longer alone, at length persuaded him to remove to the house
of a neighbour, where each one contributed toward his support. His mind
had become weak as well as his body; indeed he had become almost a child
again, and it was but a short time that he required the kind attentions
which all his old neighbours bestowed upon him. I remained at home for
several weeks, and ere I left, I followed the remains of Old Rufus to
the grave. I have stood by many a grave of both kindred and stranger;
never before or since have I seen one laid in the grave without the
presence of some relative; but no one stood by his grave who bore to him
the least relationship. It was on a mild Sabbath afternoon in midsummer
that we laid him to rest in the burial ground of R.; and if none of his
kindred stood by to shed the tear of natural affection, there was many a
cheek wet with the tear of sensibility when the coffin was lowered to
its silent abode. I am unable to state his exact age, but I am certain
that it considerably exceeded eighty years; and from what I can
recollect of his life, I have a strong hope, that death opened to him a
blessed immortality beyond the grave.

THE DIAMOND RING.

"And has it indeed come to this," said Mrs. Harris, addressing her
daughter Ellen, "must I part with my mother's last gift to obtain
bread?" Mrs. Harris, as she spoke, held in her hand a costly diamond
ring, and the tears gathered in her eyes, as the rays of light falling
upon the brilliants caused them to glow like liquid fire. This costly
ornament would have struck the beholder as strangely out of place in the
possession of this poor widow, in that scantily furnished room; but a
few words regarding the past history of Mrs. Harris and her daughter
will explain their present circumstances. Mrs. Harris was born and
educated in England, and when quite young was employed as governess in a
gentleman's family. Circumstances at length caused the family with whom
she resided to cross the Atlantic and take up their abode in the ancient
city of Quebec. The young governess had no remaining ties to bind her to
England. Her parents had been dead for many years; she had no sisters,
and her only brother, soon after the death of their parents, went to
seek his fortune in the gold regions of California. Some years had
passed since she heard any tidings from him, and she feared he was no
longer among the living, and when the family with whom she had so long
resided lef