had none. Those from the camp obeyed the same impulse, and being unrestrained, sprang on the bridge, after the missionary's. The frail structure shook from end to end.

* Father in heaven be merciful!' ejaculated Jane, as the missionary, on discovering his peril, dismounted from his horse. His foot had scarcely touched the plank, when, with a tremendous crash, the bridge gave way, and rider and horse were precipitated into the foaming waves. That wild utterance which Cooper has so powerfully described in the · Last of the Mohicans,' as proceeding from the horse when in distress, and which startled the brave Hawk-eye and the intrepid Indians with a superstitious dread, now broke from the poor animals, and added, if possible, to the horrors of the scene.

He's lost!' exclaimed Mr. Godfrey, in despair. • Not if I can save him! exclaimed Adam, throwing off bis coat, and springing to the edge of the stream.

• My brother, he's a good man - God is with him! Die not as you are !' exclaimed Jane, in a tone of intense agony.

My life is worthless, Jane,' said Adam, with a calmness so strange, that it struck me, even at that awful moment. Adam stood watching for the appearance of the missionary. The bridge had caught edgewise between two rocks, on the other side of the stream. The horses from the camp, that were on the bridge, appeared first above the water, and were all borne down stream, except one that succeeded, by swimming, in gaining the bank near us, which was now not more than two feet above the food. On the other side, just below the spet where the bridge had rested, part of the rock which held it, projected perpendicularly up several feet. It seemed that the missionary and his horse were both caught by the bridge. In a moment more, his horse, which was a noble animal, arose with its head up stream, and high out of water, while his master was seen clinging to the bridle. On observing this, Adam hurried above us, plunged in, and in spite of the angry element, by his great skill as a swimmer, succeeded in gaining precisely what he aimed at, the bridle of the horse.

In an instant, he raised the missionary from the waves. Both were evi. dently supported by the bridge, as was the horse. Quick as lightning, Adam placed the upper end of the stirrup-strap in the missionary's grasp, and then holding with one hand the horse's head out of the water, with the other he struck out for the shore. The animal seemed to know that a master spirit guided him, for he plunged bravely toward us. Wildly the waves broke over them, and the horse in vain attempted to breast their fury. The steed seemed stationary for a moment, and then yielded to the force of the element. Adam, how. ever, still continued to keep his head in a proper position. When they got below the point where the concentrated rush of the stream, from the obstruction of the bridge, had nearly overwhelmed them, Adam made another effort, a desperate one, to gain the shore. Here we saw the missionary distinctly; his head arose above the back of his horse. I see the holy faith then on bis countenance, now; it is a picture on my brain more distinct than that on the wall before me. As Jane said, God was with bim.' In much less time than I have taken to tell it,

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master and horse, with their brave deliverer, stood safely upon the shore. Poor Jane swooned when she saw that her brother was safe.

The storm abated as rapidly as it arose. By a bridge some miles above, which had stood the violence of the waves, we arrived safely at Mr. Godfrey's. As the missionary was preparing, though it was then nearly dark, to go to the house of mourning, to perform the rites of sepulture, a messenger arrived to tell him, that in consequence of the storm having inundated the grave-yard, the funeral would not take place until the next day, as another spot was to be selected for the repose

of the dead. Never shall I forget the holy evening which we spent after that awful storm. Uninjured in health, and with spirits gratefully and religiously calm and pure, the missionary joined the family circle. Jane looked the personification of pious gratitude, in its loveliest form -a religious woman. Harry gazed on her with reverence, while Mr. Godfrey, for the first time in many years, beheld with equal pleasure both his children. But the most remarkable feature of the group was Adam. That expression of desperate recklessness which once possessed his countenance, had fled. I wondered, as I observed with what respectful earnestness he listened to the missionary, if it ever had been there. How kindly he answered his sister, and without a jest upon her piety! His very dog, that used to avoid him, because of the tricks he played him, went wagging his tail to his master, and laid his nose upon his knee, the picture of faithfulness, as Adam placed his hand upon his head.

But the prayer of that old man eloquent' that night! I have heard the great ones of our land, in the pulpit, at the bar, and in the senate, in the palmiest moments of their oratorical power; but theirs could no more compare with the heart-touching pathos of this plain servant of God, than would the strut and stare of a fashionable tragedian compare with the simple majesty of Paul before Festus. He prayed for us all for the father and for the children, and for their friend, and for myself; and I have felt, from that hour unto this, however wayward my mood and my imaginings, that in heaven's high chancery I bad a claim and an advocate. Especially he prayed for Adam. • Let, O Lord !' he said, in tones that left no eye unmoistened, and no heart untouched, the blessings of all the good I may hereafter be per

“ mitted to do, under thy providence, light upon his head, and be all the evil mine! As thou hast vouchsafed to make him this day the instrument of thy mercy, for the salvation of thy frail and aged servant from the wrath of the devouring elements, vouchsafe also to make him an instrument for the salvation of thy creatures from the wrath to come! And when thy seventh and last angel, in the last war of the elements, shall pour forth the vials of thy wrath, and thy mighty voice shall proclaim unto all the nations of the earth, 'It is done! forget not this little household! Shadow them under thy brooding and protecting wings! Let there be no wanderer from the flock, but let them all, a family in heaven, rejoice together in the light of thy everlasting love!

When the prayer was concluded, and we arose from our knees, Adam took a seat by his sister, and unable, iron-nerved as he was, to

control the emotions that had been swelling in his heart for days, be laid bis head upon her bosom, and wept, and was forgiven.'

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After all, there is no love less selfish than a sister's :

My sister, my sweet sister! if a name

Purer and holier were, it should be thine ! So spake the wayward Childe to his sister; and when wife and daughter were deaf to his fame, and spoke not his name in their household, and Fanaticism refused his remains a resting place among England's illustrious departed, where there sleeps none worthier, his sister, his • sweet sister,' gave them consecration, and built over them the monument which now guards them from the desecration of those who should have claimed to be nearer and dearer. And she, proud Austria's mournful flower,' where was her mournfulness, when they gave the hero of the world's history and her lord to the ‘vulture and the rock ?' Cold, selfish, and sensual, she pursued the routine of courtly patrician observances, or hastened from them to common plebeian abandonment; while Pauline, not the less sensual, but the sister, was anxious to forsake, for that lonely rock, the voluptuousness of the soft clime she so loved, to whose glorious statuary her glowing form had given beauty, that she might share the exile, and solace the sorrow, and soothe the loneliness, of that forsaken husband, who was still to her the man of destiny; still to her a beloved brother, whose blood was her blood; who had given her renown, and empire, and to whom, world-forsaken, she could give what is worth the world, a sister's unchanging love!

A DIRGE: 'L.E.L.'

Far away, ah ! far away

From her own green isle, she died,
And, for shroud that wraps decay,

Early changed the garb of bride.
Fatal to our northern flower

Was the glare of tropic day;
Wretched was her dying hour,

Far away, far away!

Never more, ah! never more,

Will sheglad the festal throng;
Faded is the look she wore,

Voiceless is her lip of song.
Gifted Daughter of the Nine!

Well may friends thy fate deplore,
They will hear a strain like thine,

Never more, never more!

Fare thee well, ah, fare thee well!

Dark thy life grew, near its close;
Mildew on thy spirit fell,

Like wan blight upon the rose.
Ended is thy warbling now,

Mistress of the chorded shell;
Dust is on thy withered brow-

Fare thee well, sare thee well!

W. H. C. 8.