eyes as she spoke! What deep
enthusiasm pervaded that still fair face! Could this inspired creature
be his child-like simple little cousin? Anthony continued to gaze upon
her with astonishment, and when the voice ceased, he longed to hear her
speak again.

"Tell me, Clary, what power has conquered, in your young heart, the fear
of death?"

"Truth!--simple truth. That mighty pillar that upholds the throne of
God. I sought the truth. I loved the truth, and the truth has made me
free. Death! from a child I never feared death.

"I remember, Anthony, when I was a very little girl, so young that it is
the very first thing that memory can recall, I was sick, and sitting upon
the ground at my dear sister Lucy's feet. My head was thrown back upon
her lap, and it ached sadly. She patted my curls, and leaning forward,
kissed my hot brow, and told me, 'That if I were a good girl when I died
I should go to heaven.' Eagerly I asked her--What was death, and what
was heaven?

"Death, she told me, was the end of life here, and the beginning of a
new life that could never end, in a better world. That heaven was a
glorious place, the residence of the great God, who made me and the
whole world. But no pain or sorrow was ever felt in that blissful place.
That all the children of God were good and happy.

"I wept for joy when she told me all this. I forgot my pain. I longed to
die and go to heaven; and from that hour death became to me a great
anticipation of future enjoyment. It mingled in all my thoughts. It came
to me in dreams, and it always wore a beautiful aspect.

"There was a clear deep pond in our garden at Harford, surrounded with
green banks covered with flowers, and overhung with willows. I used to
sit upon that bank and weave garlands of the sweet buds and tender
willow shoots, and build castles about that future world. The image of
the heavens lay within the waters, and the trees and flowers looked more
beautiful reflected in their depths. Ah, I used to think, one plunge
into that lovely mirror, and I should reach that happy world--should
know all. But this I said in my simplicity, for I knew not at that
tender age that self-destruction was a sin; that man was forbidden to
unclose a gate of which the Almighty held the key. His merciful hand
was stretched over the creature of his will, and I never made the rash
attempt.

"As I grew older, I saw three loved and lovely sisters perish one by
one. Each, in turn, had been a