fingers. Observing these tears, Leah bent forward and kissed them
away, saying, "These are the first tears I ever saw fall for me."
Then she continued:

"It is not necessary to dwell on the innumerable instances of
cruelty and wrong that have marked my life, from the period just
mentioned, on to the present. It is enough to say that many events
in my home-life have left their searing impress on my heart and
brain; and many, I thank God, have faded from my memory. But when I
was fifteen, about the time you and I entered this seminary, an
event took place, that has deeply wounded my heart, and will leave
it sore forever. It was this:

"Very early on the morning of my fifteenth birthday, my father came
to my chamber and congratulated me with many kisses, giving me his
blessing. Then he said:

"'My daughter, I have here the miniature of your mother, taken
before your birth. I had it set in diamonds then, for you, my child,
little dreaming she would so soon be taken from us both. I have kept
it securely locked away, waiting till you were old enough properly
to appreciate its value. Now to-day, on your fifteenth birth-day, I
have called forth the treasure, and give it to you forever. Take it;
keep it carefully, my child, for the sake of the living as well as
the dead.' My father laid the miniature in my hand, and turned away
with ill-disguised emotion. Softly, and with trembling hand, I
opened the casket that contained the treasure, and for the first
time since her death, my eyes rested upon the dimly remembered
features of my angel mother.