for he careth
for you."

She laid aside her children's fine frocks, and clothed them in
homespun. At Cartside she sold the butter she made, and her children
were fed on the milk. It was her wish to eat her own bread, however
coarse, and to owe no person anything but love. At Paisley, for a
season, her breakfast and supper was porridge, and her dinner potatoes
and salt. Peace with God and a contented mind supplied the lack of
earthly prosperity, and she adverted to this her humble fare, to
comfort the hearts of suffering sisters, with whom she corresponded at
a later period of life, when in comfortable circumstances.

Meantime the Lord was not unmindful of his believing child; but
was preparing the minds of her friends for introducing her to a more
enlarged sphere of usefulness.

Her pious and attached friend, Mrs. Major Brown, had accompanied
her husband to Scotland, and they now resided on their estate in
Ayrshire. Mr. Peter Reid, a kind friend when in Antigua, was now a
merchant in London. This gentleman advised her to invest the little
money she had brought home--and which she had still preserved--in
muslins; which she could work into finer articles of dress, and he
would ship them in a vessel of his own/freight free, to be sold in the
West Indies. His object was partly to increase her little capital, and
partly to divert her mind from meditating so deeply on the loss of her
lamented husband. The plan so kindly proposed was soon adopted; the
muslin dresses were shipped; but she soon afterwards learned that the
ship was captured by the French. This was a severe loss, and more
deeply felt as it was received at the time when her father was
deprived of his office.

Mrs. Brown, after consulting with the Rev. Mr. Randall of
Glasgow, the Rev. Mr. Ellis of Paisley, Lady Glenorchy and Mrs. Walker
of Edinburgh, proposed to Mrs. Graham to take charge of a
boarding-school in that metropolis.

The friends of religion were of opinion that such an
establishment, under the direction of one possessing the
qualifications of Mrs. Graham, would be of singular benefit to young
ladies destined for important stations in society. Her liberal
education, her acquaintance with life, and her humble yet ardent
piety, were considered peculiarly calculated to qualify her for so
important a trust.

Another friend had suggested to Mrs. Graham the propriety of
opening a boarding-house in Edinburgh, which he tho