her! The memory of her tender, faithful friendship is still fresh and
delightful, after the lapse of more than forty years. [11]

In the summer of 1838 the Rev. Jonathan B. Condit, D.D., was called from
his chair in Amherst College and installed pastor of our church. He was
a man of very graceful and winning manners and wonderfully magnetic. He
at once became almost an object of worship with the enthusiastic young
people. The services of the Sabbath and the weekly meetings were
delightful. The young ladies had a praying circle which met every
Saturday afternoon, full of life and sunshine. Indeed, the exclusive
interest of the season was religious; our reading and conversation were
religious; well-nigh the sole subject of thought was learning something
new of our Saviour and His blessed service. All Lizzy's friends and
several of her own family were rejoicing in hope. And she herself was
radiant with joy. For a little while it seemed almost as if the shadows
in the Christian path had fled away, and the crosses vanished out of
sight. The winter and spring of 1840 witnessed another period of general
religious interest in Portland. Large numbers were gathered into the
churches. Lizzy was greatly impressed by the work, her own Christian
life was deepened and widened, she was blessed in guiding several
members of her beloved Sunday-school class to the Saviour, and was thus
prepared, also, for the sharp trial awaiting her in the autumn of the
same year, when she left her home and mother for a long absence in
Richmond.

From her earliest years she was in the habit of keeping a journal, and
she must have filled several volumes. I wonder that she did not preserve
them as mementos of her childhood and youth. Perhaps because her
afterlife was so happy that she never needed to refer to such
reminiscences of days gone by.