ral received them with fatherly kindness, and gave them a
tent to dwell in near his own. What a fortnight they spent in that tent.
It was a morning of joy, after a night of weeping. Little Maria was now,
for the first time, dwelling with _both_ her parents.

Soon afterwards she was taken to a new home in a town in Burmah, built by
the English. It was called Amherst[12]. Here the missionary might teach
the Burmese to know their Saviour, without being under the power of the
cruel Burmese king.

It seemed as if the little family, so long afflicted, were now to dwell
in safety, and to labor in comfort. But there is a rest for the people of
God, and to this rest one of this family was soon removed.

The missionary determined to go to Ava, to plead with the king for
permission to teach his subjects. He parted from his beloved wife,
little thinking he should never see her again.

During her husband's absence, she watched with deep anxiety over her
little Maria. The child was pale, and puny, yet very affectionate and
intelligent. Whenever her mamma said, "Where is dear papa gone?" the
little creature started up, and pointed to the sea. She could not speak
plainly, for she was only twenty months old.

Not long did she enjoy her mother's tender care. The poor mother, worn
with her past watching, and weeping, was attacked by fever. As she lay
upon the bed, she was heard to say, "The teacher is long in coming, I
must die alone, and leave my little one; but as it is the will of God, I
am content."

She grew so ill, that she took no notice of anything that passed around
her; but even then she called for her child, and charged the nurse to be
kind to it, and to indulge it in everything till its father returned.
This charge she gave, because she knew the babe wan sick, and needed the
tenderest care. At last the mother lay without moving, her eyes closed,
and her head resting on her arm. Thus she continued for two days, and
then she uttered one cry, and ceased to breathe. Her illness had lasted
eighteen days. Then she rested from her labors, and slept in Jesus.

What now became of little Maria? The wife of an English officer receded
her in her house for a few weeks, and then a missionary and his wife came
to Maria's home, and took charge of the child. Maria was pleased to come
back to her own home, and she fancied that kind Mrs. Wade was her own
mother.

What a day it was when the poor father returned home! No wife to meet
him,