other hearts, and to obtain for Him the affections of those to whom He
is able and willing to be all which He was to her, is the sole object of
these pages. Listen, then, not to a parent's partial tale concerning
his child, nor concerning mental nor bodily suffering, but to the words
of one who has seen how the presence of Christ, and love to Him, can
fill the dying hours with the sweetest peace, and even beauty, and the
hearts of survivors with joy.

Wishing to dwell chiefly on the last scenes of this dear child's life,
the reader will not be delayed by any biographical sketch. Nine years
before her death, when she was between ten and eleven years of age, she
gave the clearest evidence that she was renewed by the Holy Spirit. We
had since that time been made happy by the growing power of Christian
principle in her conduct, the clearness and steadfastness of her faith,
her systematic endeavors to live a holy life, her deep regret when she
had erred, and her resolute efforts to improve in every part of her
character.

Through a long sickness, with consumption, for two years and three
months, she felt the soothing power of unfaltering Christian hope,
which was evidently derived from a very clear perception of the way to
be saved through Christ, and complete trust in the promises made to
simple faith in him.

He who gave me this child, and crowned my hopes and wishes by the
manifest signs of his love towards her, merits from me a tribute of
gratitude and praise to which I desire and expect that eternity itself
may bear witness. They who read the story, which I am about to relate,
of her last few days, and think what it must be for a father to see his
child made competent to meet so intelligently and deliberately, and to