with its little wings, and is
swallowed up in the flame; so you are dazzled with the pleasures of the
world, thinking nothing of the flames which may swallow you up in a
moment, and put a stop to all your joys for ever. O, that the death-bed
scene of Miss Matthews might have a happy effect upon you. O, that the
solemn warning which she gave to her young friend, not to put off
repentance as she had done, until a dying hour, might continue to sound
in your ears, until you would no longer delay repentance. My dear
children, this young lady, though dead, yet speaketh. She speaks to you.
She calls upon you from her tomb--from the eternal world, to delay
repentance no longer. Will you, then, be so mad as to turn a deaf ear to
this call? Will you ever take another sip from the cup of unhallowed
pleasure? Will you ever direct your little feet to the ballroom, or
other places of sinful amusement? Will you hereafter prefer your worldly
joys to Christ? O, you must not, you must not. It will not do for you to
be lost. Who, O who can lie down in everlasting burnings? Who can dwell
for ever with devouring flames?

CHAPTER XIV.

THE GODDESS KARLE.

My dear Children--In the preceding chapter I spoke of Karle. She, as I
there mentioned, is the wife of Siva, and, like her husband, has the
power of destruction. From the images made of her, it would appear that
she is a female, of a black or dark blue color. She has four arms. In
one hand she holds a sword, and in another a human head. Her hair is
dishevelled, reaching down to her feet. Her countenance is most
ferocious. Her tongue comes out of her mouth, and hangs over her chin.
She has three eyes, red and fiery. Her lips and eyebrows are streaked
with blood. She has two dead bodies for ear-rings, and wears a girdle
around her loins--a girdle made of bloody hands, which she cut off from
the bodies of her enemies. She has a necklace of skulls, which she took
from the bodies of the giants and others killed by her.

[Illustration]

Of all the Hindoo divinities, this goddess is the most cruel and
revengeful. Such is her thirst for blood, that being unable at one time
to procure any giants for her prey, in order to quench her thirst, she
cut her own throat, that the blood issuing thence might spout into her
mouth. Different acts of worship are performed to appease her. If, for
example, a devotee should burn his body, by applying a burning lamp to
it, it would be very pleasing to