five, and the other about seven years old, skipping lightly along before
us. My mother enjoyed the walk very much, and as my father led her into
the church, preceded by the clergyman, upon whom we had called in our way
thither, the whole congregation spontaneously rose up to greet and to
welcome their best and kindest benefactress and amiable neighbour. A gleam
of pleasure beamed from every eye, and the curtseys and bows that were
bestowed upon her, as she passed along the aisle, most clearly shewed that
they proceeded from the impulse of grateful hearts. With a heavenly smile
of inward delight, and with an air of the greatest sweetness, she returned
their kind salutations. It was an enviable sight, and it imparted to me
such sensations of pride and delight, as have been seldom, if ever,
equalled since. To see an amiable parent, upon such an occasion, receive
the spontaneous willing homage of three or four hundred, the whole, of her
poorer neighbours, and the sincere congratulations and kind attentions of
all her friends, of this happy village, was a scene never likely to be
erased from the memory; every heart appeared to leap with joy, and it
seemed to me as if that the whole congregation were preparing to join in
prayer, and to participate in the performance of the divine service of the
afternoon, with more than usual earnestness and zealous piety.

My mother, who was a tall, thin, elegant figure, and very fair, had a
roseate flush spread over her delicate features, and she looked beautiful
as she knelt to offer up her grateful and sincere adoration to the
omnipotent, omnipresent, merciful Disposer of All. I believe that my
father was the only person amongst the whole congregation who did not, at
that moment, enjoy unmixed delight. I could discover that his enquiring
eye was more frequently fixed upon my mother, than it was upon his
prayer-book; a sort of uneasy doubt sat visible upon his brow, and it was
plainly to be perceived that his prayers were interrupted by his
meditations upon the fearful consequences which he apprehended might be