ined for each child in going in unto
the King of kings, that in case of a mere temporary sickness, if at all
consistent, family prayer was had in the room of the invalid. Not even a
blessing was invoked at the morning meal till every child was found in
the right seat. In case of a delinquency, perhaps not a word of rebuke
was uttered, but that silent, _patient waiting_, was rebuke enough for
even the most tardy.

It was felt, I believe, by each member of the family, that there was
meaning in the every-day, earnest petition, "May we all be found
_actually_ and _habitually_ ready for death, our great and last change."
My father did not pray as an old lady is said to have done each day,
"that God would bless her descendants as long as grass should grow or
water should run." But there was something in his prayers equivalent to
this. He did seldom omit to pray that God would bless his children and
his children's children to the latest generation.

Oh how often, while absent, did my mind revert to that assembled group
at home! Nothing, I believe, serves to bind the hearts of children so
closely to their parents and to each other as this taking messages for
each other to the court of heaven. Never before did I realize that each
brother and sister were to me a second self.

I was a most firm believer in the truth of the Bible, and I have often
thought more inclined to take the greater part as literal than most
others. I had often read with fear and trembling the passage, "I will
pour out my fury upon the heathen, and upon the families that call not
upon my name." To dwell in a Christian land and be considered no better
than heathen--what a dreadful threatening; a condemnation, however, not
above the comprehension of a child. Here I was in such a family, and
here I was expected to remain for a full year. I do not recollect to
have entertained any fears for my personal safety, yet every time a
thunder-storm seemed to rack the earth, and as peal after peal with
reverberated shocks were re-echoed from one part of the firmament to the
other, I was in dread lest some bolt might be sent in fury upon our
dwelling on account of such neglect. Little did these friends know what
thoughts were often passing through my mind as I ruminated upon their
privileges and their disregard of so plain and positive a duty. I did
often long to confide to my aunt, whom I so much venerated, my thoughts
and feelings on religious subjects, with the same f