of books, he used there to pass much of his leisure time. It was quite a
long time after his death before my mother could enter that apartment.
She said to me one day, "Will you go with me, Clara, to your father's
study?" I replied, "Can you go _there_, Mamma?" "Yes, dear," said my
mother, and led the way to the door. No one had entered that room since
my father left it on the last night of his life, the door having been
locked on the day succeeding his death. As my mother softly turned the
key and opened the door, it seemed almost that we stood in my father's
presence, so vividly did the surroundings of that room recall him to our
minds. There stood his table and chair, and his writing desk stood upon
the table, and several books and papers were scattered carelessly upon
the table. The last book he had been reading lay open as he had left it;
it was a volume of Whitfield's sermons; it was a book which my father
valued highly, and is now a cherished keep-sake of my own. My mother
seemed quite overcome with grief. I know she had striven daily to
conceal her grief when in my presence, for she knew how I grieved for my
father; and she was aware that her tears would only add to my sorrow, so
for my sake it was that she forced herself to appear calm--almost
cheerful; but upon this occasion her grief was not to be checked. She
bowed her head upon the table, while convulsive sobs shook her frame. I
tried, in my childish way, to comfort her. I had never seen her so much
moved since my father's death. When she became more composed, she rose,
and I assisted her in dusting and arranging the furniture of the room;
and after this first visit to the room, we no longer avoided entering
it. Since quite a young man my father had been employed as book-keeper
in a large mercantile house in the city of Philadelphia, where we
resided. As he had ever proved trustworthy and faithful to the interests
of his employers, they had seen fit, upon his marriage, to give him an
increase of salary, which enabled him to purchase a small, but neat and
convenient dwelling in a respectable street in Philadelphia, where we