ir sojourn in the
village, poured upon them their hospitality. Several wished to remove
her to their dwellings. They had a "Busy Bee," and made up everything in
an infant's wardrobe for her. She opened her travelling-bag, and took
out a white enamelled paper semi-circular box, containing a pin-cushion,
made of straw-colored satin, in the shape of a young moon, with these
words tastefully printed in pins: "Welcome, little stranger!" She held
it up to us in one hand, while with the other she wiped her eyes. Never,
she said, had kindness affected her so much;--she believed that it
hindered her in gaining strength, her feelings were so continually
wrought upon by ingenious devices of loving-kindness. It became known
that the husband had proposed to commune, and what the issue had been.
This only served to make them all the more generous. They felt it
deeply, and bore it as a necessity which they evidently regretted; but,
with much self-respect, they refrained to make any apology, or
explanation; "and, for this," said the wife, "I respected them." There
was one elderly maiden-lady, however, who once was so far excited when
the subject was alluded to, while several of them were sewing in the
wife's room, that, after moving about in her chair, evidently struggling
with her emotions, she ventured at last to say, "O, if I could get hold
of that old fence, how I should love to shake it!" They all smiled; and
one sensible and well-educated woman immediately gave a pleasant turn to
the conversation.

I fully agreed with the wife in her very dignified and proper view of
the whole subject. Is there not something extremely charming in the
highly lady-like sentiments and expressions of a Christian woman, as
contradistinguished from those of a gentleman? He, with all his
urbanity, is apt to show the smallest possible vein of testiness, or, at
least, the clouded look of high-bred sense of honor. It seems to me
there is no power which woman exerts over us, in softening and
humanizing our feelings, more beautiful and effectual, than in her
delicate forbearance and charity in taking the kind view of an
irritating subject, without compromise of principle, but just the view
which reflection, and gentler moods, and the softening hand of time,
invariably present. She arrives at it at once, by intuition; our slow
and phlegmatic sense goes through a process of mistake and
rectification, to reach it.

It occurred to me to test this good lady's f