on of the workings of the two
principles was like an instinct. While I, though cherishing a Christian
hope, was still struggling in bondage under the law, she appeared to
enjoy to the full the glorious liberty of the children of God. And when
I would say to her that I was constantly doing that which I ought not
and leaving undone so much that I ought to do, she would try to comfort
me and to encourage me to exercise more faith by responding, "Oh, you
don't know what a great sinner I am; but Christ's love is greater
still." There was a helpful, assuring, sunshiny influence about her
piety which I have rarely seen or felt in any other human being. And
almost daily, during all the years of separation, I have been conscious
of this influence in my own life.

I remember her as very retiring in company, even among our own people.
But if there were children present, she would gather them about her and
hold them spell-bound by her talk. Oh, she was a marvellous storyteller!
How often have I seen her in the midst of a little group, who, all eyes
and ears, gazed into her face and eagerly swallowed every word, while
she, intent on amusing them, seemed quite unconscious that anybody else
was in the room. Mr. H---- used to say, "How I envy those children and
wish I were one of them!"

Mrs. Prentiss received much attention from persons outside of our
congregation, and who, from their position and wealth, were pretty
exclusive in their habits. But they could not resist the attraction of
her rare gifts and accomplishments. New Bedford at that time, as you
know, had a good deal of intellectual and social culture. This was
particularly the case among the Unitarians, whose minister, when you
came to us, was that excellent and very superior man, the Rev. Ephraim
Peabody, D.D., afterwards of King's Chapel in Boston. One of the leading
families of his flock was the "Arnold family," whose garden and grounds
were then among the finest in the State and at whose house such men
as Richard H. Dana, the poet, the late Professor Agassiz, and others
eminent for their literary and scientific attainments, were often to be
seen. This whole family were warmly attached to Mrs. Prentiss, and after
you left New Bedford, often referred to their acquaintance with her in
the most affectionate manner. And I believe Mr. Arnold and his daughter
used to visit you in New York. The father, mother, daughter, and aunt
are all gone. And what a change have all these va