o understanding with which to take in this thought. As she
looked at it, with her soul's eye dim, it passed away; and she, trying
in vain to recall the light that it seemed to hold, wondered if it would
come again.

Perhaps the tears had given relief to her brain; perhaps some Divine
Presence had come near her, giving hope that she could not weigh or
measure or call by name; at any rate, as she looked round again with
fresh glance, the scene outside seemed fairer than it had yet appeared
to her.

A long strip had been swept on the ice of the river by pleasure-loving
hands. Down this burnished path young men and maidens were skating, and
their way was paved with gold. There was soft tinting of this same light
on the undulations of the pearly land beyond; blue shadows were in its
woods, and reflected fire on many a window of the houses that clustered
near and far. She knew that in each house that was a true Canadian home
there was joyous preparations going on for the next day's fete. She
wondered what it would be like to be at home in this country, to be one
in its sports and festivities. She could not see from her attic window
the land on this side of the river, but she heard the shouts of some
boys who were spending their holiday at the college. They were at some
game or other in a field near. Sophia liked to hear them.

Just then Mrs. Rexford came upstairs to consult her about something. She
joined in the outlook for a few moments, and the sunset made her
reflective.

"Well, my love," said she, "last year at this time we did not know we
should be here to-day! Ah, Sophia, it is always a little doleful to see
the Old Year go out; but here, where there are no bells in the churches,
it will seem less solemn."

END OF BOOK I.

BOOK II.

"_Necessity, like light's electric force,
Is in ourselves and all things, and no more
Without us than within us_--."

CHAPTER I.

The bells have solemn sound that from old belfries ring the passing of
the year in the hearing of thousands; but perhaps it is a more solemn
thing to watch and tell the birth of a new year by the march of stars
that look down out of their purple void upon a land of trackless snow.
If ceremony and the united sentiment of many hearts have impressive
effect, they yet tend to lighten the burden of individual
responsibility, which presses with weight, like the weight of the
atmosphere upon a vacuum, when a man tries to grapple with h