ys new--for she had "the well-spring of wisdom as
a flowing brook." ... Were you not struck, in reading Thomas Erskine's
letters on the death of Madame de Broglie, by the wonderful likeness
between her and dear Mrs. Prentiss? Twin sisters could scarcely have
resembled each other more perfectly. Such passages as the following
quite startled me:

Her friendship has been to me a great gift. She has been a witness to me
for God, a voice crying in the wilderness. She has been a warner and a
comforter. I have seen her continually thirsting after a spiritual union
with God. I have heard the voice of her heart crying after God out from
the midst of all things which make this life pleasant and satisfying....
She had all the gifts of mind and character--intelligence, imagination,
nobleness, and thoughts that wandered through eternity. She had a heart
fitted for friendship, and she had friends who could appreciate her; but
God suffered her not to find rest in these things, her ear was open to
His own paternal voice, and she became His child, in the way that the
world is not and knoweth not. I see her before me, her loving spirit
uttering itself through every feature of her beautiful and animated
countenance.... There was an unspeakable charm about her. She had a
truth and simplicity of character, which one rarely finds even in
the highest order of men. I know nobody like her now. I hope to pass
eternity with her. It is wonderful to think what a place she has
occupied in my life since I became acquainted with her.

You know it is my belief that we become better acquainted with our
friends after they have passed on "within the veil." And may it not
be that they become better acquainted with us, too, loving us more
perfectly and forgiving all that has been amiss? [4]

_To her eldest son, New York, May 12, 1878._

This is your father's birthday, and I have given him, to his great
delight, a Fairbanks postal scale. His twenty-years-old one would not
weigh newspapers or books, and it is time for an improvement on it.
On Thursday evening there was a festival at our church in aid of sick
mission children. Everybody was there with their children, and it was
the nicest affair we ever had. M. and I went and enjoyed it ever so
much. I took between four and five dollars to spend, though I had given
between twenty and thirty to the mission, but did not get a chance to
spend much, as Mr. M. took me in charge and paid for everything I ate.
Yo